If Chen Chuan threw a punch at the ground right here, the destructive power of his Mind Jin was more than enough to smash through the obstruction above and breach a passage straight through to the underground route below.
If he then leapt down, his superior speed would easily allow him to run down his quarry.
Yet there was a critical question he had to consider: were there explosives buried here as well? The man's descent toward the Lower District appeared to be a spur-of-the-moment decision, and there was no way the man could have foreseen turning here in advance.
Yet sometimes advance knowledge was unnecessary. One merely needed to make preparations at a few key chokepoints. And the impression this man gave him was precisely of someone who prepared for every eventuality. Chen Chuan saw no reason to take such a risk, nor any need to dance to the enemy's tune.
His figure abruptly accelerated. Rather than pursuing the runner directly, he sprinted off in a different direction.
Setting aside concealed or deliberately excavated secret tunnels, the main thoroughfares of the Lower District were currently mapped out on his boundary credential. Tracing the man's escape route, it was bound to cross a major subterranean intersection. Provided the man did not alter his bearing, that intersection was the sole route deeper underground. Chen Chuan could get there ahead of him and cut him off.
As for whether the man would double back—an ordinary person would never dare retrace their steps, but with this man, nothing was certain. Chen Chuan could not gamble on that assumption.
So he relayed a message over his boundary credential, ordering the personnel in the rear to move up immediately and bring explosives to seal off the area between the sinkhole and the surface.
At the same time, he directed Andun to monitor the ground above the entire route and alert him immediately if the man emerged midway. As he ran, he put a comprehensive series of measures into place.
Meanwhile, guided by Andun's markers, Chen Chuan entered the Lower District through one of its access points. The city security guards stationed there felt only a screaming rush of wind whip past. An even louder sonic boom echoed down the tunnel a heartbeat later, like an artillery shell tearing inside, leaving them thoroughly shaken and bewildered.
A moment later, a chime rang from their boundary credentials as a lockdown order came down from above. Scrambling out of the guard booth, they hurriedly set up barricades in a flurry of confusion.
Once inside the Lower District, Chen Chuan moved at blistering speed through the tunnels. In a mere twenty-odd seconds, he reached a wide subterranean opening and came to a halt.
His sudden stop unleashed a deafening sonic crash. Rolling echoes reverberated endlessly down the length of the tunnel. A faint tremor shook the floor and walls, shaking loose chips and stones from weakened points and loose masonry. Only after quite some time did the commotion gradually settle.
He gazed ahead. No news had come from the surface, which meant the quarry had not doubled back. If the man intended to return to the surface or delve deeper into the Lower District, he would inevitably have to pass through this spot.
All Chen Chuan had to do was wait.
Just then, scattered footsteps and crude cursing drifted in from the distance. They were likely gang members who controlled this stretch of the Lower District crossroads, drawn to investigate the booming shockwave.
After all, every passageway connecting to the surface was controlled by someone to monopolize resources moving between the Upper and Lower Districts. Even people from Lutong Logistics had to pay a toll when crossing through these controlled territories.
Chen Chuan had no desire to let them disturb him. As his mental perception expanded outward, an invisible wave washed over them. One after another, the gang members collapsed to the ground with dull thuds, stirring no more.
As his mental force rippled through the air, the field data in the immediate area was disrupted. Much like the effect of jamming creatures, all information fields were suppressed and unable to transmit outward.
Having dealt with them, he stood there holding his saber. The sun vines originally hung here for lighting had collapsed long ago. Though the plants had not yet withered and still cast specks of luminescence, the light was diffuse and dim, barely illuminating the space while casting his elongated shadow across the floor.
After waiting roughly two minutes, he caught the sound of distant footsteps echoing from the far end of the tunnel. In the relative silence of the passage, the sound was unmistakable, outlining in his mind the silhouette of a figure clad in an overcoat.
He lifted his gaze toward the deep tunnel ahead.
The footsteps seemed to notice something, pausing when the distance closed to just three hundred meters—right at a bend in the tunnel.
After a brief hesitation, the person resumed walking and slowly came around the bend. His eyes immediately fell upon Chen Chuan standing on the opposite side of the tunnel, saber in hand.
His steps hitched once more, yet he did not retreat. Instead, he kept walking forward. He knew he had already entered Chen Chuan's mental perception range and could no longer slip away. On the surface, he could still exploit buildings and obstacles to hinder pursuit, but down here, there were no such conditions.
He halted about thirty to forty meters in front of Chen Chuan and gave heartfelt praise: "Supervisor Chen, your reputation is well deserved."
He had received intelligence on Chen Chuan from the headquarters, learning that the latter had recently been instructed by the Handling Bureau to keep a tight watch on Lianwei Heavy Control, and that three of his own team members had been wiped out not long ago.
He had acutely realized that Chen Chuan was an exceptionally capable investigation supervisor and a formidable adversary. If Chen Chuan were allowed to keep probing, executing the company's designated plan would prove exceedingly difficult. Thus, he had decisively resolved to use the burrowing mother worm as bait to orchestrate this ambush.
If he could take Chen Chuan off the board, more than half of Lianwei Heavy Control's troubles would vanish.
Yet judging by the outcome before him, not only was Chen Chuan completely uninjured, but he had also accurately anticipated his escape route, cutting him off right here with nowhere left to run. Such professionalism commanded his genuine admiration.
As an opponent, though bent on eliminating Chen Chuan, he deeply respected the immense strength and extraordinary judgment Chen Chuan had displayed throughout.
He reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing a resolute face with thick eyebrows and hair bound in a topknot. He introduced himself tersely: "Fan Mo."
"Chen Chuan," came the calm reply.
Fan Mo sighed. "To be honest, I tried my utmost to avoid fighting you, Supervisor Chen. Against someone of your caliber, I have no way of defeating you without paying a heavy price. Even if I won, the gains would not cover the losses."
The mission assigned to him by the company was to enter the blended territory and secure relics. He was likely to face competition from armed personnel belonging to the Jibei Dao government, the Consortium, and the Linakes Federation, so he had intended to preserve his full combat effectiveness before entering the blended territory.
Chen Chuan's strength could not be underestimated. Leaving aside the dossiers he had seen beforehand, he had clearly felt it during the recent chase. Even if he could win, it felt as though half the effort was being fought on behalf of other competitors. And if he lost, the outcome went without saying. No matter how he tallied the ledger, it was a losing proposition.
Chen Chuan looked at him. "To me, there is no difference. Every last one of you is a target the Handling Bureau must expel and eliminate."
Fan Mo's expression showed understanding. He reached for the hilt of the broad saber at his waist, drawing the blade in a single crisp rasp. "Then permit me to test your skill."
Chen Chuan likewise gripped the hilt of the Xuejun Saber. Yet before he could draw it fully, Fan Mo—who had seemed to wait for him to draw—lunged forward in a sudden stride and slashed straight down at him!
In that instant, Fan Mo's hair swept backward, his muscles taut and his expression turning terrifyingly fierce. The downward slash cleaved straight along the centerline with overwhelming ferocity, coalescing the power of nearly all his mutated tissue into a single focused surge. Paired with that specialized broad saber, the strike seemed to rip the very air aside.
Chen Chuan's gaze flashed. He knew that whether he parried or dodged, a follow-up strike would immediately pursue. Though he possessed countermeasures of his own, he chose neither option. Instead, he took half a step forward toward his opponent.
With just that half-step change in distance, the momentum the opponent had generated could no longer be driven through seamlessly. To exert his full power, Fan Mo would have to readjust.
This was the same method Chen Chuan had used that day against one of Fan Mo's squad members: leveraging his speed, field, mental force, and comprehensive advantages to dictate shifts in rhythm, forcing the adversary from offensive initiative into defensive reaction, thereby seizing complete control of the combat tempo.
Yet Fan Mo was obviously far superior to his subordinates. As he closed in, his body seemed like a self-correcting pendulum; with a minute adjustment of his mutated tissue and musculature, he instantly locked back onto the optimal angle of release.
Yet Chen Chuan shifted once again. Keeping the Xuejun Saber sheathed, he brought it across horizontally, intercepting the oncoming blade a beat ahead of time.
Although Fan Mo saw the maneuver and adjusted mid-slash once more, he was a fraction of a second too late. Two successive recalibrations broke the fluid transmission of his force, preventing him from unleashing the full potency of his jin.
As their weapons clashed, the jin of both men surged violently against one another.
Fan Mo was unquestionably a fighter who had mastered Mind Jin. For fighters, unless one practiced external conditioning Mind Jin, the destructive power of Mind Jin was impossible to withstand with the bare body alone.
Fighting with weapons was another matter entirely, as a portion of the force could be absorbed by the weapon itself. Yet this also meant that without a mutated weapon of sufficient grade, one was entirely unqualified to engage in such high-level combat.
In this clash, the lion's share of their Mind Jin was borne by the weapons. Tiny, dense beads of moisture seeped out along Fan Mo's broad saber, as though the mutated tissue within was straining to expel the invading force.
The Xuejun Saber remained sheathed, yet wisps of luminous mist unfurled from the scabbard, enveloping it and swallowing the incoming power completely.
Chen Chuan had braced himself to endure the shock of the Mind Jin, only to find himself astonished that he felt no impact at all. He immediately understood that the opponent's force had been almost entirely absorbed by the Xuejun Saber. His spirits lifted. It seemed the saber had not absorbed all those benefits in vain over the past days—it was now showing its true worth.
Chapter 682