Book 4, Chapter 270: Destroy A Tumor, Everyone Benefits

The SUVs stopped in front of Tall City Hotel, and Chen Chuan handed a card to Bao Mi. “I’ve transferred the payment to this account in Grand Prosperity Finance. You can get it whenever you want.”

Bao Mi rubbed his hands together. “Thank you kindly, Officer Chen.”

While it was true that Chen Chuan was a martial arts master, he needed to take the money. After all, he had plenty of mouths to feed.

Once he took the card with both hands, he said respectfully and sincerely, “Thank you for giving us the chance to work with you, Officer Chen. We’ve benefitted greatly from working with you this time. If you need any help in the future, just call us. While our strength might be insignificant to you, we can run your errands and pass along messages.”

“Captain, Mr. Yao is the one who recommended you to me, and I’m satisfied with the results of the operation. I’ll remember the Crimson Bones,” Chen Chuan assured him.

Bao Mi perked up at that. He had managed to decipher the underlying meaning: Chen Chuan had a good impression of them. Even if he wasn’t going to work with them in the future, he would recommend them to his friends.

What was this? Connections, and high-end connections, to boot.

If their name spread in the top circle, they would keep receiving gigs. The important people in the city would also look at them in a different light and wouldn’t dare to push their team around. He might even be able to fulfill his dream and turn his team into a proper, licensed agent company.

This was much better than getting handsomely paid.

After Chen Chuan got out, the group watched him respectfully and admiringly as he walked into Tall City Hotel. Just then, they heard wings flapping. Dawncall flew down and chirped at him before walking into the hotel with him.

Dawncall had been following all along and served as Chen Chuan’s eyes in the sky.

While he wasn’t worried that the village would have anything that could threaten his life, he had to be on guard against various people and organizations. After learning the truth of his parents’ disappearance and the group he would have to face one day, he became more careful.

He might have fewer restrictions in the merged space, but it was the same for others as well.

When he took the elevator up, he could sense that the security had tightened. The guests who had been staying on his floor, as well as the floors above and below his, had been asked to move away. No guest was allowed to be near him. The only people around were hotel attendants and guards.

It seemed like information traveled fast in the city. The higher-ups already knew who he really was.

Once he reached his quarters’ door, he saw invitation cards on the doorknob. A hotel attendant had delivered them.

Chen Chuan took them down and flipped through them in his quarters. They were all invitations to watch tournaments, enter casinos, and enjoy himself in the parties. Of course, the ones inviting him were going to pay for everything, and they said that they would reward him handsomely for attending.

This wasn’t surprising. If they managed to invite a martial arts master to their function, that in itself would be a major advertisement and give them fame and all sorts of benefits.

But Chen Chuan didn’t think that this was all they wanted.

Deep Valley City had shopping malls and entertainment venues of various sizes, and there were some that regular citizens couldn’t enter. They were places where the gang leaders along with the rich and the powerful spent their money.

Based on what Chen Chuan had learned, the city had copied Central City’s lower city district. It was a place of crime and debauchery. All activities not permitted by the law existed there as an open secret. There was even a trading channel with the imperial army there.

Resistance groups also lived there. Companies were providing for them so that they would do their dirty work for them.

By inviting him to their parties, the people were testing the waters. They were likely worried that he hadn’t come just for the village, but to investigate all the criminal activity. After all, Chen Chuan was also the director of the Defense Bureau.

From their position, this wasn’t an unfounded fear. The imperial army had already retreated. Since the external threat was gone, wouldn’t the government start turning their sights to the internal enemies? All of them were probably trembling in their boots right now.

Chen Chuan tossed the cards aside; he had no interest in interacting with these people. Did they really not understand that if the Department of Administrative Affairs wanted to take them out, all they needed to do was shut the merged space tunnels and send the merged space military into the city? The only reason they hadn’t done that was because there was no need for it yet.

After all, the most important thing was to gather all merged space resources to get ready for the crisis that was the Great Crash. With such a threat hanging in the air, everything else had to be pushed aside. They only bothered to get rid of those who couldn’t see the big picture and insisted on standing in their way.

After taking a shower, Chen Chuan took out the fruit-like artifact. He hadn’t taken a proper look earlier, so he didn’t know what it did. Now, he could examine it properly.

Those who hadn’t transcended might be unable to figure out the true uses of an artifact, but Chen Chuan didn’t have that sort of problem. When he injected his mental energy into it, the artifact started trembling. After a simple but effective “conversation,” he figured out its uses.

This artifact could stimulate the growth of mutated tissue.

It was no wonder why the Tree of True Forms had grown so quickly.

It was just a Class Four artifact, so its effects were so insignificant to him that it was useless. The amount that it could grow his mutated tissue couldn’t even compare to what he could grow in a single training session himself.

However, if he couldn’t use it, it didn’t mean that Dawncall couldn’t.

It had to be done properly, though. There was a chance of cutting Dawncall’s life short, because this thing would draw out a creature’s potential by draining their life. Fortunately, he could help Dawncall avoid this by giving it enough nutrients. That way, nothing would go wrong when its mutated tissue grew, and all it would gain would be benefits.

With him around, Dawncall’s growth was safe. He could even use his mental energy to guide Dawncall’s mutated tissue.

He took a look at the fruit again and saw a hole at its stalk, so he put a sturdy, elastic string through it and put it around Dawncall’s neck.

It seemed like Dawncall liked it a lot, because it started chirping. The artifact started glowing red, and Dawncall felt tired. This was a sign that the artifact was taking effect. Of course, the fact that Dawncall had been flying for an entire day also played a part. Once Chen Chuan gave the okay, it went to sleep.

Chen Chuan took some time to check on it. Under the artifact’s effect, Dawncall’s mutated tissue was growing gently.

This was because Dawncall had taken quite a lot of nutritious food. It was meant for martial arts masters, but they had been harvested for some time, so their nutritional value had plummeted. Even so, they were useful to Dawncall. While it couldn’t completely absorb all the nutrients, it stored them in its body, and with the help of the artifact, those nutrients were released.

When Chen Chuan saw that Dawncall was going to be fine, he picked up the Frost King Saber. In truth, the one who benefitted the most from this operation was his saber.

The Frost King Saber had transformed on Two Coins Isle and spent all the time since growing. This time, it gained a lot of benefits by absorbing the Tree of True Forms’ vitality and fusing with its consciousness.

Chen Chuan could sense the mutated tissue in the saber growing swiftly from the abundance of vitality. After the saber transformed, mutated tissue had also started growing in the saber hilt. It should have done so after the blade grew heavier so that it would be easier for Chen Chuan to hold it.

Once it transformed fully, the saber’s length and breadth might change a bit, along with the hilt, but those were good things, because the saber would only become more suited for him.

He wiped the saber and returned it to its sheath. After setting it aside, he grabbed some papers Yao Zhiyi had given him before leaving.

This was information about the undeveloped area he was going to after this. Since this place was originally at the imperial army’s rear, no Great Shun Republic citizen had gone there before. The information Yao Zhiyi had gotten was taken and compiled from the imperial army’s records.

There were records from airships flying over it and people getting sent inside. Wei Guochan and Gai Shuhe had gone there, but neither had stayed for more than ten days inside. Both retreated in the end and never went in again.

This made it clear that there was something off about the place. Otherwise, martial arts masters wouldn’t have given up on such a valuable place.

The most likely theory was that there was some creature or thing that could threaten both Wei Guochan and Gai Shuhe’s lives. That was why neither of them had stayed inside for long.

Neither had mentioned what it was, so there were no records about it, so Chen Chuan decided to just go inside to take a look himself.

The more dangerous a place was, the greater rewards it hid.

Chen Chuan had no intention of staying for long in Deep Valley City. He planned to rest the night and leave the next day.

***

News about Chen Chuan’s activities passed through multiple people and reached Central City’s White Bird District.

After Mr. Chi received the information, he spent a good long while deciphering it. When the first rays of light tore through the darkness at the horizon, he finally figured it out.

Then, he used the Union’s channels to get information about the Tree of True Forms. It seemed like someone from the central government had come up with the plan to use the Tree of True Forms, but a martial arts master had stepped forward to get rid of it, so those involved were going to have to swallow their anger for the time being.

He put it away to see whether he could make use of it in the future.

Next, he checked the map of the merged space. If Chen Chuan wasn’t going to come back to Central City yet, then the next step he was going to take was to hunt in the merged space. This was something all martial arts masters were bound to do. It was good, because it meant that they had plenty of time to set things up.

All he needed to do was to submit the information he had gathered, and his higher-ups would decide on the plan.

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