Book 4, Chapter 68: Arrangement

Various company representatives were in the Union’s temporary meeting room in White Bird District. They were sitting around the meeting table.

The operations manager stood before them and told them the recent progress while showing images on the screen before all of them.

The company representatives listened patiently. The key to the entire operation lay in their combat prowess and information, so they couldn’t miss a single thing.

“The mercenary group we hired wanted to capture Chen Bitong’s assistant and extract the merged space information that may or may not exist, but during the process, they ran into a lead investigator from the Resolution Department. This resulted in the operation’s failure.

“Based on our investigation, this lead investigator went to visit Chen Bitong’s youngest child as well. The son has never left the soldiers’ residential area after that.

“That’s why we’re certain that the Resolution Department is paying attention to this matter. It won’t be easy for us to get that information anymore.”

One of the company representatives crossed his arms and suggested, “If the Resolution Department is on guard, I suggest giving up on the plan. There’s no need for us to go up against the Resolution Department for the time being. Making an enemy of them would be exactly what they want, after all.”

The other company representatives agreed. They were in the Great Shun Republic at the moment. Even if they could get an upper hand in certain areas, as long as the Resolution Department was around, they could get reinforcements, so no matter how many martial artists the Union had, they wouldn’t be able to cover their losses.

While the forces they brought with them were strong, there was a limit to their strength, so they had to concentrate them in useful places.

The operations manager continued, “While we can’t get complete information, we found reports from the past through certain channels. We also got some information from other companies that agreed to trade with us. After organizing and analyzing the information, we’ve gotten a general outline of the merged space, and it fulfills our minimum requirements.

“If we encounter unknown enemies, our combatants should win through their strength and experience, but that will only work to a certain degree.

“We learned from the municipal government that they don’t have all the information either. What they have is mashed up reports three years ago. They might not be as accurate as what we’ve restored, so we aren’t actually at a disadvantage here.”

Someone voiced a question. “Has the Resolution Department captured Chen Bitong’s assistant? If he had detailed information, doesn’t that mean that the government now has it?”

“Mr. Morand, we’re certain that the Resolution Department hasn’t captured Fang Zhixin. He has run away, and we’re not even sure that he had the information. In any case, the Resolution Department did not get it. We can trust this source,” the operations manager said respectfully and stressed the last part.

The representatives started thinking of all sorts of possibilities as to why he would say such a thing. One of them asked, “How strong is the lead investigator who stopped us from capturing Chen Bitong’s assistant?”

“Since there was a domain lockdown during the incident, we weren’t able to get the specifics, but based on the information we got about him, this lead investigator played a crucial role in Ferris Wheel’s destruction. He was promoted to a lead investigator because of it,” the operations manager answered, and a video was shown on the screen.

It showed Chen Chuan falling from the sky and cutting Ferris Wheel in two.

As the huge Ferris wheel fell apart, all the company representatives’ faces turned bright from the light coming from the screen.

Their expressions turned grim. They were people with great knowledge of the world, and this destructive power far surpassed the level of a regular Third Limit martial artist.

The first thing they thought of was this: Would such a person threaten them?

“Sirs, Madams, this isn’t his true strength. The lead investigator had help from Martial Valor University’s active biosentient entity.

“According to the newest international standards, among Third Limit martial artists, he is firmly within the top 400.”

The company representatives became even more focused upon hearing that. This standard was formed based on various aspects and analyzed all identified Third Limit martial artists in the world.

Since this was a global ranking, being among the top 400 was actually pretty good. Any one among the top 400 could become pillars of strength within their region.

As the Great Crash crept closer, more capable martial artists kept showing up, and the ranking changed often. If someone could stay firmly among the top 400, it would mean that no matter what changed in the future, they would retain their place there. Such power was worthy of their attention.

“Is he going to the merged space?”

“As a lead investigator in Central City, he’s in charge of managing operations, so he’s not a frontliner. The chances of him going to the merged space are low. Based on the information we got, the merged space isn’t what he’s in charge of now. If we’re not going to keep looking for the information, we can ignore him for now.

“This is who we need to pay attention to.”

The screen flickered and showed Xu Chan.

“This is Xu Chan, a squad captain from the Resolution Department, and he’s strong. According to the assessment, he might be among the top 100 to 200, and it’s been confirmed that he will be going to the merged space, which makes him our enemy.”

Morand turned to Sadias. “Mr. Merryways, can the Lightning Siblings win against him?”

Sadias gave a dignified smile. “I’m confident in them. I also heard that you brought your company’s Blood Diamond.”

He turned to the other company representatives. “All of you brought your elites with you. There is no reason for us to lose.”

“Xu Chan is not to be underestimated. If we have to fight against him, I suggest concentrating all of our forces together to instantly injure him so badly that he’s out of the competition,” the operations manager said and turned to Osbolt.

“Mr. Osbolt, if we want to win against such a person, we’ll need Gray Whale.”

“I need a detailed action plan that includes this man.” Osbolt gestured with his chin at Xu Chan’s image. “Along with the other squad captains and law enforcers from the Resolution Department.”

Then, Osbolt remembered Chen Chuan’s performance in the video and said sternly, “Include the lead investigator.”

***

The interrogation supervisor walked out of the interrogation room and said to Chen Chuan, “They’ve confessed everything, Lead Investigator Chen. The results are right here.”

He handed over the confession report.

Chen Chuan took it and found that the trio had admitted that United Might had sent them to sneak into Central City for some secret operation.

He contacted the department’s legal division and asked, “Can we use this to hold United Might’s branch company accountable?”

“You can, but based on the report, they were sent here by the headquarters and have nothing to do with the branch company. You won’t be able to find any link between them. So, according to the law, at most, we can only ask the headquarters to pay a fine, which will barely leave a scratch,” the legal officer said.

Chen Chuan thanked him and read the report again. According to the three, they had a captain, and they had been exchanging information through telegrams, forums, and middlemen. The telegram frequency, forums, and middlemen were always different.

They had never met their captain either, so they didn’t know how strong he was, but Chen Chuan had no doubt that he was stronger than the trio.

He contacted the intelligence division, and the intelligence captain said, “We’re already looking into it, but they used a lot of contact methods and were careful. It’s unlikely that we’ll find the captain.”

“Have you managed to figure out what the bioweapon is?” Chen Chuan asked.

“After dissecting it, we found that it’s likely to be Tunneling Queen, an experimental product by Compound Eyes. This bioweapon can produce a large number of larvae to dig tunnels and fight. We’ve already mapped out the underground path.”

Chen Chuan’s Realm Pass chimed, and he saw an image of the residential area. There were underground tunnels all over the area dug out within the short amount of time the trio had stayed in the building.

As Chen Chuan stared at it, he came to the conclusion that one of them was meant to make it easier for the captain to meet with his teammates. However, there seemed to be no pattern whatsoever in the paths.

“We believe that the tunnels weren’t meant just to make it easier for them to retreat. They were likely trying to dig a tunnel leading to the merged space,” the intelligence captain supplied.

“Were they?”

“Yes. If they had a domain entity, they could head to the merged space through the tunnel. Of course, it would be best if they had an active biosentient entity. Then, they could avoid all inspections when they sent their combatants.

“While they lack the necessities I mentioned, based on the information we’ve uncovered, this explanation makes the most sense for their actions.”

Chen Chuan nodded. The analysis did make sense. United Might had come into Central City with an active biosentient entity.

If that were the case, the Tunneling Queen was really important for their operation. If he could find and destroy it, it wouldn’t be so easy for United Might’s headquarters to send another one over.

“Can you locate the Tunneling Queen?” he asked.

“We’re tracking it down. Bioweapons like these need a lot of nutrient and calorie-dense nutritional fluid to remain active, especially when they need to give birth to larvae.

“Since you didn’t find any nutritional fluid at the site, this stuff has to be stored in a secret spot nearby. Perhaps there’s even more than one. We’re currently analyzing and screening locations. I’m sure that we’ll have results soon.”

“Alright. I’ll leave this to you. Please report to me the moment you have any information,” Chen Chuan requested.

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