Unusual Fate Records

Chapter 404, Section 96: Barbed Caltrops (Part 3)
As Chen Ruolan collapsed to the ground, Fu Xun turned and rushed towards "Qi Tongshan".

Jin Ziyue's knife was aimed at Chi Xinghuang, but it was blocked by his special incantation.

He didn't linger in the fight, but instead stepped back and charged towards Chen Ruolan.

Qi Tongshan struggled to her feet from the pool of blood, looking down at the dying Chen Ruolan with a smile on her lips.

The next second, Fu Xun arrived in front of her, grabbed her by the neck with one hand, and lifted her up.

Qi Tongshan felt a sudden stiffness in his neck, his forehead flushed with blood, and his body was forcibly lifted up. All the pressure hit his fragile neck, rendering him speechless.

Fu Xun glared at the other person. If it weren't for his last shred of rationality reminding him that this was Chen Xingtong's body, he would have already snapped the other person's neck.

What's infuriating is that Chi Xingluan seemed to have guessed Fu Xun's concerns. Although his face was contorted in pain and the suffocating feeling made him almost nauseous, he still kept his eyes fixed on Fu Xun, his expression mocking.

Enraged, Fu Xun could only throw him to the ground. The ice shards created by [Iron Horse and Ice River] spread from the ground, and the extreme cold almost simultaneously froze Chi Xingluan's limbs, making him unable to make any extra movements.

"Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?" Fu Xun gritted his teeth and stared at the person at his feet.

Jin Ziyue arrived and knelt down to check on Chen Ruolan's condition.

The woman with wine-red hair had fallen into a coma, and her transformation had clearly intensified. Her face was as pale as gold paper, and irregular scales were beginning to appear on her forehead. The dagger was embedded in her chest near her heart, and blood stained the wound on her shirt, flowing down the blade to the hilt and dripping down.

Just as Jin Ziyue was about to stop the bleeding, a sudden chill ran down his spine, forcing him to pick up the fallen Chen Ruolan, leap several meters away with a light touch of his toes, barely dodging Chi Xinghuang's follow-up ground-slamming punch.

Fu Xun also watched Chi Xinghuang warily. The White Walker's governor straightened up as the impact subsided.

He looked at the nearby Crimson Star Mountain and said expressionlessly, "Still alive."

Chi Xingluan looked at the man she called "father" without saying a word.

Even when he was born and replaced the real Crimson Star Mountain, he knew that this man would always be his adversary.

"Even the current situation was part of your plan?" He glanced at Jin Ziyue and Fu Xun around him and asked Chi Xingluan calmly.

"Maybe."

Qi Tongshan's eyelids drooped, and the extreme cold made his voice tremble unnaturally.

Frozen to the ground, he made no resistance, just as he had when he was first exposed and left behind. He simply acted as a pawn on the chessboard, letting the mastermind behind the scenes push him into an abyss of certain death.

"Just to kill that girl?" He glanced at Chen Ruolan, whose fate was unknown, his tone flat. "The second-in-command of the NA organization, willing to expose himself to succeed in this operation?"

Chi Xingluan scoffed, "As expected of the Governor, even at a time like this you're thinking about how to extract information. But you've asked the wrong person, I really don't know. Perhaps you had already anticipated the possibility of my identity being exposed, which is why you have this strategy of risking your life. It's not surprising at all."

"To live in the face of death, is that it..." Akira Akahoshi murmured.

As they were talking, Fu Xun had already taken Chen Ruolan, who was being carried by Jin Ziyue, and used [Iron Horse and Ice River] to freeze the wound. The chill made Chen Ruolan frown in her unconscious state, but the hemostatic effect was immediate.

Jin Ziyue still had his [Soul Eye] activated, and he could see that the superimposed image on the body of "Qi Tongshan" was indeed the phantom of Chi Xingluan.

It's just that I activated [Soul Eye] too late; I should have been Crimson Star Mountain when I woke up.

So... where is the real Chen Xingtong?

……

"This old man has no intention of letting us go!" Chen Xingtong was so anxious that she wanted to stomp her feet, but since she was only in soul form, she could only stand anxiously next to the smiling man.

Wu Xiang's smile faded as he looked at Chen Xingtong, who emerged from behind the tuxedo, and slowly closed his paper fan: "I think I understand where things went wrong."

The guy wearing the smiley mask just shrugged: "It's a pity we realized it a little too late."

Chen Xingtong looked at Wu Xiang staring straight at her and felt a little flustered: "He... can he see me?"

This question was clearly directed at the smiling person.

“It’s not polite to talk about such things in front of the elderly.” Wu Xiang wasn’t annoyed, his tone still playful.

Chen Xingtong floated behind the masked man, her voice a little weaker: "Is this old man that strong? He can even see souls..."

"Even if we unlock the domain now, it might be too late," the old ghost said to himself.

"Hmm, they should have succeeded," the smiling man said. "Do you think Chen Ruolan will survive?"

Kato Ren murmured, "It all depends on this girl's fate."

"Yes, it all depends on the fate of the 'Anchor of the World'." The smiling man's voice was still smug, but to Wu Xiang it sounded like a forbidden spell.

He stared intently at the smiling mask, but found that the other person's eyes held no other meaning than a smile.

Wait, Ruolan... is she in danger?
Chen Xingtong became nervous upon hearing this.

She didn't notice the power struggle in their eyes, but for a fleeting moment, a sudden chill made her soul form jolted awake.

"This is probably no longer a secret. Hasn't the NA organization already noticed it?" The masked man tilted his head, as if questioning.

"I told you you weren't welcome here. Nothing good ever comes here." Wu Xiang sighed softly, then frowned, his expression quite affected.

“Once Chen Ruolan is on the verge of death, the ‘Anchor of the World’ within her body will manifest to protect its master, giving many people an opportunity to take advantage of her. I’m sure you, Lord Wu Xiang, know better than I what the ‘Anchor of the World’ is.”

Kato Ren grunted, "Nothing can be hidden from you, kid."

"The 'World Anchor' within Chen Ruolan is like a key. The NA organization wants to use this key to open the connection between this world and other worlds. Once this connection is formed, that is, the 'anchor point,' people from other worlds will be continuously transported over and absorbed and utilized by the NA organization."

This is the kind of high reward they were willing to sacrifice even Crimson Star Mountain for.

With more and stronger combat forces descending from parallel worlds, it won't just be the White Walkers who will cause headaches.

"The only solution now is to shut down the 'World Anchor' again," the smiling masked man said to himself.

“That’s easy for you to say.” Kato Ren looked at him with interest. “I’ve heard that the ‘Anchor of the World’ is always random, and once it’s activated, only the host can deactivate it.”

“There’s another way, such as the host dying,” the masked man joked.

Chen Xingtong stood there, stunned.

He looked at Chen Xingtong, a half-smile on his face:
"Haven't you always wanted to go back? Now your chance has come."

"Kill Chen Ruolan, and you can go back."