At the Center City Disposal Bureau, technicians were working to resolve the field blackout over the intersection.
They soon discovered that a substantial number of field-jamming organisms were concentrated there. Even so, backed by ample resources, they would need at most ten minutes to restore service.
In truth, the mastermind behind the interference had aimed for an outage of roughly ten minutes as well.
In their estimation, even skipping communications, requests for instructions, authorizations, and mobilization, it would take a dozen minutes or so for the nearest fighters and security forces to rush to the scene. That was more than enough time for Wei Wusheng to eliminate his targets and pull back.
Right at this moment, the technical specialist tasked with reviewing field traces submitted a finding to bureau leadership: the photograph Wei Wusheng had recently broadcast had been tampered with; its true timestamp was actually yesterday!
Why had Wei Wusheng gone to such lengths to fabricate it?
Pairing that revelation with the sudden blackout over a specific intersection, and the fact that the vehicle caught there happened to carry two trainees who had been aboard the cruise ship, a clear line instantly connected the pieces.
Wei Wusheng was very likely right there at this moment!
Having reached this conclusion, the Disposal Bureau's higher-ups immediately issued orders directing the nearest third-limit fighters to rush to the location. If they spotted Wei Wusheng, they were to stall him at all costs!
At an outpost within the arena tournament venue, Ni Xixi felt that something was amiss after ending her call with Chen Chuan. Judging by his tone, what was he planning to do? But as information from the bureau came in, she realized a possibility.
Could it be...?
Recalling Chen Chuan's recent mention of having made progress, a thought struck her.
As an adherent of the intuitive school, she skipped the steps of deduction and jumped straight to the ultimate conclusion.
It was also the most plausible explanation she could find.
Yet Wei Wusheng was someone who had killed third-limit fighters before, whereas the other party was at most a trainee who had only just stepped across that threshold. The two seemed beyond comparison. Yet for some inexplicable reason, she felt that Chen Chuan could win!
At the head of the intersection, Chen Chuan stripped off both his overcoat and protective suit, tossing them aside. Left in only a white shirt, he walked toward Wei Wusheng.
Against an expert in external conditioning like Wei Wusheng, ordinary strikes were largely meaningless; the damage they dealt was negligible, incapable of causing decisive harm. He had to meet him with absolute strength and speed.
As he slowly walked forward, he first released the restraints on his mutated tissue, taking a deep breath at the same time.
When he exhaled, the breath was already scorching hot. His skin took on a faint reddish flush, and wisps of white vapor began rising from his body.
Opposite him, Wei Wusheng tore away his shredded outer shirt, leaving only the white, waist-cinching undergarment, and strode forward to meet him.
When the distance between them narrowed to roughly ten meters, both accelerated forward at practically the exact same instant.
Leaning forward, Wei Wusheng threw a punch straight at Chen Chuan's face, his other hand held back against his flank, fingers slightly splayed, subtly primed to seize and grapple.
With the restraints on his mutated tissue released and bolstered by the Furnace Breathing Technique, Chen Chuan's physical capabilities were once again comprehensively enhanced.
Gazing at the incoming punch, Chen Chuan dipped and surged forward right before impact. This sudden acceleration was fast as lightning; his fist drove past Wei Wusheng's arm and crashed into the man's cheek!
The strike carried such immense power that his own body was pulled along with the momentum, both feet lifting into the air for a fleeting instant.
Under the ferocious impact, Wei Wusheng's face instantly distorted. His strained neck wrenched his entire body backward through the air until he slammed with a thunderous crash into a sedan behind him, caving the hood deep inward.
Only after the momentum fully dissipated did Chen Chuan drop down from the air. The moment his feet touched the ground, he lowered his center of gravity, sank into a slight squat, and kicked off with both feet, hurtling violently toward Wei Wusheng as his clenched fist smashed downward.
Wei Wusheng's pupils contracted, and he rolled desperately to the side. With an explosion of noise, Chen Chuan crashed into the spot like an artillery shell. The impact sent the sedan leaping into the air, and beneath the strike of his fist, a crater opened in the ground.
Pulling back his fist, Chen Chuan slowly straightened up. Wisps of white vapor rose from him; though his body was scalding hot, his eyes were exceptionally serene.
Months of cultivated breathing technique were more than enough to sustain him through the end of this battle. He stepped forward, walking toward Wei Wusheng.
Wei Wusheng gave him a deep look, reached down to seize an adjacent car, let out a low bark, and heaved it forward in a violent sweep.
Chen Chuan reached out a single hand, caught the vehicle by its edge, and gave it a sideways flick. The car was shoved five or six meters aside like a lightweight toy until it hit another vehicle. Both cars jolted together and overturned onto the ground.
Yet at that exact instant, Wei Wusheng's silhouette burst out from behind, a fist driving straight for his face.
Chen Chuan merely ducked slightly, letting the punch graze above his head, then snapped forward in a sudden advance. At a range where their shoulders almost touched, he drove a punch into Wei Wusheng's abdomen.
Wei Wusheng grunted in pain, knocked back by the blow. He felt a twisting, spiraling jin penetrate deep into his internal organs, violently battering him from within. Even with his external conditioning, he could not fully deflect it. A moment later, his knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee, bracing himself against the ground with a hand.
Maintaining his punch stance with his fist clenched, Chen Chuan said slowly, "You're too slow."
Wei Wusheng looked up at him, then rose slowly and straightened his spine. He ripped away his undershirt, baring his burly chest and broad shoulders. Inhaling sharply, his muscles seemed to writhe beneath his skin for a moment, and his aura shifted distinctly.
Spreading both hands and leaning slightly forward, he let out a guttural shout from his chest and pounced forward.
Once within reach, his hands reached out incessantly toward Chen Chuan. This time, both his speed and power seemed to have climbed a level, his cadence blistering, with extensive grappling and seizing techniques woven into the flurry of loose-hand strikes.
Chen Chuan deflected the relentless barrage of punches and kicks, parrying each move with consummate stability. His mutated tissue possessed vast coverage, allowing him to swiftly counter and neutralize every variation of jin.
Thanks to his heightened senses, upon contact he could readily discern every subtle shift in his opponent's force and every modulation in his breathing.
Pure hard jin could only strike directly, whereas soft jin enabled all sorts of seizing and locking techniques. Wei Wusheng alternated between these two forces continuously, so that with every clash, they coordinated to strike and infiltrate.
It was as though two third-limit fighters were housed within a single body.
Yet even if the two streams of jin could be deployed in turn, they remained divided rather than fused into one. They were simply no match for Chen Chuan's present power. Not only that, but Wei Wusheng fell short in speed as well.
A slight shortfall was a world of difference.
After withstanding a dozen consecutive exchanges, Chen Chuan suddenly lashed out with a kick that struck Wei Wusheng square on the shoulder. This kick had gathered momentum for a long time; Wei Wusheng was sent tumbling sideways through the air, crossing almost the entire width of the road, and came to an abrupt halt only when he slammed into a streetlight with a loud crash.
Chen Chuan slowly lowered his foot and planted it firmly on the ground.
Watching from behind, Teacher Bai was dumbfounded. The explosive power and speed Wei Wusheng had just displayed made even his heart race with apprehension. He knew that faced with such an onslaught, his only viable option would have been to evade and retreat.
Yet an offense so ferocious and overwhelming had been repelled head-on by Chen Chuan! And this was barehanded combat—a clash of raw flesh and bone that strictly demanded physical capabilities comparable or superior to the opponent's.
Wei Wusheng's record was piled high with the corpses of fallen fighters. When had the Main Academy ever produced such a formidable trainee?
At that same moment, over at the Disposal Bureau, technicians finally cleared the field shielding, and the boundary point accurately transmitted the scene of that sector before their eyes.
Regarding the two trainees on the vehicle, however, they held little hope. Ten minutes had passed since the incident began; if Wei Wusheng had indeed been there, it would have been more than enough time for him to strike down his targets and flee. Thus, they had locked down the other channels to avoid broadcasting a humiliating spectacle.
They were already prepared for the outcome of a lethal assault and the death of the trainees, hoping only that they might corner Wei Wusheng this time.
Yet when the scene displayed before them, everyone held their breath in unison. Some involuntarily took a few steps forward, eyes wide as they stared at what was unfolding.
Wei Wusheng was half-slumped beside a bent streetlight, covered in abrasions and dirt, his face and head streaked with clotted blood, looking utterly wretched.
Opposite him, Chen Chuan stood ramrod straight, his expression calm and composed. Sunlight cast down from his side, throwing a shadow across the ground that pointed forward like a sharp sword.
What is going on?
That uniform—is he one of our Disposal Bureau's enforcement officers?
But who is this?
Most of them were bewildered. Then someone murmured, "That looks like... Trainee Chen..." A pause followed before the person added uncertainly, "A reserve enforcement officer of the bureau... a Wuyi trainee..."
Then someone else spoke up: "He's apparently one of the two trainees who went aboard the cruise ship..."
For a moment, everyone felt dazed. So Wei Wusheng went after this trainee, only to be beaten into such a state by him?!
Was this something a mere reserve enforcement officer, a mere Wuyi trainee, could accomplish?
"But he belongs to our Disposal Bureau, doesn't he?"
The gazes of everyone in the room turned toward the speaker. Looking at the crowd, the person proposed, "I recommend lifting the block. Broadcast this sector's feed across all channels in Center City."
Someone hesitated. "That is Wei Wusheng, after all. His external conditioning is immense, and the situation is still unpredictable... What if..."
"There are no 'what-ifs.'" That person looked up at the light screen. "Our people are already on their way. We will not lose this one."
"Lift it," a deep, authoritative voice transmitted into everyone's boundary credentials at that moment.
A chill of reverence went through everyone, and they responded in unison, "Understood, Director Wu!"
As the directive reached each perimeter outpost, the technicians stationed there acted immediately.
"Lockdown lifted!"
"Lockdown lifted!"
"Lockdown lifted!"
And at this moment, with the field blackout over this sector lifted, across most of Center City, everyone following this event saw the scene.
They saw the two figures standing in the street.
Chapter 342