NOVEL WEB Chapter 151: The Arrival of a New Protagonist
Feeling the killing threat, Xu Ping’s heart tightened, and his back was soaked with cold sweat. With a quick reaction, he dodged Elsa’s knife, which merely grazed his neck, leaving a superficial wound.
“Dodged it?”
Elsa looked at Xu Ping, somewhat surprised. When she attacked, unless she intentionally spared someone, they almost never dodged. Elsa’s strikes were merciless.
Xu Ping kept retreating, clutching his neck, overwhelmed with relief. It had been a close call. A direct hit would have been fatal.
“Husband, are you alright?” Miao Zhi looked at Xu Ping with concern.
“You better worry about yourself.”
Chun Mei’s powerful kick sent Miao Zhi flying. The tremendous force would have been fatal if Miao Zhi hadn’t been toughened by regular martial training.
“Mantis Fist Xu Ping, which school do you belong to?” Xu Ping guessed they had encountered fellow martial artists. Like them, these assailants were advanced in their martial development, perhaps even further along. This time, they had truly met masters.
“Chun Mei, although they’re not as good as us, they have some skills. Consider them masters,” Elsa whispered as she joined her side. Ordinary people couldn’t move with such agility.
Ordinary people couldn’t develop such prowess. Perhaps Chen Luo would be curious, so Chun Mei thought to capture them.
“Capture both of them? That might make the target a bit too large,” Elsa said.
“Then just capture one. Leave the woman alive, kill the man,” Chun Mei suggested, discussing their plan openly in front of Xu Ping.
Discussing killing him and abducting his wife right in front of him would provoke any man.
Xu Ping’s hands were shaped like hooks, mimicking the foreclaws of a mantis, he stepped forward, his hands moving swiftly towards Elsa. The essence of the Mantis Fist was its agility and speed, not merely fast but stable within its quickness.
If their skills were equal, Elsa might not defeat Xu Ping. The combat and assassination techniques she learned couldn’t compare to his. However, Elsa was stronger than Xu Ping, with superior physical conditioning that guaranteed her victory in any fight.
An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to react in time to Xu Ping’s attacks, but Elsa could and even counterattack. A sweeping leg kick, despite Xu Ping’s stable lower stance, toppled him due to Elsa’s immense force.
As Xu Ping was about to hit the ground, unable to control his fall, Elsa quickly drew her gun and shot him in the chest.
“You… have no honor in martial arts.”
Seeing that his opponent was a master, Xu Ping hadn’t anticipated her using a gun. His complacency cost him his life.
Elsa, an assassin, didn’t care about martial honor. Eliminating her target by any means necessary was her only concern. Even without a gun, killing Xu Ping wouldn’t have been difficult for Elsa, it would just have given him a few more seconds to struggle.
“I’m going to fight you all!”
Seeing her husband dead, Miao Zhi’s eyes reddened with rage, and then she was quickly knocked unconscious by Chun Mei with two moves.
“You go kill Li Hai,” Chun Mei said as she looked for some rope to tie up Miao Zhi.
Elsa walked straight into the house. Upstairs, Li Hai was trembling in fear, realizing the mercenary he hired had been killed and the other knocked out. He hadn’t expected the hired experts to fail so miserably.
Panicking, Li Hai hid, holding his breath with a gun in his hand.
“Come out, I’ve already found you.”
No matter how well he hid, Elsa would find him. Her senses were now so sharp that she could hear even the slightest breath. Li Hai, extremely nervous, didn’t come out, thinking it was a bluff.
“If you prefer to die in the closet, I’ll leave you be.”
Elsa raised her pistol and fired a shot. Li Hai, hiding in the closet, was killed instantly, his blood seeping out from within.
After dealing with Li Hai, Elsa went downstairs to meet up with Chun Mei, and the two left with the unconscious Miao Zhi.
“Why did you bring back someone? Who is she?” Chen Luo looked at the woman they brought back and asked Chunmei and Elsa. “Not to criticize you, but even if you’re going to kidnap someone, at least choose someone more attractive.”
This woman, Chen Luo grudgingly gave her a score of seventy, not a point higher.
“Brother Luo, this person is quite skilled. I think she’s trained in martial arts, you might be interested,” Chunmei spoke up.
Previously, Chen Luo had asked them to investigate if there were any practitioners of ancient martial arts or grandmasters, and this woman, along with the man Elsa had killed, probably qualified.
“Trained in martial arts, how strong is she?” Chen Luo’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“She could probably take on a dozen strong men,” Chun Mei guessed.
Chen Luo’s interest was piqued.
“System, I want to trade for her identity.”
After the deduction, the information appeared in Chen Luo’s mind, his eyes gleaming.
“A Ming Jin martial artist? I’ve been desperately searching and couldn’t find any, how come one just popped up?” Chen Luo asked the system in confusion.
【Ding, this indicates that a new plot is about to start, naturally bringing new elements.】
Chen Luo narrowed his eyes. Although Ye Chen’s strength was extraordinary, that was due to his unique talents. He had never practiced any national art or ancient martial arts.
“If there are martial artists in the new plot background, then the new protagonist is definitely not ordinary.”
At least this yet-to-appear protagonist should be stronger than Ye Chen in combat.
“Ming Jin, An Jin, Hua Jin, system, what level does my strength belong to?”
Chen Luo needed to ensure he maintained a strength advantage. He did not want to be weaker than the protagonist, especially since he wasn’t short on funds to enhance his strength.
【Ding, the host should be considered a physical martial artist, not having reached An Jin, but not weaker than An Jin martial artists.】
Given Chen Luo’s terrifying physical condition, even An Jin martial artists using An Jin would find it hard to hurt him.
“That’s pretty good, An Jin should count as a high-level practitioner.”
Chen Luo was quite satisfied, at least the martial system in the upcoming new storyline wasn’t too absurd. However, knowing nothing about the new protagonist and the new storyline irked him.
Although he could get answers by trading with the system, such transactions require money, the system wouldn’t provide information to Chen Luo for free. Information about the storyline would definitely be expensive, and Chen Luo knew he couldn’t afford it.
Even if he couldn’t afford the storyline information, he must trade for some intelligence on the new protagonist, at least to know who the new protagonist was and what kind of strength they possess. Only by knowing the enemy and yourself could he win every battle.
Ye Chen’s death didn’t mean Chen Luo’s role as the antagonist was over. Especially since Chen Luo traded for the Destiny Antagonist Aura, he was committed to the antagonist role. No matter how many protagonists appeared, he remained the antagonist, and even if he didn’t want to confront the protagonist, circumstances would inevitably make them enemies.
It was not that he wanted to antagonize the protagonist, it was just that his role required him to do so.
“System, trade for the new protagonist’s identity and background. It doesn’t need to be too complex, nor too simple.”
【Ding, it requires one billion. Proceed with the trade?】
“I knew it, anything related to the protagonist would be outrageously priced.”
Fortunately, with Chen Luo’s wealth, a billion was no longer a problem for him, but it was not like he didn’t feel the pinch.