Book 4, Chapter 35: Peripheral
Chen Chuan wasn’t at all surprised that Ji Xinming’s team wanted to sue him. This was a common tactic for those in power. Not only were there many such similar cases in the past, but Chen Chuan had also been caught in such a lawsuit before.
Even if they didn’t have proof that he attacked them first, they could falsify it. They could keep bringing up new evidence and witnesses, which would require long periods of verifying them. This cycle would keep repeating itself, as long as certain laws supported it. The lawyers could keep dragging things out, and the case would never end.
Wu Quan took note of how calm Chen Chuan was and guessed that he already had an idea of what to do. Still, he warned him, “Gray Shell Office has close ties with the municipal government. You need to be on guard.
“Those people are rich and have a lot of manpower. They might keep fighting you and wasting your time and energy.
“They might even ask your friends to speak to you about this in private or use more sinister methods to put pressure on you until you back down or give up.”
“What do you suggest I do?” Chen Chuan asked.
“We’ll prioritize what you want,” Wu Quan stated gravely. “If you intend to uphold the law until the very end, we will support you. I’m not the only one on your side. The other directors are, too.
“We can serve as your guarantors so you won’t be summoned to court. We can also pay all the lawyer fees to fight this in court through the department’s public funds. Our opinion is this: We have to protect our officers.
“But this might get dragged out for years or even longer. Even if you don’t need to go to court, they can interfere with your life through other methods. Don’t underestimate them. As things build up, it might take up a lot of your time and energy.
“We’ve had cases like this before. We were confident that we could fight to the very end, but eventually, the officers either applied to be transferred or agreed to some terms and settled with those people. This ended up putting us in a passive position.”
Chen Chuan nodded. He could understand that. If the department’s support failed every single time, it was practically the same as it being nonexistent. While it didn’t do much damage to the department on the surface, it dealt a huge blow to the way the officers viewed it.
Chen Chuan’s case was a little different from the others, though. Ji Xinming’s group had resorted to recruiting him through forceful methods after learning that he had joined the purity faction. Hence, if one looked at it on a larger scale, this concerned the competition between factions.
After finishing his share of pure essence, Chen Chuan sent a telegram through the channel Chang Dong has given him. The purity faction replied that they approved his request to get more pure essence and would send some people to deal with the situation within two days, so all he needed to do was to wait.
Even if they didn’t achieve anything, it would be fine. The Great Crash was coming, so this entire thing about his case getting dragged out for years or even longer was debatable. Soon, the current laws may no longer exist. Brute force would become the one thing that would decide what was right and what was wrong.
Chen Chuan was still grateful for Wu Quan’s warning and help. “Thank you, Director Wu.”
“You’re part of us, and you have evidence and acted within reason. We’ll definitely help you, but while we can help you, we can’t help with the things that will happen around you. You need to think about what you’re going to do next,” Wu Quan pointed out.
“I believe that I can find a solution,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.
Wu Quan watched him for a while before he suddenly asked, “You know who they are?”
Chen Chuan knew that he was asking about who was supporting Ji Xinming’s group, so he gave an affirmative answer. “I do.”
Wu Quan nodded, then patted his shoulder. “As long as you know what you’re doing. If you find yourself in a situation that you can’t handle, remember to come to us for help.”
“Okay,” Chen Chuan promised.
After their conversation, he walked out of the meeting room.
While he was walking down the corridor, he suddenly thought about Lead Investigator Han. Even though he had been aloof during the meeting, Chen Chuan had a nagging feeling that Lead Investigator Han harbored some hostility toward him.
He had some theories, so he pulled up Lead Investigator Han’s profile to check. It had some basic information like his age and what he had done while working in the Resolution Department. Lead Investigator Han had graduated from a Martial Valor University in a peripheral university and worked his way up from the bottom, just like Chen Chuan.
When he was young, he distinguished himself time and again, but his rank didn’t change much until he turned thirty-five. It was only during the past ten years that his rank started climbing, and he became a lead investigator three years ago.
Aside from this, Chen Chuan didn’t learn much else.
After some consideration, he went to stand in front of a window in the corridor and contacted Ni Qianqian. Once the call went through, he asked, “Officer Ni, do you have a minute?”
“Hey! You’re a lead investigator now, so you don’t have to be so polite with me while you’re in the department,” Ni Qianqian hurriedly said.
Chen Chuan laughed at that. “Okay. Could you help me with something? Do you know anything about Lead Investigator Han?”
“Him? One second,” Ni Qianqian said after some thinking.
Chen Chuan heard her walk out. Some time later, she said, “Lead Investigator Han was really famous while he was young. Later on, he got hurt during an operation and was assigned to an idle position. I heard that because of it, his career progression stalled for more than ten years.
“I heard that his ancestors once held really high positions. I think they were in charge of handling matters related to companies. Because of this, he can form connections with certain company executives, even those from other countries.”
Chen Chuan listened quietly. Ni Qianqian didn’t know much. Many of the things she told him were unverified rumors, but a few of them were worth further deliberation.
He thanked her after she finished and promised to treat her to a meal before ending the call. After exiting the corridor, he went outside. When he looked out, he saw Officer Qiu waiting for him. The man saluted him while smiling.
“Lead Investigator Chen, I have some documents for you to sign.”
Chen Chuan took a look. They were draft exemption documents for national conscription and the conscription for the merged space. As a Third Limit martial artist, he was obligated to answer to the summons. This was the duty of all Third Limit martial artists.
But he was now a lead investigator of the Resolution Department and was a mid- to high-ranking official in Central City. Strictly speaking, he was already removed from being a frontliner.
Unless there was an emergency or if he applied to fight at the frontlines on his own, the government could no longer force him to fight.
Once an emergency situation popped up, the Resolution Department wasn’t going to care about anyone’s positions. As long as they could fight, they would have to go to the front lines.
Until now, they simply hadn’t run into such a situation.
After reading through everything, Chen Chuan took a pen from Officer Qiu and signed the two documents.
Officer Qiu took both of them before handing out another document. “This, too, Lead Investigator Chen. Could you sign it?”
Chen Chuan took a look and found that it concerned the distribution of his training resources, especially special medicine. Even if he didn’t go to the merged space, he could get a certain amount due to his rank.
This made him feel a well of emotions. While those fighting at the front lines could get a lot of special medicine, there was an obvious difference between them and the leaders. This group actually had control of the resources and the right to distribute them.
If Chen Chuan hadn’t joined the purity faction or signed a contract with the government or some company, his current position in the Resolution Department would be the peak of his life.
He signed the document before handing it back. Officer Qiu saluted him again and left.
Chen Chuan walked to his limousine. After some calculations, he found that this, along with the medicine he got from Border Fusion would be enough for his daily training.
His physical body had been close to perfection before he absorbed pure essence, but his potential increased afterwards, and his physical limit went up. Still, he could already see it. He could probably reach it within a few months. All that was left was his mental training.
Of course, there was the problem of his second self. Chen Chuan wanted his second self to catch up to his current level, so they could fuse again. Then, they could go past his physical and mental limits to surpass the degree of perfection that was supposed to exist only in theory.
To reach that goal, Chen Chuan needed suitable opponents aside from just training. Still, he was in Central City, so he was pretty certain that he wasn’t going to be lacking in something like that.
Besides, the Union’s representative team and the Linacrox Union’s diplomatic delegation were coming in the second half of September, which was only a few weeks away. He could already foresee chaos in Central City.
When he no longer needed special medicine, he could give it to those who were suitable and had potential. Those with resources would naturally be able to gather power.
***
Just as Chen Chuan left the Resolution Department, Wei Dong and Wu Han headed to an abandoned residential house deep within Deep End District.
They had accepted a mission to save a hostage kidnapped by a gang.
Both of them held their favorite weapons. Wu Han wielded a short spear while Wei Dong had a pair of custom-made boxing gloves on. They were both wearing protective gear as well.
When they reached the side of the building, Wu Han used cover to look up and said, “Same plan as always, Wei Dong. Go in there to attract their attention while I head in from the side to save the hostage.”
They had done such missions plenty of times before. Kidnappers like these were never strong. After all, they had sunk to the level of kidnapping people, so how could they possibly be good martial artists? Usually, an ambush was more than enough to deal with them.
Wei Dong didn’t say yes this time round.
Wu Han gave him a curious, puzzled look.
“Feels wrong,” Wei Dong said.
That caught Wu Han by surprise. Wei Dong was never scared, but his instincts were top-notch. If he said that something felt wrong, then there was most likely something fishy up ahead.
They had worked together plenty of times before and ran into a lot of danger, so Wu Han trusted Wei Dong with his life. Besides, he remembered Chen Chuan telling them to be careful just a few days ago.
He looked up and immediately made his decision. “We won’t go in, then. Let’s book it.”
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