Book 4, Chapter 245: Found Her Tracks, Both Are Captured

Mr. Bao had been in great mental stress over the past few days after receiving news that the train was attacked. Such incidents were classified as losing company assets, which would result in him facing severe punishment.

Being sidelined would be a minor punishment. It was highly likely that he would get fired, which was something he couldn’t accept.

When Chen Chuan brought one of the martial arts masters back, he finally saw hope of correcting this error. The moment they spotted the fallen airship, he became even more excited.

If they could find the other martial arts master, he could right his wrongs and even drag out the mole lurking in the company, so he shouldn’t be punished too badly.

Once they drew closer, a scout recognized the fallen ship as the Crimson Sparrow, an airship made by Miraculous Dragon of Haixi Road.

This small airship was incredibly fast and great for short distances. However, it was rather bad against strong winds, blizzards, and heavy rain. By the looks of it, it had been yanked out of the sky two days ago by the blizzard.

When they descended, they saw more details. The Crimson Sparrow should have crashed into the trees, causing all the items in the cabin to spill out.

Further away, they saw the box Enclosed Shore had used to keep the female martial arts master. Most of it was buried in the snow now, but it was empty.

Chen Chuan observed the place for a while and came to the conclusion that after the box tumbled out, someone had dragged it forward for a certain distance.

They were only able to do this because Enclosed Shore had made the two martial arts masters return to their original size after discovering them. If they had remained around thirty meters tall, the thieves would have been able to move the box.

There were signs that the box was destroyed from within, which meant that the martial arts master had decided to stop waiting and chosen to get out on her own.

The armed combatants of Enclosed Shore slid down the ropes. After checking the place for a bit, they dug out some frozen corpses from the snow. They also found the sack used to wrap up the female martial arts master. Of course, it too, was empty. There were signs that she had torn through it.

Even though most of the tracks were covered by snow, Chen Chuan sensed a faint biofield signal.

Martial arts masters’ biofields stood out like a flashing bulb, so they required stamina and mental energy to be restrained. The female martial arts master was really weak after being frozen for centuries, so it was impossible for her to completely restrain it. He could chase her down based on it.

Chen Chuan told Bao Ning about his plan and went after her again based on the lingering signal.

After he left, Bao Ning’s assistant came forward to him. “Mr. Bao, Director Chen will enter Haixi Road if he goes any further. Should we make a report?”

Bao Ning hesitated. If they reported this to Haixi Road, not only would they be notifying them about their actions, but also reveal certain information.

After thinking about it some more, he found that it was impossible for him to hide this. Besides, if they didn’t go through the proper procedures while searching for the female martial arts master, it would lead to many future problems.

“Report it,” he said.

***

Chen Chuan had deduced that the martial arts master did not go too far away. The prolonged physical weakness and lack of nutrient-dense food prevented her from performing any intense activities. At most, she could only walk, and in the most basic manner too, so she couldn’t get far from the crash site.

This ended up being the truth. Even though Chen Chuan couldn’t run too quickly while keeping track of her biofield signal, he found her three hours later.

A white-haired woman was leaning against a tree to rest. Even though her cheeks were hollow and her body was as thin as Zalnick’s, she had a huge skeletal frame. She should have been a powerful, toned woman.

However, she was in much better condition than Zalnick. She should have used some method to recover part of her strength.

When the white-haired woman saw Chen Chuan, she cursed under her breath and smashed the tree beside her with an elbow strike. Then, she grabbed it with both hands. Due to her attack, the tree shone with maroon light, and she threw it at Chen Chuan.

They were dozens of meters apart, but that tree trunk reached Chen Chuan in an instant. The next moment, the trunk shattered after the spirit flames scattered, and wood chips shot outward.

Chen Chuan’s hands shone faintly. He didn’t change the speed at which he moved forward. He continued walking calmly.

The white-haired woman roared. It seemed like she was even more hot-tempered than Zalnick, because she rushed straight at him as her body grew larger.

She moved one hand up and the other down before spreading her fingers. Between her palms was a vortex of air with jagged swirls. The light on her body also started shining like flickering flames.

Her movements were similar to Zalnick’s, but there were some minor differences. It seemed like she had developed her technique specifically to hunt animals. There was something rugged and ancient about it.

However, the same principle applied in all fights: To fight other martial arts masters, the least a martial arts master needed was one fundamental requirement—stamina. It would allow them to maintain their minimum speed and strength. If they didn’t even have this, it couldn’t be considered a fight. At most, one could praise their courage afterwards.

Chen Chuan watched her rush over and leaned forward. This simple motion caused him to be slightly off where the white-haired woman had planned to land her attack. She immediately tried adjusting her attack, but it was too late.

Chen Chuan threw a punch straight between her hands. Before she could react, a powerful force rammed into her face. It was just a simple punch, but it instantly destroyed her spirit flames. Chen Chuan’s refined force shot into her, causing her eyes to roll back, and she passed out. The inertia also caused her face to stick to Chen Chuan’s fist while the rest of her body flung forward.

Chen Chuan stayed in that stance for a while. After a moment, the white-haired woman unattached herself from his fist and collapsed on the ground. Wisps of smoke rose from her, and she returned to her original size.

Chen Chuan observed her for a bit. Just like Zalnick, she took the path of the other form and was really far down it.

However, the two were simply too weakened and couldn’t bring out most of their strength. Still, they were unyielding and had horrible tempers. Zalnick had challenged him at the slightest disagreement, while the woman threw fists without even saying a single word.

Since they liked letting their fists do the talking, Chen Chuan decided to respect their tradition.

He was about to take her away when he sensed something and looked away. An unfamiliar airship was flying over, and someone jumped down from it. A moment later, wind shot outward from the place where he landed—a hill not too far away. Then came loud, thunderous rumbles.

Chen Chuan took a moment to observe the person. The man was in his thirties and had a longer-than-average chin. His face was thin, and he had a thin, fluttery beard and moustache. His hair was done in a topknot, and his clothes looked like they came straight out of the old era. He had one hand behind his back, which made him look imposing.

After observing Chen Chuan, the man said, “You must be Director Chen. I’m Qi Huishi, the external relations officer of Haixi Road’s Central City. I was investigating a certain matter in the area when I received a telegram from Enclosed Shore that there was a dangerous person here. I hurried over right away, but I wasn’t expecting you to have already found her. Please hand her over so that we can deal with her.”

“Hand her over to you?” Chen Chuan stared at him.

“Yes. We’re in Haixi Road. Based on the rules of all roads, the people of the road have to deal with the person or thing involved in any dangerous situation. That’s why we should be the ones dealing with it,” Qi Huishi said matter-of-factly.

Chen Chuan observed him for a while. “I’m sorry, but I won’t hand her over.”

Qi Huishi frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re only an external relations officer, while this matter concerns the nation’s safety and corporate secrets,” Chen Chuan said coolly. “If you want to take her with you or talk to me about this, please call the director of your Defense Bureau instead of throwing rules at me that aren’t codified in law.”

Qi Huishi’s expression sank. The director of Haixi Road’s Defense Bureau wasn’t a martial arts master. Setting aside the fact that he wasn’t here, he wouldn’t be able to negotiate with Chen Chuan on equal grounds.

Usually, martial arts masters didn’t have a lot of responsibilities. Even if they held important positions, they were only titles given to them in name. It was rare for any martial arts master to have real political power, like Chen Chuan did.

After saying his part, Chen Chuan ignored Qi Huishi. He refused to hand the woman over because his instincts told him that there was something off about Qi Huishi appearing here right now.

Why was a martial arts master not in the merged space, but instead out here investigating “a certain matter”? Why was he so conveniently nearby? It was too much of a coincidence.

He grabbed the woman, hoisted her over his shoulder, and turned to leave.

Qi Huishi stood silent for a bit while staring at Chen Chuan before slowly clenching his fists. After a moment, he uncurled them and said, “One moment, Director Chen.”

Chen Chuan turned around.

Qi Huishi jumped down from the hill and met his gaze. “Since you’re the one who defeated her, it was indeed rude of me to ask you to hand her over to us. I’m sorry about that. But if you leave with her just like that, I won’t be able to answer to my superiors. I need to preserve some dignity. Why don’t we solve this in the way of martial artists?”

He took out a key and flicked it with his thumb. The key flew, spun a few times, and inserted itself on top of the stone beside them, which made it stick out like a sword.

“This is a key to a safe in Grand Prosperity Finance. I’ve stored my ingredients there, along with some medicine that can help with training but is sourced from other countries.

“Let’s spar and get to know each other. If you lose, I’ll take her with me, and Haixi Road will pay for the energy we spent. If I lose, you can take both the key and the woman with you.”