Book 3, Chapter 282: The Elephant Gang

Wu Bei’s voice came through the Realm Pass. “Do you have a minute, Chen Chuan?”

“Sure. Go on ahead,” Chen Chuan said.

“There were quite a number of resonators who tried to look into you. It has happened frequently since you became famous. Some of them are information brokers from underground organizations. Some are information gatherers working in companies. Usually, they aren’t able to find anything, so I just ignore them after chasing them away.

“But there’s this one person. He looked into your information, so I marked him. I also chased him away multiple times, but each time, he stayed at the borders of the data wall I formed. He looked like he wanted to say something, so I contacted him. Lo and behold, I was right.

“He said that he had an important message and had been hinting that it has something to do with a certain company.”

Surprise flickered in Chen Chuan’s heart. They had discussed with Wu Bei before that if they mentioned a company with no name, it would refer to Ferris Wheel.

Wu Bei continued, “I decided that regardless of whether it has something to do with the company or someone’s just causing trouble, you should hear about it.”

“You did the right thing. Did the person only say that he has a message for me?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Yeah. He left behind a channel. I’ve checked it. It’s fine.”

After some thinking, Chen Chuan said, “Could you reply to that person that I have something to deal with right now? I’ll contact him later.”

“Sure. I’ll keep an eye on him for you,” Wu Bei said.

Once he hung up, Chen Chuan returned to the display area. Zhuang Ke smiled at him and nodded. “Please take a look.”

He tapped on his Realm Pass, and a category listing showed up on screen.

If a creature grew mutated tissue after they were born in Photon Nest, it would grow in a balanced manner in the beginning and then develop based on the owner’s requests.

This technology was pretty much fully developed. The different directions of growth determined the pet’s abilities and attack styles.

Once it was decided, aside from the necessary injections and oral medicine, Photon Nest would also provide trainers to improve the pet’s abilities.

Of course, this was part of the package. While it was expensive, it was worth every dev.

Due to Dawncall’s special characteristics, Photon Nest offered three options.

First, improve its ability to climb and move through tight spaces.

Chen Chuan skimmed through the information. Photon Nest had a lot of videos regarding other animals with this ability, which showed off the strengths of a pet developing in this particular aspect.

After going through meticulous growth and training, the pet could climb various terrain and glide between trees and buildings. They could also lurk underground and under trees. If they also got some implants, their combat strength would increase by leaps and bounds.

In the Sarmanj Continent Guild, many warlords trained small creatures like these to protect themselves and carry out assassinations.

Second, improve its flight and airborne hunting capabilities. This would allow the pet to fly higher and further. They could also identify enemies and prey before diving down to kill their targets.

Pets like these usually had light but durable mutated bones and fascia, along with powerful mutated teeth. The videos showed just how powerful and daunting they could be.

Third, combine the two. The pet would have all the characteristics, but they wouldn’t stand out in any one way. There was nothing much to say about this.

After reading through everything, Chen Chuan chose option two without hesitation.

He didn’t need Dawncall to participate in battle. All he needed it to do was to be his third set of eyes in the air and warn him of danger. Dawncall had done a great job last time and discovered Ferris Wheel’s motorcade and ambush team ahead of everyone else.

When Zhuang Ke saw how decisive Chen Chuan was, he gave an approving nod. He had met plenty of customers who had difficulty choosing. After they made their decisions, they would even regret it and go back on their decision, which gave him a massive headache.

While the company charged them more for the extra work, their indecision also added a lot of risk for the pet. If something went wrong, it would damage the company’s reputation.

Once Chen Chuan made his choice, Zhuang Ke said, “Mr. Chen, in around five days, your pet’s condition will stabilize, and we will move to the next step.

“The growth period will be rather long, just like that of martial artists. We will then shift it to a cultivation nest to make sure that its vitals remain steady. After that, we will inject nutrients and medicine directly into the mutated tissue to promote its growth.”

Chen Chuan confirmed the plan, and the screen showed an X-ray diagram of Dawncall’s body. Various parts of its body were in different colors. The red sections showed the places where mutated tissue already existed, while the blue sections were the parts that required strengthening.

As a martial artist, Chen Chuan could immediately tell the use of the strengthened areas and how they were going to generate power. He found it reasonable, and it put him at ease. Photon Nest had custom-made their plan for Dawncall instead of throwing a fixed model on it or importing their previous experiences with other pets without changing anything. This satisfied him.

Chen Chuan extended his hand to Zhuang Ke, “I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Zhuang Ke smiled and shook his hand. “Mr. Chen, please leave it to us.”

Chen Chuan left Photon Nest. Once he was in his car, he contacted Wu Bei, who brought him into the channel.

After waiting for a while, a pleasant voice reached his ear. It sounded like it belonged to a delicate, young woman. “Mr. Chen Chuan?” she asked tentatively.

“That’s me,” Chen Chuan replied.

“Mr. Chen, h-hello.” The woman sounded quite nervous and worried about something, so she didn’t know how to start talking.

“Miss, you can take your time. I’m free right now. But first, how should I address you?” Chen Chuan asked.

The woman took a moment to compose herself. “I’m Deng Xin. I once worked at Ferris Wheel’s Intelligence Department and was in charge of collecting and compiling information.”

The moment Chen Chuan heard this, he immediately said, “One moment.”

He switched to another channel and asked Wu Bei, “You okay there, Wu Bei?”

“Don’t worry about me. This is my independent channel, so nothing will get leaked if you don’t take longer than three minutes,” Wu Bei declared.

Chen Chuan went back to Deng Xin. “Please continue, Miss Deng.”

“Alright. M-Mr. Chen, I know why you’re being targeted by Ferris Wheel. I’m... targeted for the same reason,” Deng Xin supplied.

A stir of emotion rose in Chen Chuan’s heart, but he didn’t immediately ask Deng Xin to elaborate. “Where are you now, Miss Deng?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Deng Xin said, “I’m with the Elephant Gang.”

If she were really there, then her words were trustworthy to a certain degree, because the Elephant Gang had always been at odds with the Swordfish Gang, which Ferris Wheel supported. Their members came from different places as well. The Elephant Gang was currently holed up in a corner of Glowing Dew District, and it was entirely because the Swordfish Gang had been attacking them. The conflict between them ran deep, and the grudge was never going to disappear.

“Thank you for the information, Miss Deng. Can you come out right now?” Chen Chuan asked.

“I... can’t,” Deng Xin said.

Chen Chuan could understand. From her tone, he could tell that while Deng Xin might have practiced martial arts before, she was definitely not a martial artist. If Ferris Wheel was really after her life, she wouldn’t step out for anything.

Since the private channel was only safe for three minutes and Chen Chuan had plenty of things that required confirmation, he said, “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to meet you, and we can talk face to face.”

Deng Xin sighed in relief. “Alright, Mr. Chen, but please don’t let Ferris Wheel know that you’re coming over.”

“Don’t worry. Ferris Wheel isn’t strong enough yet,” Chen Chuan said coolly.

Whenever Chen Chuan stepped out of his room, he had Wu Bei block his domain information. The Resolution Department and Cult Investigation Bureau were also watching Ferris Wheel 24/7. The moment they did anything strange, the two government departments would notice. At the very least until the Fu-Mu Entity split, he didn’t have to worry about Ferris Wheel being able to do anything to him.

“When are you free? Is the afternoon alright?” he asked.

Deng Xin considered it before saying, “The afternoon is fine. I’ll have someone wait for you in the Elephant Gang’s market. Once you arrive, use this channel to contact him.”

“Alright. I’ll be there at around 2 p.m.,” Chen Chuan said.

He then ended the call.

He had always wanted to know why Ferris Wheel kept going after his life. If he could learn the truth, he could start planning and taking countermeasures.

Before leaving, he contacted the Resolution Department. In order to make sure the conversation didn’t get leaked, he contacted Wu Quan directly and told him about the situation. The man then told him to be careful.

Chen Chuan gave his word, but the situation wasn’t all that dangerous. While the Elephant Gang was a gang, it had rules, and they wouldn’t readily offend the law enforcers of the Resolution Department.

He went back to his dorm room and grabbed some things before driving to the Elephant Gang.

The gang was located at the edge of Glowing Dew District, away from the highly populated areas due to being driven away by the Swordfish Gang. The outermost area of the territory was a market open to the public since they had more than ten thousand members from Sheni Peninsula, and they needed plenty of resources to survive.

However, if anyone wanted to go further inside, they wouldn’t be able to, unless a member introduced them or led them inside. Chen Chuan contacted his guide through the previous channel and told him his location and characteristics of his car.

After around ten minutes, a tanned teenager who was around sixteen years old rode out on a skateboard. Soon, he saw Chen Chuan’s car and spun around. Once he got closer, he flipped the skateboard up, stopped, and grabbed the skateboard.

Chen Chuan opened the car door, and the teenager jumped in. “Name’s A’lie. Deng Xin asked me to bring you over.”

He pointed forward and patted his chest. “Just drive forward. Don’t worry. With me around, you won’t have any problem getting in.”