บท 15: Never Forsake, Never Give Up

"Ma Da, Niu Si, where are you two f*ckers? Get your *ss over here and help me distract some of the enemy's firepower! Help a brother out…." Lu Er finally convinced himself to set down his ego as he snarled into the earpiece near his collar. He's calling for backup.

"We're having supper and enjoying our beer at the night market in the East suburbs. Lu Er, you said your superpower abilities had evolved until the second phase, and the idiot Vigilante A will never outrun you, no? Don't underestimate yourself and continue running! If you could shake him off tonight, then your name will be Lu Da from now on, and I'll be Ma Er¹. Niu Si and I will take you as our leader, and we'll listen to all your instructions in the future!" He could hear his good friend Ma Da's voice from the earpiece.

"I can't do this anymore! You'll be the leader, so come and save me quick, else I'll be dragged away by the motherf*ckers from Special Affairs when I'm unconscious!" Lu Er panted heavily through the mouthpiece, as if he was moments away from collapsing from sheer exhaustion, hoping to get some sympathy from his mates.

However, the reply he got from his friend was enough to plunge him into the hopeless abyss.

"Niu Si, Lu Er probably can't make it anymore. After we finish our meal, we should really go and ask around to find someone who knows one of the f*ckers in Special Affairs. We'll need to think of a way to get him out after some time, and I do hope that he wouldn't be changed entirely during the reformation programme, though…" His friends had no intention of helping him. Instead, they spoke as if Lu Er was already metaphorically died, and was now plotting for his funeral.

Lu Er could only sigh and bemoan on how unwise he was when he made friends like these, which now had caused a downfall in his life. In a blur, he seemed to catch a glimpse of the full course of the Special Affairs' reformation programme waving at him in the distance, telling him that it was free, and he should go as soon as possible. Oh, teachers are included, and did it mention that it also guarantees the participant a thorough understanding of the syllabus?

"Okay, that's the plan! Alas, you're still the leader that thinks holistically. As a brother of yours¹, I'll need to pay respects to your leadership by having another drink with you! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Lu Er finally realized that he was completely forsaken after he listened in to the heartless conversation of his two shameless friends. When he turned to once again look at Vigilante A, he also understood what was the true meaning of never forsake and never give up…

Back in the days, he had dared to play truant when he was only in Grade 3, and had run from the back door of his classroom to the nearby cyber cafe. His class tutor had given up chasing him after just 200 meters from the classroom door, and had called his father to school.

His father chased him through 3 cyber cafes before he too gave up. Then, his father had called for his mother.

His mother literally couldn't care less. She only waited for him to come home when he was hungry, and had teamed up with Lu Er's father to perform a round of mixed doubles boxing on him. Their effort had lasted for only an hour before they were too exhausted to go on. During that time, Lu Er did not even gasp out in pain.

That experience had taught him that every human's patience would have a breaking point, and he would be fine if he could endure it.

Frankly, there was no fault in his theory. It was just that this time, his opponent was not a human, but a System that had taken over Fang Ning's body. If it were up to Fang Ning, the chase wouldn't have lasted for more than 10 minutes. Lu Er's endurance was nothing in front of a non-human…

'Sir System would finally have enough EXP after it farms you. It may be able to level up, even! Prey was difficult to come by, and the System has not gotten any sort of input for 2 days already. Why don't you tell me if it's possible for the System to give up on you?' At the same time, Fang Ning was happily reading his novels in the System Cyber Cafe while occasionally checking the progress of the long-standing chase. He could not help but feel sympathy for this thief that was nearly tiring himself to death.

This situation finally came to an end as dawn broke.

After Lu Er had repeatedly activated his superpower and squeezed out every drop of energy within him, he had collapsed out of exhaustion at 4 a.m.

The two of them had been running for four hours straight, and had covered a distance amounting to countless marathons. If they were running in a straight line, they would've ran all the way to Tan State, a state that located at the far end of Qi City.

Lu Er felt a sense of relief when he collapsed. Vigilante A would probably not give him the infamous palm now, because he already had no energy to move in the first place.

Sadly, reality laughed at his naivety when he saw a silhouette standing in front of him not long after he was sprawled on the ground. Who else would it be but Vigilante A? Lu Er immediately hung a forced cheerful smile on his face.

Sir System, who finally caught up to Lu Er, was expressionless when he lifted Lu Er like a kitten and slapped him right on his cheek. Lu Er spun in the air for a whole 720 degrees from the sheer force from the impact, and he passed out before he hit the ground. He landed, face-first, onto a fruit stall by the street, and was covered with watermelons, apples, and bananas. The scene was almost painful to look at.

Fang Ning felt a ghost pain in his cheek while he watched on. The System never slapped someone in the face before while it was fighting for justice. Even if it were committing murder, it was only done by using a palm. It was evident how much Sir System hated Lu Er for decreasing his farming efficiency tonight. It had originally spotted three prey, but only got one four hours later…

Naturally, the System had looted everything from Lu Er. Before it left, he used the money he got from Lu Er to place RMB 1000 on that innocent but destroyed fruit stall as a form of compensation. The System finally left after he felt satisfied after checking the loot.

Moments later, the rumbling of a motorcycle stopped some distance away from the scene. Two men peeked from a corner, still gasping for breath. One of them had half of their body out to scan the area, and just as he was about to approach Lu Er, he was dragged backwards by another person.

Soon, the low roar of a car engine was heard from afar. Three black sedans appeared from the horizon and had stopped near the scene with a screech. Then, men clad in black uniforms spilled out of the cars, an emblem of sword and shield sewn on their clothes.

They did not speak as they spread out to secure the perimeter. They investigated the area, and finally dragged a guy with a swollen cheek out from a pile of apples, bananas, and oranges. The other side of his face revealed a weird, frozen smile on his face, a contrast which had the capacity to send chills down anyone's spine.

They had skillfully cuffed this person before covering his head with a bag.

Someone finally spoke into a walkie-talkie. "Target confirmed. Lu Er, codename 'Flying Squirrel'. Current status comatose, suspected to be caused by excessive running and a heavy impact to the face."

They hauled Lu Er's body up into one of the backseats of the sedan before driving off.

After they left, the two people from the corner poked their heads out again to check their surroundings, before stepping out. They stared at the leaving cars and at the place where Lu Er previously laid. The spot was now empty. They shared a resigned look and sighed simultaneously.

"Leader Ma¹, it was just as you expected. these motherf*ckers in Special Affairs were on our watch 24/7. If you weren't smart about this and lied even to Lu Er, we both would now be in that car too. What should we do next?"

"What else could we do? That dumb bird Lu Er has been trying to take over my position and power. He messed up this time, and this might cause him to settle down for a while. Also, Niu Si, did you have everything on record?" Ma Er spat, his words filled with hatred.

"Everything's on tape. These two could really run; we've been chasing them on the motorcycle and we're almost out of petrol. We can't be too close either, that Vigilante A might kill us with just one palm of his."

"Good. We'll be able to get some gas money back once we sell the recording to the Hummingbird. In the future, we'll tell Lu Er that his brothers weren't slacking, but his opponent was too strong, and had the endurance to run more than 250km. He could have burnt off all the petrol from our Harley¹, and not only that, the f*ckers from Special Affairs were breathing down our neck. We had no other choice."

Never could they have imagined that the System could run for a whole day without panting if it wanted to.

At the same time, those that were called 'the f*ckers of Special Affairs' by Ma Da and Niu Si were also talking about this hero.

"I wonder what deep resentment the Vigilante A has towards this man. He actually chased him for 4 hours! I got exhausted just by watching the surveillance cameras. I really had to give it to him; his endurance is mind-blowing!"

"Haha, I'm not surprised. It's not like you're uninformed about how patient the Vigilante A can be. One time, he waited at the market in the East suburbs for a day, and had managed to capture 21 pickpockets!"

"Haha, this Lu Er was unlucky today for him to meet an opponent this determined."

"His bad luck would continue, though. Lu Er and his people had been resisting the call for the reformation programme, and had run from our capture numerous time due to their speed and familiarity with the area. We've spent much on them, but he had been lurking in the city, not doing anything big enough for us to give us our all, but still stirred sh*t up on a smaller scale. We finally got him unconscious today, and the old man Zhang from the reformation programme finally has another fresh blood to work on.Then, this slippery Lu Er will finally know what 'never forsake, never give up' truly means."