Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 130: Team

Wei Changan hummed as he thought, This is a strategy you typically find in stories, isn’t it? I won’t say that it’s not doable, but coordinating it involves a lot of complex steps, and there are too many uncertainties involved.

Besides, the real exchange group isn’t made up of idiots. If we say that we got the oak leaf, they’ll want us to prove it first. If we can’t bring it out, they’ll immediately know that there’s something fishy going on.

But he didn’t want to be a wet blanket on Feng Xiaoqi’s enthusiasm. He had been like this before and thought that his ideas were great, but in practice, it was a whole different story. So, he said tactfully, “We can use that as reference.”

Chen Chuan acted on the principle of treating everyone fairly. Once Feng Xiaoqi offered his idea, he asked the others whether they had any suggestions as well.

Luo Kaiyuan said that he didn’t.

Wu Han had a simple, even crude, plan. He suggested that they kidnap a person from the real exchange group and force them to confess where the Merkarian students were hiding.

If they had no other choice and could set aside certain worries, this plan had a good chance of working.

As for Wei Dong, he said that he had absolutely no idea what they were saying. All he wanted to know was who he had to fight when the time came and where those people were. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

When it was Wei Changan’s turn, he stroked his chin and observed the map. “There are three major checkpoints on the public road leading to the harbor. The first is under Yangzhi City’s control, so I’m sure they’ll be performing strict checks. If I were part of the real exchange group or the fake group, I wouldn’t meet up on the stretch of road before the first checkpoint.

“Farsight Harbor set up the last checkpoint. While the inspections there aren’t as strict as Yangzhi City’s, the security is really tight, since they want to crack down on smuggling rings. It’s hard for any regular person to even get close to it.

“So, the likeliest place for them to meet up is at the middle stretch. We can split into a few teams with walkie-talkies for coordination. Then, we can have one team wait near the checkpoint while the other patrols the road before the real exchange group. That team can also follow the real exchange group from a distance. This could help us find traces of the fake exchange group.”

Chen Chuan thought about it. While this was a little old-fashioned, there was nothing complex about it. It had a good chance of success, but if they did that, they were almost guaranteed to end up fighting with the real exchange group.

Lei Guangcheng had reminded him to observe the harbor checkpoint for a reason. He was hinting at a way to solve the problem.

After all, the Merkarians’ mental state would be vastly different before and after they got the oak leaf. Through careful observation, one could see if they had it or not.

The real exchange group was going to have to stop when they arrived at the checkpoint and get out of their cars to be inspected. At that time, they would not carry any guns. Chen Chuan’s team could get themselves stationed at the checkpoint in the name of the Department of Administrative Affairs. If they discovered something wrong, they could step forward and conduct a thorough search. Even if the real exchange group fought back, it would be much easier to take them down when they had no weapons.

But this strategy bet everything on that one search. If they did not find the oak leaf, they would influence the ruin of the diplomatic ties between Merka and the Great Shun Republic. There would be no extra searches or anything like that anymore.

While he was thinking, there was a knock on his door.

Chen Chuan went over to open it and found Ren Xiaotian standing outside, just as he was expecting. The lively Lin Xiaodi was right beside him. She gave him a wave. “Hey there, Chen Chuan.”

Chen Chuan smiled at her and gave her a nod. Then, he said to Ren Xiaotian, “We’ve been waiting for you, Senior Brother Ren. Come on in.”

Ren Xiaotian walked in and immediately froze when he saw the many people gathered in the living room. When he resumed walking, his gait was a little stiff.

Chen Chuan introduced everyone to each other before returning to his seat. “You came at the perfect time, Senior Brother Ren. We were strategizing, and I’d like to hear your opinion.”

He gave Ren Xiaotian a general gist of their discussion before asking, “What do you think?”

Even though Ren Xiaotian was sitting, his back was ramrod straight, and his sunglasses remained firmly on his face. “I think there’s one spot worth paying attention to if we want to find the fleeing Merkarian students. Take a look.”

He fished out the notebook Chen Chuan was incredibly familiar with and handed it to him. “Here.”

Chen Chuan took the notebook and flipped through it. His expression changed a little.

The notebook contained records of the wilderness leading to the harbor. A lot of armed groups were really active there, and most of them were involved in smuggling, helping others get into or out of the country illegally, and other activities.

The ones that had more influence smuggled in and sold forbidden medicine, human tissue, weapons, and even experimental implants.

Regardless of their size, all the groups were involved in human trafficking and selling forbidden medicine or doing the dirty work for the rich and powerful.

But over the past two years, another group had shown up among them, and the leaders of that group were made entirely of Merkarians or those with Merkarian blood. Since they liked wearing green armbands and had bronze-colored skin, everyone called them the Rusty Bronze Gang. In time, they even adopted that name for themselves.

Since most of their weapons were from Merka, Chen Chuan was certain that even if the Merkarian government wasn’t supporting the gang, it was still linked to them.

After reading through the notes, Chen Chuan came to a conclusion and said, “So, once the Merkarians fled from Yangzhi City with the oak leaf, they were most likely to go to the Rusty Bronze Gang. After all, they can bypass the public road, are familiar with the wilderness, and have a base?”

Ren Xiaotian nodded.

Chen Chuan thought about it and said, “It can’t be that simple. This gang popped up two years ago. Could the Merkarian government have planted them here ahead of time, with their main goal being to make it easier to liaise with the team sent to obtain the oak leaf?”

Based on how much importance the Merkarians attached to this thing, he had a feeling that this was almost certain. He had not expected Ren Xiaotian to bring him such a delightful revelation. Asking him to join the mission was the right choice.

As for whether it was really the case, they could just ambush this gang ahead of when the real exchange group was going to leave.

The others did not know what was going on, so Chen Chuan told them about it. Once they mulled it over, they, too, thought that this was really likely.

“Senior Brother Ren, do you know where their base is?”

“I do,” Ren Xiaotian answered with a nod.

“He went to the wilderness to locate the Rusty Bronze Gang’s base before coming here,” Lin Xiaodi volunteered.

“I owe you big time, Senior Brother Ren,” Chen Chuan said earnestly.

“Don’t thank me yet. We don’t have any results.” Ren Xiaotian shook his head.

“You’re right. By the way, how many members are there in the Rusty Bronze Gang? What sort of weapons do they have?” Chen Chuan asked.

Ren Xiaotian walked over and pointed out the Rusty Bronze Gang’s general location on the map.

It was 150 kilometers southeast and was close to the Huo River, which was a good water supply. It was another gang’s base in the past, but the Rusty Bronze Gang snatched it from them.

Then, Ren Xiaotian gave them the specifics. The Rusty Bronze Gang had around fifty members. A quarter of them had Merkarian guns or old, self-made guns. A considerable number of them wielded crossbows. They had around nine vehicles, including two modified armored cars.

The good news was that the Merkarians were avid worshipers of nature. Those beliefs were etched deep into their bones, so none of them had any implants.

At the end, Ren Xiaotian cautioned, “If the Merkarian government really planted them there, then there might be some powerful martial artists among them.”

Chen Chuan agreed with that. Last time, he was forced to clash head-on with Douma because he was unarmed. This time, he intended to bring his saber along.

No matter how skilled they were as martial artists, and even with protective gear, they wouldn’t be able to withstand a saber slash. It would cut them clean in half. Still, he needed to take precautions, so he decided to go through Cheng Zitong to get a few of the mighty Fortbreaker rifles, just to be safe.

“We don’t have much time left. Since the Rusty Bronze Gang is likely to be hiding the escaped convicts, we need to act fast. If they’re not there, we can just take it as destroying an armed smuggling ring,” he said resolutely as he looked everyone in the eye.

Wu Han was the first to agree to it. With disgust on his face, he said, “That’s right. Even if we got the wrong place, it doesn’t matter. It’s never wrong to get rid of some criminals. All those gangs who live in the wilderness have their hands covered in blood and bounties on their heads.”

Wei Changan smiled. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have bounties. Once we kill them, I’ll ask the Constabulary to issue bounties on their heads.

“Do we have enough people for this, Chen Chuan?” Luo Kaiyuan asked. He was a bit cautious about it.

“I can bring my team. There’s six of them, and they’re all trustworthy,” Wei Changan said.

Wei Changan’s team was made up not only of old Martial Valor University acquaintances from his university days, but also some good friends of his. They were all related to constables, so they knew each other’s families and friends.

“But we still need a good amount of guns and cars,” Feng Xiaoqi said.

There was no objection to that. No one was going to know whether they used guns or not in the wilderness. As long as someone in the team had a weapons permit to get them guns, it did not matter if no one else officially could use them.

“That’s easy. I’ll think of something to get us guns and some stab proof vests. That’ll increase our chances of success,” Wei Changan said. Even though stab proof vests were not great against bullets, they held up well against melee weapons and crossbow bolts.

“Will it be problematic to get those things, Changan?” Chen Chuan asked.

Wei Changan gave him a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. I have a weapons permit. It won’t be hard for me to procure a batch of scrapped guns from the Constabulary.”

Chen Chuan then shifted his train of thought. “Can you get smoke bombs too?”

When he saw the effectiveness of the smoke bombs the resistance group threw into the square, he had decided that they were quite useful. They were also suitable for their team, since they had not spent enough time with each other to work together well but were each individually good martial artists.

“I’ll try. It shouldn’t be a problem, though. Worst case scenario, I’ll just get someone from the Constabulary to make some for me in private,” Wei Changan said.

“Alright. Just tell me how much it’ll cost,” Chen Chuan said.

“Sure!” Wei Changan agreed readily. He didn’t mind paying for everything since he owed Chen Chuan a major favor, but they were working as a team now. It was best to settle all the money matters upfront.

Lin Xiaodi went up to Chen Chuan and grabbed his arm to whisper, “I have something to tell you.”

Chen Chuan excused himself and went to the side with her. “What is it?”

Lin Xiaodi handed him a document. “Master He asked me to hand this to you. She said that you might need it during the mission.”

Chen Chuan took it and found that it was an already-paid car fleet rental contract. He just needed to make a call to the number stated on the contract whenever he needed them.

This was He Nan’s way of repaying her favor to him. Of course, it also aided Lei Guangcheng. Chen Chuan thought about it and did not say no to the contract.

In truth, he had already considered how to procure guns and cars. He had even finished coordinating things, only to find now that there was no need for him to worry about it at all.

“Thank your master for me,” he said.

Lin Xiaodi raised her hand, as if to grab his gratitude, and said mischievously, “Sure. I’ll bring it to her.”

Chen Chuan went back and continued the discussion with his teammates. Once he was certain there were no further questions or objections, he said, “Let’s go in two days. Use tomorrow to get ready. We’ll set out at 1 a.m. the morning after. Our goal is to complete the mission within the day!”