Book 4, Chapter 78: Warning

In just a while, Safe Shield contacted Wu Quan. Once the call went through, Wu Quan said, “I’m reading your report. You did well.”

“This will keep them in line for the time being, but United Might won’t give up. They’re going to pull more tricks in the future,” Chen Chuan stated.

“What are your plans?” Wu Quan asked.

“I’d like to get permission to inspect the precise calorie amount of United Might’s stored nutritional fluid. Also, I’d like to limit the amount of nutritional fluid they can buy,” Chen Chuan said.

“You’re suspecting foul play in this area?” Wu Quan asked grimly. “Inspecting the calorie amount of nutritional fluids is a very sensitive thing, since it involves the agreement between companies and the government. If you want to examine it, you need to go through a lot of procedures and get involved with many departments. I can help you, but it’s possible that nothing will come out of this.

“As for limiting the amount of nutritional fluid they can buy, we can do that based on emergency protocol. I will support you, but if United Might thought of it in advance, this action might not be useful.”

“I know, but at the very least, we can limit them,” Chen Chuan stated.

“Alright. I’ll issue an order based on emergency protocol. What else do you need?”

“Nothing for the time being. Thank you, Director Wu. I haven’t been able to make any progress with GreenSource Eco-Tech yet, since I lack manpower,” Chen Chuan pointed out.

“You should focus on what is more important and set aside GreenSource Eco-Tech for now. If anyone asks about it in the department, I’ll tell them the reason,” Wu Quan assured him.

“Thank you, Director Wu.”

“Alright. That’s it for now.”

***

When Wu Quan finished the call, he turned around to face Xu Chan. The squad captain was sitting before his desk. Wu Quan picked up the stack of documents on his table and handed them to Xu Chan.

“The situation is quite unique, so the companies are bound to send their best martial artists. After his investigation, Lead Investigator Han got these people’s information. These are their specifics, so you should read through them carefully.

“We’ve already applied for videos of these martial artists’ previous fights and are awaiting approval. We’ve also had our overseas officers purchase videos from foreign platforms. They should arrive within two days.”

Xu Chan flipped through the pages and read them carefully. They had detailed descriptions and a list of everyone’s techniques.

As for the videos of their previous fights, they could only serve as simple reference materials instead of gospel. After all, martial artists only showed a bit of their true strength in recorded videos. Most only revealed what they wanted others to know, so it was hard to figure out what they were hiding.

After reading through the information, Xu Chan asked, “Is it accurate?”

“For these people, yes. I’ve verified through various sources that all these people are going to the merged space.”

“Lead Investigator Han said that he cashed in a lot of favors and pulled a lot of strings to get the information, but he can’t promise to have gotten everything. After all, some people’s existence is only known to their companies. They might be considered confidential secrets,” Wu Quan said grimly.

Xu Chan put away the information so that he could go back and read through everything again at a later time. Even though he wasn’t weak, he wouldn’t underestimate any of his opponents. Since he was going to the merged space and might have to venture deep into it to fight, he would leave the military bases behind him. The logisticians could only provide him with limited support, so he would have to be independent.

“We’ve given you information about the merged space, and that set of information is the most comprehensive to date. Neither the companies nor the Linacrox Union’s information is as complete as ours.”

“That’s a bit of an advantage, I suppose. Director Wu, if the artifact we find is indeed a Class Three one, being familiar with the terrain isn’t going to be enough.

“Artifacts aren’t inanimate objects. They don’t stay in one place. Sometimes, they attach themselves to merged space creatures, which are difficult to deal with, especially the ultra large ones. This will make our target really clear, and we’ll end up in a tough battle.”

“That’s why you need to be careful,” Wu Quan said solemnly.

Xu Chan agreed with that. “I’ve handed over some of my tasks to Lead Investigator Chen for the time being.”

“You should have no worries then. He has always been decisive, and he has my support. Also, I need to ask you one thing. Aren’t you going to reconsider? If you get promoted before going there, you’ll get more support from the World Ring Defense System,” Wu Quan pointed out.

Xu Chan shook his head. “You know that I’m not interested in those things.”

Honestly, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. Instead, it was because he knew that he would have to make a choice once he reached that stage. If he didn’t, someone would force him to do it. Then, he would get involved in too many things.

Wu Quan had spoken to him many times before, so when he saw that Xu Chan was still set on not getting promoted, he said, “Let’s drop this, then. I’ll assign to you all the officers we can mobilize. Special Officer Liang will get everything ready for you, but you must know that some of our officers will drag their feet, so you need to be mentally prepared for that. This time, you’re shouldering heavy responsibilities.”

“I understand,” Xu Chan said.

“Alright. I’ll leave out the unnecessary things,” Wu Quan said and stood up. “While the artifact is important, your life is more precious. As long as you’re alive, we can think of ways to get the artifact back.”

Xu Chan stood up again and saluted him. “I know.”

***

A day passed, and it was the last day of September. It was also a day off.

Since the matter with United Might had come to an end for the time being, Chen Chuan treated his entire team to a meal on the excuse that they had succeeded in the operation. Then, he distributed their rewards and compensation.

After lunch, he received a message from the department. The intelligence division had discovered something in the tunnel Qu Tianli had used to enter Central City. It was a piece of paper that they were sure was left there on purpose for them to find it, but they couldn’t figure out what was written on it.

Chen Chuan took a look at the photo. The paper was covered in scrambled up, bizarre numbers with character radicals. It made no sense to him as well.

Chang Dong might be able to understand it, so he decided to go to the department, grab the piece of paper, and drive to Chang Dong and Gao Yanjun’s temporary residence.

Ever since the ambush, they had moved into an apartment in Majestic Light District and hired a construction company to take over the building of the branch company. Every day, they communicated with the construction company through their Realm Passes to get a progress report.

Once Chen Chuan reached the apartment and saw them, he handed over the paper. “Mr. Chang, this was left in the tunnel that Qu Tianli used. Could you decipher the contents?”

Chang Dong took a look and immediately came up with an answer.

“This is a coded letter using the purity faction’s code. It’s written in the format from fifteen years ago, so I need to get my code book out. Hang on.”

He searched through his belongings and got a notebook out to refer to it as he interpreted the code. Afterwards, he sent a telegram back to the headquarters to get verification. After some back and forth, he got the complete message.

The writer wanted them to release Qu Tianli and not set up any branches in Jibei Road’s Central City. They also warned them to leave Central City as soon as possible, or someone would come to get rid of them.

“Did the target send this to us?” Chen Chuan took a look.

Chang Dong shook his head. “No. The tone doesn’t match him. He’s actually a very logical person. No matter what he does or says, it’s based on his personal logic, regardless of whether other people think it’s correct or not. He has complete trust in his own decision-making. That’s why the target wouldn’t threaten us in such a straightforward, shallow manner.”

“So, it’s one of his students?” Chen Chuan asked after some thinking.

Chang Dong considered it. “I think that it’s not the target but that person.”

Chen Chuan remembered the picture Chang Dong had shown him. “The person you asked me to look for?”

“I think it’s him. He knows these codes and participated in the incident fifteen years ago. There’s no one else but him. If this person is in cahoots with the target, then I wouldn’t find it strange for him to do such a thing,” Chang Dong said.

“He expects us to withdraw with just these words?” Chen Chuan stared at the paper.

“Naive, isn’t he?” Chang Dong laughed. “That makes it even more likely that it’s him. He’s the type of person to do such naive things sometimes.”

He turned to Gao Yanjun. “What do you think, Miss Gao?”

Gao Yanjun was dressed in a fitting, professional dress once more. “I think that instead of saying that he’s threatening us, it’s better to say that he’s trying to persuade us to leave this place, because it’s dangerous.”

“Hmm...”

Chang Dong nodded at that. “It makes sense. This also sounds like something he would do. It’s been fifteen years, but it looks like he hasn’t changed much. Still, we have to figure out what happened back then.”

He handed the paper to Gao Yanjun. “Could you locate him based on the biofield traces?”

Gao Yanjun took the paper and shook her head. “It’s been too long, so there are barely any traces left. But he should be in Central City, not the merged space. This paper isn’t from the merged space.”

“He could’ve grabbed a piece of paper and written the message after coming to Central City,” Chang Dong suggested.

“The paper came from a child’s exercise book,” Gao Yanjun rebutted coolly.

“A child’s exercise book?”

Stunned, Chang Dong took the piece of paper back. Exercise books didn’t exist in the merged space, which meant that the person had to have randomly torn off a piece of paper from an exercise book next to him before writing down the message.

A lot of theories formed in his head.

Chen Chuan took the paper, tore off a tiny piece, went outside, turned on his Realm Pass, and positioned the piece in front of his screen. “Safe Shield, check this paper’s origin and when it was produced.”

Soon, Safe Shield replied, “Preliminary inspection shows that it is from an exercise book made for children between seven to twelve years old. The production date was around three months ago.”

Chen Chuan nodded and returned to the apartment to share Safe Shield’s analysis. “I agree with Miss Gao. This person should not be in the merged space, but in Central City.”

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