Chapter 122: Chaos

When the Martial Valor University students saw Mr. Liu and the council member being attacked, they were shocked, and their first reaction was to find the sniper or a good spot they could have used to shoot.

Since their attention was cast elsewhere, they did not expect the Merkarians to attack nor understand why they would do it. Even though they had an inkling, most of them chose to avoid them until they knew exactly what was going on.

The moment the first gunshot rang, Chen Chuan turned around to locate the sniper. Just then, he saw someone moving, and Qiu Chengzhu charged at him.

Chen Chuan simply reached out and blocked him. Before Qiu Chengzhu could figure out what was going on, he fell back.

“This isn’t the time for sparring,” Chen Chuan told him and left.

The other security guards jumped to action. Their first reaction wasn’t to stop the Merkarians, but to protect the council member and other government officials.

Until they got a clear order to attack, the Merkarians were their esteemed guests. Even if they had their suspicions, they would not interfere unnecessarily. Due to that, the Merkarians were able to reach the crowd without much effort.

Everything had happened too quickly, so the crowd standing further away had yet to figure out what exactly had happened. Everyone stood where they were and blocked the way, thus acting as a blockade for the Merkarians.

Just then, a series of gunshots came from the back of the crowd. Many people were hit and collapsed on the ground. Finally, the onlookers realized what was happening, and screams pierced through the air. The crowd started running frantically in all directions, and the entire place descended into chaos.

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. Once he heard the gunshots at the back of the crowd, he looked over and saw that the shooter was a man in sunglasses. A few stone-faced people stood behind him. Further back were a few motorbikes. Douma was running toward them.

Chen Chuan shoved aside another Merkarian student charging at him and strode over in his direction.

Not far away, Zhuang Zhi saw Chen Chuan chasing after Douma. Cunning flashed in his eyes. With a sharp jerk, he pulled two Merkarian students who charged at him to the ground before following after.

Chen Chuan started off just walking briskly, but as his legs moved faster, his speed increased. In the span of two breaths, he caught up to the fleeing Merkarians. One of them tried to block him, but with just one swipe, the student fell aside. Chen Chuan did it with such ease that it looked like he had just swatted away an insect.

Nali and Shanan were running beside Douma to clear up the path for him. Nali knew how to hold back, but Shanan showed no mercy and shoved the people in front of him. He did not care at all whether they could handle the amount of force he used.

When they saw that the students at the back could not stop Chen Chuan, they turned around to stop him.

Shanan was hot-headed and the first to arrive. With the momentum of his dash, he gathered refined force in his body and kicked at Chen Chuan’s face.

Chen Chuan punched his sole in response. Shanan’s bones snapped, and the power contained in the punch sent him flying back onto the roadside.

The moment Nali saw this, a chill ran through his heart, and he knew that he could not possibly win against Chen Chuan. But at this point, he could no longer care about his own safety. He tried crashing into Chen Chuan to stop him.

Chen Chuan’s expression remained calm. He had no intention of fighting against Nali and just stepped to the side before speeding up. He brushed past Nali and shot forward like an arrow.

Nali only managed to stop after ten or so steps. Two more Martial Valor University students ran past him, and he panicked. He turned around and gave chase.

Douma was paying attention to what was going on behind him. When he saw that Nali and Shanan were unable to stop Chen Chuan, he frowned in puzzlement. He knew that there was a disparity in strength between the Merkarian students and the Martial Valor University students, but was that disparity so great?

He did not dare to show his back to an enemy like that, so he stopped, turned around, and got ready to face him.

But the attack he expected never came. Chen Chuan did not even spare him a glance and just ran past him. His goal? The shooter from earlier.

Douma was stunned, but he had no intent to help the shooters. Just as he was about to leave, he saw someone move behind him. It was Zhuang Zhi. When he was close to Douma, he tapped against the ground and jumped up to deliver a knee strike.

Douma shook his head, took half a step forward, tilted his head, and let his shoulder come into contact with Zhuang Zhi’s knee. The latter immediately felt as if he had rammed into a barrier rope.

Before he could do anything else, Douma tensed his shoulder, back, and forearm muscles before releasing that tension, just like how an archer would release a bowstring after pulling it taut. An unstoppable force charged into Zhuang Zhi, and he was sent flying back. He tumbled a few times before finally steadying himself.

He was unhurt, but still cast Douma a nervous glance. Once he learned just how great the disparity of strength between them was, he immediately thought about retreating, only to notice something amiss. He rolled forward and avoided the gust of wind coming at his back. It was Nali. He had come to attack him after catching up.

Zhuang Zhi got up in one smooth motion. When he saw that his ambusher was Nali, he sneered. He might be unable to win against Douma, but he could take Nali on.

***

Chen Chuan was close to the shooter at this point. The man hurriedly brought his gun up and aimed at him, but Chen Chuan was too fast. He shifted side to side, forcing the shooter to keep moving the muzzle, unable to find an opening. When he finally noticed that things were bad for him, Chen Chuan had already arrived in front of him.

The shooter gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger, but Chen Chuan ducked while continuing to move forward. Once he got close, he shoved the shooter’s elbows upward. With a loud snap, the man’s arms broke, and his gun flew into the sky. At the same time, Chen Chuan rammed his shoulder against the shooter, and the man crashed into a middle-aged man who was hurrying over from the back.

The middle-aged man had a steady gait and a sharp gaze. He pressed his hand on the shooter and pushed him down, completely neutralizing the force coming from him. Then, he put the shooter down on the ground, rolled his neck, and strode to Chen Chuan with a frigid expression.

Chen Chuan extended his hand and grabbed the gun from the air. He brought the gun up, and the middle-aged man tensed and ducked his head while dodging to the side.

Chen Chuan turned to fire a few shots at the building beside him, making debris fly off the walls. The person who had been aiming at him with a rifle crouched down.

Once the middle-aged man saw that Chen Chuan had turned the gun away from him, he seized the chance to charge at him. When he got close, he brought his leg up to kick Chen Chuan’s head, but Chen Chuan ignored the attack. He threw the gun away, turned around, and threw a punch at the middle-aged man’s solar plexus.

The middle-aged man scowled when he saw that Chen Chuan wanted to defeat him even at the cost of getting injured himself. He brought his leg down with a loud bam. At the same time, he twisted his waist, shouted, and threw a punch at Chen Chuan.

Their fists clashed like steel hammers, and the ground under their feet cracked.

They remained in that stance for a bit before the middle-aged man’s face turned crimson. His bones started letting out cracking sounds, and he collapsed into a boneless heap.

Chen Chuan’s punch had shattered most of his bones.

Just then, Chen Chuan saw something in his peripheral vision. He tilted his head and felt something graze his cheek. The tree trunk near him burst apart with a bang, sending splinters flying. A bullet hole appeared on it.

He moved quickly. Occasionally, bullets flew past his head, causing the leaves and branches above him to sway or bits of gravel to rise into the air from the road.

The sniper on the building by the road suddenly felt a gust of wind behind him. Just when he wanted to turn toward his assailant, he saw a hand grab his head, and, with a twist and a snap, his head rolled to the side.

Luo Kaiyuan pushed the corpse to the side and grabbed his rifle. With familiar ease, he brought it up and took aim at the people below.

He remembered something. After some hesitation, he swung his knee up and brought his arms down to snap the rifle in two before throwing it to the side. Then, he put his hand on the windowsill and jumped down from the fourth floor. He grabbed onto the windowsills on the other floors while falling before tumbling to the ground to break the fall. He immediately got up and charged forward.

***

While dodging the bullets, Chen Chuan grabbed the gun he had thrown away and fired a few shots at the people near the motorbikes. They quickly jumped away and ran.

Douma had wanted to run to the motorbikes, but when he saw the group fleeing, he was forced to stop. He did not know how to drive a motorbike. As he hesitated, someone charged at him and threw a punch while letting out a clear shout.

It was a young woman, so quite likely a female student. Douma shook his head and avoided the punch, then grabbed her thin wrist and threw her to the ground. With a loud crack, the ground split.

He had thought that the female student would be unable to fight anymore, but she was completely fine. With barely a pause, she tried to wrap her legs around his arm. Surprised, Douma flung her far away from him.

The female student tumbled a few times before pressing her palms on the ground to push herself to her feet. By the looks of it, aside from some tears in her clothes and some dust on her body, she was fine.

Chen Chuan took a look and recognized Guan Xinyin. He noticed that Douma never went for the fatal blow against his opponents. Otherwise, Zhuang Zhi and Guan Xinyin would be crippled or even dead. This was likely due to him being worried about worsening the two countries’ relations.

If Douma’s goal had only been to leave with the oak leaf, Chen Chuan would not have gone after him before figuring out the truth. But the Merkarians had joined hands with the unknown group, who killed and hurt plenty of innocent bystanders, so they had to be held accountable. Chen Chuan was not going to let them go.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“I can’t let you leave, Mr. Douma,” he said.

Douma shook his head. He threw the box containing the oak leaf to a student and signaled for him to leave before pulling his shirt off to reveal a tanned, well-built body and toned muscles. He said grimly, “I remember you attending my class before. Let me give you another lesson, then.”