Chapter 105: A Big Mission

Chen Chuan recalled that particular moment. Some agent company had used Fang Zhiming to hand him a business card. Chen Chuan took it, then tossed it aside. To think that they would actually seek him out...

He shook Min Lan’s hand. “Hello.”

“Do you have time right now, Chen Chuan? I’d like to have a word with you. If you aren’t, I won’t bother you. We can talk later.” Min Lan smiled politely.

Chen Chuan pondered over it for a moment. “I’m about to go to the cafeteria to eat. Why don’t we talk there?”

Min Lan smiled and said, “Of course. Let me treat you to some food outside the free menu. After all, I’m the one bothering you.”

They talked about the university until they reached the cafeteria. After they entered the first-class students’ dining area, Min Lan ordered for both of them.

Students did not need to pay if they ordered from the set menu, but Min Lan was not just talking when she said that she was going to treat Chen Chuan. She ordered from outside the menu, though she did not pick the really expensive dishes. She struck the perfect balance in this regard.

Since alcohol was banned from Martial Valor University and martial artists seldom touched it, she ordered two bottles of soda.

It was easier to talk about business while eating, so once their food came, Min Lan said, “Sorry to bother you today. I actually wanted to ask Fang Zhiming to help me schedule a meeting with you, but I realized that if I waited, I would end up a step behind everyone else, so I took the initiative.”

“Are you saying that a lot of people will be approaching me over the next few days?” Chen Chuan said.

Min Lan sat up straighter and said seriously, “Yes. If I’m correct, you must have received a lot of letters in your mailbox today. You have no idea just how famous you are right now.

“Orchid Fragrance Theater isn’t just the largest movie theater in the southern part of the city, but also one of the main social venues of the rich. Word gets out quickly whenever something happens there, so many people have heard about you getting rid of the ghost.”

That was not all. When the major agent companies learned that the one who got rid of the ghost was the same person who took down Fang Dawei and his gang, Chen Chuan’s value rose even higher.

More importantly, Chen Chuan was just a freshman, but he already had a weapons permit. Anyone could tell that he was going to become even more outstanding over the next few years, so how could those astute companies resist trying to recruit Chen Chuan?

After learning about this, Chen Chuan did not find himself averse to it. After all, if he became famous, it would be easier for him to get missions.

His goal was to get stronger. Before he had the strength to break free of all his shackles, one of the safest paths for him was to do things according to the rules of the world.

But he was not going to accept missions from all parties, not without knowing who exactly they were.

Min Lan gave a brief introduction of her company and told him some of the interesting things that happened in it. She also seemingly unintentionally talked about the benefits her company provided.

She did not try to convince Chen Chuan to join her company. During their short conversation, she could tell that Chen Chuan was someone with a mind of his own, and it would be hard for anyone to convince him to change his mind. That was why she decided that it would be better to give Chen Chuan a good impression of her company instead of saying loads of things to persuade him to join.

Min Lan knew that when it came to human relationships, as long as people got along with each other and felt comfortable, they wouldn’t mind extending a helping hand at times, even if it meant that they would not get many benefits.

Chen Chuan was basically just listening to her throughout the entire conversation, but he still learned quite a lot. Min Lan had carefully picked what she wanted to say, and they were all things that the average person would never be able to know.

They had a fun time eating dinner. Before parting ways, Min Lan shook his hand and said, “Sorry for bothering you again. I hope that when you pick a company or missions in the future, you'll keep us in mind.” She took out a business card from her handbag and handed it to him with both hands. “This is my business card.”

Chen Chuan accepted it. “Thanks for treating me today, Min Lan.”

“I’m happy that I got to treat someone as talented as you are. Let’s talk again in the future,” Min Lan said with a smile. Clearly, she was a master of tact and keeping a respectful distance. After bidding goodbye, she left.

***

Around the same time, Ren Shu and his group arrived at Martial Valor University.

It was close to the holidays, but the university was even livelier than usual because of the many citizens who had come for the tournament. They all took the chance to take a tour around the campus. Even though it had been snowing over the past few days, it did not snuff out the citizens’ enthusiasm.

Ren Shu’s group was itching to go to watch the tournament, but they remembered their goal and decided to find the agent first.

“Xiao Jiang, is your informant reliable?”

“Don’t worry. That student’s parents work at my friend’s company, and he’s an elite student in the university. He definitely knows more about what’s going on in the campus than we do.”

Even after getting a general description of the agent’s looks, it was hard for them to find him. Hence, they pulled some strings and got a Martial Valor University student to help them.

They waited for a short while in the main hall before a boy walked in. He cast a glance at the others before greeting Xiao Jiang respectfully. “Hello, Young Master Jiang.”

After getting into Martial Valor University, the students’ statuses became completely different from before, especially for first-class students. But the boy’s parents worked for Xiao Jiang’s friend’s company, so he was willing to show him respect. He still referred to Xiao Jiang with the title he used before, but anyone could tell from his tone that he no longer held any reverence to Xiao Jiang. The title was just that—a normal title.

Xiao Jiang hurriedly said, “Don’t, Xiao Ling. Just call me Xiao Jiang.”

Xiao Ling did not bother with the pleasantries any further. “Alright. You wanted me to look for someone, didn’t you?”

“Yes. We’d like you to look for a student here to become one of our agents. He’s also an elite student, has a weapons permit, has Chen as his surname, is pretty tall, and um...”

Before he could finish, Xiao Ling interrupted him. “Wait, hang on. Are you looking for someone who’s skilled with a long saber?”

“Yes! You know him?” Xiao Jiang asked in delight.

Xiao Ling started rambling excitedly, “There’s no mistaking him. While I don’t know him personally, I do know who he is. Chen Chuan is really famous among the freshmen. Did you know that he beat up the upperclassman examining them during the follow-up exam so badly that he’s now in a coma? There was also an assistant who tried to cause him trouble, so he crippled him. Some time ago...”

As the group listened, they were stunned. Hang on, were they looking for someone so ruthless?

They could not help but feel scared of Chen Chuan, even though they had never seen him before. However, they were also at their rebellious phase, so Chen Chuan’s “ruthlessness” attracted them like moths to a flame. Some of them even started idolizing him.

Once Xiao Ling’s mouth went dry from all the talking, he stopped and asked, “You want to see him?”

“Yes. We came here just to meet him,” Ren Shu hurriedly said.

“Alright. It should be about lunchtime now. I’ll call his floor. It’s up to him whether he agrees to see you, though.”

“Thank you!” Ren Shu and his group quickly thanked him.

***

Chen Chuan had returned to his dorm and just taken a shower when the dormitory supervisor came knocking on his door to say that someone was calling him. He thanked the latter and picked up the phone. The caller was a student whom Chen Chuan had never met before. After chatting with him for a bit, the student told him the situation and asked whether he was free to meet Ren Shu’s group.

Chen Chuan thought about it and said, “Alright. Tell them to send a representative. We can talk.”

Xiao Ling was delighted when he heard Chen Chuan being so considerate toward him. “Come to my room, then.”

Once Chen Chuan agreed to it, he gave him his room number and hung up. Then, he turned around and told Ren Shu’s gang the conditions. After they discussed it among themselves, they decided to send Ren Shu to talk to him.

“Guys, Chen Chuan is willing to meet you because he was being considerate toward me. Please don’t say anything unpleasant,” Xiao Ling pleaded.

“I won’t,” Ren Shu promised. After hearing all that Chen Chuan had done from Xiao Ling, he wouldn’t dare.

***

After hanging up, Chen Chuan took the elevator to go to Area Two of the third floor. Xiao Ling was already waiting by the elevator. When he saw Chen Chuan, he spoke to him a little before introducing Ren Shu, who was behind him. He then brought them to his room. Once they sat down in the living room, he said, “Have fun chatting. I won’t be bothering you now.”

He then left his room and stood outside.

Ren Shu was quite stiff. He had felt normal outside, but when he actually sat down face to face with Chen Chuan, he became nervous. All that he had heard from Xiao Ling did nothing for his nerves.

But he composed himself and said, “H-Hello, Mr. Chen. I’m Ren Shu. I’ve formed an agent company with some friends who share the same ambitions, but we lack suitable agents. After learning that you got rid of the ghost at Orchid Fragrance Theater, we did whatever we could to find you...”

Chen Chuan understood right then why Ren Shu had approached him, and he could also tell that his people were not as capable as Min Lan’s company. Despite that, they were sincere.

He pondered over it and asked, “Mr. Ren, you said that you came to me because I got rid of the ghost at Orchid Fragrance Theater. Does that mean that you’re focusing on missions dealing with the supernatural and urban legends?”

“Yes! Exactly!” Ren Shu perked up. “Yes, yes! Since we’ve only just formed our company, we know that we aren’t able to compete with major companies when it comes to regular missions. That’s why we intend to make our breakthrough through missions related to the supernatural and urban legends.”

Chen Chuan became quite curious. “Did you pick this path because you have a lot of such missions?”

“To tell you the truth, the government departments and the Department of Administrative Affairs have quite a number of missions related to the supernatural and urban legends, but only a handful of people take them, and even fewer complete them. Some people stop doing them entirely after doing just one. That’s why many of such missions have accumulated over the years, and we have ways to negotiate with the Department of Administrative Affairs. With some money, we can get them to give us all the time-barred missions or missions that no one had bothered to take care of even after a long time had passed.”

As Chen Chuan listened, he came to realize something: many of the missions had a time limit. With enough time having passed, some cases might even see the client gone altogether.

But as long as the problem remained unsolved, the mission would be available at the Department of Administrative Affairs. These missions were considered expired, because even if someone took them and solved them, it would at most give the agent evaluation points. They would not get any pay for them.

Ren Shu’s company had just joined the market, so they needed to establish themselves as a trustworthy brand. Hence, forget the fact that these missions didn’t pay, even if they had to pay to get those evaluation points, they would.

Chen Chuan could tell that they did not lack funding.

In order to tempt him, Ren Shu decided to show his sincerity. “Also, we got some information from certain channels that the Department of Administrative Affairs has recently received a major mission.”

He spread his arms wide to show just how large. “Not only is the pay good, but it’s also related to the supernatural. No single company can handle it on their own, so many agent companies have been looking for experts in this area. We don’t want to miss out on this chance, so we’re sincerely inviting you to join us, even if it’s just for a temporary partnership.”