Book 4, Chapter 244: Why Capture One When You Can Capture Both?

Chen Chuan stared at the man but showed no signs of dodging. Their biofields clashed first.

Zalnick’s weak, thin biofield was obviously not a match for Chen Chuan’s, so it shattered with a loud crack. However, his spirit flames tore down the outermost layer and forced its way in.

Then, he moved his hands forward in a seizing motion like a wild beast lurching forward to capture its prey. His shrivelled muscles suddenly moved like rippling water. Waves of power shot forward, and the blood-red light went to the tips of his fingers.

He had cast aside his defenses entirely. This type of offense might be extreme, but he had gathered all his power into one point and released the strongest power he could possibly muster at that moment.

Chen Chuan would say that such decisiveness was the correct strategy.

But all he did in turn was push a palm forward. White light shone, and he smacked the man aside. With a loud bang, the blood-red light shattered. Zalnick was shoved aside by an irresistible power. When he was around eight meters away, he crashed on the ground, causing the dirt and stones to fly as he tumbled backward. He only stopped when he crashed into a tree.

The tree canopy swayed violently, as if it was about to fall. The snow on it fell down with a loud whoosh and almost covered him entirely.

Even now, Zalnick wanted to fight back. However, a refined force seeped into him, causing his entire body to go numb. All he could do was lie still. His body twitched involuntarily from time to time as he gasped for breath, but that was it.

Chen Chuan walked over. The disparity of strength between them was too great. No matter what sort of tricks Zalnick pulled, it was useless.

Chen Chuan looked down at him. “You’re far too weakened. You don’t even have the strength to throw a punch anymore.”

Zalnick’s biofield and spirit flames were incredibly thin. Even if Chen Chuan stood still, he could drain him just by using his spirit flames to defend himself.

The man glared at Chen Chuan, as if he could not accept his defeat.

Chen Chuan merely looked at him. “You shouldn’t think that it’s unfair. When you threw your punch, you should have known that this would happen. If there is another chance, I’d welcome you to fight against me again after you recover. But now, I don’t care what you took. Since you grabbed it from the Great Shun Republic, I need it back.”

Whatever Zalnick did, it was a few centuries ago, which made Chen Chuan sound like he was using modern laws on someone from ancient times. However, even in the old era, this territory belonged to the Great Shun Empire and the ruling family of the Eastern Continent. Hence, whatever Zalnick took belonged to the Eastern Continent, so Chen Chuan was not wrong.

Zalnick suddenly stopped trembling. His eyes lost focus, and his temperature dropped rapidly. His skin also gained a sickly, pale hue.

He had drained what remained of his energy in his attack, and he was currently on the verge of dying.

Chen Chuan couldn’t let that happen, though.

He released his biofield and gathered all the shattered branches together. Then, he extended a finger. The tip flashed, and a small ball of light fell down. Sparks flew out, and the branches started burning.

With heat, Zalnick quickly stopped dying. His fingers twitched, and after a while, he regained consciousness.

Chen Chuan grabbed a tube of nutritional paste from his pocket, tore off the seal, and threw it in front of Zalnick. He acted like a man dying of thirst seeing an oasis. Without regard for anything else, he struggled up and grabbed the tube. He didn’t even bother with squeezing the paste out and just shoved the entire thing into his mouth, package and all. Soon, his complexion got much better.

However, that bit of nutrients was only enough to keep him alive. It wasn’t enough for him to keep fighting.

“Where’s your companion?” Chen Chuan asked.

While lying on the ground, Zalnick said, “You won. You can do whatever you want with me, but I won’t betray her whereabouts.”

“I saw the place from which you escaped. Based on it, your companion didn’t leave on her own but was taken by another group of people. You woke up first, but due to your physical weakness, you couldn’t take her along. That’s why you escaped by yourself.

“But have you ever considered the fact that the people who took her might have ulterior motives? If we can’t find her, she might end up suffering a terrible fate.”

Zalnick scoffed at that.

Chen Chuan noticed it and nodded. “You don’t think it will happen, which means that she had also woken up. That’s why you’re not worried about anything happening to her. If that’s the case, you might have used some sort of telepathic communication to decide to split up, then think of a way to meet up later.”

Zalnick’s face went white. By the looks of it, Chen Chuan was right. “You’re a demon! The type who can read minds!” he yelled.

Chen Chuan just hummed. “Looks like that’s the truth. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“I didn’t!” Zalnick denied loudly and frantically. Betraying a companion was the most dishonorable thing for which everyone would look down on him. He could not accept having such a stain in his life.

“You can wait for your companion to come back and explain it to her later,” Chen Chuan said comfortingly.

He bent down and picked Zalnick up before heading back. Soon, he reached the airship. When Bao Ning saw him return with another person, delight shone in his eyes, and he immediately ordered an airship crew member to lower the platform.

Chen Chuan walked onto it and let the platform bring them up to the airship. Once he put Zalnick on the floor, he said, “I brought one back.”

Bao Ning ordered the security guards to secure Zalnick. “Thank you for your hard work, Director Chen. I thank you on behalf of the company.”

“This isn’t just your company’s problem alone. I’m the director of Jibei Road’s Defense Bureau and must look into any safety issue in Jibei Road. I’m leaving him in your hands for now. Once I find the woman, we’ll deal with them together.”

Bao Ning was only the director of Yangzhi City’s branch and had no right to negotiate with Chen Chuan, so he agreed to it with his silence.

“Director Chen, the company sent word while you were gone. We’ve figured out who the mole is. We’re still waiting to confirm his true identity, but we can pretty much confirm that he deduced the time when we would send the two martial arts masters based on our recent activities and contacted a mercenary group in the Chaotic Land. They flew a small airship over to wait ahead of time. The mole then blew up the train, forcing it to stop, and the mercenaries took the other martial arts master away.”

“The Chaotic Land, huh?”

Chen Chuan considered it.

That place wasn’t unfamiliar territory to him. When he took the Class B unrestricted defense permit test, he went to the border of the Chaotic Land. He never went inside, though. He stayed at the border the whole time.

The Chaotic Land existed because it was difficult to purge and because some factions within the Great Shun Republic’s central government wanted to let the gangs roam free there.

Haixi Road had plenty of mines rich with minerals, wood, algae cultivation, and algae fuel extraction factories. There were plenty of ore-based energy factories there too, which led to smuggling activities running rampant. The Chaotic Land was basically the largest smuggler den and black market in the Great Shun Republic.

They didn’t just trade goods from within the country. Many items that were banned on a global scale could also enter the country through the Chaotic Land.

At the same time, the Chaotic Land was an important research lab for the governments and companies across the globe. All sorts of new medicine and implants showed up there. Every year, waves of adrenaline junkies, wanted criminals, spies from various countries, and special agents got into exciting fights there.

If that place was involved, the possibility of a foreign organization being part of it just became even greater.

“Where do you think they are right now, Mr. Bao?” Chen Chuan asked.

“They had to hide from us, so they couldn’t use any large airships. That’s why we believe that they used a small aircraft.

“There was a blizzard over the past two days. If they flew through such horrible weather, there’s a high chance that their aircraft would have broken down somewhere at Jibei Road’s border. If we chased after them right now, we would have a high chance of catching up.”

Chen Chuan nodded. “If that’s the case, let’s go and take a look in that direction.”

As the director of the Defense Bureau, he couldn’t just let an unidentified martial arts master wander about. Even if she was weakened, as long as she wasn’t dead, she remained a major threat. Martial artists below the Fourth Limit wouldn’t be able to win against her.

Once the airship flew off, he remembered something. “Do you have a telegraph set here?”

“We do.” Bao Ning quickly summoned his assistant and had him bring Chen Chuan to the airship’s communications room.

Chen Chuan had to send a telegram to his family. They had decided to go to his eldest aunt’s house, but his current predicament was unlikely to be over in a few hours. It might take him a few days to be able to go back home, so he told his family not to wait for him and just take his airship to his eldest aunt’s place. If he could wrap things up in time, he would head over to meet up with them.

Once he sent the telegram, he returned to the cabin the airship had prepared for him.

After a day’s worth of flying, they reached the northwest section of Jibei Road. It was a place called the Hill of Infinite Lights. If they flew any further, they would reach Haixi Road.

Since this place was on higher ground, an important river flowed from its border. If they went south along the river, they would get to Hedong Road. This was a tactically important place. In the past, when they split the road into different segments, they had taken it from Haixi Road and given it to Jibei Road. From that moment on, this place formed a jagged line on the map, like canine teeth.

The airship was passing by a conifer forest when they noticed a small airship that had fallen into the snow. There were signs of explosions and broken trees around it. The pilot flew the airship toward the area.