Chapter 69: Similarities—Settled with a Single Punch?!
“There seems to be something going on over there.” The police officers noticed clear signs of a fierce battle ahead. Although their combat skills were hardly top-tier, their knowledge of investigating such scenes was more than sufficient.
“That’s probably their trail,” one officer said cautiously. “Should we wait for the main force to arrive before advancing? If the two of us charge in recklessly, we might not make it out alive.”
His colleague replied, “That makes sense, but let’s advance slowly and quietly for now. If those two experts are up ahead, maybe we can at least find somewhere safe to hide.”
“You know as well as I do, our current position isn’t exactly dangerous for the moment. Only the satellite phone still works—the maps and everything else have lost signal. So heading further in is our only option; we’ll just have to try our luck.”
“If Du Wanting really encounters danger and perishes in there, we’ll have to bear responsibility too.”
Hearing this, his companion sighed with resignation. “Alright, let’s go in. What bad luck, getting assigned to this kind of task.”
“Stop complaining,” the first officer said. “The mission might be tough, but the reward is considerable.”
“Who knows, maybe with these resources we could break through to the third rank ourselves?”
“If we do, we won’t be just probationary officers anymore. We’ll finally have iron rice bowls—job security for life.”
His colleague sighed again, “Let’s hope so. Once we become official officers, we won’t have to keep running these dangerous operations. We can send others instead.”
“That would be an improvement, I suppose.”
...
“It looks like the fighting over there has finished. Let’s go take a look,” Gao Gen said as he and Wang Qian kept a careful eye on the situation. “It’s been fifteen minutes with no movement.”
Wang Qian nodded in agreement. “Let’s go see what actually happened!”
With not a moment’s hesitation, the two of them dashed toward the scene. In a place like this, even a second of indecision could change everything.
Both experienced veterans, they knew how to handle such situations. Moving at full speed, they arrived at a clearing in no time.
“How can it be this brutal?” Wang Qian was stunned by the scene before him. “Was the battle just now against these creatures?”
The ground beneath their feet was littered with the corpses of monkeys, still radiating warmth. They could tell this had happened only moments ago.
“This must be the work of that expert,” Gao Gen observed. “All these monkeys were killed with a single punch. Each body bears only one wound—the blow shattered their bones outright.”
Wang Qian analyzed the scene: “Some of these are even silver-ranked monsters. There’s no way just the two of us or Chong Di and his companion could have done this. It must have been that master.”
“Incredible, the control over strength,” Gao Gen muttered in awe. “Good thing we were cautious. If we’d disturbed that expert, who knows what would’ve happened?”
Wang Qian echoed his admiration. “That elder must be a warrior by profession. Only warriors could fight with such raw, violent methods.”
“And with this kind of power, I doubt he’s below diamond rank—he could be even higher.”
“To roam the Steel Forest alone, killing so indiscriminately, only a master of that caliber could manage it.”
Suddenly, Wang Qian noticed Gao Gen taking out his knife and carving meat from one of the monkeys. He asked, puzzled, “What are you doing?”
Gao Gen continued slicing, “We lost our provisions earlier. I’m cutting some more now—otherwise, we’ll have nothing to eat tonight.”
Wang Qian’s eyes lit up in realization. “Good idea, I’ll get some too. Who knows when this mission will end—we might be here for a while.”
As the two busied themselves, two sets of footsteps approached.
Instantly, they were on alert.
“Who’s there?”
They snapped into combat stances, eyes fixed warily on the dark edge of the forest.
“Don’t misunderstand, it’s us, just us,” came the reply. It was the police officers, looking disheveled after narrowly escaping a silver-ranked monster.
“Oh, it’s you two.” Seeing it was only the officers, Gao Gen and Wang Qian relaxed—the officers posed no threat.
The police officers were dumbfounded at the carnage, unable to believe it. “Did you two do all this?”
“Not at all,” Wang Qian waved his hands. “Aside from us, there’s another expert in the Steel Forest. He did all this—we’re just picking up the spoils.”
“An expert? Do you know him?” The officer pressed.
“No,” Gao Gen replied bluntly. “Why are you asking so many questions? We’re not your suspects—don’t interrogate us like criminals.”
Realizing his tone was off, the officer apologized, “Sorry. It’s just, lately the word ‘expert’ makes us all nervous. You know what happened in the Diamond Forest—not long ago, two experts fought there.”
“But if you know anything about this Steel Forest master, tell us—we’re offering rewards.”
Wang Qian felt helpless. Once bitten, twice shy—the government of Misty City had become overly cautious.
Gao Gen resumed carving meat. “Even if we wanted to tell you, we know almost nothing. All we can say is the expert is from Yaoguang City.”
“That’s all we know.”
At these words, the officers’ faces darkened. “Are you sure he’s from Yaoguang City?”
“What’s wrong with Yaoguang City?”
The officer replied, his voice tense, “The expert Du Wanting mentioned also claimed to be from Yaoguang City.”
“That can’t be—what are the odds? It can’t be the same person. Besides, from what we’ve seen, he’s a warrior, definitely not a mage.”
Gao Gen frowned deeply.
The police officer began to tremble. “According to Du Wanting’s description, the expert she met was most likely a warrior.”
“With just one punch, he killed a gold-ranked monster—no fancy moves, nothing extra.”
Gao Gen and Wang Qian exchanged stunned glances. “Defeated with a single punch? That matches exactly what we’re seeing here!”