Ki Horizons - [Litrpg, Adventure, Power Levels]

"Go to The Smile Company, pick up a Capsule, enjoy the experience. Maybe go see a movie or go to the water park or something after. Enjoy your week off. Oh, it'll be so easy! And the day started off so well too!"

I grumbled to myself as I picked hot sharp pieces of metal out of my forearms. There was no quick healing to be had down here and my body wouldn't be able to fix all of this. At the very least, it wouldn't be able to do it any time soon. Maybe a few weeks or months would be enough to heal most of it, besides maybe the damaged lung, but I still wasn't that 'strong' in the grand scheme of things. And as Master said, Power Level leaned more towards defense than recuperation. If something damaged you at level [1] or [100], the time to heal was pretty much the same.

Getting the bullets out sucked. Using my fingers was out of the question but luckily, the Elevator seemed to be made out of the same weak metal as a few of these walls. It was messy and hurt like a bitch but I was able to make a rough form of pliers to pull the damn things out.

Satisfied that most of the metal was out of me, I took a look around.

I was a few floors lower. I'd wanted to get the hell away from that duo but going up was not an option. Fighting through the bullets was a hundred times better than risking going up until I knew that the battle between the Kitsune and the police was over.

I'd dove down the shaft and randomly shoved a random pair of elevator doors open and closed as soon as possible. I was waiting currently, hiding behind an office desk clearly used by a secretary, though no one seemed to be around. Maybe they evacuated or maybe this area wasn't used too much. Couldn't say.

I debated on what to do. Staying here seemed like a really bad idea. For a moment to know if they were literally right behind me was fine but if they weren't, and they started going down door by door to find me, I doubt the desk would give me much cover. And it wasn't like they were going to be the only people around. I'd passed by more than a few cameras on my run and even into this room. A single call on their Vambrace to my location or being seen by a few more cameras and I'd be found out immediately.

Decisions decisions.

Mainly one.

I doubted there were any cameras in the elevator shaft. I could jump down and try hiding there but that felt like a poor idea. What I needed right now was distance. I was really wishing I had a way to go invisible…

I blinked. Maybe that wasn't impossible…

I was clearly in a work area, where scientists and other people would go. It'd make sense they'd literally be below their main headquarters though it had to be weird doing intense scientific work right below a massive store right above your head. But workers like that, they wore protective gear or just things to make them look sciency. Lab coats. If I was wearing one of those and maybe a hat or something, maybe whoever saw me on the cameras wouldn't immediately think I was trespassing.

Alright. Plan set, the only thing left to do was take action.

I stood up and began walking… only to stumble and nearly fall over.

It had nothing to do with my wounds. My mind had just been in go go go mode ever since that Ki blast had nearly killed me. Now that there was a moment of real calm…

Holy fuck.

I'd… I'd nearly died, again. I'd nearly then died, again again, when two people had simply clashed. I'd fallen down a deep hole and suffered only minor injuries. I'd found two of my oldest enemies and been shot. Repeatedly. I'd run faster than I knew I could, as if the world was in slow motion. I'd busted through a thin metal wall. I'd dodged bullets, or at least, avoided being hit by more than a few. I'd nearly been killed again, when one of them shot a Ki beam from behind at me. And finally, I'd dove through a shattered and burning hot elevator, down a shaft, forced open two doors before falling any further, and bent metal some weak metal with my bare hands to dig out the bullets in me.

I always adapted to a lot but seeing just how far I'd come and experiencing so much at once… I was overwhelmed. When had I become an action star or even become this strong? When had my life turned into this?

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time for this. I needed to find a disguise and get out of here.

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Wandering an empty underground office area was spooky as hell. I mean, the sewers were worse, but that place at least seemed like people shouldn't be there. Here felt like all the people had vanished without any signs. Whichever level this was seemed to mainly deal with calls and computer work. There were tons of cubicles, all with their own computer, monitors, and desk phone. Despite the eerieness, it gave me a bit of hope.

All these people had clearly left in a rush. If I was lucky, they used some kind of secret escape tunnel.

…If I was unlucky, they just used the elevator to go up and I was wasting my time.

Walking through a doorway I-

I blinked in shock and surprise.

I was in a greenhouse. There were plants as far as I could see and little drones going around, monitoring them, watering them, and doing other such plant aid. Most things were lively and green, but I could see a handful of more colorful stuff around.

Why did The Smile Company have a whole greenhouse underground? That didn't make sense. How did they have a whole greenhouse underground?

Staring into the lights above and feeling like I was being hit by the sun, that question at least, was answered.

I was about to continue on before my eyes lit up. There, on a rack, was a lab coat. Score one for Mutai!

I wasted no time putting it over my, sadly, destroyed shirt and ripped jeans. Now at least, I'd look the part if I was caught on cameras, at least a little bit. Walking through the greenhouse was… odd. It'd been a while since I'd been around so much life. At least plant life. The closest thing was when I was diving for those banana like fruits in the village beneath the sewers but there was no spread here. Everything was all so close together I almost felt like I walking through a jungle with cleared lines. A greenhouse it was, but not a very orderly one. Things felt, wild.

Which was probably why I was only half surprised when vines came at me as I was passing one of the larger plants. They were slow, slow enough to dodge and sidestep, but it was still amazing. The plant even had a power level!

[5]

As strong as a baseline human? That was pretty impressive for a normal plant. This thing could probably kill me five times over if it was back when I was level [1].

I continued walking along, before getting to the other side. There were more than a few doors to leave through but my aim was to get as far away from the elevator as possible. I could kill Sam and George another day, when I wasn't in the heart of their lair and guns weren't being waved around en mass. Or at least, when I could resist them. Retreat was going to be the better part of valor today.

Continuing on through double doors, I found an empty cafeteria.

Nice!

I wasted no time grabbing a drink from a vending machine (after tapping the glass to break it) and getting myself a soda and a sandwich. Say what you will about the evil, horrible, awful Smile Company, they knew how to treat their workers. There was even a small buffet style thing. I made sure to grab a few muffins on my way out.

I wasn't normally one to loot and steal but The Smile Company could go fuck itself.

I walked through another office, idly eating, and was starting to really get a feel for how large underground The Smile Company headquarters was. There was no way everyone entered the store entrance to get here, or to leave. There had to be other buildings it connected to or at least parking lots or something.

Continuing my journey, I entered an area that made my eyebrows shoot up. There was a lot of technology here. Fancy technology. They looked like, well, metal capsules with plants inside them and other ones being… dissected? There were even a few that were clearly being strapped down but those were the vine ones. Everywhere I looked seemed to be a different way to test plants in some way and staring into some of those capsules filled with plants floating in bright blue liquid, I was surprised that a few seemed to be, growing? Not… bigger. But… wait, were they breathing? They seemed to inflate and then deflate a little in some, while others seemed totally benign.

I was clearly wherever they did plant based research.

The Smile Company may have been evil overall but it wasn't Vega Cities leading tech company for nothing. It barely rested, always pushing forward in new ways. Even I could barely think of a way they were being evil with plants.

I dodged another vine from one of the strapped specimens.

Well, I could think of a few ways.

Time passed and I was starting to get worried. Either the fight had ended or it hadn't but either way, I had wanted to find another way out and I was starting to get the feeling this place only had one entrance and exit. That would be a terrible fire hazard, at least so I thought before I finally found the stairs.

I smiled. It had probably been long enough now. I could just climb these, get the hell out of here and-

At that moment… the whole place rumbled at once. My eyes widened.

No…

Was the building above actually falling? I was in the middle of the stairway! What was I supposed to do if it collapsed? Would the entire underground be-

It happened so fast.

One moment, planning, thinking, logic and sense.

The next, in a flash, I caught sight as pure destruction surrounded me. With a burst, a body crashed down and in that frozen split moment of time, as my perception seemed to freeze, I saw them. The Kitsune from before, crashing through the stairs like they were made of paper. They looked at me for a split moment, their eye turning towards me in that period of frozen time too quick for even a microsecond to pass, before they were gone.

…and the stairs with them.

"Not again!" I screamed as I fell into the abyss.