novelraw Chapter 291: Anti-aircraft Missiles
Chapter 291: Anti-aircraft Missiles
"Boom!!!"
An anti-air missile struck the location she had just occupied. Although it didn't make direct contact, it detonated with a thunderous explosion at an extremely close range.
A massive fireball blossomed in the air. A violent shockwave, mixed with countless scorching hot metal fragments, swept outwards like a flower of death.
"Pfft—!"
Even though the ice-winged woman had managed to erect a thick ice crystal shield at the last possible moment, she was still violently hurled away by the explosion that had occurred right in front of her.
While not fatal, it would certainly take her a while to recover.
Seizing this opportunity, Su Zhan successfully widened the distance between himself and the woman.
He showed no desire to prolong the fight, fleeing desperately without a backward glance. Within a few breaths, he vanished into the backdrop of clouds and distant mountains.
The ice-winged woman barely managed to steady herself. She stared in the direction Su Zhan had disappeared, then felt the injuries within her body. For the first time, an expression of anger appeared on her icy-cold face.
She never imagined she would let a duck that was practically cooked fly away in such a manner....
Su Zhan accelerated southward using his flight ability, quickly drawing the lock of the ground-based air defense systems below.
One anti-air missile after another, trailing blazing plumes of fire, swarmed towards him from different angles.
These missiles far exceeded his flight speed, and their destructive power was more than enough to easily tear apart mountains.
If not for the heaven-defying 5-second future prediction ability of his Time Abyss Pupil, he would have been shot down long ago.
Steep dives, skimming the ground, sharp right-angle turns...
He brushed shoulders with death by the narrowest of margins.
Explosive fireballs and shockwaves continuously bloomed behind him.
However, the frequent predictions and extreme maneuvers placed a tremendous burden on his already severely injured mind and body.
"I can't keep flying..."
Watching the missile launch plumes ignite once more below, a sense of helplessness welled up in Su Zhan's heart.
Daxia's air defense network was far too comprehensive.
And his luck and stamina couldn't possibly hold out forever.
Su Zhan abruptly folded his dragon wings.
He dove steeply towards a dense stretch of primeval forest below.
He flapped his wings to decelerate just before impact.
He crashed heavily into a thick layer of fallen leaves and underbrush, sending a cloud of dust and debris flying.
Su Zhan deactivated his Aberrant Form.
"Flying... that route is temporarily unusable."
The journey south would once again revert to the slowest, yet most concealed method.
Traveling on foot.
Su Zhan had to be like the most patient mole, using every bit of terrain and the cover of night to inch his way towards Black City.
The speed had slowed down drastically, but at least, his hope of survival had increased by a fraction.
At the moment.
The appearance and identity of "Chen Qing" were completely compromised and could no longer be used.
And reverting completely to his original appearance would be nothing short of suicide.
Qin Bai and the Aberrant Purge Division had probably long ago entered Su Zhan's portrait into their databases, just waiting for him to walk right into their trap.
He needed a brand new face.
But he simply had no means to obtain one.
Su Zhan was at a loss.
He had absolutely no idea where to find those underground plastic surgery clinics or similar places.
Not to mention, he didn't dare enter any major cities now.
He only dared to flee through these desolate, uninhabited areas.
As Su Zhan pondered, his eyes suddenly lit up.
There was one point he hadn't considered before.
As an Aberrant, he possessed a controllable self-healing ability far surpassing that of ordinary humans.
This wasn't just about repairing damage;
to a certain extent, it could also allow for limited physical fine-tuning.
Su Zhan sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and submerged his consciousness into his body.
He began guiding the cellular activity of his facial muscles and subcutaneous tissues.
This process was extremely delicate and accompanied by a distinct sensation of soreness and swelling.
He first targeted the parts he had deliberately adjusted earlier to disguise himself as "Chen Qing."
He didn't completely reverse the process, as that would revert him to Su Zhan's appearance.
Instead, he selectively relaxed control over certain muscles and tissues, allowing them to heal to a certain degree and return to a more natural state closer to his original bone structure.
For example, the deliberately squared-off jawline of "Chen Qing" now retracted slightly, becoming somewhat softer.
The deliberately flattened brow bone also regained some of its original curvature.
Even the subtle angle of the bridge of his nose underwent a change.
This process lasted for roughly over an hour.
Su Zhan opened his eyes again and looked at his phone's screen.
He saw a face that was both familiar and strange.
This face had recovered roughly 40% of Su Zhan's original appearance.
One could vaguely discern some traces of his past self, like the contour of his eyes and a faintly familiar feeling between his brows.
But more parts retained the traces of the "Chen Qing" disguise, or rather, they were new features born from the fusion of the two appearances.
It wasn't as clear and handsome with a touch of youthful spirit as Su Zhan's original face, nor was it as deliberately plain and weathered as "Chen Qing's."
It had transformed into the appearance of a rather ordinary, slightly delicate-looking young man.
Toss him into a crowd, and you could say he's somewhat handsome, but not strikingly so.
"This... should work."
Su Zhan gently touched his new face, feeling the subtle differences.
While he couldn't achieve a seamless, complete transformation, this new face was the best possible result under the current circumstances.
In essence, by maintaining the "Chen Qing" appearance, Su Zhan had been constantly suppressing his self-healing ability.
Now, by releasing a bit of that self-healing ability, he could recover part of his original appearance.
Combined with the post-disguise appearance, it formed a new face.
Using self-healing to alter his appearance.
Su Zhan felt he was truly a genius.
Changing his appearance was only the first step.
How to traverse the long journey without attracting any attention was an even greater challenge.
High-speed movement or using transportation were both paths to certain death.
Su Zhan chose an unexpected route.
Blending into the lowest stratum of society: the homeless population.
Su Zhan made himself look disheveled and unkempt, carefully smearing dust and grime onto his new face, deliberately packing dirt under his fingernails.
He changed into a set of tattered, ragged clothes he found in an abandoned house, and the shoes on his feet had holes revealing his toes.
He also picked up a woven plastic bag.
Carrying it on his back, he looked like a down-and-out person carrying all his worldly possessions.
Su Zhan suppressed all the aura of a powerful individual. His eyes became dull, his back slightly hunched, and he walked with a faltering, stumbling gait—the very picture of a weather-beaten vagrant.
Why disguise himself as a beggar?
First.
Even though his new face was adjusted from his original foundation, there might still be an extremely subtle trace of familiarity lingering between his brows and eyes.
But making himself extremely dirty would maximally disrupt facial recognition features.
No one would scrutinize a filthy beggar carefully, much less delve into that tiny, vague hint of resemblance in his features.
Second.
It was a commonplace occurrence for beggars and vagrants to migrate on foot, flowing from one city to another.
They moved slowly, slept rough, and wouldn't raise any suspicion.
This provided the perfect cover for his legitimate, slow-paced movement.