Chapter 89: Surprise Attack
While Chen Chuan was going forward, he suddenly sensed something and looked up to see someone running past a narrow slit on top of the guard post.
At that moment, Tong Qianjiang was already standing behind the entrance with a saber raised high above his head.
While the entrance was high enough, it was narrow, so only one person could pass through it at a time. The walls were quite thick as well, so if anyone rushed in, they would not be able to retreat. This meant that the moment Chen Chuan stepped inside, Tong Qianjiang would bring his saber down and kill him.
Behind him, Fang Dawei and the group had spread out and stood ready for combat. Those on the second floor had their guns pointed at the entrance.
The clear footsteps disappeared after Chen Chuan took three steps toward the entrance.
Seventh suddenly looked up and saw someone jumping down through the hole above them. In an instant, the inside of the guard post was shrouded in darkness. “Above us!”
The robbers redirected their guns and opened fire at the hole, but they were too late.
After Chen Chuan landed on the circular second-floor walkway, he squatted down and rolled to the side. The bullets whooshed past him.
He then used the momentum to get back on his feet and charged at the person closest to him. Sparks danced as the long saber scratched against the wall.
The person fired twice, but Chen Chuan was too fast. He was also charging with his body bent close to the floor, which led to the two bullets missing him. Before the man could fire the third shot, Chen Chuan swung his saber diagonally.
Shick.
The man was cleaved in two.
The people underneath cried out, “Eighth!”
With a gaze as cold as ice, Chen Chuan continued forward. The person behind Eighth was not that far away, but he did not open fire earlier because he was worried about hitting his friend. Now, he grabbed a heavy box beside him. His muscles bulged, and with a shout, he threw it at Chen Chuan.
The box practically blocked Chen Chuan’s sight. He brought his hand up, activated his refined force, and flicked it aside as if it weighed nothing instead of hundreds of kilograms. It shattered in midair, and all the junk fell to the lower floor. It instantly caused chaos.
Chen Chuan sped up using the force he generated when he flicked the box to the side. A fierce glare shone off his saber. It flashed past the person, and his head and shoulders were instantly separated from his body.
Just then, Chen Chuan noticed another gun pointed at him from below. He grabbed the severed body and brought it to his side as a shield.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The implant in the severed body blocked all the bullets.
Chen Chuan pushed the severed body forward. The movement generated a gust of wind, and the severed body fell down on the people downstairs. Chen Chuan started running again to kill the last person on the second floor.
That person had a fierce glare. He threw away his rifle, drew his handgun, and fired at Chen Chuan repeatedly, but with a few sidesteps, Chen Chuan managed to evade all the bullets. Once he closed the distance between them, he thrust his saber forward, but while it sank into the man’s chest, something blocked its path. Chen Chuan hadn’t been able to tell just by looking at the man, but he also had a defensive implant!
The stab made the man stumble back a bit, but he was confident in his strength. He roared, extended his arms, and grabbed the blade.
Chen Chuan’s expression remained stony as he twisted his wrists and pulled back. The man cried out in pain.
When Chen Chuan wanted to seize the opportunity to attack again, he sensed something strange, and tilted his body backward while his feet remained planted firmly on the ground. A black shadow passed in front of him before getting stuck to the wall beside him with a splat. The man’s limbs started moving erratically as he climbed up like a spider and crawled into a crack.
At that moment, Chen Chuan’s body was bent backward at a forty-five-degree angle. He was like a bowstring that had been pulled taut. He sprang forward, as if there had been a huge force pulling at him to make his body snap back and charge ahead.
Because of the brief pause, the man in front of him and the robbers underneath had opened fire again. In an instant, a web of bullets formed, and he was caught in the crossfire. Bullet holes appeared on the surrounding walls.
Chen Chuan felt something poke at his ribs. A bullet had hit him, but he just felt his skin sink a bit before the bullet slid off his protective suit.
His gaze wavered slightly in surprise. Chen Chuan had been prepared to let his second self bear the damage, but by the looks of it, there was no need for that. The protective suit was very effective. He did not sense anything from being shot. So, he decided to stop playing it safe. He covered his face with his hands and charged forward while facing the barrage of bullets head-on.
When the man saw him coming, he retreated while firing at him repeatedly. But all the bullets that hit Chen Chuan slid off of him. Shocked, the man quickly took a step to the side to jump down and flee for his life.
Chen Chuan sped up. Once the man was within his range, he swung his saber at the man’s legs. A flash of light swept by that area, and one of the man’s legs was severed. He cried out in pain and lost his balance.
Chen Chuan took two steps forward with his hands on the saber hilt, then brought it high above his head and sent it down with a shout.
Shing!
The man’s head fell and bounced off the floor before rolling toward the people on the lower floor.
By then, Fang Dawei and his gang had realized that guns were useless and stopped firing.
Chen Chuan slowly turned around. He flicked his saber sideways and let its tip touch the floor, then directed his gaze downward. The places he had run through were covered in blood gushing out of the severed bodies. Some of it dripped down to the first floor with audible splashes.
It had been less than ten breaths since Chen Chuan came in, but he had slaughtered his way through the entirety of the second floor. No robber was left alive on it.
The people on the first floor were looking up. As they stared at Chen Chuan, their breathing became labored, and their eyes turned bloodshot with rage.
Fang Dawei’s eyes flashed with cunning as he said, “Third, guard the entrance. Don’t let anyone come in!”
The firing ports were all on the second floor. Since Chen Chuan had killed all the men they had stationed there, they could no longer hold back the constables. It was likely they would use this chance to charge in. That was why he needed someone to stand guard at the entrance. Otherwise, they would be done for once pincered.
Tong Qianjiang took his gun out and fired a few shots outside before pressing himself to the edge of the door to pay attention to any movement outside.
Chen Chuan used the momentary lull in battle to adjust his breathing and observe the guard post to get a general idea of the situation inside.
Aside from the heavily injured robbers on the floor, there were five people within his line of vision. One of them looked like a doctor. He stood in a corner with his hands in the pockets of his white robe while perfectly calm, as if the entire thing had nothing to do with him.
Among the four remaining, the one who spoke was clearly the leader, which meant he was Fang Dawei. The two-meter-tall man beside him was likely Tong Baitao, and Chen Chuan had seen the one standing at the entrance before. He was Tong Qianjiang. Even though he had been wearing a face mask back then, Chen Chuan could recognize him based on his body shape.
The last one was a bespectacled, weak-looking, tiny man. He appeared quite terrified and did not match the fierce image of the others. Judging by his appearance, he was a technician.
Guan Yuming’s assistant had said that six among Fang Dawei’s gang had implants. Chen Chuan had killed one of them at the entrance, then two more on the second floor.
There should be three left.
The person climbing above like a spider was certainly one, so the other two had to be Fang Dawei and Tong Baitao. Their appearances gave it away as well. Their abnormalities were just too obvious.
Once Chen Chuan killed these three, the rest would not pose much of a threat to him.
He positioned the Frost King Saber horizontally in front of him. Despite slicing through multiple people, the blade did not have a trace of blood. It remained as shiny as new, and its chill seeped into the bones.
Chen Chuan swung his saber to the side and took a step forward to jump down from the second floor. With a loud bang, he landed on steady feet and kicked up a cloud of dust. It spread outward before settling down. Then, he slowly straightened his body.
Fang Dawei and the others exchanged glances before they moved to surround him. Meanwhile, Seventh silently crawled to the ceiling of the first floor through the crack on the second floor and stared at the back of Chen Chuan’s head and neck.
Tong Baitao threw his gun away and took out two steel batons from his belt. With a ferocious glare, he charged at Chen Chuan. The terrified expression on the technician’s face also disappeared, replaced by ruthlessness. He grabbed a saber and swung it at Chen Chuan’s head in a frenzy.
Chen Chuan watched all of it without any reaction. When overlapping with his second self, his reaction speed improved along with his strength. Everything appeared in slow motion before his eyes.
Regardless of whether his enemies were in front or behind him, he could sense their movements and location based on their scent, the sounds they made, and other information. They did not need to be within his line of sight for him to know where they were.
While Tong Baitao and the tiny man charged at him together, one of them was before the other. Chen Chuan took half a step to the right, where the tiny man was, and swung his saber upward. This time, he did it with the back of the blade. The tiny man was pushed back into Tong Baitao, saber and all. In order to avoid him, Tong Baitao instinctively slowed down.
Chen Chuan swung the saber in the other direction. Since the tiny man was flung to the side, his entire side was exposed to Chen Chuan. In a panic, he grabbed the saber to push it away, only to end up being dragged back. He lost his balance and stumbled a few steps forward.
Chen Chuan took half a step to the side to avoid him. When the tiny man stumbled past him, Chen Chuan patted his head with the back of his hand. That movement was the exact one he had used when he patted his punching bag after he first learned how to generate refined force.
Thud.
Blood gushed out from the tiny man’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. His brain was reduced to mush. Chen Chuan placed a hand against the tiny man’s chest to stop him. Then, he pushed him forward, and the body flew toward Tong Baitao.