The intersection was blocked. Aside from the pile of junk already in the middle, they had only placed a few cable traps in the other spots, just for show. This was an entrance and exit the Moss Gang left for their own people.

But the gang members in the back had vaguely seen the commotion up ahead and heard their leader’s orders. They immediately dragged over a few simple tire shredders and placed them in those gaps.

The rest of them took cover behind the pile of junk, pulling out crossbows and guns. They aimed ahead and, seeing the Gard Car approaching, opened fire before it even got close.

Most of the bullets missed. The few that hit the Gard Car’s armor plating just sparked and ricocheted off.

From the driver’s seat, Chen Chuan glanced ahead, stomped on the gas, shifted gears, and rammed straight into the barricade.

The gang members paled, leaping aside to dodge. With a loud CRASH, the obstacles were sent flying, and the Gard Car roared through.

Chen Chuan only felt the car’s body shake violently. However, the car had been sturdily modified by You Xing, and he could tell there was no major damage. ’They must have considered a scenario like ramming a roadblock during the modification process.’

The car then jolted a few more times as if it had run over some debris. Once it stabilized, he quickly spun the steering wheel, making a wide turn onto a main avenue to the side.

A gang member immediately used his Realm Token to report the situation to the gang.

Once he was driving on the wide avenue, Chen Chuan felt his mind and body enter an unusually active state. His body seemed to be more under the control of his will.

He focused on the sensation and quickly discovered that the process of clearing out the "weird tale" also seemed to act as a catalyst for his attempt to break through to the Third Limit.

’But on second thought, it makes a certain amount of sense. Under the stimulation of a weird tale, a Mutated Organization can grow rapidly.’

Right now, under the dual effects of medicine and his Breathing Technique, his own Mutated Organization was being constrained to grow in a specific direction. The only things lacking were the push needed for it to make that final sprint upward and the mental guidance to go with it.

And a weird tale could be considered a powerful opponent, while also possessing the kind of mysterious qualities that interested him. The feedback from eliminating such things was no less than what he got from his duel with Hong Fu.

In the past, every time he eliminated a weird tale, just like when he defeated a strong enemy, the overlap time with his Second Self would increase. This was, in essence, triggering a resonance between his self and his Second Self, bringing the Second Self closer to him. Therefore, in the process of pursuing the fusion of mind and body, this was clearly also effective.

Cao Guiqi had said that any method was fine as long as it suited him, but he never said there was only one method.

’In that case... besides dueling Hong Fu, maybe I could try clearing out some weird tales. That would be a better way to stimulate the growth of my Mutated Organization.’

Just as he was mulling this over, Wubei’s voice came from the Realm Token. "Brother Chen, quite a few people are attacking your Realm Token and tracking your current direction of travel."

To make it easier to help Chen Chuan, he had left a Domain alert on Chen Chuan’s Realm Token. The moment someone launched a Domain attack, he would immediately receive a notification.

Chen Chuan thought for a moment and said, "It’s probably the Moss Gang. I just had a small conflict with them."

Hearing that the opponents this time were gang members, Wubei’s spirits lifted as he helped Chen Chuan fend off the incoming information attacks and interference. "Brother Chen, leave it to me."

Chen Chuan grunted in acknowledgment. He had no mind to deal with these people. ’These gang members are like a mud pit; step in and you’ll just get your feet dirty.’

The gangs in Central City were all divided by district. Each gang had its own fixed territory and wouldn’t meddle in other areas. As long as he left Hongsheng District, these people wouldn’t be able to touch him.

After driving for a while, Wubei’s voice sounded again. "Brother Chen, there might be more of those gang members blocking the intersection ahead. I’ll find you a way out. This route might be a bit of a detour, but you won’t have to stop for traffic lights."

Chen Chuan said, "Thank you."

He followed the route Wubei marked out, and indeed, the rest of the way was smooth.

The Moss Gang’s Resonators, finding they couldn’t block him, reacted quickly. As the number one gang in Hongsheng District, they had many strongholds throughout the city. A high-ranking gang member immediately ordered all members spread across the urban area to look out for a modified Gard Car. This quickly yielded results, and they immediately sent people ahead to intercept him.

Wubei also noticed the situation and tried to interfere with the information being passed between Realm Tokens.

However, these Moss Gang members were clearly used to operating around the Boundary Points in Hongsheng District. They had left many Domain anchor points at various Boundary Points within the district. Moreover, there were many of them. Even with his Resonance Nest, he was limited by the transmission range of the Boundary Points and could only fight and suppress them one by one. He couldn’t intercept them all at once.

After discovering this, he first warned Chen Chuan, then immediately feigned a retreat, pulling back.

A few of the Moss Gang’s Resonators thought he was fleeing and immediately followed the signal he left behind in pursuit.

But fighting within the Domains of Hongsheng District was one thing. Once they left the Hongsheng District Boundary Points, their advantage immediately vanished. They were caught in several information traps Wubei had set there, which crammed a huge mess of indecipherable Domain signals into their minds.

The brain Implants of these few Resonators were instantly flooded with too much information and couldn’t handle it. They all started vomiting on the spot. A more severe case’s eyes rolled back in his head as he foamed at the mouth.

After passing two more intersections, Chen Chuan glanced in his rearview mirror and saw two modified convertibles tailing him. They were clearly filled with Moss Gang members.

He thought for a moment, then directly contacted the city patrol. He identified himself as Chen Chuan, a reserve law enforcement officer from the Processing Bureau, and reported that he was currently being pursued and blocked by gang members in Hongsheng District. If the city patrol let this happen, he would resolve it using the Processing Bureau’s methods.

Not long after receiving the message, the city patrol seemed to have communicated with the Moss Gang’s upper echelons. Most of the participating gang members immediately backed down. But there were some who didn’t buy it. The leader in one of the two cars chasing Chen Chuan received the message from the gang to give up, but he just cursed loudly:

"Fuck! Our brothers got hurt by him, and that kid Yuan Biao might even be dead! And they’re telling us to back off? Why the hell should I give the city patrol any face? They can go to hell!"

He picked up a gun and started firing wildly ahead. He emptied a magazine in moments, but this kind of emotional, spray-and-pray shooting was basically just making noise and posed little threat.

The two cars followed the Gard Car down another street. Suddenly, a large block of bright red text appeared on their Realm Tokens. It showed that they were all wanted and ordered them to stop immediately for inspection.

The Moss Gang members in the cars didn’t take it seriously at all. Plenty of people in the gang were wanted; they’d never cared. ’Inspection? Inspection my ass! Why should we give a damn about the patrol’s warning?’

They followed for another ten minutes or so. As they passed an intersection, an armed patrol car suddenly shot out from the side, violently T-boning the lead convertible. The vehicle immediately rolled over. Only the leader, who had neural enhancements and modified tendons, managed to jump out just before it flipped.

The people in the car behind were shocked. They hastily cranked the steering wheel to swerve around it, nearly flipping their own vehicle. Only then did they realize that the street had somehow been completely emptied of other cars. The roads to the left and right were blocked, and armed patrol cars were closing in from both sides.

This time, the Patrol Officers in the cars didn’t even shout a warning. They just pulled out their guns and opened fire. Even though the gang members had subdermal armor Implants, they couldn’t withstand the concentrated fire from so many guns. One by one, they fell, screaming.

Seeing things go south, the leader who had jumped from the car immediately activated the burst-hormones in his Implant, instantly spiking his blood pressure and accelerating his heart rate in an attempt to escape. However, caught in the crossfire, he only made it seven or eight meters before being gunned down on the road.

The city patrol team didn’t usually take such drastic action. After all, their job was generally to maintain daily public order and handle cleanup. But openly chasing and shooting at a reserve law enforcement officer on the street was another matter entirely.

Besides, with the Central City tournament coming up in a few days, the higher-ups had told them to tighten security. These idiots had been warned but still dared to act up, showing them no respect at all. Of course, the patrol didn’t need to be polite anymore.

Meanwhile, in a residential building not far from the hotel where the weird tale had appeared, the young boy who had once warned Chen Chuan was carrying a large box of Nutrition Paste to the door of a room with tightly drawn curtains.

He carefully pushed the door open. Inside, a large, tall man sat cross-legged, most of his body hidden in the shadows. But strangely, if you weren’t looking right at him, you couldn’t sense his presence at all. From the contours of his face, however, the man was very handsome and imposing. Most noticeably, a hammer hung from his waist.

The boy set down the Nutrition Paste. "Sir, today’s share."

The man reached out a large hand, grabbed the Nutrition Paste, tore it open, and began to eat.

The boy stood up, but before leaving, he couldn’t help but glance at the hammer at the man’s waist. At that moment, the man’s movements paused slightly. He looked up at him. "Kid, you want to learn this?"

The boy froze for a second, then his face lit up with joy. He nodded vigorously and said, "I do!"

However, the man said nothing more after that, just continuing to eat.

The boy waited for a while. Seeing no response, he felt a bit disappointed. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard the man speak again. "The anomaly out front has disappeared. I won’t be staying here much longer."

The boy was stunned, his face full of urgency. "Sir, are you leaving?"

By then, the man had finished the entire box of Nutrition Paste. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, "I’ll stay a few more days. How much you can learn will depend on your own ability."

The boy was instantly overcome with immense joy.

"Don’t get too happy just yet," the man said, cracking his neck. He slowly stood up from the floor, looking down at the boy. "My teachings are not so easily passed."

...

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