On Terra, the gap between one person and another could be greater than the gap between a person and a dog.
If Chen Zhaoming didn't have the strength to at least trade blows with one or two top-tier Terran military units, how could he possibly dare pursue them so casually?
He couldn't beat two Yan Imperial Guards.
One, though, he could at least match for a while.
That said, his ability to sever an overpass from over a hundred meters away with a single strike wasn't purely due to his swordsmanship. It also had to do with his talent in Originium Arts.
Even for Chen Zhaoming, that one sword stroke had taken a heavy toll.
But if he had dared use such a costly move, then naturally, he had something to rely on.
"Miss Hoshiguma, let's go!"
"I'm going too?"
Hoshiguma pointed at herself, staring at Chen Zhaoming wide-eyed.
"Come now, Miss Hoshiguma—if you followed me here, wasn't it to help?"
"Well, that's true..."
Hoshiguma glanced at the massive gap Chen Zhaoming had carved into the overpass. If that strike had landed on Hannya, even two of her probably wouldn't have been able to withstand it.
And here she had been thinking Chen Zhaoming was an ordinary person.
"If Miss Hoshiguma weren't here, how would I dare use a move like that so casually? I don't mind admitting it—it takes a lot out of me. I've got less than a tenth of my strength left."
The claim that he had less than a tenth of his strength remaining was an exaggeration. But it was true that Chen Zhaoming's stamina was poor. He had already sprinted flat-out for two straight minutes, then followed it up with a sword move spanning over a hundred meters. He estimated that if he used a move of that level one more time, he'd probably end up flat on his back.
"I'll call it repaying Boss Chen's favor."
Hoshiguma had never really minded helping. After seeing what Chen Zhaoming could do, she had simply felt that he probably didn't need her. But now that he had asked directly, there was no reason to refuse.
"Then I'm going in."
The words had barely left her mouth before Hoshiguma was already charging toward the հատված of overpass where the vans had been forced to stop, shield in hand.
Up on the overpass, realizing it was already too late to try taking a detour, the Ursus mercenaries immediately set up a defensive kill zone. Two heavy infantry stood at the front, braced and waiting. Three crossbowmen and one caster opened fire at the same time in the direction of Hoshiguma and Chen Zhaoming. Off to one side, an artilleryman had already set up his launcher in place.
As for the rest—
"Let me go! Let me go! Dad will definitely come save me!"
With Swire still unconscious and not yet awake slung over one shoulder, and Ch'en Hui-chieh thrashing and struggling in his grip, Petrov pulled out a strange-looking uniform from the cargo hold of the other van.
"Bad guy!"
Ch'en Hui-chieh glared furiously at Petrov, but he paid her no mind. He calmly ordered, "Split into two teams and rotate defense. It's farther than we wanted, but there's enough fuel in the packs to get us out of Lungmen."
If Chen Zhaoming had been there, he would have recognized what Petrov had just pulled out:
standard-issue Ursus jet packs—the kind used by assault troops who dropped straight onto the battlefield, rushed your gates, and casually slaughtered your civilians on the way in.
The moment Petrov realized he might already be on the Empire's purge list, he had killed the logistics officer without hesitation, taken the brothers still loyal to him, sold off a large amount of Ursus military equipment, and kept a considerable portion for personal use.
And among all of it, the most useful was naturally these assault jet packs.
Even trapped as they were now inside Lungmen's mobile-city framework, with their route cut off, as long as he had these packs, he could still escape alive.
"Boss, that man's gone!"
"Stay sharp!"
Hearing his subordinate's shout, Petrov's expression tightened. Looking down, he saw that on the overpass opposite them, only Hoshiguma remained visible, advancing alone with her shield.
"Where the hell did this monster come from?"
At the sight of Hoshiguma, Petrov cursed outright. "Three crossbowmen, a caster, and one artilleryman—if that kind of firepower can't stop her, then what is she? A Shieldguard squad leader?"
Advancing through that kind of barrage?
He began carefully searching for Chen Zhaoming's position. He remembered perfectly well that the pursuer who first appeared was definitely not this huge woman carrying a shield.
But the night was deep, and finding a高手 who was deliberately hiding in the dark was no easy task.
Without hesitation, Petrov barked, "Switch groups!"
Then he shoved the still-unconscious Swire into the pack strapped to his chest, grabbed Ch'en Hui-chieh by the throat with his other hand, and cut off her struggling cries at once.
"I know you're around here, whether you're one of Lungmen's Imperial Guards or a bodyguard hired by the Swire family. Get out here right now, or I'll snap her neck immediately!"
Petrov's thick arm hoisted Ch'en Hui-chieh high overhead. The feeling of suffocation made her little face flush bright red. But after a long moment, there was still no response at all.
"Get out here! Do you really want her dead?"
Sweat was already beading on Petrov's forehead. He was beginning to lose his grip on what kind of enemy he was dealing with. If it was the Swire family's security, then maybe he still had a slim chance of survival.
But if it was Lungmen's Imperial Guards... with the ruthlessness of that Lungmen governor, would he really care whether one or two little brats lived or died?
"Go ahead and squeeze."
The voice came softly, as though from far away—and yet also as though it were right beside him.
"My orders were simply to kill all of you. As for whether those two little brats live or die, that's none of my concern."
The instant the words fell, Petrov saw a blue flash leap out from beneath a nearby section of overpass.
But the target wasn't him.
It was one of the crossbowmen currently sniping at Hoshiguma.
"Rourke!"
Petrov's roar accomplished nothing. The two children in his hands were his greatest shield—but also his greatest burden. Faced with Chen Zhaoming's sudden rush, he had no way to respond in time.
"Retreat!"
Petrov had no choice but to abandon using Ch'en Hui-chieh as a hostage. A living child might make the enemy hesitate. A dead one, however, would be completely worthless.
With that, Petrov shot into the air carrying both Ch'en Hui-chieh and Swire.
Three other Ursus men who had already strapped on their packs immediately followed after him, rising behind him.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
Aside from them, seven or eight others were still left on the ground, not yet equipped with their packs.
"Tell them to surrender where they are!"
Petrov practically forced the words out through clenched teeth. These brothers had been comrades who had survived battlefields with him. They were elites he had brought out of the Fourth Ursus Army Group with his own hands.
Who could have imagined that carrying out one kidnapping operation would cost them more than half their force?
"As long as we still have the hostages, even if they surrender, we can trade the children for them later!"
Whether the captives would still be in one piece by then was another matter.
But whatever the case, that was still better than dying outright.
All their firepower had been concentrated on the charging Hoshiguma at the front. The Ursus men left behind had no ability to secure their rear. They could only watch helplessly as an ordinarily dressed young man came at them alone from behind, sword in hand, and shattered their entire formation in one charge.
Then—
Boom!
An explosion rang out.
Their only remaining hope of escape—the van carrying the jet packs—was blown apart.
Several of the Ursus men looked at one another.
"We surrender!"
Afraid Chen Zhaoming would cut them down with one strike, the man in front shouted hurriedly. He started in Ursus, quickly switched to Yan, and in the end even tried his clumsy best in broken Lungmen dialect.
From the sky above, Petrov saw the scene and let out a slight breath of relief. He thought that for the sake of the hostages in his hands, at the very least his brothers wouldn't be killed on the spot.
But what made his eyes split with rage was this:
His men had clearly thrown down their weapons and surrendered—
yet Chen Zhaoming's sword did not stop.
"Does surrender mean you don't have to die? At a time like this, you can't seriously be joking."
...
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