Chapter 219: A Showdown
When Meng Chao saw that Lin Chuan had relaxed and that his vitality magnetic field stabilized, he sighed in relief.
“We’re all on the same side. This is just a casual conversation, right?” Meng Chao said in a semi-joking manner. “Big Brother Lin, you might have really stayed in the wild for too long. You’re alone, and it’s really easy for you to think yourself into a dead end. You should go back home more often. We can look for our neighbors and elementary school homeroom teacher to have a gathering with them and relax.
“Then, I’ll recommend you to Fengshui Medical Center so that you can go through a full body examination. I can even recommend a psychologist to talk to you— No, I mean, I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with your mind. But even if there was, it’d be normal. Everyone is stressed and has their own problems in this era, right?
“I just think that you’ve been training, fighting, and doing the online promotions too hard. You’ve been working day in and day out, and your body and mind are too tense and tired. You should rest for some time.
“You treat me like a brother, so please listen to me, okay?”
He thought that Lin Chuan would refuse his offer or avoid talking about it, but to his surprise, after being silent for a while, Lin Chuan nodded. “Alright. Since you’re being so kind, I don’t have a reason to reject it. But you have to promise me one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Take care of yourself. Don’t risk your life for Lu Siya or anyone else like you did just now, including me.” Lin Chuan stared into Meng Chao’s eyes and said, “Promise me that you’ll protect your own life, and I’ll promise you that once this mission ends, I will go back to Dragon City and visit our elementary school homeroom teacher and a psychologist. I will rest for as long as it is necessary.”
Meng Chao smiled. “Alright. I know that you really care about me, after all.”
“Duh. I know that you really care about me as well. After all, we’re the same.” Lin Chuan smiled as well. “Let’s go. When we go back, we can enter deep meditation for three or four hours. It’ll be enough for us to recover our spirit energy and stamina.”
They headed to the camp.
At that moment, gunshots came from deep in the cave. The sound was deafening in the airtight space underground.
The pests around them were instantly shocked awake and fled helter-skelter.
Noise filled the camp.
Meng Chao and Lin Chuan looked at each other, and like lightning, they shot in the direction of the gunshots.
The cave was like a maze. They were surrounded by tunnels whose end could not be seen. There were also strange-looking stalagmites everywhere that resembled demons. They gave off a chilly and dangerous presence in the dark.
When Meng Chao jumped over a fold of rock, a black shadow suddenly shot in front of him.
He instinctively swung his chain saber, and sparks flew when his weapon clashed against the other party’s saber.
Both sides kicked forward at the same time and hit the other’s chests. Two thuds were heard, and both of them fell into the fold.
They relied on the light on their helmets to dazzle the other party’s eyes. Then, they narrowed their eyes and threw a punch at each other. It was only when they pushed five meters away from each other that they saw each other’s faces clearly.
“Qin Hu?
Meng Chao was a little stunned.
He did not expect that he would run into someone familiar underground… No, it would be more accurate to say that he ran into an old enemy. It was Qin Hu, a veteran hunter and boss of Prosperous Resource Recovery Company.
In Meng Chao’s previous life, Meng Yishan had ran into a tragic accident while harvesting a highly-risky monster carcass and did not obtain insurance money. In the end, he died, and the one who caused all of this might have been the general manager of Prosperous Resource Recovery Company, Shen Rongfa, but Shen Rongfa was Qin Hu’s brother-in-law, and this boss still had to bear the responsibility of oversight.
Meng Chao was not fond of him in the slightest.
After he returned to the past, he seized the chance and unhesitantly struck Shen Rongfa and Qin Hu in the face. He even convinced his father to take away half of the skilled harvesters from Prosperous Resource Recovery Company and build Superstar to fight against Prosperous.
According to his father, Prosperous had not been having a good time after that.
Most of their skilled workers had left, and they did not manage to handle some of their deals in time, so they had to pay quite a lot of money for liquidated damages.
They wanted to hire another batch of people, but the northern offense started, and the Monster War grew in intensity, so skilled harvesters instantly became high in demand. When they heard that Prosperous did not provide good treatment and even did underhanded things in terms of their insurance, no one wanted to work for them.
Superstar might still be unable to fight against Prosperous, but with the support from Ning Shewo, Thunderbolt, and Yan Organization, they became an existence which could not be destroyed by Qin Hu as he pleased.
Their company constantly frolicked around in front of Prosperous, and sometimes, they even snatched some of Prosperous’ deals. When Qin Hu saw that they were encroaching upon their work, he was angry, but he could not do anything about it.
When enemies met, they were filled with hostility, so upon recognizing Meng Chao, Qin Hu became so angry that his curled moustache straightened up. He hissed in exasperation. “I didn’t expect it to be you, bastard…”
“I didn’t expect to run into you here either, Mr. Hu.” Meng Chao smiled and pretended as if he did not hear Qin Hu cursing him. He only asked curiously, “Huh? Wasn’t Prosperous growing stronger every day after you kicked away the black sheep who ALSO happened to be MY dad? I thought you were getting busier?
“Why aren’t you in Prosperous and dealing with the business over there? Why are you so free as to come underground for an exploration? Oh, I remember now. General Manager Shen is very devoted to his job and is loyal to you. He will definitely make your company really prosperous, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
Qin Hu was so angry that he nearly fainted. His killing intent went pressing down on Meng Chao like roaring thunder.
Even when Meng Chao was still a normal human, he was not afraid of his murderous intent. After he awakened to supernatural powers, Qin Hu became even less of a threat.
Qin Hu was a three-star superhuman, which meant that he was at Spirit Gathering Realm and at the peak of Earth Realm. He could gather his spirit energy to refine his organs so they could crystalize. But when it came to his fighting strength, he was not that much stronger than a one-star superhuman.
Meng Chao had Surging Lightning in his right hand, and in his left, he had Bloody Flame. He had his chain sabers along with tens of thousands of contribution points with him. He could perform a full-body treatment at any moment he wanted and return to the peak of his condition, so even if he faced someone at the peak of Earth Realm, he would not be afraid.
Qin Hu’s eyes were dark. He seemed to be deliberating the consequences of attacking Meng Chao.
The place was dark, and there were scarcely any people here. Spirit energy magnetic field interference was strong, and the urges lying deep in humans were magnified ten times.
But he could tell that Meng Chao’s Bloody Flame was not something ordinary, because there was red light surrounding it as Meng Chao held it in his left hand.
His brief moment of hesitation gave Lin Chuan enough time to arrive above them, and he stared at Qin Hu coldly.
‘A Heaven Realm fighter?’
Qin Hu’s pupils shrank swiftly, and he snorted before he put his saber away. “You’re lucky, bastard!” he hissed.
“Mr. Hu, if you call me a bastard one more time…” Meng Chao was still smiling as he spoke politely. “Then I swear to God that I will use every resource that I have to destroy Prosperous. It doesn’t matter whether it will take five years, ten years, or twenty years, as long as I’m not dead, I will make sure that no one in Dragon City will ever hear of Prosperous again!”
Qin Hu could not help but shudder. And his own reaction angered him.
The sounds of fierce arguments came from the distance.
Qin Hu cast Meng Chao and Lin Chuan a few glances before he grit his teeth and jumped out of the fold so that he could head to his own camp.
Lin Chuan landed on a stone and frowned a little as he fell deep in thought. “Is that… Qin Hu of Frenzied Saber Squad?”
Meng Chao nodded.
Frenzied Saber Squad was a rather famous superhuman squad in the hunter circle. Qin Hu was a vice captain there, while their captain was a Heaven Realm elite.
Both of them hurried to gather with their mine exploration team and found Lu Siya stuck in a cold stalemate against a young man with triangular-shaped eyes. There was a crack between them.
Sharp Blade was behind Lu Siya.
And behind the young man with the triangular-shaped eyes was Frenzied Blade and a group of mine explorers.
Both sides had raging spirit flames. Ripples shot out as they crashed, and they looked like dark flames that could combust at any moment.
Lin Chuan said to Meng Chao in a whisper, “That is Shen Yulong from Universe Corporation. His status is about the same as that of Lu Siya. Both of them are outstanding members of the third generation in their families.
“We’re high school mates. Shen Yulong and Lu Siya have been competing against each other since they were young. I didn’t expect that they would end up as competitors again over here.
“Qin Hu’s Frenzied Bladed should have accepted Shen Yulong’s deal and beat us to this place. This is going to be hard.”
After Meng Chao talked to the people from Sharp Blade, he learned that after they set up camp, they posted sentries and ran into sentries from Frenzied Blade. Since it was dark, neither side realized that the other party was human. They thought that they had run into monsters, which is why they fired. They also exchanged a few blows, which made the atmosphere incredibly tense. A battle was about to erupt.
Fortunately, they were only lightly injured, and no one was gravely wounded.
However, no one could tell just how things were going to develop next.
Shen Yulong grinned. “I was wondering about it just now. I’ve been feeling someone sneaking behind me, and I was thinking about whose ghost it could be. So, it’s you, NINTH lady of the Lu family.
“Unfortunately, you came too late. Didn’t you see the plate I erected outside? I’m the one who has the right to mine this place!”
Lu Siya was ranked at the ninth place in the ranking of the people in the third generation of the Lu family.
Since he called her the ninth lady of the Lu family, he was naturally mocking her for not being able to secure a powerful rank among those in the third generation.
“Enough with your tricks. You can take the scrap metal outside all you want. I have no interest in it. I just want the Red Radiance Jade mine.”
A frosty look settled on Lu Siya’s face. “FIFTH master of the Shen family, if you’ve already found the Red Radiance Jade mine, bring out concrete proof, and I will turn around and leave. I will not stop you from getting rich. Otherwise, no one knows just who will get the last laugh!”
Shen Yulong’s smile turned vicious.
The hunters from Frenzied Blade did not hide their killing intent in the slightest.
In fact, two of the Heaven Realm elites used maglev to step into the air and look down.
Lu Siya snorted coldly, and Lu Fengying as well as Scimitar levitated at the same time to show off their power.
Lin Chuan flew behind Lu Siya and activated the red wings of his Undying Bird.
Upon recognizing Lin Chuan, Shen Yulong’s expression changed.
“You even brought your loyal dog? Lu Siya, looks like you’re determined to get the mine!” He spoke severely, but actually looked a little timid. “Then, we’ll fight fair and square, and we’ll rely on our skills to see who finds the mine!”
Killing intent flashed briefly in Lin Chuan’s eyes, but he remained silent and did not move.
“Alright, we’ll act based on the rules of mine explorers. Whoever doesn’t find the Red Radiance Jade mine first will stand back on their own. This is a fair fight, and we will accept the loss if we do lose. We should avoid causing an irreparable misunderstanding between Sky Pillar Corporation and Universe Corporation.”
As Lu Siya spoke, she brought Sharp Blade and her mine explorers away.
Shen Yulong flung his hand and brought Frenzied Blade and Universe Corporation’s mine explorers into the darkness.
Qin Hu glared at Meng Chao fiercely from the darkness, then vanished
When they returned to their camp, Lu Siya asked Lin Chuan impatiently, “Did you see how many people they had at the peak of Earth Realm and Heaven Realm? If we run into the worst case scenario, can you get rid of them in one go?