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Fang Zhixin dropped from the air and landed on the ground, but gunners were aimed here as well, and bullets poured in relentlessly from outside. Because the firing coordinates had been predetermined and every position had personnel assigned to shoot, it did not matter that the shooters were not third limit fighters; they had no need to see his movements clearly at all, only needing to listen for cues from the observers who could track him. Thus, the moment he came down, several more bullets struck him in rapid succession, incoming from more than one direction, bullets piercing various parts of his body. Yet as a third limit fighter, these were superficial flesh wounds at best and did not hinder him much. His movements remained agile and swift. Touching down, he pushed off the balls of his feet and shot out with a sharp whoosh, crashing through a wall with a loud bang and hurtling in one direction. After battering through over a dozen rooms in a row, he vaulted forward and abruptly vanished from the pursuers' sight. A moment later, footsteps closed in from all directions. Reaching the spot, the pursuers pointed their gun barrels downward, only to see a long-abandoned sewer opening. The man was already gone. Not knowing where it led, several hunters immediately leapt down to search. However, they quickly discovered that the subterranean sewers branched out in every direction with virtually no light. Vagrants and criminals were hiding below, and the tunnels seemed to lead vaguely toward the lower city. Searching was extraordinarily difficult; though they could follow a few left-behind tracks at first, they soon lost all traces entirely. Consequently, once night fell, the personnel withdrew from the area. On the edge of Jiyang District, Fang Zhixin emerged from the entrance of a modified sewer passage. He hadn't fled blindly to some random hiding place; he had planned his escape route well in advance. And this happened to lead straight to a safehouse prepared beforehand. Climbing up, he pulled a mangled tube of nutrition paste from his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it. He cast a wary glance around, and having confirmed no eyes were on him, darted across the street at extreme speed. About ten minutes later, he vaulted into a house. Only upon reaching this place did he finally relax. Yet the moment his tension eased, he felt a wave of numbness. Raising his arm, he saw a dense cluster of red dots where the spines had stung him. Those long spines clearly had something wrong with them; there seemed to be some kind of toxin on them, leaving his entire body numb. He tried to pull them out, only to find they wouldn't budge at all—the squeezing of his muscles only drove them deeper, and forcing them out might cause them to snap off inside, making them very difficult to deal with. Furthermore, the bullets embedded in his body seemed like living things, attempting to burrow deeper once inside his flesh. He guessed they must be some kind of specially made bio-bullets. He couldn't fathom the background of these people. Anyone capable of deploying such unique biological weapons certainly possessed no ordinary backing. He turned it over in his mind and felt these people weren't from government departments, nor did they seem to belong to the Temporary Special Committee. Moreover, he had paid close attention earlier; the faint voices carried on the wind were not spoken in Great Shun speech, but sounded rather like the language of Norland. He felt something was wrong. Linking this with recent developments, he vaguely grasped a glimmer of the truth. After deliberating for a moment, he reached a decision. First, he retrieved the boundary credential hidden here and put it on. Then, he gathered some weapons and equipment, suited up fully, grabbed several tubes of nutrition paste, and left the place. Inside the Xuangong Building, Chen Chuan was in his apartment contemplating force techniques when he suddenly heard a ping on his boundary credential, which vanished just as quickly—three times in succession. This was clearly meant to evade Andun's data tracking. After a moment's thought, he temporarily shielded Andun, then attempted to contact the signal. After a short pause, the connection went through, and a raspy, exhausted voice came across: "Captain Chen, is that you?" Chen Chuan recognized the voice. "Fang Zhixin?" "It's me." Fang Zhixin quickened his speech. "Can we meet? I have an urgent matter to discuss with you." He added, "Someone is hunting me, but it's not the government. I heard them talking—they sounded like foreigners." Hearing this, Chen Chuan's eyes flickered slightly. "Where are you?" Fang Zhixin immediately gave his location. "Wait for me there. I'm on my way," Chen Chuan said. "Alright. They've been searching for me nonstop, so I'll end the call now." After ending the call, Chen Chuan considered his options. Instead of summoning his dedicated executive car, he went downstairs and drove a Jiade car toward the location. Along the way, he contacted Yuan Qiuyuan and the other two via his boundary credential, giving them detailed instructions. Over an hour later, he arrived in the area Fang Zhixin had described. Stepping out of the car, he walked toward a certain building—an abandoned small shop, the sort of place that abounded in and around Hongsheng District. After roughly twenty paces, he sensed someone watching him from inside—most likely Fang Zhixin. Then, through a broken window, a flashlight clicked on and flashed briefly toward him. He walked over and stepped inside through the missing doorway. He saw Fang Zhixin seated upon a collapsed counter. At the sight of him, Fang Zhixin's very first words were, "Captain Chen, since I've been gone for so long, is Xiao Jin alright?" Chen Chuan nodded. "Xiao Jin has been fine recently." Hearing this, Fang Zhixin seemed to relax somewhat. He said, "I just logged onto the platform with my boundary credential to check the situation. I think I know who these people are." "Who?" Chen Chuan asked. "Most likely people from the Syndicate." With a solemn expression, Fang Zhixin said, "Damage to the Ring of the World triggers a cascade of repercussions, and relics are highly likely to emerge in the aftermath. In the past, whenever such an event occurred, the Syndicate and nations across the world would rush to vie for them. I saw on the boundary credential that the Syndicate's people have arrived, so I suspect it's very likely they are the ones hunting me." Chen Chuan asked, "What does that have to do with you?" Fang Zhixin sighed. "Because seizing a relic requires knowing the specific conditions of the Confluence, and in all of Jibei Dao, Teacher was the one most familiar with it. "They probably assume that as Teacher's assistant, I know those conditions just as well, so they want to find the relevant data through me. That's evident from the weapons they used against me—most of them weren't lethal, only intended to restrict my combat capability." Chen Chuan considered this briefly. The deduction was quite reasonable, but that Fang Zhixin thought of it so quickly suggested this data might truly exist. In fact, Fang Zhixin wasn't the only one who knew; Chen Chuan also knew a portion of it. For the contents conveyed by Chen Bitong through that mental imprint consisted of force techniques and information regarding the Confluence. Looking back now, it seemed Chen Bitong had already anticipated that what was happening today might come to pass. Fang Zhixin said, "The reason I asked about Xiao Jin earlier was that I feared if they couldn't find me, they'd go after him instead. Now that you're protecting him, Captain Chen, I'm relieved." He paused, then looked up. "Captain Chen, there is something I need to tell—" Right at that moment, his expression suddenly shifted. Detecting movement outside, he realized at once that using his boundary credential must have led them right to him. He simply hadn't expected them to arrive so fast. He hastily warned, "Captain Chen! They're here!" Chen Chuan said calmly, "I know." Fang Zhixin froze, then involuntarily settled down. He had witnessed the great battle between Chen Chuan and Chen Bitong back then; even someone of Chen Bitong's prowess had been suppressed by Chen Chuan. These people stood no chance against him. Meanwhile, several hundred meters outside the perimeter of the building, figures clad in heavily armored protective suits converged from all directions. They secured the surrounding high points and set up machine guns and long-range firearms. One of them brought up data on his boundary credential, cross-referenced it, and spoke into the credential: "Report: the individual speaking with the target may be an Investigation Supervisor of the Handling Bureau. Suspected self-surrender by the target. Requesting instructions on whether to proceed with the operation." A cold voice replied through the boundary credential: "Operational plan remains unchanged." "Understood." Having received clear orders, their pace accelerated noticeably. At a distance of roughly two to three hundred meters, they set a case down on the ground, then pressed an internal syringe of high-energy nutrient solution. Before long, circular openings arranged in a grid opened across the top of the case. Next came a series of sharp whooshes as metallic, javelin-like projectiles launched from within, piercing into the abandoned shop one after another and thudding into the walls. Having suffered from them once already, Fang Zhixin was startled and shouted, "Watch out, those are—!" But before he could finish, he froze in bewilderment, for he noticed that once the objects nailed into the wall, they made no further movement whatsoever. Chen Chuan simply said in an easy tone, "You're injured. Just wait here." With that, he took a specially made protective face mask from his pocket, strapped it over his face, and walked out. The moment he stepped outside, gunfire erupted instantly, but the bullets struck his protective suit without having any effect, dropping one after another to the ground with crisp clatters. At that moment, his eyes flashed slightly. An invisible wave radiated outward in all directions. Within a five-hundred-meter radius, the armed operatives collapsed one by one; those closer were shattered dead on the spot, while those farther away were knocked directly unconscious. The surroundings seemed to fall dead silent in an instant. Chen Chuan stood rooted in place. After a brief moment, he caught the sound of swift footsteps. Casting his gaze forward, he saw a figure sprinting toward him from the end of the street, rapidly closing the distance. It was a man with a thick beard, deep-set eyes, a high-bridged nose, and relatively pale skin, looking like someone of mixed heritage. His arms were thick and long, and he held an expandable baton in his hand. A unique rhythm accompanied each shift of his footwork. As the man charged in, he casually swiped both hands, swatting apart roadside billboards and obstacles into debris that rained toward Chen Chuan. At the same time, he suddenly ducked low, lunged forward, and whipped his expandable baton toward Chen Chuan's ankle. ... ...