Book 3, Chapter 29: Test

The Resolution Department acted fast. A day later, Ni Qianqian brought a person from the Resolution Department to Chen Chuan’s room. After confirming that he wanted to be part of the assistance program, they signed a hard copy of the contract.

Chen Chuan had no questions. He had asked Gao Ming about every single one of the clauses before this and found nothing wrong with them.

Without any organization investing resources into him, it would be very difficult for him to complete his studies in the main campus. Not only would he have to earn money to buy the courses, but he would also have to buy medicine, which meant that he would end up spending most of his time working instead of training.

The other students would be doing that, though, so the difference between them would widen sharply.

Most crucially, without this investment, he would be locked out of many channels leading to higher positions and wouldn’t be privy to a lot of important information. He would then lose out on many opportunities he never even knew existed.

Once Chen Chuan signed the contract, Ni Qianqian sent him a soft copy through her Realm Pass and said, “Alright. Let’s talk about something that’s going to happen right after this.

“You read the documents. The Resolution Department has one operation that requires your cooperation right now. Can you do it? You can say no, but it’s going to reduce your mark.”

Chen Chuan knew the principle of everything having a price, but they were sending him on an operation right after he signed the contract? Was it a test?

Yet Chen Chuan didn’t hesitate.

“Sure,” he answered.

“I like how readily you agreed to it.” As Ni Qianqian spoke, she sent another document to his Realm Pass.

Chen Chuan checked it. They wanted him to capture a criminal martial artist. Due to confidentiality reasons, the document only contained a simple description of his crimes. If Chen Chuan agreed to the operation, he would receive all of the information.

Ni Qianqian then said, “A reminder. Once you’ve said yes, you can’t hesitate or reject it, or it’ll lower your mark.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Officer Ni,” Chen Chuan simply replied.

He accepted the operation on the Realm Pass, and the details were immediately revealed to him.

The target was a criminal called Xiongjian Yi. His father was a Yi Islander, while his mother was from the Great Shun Republic. He spent his childhood in Central City and learned martial arts.

Five years ago, a group of students saw him attempting to kidnap a young girl. The moment his crime was exposed, he killed the young girl and all the students.

When the City Patrol located the apartment he rented, they found that he had murdered all the residents there by punching open the doors and snapping his victims’ necks.

Once they realized that Xiongjian Yi was a martial artist, the City Patrol quickly reported this to the Resolution Department and issued a bounty on his head. Xiongjian Yi fled and hid on an island.

Five years had passed since then. Recently, the Resolution Department had found out that Xiongjian Yi had received an invitation from Glowing Dew District’s Swordfish Gang to become their martial arts instructor. They also learned that Ferris Wheel—the company supporting Swordfish Gang—had hired a lawyer team to help him be absolved of the crimes he committed five years ago.

There was a photo of Xiongjian Yi on the screen. He was an incredibly rugged and tough-looking man. His thick pecs stretched his tank top to its limits, while his glutes and leg muscles were tight, big, and filled with explosive power.

The front side of his head was shaved, while he had long hair flowing down his back. His eyes were fierce, and his knuckles were huge. Clearly, he was a grappling expert.

While Chen Chuan was reading about him, Ni Qianqian said, “Are you finished? He’s your target. We’ve received information that he’ll arrive at the international port in Oceanway District within three days.

“You’re required to capture him before the Swordfish Gang and Ferris Wheel’s lawyer team can meet with him.

“We’re short of manpower, and Central City is huge, so we can’t keep up with everything as it is. That’s why no one will help you during the operation, but you can get help from the information portal.

“We’ll also recommend a few biofield technicians for you. If you don’t think they’re suitable for you, you can find your own technician. We’ll reimburse you, but you’ll be personally responsible for any situations arising from technical issues.

“Any questions?”

Chen Chuan took a look at the Resolution Department’s estimation of Xiongjian Yi’s strength: They believed him to be between the Second and Third Limit, though they also put a note at the end saying that it required confirmation.

“None,” Chen Chuan answered.

“Good. Now, come in here.” Ni Qianqian tapped her Realm Pass.

Chen Chuan took a look at his screen and found that it was showing a communication platform. It was the Resolution Department’s internal messaging platform, and immediately, he received a form.

“That’s the operation verification form. We can check it on the platform. Once you agree to participate in the operation, we’ll send the form to headquarters via telegram, and a record of it will be kept there.

“They’ll then send the approved form back to you via telegram. Remember to receive it. It’s very important, since it’s a piece of evidence that you carried out an operation on our orders.”

“Okay. Thanks for the information,” Chen Chuan said.

With all the instructions delivered, Ni Qianqian relaxed. “That’s all I have to say. If you need to tell us anything, you can contact me via your Realm Pass. That’s all.”

She stood up, gave Chen Chuan a little wave as a goodbye, and left with the Resolution Department member.

After she left, Chen Chuan went back to reading about Xiongjian Yi and found that he had learned martial arts from the Heavenly Pardon Gang.

There were a number of criminal organizations and gangs formed by martial artists in Central City, and the largest of them all was the Heavenly Pardon Gang. Its core members were all elite martial artists.

They had also set up a lot of martial arts schools that were open to the public. The gang also often picked talented people from the lower city district to train them.

Xiongjian Yi was discovered as a talent while young and studied under one of the elders of the Heavenly Pardon Gang as his disciple, so he had to have received a lot of secret teachings.

Further down were some of the fights Xiongjian Yi had been involved in before, but the contents were scarce and barely touched on, though that was because fights usually ended within a short moment.

Besides, all the information was from five years ago. Even though it had some value as reference, five years was a long enough span of time for a martial artist to make substantial progress. Hence, using the information here to measure Xiongjian Yi’s strength would be a grave mistake.

Since Xiongjian Yi’s ferry was going to arrive the day after tomorrow, Chen Chuan only had a day to prepare.

It might sound like he only had a bit of time, but incidents involving criminal martial artists usually came about unexpectedly. More often than not, no one had time to prepare for them, and if this was a test, it was within reasonable bounds.

After reading through everything, Chen Chuan contacted the biofield technicians Ni Qianqian had recommended through the Resolution Department’s internal messaging platform.

But after talking with them, he found that these technicians were only able to provide him very limited help in the sense that they could only tell him which route Xiongjian Yi was likely to take and couldn’t monitor him in real time. This wasn’t because they were shirking on their responsibilities, but because they needed to keep an eye on larger cases and couldn’t spare the time to help him, a mere backup law enforcer.

Since that was the case, Chen Chuan approached Wu Bei. After all, he could get reimbursed for this.

When Wu Bei heard that they were going to work with law enforcement, he became even more excited. Fighting against criminals had always been his greatest wish, and he was willing to work with Chen Chuan even for free.

With great excitement, he said, “I promise you that I’ll monitor him properly, Chen Chuan. Just watch me.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that. Setting aside Wu Bei’s skills, the fact that he was throwing himself so passionately into this was already a rare thing.

Some people were highly skilled but only did their jobs half-heartedly, which made them useless. When it came to capturing criminals, a slight oversight in details could lead to huge trouble.

***

After leaving the Arcane Palace, Ni Qianqian headed straight to her car on the square. At the same time, she contacted her superior.

“Say, don’t you think the estimation of Xiongjian Yi being a Second Limit martial artist is a bit wrong? He’s naturally gifted. Otherwise, the Heavenly Pardon Gang’s Elder Yu wouldn’t have taken him in as his disciple, and he was at that level five years ago. He should have reached the Third Limit by now. Can Chen Chuan really capture him?”

“Chen Chuan’s resume clearly stated that he fought against Tan Wang alone and captured him alive. If he was able to defeat a Third Limit martial artist back then, he can capture Xiongjian Yi now,” her superior pointed out.

Ni Qianqian argued, “That’s different. He might have taken some sort of medication back then. I read his resume too. Before the fight, most of Tan Wang’s implants were destroyed, and most of his strength came from his implants. Who knows just how much power he could actually tap into during his fight with Chen Chuan? If Chen Chuan had taken medicine and got lucky, he could have indeed won against Tan Wang.

“But if Xiongjian Yi is a Third Limit martial artist with no handicaps, then a student who just entered the main campus can’t possibly win against him.”

“We’re not about to joke around with the life of a promising student, and we’re not putting this entire operation on his shoulders. If he can’t capture Xiongjian Yi, someone will come and help him take care of things,” her superior stated.

“Because it’s just a test, is it? But I have a feeling that Chen Chuan can handle this. As for the reason? Call it the gut feeling of a learn-by-instincts type.” Ni Qianqian opened the door of her red racecar and got inside. The door shut with a slam, and the car shot out with a loud roar.

***

While Chen Chuan was getting ready, he maintained contact with the Resolution Department.

After all, he was representing the government in this operation to capture Xiongjian Yi, so he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted. He had to form his plan according to the rules and take an active role only during the part where he actually had to capture Xiongjian Yi. Until then, he had to keep up communications with the Resolution Department.

Since the Resolution Department members knew that their superiors were observing Chen Chuan closely and that he might become their colleague in the future, they treated him rather patiently and politely.

Xiongjian Yi knew that the Great Shun Republic had placed a bounty on his head and might try to capture him when he returned to the country, so he had to be careful. Any person in his position should ask the Swordfish Gang and Ferris Wheel’s employees to receive him at the port.

Hence, the Resolution Department was going to set up stations on various roads to inspect all cars to hold back the Swordfish Gang and Ferris Wheel from meeting up with Xiongjian Yi. Chen Chuan should then use that time to capture the man.

He would not have long, and the deed was difficult, but Chen Chuan could always give up on the mission if he couldn’t find a good chance for it and try again at another time.

But Chen Chuan knew that if he couldn’t seize the chance this time, he wouldn’t get a good mark even if he managed to capture Xiongjian Yi in the future. He had to do his best from the start.

It wasn’t as if it was impossible. The person who had set up the general outline of the plan had done so based on Chen Chuan’s mark during the entrance exam, but that wasn’t Chen Chuan’s real strength. His plan was to handwave his sudden improvement on medicine. In any case, he

was

going to take medicine before the operation to prevent any accidents from happening.