Book 3, Chapter 205: Night

Chen Chuan’s group left the fort in the morning and kept chasing after the Iron Monster until noon. Even so, they didn’t catch up to the cavalry.

Chen Chuan could sense that they were intentionally leading them far away from the fort.

If they continued chasing, they were unlikely to be able to reach the nearest fort before night arrived, not with the time they had remaining.

Chen Chuan looked at his team members. “If we go back now, it’ll be the same as us never coming out. I intend to continue chasing after them and putting pressure on them, but that means we’ll have to stay in the wild overnight, and you know just how dangerous that is. If you’re not ready, I’ll let you go back.”

Yuan Qiuyuan leaned back against his seat and put on a nonchalant smile. “What on earth are you saying, Captain? You’re underestimating me. Running away from a fight isn’t the way I do things.”

“I won’t leave the team, Captain,” Qin Qingque declared seriously.

“Since you’ve made up your minds, don’t waste time thinking about leaving later. Officer Qin, later, send a telegram to Advisor Rao and tell him about our decision. We’re continuing our chase after the Iron Monster.”

“Roger!”

They kept going onward. Some time later, the fort sent a telegram to ask them for an update, and they replied that they were still going after the Iron Monster, though they hadn’t encountered the enemies yet. They also reported their location.

The fort immediately responded by telling them that they were too far away and would need around six hours to reach the nearest fort. Then, they asked them to stop their chase.

Chen Chuan immediately told Qin Qingque to reply that they intended to keep on going and that, after careful consideration, they had decided to spend the night in the wild in order to not lose track of the Iron Monster.

***

“What? They want to spend the night in the wild?”

Back at Fort 73, Rao Qili became so anxious that he started pacing back and forth. Every cell in his body screamed to send another telegram to persuade Chen Chuan and his unit to come back.

But he remembered Chen Chuan’s attitude before he left. He might have considered this possibility a long time ago and prepared some kind of way to deal with it.

Still, Rao Qili couldn’t not think about something else: Right now, Chen Chuan’s unit was the only one capable of fighting the Iron Monster and moving freely in the area. If they were killed, the Iron Monster would be free to rain down chaos and destruction in the rear until they could mobilize powerful units to come here.

At this point, he had to report the situation to the Command Center.

He asked the telegraph clerk to leave before putting on the headphones and sending a telegram detailing the general situation himself.

When it came to reporting Chen Chuan’s decision to chase after the Iron Monster, Rao Qili sucked in a deep breath before attaching his own name as well, thus stating his stance that this was a decision he made along with the unit.

***

“I’ve sent the telegram, Captain.” Qin Qingque looked up.

They were in a forest now.

“We’ll continue with the chase. At 4 p.m., we’ll stop and set up camp,” Chen Chuan said.

While the cavalry troops could keep moving, they couldn’t hide their tracks that easily.

In order to reach Fort 73 within the span of two days from Fort 104, the Iron Monster must have traveled at night while resting during the day. Chen Chuan was sure that they had pressed on at top speed, even risking draining the dragon-nose horse’s stamina for days.

Last night, they didn’t rest, and Chen Chuan had come after them during the day. Hence, even if they could travel during the night, they would definitely spend it resting and recuperating. Chen Chuan wasn’t worried about them going too far away.

As long as they followed them, the Iron Monster wouldn’t have the time nor energy to do anything else, unless they decided to turn around to fight. That, though, was exactly what Chen Chuan wanted.

A few more hours passed, and the sky gradually turned dark.

Chen Chuan took a look at the sky before saying, “Let’s set up camp here.”

“Roger!”

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque hadn’t blindly followed Chen Chuan after the Iron Monster. They had done some preparations before coming out.

From the brief time they spent together, they had sensed that while Chen Chuan was young, he was level-headed and had great judgment. That was why they trusted his confidence in spending the night outside.

Even so, they were rather nervous when they were about to be surrounded by the unfathomable darkness in the merged space.

Chen Chuan asked both of them to remove the tools and equipment from the SUV and set up some simple defenses and alarm systems around them. As for him, he took out the ritual materials he had prepared beforehand and started painting them on the SUV’s inner and outer panels.

When it came to defending against abnormalities, various measures and protective coating were the most common tools. The forts used such protective measures, but rituals could be used to produce the same effect.

However, the average person did not possess the knowledge of how to set up rituals. Besides, ritual materials were under strict regulation and considered sensitive items. Once activated, rituals also wouldn’t stay in effect for long, which was why they weren’t used for protection here.

But they were perfect for such a small unit like theirs to protect themselves for a night.

When Yuan Qiuyuan saw him drawing the ritual array, he blurted out, “Captain, you...”

Halfway through, he snapped his mouth shut. There were certain things one shouldn’t ask.

Besides, it was a good thing for him that his captain was so capable, wasn’t it?

Qin Qingque didn’t say anything. She had been playing her role as a good subordinate perfectly and did not ask anything unnecessary.

Before leaving, Chen Chuan had decided what sort of ritual he wanted to use, so he didn’t need to refer to any diagrams. He could draw the array from memory, and in less than an hour, he finished setting up the ritual.

He didn’t stop there, though. He asked Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque to remove their stab proof overcoats and drew some ritual arrays on them as well.

***

The Iron Monster and his troops had stopped a mere fifteen kilometers away from Chen Chuan’s unit.

A cavalier rode over and saluted him before saying, “Commandant, they did not turn back, but have set up a camp. It’s highly likely that they plan to spend the night here. What are we going to do?”

The Iron Monster made his horse trot in place while he stared into the distance. He said gruffly, “We wait.”

***

Once Chen Chuan was done setting up all the rituals, he went back into the SUV with Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque. Darkness soon arrived like a huge, thick curtain, casting the area in black.

Yuan Qiuyuan looked outside warily, but even after a long time passed, he didn’t notice anything. Just when he thought that this was all there was to the night in the merged space, he heard rustling sounds.

It sounded like a large snake was slithering over the SUV. He could hear its scales scraping at the SUV’s outer panels and feel its heavy weight pressing down.

A long time passed before the snake passed by. Then, they heard a loud crash, as if something had hit the SUV. It swayed violently. A few breaths later, it crashed into them again. Its attack was so strong this time that it felt like the SUV was about to topple over.

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque tensed up and tightened their grips over their weapons. Their expressions were grim.

Yet Chen Chuan remained calm. He saw his second self blurring out a little. The damage wasn’t intense, but the materials used for the ritual on the SUV’s inner panels were starting to turn dark, and he was sure that it was the same for the materials on the outer panels.

Judging by the situation, the rituals wouldn’t last them throughout the night, but Chen Chuan had left some space. Once the rituals were about to run out, he would draw on the extra space to reinforce them.

The crashes stopped after a while, as if whatever it was that was attacking the SUV had given up.

But they could hear something heavy approaching them. It seemed to be a gigantic creature. Every time its foot landed, the ground trembled, and it took quite some time to take a step, making it easy for them to imagine just how wide its stride was.

That wasn’t all. They could also sense it coming closer.

It seemed like the SUV was in its way.

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque couldn’t help but wonder whether this creature would step on the SUV. Should they shift to another spot?

Chen Chuan, in the meantime, had been paying attention to their vitalization rate, just like he had been doing since the sun set. Their vitalization rate had shot up to more than twenty, even though only a short time had passed.

The number was also still climbing up.

Once it passed thirty, they would enter the warning zone.

“Officer Yuan, Officer Qin, use the breathing technique to suppress your vitalization rates. If you can’t, take medicine. Don’t think about anything else. Ignore them,” he ordered.

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque immediately responded, “Roger!”

Chen Chuan’s calmness affected them, and they immediately cast aside all their worries to begin practicing the breathing technique to regulate their vitalization rate. Slowly, the number stopped increasing and started falling down, though it was decreasing at a snail’s pace.

Soon, their minds were entirely focused on controlling their vitalization rate. When they finally stopped, they found that the night had passed. It was bright outside, and the events at night felt like just a figment of their imagination.

Yuan Qiuyuan exhaled and opened the door to step outside. Soon, he noticed something off.

Their SUV was a few hundred meters away from where they had parked, and the vehicle itself showed clear signs of being slammed into and scratched.

A few meters away, he saw a huge pit. It had cracks spreading outward from its edges, reminding Yuan Qiuyuan of the thundering footsteps.

What they experienced were no mere illusions!

Qin Qingque didn’t get out of the SUV. She turned on the telegraph station and sent a telegram to Fort 73 to report their situation. Then, she started receiving updates from the other forts.

Yuan Qiuyuan walked back and exclaimed, “Captain, those things last night were seriously weird. How did the Iron Monster and his troops stay outside for so long? Is it a belief? Medicine? There’s no way they’re all demons and monsters, right?”

“They must be using some sort of special method, one we can’t copy. Otherwise, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t have picked it up, not after we’ve been working together with the locals for so long,” Chen Chuan said.

“Makes sense.”

After thinking about it for a while, with fear still lingering in his heart, Yuan Qiuyuan said, “If they had attacked us last night, wouldn’t we have had to face those abnormalities?”

“It’s not that simple,” Chen Chuan assured him. “Even though the Iron Monster can travel at night, up to this date, he’s always carried out his ambushes at dawn. Take what happened the day before yesterday as an example. When I noticed that he was around, it was almost morning.

“If they could attack at any time they want, they wouldn’t wait until dawn. That’s why we just need to be on guard against them when dawn is around the corner.”

Yuan Qiuyuan huffed lightly. “Looks like the Iron Monster and his troops aren’t completely fearless.”

Chen Chuan checked his watch and said, “Pack up. We’re getting ready to leave. We’re going to keep chasing after them. Our goal is to get them to lose their patience.”