Cleanup

Once Toad Blade's vital aura had completely faded away, Chen Chuan turned back and walked up to Zhao Qian. In a calm voice, he asked, "Supervisor Zhao, have you made up your mind?" Zhao Qian lay there, staring blankly up at Chen Chuan. He had witnessed the entire fight. At first, he had been certain Chen Chuan stood no chance of surviving. Yet a third-limit fighter had just been cleaved to death right before his eyes. The jarring disconnect between his expectations and reality, combined with the shattering of his hopes and his excruciating physical pain, twisted his face into a grimace. Only now did he realize that Chen Chuan had never taken any stimulants from start to finish—it was all a facade! Standing before him was unmistakably a genuine third-limit fighter! Youxing's death must have been because he underestimated his opponent. And now, it was his turn. Lying there beneath Chen Chuan's downward gaze, his chest heaved, his lips parted slightly, and he emitted a raspy rattle, seeming to want to say something yet unable to get the words out. Seeing his state, Chen Chuan stepped closer. Zhao Qian forced his head up slightly. Watching the figure draw near, a sudden vicious gleam flashed in his eyes. A sharp spike sprang from his sleeve, thrusting upward with all his might straight toward Chen Chuan's ribs! Yet before the strike could hit home, a hand reached out first, lightly pushing against his forehead. His head snapped back with an audible crack as his cervical vertebrae snapped instantly. The spike prodding against the puncture-resistant trench coat lost all force, and his hands dropped limply, the weapon clattering onto the ground. Chen Chuan gazed down at him for a moment. That push had not only snapped his neck; the burst of jin had shattered his entire brain, killing him in an instant. He glanced ahead toward the other side of the guardrail, where the driver was stumbling into the distance. The man had bolted the moment Zhao Qian was hoisted into the air. Except he had fled in the wrong direction—the wilderness outside Center City was hardly a place just anyone could wander safely. The driver was just an ordinary civilian; Chen Chuan had never intended to kill him anyway. He hadn't shown his face throughout the encounter, wore a State Administration Bureau uniform, and there were no boundary credentials recording the scene here. If Lianwei Heavy Control wanted to investigate, let them. With the fall of the Zhao family and the collapse of Molan Company, there were plenty of tangled threads to keep them busy. But would Lianwei Heavy Control really go that far for Zhao Qian? He doubted it. If Zhao Qian were alive, that would be one thing, but dead, he was merely toxic debt waiting to be written off—especially after being targeted by the Disposal Bureau time and again. He reached out, resting a hand on the back of Zhao Qian's neck. Tracing the suture line, he peeled away the outer tissue and extracted the implanted boundary credential. There had to be logs stored inside; perhaps it would yield some useful leads. Pulling out a bag to stow it inside, he turned back to retrieve his scabbard and sheathed the Xuejun Saber. He looked toward Center City. National Boulevard stretched straight ahead into the distance. By now, the rising sun hung above the city's silhouette, spilling morning light down the road and casting a long shadow at his side. After standing there for a moment, he walked over to Toad Blade's corpse, lifted it, and placed it into his car's trunk, planning to find a spot to bury it on the drive back. As for Feng Gai's body, which had originally been in the trunk, he had already dumped it along the road after leaving the city. Closing the trunk, he walked over, pulled Zhao Qian's two-handed sword from the car, and returned to his own vehicle. Soon, the hum of the Jiade car's engine sounded, and it drove away from the scene. Roughly three or four minutes after he left, the assistant collapsed inside the car stirred faintly. He sat up in a daze, looking around. After a moment, his eyes gradually focused as memory returned. Hurriedly glancing back, he saw Zhao Qian sprawled across the trunk lid. "Supervisor?" Gasping in horror, he scrambled out of the car on hands and knees and rushed to Zhao Qian's side. Checking him, he found Zhao Qian wasn't breathing at all. Panic instantly seized his heart. He had been hired into the company by Zhao Qian and depended entirely on him. With Zhao Qian dead, there was no way he could stay at the company. On top of that, he had offended plenty of people on Zhao Qian's behalf over the years. With Zhao Qian gone, those people would target him with ease. Going back to the company was a dead end. In that case, why not... Gritting his teeth, he dashed to the driver's seat and tested the controls. Discovering that the car could still run, he was overjoyed. He knew there was a drawer under the seat containing emergency cash. Though not a massive sum, it was more than enough for travel expenses. Furthermore, he knew about one of Zhao Qian's bearer accounts. Still, that wasn't enough... After a brief internal struggle, a ruthless glint surfaced on his face. Drawing a small knife from his waist, he walked over to Zhao Qian's corpse and severed his head. He knew that the brain tissue of a third-limit fighter could fetch good money—a substantial sum that would command a high price in any Center City. Letting Zhao Qian's headless body slide to the ground, he gingerly carried the head back to the car and carefully placed it inside the built-in mini-freezer beneath the seat. Pondering for a moment, he decided to go back and strip off Zhao Qian's luxury watch as well. Wiping it clean, he slipped it into his pocket, then hurriedly climbed back into the driver's seat. Reversing the car and swiftly turning around, he sped off in the direction opposite Center City. Elsewhere, Chi Duan lay in wretched shape by the roadside. One of his arms was broken, hanging limp, while the man before him remained standing steady and tall, looking as though he had barely moved from his spot since the fight began. Chi Duan gave a bitter smile. "Still no match, huh." Ever since their last clash, he had racked his brains over ways to counter this man and made extensive preparations, but none of it had made any difference. And so he conceded of his own accord: "Could your Excellency spare me? I have fulfilled my duty to Mr. Zhao. I will not serve Mr. Zhao any longer." These words came from the heart. Moreover, his opponent didn't seem interested in beating him to death, having only moved to hold him back; otherwise, he wouldn't even have had the chance to speak. Zhao Qian was as good as doomed over there. Although Chi Duan had wanted to repay the Zhao family for raising and nurturing him, he had done his best. It wasn't his fault if he simply wasn't strong enough. The imposing figure glanced at him, then turned and walked away without a word. Seeing him leave, all the tension drained out of Chi Duan at once. He sprawled out on the ground, staring up at the sky. It seemed he could no longer stay in Jibei Circuit Center City. Once Chen Chuan re-entered Center City's field coverage, his boundary credential contacted Wu Bei first, requesting technical support to thoroughly erase the records of his departure and return. In truth, this wasn't just for today. Ever since the incident with Instructor Wu, he had Wu Bei process his daily travel records. After finishing his call with Wu Bei, he contacted Gao Ming. Gao Ming's voice came through: "Cousin, sounds like the matter is settled." "Yes," Chen Chuan said. "The plan went very smoothly." "Next will be handling any potential inquiries from inside the Disposal Bureau," Gao Ming said. Chen Chuan hummed in acknowledgment. Because his past friction with Zhao Qian had been exposed, Zhao Qian's death would surely lead some people in the Disposal Bureau to suspect him. Claiming there would be zero fallout was unrealistic; a faction would inevitably be displeased with him. However, he didn't care. Since that crowd hadn't cared about his interests when Zhao Qian had shown signs of targeting him, he had no reason to care about them either. The Disposal Bureau was not dominated by a single faction; there was naturally a group that backed him. Besides, Zhao Qian was dead now, and hounding him over it served no purpose. Once he officially became a third-limit fighter, he believed the matter would soon be forgotten. After returning to the city, he drove straight to Wu Bei's residence. An hour later, the two met, and Chen Chuan placed a pouch before Wu Bei. "I retrieved his boundary credential. Just as you instructed, Brother Wu, I haven't done any data cleansing." "That's best." Wu Bei took it, preparing to run an information scan to extract any residual and stored field data. There might well be leads inside that Chen Chuan was looking for. After inspecting it for a moment, he looked up and said, "Brother Chen, he used a dormant storage format. For this kind of field data, you have to slowly search out the right path and dig deep. One wrong move could wipe everything. I might need a bit of time, but this storage format definitely hides a lot." "No rush, Brother Wu. Take all the time you need," Chen Chuan said. Wu Bei agreed eagerly, rubbing his palms together with bright, keen eyes, looking very much like someone who had encountered a puzzle that ignited his competitive spirit. Seeing this, Chen Chuan didn't disturb him further. He left the apartment, returned to his vehicle, and drove to an off-grid car wash he had scouted out earlier, giving the car a thorough cleaning inside and out. After finishing the wash, he returned to his dormitory in the Xuan Palace Building. Standing before a spare cabinet, he placed Zhao Qian's two-handed sword, Toad Blade's two arm blades, and the staff he had previously taken from Youxing together. With this, his future display room gained another set of weapons. After shutting the cabinet door, he saw that it was still early, so he went to carry out his daily training. He had expected news of Zhao Qian's death to reach the Disposal Bureau and Lianwei Heavy Control very quickly, but the next few days were completely tranquil, without a whisper of information regarding Zhao Qian. In reality, Zhao Qian's body had been discovered early on. However, it wasn't discovered by road inspectors or cleanup crews, but rather by an armed crew out in the wasteland. The runaway driver had thought it was only half an hour's drive from Center City and that he could walk back on his own, but he had overlooked how treacherous conditions outside Center City truly were. Surrounding Center City were armed gangs and smuggling syndicates of every size; a lone traveler on foot was practically a sitting duck. Less than half an hour into his trek, he had been intercepted by a bandit on a motorcycle. The bandit squeezed some information out of him and cautiously went to check out the scene to see if there was any loot to scavenge. To his delight, he found Zhao Qian's corpse still lying right where it had fallen. Even though it was a headless corpse, this had been a third-limit fighter and a corporate manager—salvaging the parts was guaranteed to fetch a handsome sum! And because Zhao Qian had left midway through the convoy's trip, the transport team didn't care where he went. With both his assistant and driver vanishing simultaneously, there was no one to report the incident. Thus, by the time Zhao Qian's disappearance was confirmed, three full days had already passed.