Book 3, Chapter 110: The Morning Sun Today Is Bright

When Chen Chuan left the dorm, he found five buses parked at the parking lot. Two of them were already filled and about to leave. Just then, he heard Tan Zhi calling out to him.

“Over here, Chen Chuan!”

Chen Chuan then saw Tan Zhi waving at him from a sparsely populated bus. He boarded it and went over to Tan Zhi but didn’t sit down next to him. Instead, he patted Tan Zhi’s shoulder and whispered, “The weather is good today, Tan Zhi. I’m going to sit in the front and bask in the sun.”

Then, he went forward to sit down near the driver and placed the Frost King Saber within grasp.

Tan Zhi thought he was being strange, but after taking note of Chen Chuan’s uniform, he came to a realization and became much more alert. He even hunched his shoulders.

More students came from the dorm. Once the bus filled, the driver started driving toward the arena.

Since the bus had taken this path many times over the past month or so, the students were already sick of the scenery. Hence, once the bus set out, they turned their eyes to their Realm Passes. No one looked outside.

One of the students asked, “Who do you think is going to win today?”

“I can’t say. The two contestants are strong.”

There was an important one-on-one match in the morning. It was the strongest external student going up against a voluntary contestant with lots of support.

This made the match really interesting. Even though one of the participants was just an external student, he was so powerful that most of the official students acknowledged his strength. Many of the official underclassmen even believed that they would be unable to win against him.

His opponent was no slouch either. He had joined the tournament of his own accord and killed his way to the main stage. Those who managed to make it to the main part were not weak.

Chen Chuan, though, looked outside. The City Patrol had sent its guards to escort them on motorbikes. Further away, the officers from the Resolution Department were keeping watch from the sentry posts.

The security was really tight, so no one could possibly hurt them, unless, of course, someone interfered.

“My bet’s on Huo Yucheng. He might be an external student, but he’s really strong. I heard that if it weren’t for his family’s company going under, he would have been able to study at his city’s Martial Valor University.

“But no matter where they go, the strong always remain strong. He came to Central City alone and willingly became an external student. He then slaughtered his way up to his current rank, so I’m really impressed by him.”

“You’re being too emotional. I don’t think he’s going to win. Don’t forget that his opponent is Yu Shen. This guy didn’t join the tournament because he didn’t have any other choice or because he received some sort of offer. He’s here because he could not find an equal among his peers.”

Those words made some people angry. “That’s a big claim. He couldn’t find any equals? Has he come to Martial Valor University before? If he hasn’t, he has no right to say that.”

“He hasn’t been to Jibei Road’s Martial Valor University, but he did go to the other campuses, and he hasn’t met an equal up to this date.”

The student who challenged the one supporting Yu Shen sneered. “Then, it’s a miracle he hasn’t been killed yet.”

Someone joined in the conversation for fun. “That’s because he has a powerful grandfather. I heard that he’s a director at Proto-Being. You know just how powerful the directors of mega corporations are.”

Chen Chuan paid a little more attention to the conversation after hearing that name.

A director at Proto-Being?

He searched on his Realm Pass and soon found information about Yu Shen. He even had his own platform to show off his collection of items.

Yu Shen appeared to love racing, because he displayed all sorts of racecars, and high-end, luxury clothes, which showed that he came from a good background. Of course, most of his collection were videos of opponents he had defeated in the past.

The edited footage didn’t show his real strength, but Chen Chuan could see how easily he defeated each of his opponents. It was a clear sign that he never brought out his full strength. Most of his opponents also died, which showed that Yu Shen didn’t show mercy even when he could.

That didn’t mean that Yu Shen was cruel. After all, once a person took part in a death match, if he didn’t kill his opponent, he might end up getting killed. There was no room for concession.

The students were engaged in a heated debate as to who would win. Since they were proper martial artists, their analyses were logical and backed by evidence.

Hence, Chen Chuan took some time to watch Huo Yucheng’s videos as well. Between the two, while Yu Shen was of a higher caliber, he felt that Huo Yucheng had a greater chance at victory.

Huo Yucheng was filled with a ruthlessness that promised death to all those in his path, but his gaze was calm. That meant that he was prepared for anything, and during crucial moments, he could give his all unlike his opponent.

Just then, Chen Chuan received a notification from the niche channel. A short while later, a string of notifications flooded in. He immediately changed to the channel.

The moment he went there, he saw a photo. Its background was a flatland with nothing providing cover or shade. All Chen Chuan could see were some weeds and the vague outline of the distant mountains.

A corpse lay on the ground, while a broken, cracked, and dented bayonet was stuck in the ground next to it. A black ribbon tied around the bayonet fluttered in the wind.

“Wei Wusheng!”

“Bayonet Zuo!”

The people on the platform immediately identified the two. The corpse on the ground was Bayonet Zuo, the bounty hunter who had found Wei Wusheng.

Some people had been waiting on the edge of their seats for updates since the message. They had bloodshot eyes from staying up all night for news. They had placed bets on their fight, and now, they finally had the results.

When they saw Wei Wusheng standing in the photo almost completely unharmed, they felt a suffocating weight on their chests.

In the photos he posted after his fight with the Pei brothers, some people believed that Wei Wusheng had shown his back to them not because he was trying to strike a good pose, but because he was hurt. The Pei brothers were skilled in pincer attacks.

But this time, Wei Wusheng had managed to defeat Bayonet Zuo while completely uninjured.

Voice messages flooded the discussion thread.

“Is this outside Central City?”

“It is. That mountain further back looks like Camel Mountain. The fight happened to the west of the city. I’m sure it was less than twenty kilometers away.”

“Look at the shadow. This didn’t happen yesterday... Did they fight just now?”

***

The Resolution Department saw the photo as well. The technicians immediately deduced based on the angle of the sunlight and the shape of the clouds that the photo was taken around half an hour ago. Of course, they did not dismiss the possibility that the photo had been edited, so they were still analyzing it.

But why would Wei Wusheng do that?

The Resolution Department immediately sent a message to notify all the officers both on duty and off duty to be on guard. That message made its way to Chen Chuan too.

No matter what, they couldn’t overlook this. The Resolution Department immediately sent a squad of officers outside the city in search of Wei Wusheng. They even locked down the roads leading to the west to expand their search area.

But the Resolution Department’s manpower was incredibly scattered at this point. Due to the tournament, the department had stationed a large number of officers around the arena, but there were a lot of people still coming into Central City over the past few days. Some copycats even killed people in Wei Wusheng’s style, which forced them to spread their officers even more.

Most of the technicians were also paying attention to the resonators supporting Wei Wusheng. If they could hide Wei Wusheng’s tracks, they could absolutely cause even more trouble, so they had to be on guard against that.

As Chen Chuan was observing the photos, Ni Qianqian contacted him, so he answered the call.

“Did you watch the tournament yesterday, Chen Chuan?” she asked.

“I did,” Chen Chuan answered.

“That’s fine. If I were to say anything about that, it would be that you should relax and stop training all the time. But some people aren’t that pleased with you going to the arena.

“We’re so shorthanded and busy now that they wish they could split themselves into two to do more work, but you go to watch the tournament and relax. In any case, they’re really resentful about this. You can ignore them, but plenty of people are watching how we’re going to handle this matter, so could you tone it down a bit?

“Judging by your current location, you’re going to watch the tournament today again, aren’t you?” Ni Qianqian asked.

“Yeah,” Chen Chuan answered.

“You shouldn’t, not today. Go back and relax at the university. Even if you don’t watch the matches, it’s fine...” Ni Qianqian tried to persuade him to go back.

The bus was almost to the arena, and they were about to pass a crossroad. The number on top of the green light ahead was about to start counting down from ten until it was going to turn red, so the cars started speeding up to get past the traffic light.

Just then, the driver of the car in front noticed a shadow above him. When he looked up, he saw a car flying toward him while tumbling in the air, and his face turned pale in panic.

Never would he have dreamed of a car suddenly flying at him while he was driving on the road. He quickly turned the steering wheel, and his car swerved to the side.

The car behind him didn’t manage to avoid the flying car.

Bang!

It rammed against the car’s window, and all the cars after it were unable to stop in time, which led to a chain of crashes.

Chen Chuan watched the scene unfold in front of him. “Sorry, Officer Ni. I don’t think I can agree to that.”

The next moment, he noticed that his Realm Pass’ connection had been cut off. He wasn’t the only one affected. All the students couldn’t use their Realm Passes.

It wasn’t just one car thrown at the crossroad either. It was several.

They crashed into the middle of the road, and with the cars that rammed into each other, the entire crossroad became impassable.

There was a person standing on top of an overturned truck. He wore a front-opening, blue martial arts uniform with a belt around his waist. Beneath the uniform he had a white undershirt. The loose, wide elbow-length sleeves swayed in the wind, while a hammer hung from his waist.

The man was more than two meters tall and incredibly intimidating. He looked past all the cars that had crashed and stared at the bus at the end.

Chen Chuan sensed his gaze and stood up before grabbing the Frost King Saber. Then, he said to the driver politely, “Please open the door, sir.”

The driver cast a glance at his uniform and immediately opened the door.

Chen Chuan walked out and cast a glance ahead before walking to the crossroad as the other students followed him with their gazes.