This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 332: Your name is... Chen Ke?

Chapter 332: Chapter 332: Your name is... Chen Ke?

This was an interstate highway, and a container truck was making its way along the route.

At noon, the sun was high in the sky, and the radio in the vehicle was broadcasting the midday news.

To the left of the window, red mountains undulated continuously, and the shadow of a white city could be seen on the horizon; to the right, the blue sea sparkled, and the hot wind blew relentlessly, causing an unfounded anxiety.

"...this morning, a strike occurred on President Street in Norton City. Thousands of corporate employees took to the streets to protest the recent layoffs by internet companies and seek pay raises..."

"Ha! A bunch of lazy bums. They still think they’re not earning enough!" The truck driver laughed, twisted the radio knob, and switched to a music channel.

Chen Ke, Laura, and Nathan were sitting in the back resting. With the speed of this vehicle, they would enter Norton City in no more than an hour.

"We will have to part ways once we get to Norton City," Nathan said as he checked his backpack, which was mostly wet. Many of the maps and notebooks inside were ruined.

"Chen Ke, you must have something to handle in Norton City, right?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, personal matters," Chen Ke nodded.

"Hope your earlier shipped luggage arrives before you do, Chen Ke," Nathan said with a smile.

"Hopefully," Chen Ke also smiled. In fact, the origins of the three were not simple, and they already understood each other tacitly.

After last night’s events, the three exchanged phone numbers, with Nathan and Laura considering Chen Ke a strong ally, while Chen Ke saw them as potential opportunities to obtain mysterious artifacts.

In any case, they could all benefit from each other, and having one more friend meant having an additional path.

They steered the boat into a shallow bank, then abandoned the boat and left, with the other three crew members obviously wanting to keep the smuggled Holy Relics for themselves, hence they wanted Chen Ke and the others to go first.

Chen Ke didn’t have an urgent need for the Holy Relics and didn’t want to cause any additional trouble, so he and Nathan and Laura took the highway and hailed this truck after about half an hour to take them to Norton City.

But he hadn’t come away empty-handed at the very least; the Administration Bureau’s biological detection device, that Conrad had promised but had not been able to deliver personally, was now in his possession.

As the vehicle neared Norton City, a temporary checkpoint appeared ahead, forcing them to slow down.

"What’s the situation...?" Chen Ke looked ahead.

Six black SUVs were parked by the road, with a line of black and yellow roadblocks in the middle of the road, and several men in black suits and sunglasses stood by, along with over ten fully armed P.W.A.T members.

"Hello, sir."

The container truck stopped by the side of the road, a man in a suit approached the window, took off his sunglasses, and gave the driver a smiling face.

"Hello, buddy, what’s up? There wasn’t a checkpoint here before," the driver said.

"We’re from the Administration Bureau. Since last night, every vehicle entering the city must undergo a routine inspection," the man in the suit said.

"Alright... suit yourselves. My container only has frozen pork," the driver said.

"Could you please open it to let us have a look?" the man in the suit asked.

"Better make it quick then; I don’t want the meat to spoil," the driver said as he opened the door and jumped out.

Chen Ke looked out the window, the men in suits were expressionless, coldly watching the container truck, while the P.W.A.T were in an unusually alert state.

Could it be that something had escaped, causing the Administration Bureau to be so vigilant?

"Look, there’s only pork in there, nothing else," the driver opened the rear of the container, revealing rows of rock-hard frozen pork displayed in the freezer.

When the container was opened, a blast of cold air blew out, bringing immense comfort amidst the scorching noon heat.

The man in the suit stood outside, glanced inside, and next to him, another man in a suit pulled out a Holy Relics detector and began scanning the cabin, the detector making sparse sounds of iron pieces moving against each other.

"Excuse me, sir, but who are the other three on the truck?" the man in the suit asked.

"They? They’re just hikers from Pinglin Town," the driver said, "They told me they walked all night, and I saw they were very tired, so I gave them a ride."

The man in the suit nodded and walked to the cab, knocking on the door.

"What’s happened?" Nathan asked, sticking his head out of the window and looking at the man in the suit.

"Could I see your driver’s license, sir?" the man in the suit asked with a smile.

"No problem, just a moment." Nathan withdrew his head and started rummaging through his bag.

Chen Ke sat on the far right, silent as he stared back at a P.W.A.T member looking at him.

"Here, my driver’s license," Nathan replied, handing it over.

The man in the suit took the driver’s license, glanced at it perfunctorily, then handed it back.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Nathan, where did you and your companions start from?" the man in the suit asked with a smile.

"We came from the south, from Pinglin Town. We walked for a day and a night, ran out of water, and had no choice but to hitch a ride," Nathan explained.

"Hiking sure is tough work, isn’t it?" the man in the suit grinned.

"You’re telling me, sir. You should try it yourself sometime," Nathan laughed.

"I will, Mr. Nathan. Maybe I’ll even join you on a walk one day," the man in the suit said.

He turned to look at a colleague using a scanner, who nodded towards him.

"Alright, I’ve delayed your journey. From here, it’s just over twenty minutes until you enter the city. The nearest guesthouse is called Short-legged Immortal. It’s a nice place, and the cost isn’t high," the man in the suit said with a smile.

"We’ll check it out. Well then, this is goodbye," Nathan waved.

The truck driver entered the cab, closed the door, turned the key, and restarted the truck.

The man in the suit walked around the windshield of the cab and glanced at Chen Ke, suddenly stopping.

"Wait a minute." He waved his hand, signaling the truck driver to stop.

Chen Ke, wary, watched the man in the suit, unsure of what he wanted.

The man in the suit walked over to Chen Ke’s side and knocked on the window.

"Is there a problem?" Chen Ke asked, winding down the window.

"Could I see your driver’s license, sir?" asked the man in the suit.

Chen Ke took out the forged driver’s license Pihom had made for him and handed it over.

The man in the suit took the license, glanced at it, and his expression momentarily showed panic. He held the license and looked at it again carefully.

He turned to look at a P.W.A.T member behind him, then at the other men in suits, as if trying to verify something.

"Sir, is your name... Chen Ke?" the man in the suit asked cautiously.

"Is there a problem with that name? Surely I’m not the only Chen Ke in the world," Chen Ke said, puzzled.

"Hmm... indeed, that’s true. Then, Mr. Chen, could I take a little more of your time, I’d like to have a word with you alone?" the man in the suit said.

"What’s this about... my meat needs to be delivered to Walmart soon!" the truck driver said impatiently.

"My friend is very tired, and the truck driver is in a hurry. I’m afraid I don’t have time to chat," Chen Ke said.

"You can let them go ahead; once we are done talking, I will arrange for someone to take you to your companions’ place," the man in the suit smiled and suddenly opened the door.