When he walked out of the Xuan Palace Building, five passenger buses were already waiting in the parking lot. Two were already filled with people and beginning to pull out when Tan Zhi's voice reached his ears:
"Classmate Chen, over here!"
Chen Chuan saw Tan Zhi waving at him from one of the buses, which had only a handful of people aboard. He walked over, stepped on, and made his way to Tan Zhi's side. Instead of sitting down, however, he gave the other student's shoulder a pat and said in a calm, subdued voice, "Classmate Tan, the weather is quite nice today. I think I'll sit up front where the sun hits."
With that, he moved away from the back row and sat down near the driver, placing the Xuejun Saber within easy reach.
At first, Tan Zhi was puzzled, but upon noticing the uniform Chen Chuan was wearing today, understanding seemed to dawn on him. His expression grew wary, and he shrank back slightly into his seat.
Students continued to trickle out of the building. Once the buses were full, they set off in order toward the arena venue.
Having traveled back and forth along this route countless times over the past month or so, the students had long grown tired of the scenery outside. As the bus got underway, everyone stared down at their boundary credentials, with no one looking out the window.
Just then, a student spoke up:
"Who do you think is going to win today?"
"Hard to say. Both fighters in the matchup are formidable."
A very important one-on-one bout was scheduled for this morning, pitting the strongest external student to date against an independent entrant with considerable popular backing.
It promised to be quite a spectacle. This external student possessed formidable strength; despite not being an official student, his prowess had earned the respect of most regular students, many of the lower years admitting they might not be able to beat him themselves.
Yet his opponent was just as extraordinary. An independent who had voluntarily entered the arena tournament and carved his way step-by-step into the core bracket, anyone capable of advancing this far was never easy to deal with.
Chen Chuan glanced out to both sides. Two-wheeled motor vehicles from the city patrol team escorted the buses, while further out, Disposal Bureau personnel watched from city checkpoints.
Security was tight, provided there was no interference.
"I'm backing Huo Yucheng. Even though he's just an external student, he's tough as nails. Word is, if his family's company hadn't gone bankrupt, he wouldn't have missed out on qualifying for the academy in the first place. But capable people shine wherever they go. He came to Center City all on his own, voluntarily became an external student, and fought his way up to where he is today. I admire that kind of grit."
"You're being too emotional about it. I don't see it that way. Don't forget who his opponent is—Yu Shen. He didn't enter this tournament because he ran out of options, nor did he come for prizes or perks. He said he couldn't find an equal at his level anywhere else, and that's the only reason he entered the arena."
That instantly rankled several listeners. "Isn't that boasting a bit too loud? Couldn't find an equal? Has he ever visited Wuyi? If he hasn't, what right does he have to talk like that?"
"He hasn't been to our Jibei Circuit Wuyi, but he's visited Wuyi academies in other circuits—more than one, in fact. And so far, he hasn't run into a single opponent who could match him."
The student who spoke before sneered. "Then it's a wonder he hasn't been beaten to death yet."
Someone chimed in wryly, "Well, who can blame him when he's got such a great grandfather? Word has it the old man is a director at Origin Corporation. You all know how much clout a director of a mega-corporation holds."
Chen Chuan took mental note of that. A director at Origin Corporation?
He pulled up a search on his boundary credential. Before long, he found a profile for Yu Shen, who even had his own dedicated platform featuring many of his personal collections.
The young man clearly had a penchant for racing, showcasing all kinds of luxury vehicles, and wore exceptionally high-end, lavish designer clothing, fully attesting to his wealthy background. Most prominent of all, however, were montage clips of him defeating past opponents.
It was difficult to gauge his exact level from stitched-together highlights, but it was obvious he handled every opponent with effortless composure, indicating he had never used his full strength. Yet most of the foes he brought down were killed, which showed that even when he could have held back, he chose not to.
One couldn't necessarily brand him as unusually cruel; once on a life-and-death stage, if you didn't kill your opponent, they might kill you. There was no room for hesitation or compromise.
Inside the bus, students debated the outcome between the two fighters. As qualified combatants, their analyses were backed by solid reasoning and technical observations.
Chen Chuan took the opportunity to review Huo Yucheng's fight footage as well. Comparing the two, he felt Yu Shen might be higher in overall technical skill, but Huo Yucheng likely had the better chance of winning.
This was because Huo Yucheng radiated a desperate, do-or-die ferocity while his eyes remained unnervingly calm. It showed he was fully prepared for any outcome, someone far more willing to lay everything on the line in critical moments than his opponent.
Just then, a notification chimed from the Fringe Channel, followed moments later by a rapid flurry of alerts. Realizing what it meant, he immediately switched over.
As soon as he opened the platform, he was greeted by a scene photo. The background was an open, barren expanse of flat ground, with only nearby weeds and brush visible against the hazy silhouette of mountains in the distance.
A corpse lay motionless on the ground.
Beside it, a snapped, fluted bayonet was driven into the earth, a section of its black cloth wrap fluttering in the wind.
"Wei Wusheng!"
"Left Bayonet!"
Users on the platform instantly identified both figures. The dead man lying on the ground was none other than the bounty hunter Left Bayonet, who had claimed only yesterday to have tracked down Wei Wusheng!
People on the platform had waited anxiously all through the night, some of the gamblers who had placed hefty bets waiting with bloodshot eyes. Now, at last, an outcome had arrived.
Seeing Wei Wusheng standing there practically unscathed sent a suffocating chill through everyone.
After his fight with the Pei brothers, some had speculated that Wei Wusheng stood with his back to the camera not for dramatic effect, but because his front had been wounded, as the brothers' specialty was pincer attacks from front and rear.
This time, however, Wei Wusheng appeared to have dispatched Left Bayonet without suffering a scratch.
Discussion posts and voice messages refreshed continuously across the platform.
"Is this outside the city?"
"It's outside the city. That mountain silhouette in the back should be Mount Luo. That's west of Center City, no more than twenty kilometers out."
"Looking at the angle of the sun's shadow, this isn't from yesterday... It's practically happening right now!"
At the same time, the Disposal Bureau also saw the photo. Technicians immediately inferred from the sun's angle and cloud formations that the image had been taken within the last half hour, though they could not rule out digital manipulation and were still analyzing it.
But even assuming it was altered, what was Wei Wusheng trying to accomplish?
The Disposal Bureau swiftly dispatched alerts to all on-duty and off-duty personnel, including Chen Chuan, ordering everyone to remain on high alert.
Regardless, the development could not be ignored. The bureau immediately dispatched a team toward potential sites outside the city to search for the target, while locking down and intensifying inspections at intersections heading in that direction.
The Disposal Bureau's manpower was already stretched extremely thin. Due to the arena tournament, a large force was stationed around the arena venue, but with the recent flood of people pouring into Center City and rogue fighters imitating Wei Wusheng to commit murders everywhere, their personnel were spread even thinner.
Furthermore, most technicians were focused on tracking the resonator backing Wei Wusheng; anyone capable of cloaking Wei Wusheng's movements had the capacity to cause far greater catastrophe, forcing them to remain on guard.
While Chen Chuan was studying the photo, he noticed an incoming call request from Ni Xixi and accepted the connection. Ni Xixi's voice came through: "Trainee Chen, did you go watch the matches yesterday?"
Chen Chuan replied, "Yes, Sister Ni."
Ni Xixi said, "Watching matches is fine in itself. If you ask me, you ought to relax a bit instead of keeping your head buried in training all day. It's just that some people in the bureau are unhappy with you over this. They say everyone is run ragged right now, wishing they could split themselves in two, and while the bureau is short-handed, you're out leisurely watching matches. They're venting all sorts of grievances. You don't necessarily have to mind them, of course, but a lot of higher-ups are watching us right now, so you should keep a low profile, Trainee Chen. Looking at your current location, were you planning to go today as well?"
Chen Chuan answered, "Yes."
Ni Xixi advised, "Then skip it for today. Head back and spend a relaxing day at the academy instead. Missing a few matches won't hurt..."
By now, less than half the distance to the arena venue remained. Ahead, they were approaching an intersection where the green signal light was about to enter a ten-second countdown, and vehicles were speeding up to cross.
Just at that moment, the driver of the lead car noticed a sudden shadow falling over him. Looking up, he saw a vehicle tumbling through midair directly toward him, and his face drained of color in sheer terror.
Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine another car would come flying out of thin air while driving normally down the road. He slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel, throwing the entire vehicle sideways.
The vehicle right behind him failed to evade in time. With a deafening crash, the flying car slammed into its windshield, and the vehicles following close behind were unable to stop, triggering a violent chain reaction of collisions.
Chen Chuan looked ahead and said, "I'm sorry, Sister Ni, but I'm afraid I can't do that."
The moment the words left his mouth, his boundary credential connection abruptly cut off. Not just his, but those of all the students inside the bus as well.
At the intersection, it was not just a single car; multiple vehicles had been hurled across the air to crash right into the center of the road. Combined with the piling wrecks, the intersection was completely paralyzed.
And there, standing atop an overturned truck, a figure could be seen. He wore an open-front blue belted training robe over a white inner tunic, wide half-sleeves fluttering in the wind, with a heavy hammer hanging at his waist.
Standing at least 2.1 meters tall, his towering frame radiated an overwhelming sense of oppression at a glance. His gaze swept over the row of halted, wrecked vehicles, finally locking onto one of the buses.
At that moment, Chen Chuan seemed to sense something. He rose to his feet, took the Xuejun Saber in hand, and said politely to the driver, "Driver, please open the door."
The driver glanced at the uniform Chen Chuan was wearing and immediately swung the door open.
Chen Chuan stepped off the bus. He lifted his gaze toward the road ahead, and under the watchful eyes of all the students, he gripped his saber and walked toward the distant intersection.
Chapter 339