Book 4, Chapter 130: Transfer

“We need to split up. The fastest person among us should bring the artifact back to our base. The rest would be in charge of intercepting the enemies,” Captain Hu suggested.

Captain Lu nodded in agreement.

But Captain Hai shot it down. “No. We can’t split up.”

Captain Hu almost stomped his feet. “Why are you being stupid now, Captain Hai? If we leave together, none of us will make it back!”

Captain Hai stared at them, then said, “I have a better plan.”

He beckoned one of the guides to come over.

The guide looked at him, then at the box before cautiously walking forward.

Captain Hai stuffed the box into his arms and stared into his eyes as he said, “This is our final deal with you. You’re familiar with the place. As long as you bring this to our base, the Great Shun Republic will trade you whatever you want in the future.”

The guide was stunned for a moment before his eyes started sparkling. He grabbed the box tightly.

“What the hell are you doing, Hai Gao?!” Captain Hu roared.

Captain Lu was also staring at him with exceptionally grim eyes. “Do you really think that the guide will bring this back to our base as promised?”

“I trust them. If they don’t bring it back, I will shoulder the responsibility of losing the artifact,” Hai Gao declared.

“Shoulder it, my ass! This isn’t how you’re supposed to use the chance Lao Xu bought for us! Give it here!” Captain Hu yelled and strode over to the guide.

Hai Gao stopped him and said to the guide, “I’ll hold him back. Go!”

“Don’t! And move!”

Captain Hu tried to get past to grab the guide, but Hai Gao stopped him once more, and he flew into a rage. He tried to shove Hai Gao away, but Hai Gao brought his arm up to stop him. Another person moved then. It was Captain Lu. He rushed toward the guide, but after just a few steps, Hai Gao turned around and made a seizing motion at Captain Lu’s back.

Captain Lu immediately felt a numbing sensation on his back; Hai Gao had aimed a grappling-type refined force at him. His back was turned toward Hai Gao. If he didn’t avoid the attack, Hai Gao would definitely catch him. Then, he wouldn’t be able to do anything at all. Without any choice left, he turned around and used his Heartborn Force to redirect Hai Gao’s refined force.

Boom!

He neutralized it.

The guide used this chance to run away and vanished into the forest. Only the light continued shining wherever he went. The other guides had already fled the moment one of their own got the box.

“I’m beginning to suspect that you’re a traitor, Hai Gao!” Captain Hu shouted out as he attacked even more fiercely. Captain Lu’s expression remained stern as he tried time and again to leave, but Hai Gao stopped him every time.

Curiously enough, none of their teammates interfered.

When the light went further away and Hai Gao prevented Captain Hu and Captain Lu from chasing into the forest once again, the two squad captains suddenly stopped. The rage and anxiety on their faces were replaced by calmness.

Captain Lu looked into the distance. “You were right. Those guides were definitely a problem. They wouldn’t have taken the box otherwise, not when it’s such a dangerous thing.”

“Captain Xu was the one who figured it out,” Hai Gao said with a shake of his head.

“If we didn’t hand the artifact to them, they would have attacked us, wouldn’t they?” Captain Hu mused.

“They wouldn’t have attacked us. They’re not strong enough for that. But others would,” Captain Lu said with a shake of his head.

Then, he turned to Hai Gao. “I hope you made the right choice.”

“I don’t know whether giving it to them was a good or a bad idea, but I do know that keeping it was a terrible one. We wouldn’t be able to leave with it, so it’s better for other groups to fight for it first. Even if we can’t become one of the hunters, we shouldn’t become a tantalising prey. That’s the worst possible position.

“Also, we need to send a signal flare to Captain Xu. He should be able to figure out what we did.”

“Right. We need to do it now. I’m on it.” Captain Lu figured out what he meant and immediately found a higher place. With a loud bang, a large signal flare shot up and hung in the air.

Xu Chan may not be able to see them if he were far away, so they were going to leave signs on the agreed upon landmarks.

***

Their guess that Xu Chan may not see it was correct. Aside from being rather far away from his team, the fact that the sky was still bright played a role in it too. The brilliant colors from the artifact seized everyone’s attention, so the light of the signal flare wasn’t that noticeable.

As for the signs his team left behind? He didn’t have the time to stop and check. He had to keep moving at a certain speed since he had discovered that even now, the Union hadn’t stopped watching him. A team was actively blocking his way to the light.

If anyone watched from the sky, they could see four trails from the forest leading toward the light. The one at the center was the Union’s group with the Linacrox Union’s teams on their flanks. The one at the perimeter was Xu Chan. They were all rushing toward the artifact.

But it wasn’t that easy to move around the undeveloped area. All sorts of bizarre creatures kept showing up to bother them. Even so, they continued pressing forward at a relatively fast speed.

While the person with the artifact wasn’t moving slowly, the distance between them and the pursuers was getting smaller. After half a day, all of them could sense that they weren’t far from the light.

At that moment, the most powerful of the groups no longer cared about the others and sprinted forward at their top speed.

After all, if they dragged this out for a few more hours, night would arrive, and they would have to wait until the next day to continue the chase. By then, who could tell how the situation may change?

Because of this, the distance between the martial artists started to widen, and Heros was, without a doubt, the one in the lead.

Ingram, the Lightning Siblings, Gray Whale, Skin Flayer, Soldier Ant, and the others were slightly behind him. Further back was the still not completely recovered Blood Diamond and the other martial artists.

As time passed, the distance between them kept widening.

***

Chen Chuan stopped running. At the same time, he pressed down on his hat. As his overcoat fluttered, loud rumbles came from behind him as dust and fallen leaves swirled violently.

In two hours, he had mostly closed the distance between him and the light. If the person with the artifact continued at the same speed, he would catch up in another two or three hours.

Even though he wasn’t tired, releasing mental energy for such a long time drained him. Besides, he might run into enemies, so he needed to recover a bit.

He drew his saber, and with a swing, a gap opened. Once he brought the eggshell under the light, smoke started curling from it, and with just a whiff, he felt himself starting to regain all the energy he had lost.

The raccoon stone tablet started trembling impatiently. Ever since Chen Chuan got this artifact and used it, it always wanted to get some of the smoke.

Chen Chuan let it feast on the smoke. After all, he may need the raccoon at a later date. The raccoon wasn’t the only companion to benefit from the smoke, though. Dawncall also took it in.

He had asked Dawncall to fly in the sky over the past few days until it ran out of stamina so that its mutated tissue would grow, so it used up a lot of energy. With the eggshell, though, it could recover and stay at top condition.

Once everyone recovered their energy, Chen Chuan righted his head, fixed his eyes on the light, and took a step forward. As the air rumbled, he continued running toward the light.

***

A little over an hour later, Heros rushed out of the forest. Before him was a spacious clearing with barely any trees and a river less than a kilometer away.

On the other side of the river was a seemingly injured man resting against a rock. A few creatures’ carcasses lay a distance away from him.

A black box spilling out light was in his hands. The man sensed Heros looking over, and panic instantly showed up on his face. He shot to his feet and stumbled away.

Before long, though, he exploded. His blood and flesh splattered everywhere on the loose earth. The black box fell on the ground and tumbled about a few times, which made it open up. The thing inside rolled out.

Heros pulled his fist back and took a few steps forward. He picked up the shining object and observed it.

The item was a ball with a cracked shell, which had yet to shatter, though there were some parts missing.

Through the holes, Heros could see the light inside. It was coming from lines resembling the meridians of a living creature. The light shone periodically, as if it was breathing.

Heros wiped away the blood on the shell before saying, “I’d prefer to go back now. We only came here for this. I don’t care about anything else, but I think that goes against your mission, so let’s get it settled.”

He turned around to face Xu Chan, who was standing not far from him. There were quite a lot of tears in his coat, which made it clear that he had gone through quite a lot of hardships on his way.

Heros was quite surprised. “You do know that this won’t be a fair fight? In at most a few minutes, my team will arrive. Are you confident that you can defeat me within this short amount of time and leave with the artifact?”

“I don’t need to fight you,” Xu Chan declared. He spun on his feet and threw something at Heros.

Heros was a cautious man and didn’t catch it. Instead, he turned to the side to dodge it. However, the thing exploded in the air and released quite a lot of blood and flesh from small creatures. They covered his clothes and shoes.

Heros looked down in shock. He was covered in the remains of creatures that were part mouse and part monkey and had membrane wings. Various theories as to why Xu Chan did this ran through his mind before he thought of something and narrowed his eyes. Just then, a black cloud covered the sky.

“I might not be able to take you down myself, but what if I got some help?” Xu Chan said as he unbuttoned his coat and threw it on the ground.

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