Chapter 66: Settling In (Part 1)

Chapter 66: Settling In (Part 1)

The entire battle, from start to finish, lasted no more than seven or eight seconds before the outcome was decisively settled. Cold weapon combat was inherently brutal and perilous—unlike unarmed fighting, where one could continue brawling even with a bruised face and swollen eyes. This kind of battle was a matter of life and death in the blink of an eye.

After having his abdomen sliced open, the black-suited man couldn’t die immediately. He knelt on the ground, his longsword already discarded, his hands trembling violently as he desperately stuffed his intestines back into his body, his face twisted with terror and despair.

"Still got the guts to act tough now?" Chen Shouyi walked over and kicked the sword beside him away, preventing any last-ditch counterattack.

The black-suited man raised his head, his blood-flecked lips parting as if to speak, only to suddenly vomit a mouthful of blood.

"Shouyi, what are you doing? Do you need help?" Chen Mu asked anxiously.

Completely focused during the fight, Chen Shouyi hadn’t noticed when his parents and sister had gotten out of the car. He immediately looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Uh, it’s pretty bloody over here. Don’t come any closer. I’ll be right back."

He quickly abandoned his theatrics, his longsword flashing as it swiftly slit the man’s throat.

Blood sprayed from the carotid artery like a breeze rustling through bamboo.

Then, he turned his attention to the arrows embedded in the car.

The arrows bore his fingerprints, which could potentially expose his identity.

Out of caution, Chen Shouyi decided to retrieve them.

He glanced at his clothes, now riddled with cuts from narrowly dodging the black-suited man’s sword strikes during the fight. Fortunately, his body remained unharmed.

He stripped off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand.

Within moments, he had collected every arrow lodged in the car and the corpses.

There had been four attackers in total. Aside from the black-suited man, who was a Martial Artist, and the two he had killed earlier, there had been one more in the back seat.

However, before that man could even make a move, an arrow had pierced through the front seat and struck his chest, silencing him for good.

On his way back, Chen Shouyi spotted the longsword he had kicked away earlier and picked it up, then found its discarded scabbard by the roadside.

Throughout the entire ordeal, not a single car had passed by.

By now, Chen Dawei had already changed the tire and shouted at Chen Shouyi, "Hurry, get in the car! We need to leave!"

Once Chen Shouyi had gathered all the weapons and climbed back into the car, it immediately sped off, Chen Dawei flooring the accelerator as the vehicle shot forward like an arrow from a bow.

"Shouyi… you’re not hurt, are you?" Chen Mu asked nervously, catching the faint scent of blood in the car.

"Don’t worry, Mom. It’s all their blood. I’m completely fine."

"That’s good, that’s good. My heart was in my throat the whole time I watched you fighting that man." This time, Chen Mu didn’t even mention the killings. Wasn’t it obvious? If her son hadn’t killed them, he and the entire family would be dead.

After that, the car fell into silence.

After all, something so major had happened, and so many people had been killed. Such a tremendous psychological shock wasn’t something one could simply shrug off so easily.

For ordinary people like Chen Mu and Chen Dawei, they probably couldn’t even imagine in their wildest dreams that one day their entire family would be hunted down. Though the immediate threat had been resolved, their son had ended up killing someone.

...

Chen Shouyi sat in the back seat, holding the black-suited man’s longsword and examining it carefully.

The sword was about 10 cm longer than his own, nearly 1.1 meters in length, gleaming coldly as if coated with a layer of translucent grease.

He had seen such high-end swords on e-commerce sites specializing in cold weapons.

The greasy-looking layer on its surface was actually a high-strength nano-hardened film.

This nano-hardened film was several times harder than diamond, yet lacked the brittleness of diamond.

Not only was this sword incredibly sharp—capable of slicing through hair—but it was also impervious to corrosion and required no maintenance. He had seen similar swords in the second-hand weapons market, where the lowest price was at least 300,000 yuan, while a brand-new one would cost over 500,000 yuan.

He cautiously ran his finger along the sharp blade and found that despite the numerous clashes during the earlier battle, not a single nick remained on the edge.

In contrast, his own sword was already riddled with jagged notches, the deepest of which was nearly a centimeter deep. If the fight had lasted longer or if the blade had been thinner, it might have snapped outright.

Had the sword broken during combat, the outcome could have been very different.

Fortunately, that hadn’t happened.

Reluctantly, he sheathed the sword again.

Now, this blade belonged to him.

...

After driving for over ten minutes, they gradually approached Pingqiu City.

Like Dongning City, Pingqiu was a small city, but it was far more developed, with thriving industries and bustling commerce. Its permanent population exceeded a million.

At least, that was the case in the past.

...

"Dad, don’t head into the city. Is there a town up ahead?"

"Yes, yes! Changmen Town is just ahead. I’ve been there a few times before!"

"Don’t go straight in. Find a secluded spot to stop for now."

Small towns were ideal for temporary stays—unlike rural areas with their sparse, easily noticeable population changes, and unlike cities with their strict management and patrol officers everywhere.

Chen Dawei didn’t ask further. After everything they’d been through, he no longer saw his son as a child.

The car turned onto a remote side road and stopped after another minute of driving.

Fields stretched on both sides, about a kilometer or two from the town center.

"I think we should avoid looking for a hotel. Let’s just rough it in the car tonight and find a place to stay tomorrow," Chen Dawei said worriedly.

They were now murderers. The thought of brazenly checking into a hotel was too much for him—if the police stopped them, he feared he’d give himself away.

Just as Chen Mu was about to agree, Chen Shouyi immediately vetoed the idea:

"No. Our car has bullet wounds. The police will notice something’s wrong at a glance!

Take the money and essential luggage, then abandon the car immediately. Also, remove the license plate and discard it somewhere else."

Chen Shouyi wasn’t sure how deeply the cult had infiltrated local forces, but caution never hurt.

"But..." Chen Mu still hesitated, reluctant to part with the car.

Chen Dawei immediately snapped to attention: "Our son is right. Why care about material possessions at a time like this? As long as our family is safe and sound, that's all that matters!"

Just then, Chen Xingyue suddenly burst into tears, her emotions spiraling out of control:

"Waaah... It's all my fault... all my fault! If I hadn't run away back then, I wouldn’t have dragged you all into this, making everyone live in fear."

Chen Shouyi found his sister’s naive thinking both exasperating and amusing. He quickly reassured her, "Don’t be silly. If someone’s trying to kill you, are you just going to stretch out your neck and let them? Besides, you’re my sister. Even if you died, do you think I’d let them get away with it?"

"That’s right, what kind of nonsense are you thinking, child? Family sticks together through thick and thin. There’s no such thing as ‘dragging others down.’ If you died, your old man here would gnash his teeth to the bone just to take a bite out of them!"

"Why are you all talking about death? Xingyue, don’t you dare overthink things!"

Chen Xingyue hurriedly wiped her tears, but the more she tried, the more they flowed, unstoppable.

...

After a full ten minutes or so, the four of them finally stepped out of the car, carrying their belongings. Chen Xingyue’s eyes were still red and swollen.

"Wait, Dad, hand me the lighter," Chen Shouyi said.

Chen Dawei was puzzled but still passed it over.

Chen Shouyi took it and climbed back into the car. By the time he emerged, wisps of smoke were already seeping from the windows.

Under everyone’s stunned gazes, he returned the lighter to Chen Dawei and said, "Better safe than sorry. Let’s move fast—getting caught by the police would be disastrous."