Book 3, Chapter 46: Compensation

The medical staff examined the unconscious audience members and found that during the brawl, nine of them had died, while another seventeen were heavily injured.

Most of the dead were First Limit martial artists. Still, this outcome was much better than the devastating number of casualties Sun Zhiming had estimated before coming in.

A security guard went up to him and whispered, “Gong Zhanyi is heavily wounded, sir.”

“Tell the medical team to do their best to save him,” Sun Zhiming ordered.

The fact that someone from the Gong family was so gravely wounded that he was at death’s door while on Azure Dragon’s ship might bring some problems. However, Gong Zhanyi wasn’t the family’s heir, so it could still be smoothed over.

“Also, use this chance to figure out whether Wei Wusheng is linked to him. This is an important matter, so you’re allowed to use whatever means necessary.”

The captain of the security team understood what he meant, and he said, “We found Wei Wusheng’s previous hiding place. It’s a corner where we put our cargo, so no one ever goes there. Without an insider telling him, he wouldn’t have known about that place even existing. He was really familiar with the layout of the ship. Do you think that someone from the company—”

“Don’t say anything before we find concrete proof,” Sun Zhiming immediately interrupted him.

The security team captain shut his mouth.

While Sun Zhiming had stopped him from speaking, there was logic behind the security team captain’s deductions. This was indeed what a certain group in the company would do.

It seemed like the fact that Sun Zhiming was in charge of Multi-Eyes threatened those people’s interests.

After pondering over it for a moment, he asked, “How are those two?”

“They’re recovering after taking medicine, but they’re in good condition,” the security guard captain answered.

Sun Zhiming nodded at that and motioned for the security guard captain to go back to his duties while he left the arena. Outside, he immediately saw Chen Chuan standing at the edge of the ship with the Frost King Saber in hand while staring at the rising and falling seawater in the darkness.

Sun Zhiming went up next to him and said, “I’ve had the medical team examine your friends. They’re all fine, but I’ve asked the staff to inject soothing agents into them. If they have no adverse reactions to the drugs, they’ll be fine in around half an hour.”

“What was that, Senior Sun?” Chen Chuan asked.

“The toxin of the Crimson Sea Worm. It can excite Third Limit martial artists and allow them to bring out their best, but it’s not good for those below the Third Limit. It can affect the minds of those with weak will.”

Chen Chuan didn’t question it. Since this was the answer Sun Zhiming provided, he would pretend to believe that everything happened because of the Crimson Sea Worm.

Just then, Sun Zhiming said sincerely, “I checked your records and found that you’ve applied for a Radiant Light session. Azure Dragon has been heavily investing into this project.

“As a reward and compensation for this accident, I’ll make use of the company’s authority and give you an extra three hours every month. This is a show of our sincerity. I hope that you can accept it.”

It was clear that while Sun Zhiming was truly trying to reward and compensate Chen Chuan for his efforts, he also wanted for him to not talk about this incident to the public. After all, aside from the Third Limit martial artists, he had been the only one left with his rationality intact.

“That’s exactly what I need. I’ll take you up on your offer, then,” he said.

Some of the tension left from Sun Zhiming’s face, and he said, “If you need my help in the future, you can contact me through this.”

Chen Chuan saw a new contact request on his contact interface. The profile picture was that of a dragon flying among the clouds. Its body could only be vaguely seen as light shone on it. Sun Zhiming’s name was written behind it, so he accepted the contact request.

“Who exactly is Wei Wusheng, Senior Sun?” he asked.

“He was once a core member of the Heavenly Pardon Gang, but he was kicked out not too long ago. He’s a martial arts fanatic, who traveled around challenging famous martial artists in the past. Due to his body hardening-type refined force, few people can challenge him. We’re still looking into why he attacked the arena today,” Sun Zhiming answered.

Chen Chuan nodded at that. Wei Wusheng was truly strong. Chen Chuan seldom met anyone who could bear the brunt of the Frost King Saber’s attack through the strength of their body alone. Even though Chen Chuan hadn’t used the Furnace Breathing Technique, he had a feeling that even if he did, Wei Wusheng would have been able to withstand his attacks.

There should be some special methods to fight against people like him. Once Chen Chuan returned, he had to train more and ask Mr. Zheng for advice.

“When I was fighting against him, he said something about wanting to fulfill his purpose,” Chen Chuan supplied.

“Fulfill his purpose?” Sun Zhiming’s expression turned grim. “This is important information. Thanks for telling me.”

He touched his Realm Pass after receiving a call, then said, “I need to go now. If you need any help, just contact me.”

He then shook Chen Chuan’s hand and left in a hurry.

Chen Chuan stood still for a while before heading to the medical bay. On the way there, his Realm Pass finally connected to the outside world, and he received a call right away. It was from Ni Qianqian, so he answered. Her voice immediately shot straight into his ears. “Are you on Rhinoceros’ Horn, Chen Chuan?”

“Yeah. Are you contacting me about the act of violence on the cruise ship just now? I wasn’t just there, but got involved in it,” Chen Chuan stated.

“Well, that sure is a coincidence, but it saves us a lot of trouble. Azure Dragon has their own security team and wants to take care of the problem themselves. They don’t want us getting involved, but we’ve learned from certain channels that the Heavenly Pardon Gang’s Wei Wusheng participated in this, and he’s a wanted man. The Resolution Department has the right to participate in the investigations of all crimes committed by martial artists.

“If Azure Dragon can’t solve this case, we’re going to hold them accountable. Since you were caught up in it, this makes things easier. Submit a report to the department when you’re free.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan answered.

“Well then, I won’t bother you anymore on your day off,” Ni Qianqian said and hung up.

After walking for a little longer, Chen Chuan entered the medical bay. Soon, Pan Xiaode, Tan Zhi, and Qi Huixin woke up.

The moment Pan Xiaode woke up, he asked, “Who won?”

Tan Zhi massaged his head and said, “I don’t think there was a winner. I remember someone smashing the tank. Say, why are we here?”

Qi Huixin rubbed her temples. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened.

Chen Chuan wondered whether it was due to the soothing agent or the toxin, but the three of them had completely forgotten about what had happened after Wei Wusheng smashed the tank. They weren’t the only ones. All the people forgot about the brawl after they regained consciousness. Their memories of the incident ended at the point Wei Wusheng came in and smashed the tank.

“Senior Sun said that the Crimson Sea Worm had released a toxin in the tank, so once it shattered and the water spilled out, all of us were affected,” Chen Chuan explained.

“Is that so? By the way, you seem to have woken up earlier than we did, Chen Chuan,” Pan Xiaode pointed out.

Chen Chuan turned to him and thought,

I won’t fit in if I said I was the only one who didn’t faint, right?

So, he said, “Yup.”

Once Tan Zhi’s mind cleared up a little more, he checked his Realm Pass. “Wow, it’s almost 10 p.m.? The main event has been canceled, so why don’t we go back to rest? I’m still feeling a bit dizzy.”

Pan Xiaode was quite disappointed. “It’s a pity that we didn’t manage to see the whole fight, and we have to go back tomorrow. I wonder if we’ll get to see another one like that again.”

“We will,” Tan Zhi said comfortingly.

Chen Chuan stayed in the medical bay with them a little while longer until they were more or less recovered. Then, they returned to their cabins. Chen Chuan took a shower, wrote a report, and went to bed.

***

Sun Zhiming returned to the main cabin and summoned the person in charge of Multi-Eyes for a few questions.

“Chen Chuan is just a Second Limit martial artist, but he wasn’t affected by Multi-Eyes’ domain. He took medicine to fight against a Third Limit martial artist, but is this normal?”

The person in charge pondered over this before saying, “There’s always a few people with special constitutions. Regardless of whether they’re in the Third Limit or not, they have the ability to not get affected. I’ve never seen this Chen Chuan before, but based on what you said, I believe he’s one of those special cases.

“And you said that he took medicine to fight against a Third Limit martial artist? That shows that he has a great determination to survive. If a person is desperate to live, it allows them to retain a certain degree of rationality. While we’ve never seen cases like this before, it’s theoretically possible.”

Sun Zhiming nodded at that and asked, “How’s Multi-Eyes?”

“It’s in a stable condition, but the two martial artists didn’t fight for long, so it wasn’t able to collect enough information and data about their biofields.

“Once Wei Wusheng showed up, it received too much information from other martial artists in its domain, especially from low-Limit martial artists. We need to help sort and clean up the information it gathered. It will take some time.”

“Will this affect Multi-Eyes badly?” Senior Sun asked.

“No. I’d say that because of Wei Wusheng jumping in, we might have received data from another biofield, though it’s not comprehensive. If we have the chance, I’d like to get all his data,” the person in charge answered.

“Multi-Eyes might just be one of the projects in the company’s grand plan, but it’s a puzzle piece that cannot be absent. What happened just now won’t affect us. I’ve already spoken to the company, so go ahead, keep pushing for its development. You don’t have to worry about anything else,” Sun Zhiming reassured him.

The person in charge took his hand out of his pocket and nudged his glasses up. “That’s good.”

Sun Zhiming then patted the railing before him and said, “All the big companies are trying to push their projects forward. For the sake of the next generation, we need to be ahead of all of them.

“I’m going to write a report to the company and propose launching businesses that will let us release Multi-Eyes into the market to improve our dataset. Get ready for it.”