Book 4, Chapter 239: Completely Different Standing

The family left the checkpoint while chattering happily. When they reached the SUV, Nian Qian gasped. After setting his luggage down, he circled the SUV a few times before gasping. “Xiao Chuan, you’re treated really well at the Resolution Department! If I’m not mistaken, this is Fenghai’s Garden Guard. It’s their least flashy SUV, but it can drive for a whole day and night, even through complicated terrain, with a full tank. This must have cost you around forty thousand devs, right?”

Chen Chuan didn’t actually know. The Department of Administrative Affairs had given him the SUV along with the manor. They didn’t just give him one car either. He also had a sedan. However, since he was going back to Yangzhi City, he took the one that didn’t look flashy and was more useful.

In truth, he thought that his old car was good enough. It had a sturdy, durable, bullet-proof body and could carry a lot of things. But he did get the SUV for free, so he couldn’t just keep driving his old car anymore.

Nian Qian rubbed his hands together and asked, “Can I drive it, Xiao Chuan?”

Chen Chuan smiled. Nian Qian wanted to do it for fun, so he agreed to it. Once Nian Fuli, Yu Wan, and his cousins got in, Chen Chuan went to the front passenger seat while Nian Qian took the driver seat. His elder cousin was pretty reliable, so he wasn’t worried about anything going wrong.

Once they started driving, all the guards saluted them. Nian Qian was pretty surprised when he saw this through the rearview mirror. The guards here sure were professional.

After some time, Nian Qian praised the car. “This SUV sure is comfortable. It has tall seats, is steady, and has a wide view.”

Just then, he looked around and started reminiscing. “Do you remember when we were young? I brought you out of the city for some fun.”

The moment Yu Wan heard this, she looked over and asked warily, “When did you two leave the city? Didn’t I always tell you not to?”

Nian Qian cleared his throat. “We were young and immature, Mom.”

“Your cousin was young and didn’t know better, yes, but you?”

“It’s all in the past! By the way, do you know what shocked me the most after I came back? You look even younger than before. I wasn’t even sure whether you were really my mother.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

Nian Qian distracted Yu Wan a little before switching his attention to his siblings. “I brought you two loads of toys. I’m sure that you’ll like them.”

Nian Mo and Nian Lu clapped. “Thank you, Qian Qian!”

Nian Qian had a great sense of direction. Despite him being away for a few years, the roads hadn’t changed much, and he knew how to read maps and tell directions since he was a technical officer. Their trip went by smoothly, and soon, the SUV got off the public road. They entered the city.

Just then, he saw the patrol cars from the Constabulary passing them from the opposite direction. “Is there some sort of trouble in the city? Why are there so many patrol cars around?”

“It’s just Director Guan’s arrangements. He’s strengthening security within and outside the city. He’s also helping to maintain the security of the villages outside. The effects have been pretty good. After around a year, plenty of the villagers came down, and the Department of Administrative Affairs gave them citizenship,” Nian Fuli answered.

Nian Qian nodded before turning to Chen Chuan. “I heard that Black Orchid has been uprooted, and you were involved?”

“It was a coincidence that I helped, and only just a little,” Chen Chuan said.

“No, no, your cousin helped out a lot during that incident. That’s why he was recommended to go to the main campus in Central City,” Nian Fuli said.

“That’s impressive, Xiao Chuan! You’re amazing!”

Nian Qian was indeed awestruck. While Black Orchid had retreated from Central City, they were not a company that could be taken down easily. If Chen Chuan took part in the operation and contributed greatly to it, he was indeed incredible.

“Didn’t you go to the island nations to carry out a mission?” Chen Chuan asked.

“That’s right!” Once they started talking about it, he became full of spirit. “I led a new technical unit. All of us have the latest implants. This is no secret, so don’t worry about it. The mission is over, so the other countries should have gotten information about the implants. As long as I don’t talk about the data itself, just knowing about the implants doesn’t matter. They can only guess about how effective they are.”

Yu Wan looked at him and asked worriedly, “Don’t you need to remove certain parts of your body to get implants?”

Nian Qian smiled in reply. “Don’t worry, Mom. The cultivated mutated tissue implants I’m using don’t require me to dig out any parts of my body. They’re similar to those of martial artists.”

He cast a glance at Chen Chuan. “Xiao Chuan is a martial artist. He should know.”

Chen Chuan hummed in agreement and said, “Don’t worry, Aunty. Nian Qian didn’t remove any of his tissue. He only had some mutated tissue implanted in him. The tissue increases his physical and information processing abilities. It’s also highly compatible with his body. There isn’t any possibility of mutation or rejection.”

Yu Wan didn’t understand what he meant by mutations and implanting mutated tissue, but she could understand the fact that her son was going to be okay, and her worries eased.

Nian Qian was shocked, though, because Chen Chuan had immediately gotten to the heart of the matter. “Good explanation, Xiao Chuan. If you weren’t in the Resolution Department, I would have written a report to my commanding officers to poach you.”

“What nonsense. War is dangerous. Having one of you as a soldier is already enough for me. Don’t even think about dragging your cousin into this mess,” Yu Wan chided.

Nian Qian laughed. “Mom, wars now aren’t the same as before. Military officers like us are commanders and information processing units. We’re protected.

“When we fight, we only use a small number of elite soldiers. For the rest, we have integrated air-to-ground bioweapons working together with the platoon, domain entities being in charge of communications, and passive biosentient entities helping with strategies. We use multi-dimensional connections and attacks now. The strategies of the past are no longer useful.”

“They aren’t?” Nian Fuli asked.

He fought in trench warfare in the past. They used tanks, barbed wire, and fortified trenches with forts behind them. Whoever attacked first would suffer a higher number of casualties. Back then, when they fought against the rebels, they had to conquer their fortresses one by one. The reinforced battalion he was in had three batches of infantrymen switched out. By the time Nian Fuli retired, more than 70% of the soldiers were no longer from the original company.

“Let me put it this way. The special company I’m in works together with domain entities, bioweapons, and airships. If we fought against an old-style company in a battle, we could wipe them out without suffering a single casualty. Our communication and movement speed are also not something the old armies could compare to. Aside from fighting in direct conflicts, we also do infiltration missions and sabotage enemy bases. As long as we’re not surrounded, we can last for dozens of days without a problem.”

Chen Chuan considered this. “This sounds like the elite cavalry unit of the imperial army.”

“Exactly! You know about them, huh?” Nian Qian praised him. “Each of us has our strengths, and our reinforced company was built specifically to target the elite cavalry unit. We fought against them many times and proved our theory true. But they have royally appointed warriors, so, sometimes, we need martial artists to join us.”

“Sometimes?”

“Yes. Not always.” Nian Qian grinned proudly.

Chen Chuan figured it out. If they didn’t use martial artists at times, this meant that they used their implants to increase their fighting strength. This might signal that the country had made some breakthroughs in implant technology, which allowed soldiers to replace martial artists at certain times.

However, based on what he learned from the Defense Bureau, the hardest hurdle to overcome for implants was compatibility. Even if there was a breakthrough in the industry, there should only be a handful of people who could reach a high rate of fusion with their implants. Otherwise, the imperial army would have collapsed a long time ago.

The SUV reached the main road, and Nian Qian took a note of the constables. Whenever their SUV passed by, they would bring their hands up to salute them.

In the beginning, he thought that it was due to Nian Fuli. After all, his father was a brigade commander of the Constabulary. He had mentioned it plenty of times in his telegrams.

Soon, though, he started noticing issues with his theory: The constables weren’t the only ones saluting. Armed guards who were clearly not part of the Constabulary also saluted their SUV. If he were not mistaken, they belonged to the Department of Administrative Affairs. Forget his father, even Guan Yuming wouldn’t get such treatment.

...Wait.

He cast a glance at Chen Chuan and thought of an answer that sounded ridiculous even to himself. But after driving a little more, he noticed that the situation continued, and he suddenly started feeling his emotions run wild. He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t find the words.

Then, they reached the constables’ residential area. There were even more guards there, and that made his heart race.

When the car slowed down, he asked in a seemingly nonchalant fashion, “Xiao Chuan, on my way back, I read in the news that the director of the Defense Bureau is here. Since you’re working in Central City, do you know him?”

Chen Chuan grinned. “That’s me.”

Nian Qian’s eyes flew wide open in shock, and he floored the brakes, causing the entire family to lurch forward.

Since they were near the entrance to the alley, Chen Chuan opened the door and got out. All the guards on the street brought their hands up to salute him, and their movements created such a loud whoosh that it shocked some of the sparrows in the trees by the road, and they rose into the air.

Chen Chuan returned the salute.

Nian Qian took note that all the guards within view had saluted Chen Chuan, and he was even more shocked. With his trained eyesight, he could see some people occupying high spots, and they, too, were saluting him.

He sucked in a sharp breath. “This is a huge surprise you gave me, Xiao Chuan.”

With a wry chuckle, he turned around. “You already knew, didn’t you, Mom, Dad?”

“You’re all the same to me, Qian’er?” Yu Wan said with a demure smile.

Nian Fuli remained calm.

“No, wait.” Nian Qian was still in disbelief. “How did Xiao Chuan get promoted so quickly?”

“Because he’s a martial arts master,” Yu Wan answered gently.

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