Free Web NovelChapter 110: Chapter 103: Preparing for Cooperation
"Li Yu, Liu Chang is injured."
"Liu Chang is injured?"
The voice on the other end of the phone was Bailan’s, which made Li Yu’s heart skip a beat. Liu Chang was one of the strongest members of their organization, only slightly weaker than himself.
If someone could injure him, it meant this incident was far more serious than he had imagined. He asked in a grave voice:
"Is it serious? Are there any other casualties? Were any innocent people hurt?"
"Liu Chang wasn’t badly hurt. His Spatial Ghost is too fast. It’s just a minor injury."
"There were zero casualties among the others. By the time the organization’s rescue team arrived, the fight was already over."
"As for innocent victims, a few girls had some injuries, or some physical issues from being tied up for so long, but these were all minor problems. They’ve already been sent to the hospital."
"Lan, if nothing major happened, why the urgent call?"
Bailan’s explanation over the phone let Li Yu breathe a sigh of relief. But then, he heard her voice turn serious as she said, "Li Yu, Catastrophe has gotten stronger."
"He alone now possesses four sequences: Spatial Items, Catastrophe, Zombie, and Thousand Changes."
"With such a major change, we have to be extra careful. The Spiritual Sect will probably make a new move soon."
Hearing Bailan’s words, Li Yu fell silent for a moment. He had clashed with Catastrophe many times and knew his strength well.
Now, with three new sequences, the Catastrophe High Priest would surely be much harder to deal with. His tone suddenly grew stern as he asked, "Did the mysterious expert make a move this time?"
"He did, but according to our investigation, it seems the mysterious expert didn’t manage to kill the Catastrophe High Priest."
"We found no trace of a body at the scene, only bloodstains. However, the mysterious expert should have had the upper hand."
This made Li Yu’s expression even more solemn.
When he’d first heard that Catastrophe possessed four sequences, he had merely thought he’d become troublesome. But if Catastrophe could clash with the mysterious expert and successfully retreat without using any special means... that level of strength wasn’t just troublesome, it was terrifying!
Among the members of the organization, he was probably the only one who could defeat the Catastrophe High Priest.
As the organization’s strongest fourth-rank, Li Yu knew the gravity of the situation all too well. He said gravely, "Alright, I understand. I’ll head over right away to take a look."
He hung up the phone. Just as he was about to turn back and say a word to his parents, his steps halted. He heard a somewhat aged voice say,
"If you have something to do, go do it. It’s just my birthday. How can that compare to the safety of the people?"
"I already told your brother you didn’t have to come back, but he insisted you at least make an appearance."
"Mm... Dad, I’ll come see you next time."
Li Yu gave his father a deep look, then turned and left the military compound.
He walked a few steps to his car, pulled the handle, and got in. He then ignited the engine and, pushing the horsepower to its limit, sped toward his destination.
Thanks to a journey at maximum horsepower and unimpeded traffic, Li Yu soon arrived in front of the abandoned chemical plant in Ningshui City.
Unlike when Su Xing had arrived earlier, the chemical plant was now completely sealed off by police tape.
Police officers surrounded the area, preventing any innocent civilians from accidentally entering and disturbing the scene. When they saw Li Yu arrive, they all respectfully addressed him as "Officer Li."
Although Li Yu wasn’t strictly part of the police system, Xia Country generally regarded special organizations as a similar type of agency.
Therefore, as the person in charge of Cang City’s special organization, Li Yu was naturally a high-ranking superior to these ordinary police officers. Seeing this, Li Yu smiled, nodded, and walked inside.
The original foul stench was gone. Li Yu walked for a long time without noticing anything unusual about the chemical plant, until he ran into Bailan, who was just coming up from the underground passage.
Bailan was wearing a black dress, with matching nail art: black with a light blue butterfly in the center. Her long, jet-black hair hung down to her waist.
She hadn’t noticed Li Yu. She stood off to the side, holding a small notebook and constantly jotting something down, until Li Yu suddenly spoke up, "Lan, found anything?"
Bailan jumped. She pouted in slight annoyance, looked up at the approaching Li Yu, and said,
"Why are you trying to scare me?"
"I wasn’t trying to scare you. Let me see the notebook."
Bailan didn’t say anything more. She handed the notebook directly to Li Yu, her gaze lingering on him.
Because he had been on his way to his father’s birthday party, Li Yu was dressed very formally in a white suit that outlined his tall, fit figure. Bailan thought to herself,
’He actually looks pretty sharp, but he’s still not quite on Su Xing’s level.’
Speaking of which, ever since the Spiritual Sect’s attack, she had been buried in work day and night. Her interactions with Su Xing seemed to have dwindled, which made her feel as if a lifetime had passed.
Of course, Li Yu had no idea what the woman beside him was thinking. His eyes were fixed on Bailan’s neat, elegant handwriting, and he silently read to himself:
"Catastrophe possesses four top-tier sequences. His strength is unfathomable, with preliminary observations placing him just below fifth-rank."
"Catastrophe’s sudden power increase is suspected to be from consuming a ’blessing.’ Possible involvement of the Vice Bishop (unconfirmed)."
"The Ninghai City special organization has investigated and is willing to cooperate with us in arresting Spiritual Sect members."
...
There were seven or eight entries in total, all summarized by Bailan.
Li Yu read through them once, getting a general understanding of the situation. He handed the notebook back and asked,
"Have you decrypted Catastrophe’s specific details?"
"They’re decrypted."
Bailan nodded, then took out another notebook and handed it to Li Yu.
Li Yu took the notebook. As soon as he opened it, he saw Catastrophe’s headshot, with his detailed information below. He scanned it briefly, his eyes narrowing slightly, and then asked,
"Does the Ningshui City special organization know that Catastrophe is from their city?"
"Not yet."
Bailan shook her head and asked, "Are we going to make a move on Catastrophe?"
"It’s not a matter of ’are we going to.’ We have to."
Li Yu’s tone was firm. He glanced at Bailan and continued,
"If the Vice Bishop is already involved, then we absolutely cannot take this lightly. We must do everything we can to gain an advantage and turn the tide of battle in our favor."
"Killing Catastrophe is the first step."
"But before we take that step, we need to do some prep work. Bailan, you first contact the Ningshui City special organization. The Spiritual Sect is our common enemy, so have them cooperate with us."
"Also, we have to protect Su Yu, Su Xing, and Lu Anning, in case the Spiritual Sect gets desperate."
At the mention of Su Yu, Bailan seemed to remember something and quickly said, "Li Yu, there’s no one watching the Sword Hall anymore. Liu Chang went back into seclusion."
"Seclusion?"
"Didn’t he just come out of seclusion? Why is he going back in?"
Li Yu was puzzled. Then he heard Bailan say,
"Because he realized he couldn’t beat Catastrophe at all, but the mysterious expert could drive him away. He decided his own strength wasn’t enough to challenge the mysterious expert, so he went back into seclusion."
"..."
"Then let’s assign someone else to the mission."
"Okay."
"It seems Liu Chang’s younger brother successfully broke through. He has a pretty stable personality. How about we assign him?"
"So soon? Alright, I’m more at ease with Liu Ming’s temperament anyway."
Li Yu was first amazed at how quickly Liu Ming had broken through, then he nodded silently, approving the suggestion.
...
"Alright students, class is dismissed."
"Goodbye, Coach Su!!!"
A chorus of goodbyes erupted in the Sword Hall as the crowd bustled out.
The third year of high school had already started, so the number of students who stayed after class to practice their swordsmanship had decreased significantly. After all, the most dedicated students were usually the ones preparing for university entrance exams.
As for the other students, many weren’t yet in their third year and didn’t have as much academic pressure, while others had just jumped on the bandwagon to learn swordsmanship when the Spiritual Qi recovery was first announced.
The first and second-year students, while not overly diligent, would at least listen to Su Xing’s lessons to some extent.
But as for those who had jumped on the bandwagon, their initial enthusiasm had faded, and many had started slacking off.
But Su Xing didn’t plan on bothering with them. After all, if they had no affinity for the Sword Dao, no amount of effort would allow them to become a Martial Artist through the sword. So, it didn’t matter to Su Xing whether they paid attention in class or not, as long as they didn’t cause trouble.
Su Xing glanced at the progress bar on his system panel; it had already risen to 40%. He estimated he could probably allocate points in another day, which made him a little excited.
"Coach Su!"
A clear voice suddenly called out from outside. Lu Anning, dressed in a light blue school uniform, ran into the Sword Hall and said,
"Time for my lesson! You haven’t taught me today’s lesson yet!"
"Huh?"
Su Xing was taken aback by Lu Anning’s sudden appearance. He asked, "After such a huge incident, your school is still letting you out?"
"They are..."
Lu Anning said, a bit confused,
"All of us girls who were kidnapped don’t have to go to school for a while. So I figured I might as well come to the Sword Hall and practice."
"Oh, I see."
"Alright, let me get ready then. I’ll start your lesson in a bit."
"Okay."
Lu Anning watched Su Xing, scenes from the chemical plant replaying in her mind. As her own strength grew, she was able to appreciate more and more just how terrifying Coach Su really was.
She wanted to become that strong, too!!
While cleaning up the trash left by the previous students, Su Xing started thinking about what he should teach Lu Anning.
After all, Lu Anning was his true disciple. He certainly couldn’t just teach her the same basic things as the other students.
Just as Su Xing was thinking, Su Yu’s voice suddenly cut in, "Bro, I need to talk to you about something."
