2: Underneath A Thousand Skies

261 Reality (17)

Song Jia's eyes widened.

She recognized the voice that called out to her. However, it shouldn't be possible for him to be here.

But the assassins pursuing her didn't give Song Jia a lot of time to think. She jumped into the back of the hovercycle, her eyes watering as the driver revved the engine and then took off with lightning speed, zipping along the foot path. Because it hovered in the air, there was no problem avoiding rocks and loose soil since the trail wasn't meant for vehicles.

"This is fun!" Nova whooped as the hovercycle burst into the park, swerving to avoid a shocked kid who dropped his ball at the sight of them. "I don't know why I stayed in that cramped office for so long."

"Boss, you're going to hit that family over there! Go left!"

"Oh right, I forgot that humans die when hit with a moving vehicle. Tsk."

Song Jia was speechless listening to him.

Nova gunned down the hovercycle, cutting through the center of the park. He clutched the handlebar with one hand while he typed something into the keypad of the hovercycle. A second later, a hologram of a duck appeared in front of them.

"Jia, watch this."

Nova clicked the duck icon, and suddenly the loud quacking of a duck echoed all over the park. Only instead of the normal quacking of a duck, it was just repeating "duck." The people and their dogs scattered in front of them, dropping off the things that they were carrying and leaving behind their picnic baskets with a scream as the hovercycle drove past them. Song Jia watched her boss snort a small laugh in front of her, seemingly amused at the absurdity of the entire situation.

She could never understand his sense of humor.

They were soon out of the city park, whizzing past buildings in a blur of colors, as if abstract paintings were flickering in their peripheral vision. The wind tore at Song Jia's clothes, tugging at her like an invisible force. The pounding of her heartbeat seemed to merge with the pulse of the engine.

Despite Nova's seemingly relaxed expression, he was actually paying close attention to their pursuers. The streets in front of him was transformed into a digital labyrinth of lines and waypoints. Using the few satellites Yueji had installed in their orbit, he was seeing the route unfold in a bird's-eye view. The roads shimmered like threads connecting destinations, and intersections became pivotal nodes in this intricate network. The road stretched out before him, each pixel of the environment meticulously analyzed by his algorithms.

Data streams from sensors mapped the terrain, while predictive models calculated optimal trajectories for navigating the impending curves and obstacles.

In no time at all, they pulled up in front of a seemingly random apartment building.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Nova tossed the hovercycle keys into the air. By the time it fell into his palm and his hand snapped shut, the hovercycle had unfolded upon itself, turning into an inconspicuous keychain that lay on his other hand. Nova linked the keychain into the keys with a sharp click and looked at Song Jia with a sigh.

"I'll explain everything inside. Let's go in before they find us."

Song Jia was surprised to see that as soon as she stepped through the unassuming entrance of the apartment building, the narrow corridor opened up into a vast, opulent foyer that stretched far beyond the confines of its exterior façade. Marble floors gleamed under the soft glow of crystal chandeliers, their intricate patterns showing off its luxury. A grand staircase curved elegantly upward, inviting exploration into its depths.

It wasn't an apartment building at all, but a hidden mansion.

Nova took off his helmet and threw it on the glass table.

"I forgot how easily dehydrated human bodies could be. I'm going to get something to drink before I start explaining. Jia, do you want a drink as well?"

Song Jia shook her head. "Whose house is this?"

She knew it shouldn't belong to Nova, since Yueji was famous for hating artificial intelligence-based systems. They wouldn't be able to tolerate his existence.

"Who else? Naturally Xu Jinhai's. He's comatose right now, so he told me to guard you before he lost consciousness. I didn't think anything could happen, so I went sightseeing. Fortunately, I came back just in time to rescue you from those rebel forces."

Song Jia paused. So that was why Xu Jinhai didn't see her message.

"Is he alright?"

"Don't worry, that's normal for him. It usually happens when he overexerts his psychic powers. He told me he followed you all the way here while being invisible and using teleportation to catch up quickly to guard you. He also caused an earthquake last night. Even for him, that's going to cause a massive toll on his body."

Nova was about to drink his wineglass when he caught Song Jia's stare.

"It's strawberry milk, not wine. I just like using fancy cups."

Song Jia shook her head and sat on a nearby sofa.

"I wasn't staring at you because of that. How did you get a human body? I know your hologram couldn't leave your office, and robots don't drink strawberry milk. And you also mentioned about rebel forces. Why are they targeting me? What's their intention?"

Nova took his seat opposite her, swirling his strawberry milk. Because of the luxurious environment, he also wanted to behave like a rich CEO. He crossed his legs and leaned back into the sofa, the cushions yielding gently beneath his weight, cradling him in a cocoon of softness. He only wanted to lean back and spread his arms, adopting a dominant posture. But Nova forgot the pesky biological nature of human bodies.

He nearly fell asleep.

"What I'm using is a clone with a computer microchip embedded on its brain. The original body had died years ago, and had donated his corpse to APHI for research purposes. I use this body when I need to leave the office, though it's my first time to use it after several years. My hologram is usually sufficient enough. As for the rebel forces...tsk, why am I always tasked with these long explanations?"

Nova grimaced.

"As you know, Yueji has two deities that it worships. The Golden Princess, and the Hunter. Because of their clashing personalities, two religious factions emerged from their differing perspectives. Those who worship the Hunter had long been dissatisfied with the current stagnancy of Yueji, proclaiming that it was due to the long era of peace that their people and military had become dull. For them, there would be no growth and change without violence. Because of that, they want the people to stop worshipping the Golden Princess altogether.

"I don't know who leaked the news, but it seemed that they knew about Xu Jinhai's existence and his overwhelming powers. My guess is, they want to kidnap you and make you become their hostage in order to use Xu Jinhai in their plans."

A/N:

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Long time no see! I wanted to write the next chapter as well, but it's getting late. I ran out of steam ヾ( ;;'ー')シφ__

I know I haven't updated for a long time, and it's because the muse hasn't been visiting me QAQ Even if I force myself to write, I end up not liking how it came out. Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the messages and in fact, I'm healthy as a pig (and as lazy as one, as well). It doesn't help that I can't write in the mobile wattpad app at all, because it keeps crashing (I've searched and it seems this happens when you edit a story with a lot of story parts) (╥﹏╥)

I apologize in advance with the very slow updates. As always, I'll continue digging this pit, but it's very slow-going 人(_ _*) I wish all of you good health and may everyone always have a good book to read (⌐■_■)☞☞'★,｡･:*:･ﾟ'☆