Asura in Arknights

"I will continue to investigate Taylor and the others. If I have any news, I will send it to my daughter. If you want to continue the investigation, you can visit her occasionally."

"I've said everything I needed to say. Let's go, don't waste any more time here." Professor Valcke gave the two of them a deep look, then pressed the button to open the warehouse door.

The dim sunlight from outside filled the dusty warehouse once again.

"...Goodbye, Professor."

With that, Li Ang started the engine of the SUV. "If we have the chance, we'll come back to see you again."

Just as the SUV was gradually increasing its speed and about to drive out of the warehouse gate, Professor Valcke suddenly roared and shouted out Li Ang's name.

"Leon!!"

Li Ang subconsciously turned his head around.

Professor Valcke shouted in a hoarse voice, "Take good care of her... or I won't let you off the hook."

"I will, I promise!!"

Li Ang had already made up his mind about this matter long ago.

He will protect Adele, no matter what.

-------------------------------------

After leaving the warehouse, Adele hid back in her luggage and covered herself with the blanket.

"Professor Valcke, he's such a good man..." Li Ang couldn't help but sigh as the car slowly drove along the road.

As a complete bystander with no connection to the matter, Professor Valcke had done everything he could for them, except to lead them to safety. He himself was also taking a considerable risk; if things were exposed, even William University wouldn't be able to protect him.

“Uncle Valcke…he watched me grow up.”

Just then, Adele's voice suddenly came from behind. Her voice was very soft, and Li Ang had to listen carefully to understand what she was saying.

“At that time, Aunt Sani was still alive, and our two families had always lived together.”

Adele's parents met at Williams College, got married there, and had Adele there. Williams College is Adele's home, and she has spent most of her life on this campus.

Professor Valcke also accompanied Adele through the first half of her life; aside from the lack of blood relation, he could be considered Adele's family.

Upon hearing Adele's explanation, Li Ang suddenly understood.

"So that's how it is. No wonder the professor didn't give me a friendly look when he found out I was staying at your place. It was because of this."

Adele, hiding in her luggage, blushed slightly and buried herself even deeper.

The first person to realize that Li Ang was not a student of this school was Professor Valck. At the time, his attitude was very bad, and he was almost always sarcastic. Li Ang thought it was because of his identity and did not pay much attention to it.

Later, as his knowledge improved, Professor Valcke's attitude gradually softened. Unexpectedly, the root cause was this.

So, does this mean I've gained Professor Valcke's approval? Leon raised an eyebrow, suddenly realizing something.

But then again... if Professor Valcke hadn't approved of him, he wouldn't have entrusted Adele to him.

Thinking about it this way, Li Ang's feelings were indeed somewhat complicated.

Just then, the car in front suddenly stopped, and upon sensing this, Li Ang immediately slammed on the brakes.

A series of clanging and banging sounds suddenly came from the trunk, as if something had been thrown out.

"What's wrong?" Adele asked as she noticed the car suddenly stop.

"...I'm not sure either, maybe it's because of traffic?"

If it were just a traffic jam, that would be fine, but Li Ang was worried that something else had happened ahead.

As Li Ang spoke, his senses extended forward as well. About two hundred meters away from his current location, Li Ang found the cause of the traffic jam—the situation he was most worried about.

A group of police officers had set up a cordon on the road ahead and were stopping passing vehicles one by one. The content mentioned on their communication devices made Li Ang's heart sink.

"To reiterate, the suspect is a Caprini woman who appears to be between 18 and 24 years old, with medium-length brown hair that has a slight pinkish tinge at the ends, and who suffers from severe Oripathy."

"Check each passing vehicle one by one, and do not overlook any suspicious targets."

The person those characteristics refer to... isn't that Adele?

"Damn, how did they react so quickly?"

Li Ang slammed his fist on the steering wheel, and the sudden honking of the horn drew shouts of abuse from ahead. "Adele, we've been exposed. The police are investigating us."

So, will Li Ang's makeshift disguises be able to pass the police checkpoint ahead?

Li Ang sensed that the police had stopped all the vehicles, called the drivers and passengers out of the cars for inspection, and even checked the trunks.

This kind of disguise can only fool passersby; it's impossible for it to pass through such strict checks ahead.

Li Ang immediately turned his car around, preparing to leave via another road. At this time, many other impatient drivers did the same thing, and he was not particularly conspicuous among these vehicles.

However, Li Ang had oversimplified things. He couldn't even imagine the power that the state apparatus would unleash if it were running at full speed.

Li Ang changed routes several times, but each time he encountered police blocking the roads. At this moment, it seemed that all the police force in Brandenburg was concentrated in this small western district. No matter how complicated the terrain was, they could mobilize enough manpower to block the roads.

The overheard communications revealed that more police officers were arriving from other parts of the city, and even the military police might have been deployed. The longer the situation dragged on, the worse it would be for Li Ang. Once the military police had sealed off the area, they would be truly trapped.

There wasn't enough time... There was only one solution left. Thinking of this, Li Ang gently licked his lips.

"Adele, buckle up, I'm about to accelerate," Li Ang said without turning his head.

"Huh?"

Adele was stunned for a moment, and before she could understand what Leon was going to do, she felt a huge force slam into her and forcefully press her onto the sofa.

Since we can't avoid it, let's just go straight through it.

Facing the warning line less than 100 meters ahead, Li Ang slammed on the accelerator.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Speed ​​of Life and Death

"He can't sit still for even a second," Sheriff Severin complained.

The police station has been incredibly busy lately. A few weeks ago, they received orders from the Tower to search for a thief whose existence was uncertain. Today, they were summoned here by those noble gentlemen to arrest a young girl who was only in her early twenties.

If it weren't for the fact that the noble lords in the tower were too powerful to offend, Severin would have liked to shout, "If you don't understand, don't come here and give orders! Besides making things worse, Severin really doesn't know what use those noble lords are."

"Okay, sir, please get out of the car. We need to check some of the things you have in your car."

He had said this countless times, and when yet another car was stopped by the police tape, Severin blurted it out without thinking.

"What right do you have to inspect my car? This is an invasion of my privacy! Privacy!! I'm going to the council chamber to sue you!" The car owner didn't seem to have any intention of cooperating with their inspection.

Sheriff Severin was too lazy to waste words with this idiot, so he shoved his staff into the man's forehead. "Fine, go ahead and sue if you want, but if you don't come down now, you might not even get a chance to sue later."

Sensing the Originium energy condensing at the tip of the staff, the driver shuddered and obediently rolled off the car.

He then kicked the man in the butt and called over two officers to check the car for anything suspicious.

Since someone else had already inspected the two vehicles for him, Severin's attention naturally turned elsewhere.

Looking at the long line of cars ahead, Severin couldn't help but think of their target, who seemed to be... a girl in her early twenties, supposedly a student at William University. He wondered what she had done to warrant such a large-scale operation to arrest her.

As Severin was lost in thought, he suddenly noticed an SUV break away from the long line ahead.

"Are they planning to turn around and take another route? Unfortunately, it won't work this time."

Severin knew the scale of their operation this time. Except for some key areas, the entire city's police force had been mobilized. No matter how complicated the West District was, it was useless. Their manpower was enough to surround the area from the inside out, not to mention that the military police had also been mobilized.

Severin thought idly, but the car's actions seemed to be different from his prediction. Instead of turning around, the other car pointed its front towards them.

That car is going to… Severin sensed something was wrong and instinctively shouted, “Get out of the way!!”

With a deep roar of the engine, the SUV transformed into a terrifying steel behemoth, charging forward before anyone could react.

Fortunately, the car didn't intend to run them over. The swirling air grazed Severin's face like sharp blades, smashing their makeshift obstacles into the air like rags before speeding away.

Everyone present was startled by this sudden scene and remained stunned for a long time.

"What are you all standing there for? Just watching that guy get away?" Severin yelled in exasperation. "Teams one and two, come with me and chase him! The rest of you stay here and continue the search!"

In that split second, Severin spotted the driver of the SUV, a pale-haired young man, not the woman they were looking for.

And in that instant, Severin also saw that the man's eyes were closed...

How the hell can you drive with your eyes closed? Severin couldn't understand the question, but that didn't stop him from making a decision.

If we chase after it, the car that just sped past must have something wrong with it. If it didn't, why didn't it just cooperate with the inspection instead of forcibly breaking through the checkpoint?

After a brief preparation, several police cars drove off in pursuit of the spot where the SUV had disappeared.

……

With one foot on the gas pedal, the engine started running at full speed with 100% efficiency. Li Ang had pushed the performance of this off-road vehicle to its limit, pushing their speed to a peak.

When the speed reached a certain point, the howling wind outside the car subsided, and the whole world became quiet. The only discordant element was that a few piercing sounds kept chasing them from behind.

Many parts of Letania are filled with the atmosphere of medieval Europe, but the police equipment is not much different from that of modern times.

Hearing the wailing sirens behind him, Li Ang felt his adrenaline slowly coursing through his body, his blood seemingly boiling, and he felt more focused than ever before.

If you look down from above, you can see a dark gray streak of light on the road in Xicheng District, moving at nearly twice the speed of other vehicles. Behind this gray streak of light, there are several small dots of light following closely behind.

Li Ang quickly turned the steering wheel half a turn, avoiding the oncoming car and preventing a fatal accident.

He should be thankful that cars are not very common in Brandenburg, and there are very few vehicles on the road, which is why he was able to move at this speed. Otherwise, no matter how fast his reaction was, he would not have been able to drive at this speed.

"Lyon, isn't the speed a bit too fast?" Adele had already crawled out from under the blanket, looking at the blurry scenery outside the car window, and said tremblingly.

Adele had never driven at this speed before. The feeling of constantly being on the verge of crashing into something was too thrilling for her; it was a true life-or-death race.

"Don't worry, everything is under control. Besides, if we don't move fast enough, we'll be caught up," Li Ang replied without turning his head.

The police cars behind him were no less capable than his SUV, but they never dared to push their speed to the limit, lest they end up in a fatal accident.

Human vision has its limits. When a car travels at this speed, most people simply cannot react to what is happening around them. But Li Ang is different. His reaction delay is almost zero. No matter what happens in the world he perceives, he can react immediately.

"Almost there...we're almost at the city exit..." Li Ang murmured.

If the exit is not closed, we can take advantage of this speed to rush out in one go; if the exit is closed, we can simply blow the door open.

However... things never go as smoothly as Li Ang thought. The police cars that had been trailing behind were a problem. After a long chase, they finally resorted to attack.

A cold glint appeared from the police car at the front and flew straight toward the rear panel of the SUV.

Chapter Forty-Nine: Leap to the Peak

This scene naturally caught the eye of Sheriff Severin, who was stunned for a moment before roaring angrily, "Damn it! Who gave you permission to attack?!"

Without his orders, who would dare to launch an attack?

This is not a simple matter of disobeying orders; if things go wrong, all of their lives could be lost to this idiot.

If the attack had killed the suspect and her accomplice, things would have been fine. At worst, they would have had to write a few more self-criticisms and have a few months' worth of bonuses deducted, and that would have been the end of it. But if they hadn't managed to kill them... then things would have been much more complicated.

He clearly remembered that the suspect was a student at William University.

What is William University? It's the top university in Letania. Without exception, everyone who comes out of there is a top-tier sorcerer. Just one or two Originium Arts would be enough to give them a hard time.

Not to mention that the target this time is not an ordinary student, but a doctoral student who is about to graduate.

The other party had not shown any aggression from the beginning, and Severin did not want to die heroically for the sake of angering the other party because of the actions of some fool.

Sure enough, Severin's premonition soon came true.

Before some idiot could unleash a spell that hit the SUV, a burst of intense heat appeared out of nowhere, and the shockwave from the explosion even cracked their windows.

"Slow down! Slow down!! Watch out for their counterattack!" Severin shouted desperately.

In the midst of the chaos, the police cars slowed down considerably, creating a significant distance between them and the SUV, making it unlikely they would be able to catch up anytime soon.

Inside the SUV, Adele had somehow emerged from the luggage, gripping her staff tightly and gazing resolutely behind her, seemingly having recovered from the previous blow.

“Leon, leave the rest of the attacks to me,” Adele said.

In that instant, Li Ang was already prepared to dodge, but he didn't expect Adele to be even faster than him, intercepting the attack from behind before he could turn the steering wheel.

It was only then that Li Ang realized that he had also been deceived by Adele's usual gentle and weak appearance; when Adele got serious, she was anything but weak.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you," Li Ang said.

After he finished speaking, the speed of the off-road vehicle increased slightly. With Adele dealing with any potential attacks, Li Ang could concentrate all his energy on driving the off-road vehicle.

As we sped along the empty street, the police cars relentlessly appeared again at the edge of the rearview mirror.

“Listen up, driver in front, this is the Brandenburg Police Station. You are hereby warned to stop immediately for inspection, or we will use deadly force.”

"Tsk...what a hassle."

Ignoring the warnings coming from behind, Li Ang gritted his teeth.