Chapter 721: Headlong Rush

Chapter 721: Chapter 72: Headlong Rush

In just about ten seconds, An Shield had traced the origin of the residence, as well as the source of all the High-Energy Nutrient Supplements.

“This house and the nearby properties are illegal gang assets. Three years ago, this house was rented to a citizen with the surname Li. This person has a complex background, having worked as both a client and a mercenary. Records show he returned to the residence once a month, but he has been missing for over a month now, with no trace of his whereabouts.

All the High-Energy Nutrient Supplements came from public procurement channels in other Central Cities. The buyers were all small companies registered for less than half a year. The earliest verifiable record dates back three years. Detailed records would require inquiries in the other Central Cities. We deduce this batch of High-Energy Nutrient Supplements was transported into the city in installments and stockpiled here…”

Chen Chuan thought for a moment, then instructed his subordinates, “Have someone transport all these High-Energy Nutrient Supplements away first. Seal this area off for now.”

After the situation here was handled, it only took about ten more minutes to find another warehouse. It had the same layout, was also filled with High-Energy Nutrient Supplements, and had been similarly disturbed.

But there was one difference: fresh tracks were found here, proving the mother bug had just been here. According to monitoring, it was less than two Hours ago.

This meant it had retreated just as security personnel were entering the area. Chen Chuan immediately dispatched Modified Creatures to pursue it through the hole it had left behind.

This Modified Creature couldn’t possibly erase its own tracks, so the chances of finding it this time were very high.

And so it was. In just half an hour, the Modified Creatures that went underground made contact and began fighting with some newly hatched larvae. From time to time, images of tearing and tumbling were transmitted from below.

This meant the mother bug was no longer far.

Yuan Qiuyuan and the others sprinted across the surface according to the location indicated by An Shield. The larvae they encountered, while an obstacle, also clearly marked a possible path to the mother bug.

The larvae were few in number, after all, and hadn’t consumed much nutrition since hatching. They were no match for the endless stream of Modified Creatures pouring in, and soon, the path ahead was clear of obstacles.

However, as these Modified Creatures pushed forward, the feed from the Realm Token suddenly went black. Not only did the vanguard disappear, but the ones that followed also vanished in an instant.

But the team members on the surface couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. This meant their pursuit was effective; they had very likely found their primary target this time.

Following the information transmitted from the Realm Token, Yuan Qiuyuan and the two others finally stopped at a specific location.

“This is the place.”

The three exchanged a look, then Yuan Qiuyuan and Su Wei focused their gazes on Qin Qingque. She raised an extra-long spear she had brought specifically for this, inverted it to point the tip at the ground, and took a deep breath.

A moment later, she thrust the long spear deep into the ground. SQUELCH! Nearly three-fifths of the spear’s shaft sank in. Then, with a sharp cry, she gripped the handle and gave it a shake. The earth above cracked and collapsed, revealing a subterranean cavity. The long spear was impaled in a creature about two meters in size.

But the thing was covered in so much dirt that its original form was obscured. Only a part of its smooth carapace was visible, bearing some kind of spotted pattern.

Qin Qingque gripped the spear’s handle with both hands, took two steps back, and shouted again. With a heave of her arms, she forcibly wrenched the creature out from underground!

Once it was above ground, dirt fell away with a rustle, and the creature was finally visible. Its body was shaped like an inverted steelyard weight, covered in a smooth carapace. It had bent claws on its abdomen and sides, and its head had multiple Compound Eyes. There seemed to be retractable spikes on its back. At that moment, accompanied by a strange hiss from its abdomen, they shot out with a SWISH, arcing back to stab at Qin Qingque.

Qin Qingque remained unfazed. She just gave her spear a light shake, instantly dissipating the force from the creature’s attack. The incoming spikes went limp and powerless. She then turned to the side, flicked the creature up, and then slammed it down. SLAM! It was smashed heavily onto the ground!

The bug, stunned by the fall, let out a piercing, bizarre screech.

Yuan Qiuyuan said, “Let me!” He raised the club in his hands high and suddenly brought it smashing down on the bug. The air exploded with the whistle of Power.

This single blow, once it landed, would have been enough to obliterate more than half of the bug’s body.

But just then, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. He twisted the club in mid-air, abruptly changing its trajectory to smash toward the other side. It immediately struck something, and the force of that object actually yanked the head of his club away.

A glance showed him it was heading toward Qin Qingque; the object on his club would very likely fly and hit her. He hurriedly tried to pull back, but he was already in the middle of exerting his full strength. Being able to change direction so abruptly was a testament to his excellent coordination, but now he didn’t have enough strength left to stop its momentum.

Seeing this from the side, Su Wei immediately threw out a lariat, ensnaring the club’s head. He then pulled back on it, but even so, the force dragged both of them back several steps, their feet carving deep prints into the ground.

Once they stopped, they could finally see clearly. The thing that had put them in such a sorry state was merely a Throwing Rope with several small metal balls at its end. They were involuntarily shocked.

‘Judging by the situation, this thing was thrown from at least one or two kilometers away. To carry so much Power from such a distance… this is definitely an expert!’

And at the very instant that object was thrown, Chaoming let out a cry in mid-air.

A glint flashed in Chen Chuan’s eyes. Despite the obstruction of buildings, through Chaoming, he instantly saw the Fighter who had thrown the Throwing Rope.

This person was dressed in a gray robe that enveloped them from head to toe. They had a tall, broad build. Stiff, bristly hair poked out from the hood, obscuring the upper half of their face and revealing a sharply defined jaw.

Notably, there was a sword tucked at their waist. Judging by the Sword Scabbard alone, it was about a palm-and-a-half wide—clearly very broad, but not particularly long. The Sword Scabbard was covered in heavily worn engravings.

The person was currently standing on the roof of a tall building. But just by standing there, they exuded an incredible sense of stability. This external manifestation was related not only to their own center of gravity, but also to a kind of spiritual aura.

‘If I’m not mistaken,’ he thought, ‘this must be the “captain” the prisoners mentioned.’

‘Logically, it’s very unwise for this person to appear now. By showing himself, he’s revealed his presence. The Processing Bureau will definitely try to hunt him down from now on. Even if they had no such plans before, he’ll be on their radar.’

‘However, considering the mother bug is indeed very important to him, his appearance here isn’t too strange.’

‘Besides, my purpose in coming here was to lure this person out. That’s why I’m positioned at least three kilometers away from the search area. He probably didn’t see anyone powerful enough on-site, which is why he dared to make a move.’

The person heard the cry and looked up at the sky. But on this rainy day, the sky was covered with thick, dark clouds, so he could only see a faint shadow.

But he must have realized he’d been spotted. He unhooked another Throwing Rope from his lower back, spun it twice in his hand, and violently hurled it toward the sky!

WHOOSH! The object shot into the sky, instantly becoming a black dot barely visible to the naked eye.

Chaoming simply flapped its wings lightly and dodged the incoming Throwing Rope. It was currently at an altitude of at least three to four kilometers. An attack from the ground would have trouble hitting an ordinary bird at that distance, let alone a bird like itself with Mutated Organization. It was impossible to hit.

Seeing this, the person didn’t persist. He turned, leaped off the tall building, and began moving at high speed down an alleyway full of obstacles and cover.

Chaoming immediately flapped its wings in pursuit. To maintain a clear line of sight, it had to lower its altitude slightly. At a certain moment, the person’s figure suddenly vanished. He had likely ducked into a residential building.

So Chaoming circled the area, trying to find his location. But just then, a skylight on a nearby tall building suddenly shattered, and a Throwing Rope shot out from within!

This attack was extremely sudden. It was not only faster than the last one, but also launched from a more concealed and higher position.

Yet, facing this danger, Chaoming suddenly folded its wings. Its body went completely rigid, straight as a line from front to back. Instead of dodging, it accelerated into a dive, zipping through the coiling rope by a hair’s breadth. Then, with a SWISH, it spread its wings again and dodged behind another tall building, simultaneously letting out a long, drawn-out cry.

The man had tried to use the buildings as cover to lure it down and kill this obvious eye in the sky. Chaoming, in turn, had used itself as bait to lure him out.

Both were taking risks, but Chaoming’s was greater. The slightest miscalculation could have gotten it entangled. With the Power behind that Throwing Rope, its bones could have been torn and its wings broken.

Seeing he still couldn’t take down Chaoming, the man seemed to give up. With a single leap, he jumped from the building dozens of meters high, landing on the ground with a THUD, completely unharmed. He then sprinted away into the shadow-filled passage between the tall buildings.

Meanwhile, from behind, Chen Chuan was already rushing over, his body like a swift shadow. Although they were quite far apart, he used Chaoming’s aerial observations to constantly head in the right direction. He also used the Realm Token and An Shield to analyze and map out the opponent’s likely escape route and destination.

As he was running, just as he was about to enter a certain alley, a sudden warning flared in his mind. BOOM! The entire street erupted in a massive explosion almost at the same instant, and the blast wave immediately engulfed him.