Chapter Ninety-Six: Fierce Battle

A jewelry shop on a corner of Rai Street.

The proprietor was a gaunt middle-aged man. At that moment he was peering through a microscope, studying the composition of a gemstone. After a long while, he set it down and said to the two young men before him, who had different skin tones, “Eight thousand.”

“What? Hey, boss, take a good look at this piece. If it were sold in a proper jewelry market, it would fetch at least thirty thousand U.S. dollars!” Stanny said, eyes wide.

The boss bared his yellow teeth, lit a cigarette, and said, “Eight thousand five hundred. Not a cent more. Don’t forget, this is the black market, and this stone didn’t come by honest means. No one but me would dare take it. I have cause to call the police!”

Ever since Stanny had followed Chen Cao and seen his skill with his own eyes, he had grown much bolder. His face darkened. “Are you threatening me?”

“All right, Stanny. Eight thousand five hundred for both. Deal.” Chen Cao stopped him and handed over the other gemstone.

Clatter-clatter, the boss counted the money through the bill counter, then said with a smile, “Sir, if you ever have good merchandise again, do remember this little shop!”

“Bastard!” Stanny cursed bitterly.

“People say that about me all the time,” the boss said, still smiling.

“Stanny, go book the tickets. We’re leaving the country at once. When we get back, we’ll investigate the whereabouts of the map coordinates!” Chen Cao handed Stanny a thick wad of cash. He knew that with tickets, documents, and all those small complications, the cunning Stanny would surely find a way. Besides, in Husum, if you had money, there was nothing you could not do.

“Don’t worry, boss!” Stanny grinned, took the money, and vanished into the crowd.

Chen Cao looked down the long street. It seemed he would have to prepare as well. This whole trip had left him at every turn at a disadvantage. Once Mei Mei was settled abroad, those beasts would surely meet a miserable end. Thinking of that, Chen Cao turned and disappeared into the crowd.

“Boss, two sets of clothes. Yes, yes, this size!” Inside the clothing shop, Chen Cao did not even glance at the racks. Estimating Mei Mei’s measurements, he simply told the shopkeeper to wrap them up. Seeing such a generous customer, the owner hurriedly packed the clothes with gleeful efficiency.

Ever since Mei Mei had arrived in Husum, she had worn only a hospital gown. Bringing a few extra sets of clothing would not be wrong, Chen Cao thought. It seemed he would also need to stock up on essentials, as well as ammunition and weapons. Stanny would need proper training too. Clever as he was, his combat ability was far too poor. Since they were going to be fighting for the long haul, they had to prepare thoroughly. Of course, he could not ask his family for money; that would only bring trouble upon them. If he wanted funds, he would have to earn them.

More than ten thousand U.S. dollars was not much, but it was enough for Chen Cao to obtain everything he needed in Husum.

“Hey, miss, what are you doing? Come out at once, the customer still needs to change clothes!” The shopkeeper shouted toward the fitting room when he saw a blonde woman rush in in a panic.

Chen Cao saw it too, but he had no time to mind such affairs. Yet the voices drifting in from the street outside made every muscle in his body tighten, instantly alert. He slipped behind a mannequin and hid himself.

“Hmm? She got away?” came a low voice.

“Hmph. It looks like nothing has gone smoothly since we arrived in Husum. Let’s keep looking. If this lead goes cold, Number One will skin us alive!” another, sly and mocking voice replied.

Chen Cao opened one eye and covertly watched two figures in robes, their faces obscured, speaking in the shadows. That voice was very familiar to him. It was the same voice as the bald woman he had fought several times before.

“Hey, you come out! What are you doing in there? Out, out!” The shopkeeper had already gone into the fitting room and was dragging the blonde woman back out.

“What are they after? Looks like this has something to do with that blonde woman,” Chen Cao thought. He took the already wrapped clothes, turned, and was preparing to leave. He had no intention of meddling.

But the blonde woman suddenly threw herself at Chen Cao’s leg, her tear-filled face looking up at him pitifully. “Please, I’m being hunted. Save me!”

“Go on, go on. Sorry about that, boss!” The shopkeeper greatly admired Chen Cao’s largesse and, while apologizing, kept tugging at the blonde woman. For a moment, the owner’s shouting and the woman’s pleas rang through the entire clothing shop.

At that moment, with Chen Cao caught in the middle, he realized the two outside were now standing at the doorway. Their eyes, half hidden by the cloth over their faces, were already fixed upon him with greedy intent.

“Empress, it seems we’ve stumbled into a windfall. Two birds, one stone!” laughed a black-robed voice in that sly, twisted tone.

“Of course, Evil Lord. Our luck is not that bad,” the deep female voice sneered. As she spoke, her figure flashed forward and entered the shop.

At the same time, the black-robed figure with the mockingly twisted voice reached out and slammed the shop door shut.

“What are you doing? What are you people doing…?” The shopkeeper had been running a business in Rai for many years and was a local to boot. Though the underworld in Rai was full of thugs, he had never imagined anyone would be this brazen, shutting his shop door right in his face.

But when the two in front of him threw back their robes, he could no longer make a sound.

Chen Cao!

The Six-Winged Empress touched the snake tattoo on her bald head and said with a smile, in stiff Great Chen speech, “We have crossed blades several times. Today, let us speak properly at last. It seems I had always underestimated you. So you are one of the elite among the elite, a student who deserted from the Great Chen army’s finest unit!”

Chen Cao’s hand moved behind his waist to rest on the hilt of his blade. In a cold voice he said, “How do you know my name? Who told you?”

Heh. The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord opened his lipstick-painted mouth in a grin. “You need not worry about that. By the end of today, you will be a corpse. What a disappointment. If I weren’t in such a hurry, I’d have liked to watch you slowly tormented to death. All these years, our organization has suffered plenty at the hands of 0611.”

“Hmph, the two of you?” Chen Cao’s feet began to shift slowly. To be honest, he could not accurately gauge the strength of the two before him. Besides, Mei Mei’s treatment was urgent. He wanted revenge very badly, but the situation had changed. The best outcome now was to withdraw safely.

The blonde woman looked on, wide-eyed and bewildered, tears still trembling in her green eyes. Clearly, she could not understand a word of the exchange.

By then, the shopkeeper had already taken out his phone and dialed the police. Just as the first ringing tone of the connection sounded, a crack came from his wrist as the bone broke. Then the mouth that had been opening to cry out was clamped shut.

“I say, boss, couldn’t you have been a little more obedient? Must you make me leave behind such a mangled corpse?” The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord covered the shopkeeper’s mouth and lightly drew a blade across his throat. The shopkeeper clutched at his neck, dropped to his knees with a heavy thud, and blood seeped through his fingers. A wet gurgling sound rose from his throat.

Such is accident. People are always trying to avoid it, yet they never escape it.

The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord flicked the blade from his hand and laughed softly. “What bad luck. Now I’ve got another corpse to deal with.”

The blonde woman covered her mouth and stared at the shopkeeper, his hand pressed to his throat, his eyes bulging as life left him. She could hardly believe a life had vanished before her eyes so abruptly.

Chen Cao watched coldly. His expression was utterly unmoved by the loss of a life. He knew that the real battle would begin now. At such times, if one could not preserve one’s life, then nothing else mattered.

Seeing Chen Cao’s calm face, the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s eyelid twitched slightly. A razor-sharp blade appeared in his hand. “As expected of someone from an elite unit. Do you know how valuable you are? I spent five hundred thousand U.S. dollars just gathering information on you. But I know that if I take you out, I’ll gain another chance. That money was not wasted, because your price on the black market is five million. It’s a pity you offended Number One; otherwise I really would have pulled you into the organization.”

“So there really is an insider,” Chen Cao thought. “But they’ve only uncovered my identity as a defector. My true purpose should be known only to a handful of elite instructors, and those men are absolutely loyal to the country. So why am I worth so much?” He said nothing, only tightened his grip on the dagger as he searched for a way out.

The Six-Winged Empress touched the tattoo on her bare scalp and said, “Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord, enough nonsense. We don’t have much time. The police will be here soon. Move!”

“All right!” As he spoke, a blade flew from the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s mouth. A flash of cold light flickered. Chen Cao yanked at the clothes hanging on the wall behind him, and with a twist of his arm and a sweep of his hand, he deflected the blade. Just as he let out the slightest breath in his mind, another blade came flying in, straight for his skull.

“Hmph, hmph. You think that’s all I can do?” The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s previously frivolous gaze suddenly sharpened.

Chen Cao’s heart jolted. Instinctively he tilted his head. The blade skimmed his earlobe, slicing clean through it. A piercing pain shot straight into his brain. He did not pause. He lunged directly at the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord, and in the blink of an eye he was beside him. Blade gleaming, arm sweeping, his knife thrust toward the man’s throat.

In a flash, there came a sharp ring. The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord had not budged; his dagger had collided with something, enough to numb Chen Cao’s arm.

The attack failed. Chen Cao immediately leaned his body backward, pressed the tip of his foot against the ground, and retreated to the wall. In that instant he saw it clearly: at some point, a thin curved knife had appeared in the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s hand.

“All right, I’ve let you have three moves. Now it’s time for us to get down to business.” The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord covered the curved blade and slowly walked toward Chen Cao, his eyes full of contempt.

A wise man does not take unnecessary risks. Retreat! Chen Cao had already spotted the opening as the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord approached. Pressing his body tight against the wall, he gathered his strength, ready to strike.

Hmph, the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord remained oblivious, still strolling forward. The little shop was only a dozen square meters. In just a few steps, he had already closed to within a short distance of Chen Cao.

Heh… Chen Cao drove his foot hard into the floor and shot straight at him. As he leaped, the dagger in his other hand slid into place. This was a move he had learned from Guo Qianshuang, meant for breaking through encirclement. But if he failed to break through, then he would die fighting.

He had never expected that the technique meant for surviving a battlefield swarming with thousands of troops would be used against a single man like the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord.

“Hmph, good. Come on then!” The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord brandished the curved knife, eyes wide, and charged directly at Chen Cao.

Chen Cao still said nothing. His speed did not diminish in the least as he flew toward the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord, when suddenly everything before his eyes blurred.

A faint smile rose at the corner of the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s mouth. With a twist of his wrist, the body of the curved blade suddenly split. He turned it forcefully, and the separated edge began to spin.

Damn it, I’ve been tricked!

The thought flashed through Chen Cao’s mind as he surged past, tilting his head to one side. As soon as his foot touched down, he pushed off again and shot toward the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s flank.

It all happened in an instant. Too fast. None of the people present could see clearly what had occurred. Chen Cao had not moved. The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord had not moved.

The blonde woman was stunned, but the instinct for survival had not left her. Silently, she began to crawl on all fours toward the back door of the shop.

Ah!

As she crawled, the blonde woman let out a shrill scream.

The Six-Winged Empress had seized her by the hair and said coldly, “Little tart, did you think I was invisible? Our business is not finished yet!”

With that, she yanked hard on the blonde woman’s hair and slammed her head into the wall, showing no mercy whatsoever.

With a dull thud, the blonde woman, apparently of fragile constitution, gave a muffled groan and fell unconscious.

Chen Cao did not dare move. His dagger remained in hand. Blood beads dripped one by one from the blade’s tip onto the floor. Just now, the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord’s split blade had severed the joint of Chen Cao’s arm, the wound deep enough to reveal bone. But Chen Cao knew the Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord had fared no better. In the turn of his body, he had driven the dagger into the man’s lower abdomen and then pulled it free.

“Evil Lord, are you all right?” The Six-Winged Empress watched as he clutched his stomach, blood surging through the cracks between his fingers.

“Don’t mind me. Kill that bastard. He’s got no strength left to fight back!” The Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord gritted his teeth against the pain in his abdomen and dared not move recklessly. He knew that the more he moved, the faster he would bleed out. He hurriedly told the Six-Winged Empress to finish the target first. He understood very clearly that his advantage was that Chen Cao was alone, whereas they were two, and both of them were experts.

Flame King 96, The Complete Flame King Free Reading, Chapter Ninety-Six: Fierce Battle. Update complete!