Book 4, Chapter 214: The Storm Spills Dust Everywhere

Mr. Quan got into his limousine and headed back to the municipal government’s office building.

He put his hands around his cane and took a catnap. After today, the power structure of Central City was bound to change, and he couldn’t tell just how much of an effect it would have.

When he was in the conference hall, he had wanted to shake Chen Chuan’s hand to ease the tension between them, but then decided that it was meaningless.

Chen Chuan was a martial arts master, not a politician. He had his own principles and beliefs. No matter what Mr. Quan did, it wasn’t going to change his mind. That was why he just cast Chen Chuan a deep look before leaving.

Someone called him. “What should we do now, Mr. Quan?” a politician asked him urgently.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Quan said languidly.

“About him! He has become the director of the Defense Bureau and is now in control of the City Patrol and the Resolution Department. What are we supposed to do now?”

Very calmly, Mr. Quan said, “Why worry? He might have become the director of the Defense Bureau, but he’s still a Fourth Limit martial artist. Remember, Yao Zhiyi is the chancellor of Martial Valor University, but he’s rarely in the university.

“Besides, Director Chen also has the title of security advisor to the military in the merged space. All military operations in the merged space require a martial arts master’s support. He won’t be spending much of his time in Central City.”

But the politician was still worried. “Mr. Quan, the imperial army is gone from the merged space, and they won’t be coming back anytime soon. Doesn’t that mean that Director Chen can spend more time and energy on Central City?”

This was what worried the municipal government the most. Without the imperial army holding them back, Central City’s government would turn their main focus on the municipal government.

Mr. Quan narrowed his eyes. “Do you really think that no one else but us in Central City feels threatened by this? I’ve told you before: Calm down and wait. We don’t need to rush to act first.”

***

Deputy Director Lu was sitting in his office in the Defense Bureau. His heart was filled with dread, and his face was full of anxiety.

He had received a notice that Director Bei was transferred away, and a new director was appointed. He was a lead investigator by the name of Chen Chuan, but Deputy Director Lu hadn’t heard a word about any of this.

This could only mean one thing: He had been pushed to the margins.

If nothing changed, he was bound to be transferred from his position. But he didn’t want to leave, just like that.

Over the years, Director Bei had loafed around in his position, and the other two deputy directors had rotted away in their posts as well. Deputy Director Lu was the only one working and making it seem like the Defense Bureau still had power. He had worked hard and gotten yelled at so many times, so how could they just kick him away?

After some thinking, he tapped on his Realm Pass and contacted Director Bei. Once the call went through, he said, “Director Bei, it’s me, Lu Gao.”

“Deputy Director Lu? How can I help you?”

“How could you leave just like that, Director?” Lu Gao asked.

“What could I do about it? The central government gave the order. The deputy general and chairperson of the privy council had both made up their minds, so I could only listen. Besides, I’m old now and have no energy to fight for such things anymore. We don’t know when the Great Crash is coming, so I’ll just focus on living a good life in the coming days.”

“Director—”

Director Bei interrupted him. “I’ll tell you something, Deputy Director Lu: Act within your limits and step away gracefully. Even if you’re sent away somewhere, you can still work. That’s enough. I’m fishing now and the hook is moving, so I have to go.”

The call ended.

Lu Gao huffed, and his expression soured.

Sent somewhere else? Director Bei made it sound so simple. The only reason he got all the benefits from the municipal government and the companies was because he was in his current position. All they asked was for him to leak some information about the Resolution Department occasionally. If he left his position, he would become nothing.

Was there really nothing he could do?

No. If he left, the municipal government and companies weren’t going to be able to find another partner like him. He was sure that they wouldn’t want this, so...

While he was thinking, his Realm Pass chimed again. When he found that it was his assistant, Bao Yun, [1] he felt a bit displeased. “What is it?”

A panicked voice came through. “Deputy Director Lu, it’s Xiao Miao. He—”

“What did he do now?” Lu Gao felt a headache coming. His son often caused trouble and needed him to clean up the mess once every few days. Even now, when Lu Gao was in hot water, he was causing him problems.

“He heard from somewhere that the new Director Chen wants to fire you, so he went to fight him,” Bao Yun said.

“What nonsense!” Lu Gao shot to his feet and cried out in panicked anger, “Stop him!”

“I won’t make it. He has already left.”

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Gao’s forehead, and he shouted to the guards outside, “Get a car ready!”

***

Chen Chuan took his limousine back to his old house in Martial Order District.

The Department of Administrative Affairs had given him a new house with facilities built according to martial arts masters’ standards. Since the Defense Bureau’s office was in the Department of Administrative Affairs’ office building, staying in Majestic Light District would be more convenient for him as well. So, he intended to go back to his old house and move everything over.

It would officially be December the day after tomorrow. Before the end of the year, all government departments had tons of things to deal with, so he had to go to his office as the director of the Defense Bureau by the first of December at the latest.

Chen Chuan tapped on his Realm Pass and immediately had a bunch of action plans and suggestions displayed on his screen.

Aside from being in charge of the two largest combat forces in Central City, the director of the Defense Bureau’s greatest authority lay in being able to use the Fu-Mu Entity for a period of time every day.

All the public domains in Central City were provided by the Fu-Mu Entity. Active biosentient entities like Hongfu and Safe Shield could be used by those in Martial Valor University and the Resolution Department, but if they had to transfer information or pass messages outside, they had to go through the Fu-Mu Entity.

If anything went wrong with the Fu-Mu Entity, such as a propagation, all the domains in Central City would malfunction.

Of course, authorization to use it was shared between the municipal government and central government. This was a problem left behind from long ago.

Because of it, the municipal government wouldn’t use force to solve their problems unless they wanted Central City to descend into chaos. They had to be prepared for anything to do it.

While Chen Chuan was reading through information and reports from various parties, Safe Shield sent him an alarm.

While Safe Shield was the Resolution Department’s active biosentient entity, the Defense Bureau was their superior, so Safe Shield still served him.

Chen Chuan checked the map and saw a car charging at him at high speed from several kilometers away. The screen showed that it was a Frenzied Dancer, a car from Fenghai. This car had been modified to have a steep approach angle and a sharp, flat, dozer blade, which made it look dangerous.

The motorcade in charge of escorting Chen Chuan noticed it and moved to shield the limousine. At the same time, they sounded an alarm. When the car showed no signs of stopping or changing direction, the mounted machine guns fired.

The shower of bullets caused the tires to explode. The driver lost control of the car, and it rolled to the side. A moment later, it exploded.

Chen Chuan checked his Realm Pass. The owner was stated to be Lu Miao, Lu Gao’s son.

He didn’t think that Lu Gao would be stupid enough to do something so meaningless. If he really wanted to fight, he wouldn’t have sent his own son. Someone must have pulled strings.

Chen Chuan had no intention of getting out of the limousine to check, though. He had Safe Shield notify the City Patrol to send someone to deal with this while he left with the motorcade.

***

Around ten minutes later, Lu Gao arrived at the site of the accident. The City Patrol and medics had already received a signal through their implants and arrived a few minutes earlier than he did. All Lu Gao could see was a burnt body getting dragged out of the car.

After asking the medics about the situation, he felt as if he had lost more than ten years of his life. A middle-aged man in sunglasses walked up to him, but Lu Gao’s security guards stopped him.

The middle-aged man stared at Lu Gao. “Deputy Director Lu, we can save your son.”

Lu Gao cast him a glance and frowned. His Realm Pass showed that the man was practically covered in implants. After some consideration, he said, “Let him through.”

The middle-aged man approached him and repeated himself, “Deputy Director Lu, we can save your son.”

Lu Gao didn’t ask him where he came from nor who he represented. “He’s already in this state. What can you even do?”

“We can contact Proto-Being. You should trust them. They have the best implant technology in the world and can perform full implant modification on your son so that he can continue living a normal life,” the middle-aged man replied.

Lu Gao’s heart skipped a beat. Based on what he knew, Proto-Being could do this, but they wouldn’t help him for nothing. He scrutinized the man a bit before asking, “What do you want?”

The middle-aged man took out a sealed package from his breast pocket and handed it to Lu Gao before whispering to him.

Lu Gao’s hand trembled so much that he nearly lost grip over the package. With rage barely contained in his voice, he hissed, “Have you lost your mind? That’s a martial arts master! How could you ask me to do something like this?”

“Don’t worry, Deputy Director Lu. We’ve locked down the domain here. No one can hear what we’re saying. We’re not trying to hurt him, not that we can, anyway. All you need to do is to put this package where I told you. You won’t be involved in anything else,” the middle-aged man said.

“You got the wrong person. I won’t be able to do it,” Lu Gao said with a shake of his head.

“You can. Before he came into office, you were in charge of the Defense Bureau and still have the authority to do this,” the middle-aged man continued patiently.

Lu Gao’s expression changed. After a while, he made up his mind and sighed. “Promise me that you’ll save my son,” he hissed while staring straight at the man.

“Of course. This is the condition of our partnership,” the middle-aged man promised with a smile.

1. This guy actually appeared in 3.256, along with Lu Miao, Lu Gao’s son ☜

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