High Martial Arts: Invincible Starts from Basic Archery
Chapter 197 - 196: Waiting for My Good News (Please Subscribe)

Chapter 197: Chapter 196: Waiting for My Good News (Please Subscribe)

The next moment, Song Hailong felt a cold gaze fall upon him.

Trapped between a wolf in front and a tiger behind.

Following the words of this masked man might give a slim chance of survival, but violating them would spell doom immediately.

He gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and mustered the courage to say, "Lord Guan, I, I have some very bad news to tell you. You, you’d better be prepared."

"What?"

The middle-aged man’s voice dropped, spitting out a single word.

"Speak."

"Your, your brother, Captain Guan Dexi, he, he’s dead."

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

But Chen Fan knew it was the calm before the storm.

Song Hailong’s body trembled uncontrollably, but he still managed to cast a bitter smile at Chen Fan, as if to say, Little brother, I am really walking on a knife’s edge for you, you better let me go afterwards.

"What did you say?"

After a brief silence, a voice filled with anger erupted from the other end of the phone, "Song Hailong, do you know what you just said? I’ll give you one more chance to organize your words."

Song Hailong was so scared that snot and tears overflowed. A dead person couldn’t come back to life, so no matter how many chances he got to organize his words, it was useless.

"Hmm?"

"Lord, Lord Guan, I didn’t want to tell you this either, but this morning, someone found Captain Guan’s body in a residential building. I confirmed multiple times, it is indeed Captain Guan’s body. Lord Guan, every word I say is true, I dare not tell a lie."

He said, crying and snuffling.

"This guy, his acting is truly remarkable. The body was obviously found last night, but his lies sound as real as the truth." A cold glint flashed in Chen Fan’s eyes, strengthening his resolve to eliminate the problem completely.

"Song! Hai! Long!"

The man on the phone roared, giving the impression of a volcanic eruption.

"Tell me again!!! Whose body is it!!!"

With a "thud,"

Song Hailong knelt on the ground in fear, continuously kowtowing and pleading for mercy, "Lord Guan, I didn’t want this to happen either, I really didn’t, Lord Guan, spare my life, spare my life!"

He was truly terrified.

One can imagine, if he had directly brought the body over early this morning, he might have been torn apart in a fit of rage by Guan Dehua.

"Lord Guan, every word I say is true, Lord Guan..."

The other side suddenly fell silent. After a moment, a voice filled with bone-chilling coldness rang out again.

"Fine, I understand. Now, tell me, who killed him? Where is the murderer? Have you captured them?"

"N-no."

Song Hailong stammered, "The body has already decomposed. It’s been three days since he was murdered. The killer has long since escaped, and the scene left no traces. Lord Guan, I’ve really tried my best, Lord Guan."

"Good, good, Song Hailong, you did a fantastic job."

Guan Dehua said, laughing in rage, "My brother, my own brother, died in your place, three days ago, the body already decomposed by the time you found it,

now three days have passed, and you still don’t know who the killer is, fine, I get it. I will come over now, you better stay put. If I find you’re not there when I arrive, even if you escape to the ends of the earth, I’ll find you and tear you limb from limb!"

After he finished speaking, the line went dead.

Song Hailong was drenched in sweat, as if he had just come out of the water.

He gave a miserable smile to Chen Fan and said, "Little brother, you have ruined me. Did you hear what he just said? Even if I escape to the ends of the earth, he won’t let me go; he will tear me limb from limb."

"Sorry."

Chen Fan sighed softly,

then a flash of the knife.

"You, you..."

Song Hailong covered his neck, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Why, why?

It was agreed that if he got the job done, he’d be let go.

"Dying by my hand is better than being captured by Guan Dehua and being torn limb from limb. At least, it’s not as painful," said Chen Fan slowly.

"Splurt!"

Blood spurted out of Song Hailong’s mouth as he fell to the ground, motionless. It was unclear whether he died from suffocation or rage.

Chen Fan put away his dagger and looked into the distance.

Soon, a limping figure approached.

"Xiaofan, are you okay?"

The person was none other than Zhang Ren.

He had arrived earlier than Chen Fan, and thus had witnessed the events unfold. Although he wanted to intervene, when he saw Chen Fan subtly shaking his head, he stayed put.

"I’m fine, Uncle Zhang."

Chen Fan took off his mask.

Zhang Ren breathed a sigh of relief.

He then looked at Chen Fan with a complicated expression.

Instinct told him that in just a few days, Chen Fan had become even stronger, especially judging by the way he dealt with the guards earlier, with a speed so fast that Zhang Ren couldn’t even see clearly.

One could imagine if they fought in earnest, he wouldn’t be able to last a single round against Chen Fan.

"Xiaofan, what exactly is going on? Are these people from Song Family Castle? What about them?"

"Uncle Zhang, to make a long story short, the fact that I killed Guan Dexi has been exposed. These people from Song Family Castle came because of that. Many people in Song Family Castle know about this, and it’s only a matter of time before the Awakened in Anshan City find out too,

So, I had this guy call Guan Dexi’s brother, Guan Dehua. If all goes well, it won’t be long before he comes to Song Family Castle with his people."

Chen Fan quickly explained.

"Xiaofan, you, you?"

Zhang Ren’s heart jumped to his throat.

So, what was Chen Fan planning to do next?

"Yes, I plan to face him head-on."

Chen Fan gave him a small smile, "Don’t worry, I am now a Meridian Refining Martial Artist."

"Mer, Meridian Refining!"

Zhang Ren’s mouth dropped open. Although he had been somewhat prepared, hearing these words from Chen Fan still left him utterly shocked.

He had witnessed Chen Fan’s meteoric rise from the Body Tempering Realm to becoming a Meridian Refining Martial Artist.

"That’s all for now. There isn’t much time left."

Chen Fan put his mask back on, picked up his longbow, and said, "Don’t worry about me, Uncle Zhang. Since I am doing this, I am absolutely confident. Go back and wait for my good news. By the way, keep what happened here a secret from my father and the others."

With that, he vanished from sight.

"Xiaofan, be careful."

Zhang Ren’s eyes moistened as he looked in the direction where Chen Fan had disappeared, filled with reluctance.

C-level Awakened were the most formidable beings in Anshan City, each extremely difficult to deal with, especially Guan Dexi, who controlled martial artists as if it was child’s play.

Therefore, besides himself, he had a loyal following of Entry Force Martial Artists.

Was Chen Fan alone really a match for him?

He clenched his fist, contemplating whether he should follow. After a moment, he released it, realizing that he would only be a burden if he went along.

Perhaps, he could only pray for success.

In the Chen Family Fortress.

On the watchtower, two or three figures peered into the distance through a telescope without blinking.

Unfortunately, the telescope’s range was limited; beyond the endless wilderness, there was nothing else.

"Zhang Ren has been gone for so long; do you think something happened to him?" someone asked worriedly from behind the door.

"No, Old Zhang is the best among us. He’s so cautious; how could anything happen to him?"

"Exactly, just wait here a bit, he’ll be back soon."

They comforted each other.

"I see him! He’s back!"

Just then, a joyful voice rang out from the watchtower.

"Is Zhang Ren okay? Is he injured?" Chen Guodong asked anxiously.

"No, he looks the same as before, heading to the gate now."

As soon as these words fell, a figure appeared at the gate.

Upon seeing Zhang Ren return safely, Chen Guodong, Gu Jianghai, and the others breathed a sigh of relief and gathered around.

"Old Zhang, what about it? Was the cannon fire from our old village?"

Seeing the concern in their eyes, Zhang Ren recalled Chen Fan’s words before he left, and shook his head with a smile, "I heard it wrong earlier. The cannon was fired by the guards at Song Family Castle during target practice. The targets were close to us, so it sounded louder."

"So that’s how it is."

"Thank goodness, I thought someone was using cannons to attack our Chen Family Stronghold."

"Exactly, what kind of grudge would lead to that? We were just discussing that if we hadn’t moved, we’d be doomed now."

"Ha ha ha, turns out it was a false alarm. I’ll go call everyone back," Wei Tianyuan said eagerly.

"Everyone, let’s go together," Wei Tiangong laughed.

"Hmm."

Zhang Ren nodded, sighing inwardly.

Actually, whether he called everyone out or not, the result would be the same.

If Chen Fan won, everyone would be happy. If Chen Fan lost, and the Awakened came to investigate, hiding wouldn’t help anyone.

Of course, there was no need to tell the people in the stronghold about this; it would only cause unnecessary panic.

"Old Zhang, are you hiding something from us?" Wei Tiangong suddenly asked on the way back.

Chen Guodong and the others were taken aback.

"Brother, how did you notice?" Wei Tianyuan asked in confusion.

"Didn’t you notice his red eyes?"

Wei Tiangong turned around and asked.

"It does seem like it," Gu Jianghai frowned.

"Does that mean, it’s not as he said?"

"What’s really going on? Why would he hide it from us? We’re all close here, is there anything he can’t tell us?" They couldn’t help but ask.

"I don’t know, maybe he has his reasons."

Wei Tiangong smiled bitterly, "But no matter what, he definitely won’t harm us. Let’s just do as he said."

"..."

They were stunned for a moment but eventually nodded.