Chapter 61: Capture
To avoid being detected by people from Flame City, the strength of those participating in this infiltration was strictly limited. The highest level allowed was only Second Rank Level Five, reducing the risk of attracting attention.
After all, excessive strength would easily draw suspicion.
To successfully capture Su Ke, the captain dispatched one Second Rank Level Three expert, one Second Rank Level Two expert, and three First Rank Level Ten elites.
In total, they brought only eight members for this operation.
Of them, five were specifically assigned to capture the target.
After those five left, one of the remaining two subordinates could not help but ask, "Captain, what should we do next?"
The captain replied calmly, "We must act with extreme caution and ensure nothing goes wrong. Assuming they might fail, we need additional preparations. The two of you will come with me to pay a visit to Su Ke's parents."
"Understood!" the two responded in unison.
By now, night had fallen. After parting ways with the other two halfway, Su Ke headed home alone.
Because he had just won the championship, the principal and the mayor had personally gone to his house to offer congratulations.
A champion of this level normally would not warrant such attention, but there was no helping it—his aunt possessed a Legendary-level talent.
Su Ke was walking leisurely when he suddenly felt something was off.
He immediately became alert, his right hand already resting on his Omnitrix.
His awareness was partly thanks to Zhang Xin. That guy constantly launched sneak attacks for no reason, leaving Su Ke so jumpy during that period that he had trained this instinct the hard way.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
From a dark alley nearby, two black-robed figures stepped out. Both were First Rank Level Ten.
"I thought you were just an ordinary high school student. Didn't expect you'd notice us."
"Stop talking. Grab him and go!"
The two lunged at Su Ke simultaneously.
Su Ke nimbly dodged their grasp.
"I don't know who you are, but you're clearly enemies. In that case…"
He activated the Omnitrix.
"Hero Time!"
"Heatblast!"
The moment Su Ke completed his transformation, he hurled two blazing fireballs at his enemies.
The two dodged swiftly, but the fireballs seemed to possess minds of their own, curving midair and relentlessly pursuing them.
As Su Ke prepared to summon more fireballs, a sharp whistling sound suddenly sliced through the air beside him.
He barely had time to react before ducking instinctively, yet his shoulder was still struck.
It was a razor-sharp throwing knife.
Although the knife traveled at incredible speed, its power was relatively weak. Su Ke felt only impact and pain, without suffering serious injury.
"Damn it! He dodged!"
Another figure emerged from the darkness. Raising his hand, multiple throwing knives materialized around him, shooting toward Su Ke like a rain of arrows.
Facing the dense assault, Su Ke showed no fear. He lifted both hands and conjured a blazing wall of fire.
The knives struck the fiery barrier with crisp clangs. Unable to penetrate the defense, they gradually melted under the intense heat into molten iron.
[Based on every novel cliché I've ever read, they must've discovered something special about me and set their sights on me. Two showed up first, now there's a third. There could be more hiding in the dark, maybe even stronger ones. I need to get out of here fast. Since they came to capture me, they must be fully prepared. I'm not worried about home—the principal and mayor are both there.]
With one Fourth Rank and one Third Rank combatant at home, Su Ke felt no concern.
Right now, he needed to deal with these three—and possibly others lurking nearby.
Clapping his hands together, Su Ke unleashed a wave of flames at the knife-wielder.
The opponent calmly placed two knives under his feet and stepped onto them, riding them to evade the firewave.
Su Ke raised his hand and released a vast sea of flames.
The blazing inferno blocked their vision. Taking advantage of the moment, Su Ke activated rocket propulsion, switching into Jet Ray and fleeing at once.
He shot into the sky at high speed, flying toward the distance.
"Heh, bye-bye!"
But before he could celebrate for long, a light projectile struck him and blasted him down.
He crashed heavily onto the ground.
A nearby resident opened a window and cursed, "Who the hell is it? It's the middle of the night—can't people sleep?!"
The moment he finished speaking, a small light projectile grazed his scalp and struck the wall behind him.
His thick hair instantly turned into a bald patch.
Cold sweat poured down his body as he swallowed hard and slammed the window shut.
"Hello? 110? Help!"
Su Ke struggled to his feet, pain throbbing in his chest.
At that moment, countless light projectiles surged toward him from all directions.
He had no time to worry about secrecy. Quickly switching forms, he transformed into XLR8 and dashed aside.
"The intel was correct. You really do have two, perhaps even more, forms."
Another black-robed figure stepped forward—the source of those light projectiles.
"How many of you are there?!" Su Ke demanded.
Behind him, a figure dashed forward at astonishing speed and grabbed his tail.
Su Ke turned his head in alarm. As expected, another had arrived.
"Not many. Just the five of us."
Su Ke: "You're sending five people just to capture me? That's overkill!"
Black-robed figure: "The captain said we must act cautiously. Even if you're alone, we must deploy overwhelming force to guarantee success."
Su Ke: "That's way too cautious!"
Black-robed figure: "Either way, come with us quietly and you'll suffer less."
"Who exactly are you people?!"
"Since you've sincerely asked…"
Su Ke: Why does that sound so familiar?
Another black-robed figure took over.
"Then we'll kindly tell you!"
Su Ke: This is getting even more familiar! Wait—does that anime exist in this disaster world too?
"For the future of humanity…"
"For the evolution of our species!"
"We, the great and sacred Evolution Sect!"
"Cheetah…"
"Aurora…"
"Officially place you under arrest!"
Su Ke: …
"Uh, how about you guys keep playing by yourselves? I won't be joining!"
Su Ke tried to escape again, but Cheetah had stepped firmly on his tail, leaving him no way to run.
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