Chapter 75: Against The Flow
Wei Changan stared at Scar Face warily.
He knew that Scar Face had an implant. It was in the information about him, but Wei Changan had thought that he was using a civilian-grade implant that could outperform normal human limbs in battle, but was otherwise limited in use. To systematically trained martial artists, that advantage was not all that great.
But a military-grade implant was a different story.
Military-grade implants had to go up against firearms in the battlefield. Normal weapons were entirely useless against higher-grade implants.
But an entire medical team and a lot of medicine were required to use this sort of implant. They could not just get it and call it a day. Scar Face was alone. Where did he get such resources?
Even if he had Qiu Huzi’s medicine, he would not be able to use that implant in the long run.
Anyway, it was pointless thinking about such things right then. Instead, he needed to think about how to take down Scar Face, who had military-grade implants.
Most of the operatives were in their positions. A lot of them were stunned when they saw the bullets not working, but they did not know that it was due to a military-grade implant. They just thought that Scar Face was wearing some sort of armor.
Quite a number of the participants in the operation were from the martial arts school. Some of them thought that this was their chance, since Scar Face’s movements would be compromised after being shot. So, without much thinking, they charged forward.
“Careful! It’s dangerous!” Wei Changan shouted to deter them.
But the fireworks were still going off in the distance, and they drowned out his voice. There was no telling if no one heard him or just did not care about his warning, but not one person paused.
Three people led the charge. One of them ran straight to Scar Face, another aimed for his lower body, and the last one went behind him.
A lot of thought had gone into where the first two decided to attack. Anyone with experience could tell from their gazes and postures that they were aiming to knock Scar Face off his feet.
There was nothing wrong with the idea. No matter how sturdy Scar Face was, the moment he was knocked off his feet, they would be free to deal with him however they wanted.
Scar Face swung his sledgehammer once they got close. The person running straight toward him found the perfect chance to dodge it and landed in front of him with a jump. He swiftly grabbed one of Scar Face’s legs. The other person nimbly avoided the broken machete and grabbed his arm.
When Wei Changan fought against Scar Face, he noticed that his movements were slightly sluggish. The implant had to be affecting him somehow. Perhaps something had gone wrong with his neural transmission, which led to his lack of coordination.
The martial artists who attacked Scar Face did not know that. Still, based on their experience, they had a plan. Once the two grabbed Scar Face, the one who went behind him saw his chance. With a loud shout, he kicked the back of Scar Face’s knee. It was a sturdy and powerful kick, and it brought Scar Face down on one knee.
Yet the next second, Scar Face sucked in a deep breath, and his upper body swelled up. He brought his machete-wielding arm back, along with the person holding it, and the broken machete went straight into the mouth of the martial artist holding onto his leg.
The other two martial artists were shocked, but they knew that they could not retreat. The one behind Scar Face seized his throat in a chokehold while the other used all of his strength to keep the machete-wielding arm in a lock.
No matter how strong a person was, they still needed to breathe. So, once Scar Face’s passage of air was cut off, in at most a few seconds, he would lose all his strength to fight back.
Scar Face paused for a moment after the martial artist grabbed his neck, and his grip over the sledgehammer loosened. The weapon fell on the ground, so everyone thought that the attack had worked, only for Scar Face to bring his arm up to grab the martial artist’s arm. With a squeeze, the martial artist screamed in pain. Scar Face had crushed his humerus.
Then, Scar Face threw him forward. The martial artist crashed on the ground, spasmed a bit, and stopped moving.
The one holding onto Scar Face’s other arm was terrified and let go to retreat, but Scar Face grabbed his shirt. The martial artist twisted his body, causing his shirt to tear, and broke free. He stumbled backward before scrambling to run away
Before he could escape, Scar Face grabbed the sledgehammer from the ground and swung it at the martial artist’s back. The person fell forward and stopped moving.
Wei Changan sighed. Even though those people were not his colleagues, it did not mean that he wanted to see them die. He turned around to look for Cai Si but could not find him, so he called out to a mature man in the crowd. “Lao Wu, grab some rope.”
Lao Wu immediately figured out what he was planning and went to find some rope.
Scar Face ignored it. Without anyone in his way anymore, he went toward the market.
But Wei Changan did not intend to let him leave. If Scar Face made it to a densely populated area, capturing him would become an afterthought. A lot of people would get hurt, and they would cause a huge commotion, so it was simply not an option.
“Hold him back!” Wei Changan shouted.
He stood still not because he did not want to run after Scar Face, but because his team were not the only ones present. Agents from the company had come as well, so he had to coordinate things. Otherwise, no one was going to move. Besides, if he lost the ability to fight, the operation would fail, since he was the commander.
Many people charged at Scar Face to stop him.
The brutal scene earlier had not scared them. They could tell that Scar Face was only thinking about running away. He had no intention of fighting them. So, as long as they were careful and came up with a way to stop him, they could hold him back until someone brought rope or something else to hold him down.
***
Cai Si cleaned out the flour in his eyes. When he saw what was happening up ahead, he shouted to the grocery store owner. “Bring out all your oil. I don’t care whether it’s peanut oil, soybean oil, or some other oil, bring it all out and pour it on the road! But be careful not to get any on you!”
The grocery store owner was taken aback, but then his eyes sparkled with excitement. The people beside him also realized what he wanted to do, so they started looking for oil in the other stores.
If the road was covered in oil, then even if Scar Face managed to make it through the people trying to stop him, he would have a hard time getting into the market. Then, they could restrain him with a few bundles of rope. Everyone could imagine it, so those who had been panicking a little calmed down.
Scar Face walked forward while swinging his weapons to get rid of all the flies buzzing around him. It did not require a lot of effort, but he was panting. A few seconds later, the observant ones noticed that his body seemed to have become bigger again, and his face had turned red. His breaths were also coming out scorching hot.
He was no longer moving as slowly as before, but had instead become agile. His walk turned into a jog, and then a run.
Some of the agents from Wei Changan’s company wanted to go forward, but a higher-ranking agent dragged them back and shook his head at them.
“What’s wrong, Agent Qu?”
“Scar Face must have gotten an implant that modifies his heart and lungs. He might have modified his blood vessels, skin, bones, and other parts of his body too. Those are implants used specifically to break through the lines. We won’t be able to stop him. Don’t go and get yourselves killed. Wei Changan won’t be able to complete this mission.”
Just as he said it, Scar Face started charging while swinging his sledgehammer. Since he accelerated in the blink of an eye, the people in front of him could not dodge in time and were either knocked away by his brute charge or sent flying away by his sledgehammer. All the attackers were routed in an instant. One of them was even sent flying up to a roof.
Wei Changan was shocked. He ran forward while shouting, “Why are you guys just standing there?! Stop him!”
Unlike before, only two people listened to his orders and cooperated with him. The rest hesitated for just a second and were too late or decided not to move at all to stay safe. While the first two did their best to stop Scar Face, they struggled and were in grave danger in the face of Scar Face’s attacks.
Someone brought out the crossbows the Constabulary had given them en masse and shot Scar Face, but most of the bolts bounced off of his body. The few that managed to pierce his thick arms seemed to have been stopped from piercing further into the flesh and were just hanging loosely. They did not manage to stop him.
Wei Changan sucked in a deep breath. Now that things had come to this, he had to take part in stopping Scar Face as well. Otherwise, he would not be able to bear the consequences of his failure.
Chen Chuan had been paying attention to what was happening. He focused on Scar Face’s body and walked toward the large man, even though everyone around him was running in the opposite direction.