Book 4, Chapter 168: Rising Tension

Advisor Pei remained relaxed. He, too, smiled back. “I’m sorry, but I remember that most of the data you have for your corruption examination is provided by us, the World Ring Defense System. Even if you did discover a new parasite, you have to go through our assessment and review. After all, we’re the ones who have to face these dangerous creatures at the frontlines.

“I haven’t received word of any new parasites logged into the World Ring Defense System’s directory, so I have reason to request confirmation about whether this ‘new parasite’ even exists. Until then, I’m not going to acknowledge its existence. If you want to protest, you should submit a discovery and assessment report to the World Ring Defense System.”

He checked his watch. “Sorry, but we have other tasks to perform and can’t stay here. Please step aside. Don’t block our way.”

Damn, he’s troublesome, Li Xie cursed internally, but he wasn’t going to give up so easily. Their main task today was to keep these people from going back to the Resolution Department, so he had to buy some time.

Just as he was about to speak again, Captain Lu stepped forward and shoved him to the side so hard that he stumbled. “Cut the crap! To hell with the Crisis Management Center. Where the hell were you when I was out there risking my life? Now that I’m back, you want to examine me? Scram!”

The moment he “attacked,” the armed forces tensed up and put their hands on their guns, but that only caused the other members of the artifact retrieval team to glare at them.

Li Xie’s expression tensed, and he shouted, “Don’t do anything!”

At the same time, he raised his hands to show that he wasn’t going to resort to violence. “Step aside. Let them pass.”

The armed forces were just regular security guards, so it was impossible for them to fight against martial artists who had just returned from the battlefield. If they actually started a fight, they were going to get slaughtered within seconds.

They were only here to complete the procedures. If they agreed to cooperate, they had ways to detain them in the Crisis Management Center, and if they didn’t, they also had ways to punish them. There was no need for him to step forward to do anything. It wasn’t part of his task.

Once Li Xie stepped aside, no one caused him further trouble. After all, they knew that he was just following orders.

Advisor Pei had the guards from the World Ring Defense System separate both groups and gave Chen Chuan’s group a nod.

Chen Chuan nodded back and righted his hat before leading them out of the exit and into the brightly lit area outside.

Li Xie watched them leave and waited for the guards from the World Ring Defense System to depart as well before he put his hand on his Realm Pass and said, “Mr. Yan, they refused the examination and left.”

“Got it,” Yan Zhiwen said and ended the call.

***

When Chen Chuan’s group went outside, they saw cars from the World Ring Defense System waiting for them. Chen Chuan went to a limousine. Once he settled down and the car started, he finally had time to pay attention to the tons of messages in his Realm Pass.

Two of them stood out. He opened one of them and heard a voice message. “Good day, Lead Investigator Chen. We’re from Beach Law Firm. The Union has hired us to sue you for attacking the team they sent into the merged space—”

He swiped it off before even hearing it in full and opened the other message.

It was a diplomatic correspondence submitted by the Linacrox Union to the Resolution Department’s external operations division. Apparently, they had found a new witness for Percival’s death, and they needed him to cooperate and talk with them.

Chen Chuan tapped his Realm Pass and contacted Gao Ming.

“You’re back, cuz?”

“Just returned. I need your help with a couple things,” Chen Chuan said and sent the diplomatic correspondence and voice message over.

“Leave it to me,” Gao Ming promised.

“Also, you need to be careful,” Chen Chuan cautioned him.

Gao Ming immediately understood what he meant. “Got it. I’ll communicate with them via Realm Pass only.”

Chen Chuan nodded. After ending the call, he tapped on his Realm Pass again. “Safe Shield, give me a summary of important stuff that happened after I left. Also, I need a detailed report of what happened over the past two days.”

Safe Shield immediately gave him a simple, short report of what had happened before jumping to a thorough explanation of everything that happened in the last two days. He reported that the claims against Wang Weiguang had been removed, and he had brought a group of people back to the department.

Upon hearing this, Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. “Let’s go back to the Resolution Department.”

***

More than ten armored cars were parked at the junction. Yan Zhiwen of the Crisis Management Center was in the principal vehicle. His Realm Pass showed the motorcade coming toward him.

He gave an order, and some of the armored cars rushed forward to block the road. Elite armed combatants got out and pointed their guns to the front.

Meanwhile, Yan Zhiwen opened the car door and got out to stand at the front.

Everyone in the motorcade heard his voice. “We’re the emergency response unit from the Crisis Management Center. You are all currently labelled as unscreened personnel who have just returned from the merged space. For the sake of Central City’s safety, please get out and come with us to the center for an examination. If you refuse to obey, we will resort to force.”

“Lead Investigator Chen, Captain Xu, that’s Yan Zhiwen. He’s the municipal government’s lapdog,” Captain Lu hissed.

He had always found Yan Zhiwen an eyesore. The man had always thrown his weight around because the municipal government supported him. However, while Captain Lu hated Yan Zhiwen’s guts, he still acknowledged his strength. If he caught the municipal government’s eye and was given important tasks all the time, he was definitely no regular martial artist.

“Lead Investigator Chen, Yan Zhiwen is an old acquaintance of ours. Leave this to me,” Xu Chan said.

“Fight at will, Captain Xu. I’ve got your back,” Chen Chuan ordered calmly.

“Okay,” Xu Chan grunted. He already had a theory after boarding Yao Zhiyi’s airship and getting off the train, but upon hearing these words, he became even more sure of it.

Xu Chan opened the door and got out. The other three squad captains and his other teammates did the same. All of them wore protective uniforms, and many of them wore masks, which gave them an awe-inspiring demeanor.

Yan Zhiwen ignored the rest and fixed his eyes on the person walking toward him. “Xu Chan?”

Xu Chan stared at him. “Yan Zhiwen, you still have a chance to step aside.”

“Captain Xu, please cooperate with us. Central City’s safety is more important than everything else. The Crisis Management Center is responsible for all of its citizens. If you refuse to be examined, I will have to exercise the safety agreement formed between the municipal government and the Department of Administrative Affairs to take coercive measures against all of you. Please consider this carefully,” Yan Zhiwen stated with a stony fact.

Xu Chan did not reply and simply drew his sword. With a flick of his wrist, he brandished it, and faint light shone at the tip.

Yan Zhiwen’s expression sank, and he drew two spikes from his waist. They, too, were glowing at the tips. “Xu Chan, you’re breaking the law! I’m going to exercise the authority Central City has given to me to apprehend you,” he snapped.

“You’ve wasted your chance to leave,” Xu Chan said and thrust forward.

Yan Zhiwen brought his arms up, and the spikes clashed with the sword. He was an experienced martial artist and knew to use one spike to block the flexible and thin sword while using the other to bypass the tip of the sword. Since he was moving so quickly, it looked like his spikes touched the sword at the same time.

Since there were two contact points, his spirit sense struck Xu Chan’s weapon in two waves. However, the moment their weapons touched, Yan Zhiwen noticed that Xu Chan was prepared, and spirit sense rose from those two spots.

Xu Chan charged forward and got right into Yan Zhiwen’s face to throw a glowing fist at him.

This was an unusual move. Since the sword had a longer attack range than the spikes, he could target Yan Zhiwen from further away. He could dance around Yan Zhiwen in circles while staying out of his range.

That was why Yan Zhiwen hadn’t expected Xu Chan to actually close the distance between them. This didn’t fit Xu Chan’s usual style of searching for opportunities before dealing a finishing blow.

Despite being surprised, he managed to react on time. Close-quarters combat was his strength, so he welcomed this. He couldn’t pull back his spikes in time, so he swung his fists toward Xu Chan’s instead while still holding the spikes. His fists started glowing.

Their fists clashed, and the light on them started disappearing. Then, two waves of Heartborn Forces slammed into each other to create a powerful shockwave that caused the cars to sway.

They appeared to be equal in strength, and neither backed down.

Yan Zhiwen could sense that something was off. He felt his skin crawl, and he saw Xu Chan’s sword flipping up due to the impact from the shockwave. Once it went up above Xu Chan, it flipped back down due to some Heartborn Force pushing against it, and its glowing tip was aimed straight at Yan Zhiwen’s head.

Xu Chan’s goal for rushing into his space wasn’t to attack him, but to stall him while he used his momentum and Heartborn Force to make the sword move.

This was a technique Xu Chan had created after watching how Qi Qianyang used his whip. He named it Scorpion Sting, and this was his first time using it.

Xu Chan’s Heartborn Force was keeping Yan Zhiwen’s movements limited, so he couldn’t free up any energy to break out. All he could do was watch the tip coming at him like a whip and stabbing the back of his head.

Crack!

The spirit sense on the sword instantly reduced his brain tissue to mush.

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