Book 3, Chapter 104: Bounty

After the City Patrol detained the Moss Gang members, Chen Chuan didn’t run into any other obstacles on the way back.

Once he left Roaring Victory District and Wu Bei confirmed that no one was tracking his Realm Pass anymore, he contacted Qi Gao. “I couldn’t save your colleague, Mr. Qi. When I went there, no one was alive.”

Qi Gao sighed. “Her husband died a few years ago, and she had a son who’s only ten years old. She took up the hotel mission behind the company’s back, so we didn’t know about it. Otherwise, I could have called you sooner. Perhaps her death could have been avoided.”

“Mr. Qi, why don’t you send me all the anomalous-event missions you’ve collected?” Chen Chuan offered.

Qi Gao perked up at that. “Sure. My colleagues have pooled together a small reward for what you’ve done at the hotel. You might not care about that small sum of money, but please, take it.”

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said.

A moment later, Qi Gao sent all the anomalous-event missions he had gathered to Chen Chuan, along with the reward.

Just then, Chen Chuan received a call from the City Patrol. Once he answered it, he heard a gentle, feminine voice. “Mr. Chen, we’ve received the message you sent at 2:10 p.m.. According to your report, you’ve dealt with the anomaly in the hotel within Roaring Victory District. Is that true?”

“Yes. I’ve taken care of it,” Chen Chuan answered.

“I’ve recorded your answer. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Chen.” Then, she hung up.

Chen Chuan looked ahead. Even though he killed the supernatural being, the residents around the hotel might have other problems to face. While the Moss Gang couldn’t bring him any trouble, they could extort those who lived there. Still, Chen Chuan had done all that he could do. Other things were out of his control.

Once he returned to the Arcane Palace, he took a shower before checking the item left by the supernatural being. The tree was one of the strongest supernatural beings Chen Chuan had met thus far, and the item it left behind was unique as well. Chen Chuan had never seen anything similar in Cheng Zitong’s records. Perhaps he could make use of it in the future.

After some thinking, he put it away in a safe place.

When he sat down on the sofa, he put a hand on the Realm Pass and looked through the anomalous-event missions Qi Gao had sent him. Qi Gao was really attentive in this regard and ranked the missions over the months in the order of urgency. The ones that had a big impact on their surroundings and had been around for a long time were all placed at the very top. Then, he ranked the rest according to how long they had been around.

This way, all Chen Chuan needed to do was pick the ones with the greatest impact. After all, he couldn’t possibly get rid of all supernatural beings.

After checking them for a while, Chen Chuan picked his next target and decided to check it out when he had the time.

Then, he took out the incense burner and the ginseng-like medicine. Once he lit up the incense, he started reciting the breathing technique in his heart while entering a meditative state. When the next day arrived, he came out of the meditative state.

Following that, he went out to get rid of the supernatural beings. The moment he was done, he went back to take his medicine and continued his training. This lasted for two days before he bought the service again and sparred once more with Hongfu.

It was rinse and repeat from that moment on.

However, Chen Chuan didn’t run into supernatural beings every time he went out. Once, he ran into a group of residents conducting a ritual. Since it wasn’t a supernatural being and Chen Chuan couldn’t actually tell the residents what they could or couldn’t do, he left.

In the blink of an eye, the twenty-ninth of June arrived. After Chen Chuan finished his meditation, he felt as if something was supposed to happen today. He pondered over it before remembering the incubator in the corner of his room.

According to Zuo Handan, the egg would hatch after around thirty days, so it was about time for it to do so. Even so, it didn’t seem to be showing any signs of hatching.

Chen Chuan didn’t check on it, though. He just picked up the Frost King Saber and went to his training room as he said, “I’d like to buy your sparring service today, Hongfu.”

After he went into the training room, the egg moved a little in the incubator.

Three hours later, Chen Chuan left the training room and put the Frost King Saber on its stand before casting a glance at the calendar on his Realm Pass.

In two more days, the semester was going to end. After this, the students would have a two-month-long holiday, but they could stay in the dorm if they wished to do so.

Many underclassmen who were still in their growth period chose to stay because Central City offered more resources than any other place.

Two months was also a long time. If their progress slowed because they left Central City, it would be hard for them to catch up to the others. They had to seize every moment they could to train.

That was especially the case for the underclassmen this year. Since the university management had come up with many new rules and the ones with the lowest assessment points might end up becoming external students, no one dared to leave the university during the holidays.

Based on Cao Guiqi’s estimations, Chen Chuan should have been able to reach the Third Limit within a month or two. Now, almost one month had passed.

Chen Chuan could sense that his senses had become sharper than before, and his control over his body had increased. He was improving every single day.

The next period of time was going to be the most important for him. He was about to enter the final phase to push to the Third Limit.

During it, his demands for medicine were going to spike up. He also couldn’t stop fighting against powerful opponents. Hence, even if Chen Chuan wanted to go back to Yangzhi City, he had to wait until he reached the Third Limit. Thankfully, he had already told his family that he might take some time before going back.

Chen Chuan returned to the sofa to read the news in the niche channel to relax. After around half an hour, Tan Zhi’s profile picture started flickering, and Chen Chuan answered the call.

“The holidays are starting the day after tomorrow. Where do you plan to go? Home?”

“I might stay in the university for a little longer,” Chen Chuan answered.

“Same here. Did you know that two students with the lowest assessment points have been demoted to external students?” Tan Zhi asked with a sigh.

“Oh? They’ve already implemented it?” Chen Chuan said.

“Yup, they did. I thought that they would only implement the rule for the next semester, so I was surprised as well. These two are seriously unlucky. They might have to join the tournament.

“I heard that it’s really exciting, though. Since you’re not in a hurry to leave, why don’t we go to watch it? We can ask Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin to come along too. Those two are about to go nuts from being grounded.”

“Wei Wusheng is still out there. If you go out, aren’t you worried about running into him?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Wei Wusheng hasn’t shown his face for a few days,” Tan Zhi answered in a relaxed manner. “I think it’s because he doesn’t have the guts to. Someone has put a bounty on his head on the underground platform. I think the one offering the reward is someone who was on Rhinoceros’ Horn that day. That person has allowed everyone to increase the bounty on Wei Wusheng’s head, so I also added to the reward.”

Since Wei Wusheng had been killing martial artists nonstop and the Resolution Department wasn’t able to capture him, the ones remaining didn’t want to sit around waiting until Wei Wusheng came for their heads. After all, the ones who could board Rhinoceros’ Horn either had powerful connections or came from powerful families. Hence, one of them put a bounty on Wei Wusheng’s head on the underground platform.

Since the reward was quite high, a number of martial artists belonging to the underground took action and were all searching for Wei Wusheng.

It’s no wonder why I haven’t been hearing much about Wei Wusheng lately. It was almost as if he had vanished completely, but it couldn’t be because he was laying low to recover from his injuries since he wasn’t hurt all that bad. This explains it, Chen Chuan thought.

Tan Zhi then said, “Apparently, a number of famous bounty hunters have claimed the mission, such as the Pei brothers, Bayonet Zuo, and Old Cat Han. Wei Wusheng doesn’t have the time or energy to look for us.

“Besides, in order to host the tournament successfully, Central City has set up really tight security. A lot of lecturers from Martial Valor University will go too. No matter how bold of a man Wei Wusheng is, he wouldn’t dare to cause trouble there, so we don’t have to worry.”

Chen Chuan pondered over this before saying, “I don’t think I can go over the next few days, though. I’ve entered a growth period, so I need to use this time to train.”

“Oh? Your mutated tissue has entered an accelerated growth period?” Tan Zhi raised his voice. It was hard for martial artists to improve at a rapid pace. Usually, they could only polish their skills slowly, but there was an exception—if their mutated tissue entered an accelerated growth period. Once they were in this state, as long as they invested enough resources in themselves, they could get stronger quickly.

Naturally gifted people not only had more accelerated growth periods than other people, but their growth period also lasted longer. This was one of the main reasons behind why some martial artists left others in the dust.

Chen Chuan was younger by almost two years, and Tan Zhi himself had experienced a period of accelerated growth at Chen Chuan’s age, so maybe it was normal.

“I think so,” Chen Chuan replied.

“If that’s the case, you can’t miss it for the world. That concerns your future, you know? In any case, the holidays are long, and the tournament is going to last until September. We can meet up when you’re free,” Tan Zhi said seriously.

“Sure,” Chen Chuan agreed.

After the call ended, Chen Chuan read through the news a little longer while paying attention to any articles related to Wei Wusheng. Everyone seemed to have come to a consensus that it was going to be hard for him to cause further trouble. No one had added to the betting pool either. Still, Chen Chuan had a feeling that things might not go the way people thought it would.

***

On the roof of the residential building diagonally across from the hotel with the supernatural being, the boy did a handstand. His sweat fell on the floor and created a puddle under him, but he gritted his teeth and persevered.

The man stood by the side and watched. He had said that he would leave after a few days, but for some reason, he continued staying.

A long time passed before he said, “You can stop now.”

The boy lowered his legs and slumped down on the floor before struggling to his feet. Then, to the best of his abilities, he began regulating his breathing according to the man’s instructions. He even tapped at his limbs.

With his arms crossed, the man stared at him. “I wasn’t expecting you to be naturally gifted. You remind me of a junior brother of mine. What do you intend to do in the future, kid?”

With great hope, the boy asked, “Can I follow you, Mister?”

“You’re not worthy enough for that,” the man shot him down.

The boy’s shoulders slumped in dejection.

“I have to leave soon. If you want to continue practicing martial arts, you can go to the Heavenly Pardon Gang and ask for Yu Hongming. He’ll teach you. Just tell him I recommended you,” the man said.

The boy’s eyes lit up. “I still don’t know your name, Mister.”

“My name, huh?”

Just then, noise came from the building across from them. At the same time, a powerful voice shouted, “We found you, Wei Wusheng! Come out! You can’t run any further!”

Wei Wusheng paused for a moment before saying, “The Pei brothers? I’ve been waiting for you two for a long time. I can’t believe you only just managed to find me. You’re far too slow.”

Wei Wusheng rolled his neck, letting out loud popping sounds as he did so, and removed the hammer from his waist. Then, he walked out of the building. As he did, he said, “If you want to live, stay away, kid.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep