Book 4, Chapter 7: Elimination
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the air.
Kenwa cast a glance in the air and saw the bird still circling in the sky. He cursed under his breath.
While he had learned how to shoot in the military, he was more inclined to fighting with his fists. Besides, it was hard to kill Third Limit martial artists with guns from a distance, so he had never bothered working on his shooting skills.
The target in the sky wasn’t a sitting duck and was moving swiftly. The wind from the ocean was also really strong, so it was practically impossible for him to gun it down with his skills.
The others looked over and asked through their gazes whether he wanted them to take down the target in the sky.
Kenwa didn’t answer.
They were in a harbor. While the noise around them could drown out a single gunshot, the security guards would definitely come over once a storm of gunshots echoed in the air. He wasn’t scared of them, but they would have to leave afterwards.
This was a good hiding place, so he didn’t want to find another one for the time being.
***
Chen Chuan sat in his limousine and observed the area down below with the help of the domain connection entity through the video captured by Dawncall’s Realm Pass. The harbor was huge and packed with people, so it was quite difficult for him to find his target.
He was waiting for a telegram from Mr. Cao. The moment he got information where Kenwa was hiding, he could narrow down the scope of his search. Once Chen Chuan stepped into the harbor, he would release his biofield and mind. Then, he could easily find where Kenwa was.
Just then, he heard a gunshot. It came from Dawncall’s Realm Pass, and judging from the sound, the attack had been targeting Dawncall.
Chen Chuan adjusted the domain connection entity to zoom in on the area where the gunshot had likely come from.
This was all set up by Photon Nest’s technology. The Realm Pass was made so that the owners could track enemies through their aerial bioweapons. That function was serving its purpose perfectly right now.
In the zoomed-in image, Chen Chuan saw a group of people down below, along with a man who set a rifle down in the middle.
Even though Chen Chuan didn’t have an active biosentient entity running comparisons, the moment he saw the man, he was able to confirm that this was his target.
Based on the location, Kenwa was less than four kilometers away.
Chen Chuan got out of the car and gave an order to Yu Xiao through his Realm Pass. Yu Xiao immediately gathered a unit, got into an armored car, and headed to the harbor office.
If Kenwa could bring a group of armed combatants to the harbor without anyone inspecting them, either there was something wrong with the person in charge of the harbor, or some higher-up had given orders not to bother them.
Since Kenwa already had an approved pardon, the latter was more likely.
Chen Chuan didn’t need his security to aid him in the fight, but it would be good if they would stop the harbor guards from bothering him.
He cast a glance at the black dot circling the sky and headed in its general direction.
***
Kenwa was lying with his hands behind his head. As he stared at the black dot circling above him, he felt that the gunshot he fired had caused the bird to keep an eye on the area.
It was frustrating.
If he had brought a javelin from his homeland, he could take it down no matter how far it was, because the javelin was made with the sole purpose of taking down flying beasts.
In the old days, Oceanlanders also used to train animals to observe and monitor enemies, but as the number of natives dwindled, few people retained the skill.
Kenwa suddenly realized what had been bothering him and narrowed his eyes before sitting up. “On guard!”
All the marksmen around him were retired soldiers from the Linacrox Union. Most of them had Oceanlanders’ blood in their veins and were highly disciplined. They also had advanced combat implants. Hence, they got ready for combat the moment they heard Kenwa’s order.
Even though they didn’t know where the enemy was, Kenwa hadn’t chosen this location at random. There were only two paths to reach them. As long as they sealed them off, no one could make it inside. They also had sentries stationed on high places, who would call a warning the moment someone got close.
Kenwa picked up his weapon. It was a staff with a huge steel ball attached to the top of it. It was known as a mace, quite a famous weapon among Oceanlanders.
He felt his skin crawl. Even though he didn’t see anything, he felt great danger. The thing inside him was giving him a warning.
The tendons around him tensed up as he became hyper vigilant.
He felt something crashing into his head, and a wave of dizziness assaulted him, causing him to stagger. At the same time, the sniper standing guard on one of the boxes tilted to the side and plunged down from more than six meters up. He crashed on the ground with a loud thud.
He wasn’t the only one. One after another, the marksmen collapsed, and weapons slipped out of their hands. They all lost consciousness in the span of a breath.
Kenwa shook his head. A refreshing feeling seeped into his head from his spine, and his mind cleared up.
At that moment, he heard clear footsteps approaching. When he looked over, he saw a young man in casual clothes walking toward him. He was wearing an unbuttoned overcoat of the Resolution Department. His footsteps were relaxed, and his expression was calm.
Kenwa stared at him as he tightened his grip around the mace.
He had crushed multiple enemies with it, but right now, it gave him no sense of safety.
They had all been hit by some sort of mental attack, and he had no way of winning against an enemy in possession of such power.
He was full of shock, anger, and fear. He hadn’t expected to run into a martial artist of this caliber before even reaching Central City.
This was supposed to be impossible, because people like him were protecting important politicians and ensuring the safety of major districts. Why would one come to the harbor of a peripheral city?
Did he come for Kenwa?
That would be a huge joke. There was no reason or need to deploy a martial artist of this level against him.
So why?!
Chen Chuan reached the empty space and stared at Kenwa. He reached into his pocket and took out Kenwa’s wanted poster, unfolded it, showed it to him, and asked in a relaxed tone, “This is you, isn’t it?”
Kenwa lost all hope that luck may favor him. Driven by his overwhelming terror and a desire to live, the implants injected a large amount of medicine to boost his power and draw out his potential.
With a loud boom, the ground under his feet blasted apart as he jumped up and brought the mace up before throwing it forward. The huge steel ball headed at Chen Chuan with a howl.
Kenwa’s image when he jumped was reflected in Chen Chuan’s eyes. Even though the man gave off an intimidating momentum and had burst forth with great power, his movements were incredibly slow to Chen Chuan.
He watched the steel ball get closer. When it was about to hit him, he finally let go of the wanted poster, touched the steel ball, and pushed it back.
The force of motion that was charging down turned into a force flying backward.
Chen Chuan had attacked right at the moment Kenwa’s refined force exploded. Since Kenwa’s mutated tissue and muscles were tensed up like tightly wound springs and he had become unable to properly generate power with the increase in strength from the medicine, he was dragged backward as well. He wasn’t able to pull his mace back in time.
Chen Chuan watched calmly as Kenwa drew closer again. Then, he brought his leg up and kicked his head with a wave of Heartborn Force.
Bam!
Kenwa’s head exploded. The brain tissue and blood gushed outward, and a drop of blood flew at Chen Chuan.
He hadn’t brought his hand down yet, so by just pressing two of his fingers together, he grabbed the drop of blood when it was less than half a foot away from his face.
At that moment, he saw that it wasn’t blood, but a short and thick insect. It squirmed between his fingers.
As the insect squirmed fiercely, Chen Chuan saw his second self blur.
He watched for a moment before clamping down.
Squelch.
The insect was crushed.
Kenwa’s headless corpse fell limply from the air and crashed down on the ground. The wanted poster also floated down and landed on his splattered brain tissue.
With Kenwa dead, Chen Chuan wanted to contact the logisticians to deal with the clean up, but the moment he put his hand on his Realm Pass, a flicker of emotion appeared in his eyes.
Wait...
The insect had come straight for his face, as if it was worried Chen Chuan wouldn’t notice it.
He lowered his hand and approached the corpse. After observing it for a while, he brought his leg up and stomped down. Kenwa’s spine arched, as if something was about to break free from it.
Before it could show up, Chen Chuan stomped down on it again.
Snap!
The two forces traveling in opposite directions crashed into each other, and Kenwa’s corpse exploded to reveal a long and twisted insect-like thing.
Its body was segmented, and it had long, thin tendrils around it. There was blood and flesh sticking to them.
It seemed that Kenwa had replaced his spine with it. The thin tendrils had connected to the rest of his body.
When the thing showed up, Chen Chuan’s second self started blurring out even more. At the same time, the creature began murmuring incoherently, as if it wanted to use the sound to corrupt and tempt Chen Chuan.
But his expression didn’t change. He put more force into his leg and squashed the thing into the gravel.
Snap!
A gush of blood spewed out of the creature, and a thick pool of it formed under his foot.
