Book 3, Chapter 66: Dispose Of

Phantom Form failed?

Zhao Qian’s expression sank.

Phantom Form’s success rate had been at 100%. He had also often worked for United Might and finished his missions with great efficiency, which was why Zhao Qian trusted his abilities.

But even someone of Phantom Form’s caliber failed?

What led to it?

Since he had hired Phantom Form through Secret Python Cult, Phantom Form didn’t know that it was Zhao Qian who hired him, but that also meant that Zhao Qian didn’t know what had happened during the mission.

He didn’t believe that Chen Chuan had managed to kill him alone. Did the Resolution Department or Martial Valor University protect him? Or did some unknown force interfere?

If it was the latter...

Zhao Qian believed that Chen Chuan was just a pawn the government had shoved into the limelight when they took down the Mutual Aid Group and Black Orchid Co.. Usually, after a pawn was used, they would be discarded. After all, pawns were just pawns.

But if the pawn wasn’t just a pawn but joined the government and became part of it? Then, Phantom Form’s failure would make sense. Zhao Qian could also not help wondering whether this incident had caught certain government departments’ attention.

Sucking in a deep breath, he decided to wait for a while. Since he was part of the Zhao family, the government had already called him in for an investigation multiple times. Even though he always managed to get through at a hair’s breadth, many people were displeased with him in the company.

If his actions affected the department or the company’s interests, his competitors would eagerly come forward to attack him. Even if it was just an insignificant thing, they would blow it out of proportion. He couldn’t give them any excuses to attack him.

He knew all too well that the company was his greatest gain in Central City. As long as he was part of it, he could protect all that he had right now.

In any case, he was still hidden from Chen Chuan and the government’s sight. He had time to plan and figure out the situation.

“Not for now,” he replied.

“Understood. We’ve recorded your response. If you require further extermination services, we will be glad to provide them for you. Your deposit will be returned to your account within three days.”

Zhao Qian ended the call, deleted the record, stood up, went to the window, and contacted someone on his Realm Pass. After a while, the call went through, and he heard a dull voice from the other side, “What do you need me to do, Boss?”

“Look into information about a Martial Valor University student called Chen Chuan. Remember not to alert anyone about what you’re doing. If you find anything, don’t send it to my inbox. Hand it to me personally,” Zhao Qian instructed.

“If you’re being this cautious, that means that the target has quite the powerful background. How much time do I have?”

“I want to see results within a month.”

“Alright. What about the other thing?”

“You can set it aside for now. This is more important.”

“Understood. I’ll get back to you.”

Even after the call ended, Zhao Qian remained standing while in deep thought.

Just then, he heard footsteps behind him. A delicate girl of around fifteen walked in.

There was a clear embedded line on her neck, and her spine shone with fragmented bioelectric light. The section below her thighs consisted of implants.

She went to the table, grabbed the jug on it, and poured out a glass of the liquid contained inside before bringing it to Zhao Qian and kneeling down as she offered the glass to him.

Upon taking it, Zhao Qian took a sip and looked down at her innocent, exquisite face. “No matter how many times I look at you, you remind me of

him

. Good. Continue kneeling.”

The girl said nothing.

Zhao Qian left the girl kneeling on the floor. Her reflection was cast on the glass wall.

***

Chen Chuan drove to the checkpoint at Northbound Road and parked by the side.

He took a look at the wide road and the City Patrol watching over it. This was one of the main roads to enter Central City. When he came, it had been blocked, and he couldn’t enter the city through it. Instead, he had to take another road.

This sort of thing happened frequently. Central City was huge, and the City Patrol couldn’t possibly keep watch over every part of it. Most of the people who didn’t have citizen status entered the city through the edges. Some areas were also rife with smuggling activity, so violent crime was unavoidable.

Those weren’t the only places affected by crime. The checkpoints were also often attacked and had people trying to force their way through. The reason why Chen Chuan had come to pick up Gao Ming was mainly to protect him.

After a short while, he saw a gray-white car drive toward the checkpoint, and Gao Ming started going through the troublesome process. A little over ten minutes later, the car drove through the checkpoint.

The dark clouds that had been plaguing the city for days gradually faded away, and sunlight peeked through the clouds to shine on the road. Chen Chuan opened the car door and walked out.

The gray-white car came to a slow stop, and Gao Ming got out of the back seat. He nudged his gold-rimmed glasses up and smoothed out the fitting, dark-brown suit before walking over.

With a smile, Chen Chuan came closer and stopped at a place where the sun shone down. They gave each other a high five, then he asked, “Did you have a safe trip?”

“I had to wait a little at the checkpoint,” Gao Ming answered with a grin.

“Have you found a place to stay?”

“The law firm gave me an apartment, so I’ll be staying there for now.”

“That’s good. Once you’ve settled down, I’ll have something to discuss with you,” Chen Chuan said.

“You’re my number one client, so you can talk to me whenever you need help,” Gao Ming declared with a nudge of his glasses.

“We can talk once we’re in the city,” Chen Chuan said with a hum.

Since his current driving skills left a lot to be desired and he was only using a temporary driving license, he asked Gao Ming to return to the gray-white car while he drove behind it.

After escorting Gao Ming to the law firm’s apartment, helping him settle down, and cleaning up, Chen Chuan explained the situation with Zhao Qian.

“This guy is a former member of the Mutual Aid Group and one of the main culprits behind Shen Zheng’s death. Wei Jun only copied what he did when he attempted the ritual on me. But while Black Orchid Co. has been destroyed and the Zhao family has fallen, he managed to avoid punishment.”

“Based on what you told me, this person has a powerful company supporting him. If we want to take him down, I’ll need to gather a lot of information first. This might take time,” Gao Ming stated.

Chen Chuan nodded. He knew that he couldn’t be impatient about this. After all, this time, they weren’t facing a solitary creature like Phantom Form. Instead, they were up against a member of a big company’s middle management. The resources he could use were far greater than those of the average martial artist.

With official business done, they started talking about Yangzhi City and their families. After having lunch together, Chen Chuan left the apartment and drove back to the university.

On the way back, Qi Gao contacted him. “Chen Chuan, I’ve bought the exact amount of materials you asked for. They’re all in the warehouse.”

“You didn’t run into any trouble, did you?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Nope,” Qi Gao answered.

“Good. Thanks for the help, Mr. Qi.”

“It’s nothing.”

After giving it some thought, Chen Chuan drove to the warehouse.

He had to deal with the raccoon statue as soon as possible. Even though the supernatural being had eaten its fill of Phantom Form, Chen Chuan’s calculations led him to believe that the supernatural being wouldn’t be satisfied for long. If it wasn’t fed, it could come out to satisfy its needs, and the original binding ritual would become useless.

This was why he had brought it to the warehouse instead of leaving it behind in the house.

Chen Chuan went straight to Wu Bei’s warehouse and found the ritual materials. With a quick check of the quantities and their quality, he found them to be completely fine. Qi Gao was really reliable in such matters.

The next step was to conduct the ritual, but the warehouse contained quite a lot of important things, so he couldn’t do it here. There was a more suitable place for it.

Chen Chuan parked his car and asked Wu Bei for his truck before loading the statue on it and driving out of the place to the deserted place serving as Wu Ruo’s resting place.

This area didn’t bother anyone, and domain monitoring was less effective here due to the unusual traits of the land. It was a great place to stay out of trouble.

Chen Chuan looked around for a suitable place. Once he found it, he stopped, took the raccoon statue out, and put it in an appropriate location.

Then, he went back to the truck and took out the luggage bag containing the ritual materials at a windproof place. After that, he took out the stack of documents Lei Guangcheng had given him and began reproducing the arrays required for the ritual.

This time, he drew two arrays. The first one was a simple isolation array meant to prevent the supernatural being from escaping, while the second one was the crux of the matter—the array for the binding ritual. Since Chen Chuan had performed the ritual before, he was more confident now. In less than two hours, he finished both arrays.

After giving them a run-through to make sure he didn’t miss anything, Chen Chuan stood still in front of the raccoon statue and observed it.

The statue was ancient, and he believed that it had been made in the shape of a raccoon in order to make it easier for people to make their offerings and worship it. The supernatural being itself should have no set form.

The age of the statue made it a suitable item to bind a supernatural being to it, so Chen Chuan intended to repurpose it.

He reached out and put his hand on the raccoon statue’s head before narrowing his eyes. A wave of refined force charged inside, making the statue sway and crack.

At the same time, intense screeching came from inside, and his second self started blurring out.

After the fight with Phantom Form, Chen Chuan’s overlap time had increased to two days and ten hours. His second self had also grown closer to him in terms of strength. Even so, as the supernatural being was being released bit by bit, his overlap time was draining away at lightning speed. This supernatural being’s unseen damage was the strongest Chen Chuan had ever encountered.

Just like always, the attack of the supernatural being stimulated his mutated tissue.

Cracking sounds came from the stone statue, and stone shards fell off before it shattered to pieces.

Chen Chuan then heard a screech so loud that it almost blasted his brain to smithereens.