Book 3, Chapter 371: Mask

Chen Chuan could hear the sincerity in Advisor Pei’s words. Even though he had his own plans, he was grateful for Advisor Pei’s goodwill. If the man didn’t truly have high hopes for him, he wouldn’t say these things.

“Thank you, Advisor Pei. I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.

“I really wasn’t expecting Mr. Xue to step forward to protect you. Still, that’s good for you. The municipal government should stop bothering you for some time.

“By the way, the higher-ups are going to reassign you to a different position. They’re going through the procedure as we speak. Your three-month holiday has also been approved. What do you intend to do over this period of time?”

“I haven’t actually decided, but I might just get a teaching license in Martial Valor University,” Chen Chuan said.

He was trying to figure out a Heartborn Force suitable for himself, and he needed all sorts of techniques as his reference. With a teaching license, he could make better use of Hongfu. He could also read many of the more advanced books in the university.

Martial Valor University was really useful, and he didn’t intend to give up on the place just yet.

Advisor Pei was quite surprised, but after giving it some thought, he said, “With your strength and status, you’re no longer suited to be a student, but a lecturer.

“There are plenty of talented people in the university. Both students and lecturers helped a lot during the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagation. Do you remember the joint-plan by multiple departments? Ling Jianxing also took part in it.”

“Ling Jianxing?” Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yes. He’s the vice chancellor’s assistant. He convinced the university leadership to let Hongfu participate in the plan. He also believed that you’re the perfect candidate to land the final strike.

“Active biosentient entities sometimes do things according to their own whim, so the departments feared that Hongfu might not act according to the plan.

“But Ling Jianxing believed that since you’re part of the university and often train with Hongfu, no one else would have a better rapport with it than you. What happened next proved him right.”

“How much do you know about Mr. Ling?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Not much. I heard that while he’s from this Central City, he was a student in the capital. He was only sent back here to be the vice-chancellor’s assistant. He’s really talented, and based on his position at such a young age, he’s not just capable, but also a great martial artist. That’s the only way to convince others that he can lead them,” Advisor Pei said.

Chen Chuan nodded.

Advisor Pei checked his watch before saying, “I have work to do, so I need to leave now. I’ll update you if anything comes up.”

Once he said goodbye to Chen Chuan, he opened the car door, got in, and left while Chen Chuan saw him off.

After he left, Chen Chuan pondered over what Advisor Pei said. He had mentioned Ling Jianxing at the final moment like he was just going with the flow of the conversation, but Chen Chuan had a feeling that his name came up deliberately. It was some sort of hint.

Chen Chuan had a theory about Advisor Pei’s real identity, because some things about him were really similar to a certain group of people he had come into contact with before.

Of course, that was just his instincts of a martial artist telling him that. He didn’t have any proof.

Still, there had to be a reason why Advisor Pei had mentioned it.

Even though Chen Chuan had no idea what Ling Jianxing was planning, he believed that he could deal with whatever came his way with his current strength.

While he was thinking, he returned to his room and checked some of the messages he received, got changed, and went to his training room.

Once he examined the mental mark Xue Shou left on his shoulder, he found that the technique was quite complicated and didn’t look like it was going to be easy to practice.

No wonder Mr. Xue said he’d check my progress when he came back.

While it was difficult, the effects seemed to be pretty good once one mastered it.

According to the description, the technique did not just prevent his biofield from being monitored. It would also stop certain external forces from contacting and testing his mind.

That was impressive. Based on his experiences so far, mental attacks were risky for both the practitioner and the target. Using some sort of technique to come into contact with the target’s mind and then testing it was a much safer method. If this technique could really prevent others from feeling his mind out, it would be great.

Chen Chuan had his second self and could transfer all attempts to prod his mind to his second self, thereby avoiding them, but he would never be against learning techniques that could make him stronger. Whenever he used his second self, it would drain him, so this technique would give him another card to play against his enemies during crucial moments.

Earlier, he had been saved by Xue Shou’s interference, but he couldn’t let his guard down. He couldn’t hope that his enemies would continue slipping up or show him mercy. The best way to deal with them was to grow stronger.

So, Chen Chuan spent a few days to get the general gist of the technique. Once he was done, it was time to dive deeper, and he decided to spar with Hongfu. With her help, he was sure that he could master the basics pretty quickly.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and a month went by. The city regained its stability, and he received a notice from the Resolution Department telling him that he had been promoted to a lead investigator. He would receive his promotion in a ceremony on the second of June.

After replying to the message, Chen Chuan started a call. “Lu Fang, how have you been?”

“I wasn’t affected much. After you told me to be careful, my seniors and I shut the school for a few days and didn’t go anywhere, so we didn’t run into much trouble,” Lu Fang replied.

“Did Xiaojin visit you over the past few days?” Chen Chuan asked.

“He’s still coming. Aside from the days when the insects invaded, he came every day,” Lu Fang answered.

“Has he been behaving differently?”

“Differently?” Lu Fang considered it. “He might have something bothering him. He has been training even harder over the past few days.”

Chen Chuan hummed at that. “I’m going to drop by in a bit.”

“Sure.”

After hanging up, Chen Chuan changed into casual clothes and drove to Lu Fang’s martial arts school.

When he entered Deep End District, he noticed that the overturned cars and insect carcasses hadn’t been cleared out. Many people were still spraying pungent chemicals on the trees to get rid of the insect larvae. Sometimes, insects fell out of the trees.

They weren’t in Majestic Light District or Martial Order District, so the government was slower in defending them against and getting rid of the invasive insects.

In truth, even if they cleared the insects repeatedly, a lot would remain, because they could adapt to the environment really quickly. Central City couldn’t stop them from making home in the city, just like they couldn’t stop the two worlds from merging. The insects were going to continue spreading.

In less than an hour, Chen Chuan arrived in front of the martial arts school. To his surprise, he noticed more people than usual. There were even gang members in groups of two and three lingering at the entrance.

When he walked over, the gang members saw him and exchanged a few words before leaving. While Chen Chuan wasn’t in his uniform, he still couldn’t hide his aura of a martial artist, and clearly, these people didn’t want any trouble.

Chen Chuan watched them for a bit before walking inside. Lu Fang already knew that he had arrived and walked out to meet him. Once they exchanged greetings, Chen Chuan asked, “Is it just me, or are there more gang members here?”

“Oh, them? Don’t worry. They’re not here to cause trouble. Many gangs got dragged into the insect invasion and the large-scale conflicts in the city. They lost a lot of their members, and some gangs even disappeared. The remaining ones have been fighting over territory over the past few days. Since they know that it’s safe at my place, they decided to send their children here to learn martial arts. They don’t even care whether their children will pick up any skills. They just want some peace of mind,” Lu Fang answered.

Chen Chuan nodded. Lu Fang and his two seniors were all Second Limit martial artists. With three of them here, no regular gang would dare to bother them.

If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Fang and the two seniors had their own dreams and didn’t want to become gang members, they could have easily formed their own gang.

But as long as they didn’t have citizenship, they would not be able to expand their martial arts school. Even if Chen Chuan became the regional supervisor one day, he couldn’t help them, because only the Department of Administrative Affairs could grant people citizenship, and they wouldn’t give them citizenship unless one of them became a Third Limit martial artist.

They went inside while talking.

Chen Xiaojin was sparring seriously. He looked no different from usual.

Chen Chuan watched him. Around ten minutes later, the sparring session ended. Chen Xiaojin got off the sparring ring while gasping for breath and went up to Lu Fang to hear what he should fix. Lu Fang patted his shoulder and motioned at Chen Chuan.

Chen Xiaojin walked over, seemingly relaxed. “You asked for me, Captain Chen?”

“Your final kick was a little too high,” Chen Chuan mentioned.

“Was it?”

Chen Chuan brought his hand up. “Try kicking one more time.”

Chen Xiaojin cast a glance at the hand, took two steps back, and kicked, but with a casual press of the hand, Chen Chuan blocked his foot. Chen Xiaojin stumbled back a few times.

“You release the energy you accumulated once you reach this height, but your foot reaches your opponent’s body before you release that energy. This means that while you gather enough power, you don’t use it properly. That’s useless. You’re just wasting your energy. That’s why you didn’t win just now. You’re too impatient,” Chen Chuan commented.

Chen Xiaojin ducked his head and clenched his fists.

Chen Chuan dug around in his pockets and fished out Chen Bitong’s mask. “This belonged to Instructor Chen. I believe you should have it.”

Chen Xiaojin cast it a glance but didn’t take it. Instead, he looked up at Chen Chuan and asked, “He’s not coming back, is he?”

Chen Chuan watched him quietly without saying anything.

Chen Xiaojin ducked his head again and wiped his eyes with his arm before saying, “Honestly, I’m used to it. In the past, he often left for long periods of time. Him being around and not being around makes no difference to me.”

“Instructor Chen left to do something important. You might think that he betrayed you, but he has always been trying to protect you. He hasn’t actually neglected you,” Chen Chuan argued.

He turned the mask over. There was a whale carved on its back.

The animal symbolized Chen Xiaojin’s true name.

Chen Chuan looked into the boy’s eyes and said, “I don’t know whether Instructor Chen will come back, but if you want to see him, you need to train hard. Once you’re strong enough, you can find him and bring him back.

“If you want, once you master all the necessary techniques, come find me at Martial Valor University.”

He set the mask on the table and left.