Book 4, Chapter 85: Orders
Book 4, Chapter 85: Orders
Chen Chuan looked up. The bird wasn’t flying that high. After all, there was a limit to the length of the rope.
When it spread its wings, its wingspan was around five meters, and it had powerful wingbeats. It also moved like a martial artist.
Chen Chuan immediately deduced that the bird had mutated tissue, and it wasn’t implanted tissue either. The bird was born with it.
This meant that the creature came from the merged space.
While watching, he grabbed a handful of polished stones, twisted his waist, and threw them into the sky.
The stones charged at the bird with howls and the speed of bullets.
But Qi Qianyang was prepared for them. He removed his martial arts uniform, flung it, and a Heartborn Force shot out through his clothes. In an instant, the sturdy martial arts uniform became bigger and caught most of the stones.
Dull thuds came from where the stones hit the cloth. Even though some of them shot through the fabric and hit the bird, the remaining force was blocked by the bird’s feathers and mutated tissue. The stones didn’t do any damage.
Qi Qianyang was already high up in the sky at this point. Since he had decided to escape in this manner, he had been prepared for projectile attacks. Chen Chuan’s thrown stones contained a lot of power, so he had to be on guard against them. If they had been regular bullets, they wouldn’t have been able to hurt his bird at all.
Due to the martial arts uniform blocking the stones, his vision was also blocked for a second. When he moved it away, he noticed that Chen Chuan was gone, and his expression stiffened.
At that moment, he saw a shadow over him. When he looked up, he saw Chen Chuan above him. Half of his body was turned to the sun, and he moved like a dragon as he threw a punch at him.
With a loud shout, all of Qi Qianyang’s muscles tensed. He let go of the rope, pushed one hand against the other, and shoved diagonally upward to block the punch.
Bang!
A shockwave spread out from the contact point.
The skin on the arm with which Qi Qianyang blocked Chen Chuan’s punch started tearing. It started from the back of his hand, spread to his forearm, then up his upper arm, and even reached his shoulder. A series of cracking sounds rang out.
Blood shot out like a spiral and formed rings around him.
Chen Chuan also felt a Heartborn Force charge into him, but he was using the Flying Dragon Force. Even though he didn’t have any gaps to travel into, he could use refined force to help him jump.
The impact from their Heartborn Forces and the power of their punches caused them to split up as a shockwave spread.
Chen Chuan flipped backward and spread his body in the sky, but when he turned around to plunge down to continue attacking, Wu Quan’s voice entered his ears. “Don’t go after him, Lead Investigator Chen. Let him go.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll tell you once you come back,” Wu Quan added.
Chen Chuan cast a glance at Qi Qianyang. The man had seized the rope with his uninjured hand. When their fists clashed, Qi Qianyang had sent a mental message to him.
It showed a spacious area, and Chen Chuan understood what it was. This was the place Qi Qianyang picked as the venue for their battle.
Chen Chuan considered it. Wu Quan had contacted him via an emergency channel, and he wasn’t the type to spare an enemy, so there was definitely a reason behind it. Chen Chuan chose not to continue the chase. He restrained his refined force, flipped backward, and let his body fall until he landed with a thud.
When he looked up, he found that Qi Qianyang had already jumped on the bird’s back and left.
“Director Wu?” he asked.
“Come back to the department first.”
Chen Chuan cast a glance at his unconscious security team. Then, he took out some special medicine and let them sniff it. After a while, they stirred awake but still felt dizzy. Most of them had a splitting headache.
If they had been normal people, the mental attack would have killed them. Thank goodness they had practiced martial arts before, which gave them some resistance.
Even so, only Yu Xiao managed to recover quickly. When he heard that Chen Chuan had to go back to the department as quickly as possible, the captain of the security team insisted on driving him back.
Upon seeing that Yu Xiao was okay, Chen Chuan agreed to it. He told the others to rest while he got into the backseat of the limousine. Once the car started, he grabbed the envelope Percival had given him.
Bright light spilled out of his eyes. After scanning it, he found that the envelope only contained a few photos. They showed Lead Investigator Wen meeting some people in private settings and exchanging something.
Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t use his Realm Pass to search for their identities. After some consideration, he put the envelope aside.
He returned to the department very fast. In less than forty minutes, he was back at the Resolution Department’s headquarters.
Once inside, he immediately went to Wu Quan’s office. The moment he sat down, Wu Quan said, “Ten minutes before you fought that martial artist, three high-ranking officials of the Department of Administrative Affairs were attacked.
“We managed to defeat two groups, but the third official was stubborn and insisted on leaving the Department of Administrative Affairs. He was ambushed and taken hostage on his way back home. More than ten innocent bystanders were captured as well. One of them is a child.
“The attackers ignored us in the beginning, but after Qi Qianyang showed up and attacked the Linacrox Union’s diplomat, they immediately stated their condition: Let Qi Qianyang leave safely.
“Even if I refused to give the order, the Department of Administrative Affairs would have called you via an emergency signal. If you had refused to accept it, the blame of getting this official as well as the hostages around him killed would have been pinned on you.
“Then, even if you wouldn’t have been demoted, you would have been interrogated according to procedure, and you wouldn’t have been able to be involved in any of the department’s affairs for a period of time.”
Many thoughts rose in Chen Chuan’s head.
If he had run into such a thing at any other time, he wouldn’t have cared about being interrogated after killing Qi Qianyang. At worst, he would just not be involved in any of the department’s affairs for around half a month or so and pretend he was on holiday.
But they were in a special, delicate period of time. All parties were getting ready to go into the merged space to get the artifact. Were they doing this to kick him out of the playing field?
However, based on the current situation, letting Qi Qianyang go was also a problem.
After all, a Linacrox Union’s diplomat had died near him, so his enemies could use this to cause trouble for him.
He also thought of something else. Why did Percival show up there, and why did Qi Qianyang come right after and coincidentally kill him? Why did the hostage situation happen right before Qi Qianyang showed up? No matter what, this series of events didn’t look like a mere coincidence.
He told Wu Quan about his concerns.
“You’re right, but this has nothing to do with you. Since it was my order, you had to carry it out.”
“Will this affect you, Director Wu?” Chen Chuan asked.
“Not much, but I will be interrogated, since it’s part of the procedure. After this, there will be a period of time where I won’t be able to pay attention to everything, like before. However, I will get everything ready beforehand,” Wu Quan reassured him.
After some thinking, Chen Chuan took out the envelope from his pocket and handed it over. “I got this before the fight. The Linacrox Union diplomat gave it to me.”
Wu Quan took the envelope and went through the photos. His expression turned stern, and he asked, “Was there anyone around you when you got this?”
“Yes. My team. But they didn’t see what’s inside. I also used my mental energy to disrupt the domain around me, so Safe Shield didn’t record anything,” Chen Chuan said.
How could he not be on guard when receiving information from an untrusted source? Without records, no matter what people said about what was contained inside, their testimonies wouldn’t count for much.
“You did well. Don’t mention a single thing about this to anyone else,” Wu Quan said and quickly put the envelope away.
Chen Chuan nodded.
“One moment.” Wu Quan got up and went to the secure room. After a while, he came back and handed a key to Chen Chuan.
“Take this.” Then, he whispered some instructions to him.
Chen Chuan nodded after listening. At this point, he could sense just how complicated the situation was.
Once he was done, Wu Quan tapped his Realm Pass, and a map showed up on the screen beside them.
“Captain Xu will go to the merged space with a team at 5 p.m. today. The World Ring Defense System will give him his route on the spot. Not even I will know about it.
“Within three days at the latest, the armed combatants of the Linacrox Union and the Union will also go to the merged space through a special tunnel.
“In the past few months since the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagation, the military in the merged space has been engaged in a few battles with the imperial army. The battles and the strict regulations over who can enter the merged space will hinder the entry of non-military officers to a certain degree.
“However, news about the appearance of a Class Three artifact has spread to everyone.
“At the end of September, our military and the imperial army put an end to moderately-sized battles and moved to skirmishes between small units. Both of us are trying to find the artifact.
“Lao Xu has a huge responsibility this time. I hope that he can handle the pressure and find the artifact, but there’s no foolproof plan in the world, is there? That’s why we also have to be ready for failure.”
While staring at the map, Wu Quan said grimly, “The impact of a Class Three artifact is far too great, so we can’t let it end up in the hands of the Linacrox Union or the Union. If necessary, we will need to take extreme measures. If that time comes, wait for my orders.”