Combatant (Part Two)

Yan Yongbo had indeed kept his promise. Over the next stretch of time, he followed Captain He and the military's Burning Ones squad through every deck and corner of the Transport Ship, tracking the "Darkside Creature."

The pursuit lasted about half an hour. The "Darkside Creature" even burst out of the vessel at one point, attempting to flee. But in the end, it was surrounded and killed by five Deep Blue Walkers working together. Captain He also got her chance to avenge herself with the killing blow. At last, the chaos aboard the warship subsided.

However, while the chaos was still raging, Ronan's Soul Body had already quietly returned to the Confinement Room.

The heavy metal door shut out the clamor beyond. Inside the Confinement Room, his physical body remained seated, the tip of its pen still resting on the paper, its eyes half-open and half-closed, as though lost in thought.

Ronan had never observed himself from such an angle before. For a moment, he found it utterly strange, and felt as if a lifetime had passed.

But the Burning Demon Shadow no longer had the strength to supply Ronan with energy. Coldness was building inside his Soul Body, causing him extreme discomfort. Ronan did not waste any time and sent his soul back into his body.

The awkward scene he had feared most—passing straight through his body—did not occur. As his soul drew close to his physical form, the boundary between reality and illusion appeared in a blur, manifesting as his Contemplation Graphic—the Regular Tetrahedron and the inscribed and circumscribed spheres within and around it.

The inner sphere enveloped the Five Viscera and Six Bowels, while the Regular Tetrahedron divided the inner and outer boundaries. When his soul touched the outer sphere, it transformed into a faint gleam and entered his body through the crown of his head.

A sense of restraint pressed down on him, yet at the same time, it was as though he had put on a thick suit of armor, making him feel inexplicably safe. The feeling lasted nearly half a minute before fading away, temporarily bringing the miraculous journey of "out-of-body wandering" to an end.

Ronan's body moved. He squeezed the pen shaft and slightly rolled his neck, readjusting to the state of Soul-Flesh Unification.

Judging by the current situation, the body truly was the vessel and armor of the soul. At the very least, its role as a "power plant" was indispensable. As for leaving the body, it was like traveling—without sufficient capital, it was best to be cautious.

In fact, without the Burning Demon Shadow, he really would have to think carefully before attempting to leave his body again.

The Burning Demon Shadow was finished. Not long after Soul-Flesh Unification, it had fallen into a dead end. The successive impacts had far exceeded the limit of what it could bear, and it had encountered the Combatant it feared most. Format Fire fused with a powerful will, dealing it fatal damage.

Of course, it was a pity to lose the Burning Demon Shadow, but compared to his own life, what did it matter?

Ronan took a deep breath. Though his soul had returned to his body, another test still lay before him.

On a level ordinary people could not see, the Dark Heavy Chains were gradually retracting, like a snake withdrawing into a deep hole to hibernate. So far, they had not drawn anyone's attention, but before they had fully retracted, Ronan could not afford the slightest carelessness.

Retracting the Dark Heavy Chains took around ten seconds, but to Ronan, it felt like ten years.

Ronan vaguely sensed some subtle changes in the Dark Heavy Chains, but he had no mood to think about them. Until the chains had fully retracted and fallen into silence together with the Contemplation Graphic, he maintained the posture of drawing with his pen, occasionally sketching lines that even he found inexplicable, silently waiting.

He truly had no idea whether, in the very next second, a Deep Blue Walker would burst through the door and press a gun to his head.

Five minutes passed, and nothing happened. Ronan finally let out a long breath. Looking down at his notebook, he saw that the perfectly good sketch of the Prison Building had been ruined by his unconscious scribbling.

Maybe that was for the best...

Ronan closed the notebook, leaned back in his chair with his head tilted up and his eyes shut, wanting to empty his mind and truly relax for a moment.

But the very next second, a notification tone sounded, and the metal door slid open amid a sizzling electric hum.

Ronan's eyes flew open, and he nearly sprang up. But after stiffening for a moment, he slowly relaxed. He sat upright, putting on a confused expression as he looked toward the doorway.

As for whether he looked convincing... who knew?

The moment Ronan saw the person at the door, he felt relieved. It was not a Deep Blue Walker, nor was it any fully armed combat personnel. It was the captain officer who had brought him here earlier.

"You. Come with me."

The captain officer's tone was fairly calm as he gestured for Ronan to follow. Ronan did not think any further about it. He rose and followed, boarding a transfer vehicle with the officer and entering the internal transit line.

Inside the fully enclosed vehicle, Ronan remained silent throughout. He had always been introverted and taciturn. If no one else took the initiative to speak, he could sit like this for an entire day without issue.

In the end, it was the captain officer who had to explain, "The police have already boarded the ship, and questioning will begin shortly. You're a minor, so there are a lot of procedures. You'll meet with a lawyer now and make some preparations."

"A lawyer?" Ronan found that a little strange. "One you hired for me?"

"Nothing to do with the military," the captain officer replied simply.

At that moment, the transfer vehicle arrived at another section of the warship. This area had already been set up. Ronan gave it a cursory glance and saw interrogation rooms, waiting rooms, analysis rooms, and all sorts of sampling and analytical equipment. The whole setup looked highly professional.

Most of the people active in this area were not wearing the Aerospace Force's common gray uniforms, but the black uniforms of the Xia City police.

The captain officer did not stop, leading Ronan to a room in the corner of the area. He knocked, pushed the door open, and gestured for Ronan to enter.

The room was somewhat noisy.

A woman in a professional skirt suit leaned against the edge of a table, her head lowered as she fiddled with the flexible screen in her hands.

The flexible screen's AR effects were clearly turned up to the maximum. Human figures and beast-like forms emerged from the display, leaping and running amid dazzling light effects, while the sound effects were equally startling...

At the very least, the beasts' howls sounded rather chilling.

Ronan recognized it. This was Wilderness Ten Days, the phenomenon-level mobile game popular around the world.

"Hold on, this stage is really hard."

Without even lifting her head, the professionally dressed woman casually greeted him, then jabbed her fingers rapidly at the flexible screen...

The absurd sight made even the captain officer who had brought Ronan in twitch at the corner of his eye.

Ronan did not mind. He nodded once more to the captain officer, then walked straight inside.

Wilderness Ten Days really was extremely difficult. In the time it took him to cross just a few steps, the game character had already been swallowed by an Aberrant Species.

The "professional woman" sighed, then raised her face. A smile bloomed across her beautiful, youthful features. "Hello, you're Ronan, right? I'm the lawyer Young Master Xie hired, Zhang Yingying."

"Xie Junping..." Ronan was not surprised by the answer in the slightest. Or rather, he had been waiting for this outcome all along. It seemed that useless bastard had not disappointed him after all.