Book 4, Chapter 267: Locating Tracks On The Road

Even though the cars were parked across from the hotel, the guards were weary of them. Unlike them, Chen Chuan walked over to them completely relaxed.

Upon seeing him, the Crimson Bones members felt uneasy. The ones who were chatting and laughing stopped, and their expressions stiffened. They tightened their hold over their weapons. Some of them even pointed their weapons at him.

This wasn’t because they had sensed something, but because their prolonged exposure to life and death situations had caused them to be really sensitive to danger.

Even though Chen Chuan didn’t release his biofield, his gait, walking rhythm, and the relaxed attitude he had when facing all of them made them feel pressured, and they weren’t used to it.

Bao Mi was the first to notice this, and he immediately brought his hand up. “Relax, guys. This is our client. We’re escorting him today.”

The group exchanged looks before relaxing a little.

Bao Mi then gave a signal to Molly. She stepped forward and held up a hoodie. “We prepared this for you. Don’t worry. We washed it before, so it’s clean.”

Chen Chuan thanked her and put it on, only to find that it covered his entire body. This way, he was dressed similarly to most people here and wouldn’t stand out as much.

The hoodie couldn’t fully hide the different feeling he gave off compared to the rest of the group, though, despite him just standing there.

Bao Mi asked Chen Chuan to sit in his car. Once they were settled, he stuck his head out of the window and gave an order to the cars in front. The car in the lead drove off, and the others followed.

With that done, Bao Mi smiled and apologized, “We’re a group of savages and never think before we act. Please don’t mind what they did just now.”

“I understand, Captain Bao Mi,” Chen Chuan said. They were people who often risked their lives, so they prioritized protecting themselves and weren’t able to control their instinctive actions.

“You have a good heart. I suppose that’s why you are a high-ranking officer,” Bao Mi commented.

Chen Chuan took a look at the rearview mirror. The other people were silent and showed no intention of whispering to each other. Clearly, they were professionals. “Are all of them from your group?”

“We have around twenty core members and thirty external members, so we have two teams. Don’t worry. We often work together, so you can trust us.

“It might seem like a large group, but it’s not safe outside the city. We might meet merged space creatures as well as other mercenaries and agents, and they’re the ones we have to be most wary of, especially now. Another mercenary group might decide to steal our gig.”

“You mentioned that you got a gig to send some goods to the village. What are the goods?” Chen Chuan asked.

Bao Mi cast a glance at the truck at the back and said, “People.”

After a brief pause, he explained, “The village has a large number of farms and breeding facilities, so they need a lot of laborers. What we’re doing now is sending a batch over. Don’t worry. They’re not from the Great Shun Republic, but prisoners of war from the imperial army. The village loves such people the most. They live long lives, are suited for the environment, and don’t vitalize all of a sudden.”

Chen Chuan had nothing to say to that. Some things that were forbidden in the world outside were normal here. Besides, the soldiers of the imperial army were a completely different species compared to them. According to what he knew, the Great Shun Republic’s military itself was using most of the prisoners of war as laborers at the frontlines.

The car fleet left the city without any problems. Once they were outside, Chen Chuan noticed that most of the merged space creatures in the area had been killed. He couldn’t see many plants either. There was only dark red soil on either side of the road.

People with hoodies and black baskets on their backs loitered around the road while digging through the ground with some kind of hook. Sometimes, they managed to find thick, multi-limbed insects. They would pick them up with pincers and stuff them into their baskets.

Once in a while, the cars would switch positions. Chen Chuan noticed that they followed a clear structure and had all the necessities required for a delivery mission. All cars had their own telegraph sets and a person tasked with reminding them of their vitalization rates at all times.

Perhaps it was due to them living in this environment long-term and having unique implants, but their resistance toward vitalization was really high. Not only was their vitalization rate low, but their numbers also never jumped by a large degree.

They ran into a few other armed groups on the way, but because Crimson Bones were famous and because the group was on high alert, the others did not attack them.

After some time, the buildings on the sides of the road dwindled in number, and they started seeing more plants along the way. The number of merged space creatures also increased. Some even ran after the car fleet. Whenever that happened, the members would fire their guns to intimidate the creatures.

“If we don’t run into any accidents, we should reach the village in half a day. This means we won’t be able to make it back to Deep Valley City today, but will have to stay the night in the village,” Bao Mi said. “If you need us to do anything in particular, just tell us.”

“You’re a responsible captain, Bao Mi. I’ll be sure to tell you before doing what I need to do,” Chen Chuan promised.

“Hehe. Thanks, sir.”

Since they left at 8 a.m., they saw the village in the distance at around noon. The village was located on high ground and had a lot of sentry towers.

At that moment, Chen Chuan saw some things lurking in the bushes. They were beetles with wings that reached the height of an adult man’s waist. They had shiny, black shells, and when the car fleet drove past them, their long feelers swayed for a while.

“Those are Black Armored Beetles. The locals rear them, since they have pretty thick shells that can’t be penetrated by regular bullets, are pretty fast, and breed often. That’s how the village managed to survive here,” Bao Mi explained.

“I see.” Without these things, the imperial army’s ambush units would have taken down the village a long time ago. Chen Chuan was also sure that there were Third Limit martial artists in the area, aside from the Black Armored Beetles.

After driving over a bumpy stretch of road, they arrived at the main entrance. There was barbed wire on both sides of the road, along with trenches filled with spikes.

An armed guard in a sentry tower lifted a flag to signal at them, and Crimson Bones started slowing down. Then, a wave of armed sentries came out of the sentry towers and asked all the people from the car fleet to step out to be inspected.

Bao Mi was prepared for this and gave Molly a look. She got out and sashayed her way to the captain. After speaking to him a bit, she gave him some things.

The captain became much friendlier and didn’t insist on everyone getting out anymore. Instead, he went to the back to check their “goods.”

Then, he brought his sentries to each car to verify the identities of all the people inside. He also requested them to state their names.

Bao Mi frowned. Security wasn’t so tight in the past. Even though they could bribe the security captain more, they couldn’t pay them too much, or they would definitely think that there was something wrong with them. However, as the captain of a seasoned agent group, Bao Mi was used to things like this.

When the captain came to their car, he recognized Bao Mi and cast a glance at the hooded Chen Chuan before asking warily, “Who’s that?”

Bao Mi flashed a smile. “Our client. He’s here for a nice show.”

He gave the captain a look that said, “You know what I mean.”

But the captain wasn’t that easily fooled. He asked warily, “What client? State his name and identity.”

Bao Mi made the sign of a phone and said, “I can’t say, but you can ask the Seventh Boss. I told him in advance.”

The captain stared at him long and hard before asking someone to keep an eye on them. Then, he went to the side to make a call. After a while, he put down the phone receiver and signaled his sentries to let them in.

Bao Mi sighed in relief. “It’s done.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

After passing the check, the car fleet went up the slope. Once they were at the top, Chen Chuan looked outward. To his surprise, the village wasn’t as backward as he thought it would be. It looked like a prosperous town.

The first thing he saw was a large screen in the square showing a tournament of some sort. Unlike regular tournaments, this one showed a martial artist fighting a merged space creature. Soon, the martial artist staggered, and the merged space creature pounced on him. It bit his head off.

Some people cheered, while others cursed and threw the things they were holding on the ground.

“The government built this place by copying Deep Valley City, including the tournament, but they only bring their trusted clients inside to see it. As for us, we can only stay in the place they gave us. Why don’t we check in first? Then, I’ll contact my informant to verify the situation,” Bao Mi suggested.

Chen Chuan looked in another direction. “You don’t need to look for your informant. Stay away and get ready for battle.”

“Huh?” Bao Mi tensed up. He didn’t ask what Chen Chuan wanted to do, but simply nodded and said firmly, “Got it!”

Chen Chuan got out and started walking in the direction that had caught his attention.

Once he was closer, Hongfu sent him a message. The Tree of True Forms was here, but it wasn’t on the surface. Instead, it was underground.

Hongfu couldn’t be mistaken, because the last time Ling Jianxing opened the tunnel, she had recorded the tree’s domain information. She recognized it right away once they got closer.

From that moment on, everything that Chen Chuan did wasn’t going to be against the contract, so he didn’t need to hide anymore.

He walked according to the directions Hongfu gave him and ignored the sentries around him. When he arrived at a certain spot, he stared at the ground, brought his fist up, and it started shining faintly.

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