Celestial Human Diagram

Fei Tong had a bad feeling. He twisted his body mid-air, trying to adjust his posture, but before he could regain full control, a figure flashed before him and threw another punch.

BOOM! He was sent flying backward even faster, slamming into the wall of the wide corridor behind him. The impact created a huge dent, and plaster and brick fragments came clattering down.

Relying on the strength of his body, now reinforced by tendrils, he straightened up with a furious roar, about to counterattack. But Chen Chuan’s next kick had already connected with his cheek.

The kick was just as powerful, and it still carried an upward-driving Power that sent him flying involuntarily into the air.

Just then, he saw Chen Chuan below looking up at him, his gaze profoundly calm. Then, Chen Chuan’s figure suddenly grew larger in his vision. The hair on his body stood on end, and he hurriedly crossed his arms to block.

A fist came crashing down. CRACK! CRACK! Both of his arms fractured, and the force of the blow slammed him into the ceiling behind him.

After delivering the full force of his blow, Chen Chuan fell back down, his feet touching the ground. He lowered his center of gravity, then leaped up again a moment later, driving his knee into Fei Tong’s chest and abdomen. Fei Tong’s eyes bulged, and he spewed a mixture of fluid and blood from his mouth.

While still in the air, Chen Chuan grabbed the tendrils on Fei Tong’s body. As he landed, he viciously slammed Fei Tong to the ground. Then, as Fei Tong made impact, Chen Chuan drove a punch into him.

With a thunderous crash, a massive hole was blasted straight through Fei Tong’s chest. Everything—the outer layer of tendrils, the bones, the internal organs—burst apart. The not-yet-fully-digested blood that the tendrils had absorbed also splattered out, covering the floor.

The punch had torn a hole straight through his body. Although the wound was slowly starting to repair itself under the effect of the writhing tendrils, he was completely immobilized for the moment.

Seeing that Fei Tong’s eyes had rolled back into his head, Chen Chuan withdrew his steaming fist. He straightened up from his crouch and tapped his Realm Token, notifying Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque, "Come back. I’ve found our man."

His gaze then swept the area. Seeming to have noticed something, he crouched down again and fumbled around Fei Tong’s ear, then pulled something from the man’s Realm Token.

It was an insect with two long, slender antennae. When held in his hand, it seemed to be able to change its shape at will.

He immediately recognized it. This was a Sound Mimic Insect, a strange creature from the Merging Land. As long as one established a mental link with the insect, they could imitate any sound it had ever come into contact with.

’So this insect was responsible for the sounds yesterday. No wonder the Second Self never showed any signs of phasing out.’ His gaze shifted, and he reached out to take the Short Sword from Fei Tong. However, as he tried to pick it up, the latter seemed unwilling to let go. Chen had to tug it free.

He then took the silver-white sheath as well. After standing up, he sheathed the blade and hung it at his waist.

Five or six minutes later, Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque appeared in the corridor. They were both startled when they saw Fei Tong on the ground, because his skin and the tendrils on his body looked very similar to the Iron Demon’s corpse.

Chen Chuan said, "This is Fei Tong, the garrison commander of Fortress 285. He’s the one behind all this."

Yuan Qiuyuan’s eyes widened as he stared at Fei Tong. "So it was this guy causing all the trouble? No wonder. When there’s a mole, it’s impossible to defend against."

Chen Chuan asked, "Did you two find anything outside?"

Qin Qingque saluted and said, "Reporting, Captain. We found nothing."

Chen Chuan nodded. He had sent them outside to check if Fei Tong had any accomplices. It seemed he was acting alone.

Although there were still some questions about this incident, with the main culprit caught, the rest could be figured out eventually.

He said, "Send a report to the garrison."

「Two days later.」

A transport Airship arrived above the fortress. Over a hundred soldiers descended from it and quickly took control of the entire fortress.

The lead officer shook hands with Chen Chuan and said, "Captain Chen, Governor Qiao received your message. He heard you captured Fei Tong alive. He’s taking this matter very seriously and wants you to escort the prisoner back as soon as possible. That’s why he’s arranged for you to return by Airship."

Chen Chuan acknowledged the order. He turned and called out to his team, and half an hour later, they boarded the Airship with all their members.

A short while later, at the pilot’s controls, the Airship lifted off the ground and gradually ascended into the sky.

It was Yuan Qiuyuan’s first time on one of these, and he found it fascinating. He had always been on the ground, but now, looking down from the sky, everything had a different perspective. It was an experience he’d never had before.

Many of the team members were like him, gathered around the slanted portholes to look down below, chattering amongst themselves.

They were all very happy. They had originally thought they would have to spend the New Year out in the field. But their Captain was so capable, he resolved the matter quickly. This meant they wouldn’t have any more missions after returning. Not only would they get some time off, but after signing a non-disclosure agreement, there was a good chance they could even go home for the New Year.

After watching for a while, Chen Chuan went to the cabin where Fei Tong was being held. Although Chen Chuan had severely injured him, he had also interrupted the process of him being consumed by the Mutated Organization. Now, with his Essence Blood depleted, recovery was nearly impossible, but the powerful Life Force of a Third Limit Fighter still kept him stubbornly alive.

When he entered, the man’s eyes were staring upward, his thoughts unknown.

He asked the Guardians here to leave. The two soldiers saluted him and withdrew, closing the cabin door behind them.

Chen Chuan walked to the side, sat down, and asked, "Why did you do it?"

After a long moment, Fei Tong finally shifted his gaze over and said, "Because I had no other choice."

"No other choice?"

Fei Tong scoffed. "I’m thirty-nine years old. But like you, Captain Chen, I reached the Third Limit at your age. Back then, I was a celebrated young prodigy, the center of everyone’s attention. I was only stationed here for half a year before I was promoted to Second Level Executor and became the garrison commander of a fortress."

"But as you can see, I’m still just a garrison commander."

"Heh heh. Twenty years."

"The rank is one thing, but to this day, I still haven’t found a path upward. I truly haven’t had a single chance."

"You want to know why?"

"Back then, I was young, arrogant, and complacent. I thought strength was all that mattered and I didn’t need to care about anything else. And that’s when I unintentionally offended someone."

"I only found out later that this person had a very deep background in the Defense Department. After that, I was constantly ostracized and suppressed by him."

"Every time I went on a mission, they would take forever to issue me the special medicines. Then, just as I was about to prepare for my cultivation, I’d be sent out on another mission, and I’d be gone for a long time. For two years... for two whole years, they fucking dragged me along like that."

As he spoke, he gritted his teeth. "Those two years should have been my period of greatest growth. My strength should have advanced by leaps and bounds. But they held me back. And that person pulled strings up top, so I couldn’t even resign."

"After missing that window, no matter how hard I tried, my strength never grew as fast as it used to. And I was always assigned to the front lines in the frontier territories."

"The frontier has always been the hardest, most tiring, and most dangerous work. But I was chosen for it every single time."

He sneered. "I know that person didn’t forget about me. He just wanted to keep me down, to crush me completely, so I’d never have a chance to get ahead or get revenge. He would’ve been happiest if I died on a frontier mission!"

An endless hatred erupted in his eyes. "I hate the people who suppressed me, so I wanted my revenge. But I was powerless on my own. And after twenty years, that person’s position has only gotten higher and higher. I have no network, no connections. There was no way I could ever touch him."

He chuckled twice. "What they didn’t expect was that, being on the frontier all the time, I often dealt with people from the Old Imperial Family. After I expressed my desire to make contact multiple times, I finally got in touch with the Iron Demon. He was willing to show me a way out."

Chen Chuan said, "It seems my guess was correct."

Fei Tong snorted, his tone mocking. "Seeing you reminds me of myself back then. Full of vigor, with a boundless future. But so what?"

"The path to advancement is controlled by certain people. If they value you, great, you might have a chance. But if you don’t do as they wish and offend them, you can’t go anywhere."

Chen Chuan could hear the resentment and hatred filling his words. He looked at Fei Tong and said calmly, "You say they wronged you, that they didn’t respect you. But what about the hundred-plus colleagues you killed? Did you ever respect them?"

"When you talk about this, you don’t even seem to remember them. It’s as if they were just weeds by the roadside, meant to be trampled under your feet. Because in your heart, they were all people who could be sacrificed and discarded at will. In that respect, how are you any different from the people you hate?"

Fei Tong’s expression shifted slightly, then his face twisted into a snarl. "What do you know? What do you know?! How can they compare to me? I am a person with innate talent, a Fighter! I was supposed to go so much further! And them?"

"They’re just a bunch of mediocre nobodies. There are countless people like them. But me, Fei Tong! Can the achievements I’ve made over the last twenty years even be compared to them? Can they?!"

Chen Chuan said, "You take it for granted that your colleagues were useless and could be discarded at will. But in the eyes of those who suppressed you, suppressing you was also taken for granted, because in their eyes, you were just as worthless."

"You both treat those weaker than you with a high-and-mighty attitude. In essence, you are the same as the people you despise. You just don’t like being the one who’s suppressed; you’d much rather be the oppressor."

Fei Tong seemed to have been struck a nerve. He began to tremble all over, his face flushing red as he roared, "What do you know?! What do you know?!"

Chen Chuan didn’t argue with him. He just watched him calmly and said, "If you had gone after the people you claim persecuted you, I might have respected you a little. But you chose to draw your blade against the weaker. In the end, you’ve always just been a loser."

After saying this, he had no more interest in staying. He stood up and walked out, leaving Fei Tong to his resentful, venting roars.

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