The Magician stopped holding back and unleashed his ability at full power. His bones crackled throughout his body. Just as he had said, he would face the collapse of the faith he had once held in his strongest state.
The car finally emerged from the tunnel.
But it slowed to a stop in the middle of the road, as if it had lost control.
Across from it stood a line of armored vehicles, arranged in tight formation to seal off the entire road. Soldiers armed to the teeth were stationed all around them.
Farther ahead, several dark cannon muzzles pointed this way from a ditch by the roadside. Several tanks draped in camouflage netting and covered with weeds and shrubs lay quietly in wait.
The commander waved, and several soldiers approached. They didn't rashly try to open the car door. Instead, one of them knocked on the driver's-side window.
The others gripped their guns tightly, their faces tense.
The window soon rolled down, revealing a man's face. "Is something wrong?"
Chen Ran's unnaturally calm manner left the inspecting soldier at a loss. "Hello. There's a military exercise up ahead, and you can't go through. Please show us your identification. We need to check it."
"Is this your friend?" The soldier bent down slightly and stared at the person in the passenger seat. He was sitting in a strange position, slumped against the seat with a black cloak covering his head. One hand hung motionless beside the seat, and half of a broken cane lay across his knees.
"What's he doing? Why won't he show his face?" The soldier grew wary.
Just as the soldiers raised their guns, ready to conduct a forced search, a command seemed to come through the earpieces they wore. The leading soldier froze, then gave Chen