Back at the rged space, telegrams were sent rapidly to Jibei Road’s command center. Qiao Weiting, the commander, was standing in front of a tactical map while staring at the labels indicating the mobilization of soldiers.
A liaison officer ca forward and handed him a report. “Sir, we noticed abnormal movent from the imperial army half an hour ago.”
Qiao Weiting took the report and cast it a glance. “A distinguished official’s private army?” he said grimly.
Ever since the Fu-Mu Entity started propagating, their main task had been to hold back the imperial army.
With that sort of pressure on them, even if the imperial army wanted to throw soldiers at Central City, they could only send a limited number of them.
But things were different for the distinguished officials’ private armies. They were highly independent and ruled the territory together with the royal family. Unless the war was elevated to a national-level, the distinguished officials wouldn’t join it.
Yet one of them had joined. It was abnormal.
“Tell our informants to figure out what’s going on,” Qiao Weiting ordered.
“Understood.”
It took around ten minutes for his aide-de-camp and the liaison officer to hurry over to him. There was a telegram in his hand. “So soon?” Qiao Weiting exclaid.
“Our informant sent it right as you issued the order. One of the imperial army’s assistant generals died at the front lines,” the aide-de-camp said as he handed over the telegram.
Qiao Weiting was stunned. “But we didn’t do that...”
Then, he ca to a realization. “Is it a gap?”
“Yes. They found a gap leading to Central City, but ran into imnse resistance there. The assistant general died there,” the aide-de-camp answered.
“Is this confird?”
“Yes!”
The aide-de-camp was quite excited. They had been fighting against the royal family for a long ti, and such results were pretty rare.
Commanders with military titles were usually heavily protected and were powerful warriors themselves. They also retreated the mont they realized that they couldn’t win a head-on fight. But now, one had been killed in his own camp. If word about this spread to the other bases, it would boost morale.
Qiao Weiting fell into contemplation after reading the telegram. “Are you saying that this is why the distinguished official mobilized his private army? Or is it sothing else?”
“Sir, ergency telegram from the rear!”
Another liaison officer walked over and saluted him before handing the telegram. Qiao Weiting’s expression turned stern.
Once he read it, it beca worse. He looked up and said, “Send the news and all information related to this situation to the World Ring Defense System and the Departnt of Administrative Affairs. They need to think of how to defend the place, and quickly!”
“Understood!” the liaison officer replied and imdiately ran away.
Qiao Weiting checked his watch. “I just hope we can make it in ti.”
***
Back in the gap, Chen Chuan took a look outside. Even if he fought together with Chen Bitong, they wouldn’t be able to win against a martial arts master. “Instructor Chen, we can both make it out if we leave now.”
Chen Bitong shook his head and said in a firm voice, “I told you before that I will fight here until my last mont. I won’t go back.”
He suddenly turned around and threw a punch at Chen Chuan. There was faint light on his fist.
Chen Chuan reacted instinctively and pushed a palm forward. In an instant, the two collided.
A wave of power charged into Chen Chuan and shoved him backward. At the sa ti, a stream of ntal energy imprinted itself into his mind.
Chen Chuan only managed to regain his footing outside the gap. When he looked up, he saw a pair of eyes full of hope and trust.
“Go, Captain Chen.”
Chen Bitong turned around and went to the other side of the gap.
Chen Chuan stood still. He didn’t try to go in again, because this was Chen Bitong’s choice, and he was going to respect it.
A powerful gust of wind blew and made his hair dance.
He watched as Chen Bitong walked out of the gap and disappeared into the fog and light. After a mont, the gap flashed violently and closed up.
Chen Chuan stared at the empty space ahead of him when a flowing river appeared. It ca with a clear sound. Chen Chuan looked down and saw the mask Chen Bitong had dropped. Under it was the flag that had been blown out.
He bent down, picked it up, and brushed off the dust on it.
“Captain Chen?”
When Chen Chuan turned around, he saw security guards standing dozens of ters away. Behind them were trenches, barbed wire, and barricades. They were the response units the command center had sent to block the place.
They were looking at him respectfully.
They could see the multiple tears and burns on Chen Chuan’s coat. There was even blood on his hat. It showed how fierce the fighting had been.
Chen Chuan looked behind them. The Frost King Saber’s sheath had been blown away, so that saved him the effort of having to order another one. Just as he was about to walk over, Fang Zhixin picked it up and brought it over to him. He looked at him with an inquiring gaze.
Chen Chuan returned his gaze calmly, and Fang Zhixin’s eyes turned dull. Once Chen Chuan took the sheath, Fang Zhixin walked away. People in trenchcoats and top hats surrounded him. “Mr. Fang, will you co with us?”
Fang Zhixin cast a final glance at the gap before nodding and letting the people handcuff him.
Another person then ca over, saluted Chen Chuan, and extended both hands. “Captain Chen, Special Officer Liang asked us to deliver this to you.”
Chen Chuan took a look. It was recovery dicine. Once Chen Chuan took it, he cast a glance at the sky. The red light still lingered. Clearly, the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagation hadn’t ended.
***
United Might’s motorcade was moving through the lower city district.
This place was unlike the upper city district. The road conditions and environnt were really complicated. Sotis, they couldn’t take the shortest route, but had to go on a detour. At other tis, they needed to stop to negotiate their passage.
Most of the tunnels in the lower city district were under gangs and organizations’ control. These groups were wary of an ard motorcade passing through their territory. So of the organizations they had negotiated with beforehand changed their minds at the last mont and refused them passage.
Che Gaoyi’s expression was cold. While he was displeased, he couldn’t use force here, because then the rest of the journey would be full of obstacles. No one would believe them anymore and use all they had to stop them.
Che Gaoyi’s goal was to leave with the goods, not to fight here. If they were held back, it wouldn’t be good. Detours were preferable to that.
But because of it, the trip beca much longer.
If they continued dragging things out and the propagation ended, the Resolution Departnt would finally have manpower to find and stop them.
After another hour or so, Che Gaoyi turned to the middle-aged obese man in a suit beside him. “Mr. Pan, how much longer until we leave this place?”
Mr. Pan’s head was covered in sweat, though Che Gaoyi had no idea whether it was because of nerves or the heat.
“In at most half an hour. The ones occupying the tunnel ahead are all my friends. They won’t stop us,” Mr. Pan answered right away.
He wasn’t lying. The next portion of the trip went smoothly. All the organizations controlling the tunnels let them through and did not make things difficult for them.
After traveling so more, Mr. Pan looked outside and said excitedly, “Mr. Che, the exit is right ahead of us. We’ll leave Central City once we go through there.”
Che Gaoyi wasn’t as excited as he was. Calmly, he gave so instructions into his Realm Pass. A scout car went forward. A few minutes later, an urgent voice reached his ears. “Mr. Che, the Resolution Departnt has set up checkpoints at the exit ahead and sealed it off. They won’t let us through.”
Che Gaoyi’s expression turned dark. “The Resolution Departnt? Why are they here?”
He cast Mr. Pan a cold glare.
Mr. Pan panicked and hurriedly explained, “I don’t know either, Mr. Che. It has nothing to do with . The Iron Fist Gang and executives of Clear Road Transport have been using this road for years. It’s a safe tunnel we opened ourselves. The Resolution Departnt shouldn’t have known about it.”
It was clear, though, that soone had leaked word about their trip, but Che Gaoyi didn’t bother wondering who and why. His focus was on getting the goods out.
“Can we storm through?” he asked into his Realm Pass.
“We’ve checked. A Third Limit martial artist is guarding the checkpoint. We may be able to push through, but it will alert the Resolution Departnt, and we might not be in the clear even if we get out,” the scout answered grimly.
Che Gaoyi narrowed his eyes. This was a crucial mont, and the Resolution Departnt was stretched so thin that they wished they could clone every single one of their officers. Yet they had sent a Third Limit martial artist to guard the place, which showed just how much importance they put on this area. It made it obvious that they had concrete information about their passage.
After so thinking, he asked, “Didn’t you say that there's another exit?”
“Yes, but it’s further underground, and it’s close to the Plague Gang. It’s dangerous going there,” Mr. Pan hurriedly answered.
Che Gaoyi had heard about the Plague Gang, but he didn’t care. Everyone in the motorcade wore protective gear and masks. “We’ll take that exit.”
The motorcade switched paths. More than ten minutes later, they headed further underground.
Che Gaoyi looked around. This area was different from the others. It didn’t have any Sun Vines and had practically no light. Their headlights lit up tons of pictures on the walls. They appeared to be so ssy doodles, but after staring at them for a while, Che Gaoyi felt uneasy.
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