Book 4, Chapter 213: The Title Comes With True Power

On the twenty-ninth of November, at 8:10 a.m., the bright morning sun of autumn shone into Chen Chuan’s room.

He put on the uniform of the lead investigator and checked to make sure that it didn’t have any wrinkles. Then, he put on the overcoat and fastened the buttons before putting his hat on his head. With his gloved hands, he grabbed the Frost King Saber from its rack and walked out of his house.

The limousine from the Department of Administrative Affairs was waiting for him. When the logistics officer saw him, he opened the door.

Once Chen Chuan got in, the car door slowly shut. Through the car window and the rearview mirror, he could see he was surrounded by armored vehicles. The driver turned to him. “Sir?”

“We can go,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

Once the limousine started its engine, the armored cars around it did the same. The long motorcade headed down a blocked road to Majestic Light District.

Forty-five minutes later, the motorcade arrived at the core of Central City—the Department of Administrative Affairs’ office building. Security guards in uniform and patrol guards stood on every side of the square. There were even armored airships flying around the building.

After Chen Chuan got out of the limousine, he took a look at the tallest building in Majestic Light District. It was the third tallest building in Central City. Then, the liaison officer from the department brought him into the building, and they took the elevator straight to the conference hall on the thirtieth floor.

Qi Weizhao had brought all the officials inside ahead of time. Liang Guanghai of the World Ring Defense System, Wei Huan of the Resolution Department, Qian Shushan, the director of the Cult Investigation Bureau, and others were waiting at the conference hall. Standing sternly together with them in the first row was the officer from the capital.

Most of the mid-level government officials and above were here. Even Mr. Quan of the municipal government had come with a few important politicians.

Just then, the crowd heard a clear whir, and the wide elevator doors slowly opened. When they looked over, they saw a tall and handsome young man standing inside. His eyes shone with a bright spark, and he carried a saber in his hand.

He walked out. When he went past them, their breathing stilled. Some of them even felt as if there were needles pricking their skin.

Their security guards grew nervous. This was an instinctive reaction. Even if they knew that Chen Chuan wasn’t an enemy and had mentally prepared themselves for his arrival, the presence of a highly destructive martial arts master made them physically uneasy.

Once Chen Chuan got close to the important officials, he greeted Qi Weizhao, Liang Guanghai, and the others before exchanging a few words with the people behind them. Qi Weizhao then turned to the official from the capital, “Mr. Cheng, Lead Investigator Chen has arrived. Should we start now?”

Mr. Cheng nodded and asked Chen Chuan to stand at the center. The conversations that had started around them immediately died out.

Mr. Cheng took out an appointment letter from his briefcase and recited, “In accordance with the orders of the central government of the Great Shun Republic, Lead Investigator Chen Chuan of the Resolution Department from the Central City of Jibei Road has demonstrated exceptional valor in performing his duties and has faithfully executed his responsibilities. In recognition of his outstanding achievements, he is hereby appointed director of the Defense Bureau and conferred the title of security advisor to the military of the merged space.

“This order is jointly issued by Director General Tao Changru, Chairman Gu Mingxiang of the Privy Council, and Pei Xiyan from the Supreme National Security Advisory Council.

“It has been issued on the 29th of November, in the 95th Year of the Development and Order Era.”

Once he finished, he lowered the appointment letter, took a few steps forward, and handed the letter to Chen Chuan. Then, he took a beautifully crafted sword cane from the box his attendant brought over and handed it to Chen Chuan as well.

The stern expression left his face. Mr. Cheng smiled and shook Chen Chuan’s hand with both of his hands. “Congratulations, Director Chen.”

Qi Weizhao led the group by clapping first.

Mr. Quan watched the proceedings with a grim look. Even though he expected this, he still felt his heart fill with dread. The politicians with him also became uneasy.

The Defense Bureau’s full name was the Defense Bureau of Jibei Road, and it managed the City Patrol and the Resolution Department. It was also in charge of the chief secretary of the Department of Administrative Affairs’ safety, though the chief secretary and the director were of the same rank.

Being a security advisor to the military in the merged space also meant that Chen Chuan was part of the security policy panel, which was an important position. The panel was made of Qi Weizhao, Liang Guanghai, Qiao Weiting, Yao Yizhi, and other important people.

Aside from the municipal government, this group was the top decision-making body in Central City’s administrative affairs. More importantly, all of them had some degree of authorization with the Fu-Mu Entity. If Chen Chuan joined them...

“Also, we have a license for you. Due to the unique nature of the license and your current status, we can’t hold a ceremony for it. Please forgive us for that,” Mr. Cheng said.

Then, he took a briefcase from another attendant and took out a rigid envelope. He handed it to Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan passed it to the logistics officer who came up to him to open the rigid envelope. Then, he saw a string of words at the top.

An unrestricted defense authorization is hereby granted to national-level martial artist Chen Chuan. This authorization shall not expire and take effect immediately upon issuance. Signed: Liang Yonghang, captain of the unrestricted defense permit examination committee.

Chen Chuan took a look at the briefcase. It should contain the Class A unrestricted defense permit.

By now, he knew that not all martial arts masters who graduated from Martial Valor University got this permit. They needed to have signed at least a Class Five contract and had some kind of major achievement under their belt to get it.

The government must have decided to give him this because of him killing Wei Guochan, which resulted in the collapse and retreat of the imperial army in Jibei Road’s merged space.

He set the letter aside and shook Mr. Cheng’s hand again. “Thank you, Mr. Cheng.”

Mr. Cheng smiled. “You’re welcome, Director Chen. You contributed to the country, so this is only what you deserve.”

Once he stepped back, Chen Chuan shook hands with Qi Weizhao, Liang Guanghai, Wei Huan, and the others. All the officials from the Department of Administrative Affairs came to shake hands with him, because the power structure of Central City’s government was going to change again because of this.

In the past, in order to defend the merged space, the Resolution Department and the World Ring Defense System had to frequently mobilize their officers. This unique necessity and the Department of Administrative Affairs’ administration led to the Defense Bureau having practically no real power. It ended up only in charge of managing the City Patrol. None of the Resolution Department and the Department of Administrative Affairs’ communications went through them. At most, they just went through some procedures and signed some documents.

While the original director had a high position, he didn’t have much of a presence.

However, the new director was different. First of all, he was once a lead investigator of the Resolution Department and had managed the entire department for a time. He had also brought Lead Investigator Wen’s body back, which alone had won him a lot of Resolution Department officers’ loyalty.

Now, he had become the director of the bureau directly above them, so there was no doubt that his orders would reach all levels of the Resolution Department. It could be said that even before he assumed office, he had become the director.

After some small talk, Chen Chuan declined Qi Weizhao’s offer to join the party by saying that he had just come back and had some things to take care of, so he couldn’t stay for long.

Qi Weizhao could understand that. If Chen Chuan had been a regular person, things would have been better, but he was now a highly destructive martial arts master, so it was not proper for him to go to a party. He would just end up making everyone feel ill at ease. So, he asked Qiao Yang to send Chen Chuan back.

Once Chen Chuan said goodbye to Liang Guanghai and the others, he grabbed his things and took the elevator downstairs to leave the office building.

After he got into his limousine, he tapped on his Realm Pass. His authorization had been renewed, but he needed to register and verify his ID in a few important sections.

He skimmed through them before opening the file containing the information about the Defense Bureau. A quick glance told him that the original director had been in office for more than a decade but didn’t have many achievements under his belt. The orders that came from him were practically all worthless scraps of paper, so the Resolution Department only ever answered to the Department of Administrative Affairs.

While he was the director of the Defense Bureau, those not in the know would think that he was the director of the City Patrol. This was unusual, so Chen Chuan guessed that Director Bei was from another faction of the government, which led to the Department of Administrative Affairs and the Resolution Department working together to strip him of actual power.

Things were going to change with him taking office. Once Chen Chuan started working, the Resolution Department could no longer bypass him. Of course, it wasn’t like they would even try to do that. In the past, the Defense Bureau was much more important. If they couldn’t come to an agreement with the Department of Administrative Affairs, Central City’s safety was often impacted.

Directly under Chen Chuan were three deputy directors. Two of them had clearly been exiled here for good after losing some political feud. The one in charge of the daily operations was Deputy Director Lu. Setting aside his abilities, Chen Chuan remembered that his son was quite the problematic character.

Chen Chuan checked the records. Deputy Director Lu’s performance was quite mediocre. It wasn’t as if he could do much in his position, but he did pocket a lot of donations, which meant that Chen Chuan couldn’t remove the possibility that he had ties with the companies. Perhaps he was even connected to the municipal government.

The Department of Administrative Affairs was preparing for a decisive fight with the municipal government to see who was going to survive in the end, so Chen Chuan couldn’t let this thorn remain. He was going to send him away.

While he didn’t have the power to do that as the director of the Defense Bureau, he could do it as a security advisor to the security policy panel.

The armed forces of the Defense Bureau were its most important asset. What he needed to do next was to build a group that only listened to him.

While the Defense Bureau had an armed force, they were mostly elites transferred from the City Patrol, which was already severely lacking in such people. The rest were made up of security guards hired from everywhere.

Chen Chuan didn’t like these people, so he planned to transfer his entire team to his new armed force.

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