Outside the collection room, light suddenly flickered in the eyes of the two resonators lingering there.
Ka Zhijie suddenly sensed something at that moment and glanced back outside. The door had not been closed, and when his gaze fell upon one of the resonators, his movements stiffened slightly.
"And this!" Ge Jixiong called out loudly. "Gentlemen, come look at this."
Ka Zhijie's attention was drawn away. Ge Jixiong strode swiftly over to a raised cabinet and pulled off the covering drape, revealing a glass display case. Inside was a crimson humanoid entity, over two meters tall. It looked like a person whose skin had been flayed, yet its surface was actually quite smooth, and its facial features were rather peculiar.
Ka Zhijie looked it over and asked, "What is this? A creature from the Melded Lands?"
"No. We caught it in a subterranean cavern while searching for ancient flora. Unfortunately, it resisted too violently at the time and was shot several times. By the time I rushed over, it was already drawing its last breath."
Ge Jixiong said, "It might be an inhabitant native to this ancient continent, or perhaps a new species spawned by contamination. We analyzed its tissue, which fell somewhere between plant and animal. But there are far too many similar things in the Melded Lands, so it held little value. In the end, we could only preserve it as a specimen and keep it here as a collectible.
"However, I discovered a peculiar trait." He gazed at the creature, a mesmerized look on his face. "Don't you gentlemen find it beautiful? Truly captivating?"
Wang Tongshan and Ka Zhijie exchanged a glance, then looked back at the specimen. They could sense something different about it—as if it possessed some power that amplified fields.
Just then, one of the resonators outside turned around, blue light flickering in his eyes. Ge Jixiong appeared to receive a transmission. Listening for a moment, he said excitedly, "Oh, please excuse me for a moment, gentlemen. It seems there is good news, and I must attend to it. Pardon me while I step away."
Wang Tongshan said, "If you have business to tend to, Boss Ge, please go ahead."
Ge Jixiong offered his apologies and gestured outward. A female secretary waiting outside stepped in to take over guiding the two through the collection.
Many of the items here were quite novel, and the secretary was adept at storytelling, making the tour far more engaging than Ge Jixiong had. Neither man found it dull. A few minutes later, however, the secretary paused and seemed to listen to something, then bowed slightly to them. "May I ask which of you is Mr. Ka?"
Ka Zhijie said, "That would be me."
The secretary said, "It is like this, Mr. Ka. The boss has a few private matters he would like to consult you on. Would you mind—"
"Private matters?"
Ka Zhijie considered it. In their conversation earlier, the most in-depth topics they had touched upon were breathing techniques and the self-symbiotic coordination of implants. Could it be that?
Although there was nothing confidential involved, since the host was extending a personal invitation, it was hard to refuse. After letting Wang Tongshan know, he stepped out of the collection room.
Wang Tongshan watched him leave, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. The female secretary stepped forward then. "Sir, please follow me. Allow me to present these rather unique pieces to you—"
In the bunker on the hillside, the sunglasses-wearing man was watching the situation unfold. Seeing the two separated, he clenched his fists, rolled his neck, and said, "Prepare for the next step—"
Right at that moment, however, he sensed something amiss. He noticed the resonators in the room were all sitting blankly in their chairs, completely unresponsive to his words.
Snapping his head around, he saw someone sitting in an armchair there, casually leafing through a comic book he had brought along to pass the time.
When he clearly saw the person's face, cold sweat broke out across his entire body.
Chen Chuan turned two pages. The art style of this comic book was typical of the Federation—the colors were overly garish and the characters too rugged for his taste. Losing interest after a couple of pages, he tossed the book onto the desk.
He tapped the translator on his boundary credential, and words in the Federation tongue played: "Talk."
The man fell silent for a moment before speaking in immaculate Great Shun speech: "I am an operative of the Federation's Covert Operations Directorate, acting under higher orders to conduct necessary surveillance over your party.
"My credentials are in my jacket pocket, and inside the drawer of your desk is a spare uniform of mine. Both can verify my identity."
Chen Chuan looked at his dark glasses and said calmly, "Yet what you were doing went beyond mere surveillance. Just moments ago, your mental and physiological state was primed for an assault. Don't tell me the Covert Operations Directorate ordered that as well."
The man lapsed into silence again. Then he said, "Hakekeshu."
"Hm?"
The man said, "Hakekeshu—a man-eating monster from the legends of the First Folk. So long as someone places a gold coin into its mouth while it sleeps and speaks a person's name, Hakekeshu will devour that person the next day. There is a renowned bounty board in the Federation named after this creature. I accepted a contract from it demanding the 'capture' of a Great Shun martial artist, by any means necessary."
Chen Chuan raised a brow. "For what purpose?"
The man shook his head. "I don't know. Perhaps they need a martial artist test subject, or perhaps as a sacrificial offering, or maybe some Federation tycoon wants a Great Shun martial artist as a collectible. Any of those is possible."
Chen Chuan asked further, "What lies behind Hakekeshu?"
The man replied, "Though I am an operations team leader in the Covert Operations Directorate, my rank isn't high enough to access anything deeper."
"So you arranged this entire affair?"
The man did not answer, which amounted to a tacit admission.
Chen Chuan asked, "What is the deal with Ge Jixiong?"
The man said, "He knows nothing about this; he merely served as a convenient instrument for our intervention. We modified one of his collectibles into a field signal amplifier, then used the resonators to repeatedly feed suggestions and information into him through the field, subtly altering his psychology and perception so that he would carry this out on our behalf.
"If any hitch arose along the way, the resonators could make adjustments. Although his actions seemed to be his own choices, every single step was guided by us."
Chen Chuan nodded. "It seems this isn't your first time doing something like this."
The man said, "The Directorate terms it 'Transdimensional Coordinated Operations.' It was specifically developed to assist and coordinate actions. However, it only works on ordinary people; its effect is extremely weak against fighters or civilians with implants."
Chen Chuan asked, "Why invite two instead of one? Wouldn't that make things harder to orchestrate?"
The man said, "I considered inviting just one, but that would have heightened your suspicion. Besides, handling two wasn't impossible. The esoteric rituals in Ge Jixiong's company can be directed both outward and inward. As long as the two were briefly separated, it would buy me the window I needed."
Chen Chuan said, "You seem very confident."
Taking down a martial artist in a brief window was no simple feat, unless one possessed absolute, overwhelming superiority.
The man said, "I made extensive preparations in advance. To ensure success, my superior even provided me with a one-time burst drug capable of boosting my strength and speed by a third for three seconds."
Chen Chuan murmured an acknowledgment and stood up from the armchair. "Since you have finished speaking, then please, be on your way to the next life."
The man's expression shifted slightly. He had not cooperated so readily without reason; he had wanted to demonstrate that, given his station, killing him would invite endless trouble, whereas knowing so much made him valuable alive.
He said in a low voice, "I hadn't even begun to carry it out. Any attack against you existed purely as a plan. Even if you recorded my confession, there is no way it could warrant a death sentence."
Chen Chuan replied in a flat tone, "You mistake one thing. The moment you prepared to strike earlier, I could have killed you. I merely wanted some answers first."
"You—"
The man stomped viciously downward as a black radiance burst around his body, launching himself outward.
At that exact instant, the drug stored inside the Heart Cocoon on his chest rapidly seeped into his heart, causing his strength to surge exponentially.
Even as he fled, he made sure to create as colossal a commotion as possible to draw the attention of Center City, hoping to tie his pursuer's hands so Chen Chuan could no longer kill him in broad daylight.
With that downward stomp, the floor—engineered to withstand heavy bombardment—instantly ruptured, sending countless gravel shards blasting outward. Yet in that very split second, everything seemed bound by an immense force field. Whether the shattered stones or the man himself, all froze in midair like insects trapped in amber, unable to emit even a sound.
Chen Chuan casually flicked his finger. A speck of light instantly sank into the man's body, and then he turned and walked away.
The man remained suspended where he was. But after Chen Chuan had taken only a few steps, a blinding platinum glow suddenly erupted from within his body.
Following that, an exceptionally clear and brilliant radiance bloomed, filling the entire space in an instant.
After lasting only a moment, the light dispersed. In the spot where he had been, absolutely nothing remained.
By now, Chen Chuan had already walked out of the bunker tunnel. The powerful, muffled draft rushing from behind set his clothes billowing outward.
This time he had directly employed the Pure Spiritual Light, annihilating anything connected to biological matter in the vicinity. Finding any trace of remains would be entirely out of the question.
He glanced upward. Chaoming was circling overhead. After standing still for a moment, his figure flickered faintly and vanished from the spot.
Moments later, he was back in his room at the hotel. Once inside, he tapped his boundary credential and dialed a signal. After a brief wait, a woman's voice came through: "Hello, Mr. Chen. Wansong Federation Branch at your service."
Chen Chuan said, "This is regarding intelligence. I want to know about 'Hakekeshu.'"
Chapter 1068