Back at the command center, everyone stared in dumbfounded silence.

They hadn’t seen Chen Chuan’s final sequence of attacks clearly, because everything was a blur, but based on the results, they felt an indescribable feeling. The thing they could describe, though, was what they thought about it: That was a display of sheer, unstoppable power.

Last for three minutes?

Who exactly needed to last for three minutes?

They felt as if the roles between the two parties had reversed, and it was absolutely ridiculous.

One of the people checked the time and felt even more dumbfounded, because the entire fight had lasted less than twenty seconds.

Liang Guanghai looked up. “Contact Captain Chen.”

“U-Understood!”

The liaison officer’s mind seemed to have turned blank from the shock of what he saw. After hearing the command, he took a moment to register what was said and established a communication link between them.

***

Chen Chuan heard a rustling sound from his Realm Pass, and a voice came through. “Captain Chen, it’s Liang Guanghai.”

“Special Officer Liang? Do you have orders for me?” Chen Chuan asked as he raised his head.

“In order to prevent the gap from expanding any further, I need the propagated offspring inside to be dealt with right now. But that propagated offspring has been exposed to the outside world for far too long, and it has been heavily polluted. Even if we reclaim it, it will be incredibly unstable and dangerous. Captain Chen, I give you the permission to destroy the propagated offspring.”

“Understood,” Chen Chuan responded firmly.

Then, he received a document explaining how to destroy propagated offspring. He needed to use a capture device to locate and subjugate it before he could kill it. Once he was done, he should spray a unique liquid medicine on the corpse to make sure nothing remained.

He could find all the things he needed in the defeated response unit’s cars. Aside from reclaiming the propagated offspring, every response unit was also tasked with destroying them if necessary.

Chen Chuan walked over and searched around an overturned car. Soon, he found everything that he needed and dragged the box containing the materials to the gap.

The propagated offspring was right behind. Since the gap had stabilized, Chen Chuan could find his way back after going inside. After observing it for a bit, he went inside.

The hired mercenaries hiding in the area sighed in relief.

Even though they had their guns trained on the gap, none of them fired a single shot. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

They were all intimidated by the nigh-unstoppable power Chen Chuan had displayed and the other three’s destructive power, so they did not have the courage to be stupid and fire.

Once they were sure that Chen Chuan didn’t have any intention of attacking them, they decided to leave. In truth, some of them had already snuck away.

***

After walking into the gap, everything turned bright in front of Chen Chuan, as if there was a strong, powerful light filling the area. He could sense waves of quintessence charging at him.

The place was dangerous, though. Certain groups might come at any point in time, so he couldn’t stay for long. Hence, he shook the sensory lamp attached to the briefcase in hand. Soon, it pointed in a certain direction. The light started flickering, and the lamp let out buzzing sounds.

Chen Chuan went where the sensory lamp directed him and quickly reached his destination. Before him was a fist-sized, sponge-like, grayish-white thing curled up in the air. There were wrinkles on it, and its body was encased in crystalline, semi-transparent liquid. It was the reason why it was suspended.

Loads of quintessence were surging over to the propagated offspring. Apparently, Chen Chuan wasn’t the only one absorbing quintessence. This thing was doing the same.

It made sense, though, since the Fu-Mu Entity was made to ward off external attacks, especially after it was modified. The propagated offspring might be doing it instinctively, because there were pollutants mixed among quintessence.

He opened the capture device in the briefcase and set it on the ground before walking over with the Frost King Saber.

The propagated offspring seemed to have sensed danger and started trembling, but it showed no intention of running away. This was because after the parent body was modified, the propagated offspring wouldn’t resist when the capture device was put in front of them. That was why even regular response units could complete reclaiming and destroying them.

Once Chen Chuan reached the propagated offspring, he cut it in two.

The moment the blade touched the propagated offspring, it hummed and trembled. Wisps of bright, long, fog-like ribbons rose from the Frost King Saber and moved forward to bind the cut propagated offspring until it was entirely hidden.

For a moment, it was as if everything slowed down, then the wisps returned, and the now shriveled and obviously dead halves of the propagated offspring collapsed on the ground.

Chen Chuan brought the Frost King Saber before his face. The saber seemed to have gone through some kind of transformation and entered a state of deep sleep.

Xiongjian Yi had brought the wisps, and they were highly likely connected to Ferris Wheel. Chen Chuan had just never figured out what they were. Still, his instincts told him that the change was beneficial for him.

Once more, this wasn’t the time to dig into this.

After casting a glance at the propagated offspring’s carcass, Chen Chuan went to the briefcase and took out the corrosive liquid used to destroy the remnants. After opening the metal lid, he poured some of it on the carcass before emptying the rest around it, just like in the instructions. The moment the liquid touched the body, it started melting. Then, it disappeared into a pool of liquid.

At the same time, something changed about the gap. Not only did it stop expanding, but it also felt like it had shrunk a little, though it was doing it slowly.

***

At the command center, Sentry Tower said, “Detected the destruction of a propagated offspring’s domain. Gap expansion halted. The propagated offspring is estimated to have been destroyed.”

The people in the command center sighed in relief and smiled.

The other propagated offspring had almost all been reclaimed or destroyed. This part of Oceanway District was the most affected in this wave. If things had continued worsening, it might have ended up as a major crisis, but the threat had been eliminated.

After confirming the news, Liang Guanghai gave instructions to one of the emergency response units sent to Chen Chuan to return while sending another response unit from the World Ring Defense System.

Then, he returned his gaze to the screen to stare at the huge gap.

***

After a moment, Chen Chuan walked out of the gap. He examined himself and found that his mental energy had increased greatly from the battles.

Something even more worthy of attention was that after the fights, his second self had reached the Third Limit.

Even though his second self hadn’t reached his current level of strength, he had still undoubtedly reached the same limit.

Once they overlapped, while Chen Chuan wouldn’t gain twice the strength and speed, his physical abilities would increase by a lot. If his second self could improve to his current level, Chen Chuan’s mental energy should also get a boost. But it was going to be increasingly more difficult for his second self to get stronger. Fortunately, he was not lacking in opponents.

At that moment, two armored cars’ engine roars tore through the air, and he looked over. His unit’s cars were heading toward him.

Yuan Qiuyuan’s voice entered his ears from the Realm Pass. “We’re here, Captain... Um? You already finished fighting?”

Everyone in the unit heard rustling sounds from their Realm Passes, and a liaison officer spoke to them.

“Captain Chen, officers, the gap in front of you is the largest in Central City. Please stay around it for the time being. A unit is heading over to set up defenses and road blocks around it. Please cooperate with us.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan replied.

He looked over. The gap was indeed very obvious. More people not on the government’s side might come over later, so they did indeed have to guard the place. This was good. It meant that Chen Chuan had more time to absorb quintessence.

***

Chen Bitong was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the seventieth floor of the building where his training center was located. He looked at the scenery of Majestic Light District. The gaps occasionally shone and overlapped with the dusky red light above, which made them look like a twisted version of fireworks.

Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie stood behind him. One was leaning against the wall, while the other stood with a hand in his pocket tossing a coin.

Yu Lie had a careless air about him, but his gaze occasionally traveled to Chen Bitong. Despite this, his actions brought no suspicion. Everyone knew him as a rabid fan of Chen Bitong, and he had always done this in the past, so everyone was already used to it.

Fang Zhixin received a notification on his Realm Pass. He straightened his body and took a moment to read it before saying, “Instructor Chen, the Department of Administrative Affairs has rejected your application to fight. Mr. Quan... wants you to defend Majestic Light District and says that you’re needed here a lot more.”

His Realm Pass beeped again, and Fang Zhixin opened the message. This time, it was from the World Ring Defense System. “The World Ring Defense System has also responded. Things are tense on their side, and they said that Majestic Light District needs to remain stable. They don’t suggest you leaving.”

Chen Bitong grunted before asking, “Is everything ready?”

“Yes,” Fang Zhixin responded.

While Yu Lie showed no reaction, his heart trembled.

Read? For what? What was Chen Bitong going to do? Why didn’t he know about it? Should he report this?

Or should he wait?

While he was thinking, Chen Bitong stood still for a while before saying, “Let’s go.” He turned around and headed outside. Fang Zhixin followed him. When they reached the door, Fang Zhixin turned around and beckoned Yu Lie over. “Come on. Why are you daydreaming?”

“Right.” Yu Lie grinned and grabbed the coin before following them. While he appeared nonchalant but also interested, his heart was thrumming with nervousness. He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.