Escape

Reno contacted several soldiers on the Abrodius, but without exception, he lost contact with all of them. Each time he lost contact, Reno's mood grew heavier, and his anxiety increased. He quickly and continuously contacted his soldiers, injured or uninjured, but there was no response at all.

 "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" When he failed to contact them once again, Reno couldn't contain his shouts any longer. "Someone is targeting the survivors on the Abrodius."

 He stood up and angrily pounded the wall. "These bastards, they've captured all my colleagues, some of whom are still injured!"

 Claire was startled by Reno's furious appearance.

 At that moment, he looked like a raging dinosaur about to go on a rampage, with eyes full of murderous intent. What was even more terrifying was that, whether it was an illusion or not, Clarice felt as though something invisible was flowing around him, like some kind of force field pulling her towards him.

 The room began to get windy.

A howling wind.

Blowing from all directions, converging towards Reno, forming an invisible vortex.

 Clarice couldn't control her body anymore. She screamed in terror, "Reno!"

 Her scream shook Reno's soul.

He snapped out of his trance. The power that had been gathering around him suddenly dispersed in all directions, as if a force had erupted from his body.

 "Ah!" Clarice let out a loud scream and hit the wall.

 "Austin!" Reno rushed over to help her.

Clarice looked at Reno as if she had seen a ghost. "What happened?"

 Reno looked at himself and shook his head. "I don't know."

 They looked at each other, feeling a sense of dread rising in their hearts.

 At that moment, Reno suddenly felt a strong sense of unease. He stood up abruptly and looked out the window.

 The man in black outside the window was still waiting boredly. Suddenly, as if receiving some instructions, he opened his terminal and spoke while constantly aiming towards Reno's location.

 He started walking towards them.

Reno recoiled, grabbed Clarice, and headed out.

 "What are you doing?" Clarice shouted.

 Reno pulled her quickly out of the room. "They're monitoring Claire's terminal. They found me through our recent contact. We have to leave before they get here."

 "But what does that have to do with me?" Clarice screamed. "They're after you, not me."

 "Because I used your terminal. They might consider you part of my group." Reno replied.

 Clarice's face turned pale. "What will happen?"

 "I don't know. I'm not sure who they are or why they're doing this, but I'm certain they're not friendly. We shouldn't hope too much for their moral standards." Reno said.

 "Maybe... maybe we can explain? I mean, I have nothing to do with this." Clarice suggested.

 Reno stopped.

He turned to look at Clarice. "Actually, ever since you lent me your personal terminal, you've been involved."

 "Oh, no..." Clarice groaned in despair.

 "I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess, but you probably need to face the reality now." Reno said as he pushed open the door and looked downstairs, where several men in black had appeared on the stairs.

 "They're coming." Reno said in a low voice, pulling Clarice to the other side.

 At that moment, Clarice suddenly swung her hand, broke free from Reno, and ran back into the room.

 "What the hell are you doing?" Reno rushed into the room and saw Clarice picking up a bag and then grabbing a few pieces of clothing in a hurry.

 She said, "I need to change into something else. I'm still in a bathrobe!"

 She pointed to herself.

 Reno rolled his eyes helplessly.

Women!

 There was no time to waste. Reno pulled Clarice out of the house.

At the end of the corridor was an iron door.

Reno came to the iron door and pushed it, but it didn't budge.

Clarice quickly said, "This is an internal passage of the sanatorium. Only internal personnel can use it. The door is locked, and without the password, you can't open it."

 "Maybe I can try." Reno looked at the lock on the door. As Clarice said, it was a password lock.

He started turning the dial, extending his mind along with it.

 Seeing Reno's actions, Clarice said helplessly, "You don't know the password. You can't open it."

 With a click, the door opened.

Clarice paused, and Reno pushed open the door and made a gesture to enter.

 Clarice, startled, went in. "How did you do that?"

 "Luck," Reno replied.

 Closing the door, Reno pulled Clarice to continue forward.

At the same time, several men in black had arrived at Clarice's room door.

One of them held a strange device in his hand, constantly rotating like an antenna. The pointer stopped moving when it pointed behind Clarice's door.

 "It's here." The man in black nodded.

 His words were like an order, and all the men in black pulled out their guns, aiming at the door. One of them placed a ring on the door, pressed a few numbers on it, and stepped back.

 After a few blinks, the ring suddenly exploded with a bang, blowing up the entire metal door, but it didn't affect anything else.

 Several men in black rushed into the room at the same time.

 "Damn, he's not here." The leader of the men in black came in, seeing that the room was empty, and cursed angrily. "They were here just now, they can't have gone far. Release the ants!"

 A man in black took out some silver metal balls from his bag. As soon as these mercury-like metal balls fell to the ground, they grew eight thin legs, revealing round heads and two long antennae. As soon as they appeared, they waved the antennae on their heads.

 After sensing the residual smell in the air, these mercury ants crawled out simultaneously, following the path Reno had taken to the end of the corridor.

 "They ran from here." The leader of the men in black shouted, "Blast the door open!"

 "No, this is made of titanium chain metal. Ordinary firepower can't break it." 

 "Damn it!" The leader of the men in black cursed, "Why does a sanatorium have such a door?"

 "Because this is a military sanatorium. They reinforce everything, even the toilet seat is made of alloy." A man in black replied, thinking he was being humorous.

 His response was met with the leader's furious fist.

 "I hope they also reinforced your teeth, you idiot." He withdrew his fist, shouted, "Open this door!"

 A man in black stepped forward, placed the mercury ants on the lock, and they turned into silver droplets and infiltrated the lock. At the same time, the man in black manipulated a device to control the mercury and crack the password.

 "This is a multi-password lock. It will take at least thirty-five seconds to crack." The man in black replied while working.

 The leader of the men in black looked back at the stairs, then at the door, his face darkened. "He doesn't have ants, and he couldn't have the password for this door. How did he open it?"

 "... I don't know."

 "It seems our target is more troublesome than we imagined." The leader of the men in black thought for a moment and said, "Where does this door lead to?"

 "A layout map of the sanatorium has been downloaded. This door leads to... the parking lot." 

 The leader of the men in black's face changed. "To the parking lot!"

 Just as they rushed to the stairs, they saw a flying car rising into the air outside the window, emitting white smoke as it disappeared into the dust.

 "Damn it!"

 ...

 Glancing behind him to confirm that the men in black hadn't caught up, Clarice breathed a sigh of relief.

 Suddenly remembering something, Clarice inexplicably hit Reno with her hands, "It's all your fault, all the trouble you brought!"

 Reno didn't dodge, letting Clarice hit him, calmly driving the flying car.

 After hitting for a while, Clarice probably felt it was boring herself, sitting aside, covering her face in despair.

 After a while, she said, "They're not gangsters, right?"

 Reno nodded silently.

 "Then who are they?" 

 After thinking about it, Reno replied, "I don't see a clear path, but they're well-trained. Organized tightly, they should belong to some secret organization."

 "So, they're likely spies or something else?" 

 "... Yes."

 "Oh, God." Clarice slapped her forehead.

 Seeing her like this, Reno sighed, "Don't worry, I'll take you to the city. Once we're in the city, find the nearest police station, tell them what happened, and apply for judicial protection. I believe things will be fine soon."

 "You said explaining won't work, right?"

 "I just said those men in black can't be trusted. I don't want you to take any risks. But with the police, you still have a chance to explain things clearly."

 Hearing that she still had a chance to get away, Clarice's tone relaxed a lot, she looked at Reno and said, "Aren't you going to ask the police for help?"

 "They can't solve my problems."

 "What are you going to do next?"

 Reno smiled, but didn't answer.

 Clarice realized immediately that if nothing unexpected happened, the police would definitely ask her questions about herself. So, it was better for her to pretend she didn't know anything.

 Without saying anything, Clarice leaned quietly against the seat, letting Reno fly them.

 She leaned on her hand and looked out the window, while Reno also looked silently ahead without saying a word.

 The atmosphere calmed down unexpectedly.

 After a while, Clarice said, "Just now... in my room, do you know what happened?"

 She was asking about the force that lifted her up and hit her against the wall.

 Reno replied, "You know that captains usually have some good equipment, but sometimes these devices don't work so well, causing some minor issues."

 "A good lie. If you had thought of it earlier, maybe you could have fooled me." Clarice looked out the window without looking back.

 Reno smiled, "Next time, I'll react faster."

 A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Clarice's mouth.

 She asked again, "Is that girl Claire your girlfriend?"

 Reno thought for a moment and replied, "Sort of."

 "Why doesn't she say she misses you or come to see you alone?"

 Reno fell silent.

 Clarice understood and waved her hand, "If it's a weave of lies, you don't have to answer."

 "I'm sorry." Reno said awkwardly.

 "You've apologized enough today." Clarice said without a hint of kindness.

 Reno could only sigh.

 At that moment, Clarice suddenly remembered something and quickly crawled towards the back of the car.

 "What are you doing?" Reno asked.

 "I need to change clothes." Clarice replied, pointing to her bathrobe.

 From Reno's angle, he could see a faint glimpse of her under the bathrobe, causing his heart to skip a beat. He didn't say anything, just quietly activated the glass to change color function, making the people outside unable to see inside.

 But there was no glass inside the flying car, and Reno shrugged, "I promise I won't look back."

 Clarice lifted the rearview mirror on the car, "You didn't promise this."

 Reno laughed.

 Clarice crawled back to the back seat and started changing clothes.

 Although Reno could see her naked body when he turned around, for some reason, Clarice was willing to believe Reno's promise.

 The rustling sound of changing clothes fell into Reno's ears, bringing endless imagination.

 Reno felt his heartbeat start to accelerate.

 Thoughts surged in his mind, spreading like endless pink fantasies on the beach.

 His driving hand became somewhat unsteady, almost hitting the vehicle next to him. Fortunately, Reno stopped in time, but the car was thrown forward due to inertia.

 Clarice exclaimed, falling forward. She was lying next to Reno, her snow-white breasts shaking in front of him, leaving Reno stunned.

 Clarice let out a second "Ah" of horror and quickly shrank back.

 Clarice glared at him fiercely, "Men always come up with all sorts of ways, don't they? I didn't expect to miss this one."

 "Damn it, I promise you it was unintentional." Reno replied helplessly.

 "Don't expect me to believe you again." Clarice replied bitterly.

 Reno could only sigh, but in his heart, he recalled that beautiful and moving scene.

The car continued to fly, and neither of them spoke again.

Finally, the flying car arrived over the New Darwin City police station.

 Reno found a place to park and Clarice got out of the flying car.

 "So... goodbye." Clarice said to Reno.

 "I'm sorry for dragging you into this trouble again." Reno said solemnly.

 "It's okay, life always has some exciting experiences." Clarice shrugged, pretending not to care.

 Waving to Reno, Clarice walked towards the police station.

 "Osdon!" Reno's voice came.

 "What?" Clarice turned back.

 Reno said, "If something bad happens... I mean, if someone forces you to reveal my whereabouts, and you have no choice, you can give them an address... Faraway Hotel."

 "Faraway Hotel?" Clarice looked at Reno suspiciously, "Is that a fake address?"

 "It's a safe address for you. Remember to find a good excuse and don't say it easily."

 "Got it." Clarice nodded and turned to leave.

 Watching Clarice leave, Reno said nothing, just opened a black square box next to him.

 A red light flickered slightly on the box.