Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 11Book 3, : Change

Book 3, Chapter 11: Change

After the saber-wielding man left, the silver-haired man leaned against the back of his seat and waited for the anomaly to be dealt with.

The anomaly likely stemmed from the kid. So, once they killed the kid, it would go away.

Most anomalies could be taken care of this way, especially in rural areas like this. Most of the people here weren’t proper citizens, so it was easy getting rid of the anomaly.

After a while, a gunshot came from the distance, and the silver-haired man scowled before asking through his Realm Pass, “What happened, Dachen?”

Dachen’s voice immediately came through. “There’s a martial artist with an implant here. They even have a gun. It’s a bit troublesome.”

“Run-down places like this always have a shitload of problems,” the silver-haired man cursed.

“An Dan, can you interfere with them?” he asked a lazy-looking, short-haired woman with purple eye makeup sitting in the back seat. The implant exposed on her neck extended from her back to the back of her head. She had beautiful decorations added to the implant.

An Dan nodded and shut her eyes, as if connecting to something. After a while, she said, “Alright. I’ve sent false signals to the martial artist’s implant and cut off his Realm Pass’s domain chain.”

“That’ll do.”

The silver-haired man then said to Dachen, “Get it over with quickly.”

Then, he drew up his playlist and started playing music. Soon, he heard a long wolf’s howl in his ears.

This was The Legend of the Wolf, a song from Solar, his favorite band. As the music started playing, he swayed along with it.

Wild and turbulent like the waves♪

Prideful and free like the sun♪

I am a wolf running under the sky♪

Soon, Dachen came back. His saber was covered in blood.

The silver-haired man opened his eyes and looked outside. “It’s done?”

Dachen nodded.

“Let’s go, then,” the silver-haired man said.

After Dachen put his saber away and got into the SUV, it left.

***

While Chen Chuan and Qi Gao were on their way back, it started drizzling. The sky turned quite dark. The car lights and neon lights shone on the window through the rain, casting blurry splotches of different colored light on the raindrops.

“Mr. Qi, do you know where I can buy a Central City map?” Chen Chuan asked.

“If you head two kilometers down from here, you’ll find an old magazine shop selling them,” Qi Gao answered after some thought.

“Please send me there. I’ll buy some other things too. This isn’t too far away from the university, so I can go back on my own from there. You should head home,” Chen Chuan said.

Qi Gao agreed to it. Four minutes later, they arrived. Chen Chuan said goodbye to Qi Gao and got out. Soon, he found a shop with a narrow entrance around ten meters away, and he bought a map from it.

While people with a mid-range Realm Pass like Chen Chuan’s could have the platform tell them where to go, maps were still important to many. Anyone who wasn’t rich could only get secondhand or even thirdhand Realm Passes that only provided communication functions. If they wanted to go to unfamiliar places, they either had to go to a Realm Node to search for the location or rely on a map.

Chen Chuan bought the map so that it would be easier for him to find the address his parents left for him.

He couldn’t use the Realm Pass to search for it; that would leave tracks.

He didn’t intend to go there immediately. He wanted to wait, because he wasn’t sure whether someone was paying attention to this matter.

Since it was raining, Chen Chuan didn’t hurry back to the university. Instead, he took a leisurely stroll along the streets with glass roofs and a bustling crowd. The light boxes around him shone with bright words and pictures. Occasionally, the slightly humid, cold air blew on his face. Far in the sky, the stars shone.

He stopped in front of the tram station. Then, he heard some sounds behind him. When he turned around to look, he saw two large holograms of a man and woman on the wall of a building. They had implants on various parts of their bodies and spoke in a gentle, friendly voice as they took turns introducing their implants and talking about how easy life was with them.

Soon, the tram arrived.

Just as Chen Chuan wanted to get on, Qi Gao’s profile picture jumped up and down the screen on his Realm Pass. He took a look and answered the call. “What is it, Mr. Qi?”

A hint of unease colored Qi Gao’s voice. “Chen Chuan, Brother Chong sent me an audio message just now, but it ended halfway through. When I asked about it, he didn’t give me an answer. I wonder if something happened...”

A flicker of emotion shone in Chen Chuan’s eyes as he asked, “Are you at home now?”

“Not yet. Do you want to go back and take a look? I’ll pick you up, then.”

“Is your family okay with it?”

“They’re fine. I already spoke to them.”

“I’m by the tram station. I’ll send you the location.”

After Chen Chuan ended the call, he pondered the situation. The supernatural being had already been buried. As long as Xiao Man didn’t dig it out, nothing should happen.

Unless...

He hoped that wasn’t what had happened.

In just a few minutes, Qi Gao’s SUV arrived. Chen Chuan got in, and Qi Gao wondered, “What do you think happened to Brother Chong and the others?”

“We’ll only know when we get there,” Chen Chuan answered.

In less than half an hour, they returned to the run-down neighborhood, which was swathed in darkness. Only a few places had lights on.

Once Qi Gao parked the car, they walked over and soon found a body lying on the road in the distance. The man was still twitching. In fear and shock, Qi Gao asked, “What’s that?!”

Chen Chuan cast a glance at his second self and found him blurring out intensely. Qi Gao started seeing double and cradled his head. “Why am I dizzy all of a sudden...”

Chen Chuan pulled at him to stop while he stared ahead. “Don’t go any further, Mr. Qi. I’ll go and take a look by myself.”

“Is it the thing from before?” Qi Gao asked in shock.

“It is, but something has changed. Didn’t you say that you mingled with cults before?” Chen Chuan asked with a serious expression.

Qi Gao nodded.

“Can you get me these materials?” Chen Chuan asked, sending a list along with the quantities he needed through the Realm Pass.

Qi Gao only hesitated for a bit before agreeing, “I can!”

“How long will you need?”

“I’ll be back before dawn at the latest. Leave it to me,” Qi Gao promised with teeth gritted in determination.

Chen Chuan took out a wad of cash from his pocket and stuffed it into his hands. “If you don’t have enough money, use mine.”

“This will do. I’ll take care of it, Chen Chuan,” Qi Gao said and put the money into his pocket before running to his SUV.

“Mr. Qi!” Chen Chuan called out.

“Yeah?” Qi Gao stopped.

As Chen Chuan held his gaze, he said seriously, “Don’t force yourself. Your safety takes priority.”

“I know.” Qi Gao waved a dismissive hand at him.

Chen Chuan watched him leave before heading deeper into the run-down neighborhood. On his way, he saw numerous unconscious people, so he sped up and grabbed all the ones he could see to take them out of the anomaly’s area of effect.

Some people had collapsed in their shacks. At this point, there was no need to obey the law anymore. He kicked the doors open and dragged them out.

The rain kept falling, but the heat of his body evaporated the water, turning it into wisps of steam that rose into the air.

There were around one thousand people living in the run-down area, but the ones affected were primarily the ones living around Xiao Man’s shack.

The ones at the border of the area could still be saved, so Chen Chuan brought them all out. The ones closest to Xiao Man’s shack had already died.

Chen Chuan dragged more than twenty people out. When the residents saw him doing this, some of them tried to help, probably because their families were inside, but they collapsed after just a few steps. Chen Chuan had to drag them to a safe place as well. After that, no one dared to step forward again. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

People gathered around and watched quietly as Chen Chuan kept moving in and out of the area of effect.

Once he brought all the unconscious people out, he headed to the center of the area. During the entire process, his second self was blurring out intensely. Even his Realm Pass was unable to function properly. Lights kept flickering before his eyes, and the voices coming from it kept breaking up, so he turned it off.

When he reached Xiao Man’s shack, he found Brother Chong’s corpse at the entrance. He was killed by a cut to the throat, and blood pooled under him. Further away was a handgun. It was the one Xiao Man had been holding.

Chen Chuan looked up and saw a few bullet holes on the wall across from the gun. He walked to the backyard and saw the mannequin holding Xiao Man’s dead body while sitting in the rain. He stared blankly ahead.

There was a bloody bullet hole in Xiao Man’s back.

Chen Chuan stared at the scene for a while before sucking in a deep breath. This supernatural being could no longer be taken out easily.

As time passed, its area of effect would continue expanding. There was no telling whether it would affect the areas outside the run-down neighborhood, but the neighborhood itself was definitely going to fall within its range.

The simplest solution was for the people to move out.

But the residents had nowhere to go. This was the only place where they could stay.

Chen Chuan walked out. There was still some time. Before the area of effect expanded to its full capacity, he had a chance to restrain it.

At around 11 p.m., Qi Gao finally came back. He took out a large box from the SUV and brought it to Chen Chuan. “The things you wanted are all here.”

“Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Qi,” Chen Chuan said and took the box with one hand.

“It’s nothing.” Qi Gao looked around. “Are you going to set up a ritual? Let me help.”

“You can’t go in, Mr. Qi. You should rest instead. I’ll take care of it,” Chen Chuan said.

“Alright. I’ll wait in the SUV for you,” he replied.

Chen Chuan returned to Xiao Man’s shack with the box. After casting a glance at the mannequin, he opened the box and took the tools out to draw an array on the walls.

This was the first time he set up a ritual. Fortunately, after the Cult Investigation Bureau extracted the essential elements of this binding ritual and reviewed it, they came up with a version that wasn’t too complicated, and all Chen Chuan had to do was to draw it according to what he had learned.

The most important thing was to know what the goal of the ritual was and what effects were wanted. Chen Chuan, of course, knew both things.

As a martial artist, he had steady hands. Every stroke of the brush was accurate and flawless. He also paid attention to the difference in the width of the lines.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped, or he would have had some problems drawing the array.

After hours of hard work, Chen Chuan drew the final stroke when the sun was about to rise.