Chapter 246 - 153: The Fall of Thunder Extreme, Different Life Trajectories (Part 2)

Without exception, their faces were frozen in expressions of shock and terror, as if they had never imagined they would die this way.

What’s more, they never expected the one to annihilate them would be the senior brother they had once respected the most.

"Tsk, tsk..."

Soon, another sound broke the silence.

The door to the third-floor room was pushed open, and a figure identical to Wu Yuntao walked in.

His face, build, aura... they were all nearly identical. The only difference was the copious amount of blood staining his clothes.

"If it weren’t for your identity, I’m not sure I would have actually escaped."

"I can’t believe those people from the Alliance Country were hiding so deep. To think that Ji Lixian never even left..."

His voice was slightly hoarse, laced with a mix of relief and regret.

Then, his face began to change.

His eyes turned azure, his body was covered in wounds, and several deep gashes on his chest exposed flesh and bone. It was none other than Legos.

Wu Yuntao glanced at him, then tossed aside Lei Chongming’s corpse and looked toward a cabinet in the room.

"There’s some medicine here. Grab it and leave through the secret passage."

"Alright."

Legos nodded. With the Superpower Bureau conducting a city-wide manhunt, searching for them everywhere, he naturally had to find a way to escape as soon as possible.

However...

He glanced at the corpse on the floor, a smirk playing on his lips as he stared at Wu Yuntao. "He was your junior brother, after all."

"Weren’t you afraid of breaking your master’s heart, being so ruthless?"

At those words, Wu Yuntao’s eyes narrowed, and he fixed a cold stare on him.

As their eyes met...

Legos waved his hand dismissively and chuckled, quickly dropping the subject. He went to the corner to get the medicine.

Amidst the rustling, the room fell eerily silent.

But then, intentionally or not...

"If he truly saw me as his disciple, he never would have kept the Thunder Extreme Secret Skill from me."

Wu Yuntao suddenly spoke, his gaze on the corpse on the floor. At some point, his eyes had grown even colder, filled with disgust.

Legos paused at his words, raising an eyebrow slightly.

He then recalled the rumors he’d heard from his men—the ones about someone who came from an orphanage, only to turn around and prey on the others who grew up there.

He clicked his tongue in wonder.

He finally understood why the man had earned their leader’s high regard.

And how, despite such a background, he had managed to reach the Superpower Level.

...

WHOOOO!!

That same day, a steam whistle blew.

Another gray-and-white freighter cut through the river fog.

Red and blue shipping containers were stacked neatly on deck, with another pile of wooden crates and tarp-covered goods off to one side.

According to the Political Affairs Department’s regulations, freighters weren’t supposed to carry passengers.

However, compared to the expensive ferry fares...

Many merchants and passengers traveling between the city’s districts had their ways around it.

After a short wait, they quietly boarded the ship at a temporary docking point.

A short-haired young man in glasses and a thin black jacket blended into the crowd, carrying a heavy backpack.

Beside him, Zhao Yuanqing, wearing a baseball cap and a face mask, pulled a suitcase and quickly boarded as well.

The two of them were exceptionally quiet and didn’t head for the passenger rest area.

Instead...

They slipped the head sailor two hundred-yuan bills as a tip. With his tacit approval, they made their way to a restricted area on the deck, cluttered with cargo.

"I couldn’t find Wu Yuntao,"

the short-haired young man in glasses said in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the river as if offering an explanation.

Zhao Yuanqing remained silent, his eyes slightly red. He helped the young man open his black backpack and take out a black ceramic jar.

"The entire Thunder Extreme Martial Arts Hall has been wiped out. Not a soul was left."

Lu Chao, disguised as the young man with glasses, took the ceramic jar and removed the lid, revealing the ashes inside.

"And now..."

"As you wished. Your soul returns to the river."

WHOOSH!

He scattered the ashes from the jar—the last remnants of Lin Ze’s cremated body.

A gust of wind swept across the river, carrying the ashes down into the water.

Zhao Yuanqing stood to one side, watching the scene with red-rimmed eyes, a storm of complicated emotions churning within him.

Lu Chao was silent, a touch of melancholy also stirring in his heart.

Lin Ze had been one of them, part of their small circle at the orphanage.

According to Li Heng, Lin Ze had landed his job at Lianwei Heavy Industry by chance, through a connection with Wu Yuntao.

Though wary at first, thinking it was too good to be true, he was eventually lured in by the better pay and benefits, gradually letting his guard down.

Through frequent contact, he eventually stumbled upon Wu Yuntao’s greatest secret.

Wu Yuntao viewed everyone from the orphanage as resources. Once they became adults and entered the workforce, he would secretly dig up their private information and sell it to the black market or local gangs.

He used this to earn money, even taking a cut when they took out loans, all to fund his own martial arts training.

That was how he’d managed to gain a foothold at the Thunder Extreme Martial Arts Hall and rise through the ranks.

And it was for this very reason...

...that when Lin Ze was finally released from prison and went to confront Wu Yuntao, demanding an explanation for the past, he was permanently silenced.

All of this came to light only after they had rescued Li Heng.

Lin Ze’s body had been found in a dog cage belonging to a minor gang. Before he died, he had left a video for Li Heng revealing the whole truth.

All the pieces of the puzzle now fell into place.

A complex emotion flickered in Lu Chao’s eyes as he watched the last of the ashes sink into the depths.

Their past arguments and conflicts had been merely verbal. While there was bad blood between them, it had never been anything major.

Besides, death erases all grievances. And Lin Ze had been the one to reveal the truth to them.

’Perhaps Lin Ze had his own selfish reasons, a final act of revenge from beyond the grave.’

’But...’

"This feud is mine now,"

Lu Chao said at last, all complex emotions fading away, leaving only serene calm in his eyes.

Whether for the blood debt of Lei Wanjun’s murder or for the past betrayals that nearly ruined him, his conflict with this man could only end in death.

’If I ever see Wu Yuntao again...’

’I’ll get justice for everyone from the orphanage, including my past self.’

PLOP!

With that, he dropped the ceramic jar, and it sank to the bottom of the river.

Amidst the splash of the water, Lu Chao stood on the deck, facing the summer river breeze.

He turned his head to look at the city districts on either bank, where skyscrapers with floor-to-ceiling windows stood in stark contrast to the old neighborhoods of low-slung concrete buildings.

He knew Yang Wangtao and the others were probably still busy rounding up the remaining Rebels, and Master Luo was likely dealing with the aftermath of the feud at the martial hall.

As for Chen Xiao and Fang Xu, they would set off in two days to meet him at the next transit city.

’So, right now...’

He turned his head to look ahead, toward the surging river’s course.

Zhao Yuanqing stood half a step behind him, both of them gazing in the direction the freighter was traveling.

The city gates beneath the high concrete walls had long since opened, revealing a vast wilderness and the flowing river.

Everything that had happened was now in the past.

The sunlight reflected in Lu Chao’s eyes, making them seem exceptionally bright in that moment.

"Red Maple Shelter City..."

...

...

WHOOSH!!

A flying car streaked through the air, crossing paths with the freighter below.

Inside the Biotechnology Company, the artificial intelligence, [Creature], seemed to register an anomaly, silently adjusting its latest analysis data.

The secretarial advisors monitoring the situation tensed up and quickly looked over, noticing a subtle change in the data of one of their suspected targets.

「At that same moment, in a concrete building in the Iron Ring District.」

A middle-aged man in a black trench coat stood within. His eyes glowed an eerie green, and Magic Power flowed silently around him like a layer of uncanny, verdant ripples.

He held a crystal ball in his hands, apparently using it for some kind of divination.

A curly-haired young man at his side didn’t dare to interrupt, only glancing occasionally at the crowd on the street below, his eyes gleaming with the greedy look of a predator spotting its prey.

Finally.

"The Holy Scripture has vanished,"

the middle-aged man said suddenly, the eerie green glow around him vanishing completely.

The curly-haired youth started, then watched as the man set down the crystal ball. "Or to be more precise, it’s no longer in Ring City."

"What..." The young man’s expression was one of shock and concern.

’Their mission on this trip was to find the Holy Scripture. If they failed...’

"But the target won’t get away."

The middle-aged man put his wide-brimmed hat back on, his expression calm. "Let’s go. We’ll check the last place the Holy Scripture’s presence was felt."

"Let’s see who was so bold."