Chapter 559 Blockade
Chen Bitong was silent for a moment, then said, "We can have a good talk now. This place is just right."
The two people were standing at the dividing line between the two sides, so there was no need to worry about anyone interrupting or hearing their conversation.
Chen Chuan said: "I'm listening."
Chen Bitong looked at him seriously and said, "Captain Chen, you have a bright future. I didn't want to involve you in this matter, but you convinced me with your strength."
He leaned forward on the spear and looked ahead at the rift.
"I've been guarding the World Ring for twenty years, and I can't remember how many times I've resisted external attacks. In those early years, I had a bad temper, and I considered myself a principled person. I was very strict with my subordinates, unwilling to make friends with the powerful and superiors, and my relationship with my colleagues was not harmonious.
At that time, I stubbornly believed that as a soldier, it was enough for me to fulfill my guard duty.
My two children admired me very much, so they applied to military academies one after another. They were also very talented and entered the third limit at the age of 18 and 19 respectively. They graduated early and joined the Defense Department, guarding the World Ring with me.
But... they also died there in the end."
Chen Chuan said slowly: "I've heard of it."
Chen Bitong reached out and fumbled around, then pulled out two wooden figures, Little Swallow and Little Tiger. "They gave me these when they were five years old. These two figures are their names."
Chen Chuan took a look and saw two rows of small characters engraved on each of them, namely "Chen Xiaohu" and "Chen Xiaoyan". The two animal wood carvings were very childlike and it was obvious that they were carved by two pairs of tender little hands.
Chen Bitong stroked the pair of wooden sculptures and said slowly, "They weren't injured at the time, but were contaminated by something from the other side. After I heard about it, I rushed to the rear.
The officer there told me that anyone infected with this thing will inevitably be controlled by a certain entity on the other side. There's currently no way to deal with it, and there's a certain chance it could spread to others. He hopes I can find a way to deal with it as soon as possible. If I can't do it, I can ask the Defense Department to do it for me."
He said in a low voice, "After Xiaoyan and Xiaohu learned about this, they didn't want to see their father in trouble, so when I came back, they left a letter and turned back to the battlefield..."
Chen Chuan didn't say anything, just listened silently.
"I remember the letter said: Dad, you have always been a hero in our hearts. We admire you and we are proud of you. We hope you can be proud of us too."
Chen Bitong's eyes moistened slightly as he spoke. He then took a deep breath and carefully placed the wooden sculpture back against his body, pressing it with care. Even during the most intense moment of the battle, even when he seemed to have become another person, he had not allowed the two wooden sculptures to suffer any damage.
He sat there, muttering, "After I went back that time, I changed Xiaojing's name to Xiaojin..."
He paused, took a breath, and then abruptly changed the subject: "Later, when I was guarding the World Ring, I encountered many similar incidents, including many of my comrades who had fought alongside me for a long time. The advice from the rear was to deal with it as soon as possible, or to send someone to supervise the handling.
Therefore, most of the team members who were infected asked their teammates to take care of their families and then rushed to the front line.
We always thought that this was the correct way to deal with it, until one time, a young officer who followed his superiors to the front line for inspection was also infected with this thing, but his superiors did not deal with it in this way. Instead, he was sent to the rear for treatment overnight.
Two months later, I saw him at a celebration party. He was chatting and laughing with others, and his military rank was promoted one level.
I asked someone to check his file. His so-called merit was that he was infected with this thing this time. It was said that he almost died fighting on the front line. In fact, he was on the front line for less than three hours and did not get out of the car the whole time.
I later learned that this man was the son of a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Defense, and his mother's family seemed to be of even higher status.
Later, I conducted some research and learned through various channels that the infection wasn't completely incurable. What was needed was specially approved medication from above. These medications were held by certain individuals, who kept them secret from those below them and used them only to treat those they deemed in need.
Chen Chuan then asked, "So, what you're doing now, Teacher Chen, is it revenge for your comrades and your children?"
Chen Bitong shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I have been a soldier all my life. I have duties that I need to abide by. Xiaoyan and Xiaohu are also soldiers. Now that they are on the battlefield, they must be prepared to face all kinds of situations. I will not resent anyone for this, or seek revenge on anyone.
And taking revenge on these people won't really solve the problem.
Yes, I might be able to kill all these people, or perhaps at the cost of my life I could take away all those who concealed the situation at the time, but so what?
After I and these people die, nothing will change because of my actions. Everything will remain the same as it was before, and what was supposed to happen will continue to happen."
At this point, his voice became slow, deep, and powerful. "It will only be meaningful if the change is large enough, large enough to affect Central City, the entire Dashun, or even the entire world."
Chen Chuan looked at him and felt that what he was trying to do might be very complicated.
“There are some things in this world that originally belong to everyone, but some people use their power to hold them tightly in their hands and make them their exclusive property.”
Chen Bitong raised his head and said, "Captain Chen, you are already standing at the door to a higher limit. It's not far away. However, if you want to break through that limit, in addition to what I just said, drawing power from the other end to cleanse yourself, you actually need something else.
In the past, when the two worlds were attracting each other, whether in a period of change or a period of silence, this kind of thing was not difficult to find for old-time fighters who had reached their limits.
But now it’s different.”
He spoke solemnly, "These things are now strictly blocked. Apart from the world's major powers and giant companies, no other individual has any way to obtain them."
Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is it like a special medicine?"
Chen Bitong shook his head. "Although special medicines are also controlled, those cultivation schools in the outside world can still find ways to obtain them as long as they have a crack. In addition, special medicines are hard currency in the third-limit group and are also circulated outside.
The things I'm talking about have long been blocked by the world's powerful countries and giant companies using the World Ring, and not a single trace of them has leaked outside.
Nowadays, all folk schools and small countries, without the legacy left by previous generations, can hardly obtain such things without the approval and permission of powerful governments and major corporations.
Unless they sneak around the World Ring, but that's very risky. There's a special joint force in the World Ring responsible for killing these people."
Chen Chuan thought about it for a moment. This matter was undoubtedly closely related to him, so he asked, "What is the reason why countries and companies block these things?"
"Controlling this kind of thing started back in the days of the Major League. Back then, it was believed that martial artists had great destructive power, so every martial artist had to be monitored and controlled. This prevented major unrest around the world and allowed every future martial artist to join the fight against the other world.
Perhaps this was indeed his original intention, but after so many years, the channels for such things have long been controlled by a small number of interest groups. They have formed a big network, and if you are not originally from their interest group, you can only get their charity by signing harsh treaties and agreements.
This cannot continue!"
He looked outside the rift and said in a deep voice, "What I want to do today is to break that blockade, or at least create a crack in it, so that those things can flow out and more people can get them."
Chen Chuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "Use the rift?"
"Yes, rift!"
Chen Bitong nodded. "But that's not all. We also have the Splitter. The Splitter can help us pass through the World Ring, which already has a breach, and connect to where those things are. If operated properly, once successful, many people will no longer be constrained by those things, and more changes will occur."
Chen Chuan thought about it. He didn't know how strong the higher-level fighters were, but from the slight performance of Chen Bitong, he could imagine the destructive power of such people.
Even if there are only one or two more of this type, it is possible to change the pattern of a certain area.
But here, he still felt that Chen Bitong had not explained something clearly. When he was about to ask again, he suddenly felt something and looked outside the crack. Someone was about to come up there, and there was a faint sense of threat to him.
It seems that the person who came up this time is not simple.
He looked to the other side and saw that his Xuejun Sword was stuck there, and the expanding crack had wrapped the sword in.
He walked over, grabbed the knife handle and pulled it out. Although the knife had not yet revived, it was enough to deal with the current situation.
He glanced at Chen Bitong again, "So, Teacher Chen, were you the one who opened the gap in the World Ring?"
Chen Bitong was silent for a moment and said, "I wouldn't take the initiative to do this, but I admit that I didn't stop it in time."
Chen Chuan stood in front, knife in hand, looking towards the front of the rift. After he stood still, he turned his head and asked, "By the way, what is that thing called?"
"Now we call it 'pure essence'."
Chen Bitong said: "I don't know what it was called in the past, because its real name has been erased from the archives and most records."
…
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(End of this chapter)
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