Book 3, Chapter 103: Resonance

Aside from the stacked objects at the center serving as a real blockade, the rest of the entrance only had a few flimsy barrier ropes to ward off the area. The Moss Gang had left those spaces for themselves to move in and out of the area.

When the gang members outside realized that something was happening inside and heard the gang leader’s orders, they immediately dragged over a few simple tire slashers and set them down under the barrier ropes.

The others crouched behind the stacked objects and drew their crossbows and guns before aiming them at the area ahead. The moment they saw Chen Chuan’s car, they started shooting.

Most of the bullets missed their target, and only a few landed on the car’s bulletproof casing. They created a few sparks before bouncing off.

Chen Chuan cast a glance at the shooters before stepping down on the gas pedal, shifting the gear, and charging at the obstacles.

The gang members turned pale and quickly jumped to the side to avoid the car.

Bang!

The obstacles scattered into the wind, and Chen Chuan charged out.

All he felt was a violent jolt. Phantom Form had modified his car to be really sturdy, so Chen Chuan could sense that it was fine. Its upgrades should have taken into account how strong the car needed to be to charge through obstacles.

Just then, the car jumped a bit, as if it had run over something. When it became steady again, Chen Chuan turned the steering wheel and drove the car in a huge arc until he reached the next road.

One of the gang members immediately notified the gang’s higher-ups about what had happened.

Once Chen Chuan started driving on the wide road, his body and mind were in an exceptionally lively state. His body seemed to be able to answer to his mind even better than before.

A quick examination made him realize that getting rid of the supernatural being also gave him a boost toward the Third Limit.

After some thinking, he found that it made sense. After all, when he was exposed to supernatural beings, his mutated tissue started growing.

With the help of medicine and the new breathing technique, his mutated tissue’s growth was limited to the path Chen Chuan had set out for it. All that he was lacking right now was a power that could make them grow faster while he actively guided the growth.

Supernatural beings could be regarded as powerful opponents too, since they contained the mysterious elements that he loved. When he got rid of them, the excitement and fulfillment he felt was not any bit weaker than what he got from sparring with Hongfu.

In the past, whenever he fought against supernatural beings, his overlap time with his second self would increase, just like when he won against powerful opponents. In essence, he was resonating with his second self and bringing them closer. Hence, fighting against supernatural beings was another way for Chen Chuan to make his mind and body become one.

Cao Guiqi had told him that as long as he found a suitable method for himself, it would be fine; he never said that Chen Chuan could only choose one method, though.

If that were the case, aside from sparring with Hongfu, he could also get rid of some supernatural beings. This would stimulate the growth of his mutated tissue even better.

While he was pondering over this, Wu Bei said, “Chen Chuan, quite a number of people are attacking your Realm Pass and tracking your location.”

In order to be of better help, Wu Bei had set up a domain alarm on Chen Chuan’s Realm Pass. The moment anyone attacked his biofield, Wu Bei would immediately receive a warning about it.

Chen Chuan thought about it and said, “They should be from the Moss Gang. I had a bit of a fight with those guys just now.”

The moment Wu Bei heard that Chen Chuan’s opponents this time were gang members, he helped him ward off the external attacks and interference while saying excitedly, “Leave this to me.”

“Sure,” Chen Chuan said. He had no time for these people. To him, they were like mud. When he stepped on them, he would just end up dirtying his shoes.

The gangs in Central City lived in different districts and had their own territories. They didn’t extend their grubby hands to other districts. The moment Chen Chuan left Roaring Victory District, they wouldn’t be able to bother him anymore.

After driving for some time, Wu Bei said, “Some gang members are blocking the road ahead. I’ll find another path for you. You might need to take a little bit of a detour, but you won’t need to stop at any traffic lights.”

“Sorry for the trouble,” Chen Chuan said.

He drove forward according to Wu Bei’s instructions and avoided the blockade.

When the resonators from the Moss Gang found that they couldn’t stop him, they quickly launched another plan. As the biggest gang in Roaring Victory District, they had plenty of bases in the city. Hence, a senior member of the gang immediately had the gang members scatter all over the district to find a modified car from Jiade. Soon, they found it, and he sent people to block Chen Chuan’s path.

Wu Bei noticed it and tried to interfere with the information exchange between their Realm Passes.

However, the Moss Gang members knew where the Realm Nodes in Roaring Victory District were located like the back of their hand, and they had plenty of domain outposts around the Realm Nodes. On top of that, they had plenty of members in the area. Even if Wu Bei had a resonator nest, he was restricted to only transferring his commands through Realm Nodes and could only overpower or fight them one by one. He couldn’t stop them all in one go.

Once he realized this, he gave Chen Chuan a heads-up before pretending to retreat.

The Moss Gang resonators thought that he wanted to run away and started chasing after him via the crumbs he left behind.

If they had kept their fight restricted to Roaring Victory District, they might have had a chance of winning, but once they left Roaring Victory District’s Realm Nodes, their advantage disappeared, and all of them fell into the information traps Wu Bei had set up outside. He sent a wave of indiscernible domain signals crashing into them.

When a tsunami of information surged into the resonators’ brain implants, they were unable to bear the burden and started vomiting. One of them suffered especially badly. His eyes rolled back, and he started foaming at the mouth.

After passing two more roads, Chen Chuan cast a glance at the rearview mirror and noticed two modified convertibles following him. Clearly, they were from the Moss Gang.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan contacted the City Patrol and told them that he was the Resolution Department’s backup law enforcer, Chen Chuan. He then said that gang members were chasing him through Roaring Victory District, and if the City Patrol did not do anything about it, he was going to get rid of them using the methods of the Resolution Department.

Soon after the City Patrol received the call, they seemed to have contacted the leaders of the Moss Gang, because most of the gang members participating in the chase immediately retreated. But some refused to back down. When the leaders chasing after Chen Chuan in the two convertibles received news from their boss to give up on the chase, they started cursing.

“What the fuck? He killed our guys, and Yuan Bing might be dead too. How can we just give up? Why do I need to show any respect to the City Patrol? Tell them to kiss my ass!”

He drew his gun and started firing at Chen Chuan’s car. Soon, he emptied a magazine, but this sort of venting didn’t threaten Chen Chuan in the slightest. All it did was cause some noise.

The two convertibles followed Chen Chuan’s car until they passed by another road. Just then, red words flooded their Realm Passes, telling them that they had bounties set on their heads, and they had to immediately stop their car for an inspection.

But the Moss Gang members in the convertibles didn’t care about that. Many of their members had bounties on their heads, and they were never bothered by it. Why should they stop for an inspection? Screw inspections! Why should they even care about the City Patrol’s warning?

Another ten minutes or so passed. When the convertibles passed by another road, an armored patrol car suddenly charged out diagonally and rammed into the leading convertible. It immediately tumbled to the side. Since the gang leader inside had enhanced nerves and modified calf muscles, he managed to jump out in time.

The people in the second convertible were shocked, and the driver quickly turned the steering wheel to go around the armored patrol car. Even so, the second convertible almost flipped over. Just then, he noticed that at some point in time, the road had been emptied out of cars. The area had been blocked off and armored patrol cars surrounded them.

This time, the City Patrol guards in the cars didn’t say a single thing. Instead, they drew their guns and started firing. Even if the gang members had subcutaneous armor implants, they couldn’t withstand that many bullets hitting them, and they collapsed while screaming in pain.

When the gang leader who jumped out of the convertible noticed that things were going south, he immediately activated the power-boosting hormone in his implants. It raised his blood pressure and increased his heart rate to help him run away. But as the City Patrol guards fired at him from all sides, he collapsed no more than eight meters away from them.

The City Patrol usually didn’t cause such a commotion. After all, their job was just to maintain order and wrap things up, but if gang members publicly went after a backup law enforcer on the streets and even fired at him, that was another matter.

Besides, due to the upcoming tournament, the superiors had told them to tighten security. If idiots dared to cause trouble even after being explicitly told not to do that, they were spitting in the City Patrol’s faces, and there was no need for the City Patrol to show them any respect.

***

Meanwhile, in a residential building not far from the hotel, the boy who had given Chen Chuan the warning carried a large box of nutritional paste to the door of a room with closed curtains.

Gingerly, he opened the door. Sitting cross-legged on the floor was a huge man with most of his body cast in shadow. Strangely, if the boy didn’t see him with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have noticed the man at all. However, based on the man’s facial features, the boy could tell that he had brave and heroic features. The most eye-catching thing about him, though, was that he had a hammer at his waist.

The boy set the box down and said, “This is your nutritional paste of the day, Mister.”

The man reached out, grabbed a tube, and started eating it.

The boy stood up to leave, but then cast a glance at the hammer, causing the man to pause for a while before looking up at him. “You want to learn how to use this, kid?”

The question stunned the boy for only a moment. Delight flashed on his face as he nodded. “Yes!”

But the man said nothing else and just resumed eating the nutritional paste.

After waiting for a while, the boy felt rather disappointed and turned to leave. Just then, the man said, “The anomaly in the hotel has disappeared. I won’t stay here for long.”

The boy was surprised. “Are you leaving already, Mister?” he asked anxiously.

The man had already finished the entire box of nutritional paste and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before saying, “I’ll stay here for a few more days. It’ll be up to you how much you can learn in that time.”

A wave of joy washed over the boy.

The man rolled his neck and stood up slowly. “Don’t be too happy. I’m a harsh teacher.”