Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

Smoke billowed everywhere.

The powerful blasts from the shells had turned half the armed base into a wasteland, with mangled bodies strewn about and screams of pain echoing through the ruins.

At the doorway, Allan floored the accelerator and jerked the steering wheel, ramming into and sending flying the armed personnel who tried to hijack the car and escape.

His eyes were locked on the path leading to the makeshift operating room, and the usual carefree look on his face was gone, replaced by a gaze that was both fierce and ruthless!

Everyone in the car was silent, guns at the ready, fingers on the triggers.

And suddenly, “Over here!” he shouted.

When Allan saw Sebastian carrying Stella out, his heart was pounding like crazy. ‘Shit, my heart’s about to explode!’ he thought.

Just as Sebastian finished speaking, a strange noise came from overhead. Nathan looked up, eyes wide in shock.

“Mr. Gray, watch out!” Nathan yelled.

Before the words were even out, a hail of bullets tore through the air toward Sebastian and Stella, kicking up clouds of dust. But not a single shot hit them. It felt like someone was messing with them.

A drone with a submachine gun was suddenly hovering overhead. Nobody knew when it had appeared.

That’s where the bullets were coming from.

Emily’s back was drenched in cold sweat as she shoved the car door open and yelled, “Stella, Mr. Gray, hurry!”

Stella had one arm around Sebastian’s neck, her gaze sharp and deadly. As the drone’s gun swung past her and locked onto Sebastian, she didn’t hesitate, didn’t even blink.

In one smooth motion, she drew her pistol from behind her back and fired straight at the drone.

It was a dead-on shot, even with everything shaking around them.

“Holy shit, that was badass!” Allan slammed his hand against the window, adrenaline surging through his

veins.

The drone dropped to the ground.

As it hit, the submachine gun fired off a wild burst of bullets.

“Mr. Gray, hurry!” Charles shouted.

Veins snaked and bulged along Sebastian’s arms, his back wound split wide open, blood soaking his shirt as it ran down his taut muscles.

“I won’t let you get hurt,” Sebastian said, his voice low and steady.

“I know,” Stella said, leaning her head against him. She raised her gun and fired, taking out the armed guy trying to ambush them from behind.

There were only 150 feet to go.

Allan slammed the gas pedal, and everyone felt their skin crawl. Sebastian grabbed the door with one hand and hauled himself into the jeep. With a thunderous roar, the modified Jeep shot out of the camp.

Right then, a barrage of heavy shells started pouring down like rain.

Behind the car, thunderous explosions rocked the air. Flames shot up into the sky, the earth trembling as if the world was ending.

Inside the car, everyone except Allan, who was gripping the wheel, just gaped at Sebastian. He still had Stella cradled protectively in one arm, blood dripping down without a care. Sebastian didn’t even flinch.

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Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

Not a single word was spoken.

Emily was still clutching the plain plant, her hands shaking. She felt like her whole worldview had just been flipped upside down by everything that happened today.

After a while, Emily said, “And Yakov…?”

Emerson frowned and said, “Who?”

Emily glanced at Stella, and when she saw Stella didn’t stop her, she started telling everyone what had happened in the operating room. Everyone was floored. They totally hadn’t expected all that to go down in that makeshift operating room.

“So you’re telling me that Estravia’s long-lost geneticist Yakov, not only turned up, but you literally opened up his head and yanked out a chip?” Allan, still gripping the wheel, looked like he’d seen a ghost. “That’s insane!” And it wasn’t just Allan. Nathan and the rest were just as blown away.

“If I told you something even crazier. If we hadn’t come to Farronia, Clusia and Estravia would be facing the biggest disaster in decades within two weeks. Would you believe it?” Stella said.

Her voice was cold as ice. A tone so rare from Stella sent chills down everyone’s spine.

Everyone stood there, dumbstruck.

‘Wait, what does that even mean?’ Everyone was confused.

‘Hold up, how are Clusia and Estravia mixed up in this now?’ The question hung in the air.

Stella shot a look at Emily and said, “Pass me the first aid kit.”

Emily did what Stella said.

Emily handed it over, her movements robotic.

The next second, Sebastian ripped off his shirt.

Emily blurted out, “Holy shit!”

She was so flustered that she nearly had a nosebleed.

Allan didn’t know what to say.

Nathan and Charles were just as dumbfounded.

Emerson was left speechless.

‘Emily, could you please get a grip? This is not the time for this!’ everyone thought.

Emily kept mumbling, “Don’t look, don’t look… Not supposed to check out my friend’s guy…” As she covered her eyes and turned away. ‘But honestly… Mr. Gray’s physique is absolutely incredible,’ she thought.

‘He looks like he just stepped out of a modeling shoot!’ she couldn’t help but think. She was literally drooling.

Sebastian instantly caught on to what Stella was hinting at. He turned to her and asked, “Is there something wrong with the chip?”

“Wait, there really is a chip?” Nathan was still in disbelief. Brain implants were still just a theory in the international community, and there were all kinds of ethical issues involved.

Emily didn’t even turn around and said, “Shut up! Just listen to Stella!”

Emily thought, ‘I’d watched Stella pull that chip right out of Yakov’s head with my own eyes.’

“This might sting a bit,” Stella said, her expression deadpan as she poured disinfectant onto a gauze pad, going out of her way to be gentle. The whole scene Just left the crew speechless. After everything they’d been through together, this was almost surreal.

Just yesterday, at the memorial, she’d grabbed a blade one-handed and dumped disinfectant straight onto her own wound without even blinking. But now, with Sebastian, she was suddenly treating him like he was made of glass.

Allan didn’t know what to say.

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Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

Nathan and Charles fell silent.

Emerson was momentarily at a loss for words.

Everyone thought, ‘Did they seriously switch places or what?’

They all thought, ‘Mr. Gray’s no fragile flower!’

Emily hugged the plain plant as if it were her lifeline, practically in tears. She thought, ‘So moving! This is just too much!

‘You big lugs don’t get what real love is’

Once Sebastian’s wound was taken care of, Stella reached into her pocket and pulled out a sealed bag.

“Wait, what’s that?” Nathan asked, still looking shell-shocked.

Emerson shot him a look. He thought, ‘Bro, maybe don’t ask that right now.

Stella gave him a weird look. “Brain tumor tissue.”

Nathan’s jaw dropped. “Brain… Tumor? Ew!”

Emily couldn’t hold back anymore. She whipped her head around and glared at Nathan. “Aren’t you a doctor too? Ew? Give me a break.” She was totally savage now, not bothering to be polite.

Nathan shot back, “Ever wonder why I went into hypnotherapy instead?”

Emily was left speechless.

She looked Nathan up and down, then scoffed, “Pathetic!”

Nathan didn’t know what to say.

He just snapped!

Trying to prove he wasn’t a total wimp, Nathan grabbed the bag of brain tumor tissue and tore it open with a dramatic flourish. The bloody stench smacked him right in the face.

He instantly whipped his head toward the window and gagged so hard he almost puked out his soul.

He was throwing up so hard he was practically spitting out bile.

Allan didn’t know what to say.

Charles opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Emerson was speechless.

Emerson silently took the bag, reached in with his long, steady fingers, and, totally unfazed, fished out the chip. He gave it a quick rinse, then spread it out on his palm for everyone to see.

But the moment they caught sight of the symbol stamped on the chip, everyone’s expression changed in an instant.

It was CoreOne Chip 1.0!

Turns out it’s the CoreOne Chip 1.0, the one Conrad’s team spent five years on, always saying it was totally Clusia’s own research, development, and manufacturing.

Emerson’s expression turned serious. He pressed his lips together, his voice low and steady. “Ms. Carter, when you said Clusia and Estravia would be facing the biggest crisis in decades, was it all because of this chip?” Stella gave him a flat look and just nodded.

“If we don’t operate, Yakov will be dead from that brain tumor within two weeks,” Stella said.

Emily held her breath and said, “Two weeks is plenty of time for Conrad’s team to roll out CoreOne Chip 1.0 and those smart robots. As the first shot fired for homegrown chips in Clusia, the buzz is only going to get hotter!”

Charles’s face looked even worse. He said, “The whole world’s got its eyes on Clusia. If that long-lost Estravian geneticist suddenly pops up and then dies, you know Estravia’s gonna go nuts.

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Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

“Their government will definitely do an autopsy to figure out what happened. It’ll make headlines everywhere.”

“And once they do, that chip will definitely be exposed,” Emerson said coldly, picking up the thread.

‘How the hell did Clusia’s CoreOne Chip 1.0 end up in the brain of an Estravian geneticist who’s been missing for years? If this gets out, Clusia’s got no way to explain themselves, everyone thought.

Stella called out, “Sebastian…”

But her mind was somewhere else.

Sebastian’s face was ice-cold, a storm raging in his eyes. His knuckles went white as he gripped his knee. “Mr. Quinn was wrong.”

Everyone was like, “Huh?”

‘Mr. Quinn?’ Everyone’s mind was racing. ‘Wait, what does Mr. Quinn have to do with this?’

They were totally lost, their minds struggling to keep up with Sebastian and Stella.

Stella lowered her lashes, a rebellious vibe radiating off her. She said, “Mr. Quinn thought Conrad was willing to use something as nasty as Bloodworms to mess with the signing just for a bigger payoff. But that’s not it…”

Stella let out a cold laugh and said, “Conrad just wanted to push CoreOne Chip 1.0 into the military as fast as possible, and get his chip into as many military projects as he could. And then, when Yakov showed up…”

She didn’t finish, but everyone in the car got it.

They thought, ‘If things went according to plan and Yakov appeared, it would trigger the biggest trust crisis between Clusia and Estravia in decades. And what was even scarier.

‘Just recently, the government announced a deep cooperation agreement with Estravia. With this whole setup, forget about working together. This could easily blow up into a full-blown conflict.’

Everyone stood there, dumbstruck.

Once they realized the full implications, a chill ran down their spines.

Not a single word was spoken for a long moment.

Then, Allan’s voice cut through the silence from the driver’s seat, sharp and cold. “The year Yakov disappeared, Conrad just happened to bring his team back from overseas and set up Conrad Lab.”

Emily was floored and said, “Seriously, he waited for years?”

‘We’re not talking months here. It’s been years. How did Conrad manage to lie in wait for that long?’ Emily thought, totally baffled. ‘With all that time, couldn’t he have found something better to do?’

She thought, ‘Why spend all that effort to betray his own country?

‘Has he totally lost it or what?’

“Can’t we just say the chip’s a fake? Maybe someone’s just trying to mess with Clusia and Estravia?” Nathan finally blurted out, still trying to make sense of it all.

As soon as he said that, everyone looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

Nathan didn’t know what to say.

Stella’s voice was ice-cold. “You really think anyone’s gonna care if that chip’s legit or not? You think nobody’s gonna notice someone’s trying to pit Clusia and Estravia against each other?”

Nathan said, “I…”

Stella shot him a frosty look and said, “Once you’re in the middle of all this, you don’t get to decide where you go anymore.”

Nathan didn’t know what to say.

He slumped in his seat, shoulders drooping, realizing he’d just sounded way too naive.

Sebastian’s voice was icy. He said, “Conrad’s plan was flawless, until you kept wrecking it, again and again.”

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Chapter 278 A Life-Or-Death Chase

He looked at Stella and thought, ‘Whether it was trying to control Mr. Quinn with Bloodworms or secretly sabotaging Levi’s national project, Conrad was always just one Stella away from pulling it off.

The modified jeep tore across the Farronia prairie, heading straight for the Peacekeeper Camp hundreds of miles away.

Emily hugged the plain plant tight. She said, “So now that the camp’s blown to bits and Yakov’s gone for good, does that mean the whole scheme to stir up trouble is dead in the water?”

She was dead serious when she asked that.

Stella didn’t say anything.