Book 4, Chapter 20: Wiped Out

Without any hesitation, Urtik cracked the medicine, which could draw out his potential, hidden in his teeth with his tongue.

His two remaining squad members knew what to do as well in the face of such danger and took the medicine. They didn’t need Urtik to order them.

In an instant, their skins turned red, and their eyes became bloodshot. Their breathing quickened, and they entered a state of extreme excitement. They could feel their power increasing, and their senses became sharper.

Urtik kept his eyes trained on Chen Chuan and spun the metal short staff in his hands before walking over. The two squad members behind him walked forward as well.

They had a six-man attack plan, but they also had a three-man attack plan.

While the trio looked like they were walking at the same pace, the two squad members were actually walking slightly faster. Then, once they suddenly sped up, they could swiftly surround their enemy.

Urtik’s mind was focused to its utmost degree on Chen Chuan’s every move. Once they were a certain distance away and the two squad members were about to surround him, Urtik sped up and charged over.

This was a change in tactics with the intent of strategic deception. As long as he could hold back the enemy for even a second, his squad members could move into position. In a fight among Third Limit martial artists, reacting a beat slower and not being able to predict attacks in time led to being forced into the defensive. His squad was incredibly familiar with this strategy, and after testing it multiple times, they had proved that it was effective.

But it was built on the basis that there wasn’t a big disparity of strength between the two parties.

When Urtik sped up, Chen Chuan moved at the same time, but he wasn’t just slightly faster. Urtik could only watch as Chen Chuan moved past him while he was completely unable to change his direction after starting his charge.

Chen Chuan arrived in front of the squad member to Urtik’s right. He didn’t even use any technique and just relied on the inertia of his body to make his hand brush against the squad member’s neck. Then, he spun on his feet and rushed to the other side.

Behind him, blood gushed out like a blooming flower.

Urtik did his best to turn around, but when he was finally able to do it, Chen Chuan had already gone to the other side, and his last remaining squad member was brought to his knees with his head pinned down. With a squeeze and a loud crack, his squad member’s head was changed to a smaller size.

Urtik came to a screeching halt, and his breathing became heavy and labored.

After Chen Chuan let go, he let the corpse under his palm collapse and said coolly, “You’re of no value at all.”

The squad used the standard military refined forces. They had no personality and couldn’t serve as his reference. Even Urtik was the same. He was stronger simply because he was more talented, not because he practiced a unique refined force.

Urtik clenched his fists, and his irises turned almost entirely red. Yet he knew that he had no chance of winning against such an abnormally strong enemy. If he fought against Chen Chuan, he would just end up like his squad members. But he also knew that he had no way to escape.

His expression changed, and he fell on one knee, followed by the other. Then, with his head bowed, he said, “Sir, I’m willing to make up for my mistakes. I’ve not hurt anyone on the island. Would you please spare me?”

He wasn’t a warrior, just a soldier in charge of infiltration, so he didn’t have any morals, and surrendering when it was clear that he couldn’t win wasn’t shameful to him. Besides, the Linacrox Union had already given up on him, so he didn’t feel any guilt at all when he pleaded for his life.

In order to prove his worth, he said, “I’m a vanguard for the Linacrox Union. They’re currently exploring this region, and I can help you hide the fact that there’s a gap here.”

Chen Chuan simply turned to Talu. “What do you think?”

“I don’t trust him,” Talu said confidently.

Chen Chuan nodded.

The moment Urtik saw this, he knew that the two weren’t going to spare him. When he knelt down, he had started generating power, and now he released it. Refined force surged through every part of his body, and he charged forward.

He wasn’t going for Chen Chuan, though. His target was Talu.

Chen Chuan was much stronger than he was, so he wouldn’t have a chance to win, but if he fought against Talu, he might be able to kill her before he died.

But just as his refined force filled his body and was about to be released in an explosive burst, he felt a sharp pain and hit the ground after just rising up.

Cracking sounds came from within his body, as if all his bones, tendons, and organs were torn apart. He could also see his skin ripping open, and blood gushed out of the cracks. Those weren’t the only parts of him bleeding. His eyes, ears, mouth, and nose also bled nonstop. Soon, his blood formed a pool under him.

He... was hit by refined force?

But when?

Suddenly, Urtik remembered Chen Chuan brushing against him with his hand when he walked past him. Could it be back then?

What was this refined force?

As more blood flowed out of his body, he felt his consciousness fading away. Even so, he didn’t want to give up. He tried standing up again and mobilizing his power.

At this point, he already knew that he wasn’t a threat to anyone, but he couldn’t accept being defeated just like that. He mobilized his mutated tissue again and gathered the last of his refined force. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his head, and panic filled his face, because he could feel his refined force going out of control and about to spill out from within him.

Snap!

His head burst open. The brain tissue and blood inside splattered all over the ground.

The headless corpse swayed a little before falling to the side.

Chen Chuan looked away. He had tried Chen Bitong’s Void String Force, which required the use of mental energy. He did exactly that, but the results were different from when Chen Bitong used it. Hence, this could be considered an experiment that wasn’t successful, but not entirely a failure.

Urtik’s final reaction was expected, but his actions caught him by surprise. After thinking it over, Chen Chuan felt that there was something here worth adopting.

Talu had watched the entire fight and couldn’t help the look of admiration that settled on her face, though not because of the bloody scene. It was because of Chen Chuan’s control over his refined force and rhythm. Even though she hadn’t been able to see everything clearly due to the difference in strength between them, the brief glimpse showed the beauty of his strength and technique.

She saluted him in the way of Single Flow School and said earnestly, “Thank you, Mr. Chen.”

“It’s nothing. I told you before that while I’m here, I’ll face your enemies together with you,” Chen Chuan said.

He walked over to Urtik’s headless corpse. These people were all native Oceanlanders. The Linacrox Union really loved sending them to the Great Shun Republic and island nations.

There was a waterproof folder by Urtik’s waist, so he removed it and opened it. Some papers were inside it.

After reading through them, Chen Chuan found that they were records and reports of the region around the island. They described the biological environment around Mistlight Island, the strange events that occurred most often, Single Flow School’s history, and a belief that there was a stable gap here.

It seemed like the squad had come for the gap, but the documents were scattered and didn’t seem to have been sent from a single source. Instead, they looked like they had been gathered from various places.

Chen Chuan looked down and noticed that there was an unnatural bulge on Urtik’s body. He knelt down on one knee and searched about. Soon, he found an item stuck under an implanted layer of skin.

The item was wrapped in unique bio-material. Chen Chuan wiped away the blood on it and opened the package to find some documents written on special paper. The words were small but clear. It was Urtik’s personal information and records of his missions.

After comparing the documents, he formed a theory and turned to Talu. “These people are from the Linacrox Union, alright, but judging from these papers, their higher-ups didn’t send them here. They should have come here for personal reasons.”

“Do you think the Linacrox Union will send people here?” Talu asked.

“I can’t say, but I don’t think so. After Ferris Wheel’s collapse, the Linacrox Union lost its grip on the island nations. Even if they want this gap and the island, I don’t think they’ll be able to occupy it. This squad should be the last one. It’s unlikely that more would come.

“But it’s best for us not to tell anyone about these people and the news about their deaths. Let’s pretend that this never happened, or else, we might bring ourselves unnecessary trouble.”

Talu couldn’t understand all these complicated things, but she knew what she had to do, so she said, “Okay. If you don’t have any plans for these people, I’ll hand them over to Gan Guo. He’ll take care of them.”

“Then, let’s leave Gan Guo to deal with it,” Chen Chuan agreed with a nod. Even if he was a lead investigator from Central City, the island nations weren’t within his jurisdiction. Besides, he came here to train, so he wasn’t interested in these things.

“I need to go back and take a look, though,” Talu said.

Chen Chuan nodded. “I’ll go back with you.”

They left the gap together and returned to the cliff. Things were fine back on the island. Everything was normal. The villages weren’t attacked. Chen Chuan and Talu found the six people’s equipment on the beach by following their trail.

This meant that aside from the six people that attacked them, no one else was involved in this operation.

That made sense. The six were Third Limit martial artists, and normal people couldn’t hope to become their team members. Even if they forced themselves to work together, once they got into combat, they would lack coordination.

When Chen Chuan saw that things were fine back on the island and Talu could handle the rest, he didn’t linger around and went back to the gap. The moment he went inside, he found that the six corpses were gone.

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