On the rooftop, the image on the light screen in front of Xu Chan vanished abruptly, leaving behind only a blanket of glaring white light.
He glanced across the way, recognizing that some fighter had exerted mental suppression outward, causing those modified bio-creatures to lose consciousness.
Judging by the distance, this person's mental suppression radius spanned roughly two hundred meters—a formidable level of strength.
With such a person present, biological weapons would be of little use.
Although they could continuously dispatch these biological weapons to wear down the opponent's mental power, the other side could also take pharmaceuticals to stimulate themselves and replenish stamina, easily stalling for at least half a day.
They needed to wrap this matter up before the Fumu finished dividing and reproducing, so they could not afford to drag things out.
This situation was well within his and command's expectations; Ferris Wheel Company would not be taken down so easily. Moreover, the company had been preparing for corporate warfare for a long time, so it was impossible for them not to have kept a trump card in reserve.
Yet at the same time, he could also see their weakness.
A figure like this could easily have been held back to ambush them, yet he had already revealed himself now. This showed that Ferris Wheel Company had just about run through its viable trump cards and was forced to push him forward ahead of time.
And when encountering such a situation, it was time for people like them to step forward.
Xu Chan spoke up at this moment: "Captain Wang, Captain Lü, you two come inside with me."
Simultaneously, he sent a transmission through his boundary credential, calling upon the two pioneer team members attached to Team One.
These individuals hailed from three different departments and had their own distinct fighting styles. What they had in common was that they were all fighters who had mastered heart jin, each of them over thirty years of age.
In a battle like this, ordinary third-limit fighters who had not reached the level of enforcement captain—or whose raw combat capability could not match theirs—would be of virtually no use.
For whether in destructive power, speed, or strength, such fighters lagged far behind both them and their opponent, and rushing in blindly would amount to nothing more than throwing their lives away.
After descending from the rooftop, Xu Chan had everyone check their equipment and weapons. Once they confirmed everything was in order, they braved the gusting winds blowing off the sea and walked toward the Ferris Wheel Building opposite them.
The building and the Ferris wheel behind it backed against the boundless, churning sea, as though they were the sole entities standing between sea and sky. Its heavy, dark shadow cast over the surroundings, just as it had seemingly done for so very long.
Yet after today, everything would be different.
Inside the building, Guan Shangjing was observing the situation outside through his boundary credential, only to see five figures emerge from the streets around the opposite building, walking toward them at a steady, unhurried pace.
The five were spaced roughly thirty to forty meters apart, varying in height and build, but all wore the military greatcoats and uniforms of the Disposal Bureau or Defense Department.
His expression shifted slightly.
As Ferris Wheel's head of security, he recognized the three enforcement captains including Xu Chan and knew how formidable they were—especially Xu Chan, who had long been the Disposal Bureau's pillar of martial strength, rightly considered their ace.
As for the other two, those pioneer team members had been transferred by the Defense Department from the Confluence. He did not know them, but from their respective positioning and gait, he could tell their strength was likely close to Xu Chan's group.
This instantly put immense pressure on him.
Right then, his boundary credential chimed. His subordinates were asking whether they should send personnel to open fire and impede them.
He immediately rejected the proposal. Standard firearms could not hit these people at all and would only provoke them. As it stood, the enemy's slow advance at least bought him a little time to prepare.
He turned toward the colossal figure ahead, bowing as he said, "Tiecheng-kun, they are coming. I'm counting on you!"
Tiecheng-kun swallowed the rest of the nutrition paste and rose from where he sat, his imposing frame—over three meters tall—instantly casting a dark shadow over the floor.
As he turned around, one could see his rather flat facial features and the topknot atop his head. His frame was broad and thick, his limbs immensely stout. The contours of his muscles were indistinct beneath a dense layer of fat.
Looking at Guan Shangjing before him, he returned the bow and said in a deep, booming voice, "I am indebted to Your Excellency's hospitality. Tie Chengpeng shall naturally honor his word."
Hearing his response, Guan Shangjing felt the pressure in his heart ease slightly, though he also felt a pang of regret.
This was a talent the company had found solely thanks to a hint from Wu Qi. According to Wu Qi's evaluation, if this man cultivated step by step with sufficient resources, he stood an exceptional chance of stepping into a higher limit.
After Ferris Wheel Company located him, they groomed him in secret, even procuring the secret legacy of Elephant Grappling jin from the Tayin School—one of the former twenty-one schools—striving to turn him into one of the company's trump cards.
Given another ten years, they might have cultivated a true martial artist. Yet now, they were forced to deploy him ahead of time to resolve the crisis facing the company.
Still, he was only one man. How much time could he really buy?
While Guan Shangjing was lost in thought, Tie Chengpeng had already walked past him with floor-shaking strides, heading outside.
By this time, Xu Chan and his party of five had arrived before the building. He had been extremely cautious along the way, but they met with no resistance, as the enemy clearly understood that doing so was pointless.
To ensure nothing went wrong, he split the team into two groups: he and the two enforcement captains would breach the interior, while the two pioneer team members from Team One remained outside to provide support.
For from the looks of it, Ferris Wheel could hardly field any force capable of matching them apart from the one who had released mental power earlier—unless they activated their active conscious entity.
Yet since they were attacking Ferris Wheel Company, there was no way they had not anticipated that, and they had come fully prepared.
As the three stepped into the expanse of the Ferris Wheel Building, they saw a figure standing in the open space ahead. Round-waisted and stout, his thick muscle and fat stretched his originally loose clothing taut. From a distance, he stood there like a massive iron weight.
Behind him stood two combat dolls. Though clad in Ferris Wheel Company uniforms, their styling made it apparent they were custom-ordered from Yuanren Corporation.
Upon seeing the three enter, Tie Chengpeng raised both hands, clapped his broad palms together with a loud crack, and bowed slightly forward.
"Tie Chengpeng. Please instruct me." His voice reverberated through the cavernous hall.
Xu Chan took the man in and made a rough appraisal in his mind in an instant. Without question, the one who had unleashed the mental power earlier was this very person.
He said, "Be careful, both of you. No need to rush. Steady and methodical. They can't run anywhere—conserve your stamina."
The captains to his left and right acknowledged his command, then immediately unleashed their own mental power, slamming it toward Tie Chengpeng.
The two captains felt as though they had crashed into an iron wall, their heads involuntarily jerking back, while Tie Chengpeng's massive frame swayed as well, his footing briefly unsteady.
In a clash of spirits, the attacker always had the advantage. Much like a clash of heart jin, unless one possessed a specialized method of spiritual fortification, the defender was bound to suffer; offensive force usually outmatched defensive durability, and by no small margin.
A single lapse could decide the battle right then and there.
However, this man's spiritual cultivation was just as formidable as he had demonstrated before, and he possessed a specialized defensive technique; shattering his consciousness with a frontal assault seemed all but impossible.
Yet the maneuver had not been pointless. Captain Lü on the left said with utter certainty, "Tayin School. Elephant Grappling jin."
Captain Wang on the right remarked, "This guy is well-rounded."
Xu Chan recalled that Elephant Grappling jin was a secret grappling and throwing art. While it emphasized offense, it placed even greater emphasis on physical conditioning and defense, boasting virtually no weaknesses on either side.
Its flaw lay in a lack of agility—an unavoidable trade-off for such massive bulk. However, fighting as the defender mitigated that shortcoming to a certain degree.
In a one-on-one fight without special measures, bringing him down would indeed be difficult in the short term. But now, there were three of them.
Captain Lü suddenly appeared at Tie Chengpeng's right flank and struck toward his shoulder with a palm. Yet halfway through the strike, Lü abruptly leaned back as a massive hand swept past the front of his body, missing him by a hair's breadth.
Despite his colossal size, Tie Chengpeng was not slow in the least. By then, Captain Wang had reached his other side, snapping a kick into the hollow of his knee. A loud bang detonated as a ring of air pressure blasted outward, his specially tailored training trousers rippling as if pumped full of air.
The blow had clearly been infused with heart jin, yet it merely caused Tie Chengpeng's thigh to buckle slightly. The dense muscle and fat encasing it absorbed the forceful jin head-on.
Even with the strike blocked, the impact he absorbed remained very real, causing him to pause for an instant.
Meanwhile, Captain Lü—though he had leaned back to dodge—had kept his feet planted firmly in place. Now, snapping back like a bowstring, he swung forward and landed a booming punch against Tie Chengpeng's flank.
When the fist struck home, ripples cascaded across the fat on Tie Chengpeng's body like waves, yet it still failed to cause any injury.
Dense, resilient mutated tissue packed his fat and subcutaneous layers. When struck by jin, his fat in its relaxed state could disperse the impact of foreign force through vibration, while the underlying muscles would instantly tighten, preventing any remaining jin from penetrating deeper.
As they clashed, the two combat dolls moved as well. Yet after taking merely a single step, they froze in place.
Xu Chan was watching them, a faint light glimmering in his eyes.
In addition to their primary brain, combat dolls typically possessed an auxiliary secondary brain. When their primary psyche came under assault, the secondary brain would swiftly seize control of the body to direct an appropriate response.
Yet this, too, had its limits. Once the mental force exceeded what they could bear, it was just as useless.
Chapter 581