Departure

"Yo, what brings you two here?"

Looking at Chen and Swire standing beside the ride, Roy, blade in hand, greeted them with a smile.

However, neither of their expressions eased. Clearly, they already knew what Roy had just done. As top graduates of criminal investigation and among the Lungmen Guard Department's most professional officers, they naturally understood one thing: the man before them had broken the law.

Yet the two chief inspectors found it hard to arrest him just like that. After all, what he had done benefited Lungmen.

"..."

"Roy, you have violated Lungmen law. Now... I am placing you under arrest."

At that moment, Chen drew the blade hanging at her waist.

Swire's expression turned to surprise at the sight.

"Pink Sausage Dragon, what the hell are you trying to do?!"

"Uphold the dignity of Lungmen law!"

The instant her words fell, Chen moved. The blade in her hand shot straight toward Roy, and at that very moment, Roy smiled faintly.

If Chen had not done this, Roy might have doubted whether she was really Chen. But now, he had no doubts, because in this matter, Chen had remained true to her own style.

At the very least, Chen Huijie was a qualified police officer.

However, as their swords crossed, Roy froze. He had thought Chen would strike with all her strength, but instead, she had gone incredibly easy on him!

As he was distracted, their figures passed each other. In that instant, she slipped something into Roy's bag, and then the two separated.

"We'll be waiting for you to come back at the Guard Department. You will always be a member of the Special Operations Group."

Hearing Chen's words, the astonishment on Roy's face turned into a faint smile. At that moment, he understood.

As he released his sword, Roy's tactical glove, equipped with cut-resistant protection, directly gripped Chen's hilt. With a forceful tug, he seized her blade.

Then Roy struck Chen in the abdomen with the hilt.

"Don't think you can escape! I won't let you go!"

As though she wanted someone to know where she stood, Chen shouted furiously.

As he slid the sword he had taken from her into the standard-issue leather sheath of the Guard Department, Roy looked at Chen with a stern expression.

"Everything I did was just! Don't think you can pin those fabricated charges on me!"

As his words fell, Roy swept the dust from the ground up with his foot. Covered by the cloud of dust, he quickly rushed toward the exit.

When the dust settled, Chen smiled at the empty street. However, that smile vanished after only an instant.

She gripped the sword Roy had discarded in one hand, using it to support herself, while clutching her abdomen with the other and pretending to be injured.

Once the prying gaze had disappeared, Chen stood and walked toward Swire.

"You two—"

"Shh. This isn't the place to talk. Let's pull back to your place first, Char Siu Cat."

As she spoke, Chen directly sat in the passenger seat of Swire's sports car. In the end, Swire could not find anything to argue against. For a moment, the two seemed to have returned to their childhood, when they had gotten along fairly well—at least, they had not addressed each other with Lungmen profanity.

After starting the sports car, Swire immediately turned around and sped toward the city.

Several minutes later, at the exit on the edge of the Longmen Outer Ring.

By the time Roy arrived, several people were already waiting there. Around them lay figures such as mafia members. Judging from the wounds on their bodies, whoever had killed them possessed formidable killing skills.

Clearly, these people wearing bamboo hats and black straw raincoats were the perpetrators behind this. They were also a secret force under Wei Yenwu, one that never appeared in the light.

"By Lord Wei's order, we have prepared the travel funds you will need."

The leader spoke thus.

With his words, the gates of Lungmen's exit slowly opened. Beyond them stood an armored vehicle with its relevant markings removed and its license plates taken off. Through the windows, Roy could see inside. The armored vehicle's interior had been remodeled in the style of a camper. There had to be some spare supplies inside; after all, according to Roy's understanding, it was clearly impossible to cross this land and reach another country without preparing any supplies.

Catching the car keys the man tossed over, Roy passed the Black Cloak Guards and walked toward the armored vehicle. As for whether Wei Yenwu might kill the donkey after it had finished pulling the millstone?

With the Black Cloak Guards' strength, even if Wei planned to do so, Roy would have no way to avoid it. But he believed Wei Yenwu would not use his own forces to kill Roy.

What he wanted was for Roy to leave Lungmen forever. If Roy died out in the wilderness, that would be ideal. Of course, if he did not die, Wei would not pursue the matter either. After all, Roy had rendered merit, hadn't he?

After starting the armored vehicle, Roy sped straight away from Lungmen. As for where his next stop would be, he would decide after looking at the map.

Time slowly passed. After racing through the wilderness at full speed for several hours, Lungmen had become a blur in the distance. At that moment, Roy stopped the armored vehicle.

After finding a fairly detailed map of Terra in the vehicle's toolbox, Roy began to think.

His current location was southwest of Lungmen. Going north would take him to the vast Ursus Empire, which always made Roy think of Rakshasa Country. Going southwest would bring him to the Sarkaz homeland, Kazdel, which was currently mired in civil war. Heading northeast and crossing Lungmen would take him to Higashi, while heading southeast and crossing that desert would allow Roy to enter Great Yan.

Roy first ruled out Higashi. He had already left Lungmen, so naturally he would not turn back. Great Yan was the next to be ruled out—not because it was not a good destination, but because Roy simply did not have enough supplies to cross the desert.

Roy was not an Infected, so Ursus could be considered. However, if he went there from Lungmen, those people would inevitably mistake him for an informant. Great Yan and Ursus had had tense relations these past two years, and although Lungmen had never declared itself to belong to Great Yan, the fact that Wei Yenwu was a member of Great Yan's imperial family revealed where this city belonged. Naturally, Roy would not go to Ursus at a time like this.

At this moment, there was only one direction he could choose: continue southwest, toward that land engulfed in civil war—toward Kazdel.