Book 4, Chapter 9: The Refined Training Faction

Book 4, Chapter 9: The Refined Training Faction

While Chen Chuan was heading back to Yangzhi City, a car reached the city from Central City and stopped in front of the Department of Administrative Affairs.

Three people came out of it. One of them wore sunglasses. When he cast a glance at the administrative building before him, a disdainful look appeared on his face. It was in the style from decades ago.

After observing it for a while, the three people walked inside.

***

Zhu Xian was dealing with administrative affairs in his office when his secretary walked in and whispered a few words into his ear. He frowned and asked, “Are you sure?”

The secretary nodded and said, “They have a formal letter from a politician in Central City.”

She put the sealed letter on the table.

Zhu Xian considered it for a moment before putting the cap back on his pen. He leaned back and asked, “They’re not here for trouble, are they?”

“Only three people came. They don’t seem like they’re here for trouble,” the secretary answered.

Zhu Xian stared at the letter but didn’t touch it. Instead, he asked his secretary to leave before grabbing the phone on his desk and making a call.

A long moment passed before the call was answered. Zhu Xian stood up and said in a humble tone, “It’s me, sir.”

“Xiao Zhu? What’s wrong? Did you run into trouble?” An old voice came through.

“I have something I don’t quite understand and would like your guidance on,” Zhu Xian said and gave a rundown of the situation.

After around ten minutes, he summoned his secretary and instructed her, “Send someone to coordinate with them and stay by their side. If they want to leave, ensure their safety.”

“Should we ask the Constabulary for it?” the secretary asked.

Zhu Xian thought about it before shaking his head. “No. Send the Department of Administrative Affairs’ security team.”

The secretary nodded and left to make the arrangements.

***

Chen Chuan returned to Yangzhi City at around 11 a.m.. At night, the headquarters had given him a reply. They took over the case, so Chen Chuan no longer needed to worry about needing to go through any back-and-forth with them.

Just then, his telegraph clerk said, “You have a telegram, Lead Investigator.”

He then handed Chen Chuan a translated telegram.

Chen Chuan took a look. He thought that the department had a task for him, but after reading it, he found that it was actually from the Department of Administrative Affairs. It came from Zhu Xian himself. He had asked the Resolution Department to pass the message to him when he couldn’t find him.

Chen Chuan asked his driver to head to the Department of Administrative Affairs.

He reached the administrative building at noon. Once he got out of the limousine, Zhu Xian’s secretary came to receive him. “People from Central City came to look for you with a formal letter from a politician. We didn’t get any specifics because it wasn’t our place to ask.”

Chen Chuan understood the underlying meaning behind her words. Whoever wanted to see him had a powerful background, so Zhu Xian could only cooperate with them.

And from Central City?

Who would want to meet him at a time like this?

Chen Chuan followed the secretary to a spacious reception room and saw Zhu Xian talking to three men in suits. The atmosphere was pretty friendly.

When Zhu Xian saw Chen Chuan walk in, he stood up with a smile and said, “You’re here, Lead Investigator Chen. These three men have something important to discuss with you. I still have things to do, so I won’t be bothering you. Please take your time.”

Then, he stepped out with a smile.

After he left, one of the men stood up and extended his hand. “Hello, Lead Investigator Chen. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Ji Xinmin, an administrative officer of the refined training faction. These two are my colleagues.”

The other two nodded at him.

A flicker of surprise rose in Chen Chuan’s heart, but he shook Ji Xinmin’s hand. “The refined training faction?”

The three were all Third Limit martial artists, and Ji Xinmin had clearly begun practicing mental energy, so he was not to be underestimated.

“Yes. We’re from the refined training faction. Have you heard about us?” Ji Xinmin asked with a smile.

“No. But I’ve met people from other martial arts factions,” Chen Chuan answered.

“Then, it seems like you don’t know us. Why don’t we sit down and have a talk?” Ji Xinmin offered.

Chen Chuan nodded and sat down by the side.

Ji Xinmin returned to his chair and maintained a polite smile as he said, “While we’re a martial arts faction, we’re different from the folk factions. Those who can join us are like you, at the very least. They’re elites in government departments or managers in big companies.

“The first requirement to join us is a certain status and power. Because of this, the refined training faction is spread through all corners of the Great Shun Republic. We have members in every Central City and even the capital,” he said meaningfully before pausing for a while. Then, he continued, “We’ve read about you and your achievements. One of our higher-ups admires you. After some discussion, we believe that you can join us, so we’ve come here to meet you.”

One of the men in the back added, “The higher-ups are actually still discussing whether you can join us, because we have strict requirements. We came here to test you before coming to a conclusion.”

The third person also spoke up. “From Jibei Road’s Central City, for example, only one person has joined us over the last three years. We can’t reveal his position and name, but his achievements in the merged space aren’t any worse than yours.”

Ji Xinmin smiled and said, “This is a rare opportunity, Lead Investigator Chen. Your achievements are outstanding, and your resume is eye-catching, but you must understand that the world has its own rules of operation. There will be plenty of times when all your feats will be useless when written on paper. They won’t become anything that will give you substantial benefits.

“But we have the power to make that happen.”

He smiled and stopped talking to give time for Chen Chuan to think.

Ji Xinmin believed that based on the information Chen Chuan got on his way to the reception room and their introduction, he would understand the weight behind their words.

Chen Chuan felt like he was talking to the Mutual Aid Group, adult version. Even though these people were polite and said that they were going to help him, they did so with great arrogance, like it was an act of charity. A sense of superiority was practically oozing out of their pores. Chen Chuan looked up and said, “I believe I understand now.”

Ji Xinmin smiled. “Then, would you like to join us? Let me be clear, though, I’m just gauging your interest. You would need to take a test to actually join us.”

“If you’ve come here today just to recruit me, then I’m really sorry, but I will tell you clearly right now that I have no interest in joining your faction,” Chen Chuan replied.

Ji Xinmin was stunned when he heard his rejection, but he didn’t show any displeasure. Instead, he smiled. “You might not have a deep enough understanding of our faction. That’s all right. I suppose our visit today was too sudden. It’s understandable.”

He put a business card on the table.

“If you ever need our help in the future, please contact us. We’ll think of a way to help you. You seem busy right now, so we won’t be bothering you anymore. Please excuse us.”

He stood up and gave Chen Chuan a friendly handshake, as if he wasn’t at all displeased despite being rejected straight in the face.

After the three left the reception room, Ji Xinmin’s smile faded away.

One of the people behind him wasn’t surprised by the rejection and sneered. “I told you that since this one became a lead investigator before twenty, he’s at the age where he’s full of pride and arrogance. Youngsters need to go through some hardships to understand just how difficult the road ahead is.”

Ji Xinmin gave those words no thought and said, “Can’t help it. Someone among the higher-ups holds him in high regard, so we had to come. At the very least, we can say that we did our job.”

“What should we do next?”

“Since the higher-ups have given us this mission, we have to complete it, but we don’t have to rush it. Let’s go back and make some arrangements. He’ll understand after that,” Ji Xinmin said.

It was not the first time they met someone unwilling to join them, so they had experience targeting such people.

They would use the widespread connections of the refined training faction to pressure them from all sides.

The simplest method was to make such people leave Jibei Road for other Central Cities, which would remove them from their original network. Then, they could give them an obscure post and no opportunities to advance so that they couldn’t get any training resources.

Regular people would last for a while before submitting. Others would only cave in after a few more tricks. Some tougher ones would endure it, but as time passed, they would fade into obscurity, and the refined training faction would no longer need to pay attention to them.

Of course, truly talented people might get recruited by other factions, but this was precisely why they had come here today.

In order to avoid internal competition, there was a silent agreement between factions that whenever anyone caught the eyes of a faction, they would become off limits for other factions.

They had checked before, and Chen Chuan had no affiliation with any other faction, so they could use the refined training faction’s connections to control him.

One of the three men looked around and said in disdain, “Let’s get out of this place already. I don’t want to stay here a moment longer.”

Compared to Central City, Yangzhi City was behind in practically every aspect. It didn’t help that many of its buildings were from the Great Expansion, which made the feeling of it being far behind the times even stronger.

The other two clearly agreed with that statement and sped up. Soon, they left the place.

***

After the trio left, Chen Chuan ignored the business card on the table and left the reception room.

Zhu Xian’s secretary was waiting for him in the corridor. She bowed politely upon seeing him and said, “Lead Investigator Chen, the director would like to see you.”