Chapter 91: Opening For An Attack

Once some time passed without a single shot fired, a squad of constables outside the guard post started sneaking up the slope. Their comrades were dispersed down below to cover them.

They were almost halfway up the slope and had reached the second curve.

This was actually a huge risk. If any one of the robbers charged out of the guard post and fired at them, these constables would die right away or be heavily injured.

After all, they were on a slope. Even if the constable leading the squad wore protective gear and a steel helmet, he could get shot in the limbs or face. The fall after could kill him, but he had nowhere to retreat.

If the person ambushing the guard post had been an agent from another company, the constables would not take such a risk and just wait for the results. But Chen Chuan had gone up, and he was related to a constable. They would be humiliated if they stood in the back like cowards.

Just then, they saw something fly out of the guard post, and their expressions changed. They ducked down. Some time passed, but nothing happened. They looked up and saw that a head had fallen outside. Since the platform had a slight tilt, after a while, the head started rolling down. It fell off the platform, rolled and bounced off the slope, and finally landed on the foot of the hill.

When Wei Laohu saw it, he adjusted his hat with the barrel of his gun and ordered, "Identify it.”

A constable immediately ran over. After a while, he came back, “It’s Tong Qianjiang, Captain!”

Wei Laohu perked up. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! The head’s scratched and misshapen, but I could recognize him for sure!”

Wei Laohu was delighted and pointed his gun skyward as he ordered loudly, “That’s great! Men, we’re heading up there! This must mean that Xiao Chuan has the upper hand! We can’t just stay here and watch!”

Then, a beat later, he shouted, “Wait! I’ll lead the charge myself!”

He threw his hat on the ground, grabbed his handgun, and ran up the slope.

***

After Chen Chuan killed Tong Qianjiang, he flung his saber to clean it before turning around. Just then, he looked up and stared at Seventh. The man flinched and scurried away into a crack in the wall.

Chen Chuan then looked ahead; only Fang Dawei remained.

He did not know what implant Fang Dawei had. When he struck him, his attack had done no damage, even though he had even fueled his attack with refined force. When the saber touched his skin, it slid right off.

Fang Dawei did not seem nervous at all. “Are these people enough?”

Chen Chuan regarded him curiously, so he rephrased his question. “These people should be enough for you to declare that your job is done, right?”

Chen Chuan stared at him and said nothing.

His silence prompted Fang Dawei to spread his arms and say, “To be honest, these implants have largely limited my abilities. The refined force I’ve practiced for twenty years is gone in exchange for invulnerability to physical attacks. You won’t be able to cut me down with your saber. Even bullets are useless against me.”

Just then, Lin Fa, who had been leaning against a wall as if he didn’t exist, said, “You’re just going through an adjustment period. After it, you’ll regain your strength. Tong Baitao adapted faster than you did, but that’s because his implant is a finished product, while yours is an experimental one.”

“Even if I can regain my strength, it takes time,” Fang Dawei pointed out. He then turned to Chen Chuan. “Honestly, without them, it’d be much easier for me to leave. If you let me go, I won’t come back for revenge. Not that I could. I need to hide from certain people, so I won’t show my face in Yangzhi City again.”

He could tell that Chen Chuan was fast and physically strong. Even if he could not kill him, it would not be hard to hold him back, and when a large group of people swarmed in, they would have plenty of ways to take him down. They could capture him with something as simple as a net. But if Chen Chuan let him go, he was confident that he could rush out through the constables, who were not ready for him.

“Boy, when we robbed the bank, we stole quite a lot of cash, and all of it was hidden in a safe place. I can give you the address. You can take it and give yourself the life you want. You don’t have to worry about the money being dirty either. If you go to another city to restart your life, no one will care,” he continued tempting Chen Chuan.

Just then, he heard people outside shuffling closer. “Looks like the dogs down there have come up. Well? Have you thought about it? If you really want to stop me, I’ll fight to the bitter end and make sure to drag some people down to hell with me.”

He smiled when Chen Chuan scowled and shook his head. “What? You thought I’d use force? No. That’s too cheap. Instead, I’ll reveal a secret to all of you that Black Orchid doesn’t want anyone to know. How do you think they’ll react after that?”

Chen Chuan tilted his head and shouted, “Don’t come in!”

The shuffling came to a stop. After a moment, Wei Laohu’s voice traveled in. “Xiao Chuan, is that you? How’s the situation inside?”

“It’s under control. Trust me, Uncle Wei. Don’t come in yet,” Chen Chuan said.

“Alright. I’ll do as you said. Xiao Chuan, if you need any help, just give us a call! We’ll face the problem together!” Wei Laohu immediately said.

Fang Dawei’s smile grew as he watched Chen Chuan. “Looks like you’ve made up your mind. That’s good. I’ll keep my end of the bargain and tell you where I hid the money. You must understand that as long as I’m alive, Black Orchid won’t do anything to you, because silencing you wouldn’t stop the secret from leaking.”

“I was actually thinking about something just now,” Chen Chuan said.

Fang Dawei was surprised. “What is it? I have to warn you. Black Orchid’s security team is on its way here, so I don’t have much time to waste here. If you have anything to ask, do it quick, unless you actually want to know the secret?” He grinned. “If you want to know, I can tell you.”

“I was thinking that while your implant makes you immune to physical attacks and covers your entire body, you can’t possibly stay in that condition forever, because you still need to breathe,” Chen Chuan said.

Fang Dawei’s expression changed, and his gaze turned cold. “What do you mean by that?”

Lin Fa looked over in interest.

“I’ve been observing you. You actively control the implant’s functions. When you breathe in, you expand them outward to allow oxygen to enter your body, which creates some cracks. At that time, they’re relatively weaker. It’s only when you hold your breath and tighten them around you that you’re impervious to physical attacks.”

Lin Fa clapped and praised Chen Chuan. “That’s right! Your observations are on point, boy.”

Fang Dawei’s expression turned ice cold as a shiver ran down his spine. “So?”

Chen Chuan grabbed the hilt of his saber and pointed it at Fang Dawei. “This means that your implant has weaknesses. You shouldn’t say that you’re invulnerable to physical attacks.”

“Looks like negotiations have fallen through. I can’t win against you right now, but I can easily say a few words. Looks like you don’t care about the constables’ lives, huh?” Fang Dawei sneered.

“You won’t have that chance,” Chen Chuan said calmly. He strode forward and brought the Frost King Saber up before swinging it down.

Fang Dawei retreated, but the experimental implant made him feel as if something was restricting all of his movements. While it protected him, it also made his speed and reaction time far slower than before. He was not even at thirty percent of his former strength. All he could do was face Chen Chuan’s slash head-on.

He had threatened to blurt out the secret, but Chen Chuan was right. As they fought and he moved around rapidly while Chen Chuan swung the saber at him, Fang Dawei found himself unable to say even a single sentence.

As he watched the light reflecting off the blade of the saber, he instinctively held his breath so that the implant would increase his defensive abilities. At the same time, he waited for gaps in Chen Chuan’s attacks to breathe in.

But he soon realized that it was not working. Chen Chuan could control the speed of his attacks, and there was an indescribable rhythm to his swings. Every time, he would hit Fang Dawei when the strain of holding his breath was taking its hold. In such situations, he simply could not change his breath.

So, he could only do his best to avoid Chen Chuan until he could find a chance to breathe.

But that was useless. Chen Chuan’s speed and strength were way beyond his. Whenever Fang Dawei wanted to break free, the saber would come at him like a shadow.

The strenuous activity caused him to spend his oxygen at an even faster rate. After holding his breath for a long time, he felt like he was about to suffocate. He had to expand the scales to take a breath.

A sharp look flashed across Chen Chuan’s eyes. When Fang Dawei expanded the scales and breathed in, he thrust his saber forward and stabbed him below the shoulder. Fang Dawei stumbled a few steps back. He instinctively touched that spot, only to find his hand coming away full of blood. He was shocked and enraged.

“Looks like my plan worked,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

Fang Dawei turned around to run up to the second floor, but Chen Chuan took a step forward and struck the back of his knees. Fang Dawei stumbled and fell. He scrambled forward a little and grabbed a gun from the floor, then fired two shots.

Chen Chuan could see that Fang Dawei’s control over his body was quite tenuous. He could not even aim at him properly, which was why Chen Chuan did not even bother to block or dodge the shots. The bullets flew past him.

He went forward and swung his saber down. Every time Fang Dawei pushed himself to his hands and knees, the blade went down, sending him sprawling on the stairs again.

Whenever Fang Dawei tried to switch his breath, Chen Chuan swung his saber down to cut some of the scales open. Soon, Fang Dawei was covered in blood. His shirt and the implanted scales were torn. He could no longer get up and lay on the stairs while gasping for breath.

Chen Chuan took two steps to the side and picked up a coil of rope from the floor with the saber. He then went over and knelt down on Fang Dawei’s still slithery back.

He tied the rope around Fang Dawei’s groin and underarms, then wrapped it around his neck a few times before getting up and dragging Fang Dawei up to the second floor.

Fang Dawei realized what Chen Chuan wanted to do, and fear shone in his eyes. He grabbed the rope and tried kicking against the floor.

Chen Chuan went on undeterred. When he reached the second floor, he tied the free end of the rope around a box filled with junk and kicked Fang Dawei off the second floor.