154: Chapter 154 Escape from Death

The moment he stopped, Zhou An stumbled violently in mid-air, gasping for breath.

Performing such high-intensity spatial tearing while carrying someone repeatedly caused his Tier 5 muscles and bones to ache in protest, and his stamina was nearly depleted.

Just then, Li Muzi's slightly anxious voice came through the earpiece:

"Boss! Can you hear me? We have completely escaped the enemy's radar lock and are safe for the moment. Where is your exact location?"

Zhou An steadied his breathing, glanced down at his interface, and shared his real-time location.

"Location received." Li Muzi glanced at the screen. "You're still a few dozen kilometers away. Boss, stay put, I'll fly the ship over to pick you up!"

"Too slow. Just wait there; I'll come to you."

Zhou An cut the communication and looked at Ivy, who was drowsy in his arms due to the effects of the medicine and the spatial turbulence. He took a deep breath, squeezing out the last bit of spiritual energy from his body.

"Whoosh!"

After several consecutive extreme jumps, the space suddenly rippled.

Carrying Ivy, Zhou An landed steadily on the cabin's soft carpet.

As soon as he landed, Zhou An leaned against the nearby metal bulkhead, exhausted, his chest heaving violently.

He did a rough calculation in his mind; twenty consecutive ten-kilometer jumps while carrying someone was the absolute limit for his current Tier 5 physique. If he jumped even once more, he feared his own body would collapse from the backlash of spatial pressure before the enemy could even touch him.

"Boss!"

Seeing Zhou An appear, Li Muzi and Shen Xingyue immediately rushed over.

Seeing the Winged woman in Zhou An's arms, Shen Xingyue didn't waste any words.

She stepped forward quickly, took out a large, warm, clean garment from her storage space, and gently and thoughtfully covered Ivy's scantily clad, battered body, hiding those shocking wounds and her vulnerability.

Zhou An handed Ivy over to Shen Xingyue, then sat down on the sofa, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Li Muzi brought over a cup of warm spiritual water and handed it to Zhou An, reporting at the same time: "Boss, I've contacted Luo Ning and Old Zhang. They are currently piloting the Cloud Top Fortress and heading our way."

As soon as she finished speaking, Luo Ning's energetic, crisp voice rang out in the communication channel:

"Boss! Boss! Please respond if you can hear me! I'm bringing the fortress to pick you up! Do you want me to blast those winged roasted birds ahead of you out of the sky while I'm at it?"

Hearing this familiar and confident clamor, Zhou An's tense nerves finally relaxed completely. A faint smile curled the corners of his mouth as he pressed his earpiece to reply:

"We'll deal with the roasted birds later. Muzi, start the engines immediately and leave this airspace at full speed first. Luo Ning, plan the route; we'll meet on the way."

"Received! Moving at full speed!"

"Bang!"

The luxurious metal table was overturned by a violent burst of spiritual energy, the heavy tabletop slamming into the metal wall with a deafening crash.

"Say that again?!" Great Elder Cormac's eyes were blood-red, like a maddened beast, staring intensely at the trembling captain of the guard kneeling on the floor.

"G-Great Elder, the alarm system in the bottom cabin of the Qingfeng Battleship was forcibly destroyed just now…"

The captain of the guard buried his head deep into the floor, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "By the time our men arrived, those four chains had been forcibly severed by some kind of sharp weapon… Ivy, she's gone!"

"Useless! You're all a bunch of useless trash!"

Cormac laughed in his extreme rage, his laughter filled with a chilling coldness.

Only at this moment did he fully realize the truth. Those humans were never some tax-evading trade group from Sky Engine! They were clearly targeting him! Using sky-high priced crops and medical pods as bait, they stalled for time in the conference room while infiltrating his private residence to kill Hoffman, and finally, they managed to abduct Ivy from the heavily guarded fleet without anyone noticing!

"Good move… truly a good move!"

Cormac gritted his teeth.

"Pursue them! No matter where they escape to, even if I have to chase them to the end of the abyss, I will skin them alive and pull out their tendons!"

Over an hour later, the ship smoothly entered the vast side hangar of the Cloud Top Fortress.

During the return journey, Shen Xingyue had used the portable equipment from the medical pod to perform meticulous debridement and bandaging on Ivy.

Thanks to the overwhelming efficacy of that legendary grade healing injection, most of the fatal wounds on Ivy's body, which had been deep enough to reveal bone, had completely healed, and even the broken bones had knit back together, leaving only tender, newly formed skin and some fatigue that couldn't be immediately erased.

As soon as the cabin door opened, a white figure rushed in like lightning.

"Captain!"

Xila saw Ivy, who was weak and leaning against a soft chair, at a glance. When she saw the bare, tattered wings on Ivy's back, Xila's eyes instantly turned red, and tears uncontrollably streamed from her eyes. She lunged in front of Ivy, her hands trembling as she wanted to embrace her, but she was afraid of touching her wounds, leaving her at a loss and feeling extremely heartbroken.

"Xila… don't cry. Aren't I still alive?"

Ivy forced a weak smile and raised her hand to gently stroke Xila's hair.

The moment her palm touched Xila, Ivy froze.

She felt the spiritual energy fluctuation inside Xila, which was like a volcano about to erupt, with disbelief.

"You… your aura…"

Ivy's eyes widened, her voice filled with shock and surprise. "Are you about to break through to Tier 5? And your power… how did it become so pure?"

"This is all thanks to the Boss and everyone helping me." Xila wiped away her tears and held her captain's hand tightly.

"Captain, you've suffered…"

Zhou An also walked out of the elevator at this moment. Watching the scene of the two reuniting, his tone softened slightly: "Alright, she's been brought back, and there's plenty of time to catch up. Xingyue, take Ivy to the bathroom first to wash off the blood and change into clean clothes. Xila, come with me to the hall."

A moment later, in the fortress's central hall.

Zhou An sat at the head of the table and laid out everything to everyone, recounting their encounter on the 'wind chaser' and the intelligence he had pried out of Hoffman.

"Bang!"

After listening to Zhou An's account, Xila furiously slammed her fist onto the coffee table, causing the tea in the cups to splash everywhere. Her cold eyes burned with raging fury, and even her breathing became ragged.

"How dare Cormac?! How dare he treat the wounded who bled and sacrificed for the guild like goods to be sold to the abyss black market?!"

Xila was shaking with rage.

"What about the Guild Master? The Guild Master would never allow this to happen! Logically, there is also a Vice Guild Master, but I haven't been able to contact him for days. Where on earth did they go?"

The atmosphere in the hall became heavy for a moment.

Just then, footsteps could be heard from the corridor at the side door of the hall.

Ivy, having washed off the blood and grime, walked out with the help of Shen Xingyue. She had changed into a set of loose loungewear prepared by Lin Qing. Although her face was still pale, the heroic spirit of a Winged captain had returned to her brow.

"No need to try contacting them; you won't be able to reach them."

Ivy sat down next to Xila, took the hot tea handed to her by Li Muzi, and held the cup tightly with both hands, her eyes filled with deep sorrow and coldness.

"Captain, what exactly happened?" Xila held her hand anxiously.

Ivy took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping across everyone present before finally resting on Zhou An. She spoke slowly, dropping a bombshell that was enough to cause the entire White Feather Guild to fall apart:

"The Great Elder not only sold the severely wounded to other guilds, but even the Guild Master… has most likely already fallen under his control."

"What?!"

Xila stood up abruptly, her face full of disbelief.