Chapter 557: Friendship and Clan
In the wilderness, the speed of the two war machines increased more and more.
The mounds and ravines of the land could not slow their movements in the slightest.
In Qing Chen's ears, the sound of the precise mechanical parts interlocking grew louder and louder.
The youth kept pulling the trigger, not to hit the other side, but to hope that the enemy would slow down a bit while dodging the trajectory, buying him some time.
The old man silently watched on the side, suddenly finding the boy quite interesting.
Everyone actually knew that if nobody came to their aid, their only outcome would be to be caught by the two war machines and then effortlessly killed.
These were the Jindai family's most expensive Tiger-Type 01 war machines, comparable to a B-Class Genetic Warrior.
Among the people in their vehicle, Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu were ordinary people, Qing Chen had just reached the D-class peak, and the old man was as weak as a chicken.
In this situation, nobody could survive.
The old man believed Qing Chen must have thought of this, but even so, the boy showed no sign of giving up, as if he intended to maintain his fighting spirit until the very last second even in the face of death.
This was a dignified death.
Once the distance between the two sides had narrowed to 200 meters, Qing Chen could already see from afar that the humanoid war machines raised their arms, and their hands at the front ends suddenly disassembled, revealing dark cannon muzzles on their wrists.
When Hu Xiaoniu saw this scene through the rear-view mirror, he was completely shocked. He then looked at Qing Chen...
Only to find Qing Chen was still composed.
Why? He couldn't understand why Qing Chen could remain so calm.
With a thunderous sound, a micro grenade was launched, heading straight for Qing Chen's off-road vehicle.
When Hu Xiaoniu saw the flash of gunfire at the muzzle of the war machine's cannon, he had already given up all hope.
He hadn't imagined that despite his intense effort to gain a foothold in the Inner World, he would still die here in the end.
But just when everyone thought the off-road vehicle would be shattered by the grenade, that fast-flying projectile, hardly visible to the naked eye, suddenly seemed is if it hit an invisible bounce in mid-air, altering its intended trajectory.
The grenade passed by the off-road vehicle!
Qing Chen let out a slight sigh of relief.
All his actions to delay time up to this point had been worth it!
Just when everyone hadn't yet realized what was happening, the two war machines charging forward suddenly leapt and skewed into the air as if drifting towards endless space like astronauts in a vacuum.
This wasn't their intention; something around them seemed to have vanished suddenly.
The Earth's gravity had disappeared!
Every step taken while sprinting is a significant effort.
One steps forward and then is pulled back to the ground by gravity before taking the next step.
But what if, at some point, there's no gravity?
Everything changes then.
Yanyan had arrived.
"Fire!"
As the two war machines skewed into the sky, Yanyan landed heavily on the off-road vehicle and said.
The Earth's gravity reappeared, and the flight speed of the two war machines in the air suddenly slowed, then they plummeted towards the ground in a parabola.
By then, the trajectories of the two war machines in the air were unchangeable, and their falling speed was well within Qing Chen's targeting range.
Qing Chen pulled the trigger twice in succession, and saw the miniature reactors in the chests of the two war machines precisely hit by the sniper rifle.
They turned into huge fireworks in the night sky!
"Damn, awesome!" Hu Xiaoniu roared excitedly.
Qing Chen and Yanyan had worked together to avert the gravest danger, but the boy in the vehicle wasn't overwhelmed by joy; he lay composed against the seatback, his gun roaring with every shot.
The Jindai convoy realized that the situation had gone south and started to steer away in different directions.
But as they turned the corner, they exposed their fuel tanks within Qing Chen's firing range.
Qing Chen loaded an armor-piercing incendiary round and calmly pulled the trigger.
One by one, the Jindai family's vehicles turned into torches against the night sky, painting the blackness red.
Yanyan flipped into the car from the open rear hatch and asked Qing Chen with a smile, "You were waiting for me to show up, weren't you?"
After being pinpointed on his thoughts, Qing Chen didn't feel embarrassed. He smiled and said, "You came just in time. Two seconds later and we would've been gone. But can you really control the Life Fields around two B-Class Experts at the same time? That seems a bit too impressive."
Yanyan shook her head and chuckled, "They might possess B-Class strength and speed, but to me, they were just objects weighing over two hundred pounds. If they were real B-Class Experts, it wouldn't work; their Life Fields would repel mine, making it not so easy for me to influence them."
"I see," Qing Chen nodded, "By the way, did you witness any battles between A-Class fighters on your way here?"
"I did, but I didn't dare to get close. It wasn't just two A-Classes fighting, though—it was three, with two against one. And the Contraindicated courts's March was watching from the side, so in total, there were four A-Classes," Yanyan recounted after some thought.
"Two against one?" Qing Chen was startled, "What's going on? Does the Jindai have other A-Classes?"
"No, no," Yanyan said with a mischievous grin, "It was two people fighting that guy dressed in the attire of an Island Country warrior."
Qing Chen suddenly looked at the old man, "You've prepared quite a number of fallbacks, even ambushing another A-Class? Could it be that you've mobilized the entire Li Family's resources?"
He thought to himself no wonder the old man was so calm the entire time.
When the other party said they were using him as bait, Qing Chen thought they were here to fish, but he hadn't expected that they actually came to blast the fish out of the water!
But thinking about it, it wasn't particularly surprising. The old man, as one of the most powerful figures in the entire Federation, doing the trap himself, would indeed seem petty if not enough A-Classes appeared.
The foundation of a conglomerate isn't something ordinary people can imagine.
Qing Chen looked towards the old man, "Do you still have any more tricks up your sleeve?"
The old man looked at Qing Chen, "Should I still drink? No, the doctor said my body can't handle drinking, you guys go ahead. Surviving a near-death situation calls for some celebration."
Qing Chen observed the old man's expression, unsure whether the other party was genuinely deafened by the recent sniper gunfire, or if he was playing dumb.
Suddenly, Si Si said, "Old master, will there be danger later on? If not, why don't you come and meet up with us? There are a lot of female classmates waiting to listen to your stories."
The old man, "Sure."
Hu Xiaoniu, "..."
Li Ke, "..."
Qing Chen, "..."
So you did hear that clearly!
The old man laughed heartily, "I don't know what's going on, but suddenly my ears stopped ringing, haha, look what a mess this has become."
Qing Chen thought for a moment and then said, "We won't go back to regroup. You should be careful too. There might be a hidden agenda with the crows taking two separate cars."
It must have been clear to Si Si from the beginning that Qing Chen and his group would part ways with Freemasonry, which is why he let the little crows take the Freemasonry's car.
Latter, when both parties indeed separated, the other side simply sat calmly in the car and casually mentioned it without calling the little crows to get off and reconvene.
So, from the beginning, the targets the Contraindicated courts wanted to contain were not just one.
Freemasonry will also face danger.
The old man gave Qing Chen a look, "You can still think so clearly after such a big fight? The Tribunal always targets precisely. Young lady, Qing Chen is right, if you continue heading south, you may encounter danger."
Qing Chen turned to Si Si and said, "I won't be going to help. The old master's body can't withstand the strain."
Just today, the old master had already briefly fainted three times, and the longer he slept, the weaker his breaths became.
Perhaps such changes are hard to notice in the eyes of others, but for Qing Chen, he only needed to make a slight comparison to clearly see that the old man's condition today was much worse than yesterday's.
Therefore, even though Qing Chen knew Freemasonry would face danger, he couldn't bet on the old man definitely making it through.
At that moment, the old master smiled and said, "People have come to help you, aren't you going to help them? Don't worry, I am fine. I am very robust."
With that, the old master, as if to prove something, began thumping his chest loudly, and then fainted.
Qing Chen, resigned, said, "You didn't want to go; you didn't have to do that. I've already decided not to go."
Si Si said, "He's really fainted. The Life Field in his brain has almost come to a halt."
"Wait, your observation of the Life Field can even detect other people's thought patterns?" Qing Chen was taken aback.
"A person's Life Field is very complex, made up of many smaller Life Fields combined, forming one complete Life Field," Si Si explained. "Okay, I need to hurry up and regroup with Freemasonry members. Whatever you're going to do in Taboo Land 002, be very careful."
Having said that, Si Si flew out of the rear trunk door again, and even took the trouble to close the door before she left.
The car quieted down, and the old man remained unconscious.
They drove through the night, through the break of dawn.
That night, the old man didn't wake up as rapidly as he had before but instead went back and forth between a hazy consciousness and fainting several times.
Qing Chen understood, the battle in the night must have been too fierce, and the booming of the sniper rifle ultimately still affected the old man's heart and mind.
Moreover, the cold December wind was biting, and the jeep's windshield had been shattered, allowing the howling cold wind to aggravate the old man's already frail body even further.
Qing Chen took out a sleeping bag, placed the old man inside, exposing only his face, to prevent the cold from affecting him adversely again.
Qing Chen had always known that this moment would come for the old man, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.
This trip, the old man actually had two wishes hanging by a breath, one was to go to Taboo Land 002, and the other was to help Li Yunshou take care of Jindai Tongshan.
Now that Jindai Tongshan was bound to die, the old man's life seemed to have been halved by fate.
They didn't have time, they needed to reach Taboo Land 002 as soon as possible.
As the sun began to rise, Hu Xiaoniu suddenly said, "Brother Chen, there's someone ahead."
Qing Chen looked, only to see a white-haired old man in samurai attire, standing alone amidst the rising sun, smiling warmly.
The vehicle slowly stopped, Qing Chen didn't go for his gun, but with a sense of realization, he got out of the car and asked, "Are you the old master's friend? He's unconscious now, and might not be able to wake up."
The old man smiled softly, "No need for farewells, young man, please convey to him that in this life, I am ashamed that I became his friend for selfish purposes. If there's an afterlife, I hope we can be friends again, friends without any stains."
After speaking, the old man faced north, knelt down, and stabbed his own abdomen with a dagger, maintaining a calm expression as he sliced horizontally across.
Helping the old man catch Jindai Tongshan was his commitment to his friend.
To die as an apology, was his explanation to his clan.