Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 74Book 3, : Trauma

At 9 a.m., Zhao Qian was finally allowed to leave the Resolution Department. But over the next few days, he had to come every day for questioning.

While being treated like this wouldn’t deal much of a blow to him, it was enough to damage his reputation in the company, especially after what he had gone through some time ago.

With a sour look, he walked out of the Resolution Department and went to his armored car. His assistant had already opened the door for him. Once he was inside and the door swung shut, the assistant sat down in the front passenger seat.

The car drove slowly out of the square. The security guards with him drove out their escort vehicles and surrounded Zhao Qian’s car to protect him.

***

Wu Bei sat in the resonator nest in his apartment and watched the motorcade through the Realm Nodes.

Without a doubt, United Might had a resonator with a resonator nest, but they had to defend the company’s domain, which meant that they couldn’t watch over Zhao Qian when he was outside.

This, though, didn’t mean that Zhao Qian didn’t have security with him. Wu Bei could see a resonator following him, just waiting for orders. He would have to take him down first.

He also noticed that they paid great attention to the route they took. They didn’t head straight back to United Might. Instead, they took a few detours through the busiest roads in Central City. The security in those areas was tight, which meant that they could guarantee maximum safety for Zhao Qian.

Fortunately, Wu Bei had taken that into consideration. “I’m about to start. I’ll send the domain signal to you later. Let’s begin in about two minutes.”

“Alright. I’ll wait,” Chen Chuan said from the other end of the connection.

Two minutes later, Zhao Qian’s car arrived at a junction. After an escort vehicle crossed it, the signal flickered, and a red light came on. Zhao Qian’s car came to a slow stop.

While waiting, Zhao Qian looked across the junction. It had just been a cursory glance, but his gaze froze.

A tall and cheerful young man walked out of a high-end clothing shop by the road. In his hand, he carried a bag that seemed to contain clothes. When he came out, he gave a polite nod to the attendant who opened the door for him.

Even though the young man wasn’t wearing a martial arts uniform and appeared a few years older than what Zhao Qian remembered, Zhao Qian had his spirit and demeanor carved into his mind.

That’s... impossible.

He sat up straight to take a closer look, but the young man turned around and headed to the other end of the street. Just then, the light turned green, and the assistant drove forward. A few cars turned the corner and blocked Zhao Qian’s sight. When they were gone, Zhao Qian’s car had already moved past the corner.

He looked away, but even though he remained still, his heart was not calm. A dark look settled on his face.

He had personally watched him die. There was no way he could have mistaken it. He couldn’t possibly be alive.

But a thought popped up in his head, and he couldn’t stop it from overtaking his mind. It ignited within him a burning desire to confirm what he had just seen.

A bit of time passed before he said, “Turn around at the junction ahead. Make a U-turn and go back to the junction just now.”

As he spoke, he marked the location using his Realm Pass.

The driver took a look and did as he was told. When they reached the next junction, he did a U-turn. Around eight minutes later, they returned and stopped across from the high-end clothing shop.

Zhao Qian looked around from the car but couldn’t find the person he saw earlier. Since he was not saying a single thing, no one dared to even make a peep.

A moment passed before he said to his assistant, “Go inside and check who bought clothes from the shop just now and ask the attendant for a description.”

“Understood.”

The assistant opened the door and got out.

Then, Zhao Qian gave another order to the resonator in the other car. “Retrieve the domain records from the shop.”

“Outstanding Customer values privacy a lot, so their domain signal is very strong. Give me five minutes,” the resonator said.

Zhao Qian leaned against his seat. April wasn’t hot, but he found his car so stuffy that he was feeling incredibly irritated and restless. He opened the storage compartment and took out a bottle of Alcoholic Blood. Then, he poured out a glass for himself. Just as he brought it to his lips, his eyes landed on the rearview mirror, and his movements came to a screeching halt.

A young man was walking toward him from the other end of the street.

Zhao Qian’s hands began to tremble. It was a face he hated but would remember to his dying day. He could never forget it. When he was in Yangzhi City’s Martial Valor University, he had fought against him multiple times, but always lost without any hope of winning.

Even if he had already reached the Third Limit and thought that he had moved past the trauma he had given him, when he saw him again, his eyes still turned bloodshot.

Despite his rational side telling him that he was already dead and couldn’t possibly be standing in front of him, Zhao Qian couldn’t stop his heart from filling with anger and hatred.

You’re not dead? Why aren’t you dead? How could you not be dead?!

As he drew closer, he removed his shirt and threw it to the side, allowing Zhao Qian to see tattoos spreading up from his fists and forearms until they reached his neck and face. As he drew closer, his hair danced in the wind, and the tattoos grew clearer.

Zhao Qian’s pupils shrank.

The Arcane Phase Force!

When he was dozens of meters away from the motorcade, he suddenly sped up and started running. Then, he jumped up and landed on the car’s roof.

Zhao Qian kept his eyes fixed on him. There was no mistaking it. That form and attack stance were exactly the same, just faster and stronger now!

Do you think I’m still the same as before?!

Zhao Qian growled, opened the door, and instantly shot out. With eyes glued to his enemy, he kicked at him charging at him from above, with light shining from behind him.

They drew closer to each other. Just as Zhao Qian’s leg was about to connect with his fist and the ghost of the past was about to meet the present Zhao Qian, Zhao Qian’s leg shot through his body. His full-powered kick landed on nothing, and he couldn’t get any leverage, which made him lose his balance for a moment.

But Zhao Qian had a strong foundation. The moment he noticed that something was amiss, his mutated tissue twisted and yanked at each other so that he could pull back his body and power.

***

Back at Gao Ming’s apartment, Chen Chuan opened his eyes.

I did it!

He still remained in the stance of throwing a punch.

He had been the one who threw the punch.

Even though Wu Bei could project Shen Zheng’s image with just his photo, a mere image wasn’t going to fool Zhao Qian. Chen Chuan had also asked for pictures showing Shen Zheng’s fighting stances.

Chen Chuan could tell at a glance that Chang Ba had drawn them under He Xiaoxing’s guidance, which allowed Chen Chuan to reproduce Shen Zheng’s attacks.

Still, that wasn’t enough. Wu Bei wasn’t a martial artist and didn’t know how martial artists fought. Because of this, he connected Chen Chuan’s Realm Pass to his resonator nest, so he could be in charge of the attack.

When the time came, Chen Chuan perfectly produced an attack Shen Zheng would be able to deliver after improving for a few years and reaching the Third Limit.

Slowly, he lowered his fist.

Just now, Zhao Qian had attacked his biofield, which fulfilled the first condition of the ritual. Next, all Chen Chuan needed to do was find a suitable opportunity to attack Zhao Qian and offer an acceptable sacrifice. Then, the raccoon would be ready to go to work.

***

On the other side, Wu Bei sighed in relief.

He wiped off the sweat on his brow. Everything had gone smoothly because Zhao Qian never turned off his Realm Pass.

He used an implanted Realm Pass, which made it hard for Wu Bei to intrude into his biofield and interfere with it. If Zhao Qian had moved to turn off his Realm Pass, Wu Bei would have had to make use of a skill only possible with a resonator nest—interaction disruption. With it, he could delay Zhao Qian from shutting down his Realm Pass for around two seconds.

Even though Chen Chuan had told him that the two-second delay would be enough, if Wu Bei had done that, the resonance overload would have made him pass out. Once that happened, he would have been unable to provide further help. Even if they had set things up beforehand, unforeseen circumstances could happen at any point, so this was preferable.

***

Zhao Qian stood on the empty street with the security team around him. While their expressions were serious and they kept their eyes forward, they had a meaningful look in their eyes.

It was because they had seen Zhao Qian running out of the car for some unknown reason and kicking the air. If it weren’t for the fact that Zhao Qian had no other implants aside from his Realm Pass, they would have thought that he had gotten functional dysregulation syndrome.

With a thunderous expression, Zhao Qian looked around him. Now, he was certain that someone had used an illusory domain to attack him.

But what had happened just now felt so real, as if Shen Zheng had really appeared in front of him. If the attacker hadn’t been incredibly familiar with Shen Zheng and didn’t have a great understanding of the Arcane Phase Force, they wouldn’t have been able to replicate his spirit and the delivery of his refined force to such a high degree.

If that wasn’t Shen Zheng, who could it be?

...There was one person who could do it.

He posed such a huge threat that Zhao Qian remained wary of him even now.

But if that person wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t use such a method. It served no practical purpose aside from intimidating him. That man wouldn’t alert him of his presence like this.

“Mr. Zhao?”

The assistant walked out of the clothing shop. He looked around the street, bewildered.

Without saying a single thing, Zhao Qian turned around and walked back to his car. When his assistant saw this, he quickly ran over and opened the car door for him.

Zhao Qian got inside. Once he settled down, he asked, “Did you get it?”

The assistant bent his back to talk to Zhao Qian. “I did. The shop attendant refused to tell me in the beginning, but after I bought something and gave him a tip, he said that a well-built young man came by just now and left after buying a shirt. He doesn’t know where he went.”

Just then, the resonator’s voice entered his ears. “The shop’s domain record was deleted, Mr. Zhao.”

Zhao Qian’s gaze turned dark, but he said nothing. He just gave a dismissive wave, and his assistant quickly returned to the front passenger seat. The security guards returned to their cars too, and the motorcade started moving again.

Zhao Qian made a call on his Realm Pass. “Go back to Yangzhi City and look into something for me.”