Chapter 133: Surrounded

Qisel could sense everyone’s blood flow, breathing, and the direction of all sorts of energies and forces with his reinforced mutated tissue.

He could see the changes in everyone’s bodies reflected like a diagram in his head, which put him in the know of everyone’s location and movements.

Chen Chuan was not the one who stood out the most, but his vital signs were the most stable.

Qisel would even say that they were

too

stable.

Anyone would feel nervous, scared, agitated or excited in this sort of environment, but he sensed none of it from Chen Chuan. He was like a calm lake that only had an occasional ripple on its surface. The bottom of the lake was unaffected in the slightest.

That immediately attracted his full attention.

He watched Chen Chuan walk over. When he got within range, he extended the arm holding the whip and flung it forward. The whip went flying at its target.

Chen Chuan did not dodge like Wei Changan did nor try to cut or block the whip with his saber. He just stared at Qisel’s arm, and the moment he attacked, he reached forward. With a loud crack, he grabbed the whip’s tip.

Half of his second self’s arm turned so blurry that it practically disappeared, which told him that the whip contained enough power to crush a person’s limb. Without his second self, the bones in his arm would have shattered, and his blood and flesh would have been torn and sent flying in the air.

Qisel was shocked. He had never encountered anyone who would grab his whip, while Chen Chuan had grabbed the whip’s tip, which contained the full force of his swing.

He immediately tried pulling the whip back. Even if Chen Chuan was able to catch the whip, it was impossible for him to not be heavily injured. The pull should have tilted his center of balance, but Qisel felt a tug in the opposite direction instead. Not only did he fail to drag Chen Chuan over, but he was also yanked toward him a little.

Something is terribly wrong,

his mind screamed at him. Just as his center of gravity shifted, Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened, and he charged forward with his saber up. The blade went straight for Qisel’s chest.

Fortunately, there was some distance between them. Qisel adjusted his center of gravity and shifted to the side to avoid the saber. He reached for the baton with his other hand and blocked the diagonal slash that came at him straight after. The impact from the slash helped him retreat a little.

Chen Chuan flipped his wrists and turned his saber around as he stepped forward. Then, he brought the saber down. Qisel grabbed the whip’s handle and bound the whip around the baton before bringing it up diagonally. The whip straightened and blocked the blade.

Chen Chuan could not help but wonder what material the whip was made of, because it was really tough. When he swung his saber down, it only sank a little, but he was already expecting this.

The moment Qisel blocked, he turned the baton in an attempt to bind the saber with the whip.

This was the first time Chen Chuan saw someone fighting with a whip and a baton at the same time. Despite that, he did not pull his saber back. He adjusted his grip over the hilt a little to make sure the tip of the saber was pointed at Qisel’s head and pushed it forward.

Qisel yanked at the whip when he saw the blade coming at him and redirected its trajectory. Just then, he saw movement in front of him.

Chen Chuan had let go of the Frost King Saber to get to Qisel and punch him in the head. He moved so quickly that he was in Qisel’s personal space before the man could react.

Qisel brought the whip-wielding arm up to use the straightened whip to block Chen Chuan’s fist, but Chen Chuan bent his arm to turn his punch into an elbow strike. Seizing the opening Qisel revealed when he brought his arm up, he rammed his elbow into Qisel’s chest.

Qisel wore rather thick protective gear, so Chen Chuan did not use the Penetrating Force. Instead, he used a simple shove to make Qisel lose his balance.

But Qisel reacted beautifully to this attack. In that instant, it was as if his upper and lower bodies became two independent entities. His lower body remained stable with feet rooted firmly to the ground, while his upper body became nimble and soft. The shove made his chest sink, but his body did not budge.

Upon sensing the changes, Chen Chuan took a step forward and kicked the back of Qisel’s knees. At the same time, he leaned forward and unleashed his refined force. Qisel was no longer able to maintain his balance and fell back.

Just then, he sensed Wei Changan pointing his gun at him. While falling, he used mutated tissue to guide his movements as he turned to the side and curled up.

Bang! Bang!

Two bullets hit his back, which made him unable to adjust his posture before landing. He slammed into the ground on his side.

His attention remained fixed on Chen Chuan. When he saw the youth pick up his saber and get ready to charge at him again, Qisel rolled to the side. His plan was to get up with that movement, but alarm bells rang out in his head. At the same time, he heard a dull gunshot.

When he registered what was going on, half of his calf was blown off.

Far away on the guard post, Ding Liao yanked the Fortbreaker Rifle’s bolt and ejected the spent cartridge before taking aim again. Qisel had run into a nearby tent.

Pity,

Ding Liao thought. He had only managed to hit Qisel because the man had finally stepped into a somewhat brighter place.

Chen Chuan had seen Wei Changan’s actions, so he did not charge forward. The follow-up shot from Ding Liao had been especially beautiful. He had seized his chance perfectly, so much so that he had cut Qisel’s fighting strength by half.

Chen Chuan gave a nod to Ding Liao and said, “Changan, let me fight him. Go and take down the other gang members.”

Wei Changan agreed and quickly changed his magazine before going to support Luo Kaiyuan, Cai Si, and the others.

While Qisel was tumbling away, his mutated tissue contracted and relaxed to close the wound and stop the flow of blood. Even though he lost a leg, he remained as fast as ever. After he went into the tent, he immediately crawled out of it on the other side and hid in another tent.

It was a little past 4 a.m. The sky was still dark, and smoke filled the base. Many people were unable to glean much information from their surroundings, but this environment did not slow him down, since he had learned Merka’s meridian studies. He could detect other people, while they did not know where he was. If he had some time to catch his breath, he might be able to turn the tables.

Chen Chuan stood still and did not move. He spared a glance at his second self. Aside from his arm blurring out when he caught the whip, Chen Chuan had also noticed his second self’s entire body blurring a little when he got close to Qisel.

This was similar to when he encountered the supernatural beings, so he was sure that Qisel had something on him, which could help him find him.

Chen Chuan took a few steps forward, and based on the degree of damage his second self sustained, he soon located Qisel in an old tent in front of him.

Chen Chuan did not stop after he found Qisel. Instead, he continued forward. When he was about to pass, he suddenly stabbed the tent.

Qisel was kneeling on one knee in the tent while holding the baton. He intended to attack after Chen Chuan passed by, only to notice something off. He ducked as a saber tip plunged straight at him and grazed his shoulder before slicing horizontally to rip a huge tear in the tent.

Savage fury marred Qisel’s features. He knew that without a leg, he could no longer run away. His only chance at winning was by charging at Chen Chuan. With a shout, he threw away the baton, jumped with his remaining leg, and grabbed the young man.

Chen Chuan ignored the thrown baton and kept his eyes fixed on Qisel. He positioned the saber horizontally at the level of Qisel’s neck. He then swung it sideways with the momentum of Qisel’s charge propelling him forward while turning to the side.

Qisel stumbled past Chen Chuan and rolled forward before kneeling on his remaining leg. He tried to make his mutated tissue contract and relax to stop the blood flowing out of the wound on his neck, but half of his neck had been sliced through. No matter what he did, he could not stop the blood from gushing out. He stared at Chen Chuan for a while before he fell to the side.

Chen Chuan gave his wrists a flick and watched Qisel for a bit. While Mitai was giving orders, Ren Xiaotian drove his SUV over and dragged two custom-made tire spikes out. Then, together with his two teammates, he placed them on the road the escaping cars were bound to take.

He could tell that Qisel was at about the same level as Douma. If he hadn’t been shot, which cut his strength in half, their fight would still be ongoing.

But Chen Chuan was not fighting alone. This was a battle between two groups. There was no fairness or reason here, and they had to use every method at their disposal until one side no longer posed a threat.

He looked around before walking to Qisel and yanking off a bracelet made of bones from Qisel’s wrist. It was the thing that had been making his second self blur out.

After some careful consideration, he put the bracelet away and grabbed a rifle from a gang member’s corpse. He then threw himself into getting rid of the remaining gang members.

During the ambush, their team had managed to take out more than half of the gang members. There were around nine left at this point, and they had retreated to the innermost part of the base.

It was the most fortified area. Not only did it have protective barriers and many obstacles, but also plenty of places that could be used as cover.

With the smoke bombs and the darkness, it was hard for the gang members to shoot anyone effectively. Meanwhile, Chen Chuan’s team could use their overwhelming strength to throw smoke bombs into the hideout and reduce their ability to fight back.

Mitai did a headcount. Including him, there were only fourteen gang members left. Among them were two Merkarian students who had fled from Yangzhi City.

They also had one more pressing problem: Only some of them had guns. They had lost most of their firearms during the ambush. Now, only six of them had guns. The number was not that much higher compared to that of their enemies. The others only had crossbows.

What made Mitai even more agitated was the fact that their enemies had snuck in without anyone noticing. Clearly, they were really strong. Setting aside the question of whether they could defend the base for now, even if they could, how could he be sure that their enemies didn’t have reinforcements?

Juan ran back right then. He whispered, “Bad news, Boss. They blocked the route at the back. We’re surrounded.”

Things could not get any worse than this, so Mitai calmed down. He thought about every possibility and asked, “Could this be because of

that

?”

If it was, then news about it had leaked. Even if they won against this group, another one would come.

“Either way, we’ve lost too many of our men, and we don’t know our enemies’ strength or numbers. Judging by the situation, they might even have powerful martial artists. We can’t get trapped here. We have to get out before anything else. We have an armored vehicle and an SUV, so we should be able to leave with some of our guys,” Juan said and looked around. “Where’s Qisel?”

Mitai shook his head. “I didn’t see him again after he stepped into the smoke. He’s either hiding or dead.”

Juan cursed in exasperation. Qisel was sent to monitor them, but also served as their point of contact. Without him, they would have trouble doing many things. “We don’t have time to look for him. As long as we have the oak leaf, we don’t have to worry about the exchange group going back on their word. Boss, we need to think about how to escape.”

They discussed briefly and believed that their enemies’ main force was concentrated at the front of the base. Since there seemed to be only three people blocking the back route, they decided to break through there.

But they could not run away all at once. Someone had to stay to block the enemy’s main force.

This is the only path I can take,

Mitai thought. “Yatan!”

A burly man walked over with heavy footsteps. “Got any orders for me, Boss?”

“Defend the entrance and hold them back. Juan and I will leave through the back and go to the enemy’s rear to launch a pincer attack. Make sure this place doesn’t fall!”

“Don’t worry, Boss. They won’t enter with me here!” Yatan said excitedly.