Book 3, Chapter 143: Preliminary Preparations

“If Meng Huang really made contact with an existence from the other side, then he and all the people around him are huge threats,” Wu Quan continued.

“We’ve had cases like this before. Even Third Limit martial artists aren’t always able to protect themselves from such people. That’s why, at crucial moments, we’ll allow you to give up on your mission.”

Director Fang took over the conversation. “You might be wondering why we aren’t arresting him already, since we have our suspicions. That’s because we aren’t sure whether Meng Huang has actually contacted the other side.

“If we arrest the person in charge of a mid-sized company without sufficient evidence, it will lead to many uncertainties. Neither the government nor the other companies would approve of this action. That’s why we can only carry out our mission from within the company.”

“I understand,” Chen Chuan said.

The government couldn’t allow something to go wrong with a mid-sized company it was supporting, because it involved a variety of other problems. If they got rid of Meng Huang without sufficient proof, the other companies would become worried.

And if a company of that size collapsed suddenly, the other companies would eat up the slices of pie they left behind. If the government wasn’t prepared for that, they would have a hard time preventing it.

The interests of many parties were involved in this, and the Resolution Department couldn’t handle it on their own.

“I’m glad you understand,” Director Fang said.

When they carried out certain operations, they had to think about the big picture, especially when it concerned big groups and forces of power. However, when doing so, certain things would become unreasonable and incomprehensible from a singular person’s point of view.

Actually, it wasn’t that hard to understand. If a person involved in such an operation had to do things that seemed not to benefit them, it was simply because they weren’t part of the group of people or interests that the operation was meant to serve.

But they couldn’t just tell Third Limit martial artists that they wouldn’t benefit from the operation, especially martial artists like Chen Chuan, who were strong and had great potential. That would be too simple and crude. They had to convince them to set aside their own interests through discussions and negotiations as well as placate them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t cooperate wholeheartedly.

“I have another question. If you can’t interfere directly because you’re worried that Meng Huang will take extreme measures against you, how are you going to solve the problem about me being part of the Resolution Department?” Chen Chuan asked.

“We don’t have to do anything. Meng Huang already knows that we’re keeping an eye on him, but your relationship with Meng Shu will reduce the possibility of him taking sudden action, though that doesn’t mean that he won’t do anything. Honestly, sending you in is just a way for us to justify ourselves to the other companies and the government,” Director Fang answered.

Chen Chuan pondered over it before understanding what Director Fang meant. If he was invited to protect Meng Shu, Chen Chuan would join the company on their terms, but if he didn’t, then the Resolution Department would be sticking their noses into Border Fusion’s business. Those were two very different things.

Since he was Meng Shu’s friend and she had extended the invitation to him, Chen Chuan would be joining Border Fusion on the excuse to protect his friend during her fight for the right to inherit the company. No one could intervene or criticize what he was doing, even if they knew what was really going on.

This way, Meng Huang would have a hard time using external allies to win the competition, and the Resolution Department could focus all their power to take him down.

“Officer Chen, because of this, we won’t be able to provide much help to you. You might have to face a lot of difficulties on your own,” Director Fang warned.

“Because of this, we will provide other forms of help to you. We’ll assign a three-man resonator team to you, teach you how to handle long-distance weapons, and give you power-boosting medicine. We will also custom-make equipment and weapons based on your requests.

“If you have any requests, we’ll fulfill them for you as long as they’re within our capabilities.”

Chen Chuan considered it and said, “I have a resonator I often work with. I hope that he can join the team and be its leader.”

“I’ll allow that,” Wu Quan said. If two people often worked together, they would have excellent teamwork. Their trust in each other would also be strong. Such teammates were the most reliable during crucial moments.

“Gao Ming is my personal lawyer and cousin. He has the right to know about this too,” Chen Chuan continued.

Director Fang looked up Gao Ming on his Realm Pass. “You chose to tell him about the World Ring?”

“Yes.”

“As long as you promise not to tell him all the specifics, you can let him know. Honestly, if you hadn’t mentioned this, we would have assigned a lawyer to be your consultant.

“Once you become part of Border Fusion, you’ll be involved in its businesses. It’s uncommon for companies to use brute force against its employees. Usually, the companies use business measures or the law to get rid of those they don’t like. Because of this, even if you’re strong, you won’t be able to make use of it. That’s why you need to pay attention to others trying to attack you through other means.

“If you run into any problems, you can tell us. Even if you’re involved in matters that could get you into legal trouble, we can help you put off the lawsuit or make whoever wants to sue you bury it.”

After hearing their promises, Chen Chuan had no other demands, so he said, “That’s about all of my requests, though I may think of something after going back.”

“That’s reasonable. This is an important matter, so you must think it through carefully. We need you to be fully prepared before jumping into this mess,” Wu Quan said.

“But you have to be quick about it. I’m sure that Meng Huang has already heard about you meeting up with Meng Shu. If he decides to take extreme measures, he might attack her very soon.

“Still, your friend is smart. After meeting you that day, she went to Grand Prosperity Finance to negotiate a business deal. She’s still there.

“While Grand Prosperity Finance doesn’t offer outsourced security services, its security force is one of the best in Central City. As long as she stays inside, she won’t have to worry about her safety. But this gives Meng Huang time to plan and make arrangements. After she finishes the negotiation and is on her way back to the company, she might run into trouble.

“We can set up checkpoints along the way, but you know that the Resolution Department is short of manpower. We can find snipers or demolition teams, but we have a hard time locating martial artists. You’ll need to think of ways to deal with those.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Director Fang. I’ll do what I must,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

The three of them discussed a few more things Chen Chuan needed to pay attention to and settled on their plan before putting an end to the meeting. When Chen Chuan reached the parking lot, he immediately contacted his cousin. “Gao Ming, you were right. The Resolution Department does have its own plans, but the situation is a bit different from what we originally thought. Let’s meet up and talk.”

Gao Ming had thought that the government would want to support Meng Shu because Meng Huang had started getting ideas that went against the government’s interests. Since Border Fusion had many deals with the government and was practically a company in the downstream sector for the state-owned companies, they wouldn’t let its person in charge go up against them.

Because of this, if Meng Shu applied for the Resolution Department to assign Chen Chuan as her guard, the department would go along with the flow and approve her application. Neither side would suffer any losses from it.

While the real situation was a little different from Gao Ming’s analysis, the outcome was the same.

Chen Chuan drove to Gao Ming’s apartment. Soon after he parked his car, Gao Ming got in and asked, “What’s the situation?”

Chen Chuan told him what he had learned.

Gao Ming nudged his glasses up and started analyzing the situation. “It seems like the other world has infiltrated ours more than I thought. If the person in charge of a mid-sized company can contact the existences on the other side of the World Ring, then the management of big companies and certain groups in the government can certainly do the same. It’s all a matter of whether they want to cross the line, and whether the law enforcers are able to enforce the rules.”

“There’s also a possibility that they’re in contact with different entities,” Chen Chuan pointed out.

“Yes. That’s also a possibility. We have too little information right now and can’t come to a proper conclusion. If we make our deductions without any basis, we might end up with a theory that’s far from the truth. Thank goodness we don’t have to bother with that for now. Anyway, things are different from what we expected. You’ll be in even more danger. Are you confident you can handle it?”

“I’ve never seen the existences from the other world, so I can’t say. But even if Meng Huang intends to use them, he’s still part of our world,” Chen Chuan replied.

“I’m a martial artist and part of the Resolution Department. Sooner or later, I’ll have to face those things. In this battle, I’m going into it prepared. I’ll be fighting on my home turf as well. This isn’t a bad thing. I should use this chance to understand those existences.”

Gao Ming trusted Chen Chuan’s judgment. After all, he was the professional in this area.

“Tell Meng Shu that I’ll take over her guard, will you?” Chen Chuan requested.

“I’ll do it right now,” Gao Ming promised.

Chen Chuan also contacted Wu Bei and gave him the gist of the situation. Of course, he didn’t leak any secrets and only said that he wanted technical support.

It excited Wu Bei to no end. This was a major gig, and he was going to be able to show off his skills again.

He thumped his chest and promised, “Don’t worry. Let me take care of all things related to domain information. I promise to do a good job.”

The moment Chen Chuan ended his call with Wu Bei, his Realm Pass flickered. It was a message from Gao Ming that had a location. The arrow above the location resembled an arched light stacked on top of a semi-circular surface, making it seem like the surfaces of two planets touching each other. The one at the bottom was dull in color, while the one on top was incredibly bright.

It was Border Fusion’s emblem.

Chen Chuan stared at it for a while. After a moment, Border Fusion’s platform showed up on his screen.

Then, his status was renewed. Right under his status as a Resolution Department law enforcer appeared the title of Border Fusion’s security advisor.

Chen Chuan could now check Meng Shu’s current security team and its structure. This meant that those with greater authority in the company could also see it.

It was no wonder why Meng Shu felt unsafe. If anyone attacked her and these people refused to work, Meng Shu would be in great danger.

She needed her own security team, aside from the team the company assigned for her. This would be enough for normal situations, but if a Third Limit martial artist attacked her, the two teams would only be able to stop them for a while.

It had to have been hard for Meng Shu to stay alive until now, though her grandfather and other people in the company were most likely supporting her. There was also the possibility that Meng Huang himself was wary of her.

But if Meng Shu tried to counterattack and asked external forces to join her side, things would change. The Resolution Department had made the right call in this regard. Meng Huang was indeed most likely to attack her at this point in time.

While Chen Chuan was thinking about it, his Realm Pass flickered. Someone was trying to connect with him.