Book 4, Chapter 114: Poisonous Shadow
Book 4, Chapter 114: Poisonous Shadow
Chen Chuan observed Yang Yuncheng’s wound and saw some mutated substances at the edges that prevented his recovery. It seemed like it was poison.
Before coming here, he had read up on the information provided by the Resolution Department, so he had some knowledge about the martial artists who came with the Union.
After asking some questions about the attacker’s getup, he learned some things.
If Yang Yuncheng was right, based on what Chen Chuan knew, the attacker might be a Union martial artist who went by Poisonous Shadow.
Apparently, this man was among the best martial artists in the world.
So, without much hesitation, he agreed to Yang Yuncheng’s request.
“I can help you with this, because these people are also my enemies. I came here to take them out.”
His original plan had been to ambush the campsite, but if he could get rid of one of their elites outside the camp, he wasn’t going to say no.
Besides, Chen Chuan was quite curious about the global ranking system and wanted to use this chance to see for himself just how strong the globally top-ranked martial artists were.
When Chen Chuan agreed without even asking about the difficulty and dangers he was about to face, Yang Yuncheng thought that he did so only because he was once part of the Great Shun Republic’s army. A fire that had not burned in his heart for a long time flickered to life, and he really wanted to do something for Chen Chuan.
He scooted forward a little and asked, “Are you here to scout the situation, Mr. Chen?”
“I was going to take a look at their campsite,” Chen Chuan replied.
Yang Yuncheng nodded at that and said sincerely, “You might not be familiar with these roads. I’ve been living here for twenty-five years, so I know which paths you can take to avoid trouble. They can also lead you to the campsite and allow you to observe it easily. Once we take down Poisonous Shadow, I’ll take you through them.”
“Don’t you need to escort these people away from this place?” Chen Chuan asked.
“They grew up here, so they won’t have any trouble traveling through these woods as long as no one strong is chasing them,” Yang Yuncheng pointed out.
Chen Chuan saw no reason to reject his offer after hearing that. The situation was complicated, after all, and if he got someone familiar with the place as his guide, it would be for the best.
He cast a glance at Yang Yuncheng’s wound, then took out a bottle of medicine from his breast pocket. “Try it.”
Yang Yuncheng didn’t reject it. He took the bottle, cast it a glance, and said with great nostalgia, “It’s the same as before.”
With swift movements, he removed the cork and poured some of the medicine on his wound before dipping his finger into the bottle for more medicine. Without batting an eyelid, he put his finger deep into his wound and spread the medicine evenly inside.
A moment passed, and the mutated substance that was preventing his wound from recovering stopped working. The mutated tissue around the wound came back to life from its stasis and started regrowing the flesh.
Upon sensing the effects, delight appeared on Yang Yuncheng’s face. “Thank you for the medicine, Mr. Chen!”
“You don’t have to thank me, Mr. Yang. Considering your identity, we’re comrades. This is nothing,” Chen Chuan said.
“Comrades, huh?” Yang Yuncheng nodded before extending his hand. “Let me introduce myself again. I’m Yang Yuncheng, a soldier who hasn’t been able to return to service for twenty-five years.”
Chen Chuan shook his hand. “Chen Chuan, lead investigator of the Resolution Department.”
“You’re a lead investigator?”
Yang Yuncheng was shocked. He wasn’t expecting to meet a lead investigator. In the military, he would be a high-ranking officer that would practically never show up in the front lines, much less venture so deep into the merged space.
But he had been away from the World Ring Defense System for twenty-five years, so his experience might no longer hold true, so he didn’t ask any questions.
He cast a glance outside. In a short while, it stopped raining. Then, he checked his old mechanical watch. It was already noon, so with a stern expression, he said, “Our attacker usually shows up around this time. We need to get ready, Lead Investigator Chen.”
“Okay. He’s already here, by the way,” Chen Chuan said.
Yang Yuncheng tensed up, but the next moment, the tent flap flew up, and Chen Chuan vanished.
An explosive bang came from outside, and the tent shuddered.
Yang Yuncheng grabbed the bone sword and rushed out. Repeated thunderous explosions echoed through the area. Sometimes, they sounded right in front of him, while at other times, far away. But every time, they made his ears ache.
Soon, the sounds died down. The final blast seemed to have come from the forest road they had traversed to come here. Yang Yuncheng immediately rushed in that direction.
Around six hundred meters from the camp, he saw Chen Chuan with his sheathed saber in hand. Wisps of steam came from his fist.
A man in a black protective uniform and a spindle-shaped mask was lying on the ground. His chest had caved in with a swirl. His body and limbs had become twisted, like they were moving in the direction of the swirl.
Yang Yuncheng’s breathing grew labored, and he walked over slowly to take a closer look at the person on the ground. He held a long, black spike, which had become twisted from an unknown force.
He could tell that this person had tried to use his mutated weapon to block Chen Chuan’s refined force, but it was useless. In the end, his body and weapon were destroyed by the refined force.
“Is this him, Mr. Yang?” Chen Chuan asked.
“Yes.” Yang Yuncheng nodded. As he stared at the half-dead man on the ground, he found himself feeling countless complicated emotions. He hadn’t expected the powerful, nigh unstoppable opponent in his head to be so easily taken out. Suddenly, he felt that his age and thinking had fallen out with the times.
Chen Chuan treated the world-famous martial artists seriously. After fighting one, he could tell that they were strong and could easily become squad captains, perhaps even lead investigators, but that was about it.
Once a martial artist reached a certain strength, it would not be easy for them to become even a little stronger. Hence, he shouldn’t underestimate the ones ranked at the top on his list. He couldn’t tell how strong they were; he would only know that after fighting against them.
Yang Yuncheng squatted down and examined the fallen man with his gloved hand. Poisonous Shadow’s neck and chest bones and muscles were shredded by a refined force, which filled him with amazement once again.
“Did you want to get information from him, Lead Investigator Chen?” he asked.
“Yes. But he wasn’t being cooperative,” Chen Chuan replied.
“Since you trusted us, we can help,” Yang Yuncheng offered.
Chen Chuan had no problem with that. Interrogation wasn’t his forte. If Yang Yuncheng could get answers for him, that would be great, while if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t be a problem either.
Yang Yuncheng took out some rope and tied Poisonous Shadow up before hoisting him on his shoulder. Then, they returned to the campsite.
He handed Poisonous Shadow to another person in one of the tents before coming back and saying, “They’ll need some time to interrogate him, Lead Investigator Chen. It might rain a few more times today, so it’s not a good time to go to the Union’s campsite. Why don’t you rest here for today? I can bring you there tomorrow morning.”
“Sure,” Chen Chuan agreed.
Yang Yuncheng reached into his overcoat’s pocket and took out a palm-sized object wrapped in thick cloth. “Please take this, Lead Investigator Chen.”
Chen Chuan didn’t take it immediately. Instead, he asked, “What is it?”
Yang Yuncheng sighed. “It’s the artifact I found all those years ago.”
Chen Chuan was shocked. “Oh? Your squadmates didn’t take it with them?”
Yang Yuncheng shook his head. “When we were attacked by the python, we guessed that it was because we were carrying the artifact, so I kept it with me when I stayed back as a rear guard.
“Based on our analysis, it’s just a Class Five artifact. Maybe it’s Class Four, but no more than that. It might be worth something, but not much. Otherwise, the creatures it attracted would have been stronger.
“I’ve had it with me this whole time, but I never managed to figure out what it is. I’d like to give it to you. You can do whatever you want with it, regardless of whether it’s to keep it or hand it to the World Ring Defense System. This isn’t our reward, though. We’ll give you what we’ve promised later.”
Chen Chuan didn’t care about whether he got a reward or not, but he didn’t reject the gift. “I’ll take it, then.”
Yang Yuncheng looked like a huge burden had been removed from his shoulders, and he became much more relaxed.
Then, he asked Chen Chuan whether he needed a tent. When Chen Chuan said that he didn’t need one, Yang Yuncheng didn’t try to convince him otherwise. After all, Chen Chuan had traveled a long distance to come here, so he definitely had his own way to survive the night.
Since Chen Chuan had decided to stay, he went to the side to prepare his tent. He picked a corner a distance away from the rest of the group.
The entire campsite was surrounded by bonfires, so Chen Chuan didn’t have to worry about anything going wrong or prepare his own bonfires.
Since he had plenty of time, he made his cave wider. Once he was ready, he noticed that it had started raining. He told Yang Yuncheng that he was going to train and asked him to tell the rest not to come close.
Then, he returned to his tent, sat down, grabbed the Frost King Saber, gave it a light swing, and cut open a brilliant gap. Just as he was about to begin his daily training, he felt something in his pocket getting hot.