Cleanup

Wu Bei's urgent voice sounded in Chen Chuan's ear. "They're all heading your way." On Chen Chuan's boundary credential, the structural blueprint of the building showed figures who had previously stayed inside their rooms now emerging, several of them charging rapidly toward his position. They were fast. By the time he turned and headed out, hurried footsteps were already echoing from outside. Just as he stepped into the passageway and neared the hallway concourse, smoke grenades and neuro-paralytic grenades were hurled toward him. Chen Chuan glanced at them and instantly overlapped with his Second Self, surging forward in a fierce gale. Before the neuro-paralytic and smoke grenades could even hit the floor, the violent rush of air swept them right back. Breaking out into the open, his gaze swept forward. Six men had fanned out along the corridor, raising their gun muzzles toward him. With a light flick of his wrist, a few flashes of blade light blinked out as he brushed past them. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* The smoke and paralytic canisters finally struck the ground. Before the men could even react, they were engulfed in explosions and smoke. Wu Bei saw the field signals in that area flicker; immediately afterward, every living field in the hallway concourse plummeted and vanished completely. A shiver ran through him, followed by a look of sheer disbelief. It took him a long moment to recover his wits, after which he excitedly routed the remaining biological field signals into Chen Chuan's boundary credential. By now, Chen Chuan had reached the fifth floor. A resonator here was relentlessly attempting to disrupt and corrupt his boundary credential. Though Wu Bei had intercepted every attempt, warning lights pulsed incessantly across the display, signaling ongoing attacks. A guard stood watch here, immediately drawing his gun upon spotting him. Chen Chuan's gaze remained calm and deep. Center City certainly lived up to its reputation—it felt as if practically anyone he ran into carried a firearm. Anyone who wasn't a Wuyi student couldn't possibly possess a weapons license, meaning these people had likely obtained long-term authorizations. With a flick of his wrist, the blade flashed in a blur. The two men equipped with implant armor were decapitated in an instant, collapsing in front of the doorway. He stepped inside, passing through a spacious, luxurious main hall before arriving before a tightly locked room. The boundary credential indicated this was the source of the attacks. Reaching out, he gripped the handle, turned it, and pushed the door open, but did not enter immediately. A rapid burst of gunfire erupted from inside. He waited patiently where he stood. The split second the gunfire ceased, he stepped squarely before the doorway and flicked a pebble from his fingers. With a sharp crack, the resonator's head inside burst apart. Without another look, he naturally pulled the door shut, then carried his Xuejun Saber and strolled outside at an unhurried pace. By this time, the security team patrolling downstairs had been alerted. They rushed into the building en masse; one squad guarded the elevator while another charged up the stairs. However, the resonator who had been providing them support had just been eliminated by Chen Chuan. Wu Bei had stepped in to take over the network, discreetly manipulating Chen Chuan's reported location. Consequently, as they sprinted upward, Chen Chuan—who was supposed to be on the fourth floor according to their markers—suddenly appeared right in front of them. When they laid eyes on each other, less than three meters separated them. The security captain in the lead was taken aback, but the company's long and rigorous training enabled him to react instantly. Instead of drawing a gun, he abandoned any attempt to control his center of gravity and threw his entire weight and momentum into a charge straight at Chen Chuan. In his mind, his body weight combined with a full loadout of gear would easily knock this man off balance! Then the teammates behind him would rush in to help pin him down or blow his head off at point-blank range with a pistol! Chen Chuan's gaze remained utterly placid. He raised a hand and gave a casual brush aside. *Boom!* The captain, over two meters tall and weighing more than two hundred kilograms, was swatted aside like a stuffed toy before being slammed hard against the wall. The masonry cracked in a web-like pattern, and his entire body sank deep into the brickwork. The next guard charging up was deflected by the flat of Chen Chuan's blade, flying outward before bouncing off the wall and rebounding squarely into the path of those behind him, throwing the stairwell into instant chaos. Chen Chuan lowered his stance slightly, drove forward with his legs, and plowed straight through the crowd. In that instant, they felt as if a speeding truck on a highway had slammed into them. The clustered formation shattered explosively, bodies hurled through the air to smash into the walls and ceiling. *Thud.* Chen Chuan came to a halt, the stone under his boots splintering with loud cracks. Only then did the security guards peel away from the walls and ceiling, crashing to the floor one after another with dull thuds. Down below, deceived by Wu Bei's false data, the remaining security personnel kept rushing up. One of them reached the stairwell opening of the concourse and spotted Chen Chuan, drawing his gun on the spot. Before he could pull the trigger, a flash of light cut through the air. The tip of the Xuejun Saber plunged directly into the hollow of his shoulder. A hand knocked his pistol aside as the blade pressed forward, forcing him backward down the stairs while the security personnel behind him scattered out of the way. Pushed all the way to the wall at the landing turn, Chen Chuan pivoted and drew his blade back. The man's head flew cleanly into the air. In the very instant Chen Chuan finished the stroke— *Whoosh!* Another guard leaped forward in a bid to tackle him. But while still midair, Chen Chuan reached out and caught him by the collar with a sharp smack, freezing him in place with his feet dangling and kicking in empty air. With a casual toss, Chen Chuan threw him against the stairwell's retaining wall. Amid the thunderous crumbling of brick and plaster, the man slumped motionless. Having dispatched both men, Chen Chuan descended the stairs step by step. Not a single guard dared step forward; they could only aim their guns at him with trembling nerves, watching him pass. Watching this, Wu Bei felt his adrenaline surge. The security team hired by the Golden Shrimp Company to guard its assets was by no means weak—it included its fair share of First and Second Limit fighters. Yet even a team like this couldn't slow Chen Chuan down in the slightest. Chen Chuan was now on the second floor. Sweeping his gaze across the area, he spotted a sinister-looking man wearing a baseball cap standing there. He remembered that face. This was the actual killer of Xiaoman and Big Brother Chong. When the man caught sight of Chen Chuan, his pupils contracted sharply. He backed away a few steps before turning to bolt without hesitation. Chen Chuan stood rooted. Drawing the Wuji pistol from beneath his trench coat, he fired several consecutive shots. The man's legs were shattered in an instant, pitching him forward onto his knees. Yet he clawed at the adjacent wall to prop himself up, still trying to crawl his way out. Chen Chuan walked over at a leisurely pace. Raising a hand, he delivered a gentle pat to the crown of the man's head. A series of dense, brittle cracking sounds immediately resonated throughout the man's entire body. From skull to spine down to every bone in his frame, a wave of jin permeated and shattered everything in an instant. He collapsed like a mound of unsupported mud, yet strangely enough, he had not died right away; his flesh and skin sagged limply, his skull and face warped and disfigured. At that moment, Wu Bei's voice came through again with urgency: "Little Brother Chen, the core members of the Golden Shrimp team have gotten word and are heading straight for you. How about pulling back first?" Chen Chuan replied, "No need. I'll wait for them." Wu Bei grew even more thrilled. "Great! Let me figure something out—we can't let them know what's really happening here." With that, he immediately pulled up routine correspondence from the company's boundary point, swiftly identifying who had been in contact with the outside members, and hijacked their boundary credentials to broadcast several pieces of false information. Meanwhile, along a highway not far from the Golden Shrimp Building, a sleek luxury car by Keke rolled forward, escorted front and rear by several security vehicles. Jing Li, captain of the Golden Shrimp Commission Team, was currently en route to company headquarters. Because the New Year holiday had not yet ended, the headquarters only housed duty staff and the security contingent; almost all of the team's elites were right beside him. Upon hearing that their headquarters had come under attack, his eyes turned sharp and fierce. Still cautious, he instructed the resonator accompanying him: "Find out who the attacker is." Before long, the resonator reported the findings: "Got it. It's a few students from some obscure martial arts school. Apparently, one of our guys killed a friend of theirs earlier." All of this bogus data had been prepared by Wu Bei while Chen Chuan and Old Qi were on their way to the Golden Shrimp Building, deployed now to lead them astray. Such was the advantage of fighting a well-prepared battle. What was more, spurred on by Chen Chuan's actions, Wu Bei felt himself in peak condition. Every cell in his body buzzed with intense exhilaration; he could execute any maneuver on command, itching to engage the enemy resonator in a duel. Jing Li asked, "Are you certain?" "Positive. They must have a resonator of their own, which explains why outgoing messages from the building were delayed earlier. But their skill level is mediocre at best." Roughly ten minutes later, Jing Li's motorcade pulled up beneath the building. Aside from his group, other company personnel had also rushed over upon hearing the news, massing over a dozen vehicles at the site. Once the cars came to a halt, car doors swung open one after another. Jing Li and the elite core of the Golden Shrimp team stepped out. There were sixteen of them in total. Every single one wore a stab-resistant suit, possessed military-grade implants, and gripped a submachine gun. The wealth Jing Li had amassed over the years had been poured entirely into equipping these people. As long as he had this core intact, it didn't matter how many other members died—he could always recruit more. Jing Li looked toward the ground-floor entrance hall and was about to order his men inside when a silhouette materialized within the flickering play of light and shadow, shifting from a blur into sharp focus. A young man carrying a long saber, clad in a trench coat and wearing a scarf, was walking slowly out of the building. At the sight, Jing Li ordered, "Fire!" Without a second's hesitation, every team member raised their muzzles and pulled their triggers from across the plaza toward the main entrance. *Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* Countless gunshots ripped across the plaza. Chen Chuan made no move to dodge. He simply raised a hand in front of him and stood firm. Bullet after bullet struck him, only to deflect and drop away. Once the storm of gunfire expended its fury and finally ceased, he slowly lowered his hand. From his protective gloves, spent slugs tumbled free as well, clattering and bouncing across the paving stones. "At least a Level 3 protective suit..." Jing Li's expression warped. Something about this... was dead wrong!