Book 4, Chapter 122: Chase
Book 4, Chapter 122: Chase
In the Union’s meeting room, the representatives were once again sitting around the meeting table.
During the previous meetings, only some of the main representatives were present. This time, all of them had arrived, and the long meeting table was full.
“Sirs, we’ve received word from the merged space. Campsite 1 has been ambushed, and Mr. Wilheim of the Linacrox Union has been confirmed dead,” the person-in-charge, who sat in the main seat, said sternly.
“Wilheim died?”
Many of the representatives were shocked.
Others had gotten the news before coming, so one of them asked grimly, “Did you verify it?”
“We received the news half an hour ago. It was a coded telegram. The Linacrox Union also received the same information. Their members are the ones who sent the telegram, so we’re sure that it’s not fake.”
“Who did it?”
“The contents of the telegram were limited, so we couldn’t identify the intruder, but based on the description of his clothing, the intruder was wearing the uniform of a Great Shun Republic’s lead investigator.”
The Great Shun Republic’s lead investigator?
All the representatives immediately realized who it was.
“Is it the lead investigator who went to the merged space to provide support?”
“Possibly.”
“Didn’t you say that he went to support the Great Shun Republic’s campsite? Why is he at our campsite?” one of the representatives immediately demanded.
“We can’t be sure whether it’s him right now. If it is, then we’ll have to confirm that we made the wrong judgment,” the person-in-charge said in resignation.
“Is that so? Didn’t you perform an assessment on his strength and determined that he’s among the top four hundred in the world? How are you going to explain what happened today? You didn’t just make one mistake, did you? I think we need to start auditing the capital flow in the intelligence and operations division,” that representative continued.
The person-in-charge of the operations division immediately apologized sincerely and bowed. “I’m truly sorry, ladies and gentlemen. This is our fault. We had professionals evaluate his strength based on his previous fights. If the intruder is really him, then the data used to judge his strength largely deviated from the truth, or he had been hiding his true strength.”
He was yet another martial artist among the top thirty?
The representatives exchanged glances. Regardless of who the intruder was, his strength was not to be questioned if he could kill Wilheim.
“Was the intruder injured? Can he still fight? Could the remaining people in the campsite capture him?” someone else asked.
“I’m sorry. We only received limited information. We’ve already sent a telegram to send another airship to check the situation, but capturing him will be difficult. According to the report, the intruder was able to kill Wilheim instantly, so perhaps we...” the person-in-charge trailed off.
As he stared at all the representatives, he gave them a grim warning. “We need to prioritize the safety of the campsite instead of capturing him. Our main combatants entered the undeveloped area a long time ago, so we don’t have enough manpower to stop such a powerful martial artist.”
Quite a lot of the representatives froze.
They knew just how important the campsite was. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gathered together so many resources from their branch companies to build it. Without the campsite, even if they managed to get the artifact, they would have a hard time bringing it back safely.
Another representative asked, “Can we go the legal route and sue the Resolution Department? We went to the frontlines to provide support, yet they attacked us. This goes against the mega alliance’s agreement.”
The person-in-charge looked over and found that this representative was someone who seldom attended their meetings. It was no wonder why he would say such a thing. “It’s impossible. We only received a telegram and don’t even have a photo as proof. The Resolution Department can just deny it,” he patiently explained.
Besides, even if they had proof, the Great Shun Republic could argue back that just because the intruder wore the uniform of a lead investigator, did it really mean that he was a government officer? If they put on the Union’s uniform, could they have said that they were killing each other?
On top of that, the merged space was the intersection, arena, and battleground between the two worlds. There were no laws there. The rules of the physical world couldn’t be used to solve the fighting in the merged space. The only law that worked there was violence. The strong won, and the weak were eliminated.
A representative sitting at the front of the table asked calmly, “What’s the Linacrox Union’s reaction? One of theirs died. Aren’t they doing anything about it?”
“They haven’t said anything as of now,” the person-in-charge answered respectfully.
“What is your plan?”
“The intruder is a major threat, but because of communications limitations, we can’t make any arrangements until we receive another telegram. I believe, though, that we should be prepared for the camp to have suffered major losses,” the person-in-charge said.
“If that’s the case, we’ve returned to the same starting line as the Great Shun Republic. If this is what the World Ring Defense System is trying to achieve, they’ve succeeded,” the representative said grimly.
The person-in-charge looked at the representatives and took over the conversation firmly and confidently. “It’s useless. Jibei Road’s government is held back by the gap in the World Ring. Along with our partner, we can send a lot more manpower to find the artifact.
“Even if they got another Third Limit martial artist who might be in the top thirty globally, it won’t change much. Wilheim might not be around anymore, but we still have Heros.”
Many of the representatives agreed with what the person-in-charge said. Giant God Heros was their strongest trump card. He was also working together with their other martial artists. The advantages they had accumulated during the early stages of the operation were so solid that the Great Shun Republic couldn’t possibly turn things around with just one or two people.
***
Xu Chan cautiously led his team through a clearing in the forest deep within the undeveloped area. They had been here for days, but they still hadn’t found the artifact.
The light from the artifact had disappeared soon after it appeared, so they only knew its general location.
Besides, the artifact didn’t just attract humans. It also drew over the merged space creatures, so there was a high chance that it had been eaten by one of them. They wouldn’t be able to know which one unless they got close. That was why they needed to search for it patiently.
Trying to find a small thing in a big area was difficult, though. The undeveloped area was also full of life-threatening dangers, so it was a true test of their skills.
They had already suffered some losses. While the main combatants were still around, thirty percent of the technicians, logisticians, and support personnel had perished.
Even if Xu Chan was around, he had a hard time protecting everyone.
Two days ago, one of them saw a pillar of light a few dozen meters away from them. It seemed like the light from an artifact. The moment they ran over to check, a creature swallowed them whole.
Another person had been walking after his teammates when he suddenly sunk into the ground. Everyone scrambled to pull him out, but powerful acid had already melted his lower half into an unidentifiable lump. Parasites then decided that he was a great incubator and injected their eggs into him. In the end, all they could do was inject suppressants into him and carry him on a stretcher.
This teammate happened to be the proud sort, so because he thought that he was holding them back or because he simply did not want to face such a reality, he took his own life that night. The one in charge of keeping watch over him might have seen it or might have just taken his eyes off of him for a second, but no one looked into it. They simply burned his body so that they could take his ashes back.
Things like this happened often. Meanwhile, the Union and Linacrox Union martial artists didn’t manage to take out too many of them, even though they had previously been the most wary of them.
Just then, their rear guard said, “They’re here again, Captain.”
They had a small domain communication entity with them that allowed them to communicate via Realm Passes.
Xu Chan was expecting this. Ever since they ran into Blood Diamond, someone had been persistently tailing them over the past few days. They had shaken them off a few times, but soon, they found them again.
This was unavoidable. Theirs was a big team, so they left many tracks in this unfamiliar place. In the eyes of experienced trackers, they might as well have been beacons of light showing the path they took. Besides, the undeveloped area was filled with dangers on every corner, so they had to be careful at all times and could not speed up.
Xu Chan immediately ordered, “Everyone, continue onward along the trail left by the development squad. Don’t turn back. Captain Hai, lead the team while I’m not around.”
Captain Hai was a man with a full beard. He quickly said, “I’ll do them right, Captain Xu.”
Xu Chan patted his shoulder and went to the back of the team. Once the rear guard left, he waited until a blurry figure appeared in the woods. The man yanked off the sawteeth vines that tried to wrap themselves around him as he walked over.
The tracker wore red protective gear and had his hair done in a topknot. His face and shoulders were incredibly broad, so his upper body appeared abnormally strong. In comparison, his legs were thin. His eyes were a rare red. It seemed like this was the workings of his mutated tissue.
“Blood Diamond.”
Xu Chan stared at him. They had fought before. Despite taking a Heartborn Force head-on, the man appeared perfectly fine.
If Xu Chan had taken the enemy’s Heartborn Force straight on, he wouldn’t have been able to escape unscathed, which could only mean that there was something special about Blood Diamond’s refined force and body.
However, when they first fought, Blood Diamond had left, so he must have thought that he couldn’t win against Xu Chan. After that, he had disappeared for a long time. Since he had decided to approach Xu Chan once more, had he gotten some kind of trump card?
While he was thinking, his eyelids twitched, and he heard a series of explosions that rapidly drew closer. Two agile figures appeared beside Blood Diamond.