Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 2: Old Friend (Part 2)
With a great war looming over the horizon, the local tyrants probably wouldn’t act so inexperienced even if they wanted to display their authority to a rising power. Furthermore, Wei Bainian would have the city under tight control during such a time of unrest. Any commotion would be strictly investigated afterwards.
Qianye didn’t speed up and shake off the person tailing him but instead circled about from the north gate to the south. On one hand, he wanted to observe the situation within the city, while on the other, he wanted to observe the surveillant’s reaction.
The sensation of being monitored persistently remained, and it was obvious that the surveillant was a well-trained individual. Qianye was finally able to confirm that the other party was not only quite professional but was also unworried of being noticed—this came as quite the surprise. He raised his head to glance at the sky and proceeded to circle around the city gates before calmly heading toward the city’s east. After patiently following Qianye as he roamed freely around the city, it was about time for this surveillant to show up.
Qianye deviated from the streets and headed toward a secluded wasteland, maintaining a steady speed. As expected, there was some movement behind him.
No sooner than the sound of a rapidly approaching engine reverberated when a jeep rushed out from behind him within the blink of an eye. The car drifted horizontally amidst the sound of screeching brakes before coming to a halt in Qianye’s way.
Qianye paused his steps and silently observed the jeep that had just blocked his way.
There were no insignias on the car but the tall frame and the six usually large tires were the symbols of a hunting hound. As one of the largest manufacturers of various types of off-road vehicles, “hunting hound” was one of the most important suppliers of the imperial army. This particular kind of high-grade merchandise would hardly appear in the expeditionary army.
A handsome young soldier jumped down from the “hunting hound”, his tall stature almost perfectly proportioned while his black hair was somewhat messy due to the high-speed driving. He appeared gentle at a glance, but the sharpness from the corner of his eyes could hardly be disguised. He wasn’t wearing any military rank insignias, but his uniform was quite different from that of the expeditionary army’s—it was the uniform of an imperial army field officer.
Qianye gazed pensively at the young soldier before him. He knew who this person was even without taking note of all those details because he had long since memorized the latter’s profile.
The young man’s steps were nimble but steady—his strength obviously wasn’t weak. He continued walking and only stopped after reaching a distance of ten meters from Qianye, whereupon he said with a smile, “I’m Gu Liyu from the imperial military. I’m sure you’ve heard of me and should be able to recognize my appearance.”
Qianye calmly replied, “You should recognize me even more.”
Even Gu Liyu’s sophisticated and handsome countenance couldn’t help but twitch slightly. He suddenly laughed and said, “You can be considered quite wise to have left Qiqi of your own accord.”
Qianye’s expression didn’t change after hearing these words. He only glanced at Gu Liyu without the slightest ripple in his serene obsidian eyes.
Gu Liyu was rather surprised as he came to face Qianye’s limpid gaze. “I heard you’ve run over to this place to set up a mercenary corps after latching onto Wei clan’s legs. That’s why I came to visit in passing and see what Qiqi’s ex-plaything can accomplish.”
Qianye still didn’t bat an eyelid. “So how does it feel?”
“Not bad, it’s in fairly good shape!” Gu Liyu clapped and expressed his praise with a raised voice. Following which, he lowered his voice and said with a certain overtone, “However, war will break out soon and you’d better be careful. Otherwise, your whole corps might be wiped out. It’ll be quite troublesome if, at that time, your beautiful twins and those bloodline seedlings fall into dark race hands!”
At this point in the conversation, Gu Liyu revealed a malicious expression and said while grinding his teeth, “Don’t think that I can’t kill you just because you’ve latched onto the Wei clan’s legs!”
There was no obvious expression on Qianye’s face. He only sighed and asked calmly, “The soldiers from the 131st company shouldn’t have died like that. Don’t you ever lose sleep over this?”
“That’s their fate!” Gu Liyu laughed loudly.
“This matter won’t end here!” Qianye suddenly grinned. His smile was always as clear as crystal and contained a hint of innocence like that of a boy-next-door, just like when he had killed his first victim at Lighthouse Town.
Gu Liyu slowly leaned forward and said with an exaggerated smile, “So what if it won’t end? Proof! Do you have any proof? You don’t! Don’t forget, I’m a staff officer from the imperial army and also of a landowning class. Either of my identities are ten times superior to yours. You won’t be able to deal with the consequences if you were to kill me in such a city under so many eyes! Even Qiqi doesn’t dare to do anything to me. What can you even do?”
Gu Liyu’s twisted smile suddenly froze after seeing Qianye draw his twin flowers and aim them at him. The beautiful and bizarre patterns on the gun’s body began to light up in sequence!
“You… what are you doing!?” Gu Liyu was finally alarmed as his feet involuntarily edged back. He even seemed to have forgotten that he was one rank higher than Qianye.
Qianye muttered word by word, “Killing you!”
The twin flowers rumbled at the same time and the gunshot reverberated throughout the sky above Blackflow City. Gu Liyu, who had fled over ten meters away, let out a miserable cry. The light blue origin power shield on his body was immediately shattered and fresh blood spurted out in all directions. His left arm immediately fell limp and almost fell off his body.
The image of the twin flowers blooming before Qianye didn’t seem as eye-catching compared to the blossom of those warm sanguineous petals.
Gu Liyu fled at full speed as he let out a ruthless cry, “Just you wait! I’ll repay you 100 times over for this injury.”
Qianye’s expression sank as he leapt onto a rooftop over ten meters high and gave chase. This man’s strength was indeed impressive. The twin flowers were actually unable to kill him even at such a close distance and only broke an arm.
At this time, Qianye’s heart was filled with exuberant killing intent. Since Gu Liyu was so kind as to appear before him, how could he let go of such an opportunity? There was no way Qianye would let him leave the city alive. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know where to find the latter’s whereabouts.
The wound seemed to have little effect on Gu Liyu’s movements. He was still as agile as a bird as he leapt up and glided over ten meters away before landing. He flashed across the rooftops like a wisp of smoke and soon arrived at the base of the city walls. Gu Liyu reached the top of the city wall with a single jump, grabbed onto it and leapt over it like a feather. With that, he immediately left the city.
Qianye pursued closely and refused to let go. However, he couldn’t close the gap between them even with his speed. It seemed Gu Liyu was proficient in physical arts. His speed would probably be far above Qianye’s if not for the wound.
Qianye also reached the base of the city wall within the blink of an eye. He similarly leapt up to climb over the city wall but he felt intense danger just as his body rose into the air. Qianye reacted instantly by kicking the wall and shifting his ascending trajectory backwards.
With a loud boom, a meter wide hole appeared on the wall in front of him. The spattering pieces of rock struck Qianye’s face and body, causing him a certain degree of pain and numbness.
Qianye turned back to see a female officer standing up on a rooftop a few hundred meters away. She had a long and easily recognizable sniper rifle in her hand, an Eagleshot.
Qianye glanced at her deeply and etched the other party’s appearance deep in his heart. He then extended his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture at her from a distance.
The female officer went slightly pale as she clearly understood the meaning behind this gesture. Whoever she was, Qianye would kill her on sight as soon as he saw her again, just as he did with Gu Liyu. She originally wasn’t someone so easily intimidated, but she felt a biting chill under the clear and distant gaze of this young man. It was as if great danger would descend upon her across the many street blocks.
Qianye continued rushing toward the wall and borrowed the momentum to leap over the Blackflow City’s moderately tall walls.
The battle seemed to have ended within the time it took for a spark to fly off the flint. Only then did some commotion arise within Blackflow City but there was still no signs of any expeditionary army patrol.
Those old veterans were very experienced. How could they not know who was fighting after hearing the unique timbre of high-grade origin guns like the Twin Flowers and Eagleshot? They weren’t tired of living just yet and wouldn’t rush out so quickly. They would wait for the situation to clear up and for the killing parties to leave before showing up to check the damage.
Qianye stood on the city wall and, gazing into the distance, saw Gu Liyu run hurriedly into the wilderness. Gu Liyu had already fled over 500 meters away during the moment’s delay brought about by that lady.
Qianye breathed in deeply and leapt off the wall in pursuit. Gu Liyu’s speed was even faster than Qianye’s by a small margin out in the wilderness. However, Qianye didn’t have the slightest intention of giving up—he would press on until one of them was exhausted.
The two men, one fleeing and the other chasing, ran dozens of kilometers before the gap between them grew to a thousand meters. At this moment, Gu Liyu had no chance to make use of the topography to shake off the pursuit. He could only keep running in a straight line and depend on his speed to arduously expand the gap between them.
Gu Liyu, who was running at the front, suddenly produced a syringe which he stabbed into his wounded arm. He let out a roar akin to a wild beast as the needle went in, but his slightly weakened aura stabilized and soon gradually increased. His footsteps became increasingly firm and strong as he raised his speed once again.
Qianye was alarmed. Despite having a vampire constitution and a lingering aura, he had always been superior to same ranking warriors. But Gu Liyu was obviously no ordinary rank-seven fighter either or perhaps he was only one step away from reaching rank eight. Even after chasing all this way, he hadn’t gained the slightest advantage.
Judging from Gu Liyu’s reaction after the injection, it should be a top grade composite combat medicine. It possessed the combined effects of a stimulant and a nutrient, stimulating one’s potential. Within the span of a day, the drug would greatly raise the user’s stamina and even temporarily raise their origin power by a rank. This type of drug was extremely expensive and could only be obtained through exchanging military merit. A single syringe was worth a rank five origin gun.
Qianye hadn’t expected Gu Liyu to have such an item. This was a potential life-saving weapon on the battlefield. He was originally hoping Gu Liyu would turn around to fight it out with him after his strength increased. Unexpectedly, the other party had absolutely no such intention. Qianye could only shake his head after seeing the distance between them growing gradually. However, he still kept on chasing without giving up.
1500 meters, 2000 meters… One hour, two hours...
After five hours, Gu Liyu had become a small dot in Qianye’s field of vision and a continuous mountain ridge began to appear in front. The landscape Gu Liyu could make use of could be found everywhere once he entered the mountainous region.
Moments later, Qianye climbed onto a mountain peak and observed his surroundings.
The mountains were boundless under the night sky. Where would he even find Gu Liyu’s shadow? However, it couldn’t be considered a disappointing outcome since it was already expected.