Atlas of Heaven and Man

The surrounding people's blood flow, the air of their breathing, and the transmission of various forces, all flowed towards Qi Sai through his enhanced, mutated tissues.

The physical changes of each person were clearly presented in his mind, and he grasped the movements of everyone around him.

Among these people, Chen Chuan was not the most outstanding, but he was the most stable.

So stable that it was almost excessive.

In such an environment, anyone would be nervous, fearful, excited, or thrilled. However, Chen Chuan showed none of these emotions. He was like a calm lake. Even if a few ripples occasionally appeared, they only touched the surface, while the depths remained completely unaffected.

This immediately attracted all of his attention.

He saw Chen Chuan approaching with his knife, gradually closing the distance. He moved his whip-wielding hand aside, then swung forward with force, the whip lashing towards Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan did not dodge like Wei Chang'an. Using his knife to chop or block the whip would be a poor choice. He simply stared at the direction of the arm's force, and at the instant it was swung, he suddenly reached out. With a loud crack, he actually grabbed the tip of the whip!

He could see that half of his forearm had become almost transparent, indicating the power contained within was enough to shatter human limbs. If it weren't for his Second Self, the point of contact would have suffered shattered bones and flying flesh.

Qi Sai was taken aback. He had never encountered anyone who caught a whip attack head-on with their bare hands, especially at the whip's tail where the force was fully transmitted.

He immediately tried to yank it, because he judged that even if the opponent could grab it, the point of contact couldn't be unaffected by the impact. This could easily disrupt the opponent's center of gravity. However, as he exerted force, an equal force came back, not only failing to pull Chen Chuan over, but slightly pulling him instead.

He immediately knew something was wrong. As expected, the moment his center of gravity shifted slightly, Chen Chuan's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly leaped forward, raising his knife to thrust it at his chest.

Fortunately, there was still some distance between them. Qi Sai quickly adjusted his center of gravity, moved sideways, and dodged. He grabbed a short baton from his waist and blocked the incoming attack, using the force to quickly step back.

Chen Chuan twisted his wrist, rotated the blade, stepped forward, and immediately brought the knife down in a chop. Qi Sai, holding the whip handle in one hand, used the short baton in the other to stir the whip, pulling it diagonally upwards, instantly tightening the whip to block the path of the knife.

Chen Chuan had never seen this whip and baton combination before. At this moment, instead of trying to pull the knife away, he pushed it forward. The blade only slightly adjusted its position during the movement, aiming the tip at the opponent's head.

Seeing the knife thrust towards him, Qi Sai quickly pulled the whip to deflect it. But then he felt a flash of movement in front of him. Chen Chuan had released Xue Jun and rapidly darted forward, throwing a punch towards his head. The speed was incredibly fast, as if he had instantly closed the distance.

Qi Sai raised the hand holding the whip handle, attempting to use the straightened whip to block his fist. However, Chen Chuan bent his arm at this moment, turning his fist into an elbow, striking into the opening he had created, landing squarely on his chest!

Qi Sai wore relatively thick protective clothing, but Chen Chuan's strike was not a penetrating force, but a pushing force, enough to knock him off balance.

But Qi Sai responded remarkably well to this attack. For a moment, his body seemed to split into two independent parts. His lower body was very stable, his feet firmly planted on the ground, while his upper body was extremely flexible. The pushing force only caused his chest to sink in, failing to move his entire body.

Chen Chuan sensed the change in his body, and suddenly stepped forward, placing a foot behind his leg. At the same time, he leaned forward, and his strength suddenly exploded. Qi Sai could no longer maintain his balance and fell backward.

At this moment, he sensed Wei Chang'an suddenly moving his gun towards him. While still in mid-air, he used the pull of the mutated tissues to curl his body to one side. With two cracking gunshots, two bullets struck his back. However, this also caused him to fail to adjust his landing posture, crashing sideways onto the ground.

Most of his attention had been on Chen Chuan. When he glanced over and saw the latter retrieve his long knife, preparing to advance, he immediately rolled to the side, preparing to get up. However, before he could stand, he suddenly felt something was wrong, almost simultaneously hearing a muffled gunshot.

By the time he realized what had happened, he discovered that half of his calf had been blown away.

On the distant watchtower, Wei Chang'an's teammate pulled back the bolt of the Ruinbringer rifle, ejected the spent cartridge, and aimed at him again. However, in his sights, the figure suddenly retreated into a nearby tent. He couldn't help but lament the missed opportunity. It was rare for Qi Sai to appear in a brightly lit area, allowing him to hit him with one shot.

Chen Chuan had not rushed forward earlier when he saw Wei Chang'an fire. However, the second shot was excellent, with the timing perfectly chosen, essentially crippling most of the opponent's combat power.

He nodded to the teammate on the watchtower, then said to Wei Chang'an, "Brother Wei, I'll deal with this person. Help suppress the bandits."

Wei Chang'an decisively agreed, quickly taking out a magazine to reload. He hurried forward to support Luo Kaiyuan, Cai Si, and the others.

In the midst of rolling, Qi Sai's mutated tissues wriggled, and the wound closed, stopping the bleeding. Despite losing a leg, his speed was still not slow. Entering the tent, he immediately crawled out from underneath and hid in another tent.

It was only a little after four o'clock, and the sky was still dim, with a lot of smoke in the air. For others, it might be difficult to observe much, but for him, who had studied the Maca Pulse Arts, it was even better. He could sense others, but they didn't know where he was. If he had a moment to catch his breath, he might even have a chance to counterattack.

Chen Chuan stood still. At this moment, he looked at his Second Self. Besides the arm that had turned ethereal during the earlier exchange, he noticed that the Second Self also had a very slight ethereal quality overall when approaching Qise.

This was very similar to encountering strange tales. He judged that this person must be carrying something. However, this also conveniently became a marker to identify this person.

He walked a few steps in the open space of the camp, and based on the degree of influence deepening, he soon found the location of his target. In front of him was an old camp tent.

However, he didn't stop there. Instead, he continued to walk forward. Just as he was about to pass by, the Snow Monarch Saber suddenly stabbed to the side.

Qise was squatting on one leg inside the tent, holding the short stick in his hand, preparing to wait for Chen Chuan to pass by before looking for an opportunity. At this moment, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. He lowered his body, and saw the tip of a knife suddenly pierce in, slashing across his shoulder, and then pulling horizontally, tearing a large hole in the tent.

Qise's expression was ferocious. He knew that he had lost a leg, and there was no way to retreat at this moment. The only chance to win was to rush forward. He shouted, threw the short stick in his hand, and then pushed off with his one leg, lunging towards Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan looked at the short stick being thrown, but ignored it completely. He stared at Qise's figure rushing out, swung his blade, and placed it against his neck. Taking advantage of the opponent's forward momentum, he slashed to the side and then dodged to the side.

Qise stumbled past him, rolled forward, and then knelt again on one knee. He tried to use the wriggling of the mutated tissue to stop the wound on his neck, but half of his neck had been cut open, and blood was gushing out of the wound, impossible to stop. He stared at Chen Chuan for a moment, then fell to the side.

Chen Chuan lightly flicked his wrist and stared at the man for a moment.

In his feeling, this person's level was not much different from Du Ma's. If he hadn't been shot earlier, causing a great loss of strength, the two of them might have had to fight for a while.

However, this was not his battle alone, but a conflict between two teams. There was no fairness or reason to speak of. All kinds of methods must be used until one side was completely out of the picture.

He looked around outside for a few moments, walked forward, and tore off a bracelet that looked like it was made of polished bone from Qise's wrist. This was the thing that made the Second Self slightly ethereal.

He thought for a moment and put it away. He went to the side and picked up a rifle from the side of a bandit's corpse and joined the cleanup of the remaining bandits.

Mi Tai took stock at this time. Including himself, there were only fourteen people left, including two Maca students who had escaped from Yangzhi City and were hiding here.

What was even more troublesome was that only some members of their team originally had guns. Most of them had been lost outside just now. Now, only six people, including them, had guns, which was not much more than the other side. The others could only hold bows and crossbows.

What made him particularly anxious was that the other party had broken in silently, and their strength was obviously very strong. Not to mention whether they could hold on, even if they could hold on here, how could they guarantee that the other party had no reinforcements?

At this time, You An, who had gone to the back, ran back, came to his side, and said in a low voice: "Boss, the situation is not good. The road behind is also blocked. We are surrounded."

Things had reached this point, and it couldn't get any worse. Mi Tai also calmed down. He thought for a while and asked: "Could it be related to that thing?"

If it was related to that thing, then it meant that the news had been leaked. Even if they won against this group of people, the next group would come.

You An said: "Boss, no matter what, too many brothers have been lost, and the situation on the other side is unclear. It looks like there are still experts. We can't be blocked here. Let's rush out first. We still have an armored vehicle and an off-road vehicle, which should be able to take a few brothers out." He looked around again and asked: "Boss, what about Qise?"

Mi Tai shook his head and said: "I haven't seen him since he went out. Either he's hiding somewhere, or he's been killed."

You An cursed, very annoyed. Qise was both a supervisor and their contact person. Without this person, many things would be difficult to handle. He said: "Never mind, as long as the thing is in our hands, we are not afraid that the exchange group will not recognize it. Boss, let's find a way to withdraw first."

The two discussed it and believed that the main firepower on the other side was on the front, and there seemed to be only two or three people blocking the rear, so they decided to break through from the rear.

However, they couldn't withdraw all at once. Someone had to hold on at the front.

Mi Tai thought to himself: "That's the only way to do it." He shouted: "Yaitan!"

A tall and extremely strong man heard the sound and came over with heavy footsteps. "Boss, what instructions do you have?"

Mi Tai said: "You take a few people to hold the front and hold them back for me. You An and I will go out from the back and detour to the rear to attack them from both sides. You must hold this place for me!"

Yaitan said excitedly: "Don't worry, Boss, with me holding here, they won't be able to get in."

While Mi Tai was explaining, outside, Ren Xiaotian drove his off-road vehicle over, and then dragged a few special tire-bursting devices down from it, and together with three people from Wei Changan's team, fixed these things on the inevitable road at the rear.