189: Chapter 189: Clues Discovered, Pursuit Begins

A faint sound suddenly came from somewhere in the market, which Chen Wuwang keenly captured. He stood before the light curtain in the secret chamber, the red dot still suspended in the southwest triangular zone, like a nail buried in flesh.

The time was the first quarter of the hour of the Rooster; the wind did not stir, and the curtain did not lift, yet the flame of the old ceramic lamp placed in the corner of Lu San's stall tilted by three inches, pointing directly at the blind spot of the third monitoring array.

"It has come," he said in a low voice, his fingers tapping a new rhythm on the edge of the table—four shorts and one long, as urgent as a drumbeat.

The order was transmitted along the Family's dark network, silent and traceless.

The patrol routes remained unchanged, and the personnel were the same, but behind every overt squad, there was an additional group of Shadow Guards stealthily moving close to the ground.

They did not wear mecha, only wrapped themselves in black cloth, and hung Sound-Suppressing Talismans that could absorb spiritual waves at their waists. When their footsteps fell on the stone slabs, they did not even startle the tremors caused by ants crawling past.

Chen Xiaodao had just taken off his outer mecha armor and was wiping sweat from his neck with a wet towel when his communication jade talisman suddenly vibrated.

He glanced at the content, his movements paused for a moment, then he threw the wet towel into the bucket and immediately walked out.

"Brother, do we really have to wait for him to finish sending it?" he asked, connecting to the internal channel in a low voice while in the passageway.

"Let him send it." Chen Wuwang's voice was as calm as water beneath an ice sheet. "The signal is incomplete, so he won't stop. What we are waiting for is—the person."

As his voice fell, three feet beneath the southwest market, the third passive monitoring array captured an encrypted frequency band.

The data was reverse-analyzed, and keywords jumped out: "Disconnected and reconnecting, target not destroyed, waiting for response."

It was not a broadcast. It was a plea for help.

"He is panicked," Chen Wuwang said, the corners of his mouth slightly raised. "He thinks he can still escape."

He pressed the bronze button in the center of the command console, and the entire underground intelligence network instantly switched to pursuit mode.

The patrol forces on the four exit paths were quietly reinforced. On the surface, it was still routine patrolling, but in reality, at every alley entrance, there were at least two Family guards armed with magnetic lock crossbows lying in ambush.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiaodao had already taken three elites, piloting light tracking mecha, to break in at low altitude from the abandoned drainage channel.

The mecha did not have their lights on, gliding solely by relying on the faint spiritual energy sensing light at the bottom.

The four mecha units were in a diamond formation, flying three inches above the ground, not even stirring up dust.

They stopped at the periphery of the medicine vendor district, unbuckled from their mecha, and snuck in on foot.

Lu San's stall was still lit. He was not there.

But there were slight drag marks on the ground, leading to the ruins of the collapsed old sentry tower in the back alley.

"He left." Chen Xiaodao crouched down, his fingertips wiping across a trace of Yin-Erosion Fire pattern left on the ground. "He hasn't run far; the talisman hidden in his body is still heating up."

"Pursue," Chen Wuwang ordered. "Do not alert the enemy. I want him alive."

Chen Xiaodao nodded and waved his hand. The three spread out into a triangular formation, silently following along the drag marks.

They passed through the half-collapsed wall, stepped over the broken flagpole, and finally stopped in front of a tilted observation tower.

The tower body had a split, as if it had been bitten by a giant beast, and it was pitch black inside.

"He is down there." Chen Xiaodao opened the scanner; the screen showed a faint life signal thirty meters underground, accompanied by high-frequency spiritual wave fluctuations. "He is still trying to send a signal."

"Then don't let him send it out." Chen Wuwang's voice went cold. "Seal the tower, cut off the path, force him to move."

The order was passed down, and two groups of Shadow Guards quickly sealed off the surrounding ruins, setting up an anti-spiritual wave barrier.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiaodao kicked open the tower door and flashed inside.

It was deeper inside than imagined. Most of the stairs had collapsed, and debris was piled at the entrance of the tunnel.

He jumped down, landing silently; the soles of his mecha boots automatically adhered to the ground, preventing slipping.

The second-in-command followed closely behind, while the other person remained above to keep watch.

The tunnel extended downwards, and on the walls remained defensive runes from the old days of Chiji Ridge. Most had failed, but a few still shimmered with faint light, interfering with the scanning precision.

Chen Xiaodao turned off the scanner and switched to using hand signals to direct their advance.

Ten steps later, a green light flashed at the corner ahead.

"Yin-Erosion Talisman!" the second-in-command whispered sharply.

Boom! The ground exploded, smoke shot up into the air, mixed with corrosive dust.

Chen Xiaodao had anticipated this; he rolled into a recessed wall to dodge, but his shoulder armor was splashed with a bit of ash, sizzling, and the surface of the armor quickly charred black.

"Poison mist!" He held his breath, pulled out a gas mask, and put it on. "He doesn't want us to get close!"

The smoke filled the air, and visibility was less than five feet. The three advanced back-to-back, their mecha entering combat mode, and the micro-cannon barrels on their shoulders slowly unfolded.

Suddenly, a thin needle shot out from a wall crack on the left, moving extremely fast.

The second-in-command could not react in time, was hit in the right arm, and fell to the ground with a muffled grunt.

"Poison needle projectile!" The other person raised a shield to block; three consecutive hits struck the shield surface, making metallic clanging sounds.

Chen Xiaodao did not retreat but advanced, violently rushing into the depths of the smoke, his mecha's leg thrusters fully opened, crashing through a ruined wall with a boom.

There was no one behind the wall. There was only a cellar tunnel dug downwards, its edges still steaming with heat.

"Down!" He turned back and roared, then immediately leaped into the tunnel.

The tunnel was narrow, only allowing one person to pass. He turned off all high-energy-consuming Systems, leaving only melee piercing mode, extended the blade claws on both arms, lowered his body, and sprinted close to the ground like a cheetah.

Twenty breaths later, a corner appeared ahead. He slowed his pace and pressed his ear to the ground to listen for a moment.

There was the sound of breathing. And the faint sound of fingers tapping rapidly on a jade talisman.

"Still haven't finished sending it." He sneered. "Fool, you're still thinking about completing the mission at a time like this?"

He suddenly stood up and kicked the stone pillar at the corner. The stone pillar cracked, and the smoke was pushed away by the shockwave.

Lu San was just five steps away, kneeling on the ground, the jade talisman in his hand emitting a faint green light.

He looked up and saw Chen Xiaodao, his pupils shrinking suddenly. He immediately crushed the jade talisman and turned to scramble into a deeper cave.

"Want to run?" Chen Xiaodao's shoulder thrusters re-engaged, and his whole body shot out like a cannonball, catching up instantly. Just as the opponent was about to leap into a side path, he kicked him in the back of the knee.

Lu San fell face down to the ground, the jade talisman slipping from his hand and rolling into a stone crevice.

He struggled to get up, but Chen Xiaodao had already stepped on the back of his neck, pressing the blade claws against his throat.

"Don't move." Chen Xiaodao panted. "Move again, and I'll make your head blossom."

Lu San stopped moving. But he smiled, his mouth widening to reveal a mouthful of black teeth: "You... cannot catch the person behind the scenes... I am merely a shadow..."

"I don't care who you are." Chen Xiaodao leaned down and grabbed his collar. "My brother wants you alive, he didn't say he needed your mouth intact."

He took out a sedative spiritual liquid injector and stabbed it directly into the other's neck.

Lu San twitched twice, and his eyes began to lose focus.

Just at this moment, heavy footsteps came from afar. Chen Wuwang had arrived.

He stood at the tunnel entrance, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye scanning the scene, his gaze landing on the jade talisman that had rolled into the stone crevice.

"Pick it out," he ordered.

A Shadow Guard stepped forward and used tweezers to retrieve the jade talisman fragment.

"What about the program residue?"

"It's still there. The third transmission failed, but the log is complete."

Chen Wuwang walked to Lu San and looked down at him.

"You didn't manage to get the message out," he said calmly. "Your master still doesn't know that you have been exposed."

Lu San's eyes trembled. His psychological defense had cracked.

Chen Xiaodao seized the opportunity, activated the wrist magnetic lock launcher, and two rays of silver light shot out, precisely hitting Lu San's arm joints.

With two "clicks," his arms were tightly restrained by alloy chains, unable to move.

"Take him away." Chen Wuwang turned around. "Escort him back to the Council Hall underground tunnel entrance; I will deal with him personally."

The Shadow Guards stepped forward to hoist him up. Lu San was dragged along the ground, his head hanging, no longer speaking.

Chen Xiaodao retracted his blade claws and exhaled a breath of turbid air. "Finally caught him."

Chen Wuwang did not respond. He took one last look at the ruins and whispered the final order: "Clean up the scene, erase all traces. No one is allowed to mention tonight's events."

The group returned to the surface along the tunnel. The night wind brushed across the market, the lights remained as they were, as if nothing had happened.

Only that oil lamp had completely gone out.

Chen Wuwang stood at the entrance of the Council Hall underground tunnel, watching the Shadow Guards escort Lu San to the iron door.

"Right here," he said. "Before the door closes, no one is allowed to touch him."

The iron door slowly closed, making a dull thudding sound.

He stood in place, his fingers tapping gently against his palm. Three longs and two shorts, a pause, then two more taps.

The System interface did not appear. But he knew, the heavenly secret instruction was already on its way.