Chapter 111: Matsushita Hon’s Regret

Chapter 111 Matsushita Hon's Regret

Ji An maneuvered the hovering vehicle, arriving at the dungeon in less than a minute. Thunder Dragon blasted open the prison gate with a thunderball and roared at the people inside, "Get in!"

Only two people were held in isolation in the cell—Li Mo's parents. Before they could react, they hesitated to board, eyeing the people on the hovering vehicle warily.

Thunder Dragon quickly recognized Li Mo's parents. It turned to Gu Jinsheng and shouted, "Gu Jinsheng, there are only two people here—Li Mo's parents, the ones whose son traded our Beijing Base's technology for their release.

"That guy already struck a deal with R Country, so we don’t need to bother with them, right? Let’s just leave!"

Hearing Thunder Dragon call out "Gu Jinsheng," Li Mo's parents immediately connected the name to Gu Jinsheng’s trademark superpower manifestation. Moreover, they recognized the familiar faces on the vehicle—fellow Chinese who had been imprisoned alongside them.

Putting two and two together, they understood that Gu Jinsheng must have used some extraordinary means to infiltrate the R base and rescue them.

Li Mo's parents also knew their son’s actions were disgraceful. Fearing they might truly be abandoned, they clambered frantically onto the hovering vehicle.

Thunder Dragon watched them with its large, crimson eyes darting suspiciously before flying over to the unicorn beside Ji An. It stage-whispered, "How boring! Their son already made a deal with Kobashi Ichiro. Why are they still hitching a ride with us? So shameless!"

The unicorn gazed gently at Thunder Dragon and lightly licked its large head. Pacified, Thunder Dragon squinted contentedly and purred.

Ji An glanced at Li Mo's parents, who had shrunk into the corner, trying to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, but said nothing further.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Gao Wanli, however, broke into a fit, coughing violently—each fit worse than the last, spitting up gobs of blood.

His friend immediately urged him, "Gao Wanli, don’t strain yourself! You were injured by Kobashi Ichiro, and your internal injuries are severe. Stay calm—we’ve already escaped. You can’t die on the way back. You have to hold on!"

Another added, "Commander-in-Chief Gu, do we have any high-level healing superpowerers on board? Gao Wanli is a Level-5 superpowered. Only a Level-5 or higher healing superpowerer can heal him. Though we have healing superpowerers here, none are that powerful."

Before Gu Jinsheng could respond, Thunder Dragon cut in, "Come on! We came here to rescue you. We barely had enough combat personnel—why would we bring along non-combat healers?"

Gao Wanli's friend couldn’t help but feel despair. Gao Wanli, however, gave a bloody grin. "It’s fine. If I die on the way back to China, I’ll have no regrets in this life."

Ji An shook his head and chided Thunder Dragon, "Thunder Dragon, knock it off."

With that, he stepped forward and retrieved a med-pod from his spatial storage device, placing it on the floor of the hovering vehicle. "This is a med-pod. Gao Wanli, lie down inside. It’ll only take a few minutes to heal your internal injuries."

Gao Wanli and the others were gobsmacked. They stared in shock at the med-pod, then at Ji An, exclaiming in unison, "A spatial storage device and a med-pod?!"

Ji An nodded. "Yes."

Gao Wanli clutched his chest. "But Kobashi Ichiro and Dewitt claimed online that spatial storage devices are just kid stuff—nothing as miraculous as the Beijing Base claimed. At best, they’re like glorified fanny packs that can only hold tiny items.

"They also said the healing pods are fake, that it’s all just a scam by the Beijing Base."

Ji An smiled. "All I can tell you is—everything the Beijing Base says is true. The things online are the lies."

Gao Wanli grew agitated again, coughing up another mouthful of blood. "Really? Has our country’s technology truly advanced to such an unbelievable level?"

"Yes," Ji An replied. "But right now, you’d better get into the healing pod first. We can talk more after your injuries are treated."

Without hesitation, Gao Wanli lay down inside the healing pod. Everyone watched the miraculous scene unfold. In just about three minutes, the pod’s door reopened, and Gao Wanli emerged, looking good as new.

A low-tier healing superpowerer in the group spoke up, "Gao Wanli, may I give you a full-body scan?"

Gao Wanli didn’t answer immediately, instead glancing at Ji An for approval. Ji An nodded. "Of course."

Only then did Gao Wanli agree. The healing superpowerer ran their diagnostic to examine him and confirmed that Gao Wanli’s internal injuries had indeed fully healed.

"It’s true—Gao Wanli is completely healed!" The healing superpowerer’s eyes lit up.

Ji An said, "Of course."

Gao Wanli sighed, "So it turns out that only the Capital Base has been telling the truth all along, while those of us living in other bases were like frogs in a well—thinking the sky was only as big as the well's opening because we'd never seen the world beyond.

It’s truly heartening to realize that we were the frogs, and the Capital Base is the vast, boundless sky."

Ji An smiled, "You’ll find that the Capital Base is far more miraculous and advanced than you could ever imagine!"

In just those few exchanges, the hover vehicle had already exited R Base. As they approached the city gate, Ji An stopped the vehicle. Standing atop the gate was a lone figure.

A sharp-eyed superpowered gasped in shock, "Kobashi Ichiro? How did he suddenly appear here? Does he have a hover vehicle too?"

The former hostages, who had just escaped Kobashi Ichiro’s grasp, immediately prepared to attack the figure on the gate. Ji An stopped them, "Don’t act. That’s not Kobashi Ichiro."

Gao Wanli asked, "Then who is he? Why does he look exactly like Kobashi Ichiro?"

Ji An replied, "That’s Wang Dazhi. A superpowered who helped our Capital Base."

Someone quickly pieced it together, "Did he deliberately alter his appearance to resemble Kobashi Ichiro, infiltrate R Base, and disable the city gate’s protective shield to let us in? That’s why Kobashi Ichiro didn’t notice?"

Ji An nodded, "Exactly."

He then retrieved a spatial storage device from his space and handed it to Thunder Dragon, "Give this to him. It was part of our agreement—if he let us into R Base, we’d give him this."

Thunder Dragon grabbed the spatial storage device and flew out, hovering above Wang Dazhi before dropping it to him. Wang Dazhi caught it and scanned the contents with his psychic senses. Finding not only the promised healing pod but several extra, he nodded to Thunder Dragon in acknowledgment. The dragon then flew back.

Wang Dazhi waved at Ji An, who leaned out and called, "Wang Dazhi, take care!"

Wang Dazhi smiled but said nothing in return.

As the hover vehicle moved away, Gao Wanli remarked, "Something feels off about Wang Dazhi. His plastic surgery is too perfect—he was a dead ringer for Kobashi Ichiro."

Ji An replied, "You’ve noticed. Actually, Wang Dazhi is Kobashi Ichiro’s clone."

"What?!" Gao Wanli and the others were stunned by the revelation.

Ji An explained, "The reason Nation R and Nation M’s superpowered individuals have advanced so quickly is because they’ve been mass-producing Zombie Cores through cloning—artificially cultivating Zombie Cores to ensure a steady supply for their superpowered.

At the same time, Nation R and Nation M have also been cloning humans. These clones are genetically tailored; their sole purpose is to help their originals by curing their defects. For example, Kobashi Ichiro was missing a finger, but now he isn’t—because he had it replaced with a clone’s finger."

Gao Wanli, being a scientist, grasped the implications immediately. "But even clones can’t guarantee they’ll awaken the same superpower as the original."

"Exactly. That’s why Nation R and Nation M produce so many clones—just to ensure at least one awakens the same superpower for transplantation."

Everyone in the hover vehicle was horrified by the depths of Nation R and Nation M’s cruelty.

"Wang Dazhi was one of those clones. He was lucky—he awakened a Psychic Superpower. But his closest friend, another Kobashi Ichiro clone, awakened the same superpower as the original. Kobashi Ichiro transplanted that clone’s finger, then deemed the clone useless and extracted its Zombie Core.

Later, Wang Dazhi was sent to our Capital Base as a spy due to his psychic abilities. Commander-in-Chief Gu accidentally discovered him, and we revealed the truth about the clones. That’s when he learned of their tragic fate and his friend’s brutal death. Seeking vengeance, we secretly helped him return to R Base.

He’d been lying low there for a long time, biding his time. When we planned this rescue, it was Wang Dazhi who found the communication device we’d deployed in R Base and contacted us."

Gao Wanli asked, "But if Wang Dazhi originally looked like Kobashi Ichiro, how was he never caught?"

Ji An explained, "Wang Dazhi’s original appearance was a younger version of Kobashi Ichiro, not identical to the current one. What you see now is an illusion created by his Psychic Superpower. Once we return, train your mental resistance with the terminal a few times. Then you won’t be fooled by a psychic’s illusions—you’ll see their true faces."

Just then, a deafening explosion erupted from R Base. Looking down from the hover vehicle, they saw towering mushroom clouds billowing up.

Gao Wanli said quietly, "That direction… it’s where R Base’s research institute was located."

Wan Xueying said, "It must be Wang Dazhi taking action. What he probably hates most in this life is the research institute that created them, only to raise them like pigs, waiting for the fate of being slaughtered at any moment."

The Matsushita family, who had been kicked off by Gao Wanli, clambered up from the ground, disheveled, only to find the hovering vehicle above them had vanished.

Matsushita Hon's father angrily cursed, "They just ditched us? How dare they? Weren’t they supposed to pick us up?"

His mother also fumed, "They did it on purpose! They thought no one would notice if they left us behind! Son, we can’t let them get away with this. Don’t you have that terminal? Go expose their actions online!"

Matsushita Hon, equally furious, snapped, "Fine! I’ll expose them right now. What they did this time is absolutely outrageous—it’s literally betraying their own kind. I’m sure both our fellow countrymen and foreign online folks will stand with us in condemning the Jing City Base. I’ll make sure that Commander-in-Chief Gu Jinsheng personally apologizes to us and comes to the R Base in person to take us back. Otherwise, we’re not going anywhere—this ain't over!"

"Exactly!" his mother agreed.

His father added, "Make all the commanders of the Jing City Base apologize to us together!"

Matsushita Hon immediately went live. His face appeared on the screen as he angrily addressed the viewers, "Online folks, what happened today is f*cking unbelievable. I never dreamed that Gu Jinsheng, a commander of the Jing City Base, would harm his own people. He was right there in the base, picked us up, and then just watched as I got jumped and forced off the vehicle by someone who envied me. It all happened right under his nose—he saw everything—but he pretended not to notice!"

"Gu Jinsheng is a selfish bastard. Not only does he refuse to share core technology, disregarding the safety of all humanity, but now he’s even screwing over his own people. He’s not even human!"

His mother butted into the frame and added, "Gu Jinsheng must personally give us an explanation, or this matter won't end here!"

With the sudden appearance of Gu Jinsheng in the R Base blowing up online, everyone was already paying attention to why he had shown up. Now that someone involved was live-streaming, a flood of online folks quickly flooded the stream.

Comments from viewers flew across the screen:

"So Gu Jinsheng really went to the R Base?"

"How did Gu Jinsheng do it? Did he fly there?"

"Was that superpowered person who attacked Kobashi Ichiro really Gu Jinsheng?"

"Host, you can’t let this go! Gu Jinsheng must give you an explanation!"

"How can Gu Jinsheng, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Jing City Base, act like this? He should be stripped of his rank!"

"Gu Jinsheng is a criminal against all humanity. Just wait—humanity will eventually be destroyed by infighting among our own kind."

"This stream is savage."

Some recognized Matsushita Hon as the person who had publicly insulted China and lashed out:

"You R-state's bitch, licking R-state’s boots..."

"I recognize the host. Isn’t this Matsushita Hon, the one who claimed he was already an R-state citizen? Didn’t he say he called his Chinese blood trash and wished he could replace it? If that’s the case, stop calling yourself Chinese!"

"All I can say is Commander-in-Chief Gu Jinsheng did the right thing. People like the host don’t deserve to step foot on Chinese soil!"

"If the host loves R-state so much, then stay there forever—be R-state’s dog for life. That’s your best destiny!"

"Support Commander-in-Chief Gu Jinsheng!"

Matsushita Hon had expected overwhelming support online, but seeing so many defending Gu Jinsheng only made him see red. He snapped, "What do you know? China is just a sh*thole country. Do you really think I care about going back? It’s only because you offended Commander-in-Chief Kobashi Ichiro that R-state won’t take us in anymore. Otherwise, I’d rather die than return to China!"

A deafening BOOM! shook the ground beneath Matsushita Hon’s feet. A massive mushroom cloud erupted in the distance, knocking him and his family to the ground. Panicked, he cried, "What’s happening?!"

A netizen chimed in, "Your master Kobashi Ichiro was implanted with a psychic whammy by a psychic expert from the Jing City Base. He and his goons in the command center self-destructed—now the whole place is in ruins!"

"Also, other streams show the research institute's blown too—it looks like all hell broke loose there."

"I saw it too! The people running out of the R Base research institute are goddamn clones—why do they all have the same face?"

"Just a kind reminder to the streamer, if you can still contact anyone from the Capital Base, you'd better apologize properly to Gu Jinsheng. The R Base has now turned into a warzone—I see so many places either bombed or surrounded by zombies!"

At this moment, Matsushita Hon still had no idea what he was about to face. He arrogantly declared, "Unless Commander Gu brings several commanders from the Capital Base to apologize to us, we will never forgive them."

"Streamer, quit kidding yourself. I advise you to open your eyes and see the world for what it is. Commander Gu is no pushover—his methods are iron-fisted. Forget about turncoats like you who openly insult China—even Capital Base residents who demonstrated on your behalf, trying to force Commander Gu to yield, were directly sent to the R Base. There’s a streamer named Zhao Tong—you can check out his stream. It’s brutal!"

Seeing this comment, Matsushita Hon finally began to panic. He quickly opened Zhao Tong’s livestream and saw that Zhao Tong and his group seemed to have been injured in an explosion. Their blood attracted zombies, and now they were desperately running for their lives.

Zhao Tong’s wails echoed through the stream as he pleaded, "Commander Gu, I know I was wrong! I was just blinded by greed, wanting to be an influencer—I was deceived by villains!"

"Commander Gu, please save us! We swear we’ll never dare again!"

"Commander Gu, it’s all Zhao Tong’s fault! Punish him if you must, but take us back! We’ll even be your loyal servants for the rest of our lives—we don’t want to stay in the R Base!"

The more Matsushita Hon watched, the more terrified he became. Just then, a series of thunderous blasts rang out. Horrified, he saw a horde of zombies staggering toward him from the distance. "This is inside the base—how are there zombies here? Where did they come from?"

A kind netizen answered his question on the screen, explaining that the zombies had escaped from the research institute. But Matsushita Hon no longer had the chance to read it.

These lab-grown zombies were high-level superpowered zombies—stockpiled by Kobashi Ichiro as advanced power cores for high-level superpowered individuals. Matsushita Hon’s family stood no chance against them. The zombies lunged, sinking their fangs into their necks.

Before being torn apart, Matsushita Hon finally felt regret. If only he had known Gu Jinsheng could truly break into the R Base and come to rescue them—he would never have said those things!

Meanwhile, Zhao Tong, also fleeing for his life, was no less regretful than Matsushita Hon. He kicked himself for his stupidity—none of this had concerned him in the first place. None of the hostages were his family, so why had he joined the protests? And when Gu Jinsheng had given him a chance to apologize, why hadn’t he taken it?

On the floating train, Gao Wanli opened his terminal and saw the devastation of the R Base. But no one paid it much attention—they had to urgently head to the next location for evacuation.

Ji An announced, "Everyone, hold on tight. We’re heading to the next base—HSD Base."

The HSD Base had no clone assistance, but they had allies inside.

Godfrey was from the HSD Base, but he also carried Chinese heritage—his grandmother was Chinese. Brought up by her, he had grown up hearing stories about China and felt a natural affinity for it. This time, he had agreed to help China at his grandmother’s request.

When they arrived at the HSD Base’s gates, Godfrey had already opened the city gates. Without the base’s protective shield, Ji An and the others entered the HSD Base like they owned the place.

Feng Jiancheng and the others had all gathered at the coordinates’ main thoroughfare. The Chinese among them had formed their own groups, hiding in corners or cafés.

They had all been silently following the events on their terminals. When they saw Gu Jinsheng actually appear at the R Base and successfully rescue the hostages, Feng Jiancheng and the others cheered.

But soon, a wave of dread washed over them. Someone asked, "Commander Gu went to the R Base—what about us? The M Base is so far from the R Base—can they still come for us?"

Feng Jiancheng said firmly, "They will. It doesn’t have to be Commander Gu himself—another high-level superpowered individual could come instead."

"But netizens say all the Capital Base commanders seem to be at the R Base."

Feng Jiancheng reassured them, "The R Base situation is more complicated."

"Ours isn’t easy either. Charles won’t just let Chinese transports enter."

Then, a companion suddenly said, "Look—Commander Gu’s IP address is rapidly changing again."

Everyone watched the jumping coordinates, and a crazy idea crossed their minds. Even Feng Jiancheng, usually so steadfast, hesitated to voice it. He swallowed hard and said, "Could… could Commander Gu be coming to our base?"

The moment he finished speaking, chaos erupted outside. Screams filled the streets, and then a booming voice shouted, "Chinese citizens—board the train now! The Capital Base is here to take you home!"

Feng Jiancheng checked Gu Jinsheng’s IP location—it was indeed the HSD Base. He yelled to everyone, "Move! The Capital Base is here to take us home!"

Chinese citizens came pouring out from all directions, only to stood frozen in shock at the sight of the floating train in the sky.

It wasn’t until Gu Jinsheng opened the train door and unleashed his Thunder Dragon that Feng Jiancheng and the others could finally believe this was truly their ride home.

The same Gu Jinsheng who had just been at the R Base had somehow materialized above the HSD Base mere minutes later.