Celestial Human Diagram

Chen Chuan and his team had set off by vehicle in the morning, but despite chasing until noon, they had yet to catch the mounted troop.

Furthermore, it wasn’t hard to tell that the mounted troop was intentionally luring them far away from any station.

If they kept up the pursuit, they likely wouldn’t have enough time left to reach the nearest station before nightfall.

Chen Chuan spoke up. "If we turn back now, this whole trip will have been for nothing. I intend to keep up the pursuit and put pressure on them."

He looked at his two teammates. "That means we’ll have to spend the night in the wild. You both know how dangerous the nights are here. If you aren’t prepared for that, I’ll allow you to head back."

Yuan Qiuyuan leaned back in his seat and flashed a nonchalant grin. "What are you talking about, Captain? You’re underestimating me. The phrase ’retreat from battle’ doesn’t exist in Yuan Qiuyuan’s rulebook."

Qin Qingque said earnestly, "Captain, I won’t leave the team."

Chen Chuan nodded. "Since you’ve made your decision, there’s no backing out later. Executioner Qin, in a little while, send a telegram to Advisor Rao and inform him of our decision. For now, we continue the pursuit."

"Yes!"

The off-road vehicle resumed the chase. During that time, the fortress sent a telegram inquiring about their status. They replied that they were still in pursuit, had not yet encountered the enemy, and reported their position.

The fortress replied at once, warning them that they had strayed too far. At their current position, even the nearest station was a five or six-hour journey away. They were told to abandon the chase.

However, Chen Chuan immediately had Qin Qingque reply: they intended to continue the pursuit. So as not to lose their quarry, and after careful deliberation, they had decided to spend the night in the wild.

"What? Spending the night in the wild?"

Inside Fortress No. 73, Advisor Rao was so agitated by the news that he started pacing in circles. He immediately wanted to send another telegram urging Chen Chuan and his team to come back.

He recalled Chen Chuan’s attitude before leaving, however, and figured he had probably already considered this possibility. If so, he might have a contingency plan.

But he had to consider one crucial fact: Chen Chuan’s team was the only one in the area capable of fighting the Iron Demon. If the Iron Demon eliminated them, then the region behind them would be defenseless until more capable teams could be mobilized.

The situation had to be reported to the operations command room.

He dismissed the telegraph operator, put on the headset to send the message himself, and briefly described the situation.

But when it came to their decision to operate in the field, he took a deep breath and attached his own name to the report, stating that it was a unanimous decision by the team, himself included.

Back in the dense forest, Qin Qingque looked up. "Captain, it’s sent."

Chen Chuan said, "Continue the pursuit. We’ll stop to make camp at four o’clock." The mounted troop ahead could keep moving, but their tracks weren’t so easy to erase.

Even if their enemy could travel at night, he considered that to reach the vicinity of Fortress No. 73, they must have been traveling at night and resting during the day for several days straight, pushing their horses to their limits.

After a sleepless night followed by a full day of being pursued, they would certainly try to rest tonight. He wasn’t afraid of them getting too far ahead.

As long as his team stayed on their tail, the enemy would have no time for anything else. Unless, of course, they turned back to eliminate them—which was exactly what he was hoping for.

Several more hours passed. The sky gradually dimmed.

Chen Chuan looked outside. "Let’s make camp here."

"Yes, sir!"

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque hadn’t followed him blindly; they had both made their own preparations.

Moreover, from their time together, they could sense that although their captain looked young, he was always steady and his judgment was sharp. They believed he must have some degree of confidence in this situation.

Even so, they were still nervous about the unpredictable nights in the Merging Land.

Chen Chuan had the two retrieve tools and equipment from the vehicle to set up some simple defensive measures and alarms. He, meanwhile, took out the Esoteric Materials he had prepared and began to apply them to the inner and outer surfaces of the vehicle’s body.

The usual defense against anomalous phenomena involved protective wards and coatings—the very things used in fortress stations—but Esoteric Materials could achieve the same effect.

It was just that most people lacked the necessary knowledge. The materials were also strictly controlled, sensitive items and weren’t durable, which was likely why they weren’t widely adopted.

But for a few people, and for only one night, they were perfect.

Seeing him paint the ritual, Yuan Qiuyuan couldn’t help but ask, "Captain, are you...?" He stopped mid-sentence, sensing he shouldn’t pry, and closed his mouth.

’He knew better than to ask about certain things. Besides, wasn’t it a good thing that their captain was so skilled?’

Qin Qingque said nothing at all. She had always fulfilled her duties as a subordinate perfectly, never asking questions.

Chen Chuan had already decided which ritual to use before they departed, so he worked without any reference materials, painting from memory. He finished setting it up in less than an hour.

But he didn’t stop there. He had the other two take off their outermost stab-proof surcoats and bring them over, then painted ritual patterns on them as well.

At that very moment, a little over ten miles away, the Iron Demon’s main force was at a standstill.

A rider approached, saluting from his horse. "Captain, they’re still following us. They haven’t turned back. Instead, they’ve made camp. It seems they intend to stay the night. Captain, what should we do?"

The Iron Demon simply reined in his horse, gazing into the distance. After a moment, a muffled voice emerged from behind his mask.

"We wait."

On their end, once Chen Chuan finished his preparations, the three of them returned to the vehicle. Night fell swiftly, as if a heavy curtain had been dropped, plunging their surroundings into darkness.

Yuan Qiuyuan watched warily out the window. For a long time, there was nothing. Just as he was starting to think the nights in the Merging Land were nothing special, he suddenly heard a slithering sound right outside.

It was as if some enormous serpent was slithering across the vehicle’s body. The sound of scraping scales and the sensation of the vehicle sinking under a heavy weight were crystal clear.

After what felt like an eternity, the creature seemed to have moved on. But just then, THUD! Something slammed violently into the side of the vehicle, causing the entire frame to shake. A few breaths later, another impact struck, and this time, it felt as if the whole vehicle was about to be tipped over.

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque both tensed up, their hands gripping their weapons, their expressions grim.

Chen Chuan, however, appeared perfectly calm. He saw faint signs of phasing on his Second Self, but they weren’t very strong. In correspondence, the materials applied to the vehicle’s interior were gradually dimming, and he believed the ones on the exterior were as well.

’At this rate, it seemed unlikely the warding would last the entire night.’ However, he had intentionally left some gaps; once the initial materials were depleted, he would find a way to add more for reinforcement.

The impacts stopped after a few more times, as if the thing attacking the vehicle had given up.

But then they heard a heavy thumping sound approaching. It sounded like an enormous creature. Each footstep shook the ground, and the long pause between each one suggested an immense stride.

Not only that, but they could feel it getting closer and closer.

It seemed their vehicle was right in its path.

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque couldn’t help but think, ’When that thing gets here, is it going to just stomp them and the vehicle flat? Should we start the engine and move?’

Since nightfall, Chen Chuan had been monitoring his teammates’ Activity Index. He now saw that in just a short while, both of their indexes had soared above twenty and were continuing to climb.

If they crossed thirty, they would enter the danger zone.

He said, "Executioner Yuan, Executioner Qin, use the Breathing Technique to suppress your activity levels now. If you can’t keep it down, take your medication. Don’t worry about anything else. Don’t even think about it."

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque responded at once, "Yes, Captain."

Chen Chuan’s composure was contagious. They immediately cast aside all distractions and focused on maintaining the Breathing Technique. Their rising indexes slowly stopped climbing and then began to fall, though very gradually.

Soon, they were completely immersed in the technique. When they stopped, they discovered that the long night was already over. Outside the window, the world was bright, as if everything they had experienced the previous night had been an illusion.

Yuan Qiuyuan let out a breath, opened the vehicle door, and stepped out. He quickly realized something was wrong. They were now at least several hundred meters away from where they had stopped the day before. On the vehicle’s body, he could clearly see dents and long scrape marks.

And just a few meters from the vehicle was a massive crater that stretched far into the distance, reminding him of the immense thudding from the night before.

What they had encountered last night was definitely more than just an illusion!

Qin Qingque hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle. She turned on the radio, first sending a report to Fortress No. 73 before starting to receive messages from other stations.

Yuan Qiuyuan walked over. "Captain, the things last night were truly strange and unpredictable. But what on earth do the Iron Demon and his men rely on to be out in the wild for so long? Faith? Drugs? They can’t all be Demon Ghosts, right?"

"Some kind of special method, I imagine," Chen Chuan said. "One we can’t replicate. Otherwise, after cooperating with the natives for so long, it’s unlikely we wouldn’t have mastered it."

"That’s true." Yuan Qiuyuan thought for a moment, then said with some lingering fear, "But if they had attacked us last night, would we have had to face those anomalies directly?"

"It’s not that simple," said Chen Chuan. "Although the Iron Demon can move at night, so far, all known attacks have occurred near dawn. For example, the night before last, when I sensed something was wrong, it was also almost daylight."

"If they could attack at any time during the night, there would be no reason to wait. Therefore, we just need to be on guard during that window of time."

Yuan Qiuyuan chuckled. "So the Iron Demon and his men aren’t fearless after all."

Chen Chuan glanced at his watch. "Let’s pack up and get going. We’ll continue the pursuit today. Let’s see when they finally snap."

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