Chapter 542: The Power to Bury the Old Era (Part 2)

Chapter 542 -366: The Power to Bury the Old Era (Part 2)

“Schiller is dead.” A hoarse voice was the first to break the silence. “And now, the abandoned Research Institute 734 has been burned to the ground. Our initial assessment is that the person who killed Schiller is the same one responsible—that Wu Liangchen.”

“An outsider Martial Cultivator dares to provoke the might of the Apex Group like this! He’s got a death wish!” another, more aggressive voice shouted. The figure in the projection slammed a hand on the table, sending out a ripple of data.

“Based on Schiller’s final communication record and an analysis of the residual energy signatures at the scene, the target is extremely powerful. He’s at least a Martial Artist of the Indestructible Divine Sight Realm, and he also wields some kind of rare Magic,” a calm voice that sounded like a technical supervisor analyzed.

“Hmph, so what if he’s at that level? In the face of the Apex Group, he’s just a slightly stronger ant!”

“The key issue is that this man acts without any restraint. His methods are ruthless, and he seems to have some knowledge of our Group’s internal affairs. That’s what’s most troubling.”

The group broke into a flurry of discussion, their words filled with killing intent for Wu Liangchen and fury over the incident.

Research Institute 734, although long abandoned, still contained things of special value to the Apex Group. For it to be burned to the ground now was undoubtedly a vicious slap in the face to the corporation.

Just as the atmosphere in the conference room grew increasingly oppressive and the air grew thick with tension…

A new projection silently materialized in the main seat.

It was the figure of a man, tall and straight, but completely shrouded in a layer of flowing shadow. His face was impossible to make out; even his clothes were indistinct.

But upon his appearance, the entire conference room fell instantly silent. The executives, so arrogant and fiery just moments before, all reined in their bravado. Their projections dipped slightly, as if in a show of respect.

Because this mysterious projection was the true master of the Apex Group, the one who existed only in legends—Zero!

“I want this Wu Liangchen,” Zero’s voice echoed through the vast conference room.

“Understood!” The assembly all bowed their heads.

“Butterfly will assist you.”

As he finished speaking, another projection appeared.

Countless two-dimensional lines of ethereal blue swiftly sketched themselves out, intertwining and combining.

In an instant, a massive butterfly with a wingspan of several meters, composed of innumerable precise lines, quietly materialized before their eyes.

The butterfly’s wings shimmered with a mesmerizing light. Each flap seemed to stir a torrent of data, blurring the line between reality and illusion. It had no physical form, yet it exuded a heart-pounding pressure, as if it were a deity born from the world of the network.

“Find his trail, then bring him back,” the man instructed.

“As you command, Lord Zero!”

Even a being like Butterfly had to show the necessary respect when facing this man.

With that, the man’s projection rapidly disintegrated and vanished.

Butterfly looked at the assembly. “Everyone, the hunt has begun. I have just analyzed all the surveillance points in the city and have selected several areas where he is most likely to appear.”

As it spoke, a massive map appeared in the center of the room, on which several key areas were prominently marked.

“The rest is up to you. But let me give you a reminder: ordinary methods won’t work on this Wu Liangchen. You’d better bring your A-game, or Lord Zero won’t let you off the hook when you fail to complete the mission.” Butterfly’s voice held a trace of mockery.

The executives present exchanged glances and then nodded in unison.

The manhunt began!

Unlike the previous aimless patrols and screenings, this time, the Apex Group’s operation was precise and efficient.

Dozens of elite squads were simultaneously deployed to the key areas identified by Butterfly.

These squads advanced in a net formation. Each elite squad was responsible for one sector, maintaining a careful distance and communication link with the others. If any squad found a trace of the target, several nearby squads could converge in an extremely short time to form an overwhelming force in that local area.

Moreover, these were not ordinary soldiers, or even the standard-issue elites under Schiller’s command. They were the Apex Group’s true trump cards.

「In the abandoned smelting plant in the West City, massive cooling towers stood like steel behemoths.」

A figure, nearly one with the darkness, glided silently through the shadows. He wore black, flexible armor, the joints of which shimmered with a faint energy halo as he moved like a ghost.

His eyes were covered by a pair of multi-function tactical goggles, constantly scanning environmental data. This was a modified Martial Artist specializing in stealth and assassination, codenamed “Night Owl.”

「Meanwhile, in the underground sewer hub in the south of the city, a man of exceptional size was striding through knee-deep sewage.」

He was bare-chested, his bronze skin stretched over knotted muscles that looked as if they were cast from steel. More bizarrely, his arms were not flesh and blood but two monstrous, rune-covered metal gauntlets. The fronts of the gauntlets were high-speed alloy drills that emitted a low HUM.

He was “Bonecrusher,” a Berserker who combined flesh with the brute force of heavy machinery.

「In the old port district of East City, shipping containers were piled up like mountains, forming a steel labyrinth. A seemingly ordinary boy in a worn-out hoodie sat on top of a rusty container, nonchalantly swinging his legs.」

However, the air around him was faintly distorted. An invisible field of Spiritual Power spread out from him like the most precise radar, sensing any abnormal spiritual fluctuation within a radius of several kilometers. He was a rare Level 5 Magic-user, codenamed “Heart Net,” who possessed powerful psychic sensing and control abilities.

Beyond them, there was a Beast Tamer controlling mechanical hounds, an assailant capable of short-range spatial jumps, a biochemically modified man wreathed in toxic mist…

Powerful Martial Artists of the Divine Sight Realm, Level 5 Magic-users with bizarre methods, and super-soldiers fused with cutting-edge technology.

Any one of these individuals, taken alone, was a top-tier expert capable of causing a major headache for any faction. Now, they were all deployed at once, with only one goal: to find and capture Wu Liangchen!

For a time, the atmosphere in all of Zhongjing grew oppressive to the extreme. Even during the day, pedestrians on the street hurried along, terrified of being swept up in a disaster they had no part in. The nights were utterly silent, save for the roar of the Apex Group’s low-flying vehicles.

The city was on edge, gripped by paranoia.

Yet, beneath this high-pressure atmosphere, an undercurrent was quietly stirring in the city’s lower strata.

Wu Liangchen’s name spread like wildfire among the populace.

At first, it was just scattered rumors about “some badass who took out that scoundrel Schiller.”

Soon after, news that Research Institute 734 had been burned to the ground also began to spread. Although the authorities did their best to contain the news, word always gets out. Snippets about the institute’s inhumane experiments began to circulate through the grapevine.

Gradually, an image of Wu Liangchen began to take shape.

For the common people of the lower class, long fed up with the Alliance government’s inaction and the Apex Group’s growing arrogance and tyranny, his appearance was like a bolt of lightning tearing through the suffocating darkness.

They might not have known who Wu Liangchen was, where he came from, or what he planned to do. But that didn’t stop them from pinning their anger, their dissatisfaction, and a faint glimmer of hope on this mysterious lone wolf.

“Did you hear? There was a huge commotion over in West City last night. Sounded like the Apex Group was trying to catch that guy, Wu Liangchen,” a grease-stained worker in the corner of a run-down bar muttered to his companion, keeping his voice low.

“SHH! Keep it down! You want the security bureau to ‘invite you for tea’?” his companion whispered, looking around nervously. He only relaxed after seeing no one was paying attention.

“Still, that Wu Liangchen has real guts! To go head-to-head with the Apex Group… haven’t seen anyone like that in years.”

“Yeah, if he could take care of that bunch of Apex bastards, life might get a little easier for us.”

“Keep dreaming. Do you know how powerful the Apex Group is? What can one man do? He’ll be lucky to last a few more days.”

“You never know. I heard he’s incredible. The Apex Group has gone to all this trouble and still can’t find a single trace of him.”

Similar discussions were taking place quietly in every corner of the city.

Some daring young people even took to spray-painting crude graffiti on secluded walls.

A simple symbol of a fist, with the character for “Wu” scrawled crookedly beside it. Though they were quickly scrubbed away, they kept popping up in new places like mushrooms after a rain.

Some small-time merchants, when questioned by the Apex Group’s search parties, would become remarkably forgetful and confused, either pointing them in the wrong direction or happening to have seen no suspicious individuals at all.

No one organized it. No one called for it. It was a spontaneous, silent show of support.