Book 3, Chapter 238: Clearing Out

The martial artist felt as if something had appeared inside him and was moving around while chewing and tearing him apart.

With a face twisted in savagery, he pushed himself up with his saber and released blood essence to heal the wounded areas, but he shouldn’t have done that. The attacks got even worse after that.

But he couldn’t stay here, so he did his best to push himself to his feet and stumble forward, but after taking twenty or so steps, he heard slow footsteps behind him.

He stiffened up, and when he turned around, he saw Chen Chuan walking toward him. Further behind him, the martial artist who had run in the other direction was already lying on the ground. His neck was bent in an unnatural direction.

Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to run away, he sucked in a deep breath. While enduring the waves of pain assaulting his body, he sat on his knees, raised his saber, drew out a cloth to wipe it a little, placed it on his neck, and with a quick, fierce slice, his head fell off.

He didn’t use any extra strength, and his saber stopped right after the cut. His arms also remained raised with the saber, showing the level of control a Third Limit martial artist possessed.

Chen Chuan took one look and returned to the motorcade.

***

When the person who came with Jiancheng Sheng saw him collapsing on the ground, his expression changed, and he immediately ran back to the limousine. Once he settled down, he said to the telegram clerk, “Send a telegram to the captain that we could not kill the target. We failed our mission, so I’ll go back to receive my punishment.”

He then wound down the window and peeked out to shout at the leader of the assault team, “Captain Zhan!”

The man immediately ran over. “What orders do you have for me, Mr. Setai?”

“Do you know what we need to do next, Captain Zhan?” Mr. Setai asked sternly.

“I know. Don’t worry, Mr. Setai. I’ll have everyone cover your retreat and make sure you leave safely,” Captain Zhan answered gravely.

Mr. Setai relaxed a little. After all, the enemy had not one but

two

Third Limit martial artists. If everyone started running away on this vast, spacious terrain, Mr. Setai wasn’t sure whether he would be able to make it out, but if someone stayed back to stop them, things would be a little better. His chances of running away would increase.

“The company will remember your sacrifice, Captain Zhan,” he said and wound up the window to block Captain Zhan’s gaze.

The limousine started and left in a hurry. As for Captain Zhan, he returned to his position and said to the people staring at him, “Everyone, we’re defending the place. Don’t let anyone through this road! Someone will take care of our families and deliver our pensions to them.”

His team members did not say anything and just spread out quietly to return to their positions as they waited for their deaths.

The higher-ups were in control of the secret key to their implants. If they ran away, they would die, while if they died fighting, their families and relatives would be taken care of.

***

After returning to the motorcade, Chen Chuan saw that things were a bit of a mess, which made sense, since three Third Limit martial artists had been fighting. They were bound to cause a huge disturbance. Hence, even though the motorcade had been keeping up a solid defense before Chen Chuan stepped away, it had crumbled to pieces afterwards.

Many of the cars had been intentionally destroyed. The two Third Limit martial artists must have done that when they saw that they couldn’t kill Mr. Yao and were unsure where Lei Guangcheng was. They left many cars toppled over and cut in half.

Fortunately, Chen Chuan’s car wasn’t with the motorcade, but parked far enough that it wasn’t affected. Before Chen Chuan left to fight, though, he had been mentally prepared to get another car.

Mr. Yao came forward and asked, “Mr. Chen, I need to go over and kill the enemies. Can you take care of Mr. Lei?”

“Just do what you need to and leave this place to me, Mr. Yao,” Chen Chuan assured him.

Once he got his confirmation, Mr. Yao drew half of the forces away to charge at the enemy.

Chen Chuan walked over to Lei Guangcheng, who hadn’t been hiding in any of the cars but had retreated to the wilderness before using a ritual to conceal his presence.

It was a bold move, since he had taken no guards with him. If anyone noticed him, he would have been killed.

But it wasn’t as if he really had no other method of defense. He had told Chen Chuan of his plan and where he would stay. If anyone was really headed his way, both Chen Chuan and Mr. Yao could react to it.

He had made the right choice. Since Lei Guangcheng had been far from the motorcade and had the ritual keeping him hidden, no one noticed him.

The two martial artists had placed their attention entirely on the motorcade and searched for Lei Guangcheng among the armed combatants, which kept him unaffected by the fighting.

When Lei Guangcheng saw Chen Chuan walk over, he didn’t immediately remove the ritual or move away from his spot, because the enemy snipers might still be looking for him. Before they were dead, he wasn’t out of the woods, so he said into his Realm Pass, “Everything’s normal on my side.”

Chen Chuan didn’t walk straight to Lei Guangcheng. If he did, he would just be outing Lei Guangcheng’s position to the enemy. “Please wait a little longer. Mr. Yao should be able to end the fight soon.”

***

Some distance away from the fighting zone, Mr. Setai’s limousine left the public road by charging through a gap in the railing.

Then, he turned around to take a look. When he saw that no one was chasing after him, he sighed in relief. If the car continued down this way, he could go straight to the beach.

Once there, someone would send him back to the company. Then...

Suddenly, the limousine jolted before stopping.

Mr. Setai frowned before turning to the driver. The man took out a gun and shot the telegram clerk in the head.

Shocked, Mr. Setai drew his own gun, but halfway through, the driver had already trained his gun on his face. “Someone needs to be responsible for this, Mr. Setai. I hope you can understand.”

Mr. Setai’s expression changed, but he forced himself to remain calm. “But you didn’t have to be in such a hurry, right? I’d like to go to the company and explain what happened to the leaders and board of directors. I wasn’t able to convey plenty of information through the telegram.”

“I’m sorry, but this cannot have anything to do with the company.”

Before Mr. Setai could say anything else, the driver pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Mr. Setai’s head blasted open. His implant interstitial fluid, brain matter, and blood spilled all over the doors and seat.

Then, the driver opened the door, released the algae fuel from the fuel tank, and stepped away before throwing a lit lighter over. When the limousine burst into flames, he left in a hurry.

***

At the same time, intense gunfire rose on the public road again. The assault team blocking the road was strong, but once Mr. Yao charged at them, their originally tight formation was thrown into chaos.

This was the power of a Third Limit martial artist. All they needed to do was put on some protective gear and charge into enemy lines at high speeds. Then, no matter what sort of formation they had, the Third Limit martial artist could destroy it from within. If the people outside the formation helped as well, the fight would quickly come to an end.

But these people seemed to be able to resist psychological pressure, and the implant-enhanced combatants fought especially fiercely.

They moved with agility, and their armor was tough. As they fought without a care for their lives, Mr. Yao’s team was met with quite a lot of resistance.

But one assault unit stood out, and it was led by Wu Han and Wei Dong. Their performance was especially outstanding.

They hadn’t been involved in the defense before, but now, they charged over, and as they worked together, they were able to kill an implant-enhanced combatant in an instant. Even other combat units did not stop their fearless offense.

Once they took down the last implant-enhanced combatant, they looked around and found that the gunfire had stopped.

Mr. Yao was watching them from a distance with admiration shining in his eyes. Even though they were only in the Second Limit, they had a lot of fighting experience. Since they were young and had obvious potential, if he trained them, they would become great assistants.

It was a pity that they were with Chen Chuan. He couldn’t just steal them from him.

With a shake of his head, he had his people wrap things up while he headed back to the motorcade. Just then, he cast a glance at a spot further away and saw Chen Chuan’s overcoat. He gave an order for a subordinate to pick it up.

When he led the team back to the motorcade, he motioned for the subordinate to hand the overcoat back to Chen Chuan. “Captain Chen, it’s all thanks to you that we won. Without your assistance, I would have had a hard time escorting Mr. Lei to Central City.”

Chen Chuan thanked the subordinate, took his overcoat, and said, “Mr. Lei can be considered my teacher, so it’s only right for me to do this.”

Just then, a telegram clerk ran over and saluted Mr. Yao before handing over an interpreted message. “Mr. Yao, the reinforcements will arrive in ten minutes.”

Mr. Yao read the telegram.

When Chen Chuan saw that things had settled down, he told Lei Guangcheng that he was stepping away and headed to Jiancheng Sheng’s corpse.

Dawncall was circling above the body and chirping at him, clearly stating that it had been keeping an eye on it for him and wanted a reward.

Chen Chuan smiled. He was going to give Dawncall extra treats tonight.

Once he was beside the body, he picked up the broken saber. Instantly, he felt something strange. It felt as if his mind had been invigorated.

This saber...

He observed the hilt, where he could sense something hidden, but this wasn’t the time to check it.

He would do so when he returned.