Book 4, Chapter 37: Arrival
At the same time Wei Dong and Wu Han fled from the trap, Lu Fang was teaching his students in his martial arts school. Suddenly, his Realm Pass beeped, and he saw a notification message filling his entire screen.
Surprised, he stopped and took a look. It was a notice from the Department of Administrative Affairs.
The martial arts school was built upon a public space, and no one was allowed to build any buildings or conduct any unauthorized businesses upon it.
He was given a day to move out, and both he and his seniors were to pay taxes and penalties that they owed over the past six years. If they did not leave themselves, law enforcers would come to carry out the law.
This was a much bigger problem than he could handle himself, so he quickly contacted his seniors, only to find that he wasn’t the only one who received the notification. They had gotten it too, and they rushed back within an hour.
Both were frowning when they returned.
They were puzzled and in disbelief.
The martial arts school was located in a pseudo lower city district, which was what the people referred to as places no one cared about in the upper city district, even though they weren’t really the lower city district. They existed in the cracks between tall skyscrapers and were outside city administration. Usually, citizens didn’t bother to spare such places a single glance.
The Department of Administrative Affairs was unlikely to know that such a place existed, but had actually sent them such a notice. No matter how they looked at it, this was ridiculous. Hence, they started wondering whether this was real.
Was someone targeting them? Or was this a prank by some resonator?
“Could you ask your friend to check?” Senior Yu asked.
Lu Fang nodded and went to the other side of the school to contact Shi Yi. When the call went through, he said, “Xiao Shi, we’re in trouble.”
He gave her a brief overview of the situation and asked, “Could you check the source?”
“One moment. I’ll track it down,” Shi Yi said.
After around ten minutes, she replied, “The notification is from the Department of Administrative Affairs, but I can’t track down which division it came from.
“I couldn’t find any traces of requisition notices sent to other martial arts schools and the buildings in the area. This notice was sent solely to your martial arts school.”
Lu Fang was surprised, then thought of something. “Okay. Thanks, Xiao Shi.”
He returned to his seniors and told them about the situation.
“They’re targeting us?” Senior Yu was puzzled.
Senior Guo tried to recall whether they had accidentally offended some powerful person on some mission. This was certainly possible. But no matter how many times he went through his memories, he couldn’t think of anything.
Still, since it was clear that someone from the Department of Administrative Affairs was targeting them, they won’t be able to keep running their school.
All the government needed to do was send a law enforcement team to chase them out, and they could confiscate the martial arts school.
If they dared to fight back, they would be labeled as criminals.
They had been working hard to become citizens for years. If they became criminals, they could kiss this dream goodbye.
After some thinking, Senior Guo went to the side to contact someone. After a while, he came back and said, “I asked Mr. Hao, and he said that someone wanted to hire them to destroy our school, but he didn’t agree to it, since he has pretty good ties with us.”
Senior Yu didn’t believe that. While the gangs had some degree of loyalty and brotherhood, they were absolutely lying when they said that they didn’t want to destroy their school because they had pretty good ties with them. They just didn’t dare to attack because they couldn’t win against the trio.
This situation made it clear that someone was targeting them, and they weren’t afraid of letting them know about it. This person might even be working in the Department of Administrative Affairs.
“Mr. Hao said that if the school is confiscated, they can provide us another place to teach,” Senior Guo said, then shook his head. If they took up this offer, they would be forced to rely on the gang and help whenever the gang got in trouble. They wouldn’t be able to stand back and do nothing. The gang was only acting for its own benefit. All they needed to do was to provide a location, and they would tie the trio down with them.
Senior Yu felt frustrated. They had been working in Central City for almost six years, so he just couldn’t accept giving up. The department wasn’t just asking for them to leave either. They also wanted them to pay taxes and penalties. How on earth were they supposed to get such money?
Suddenly, he thought of something and turned to Lu Fang. “Aren’t you close with Chen Chuan? I think he has a really high position in the Resolution Department. He should be able to have a say in this situation. Can we ask him for help?”
Lu Fang considered it before nodding. “I’ll talk to Chen Chuan.”
If this had happened at any other time, he wouldn’t have wanted to bother his friend, but Chen Chuan had called him and made him promise to be careful as well as to tell him if he ran into any trouble.
With what had happened, Lu Fang was worried that this hostile person wasn’t going to stop at just evicting them. They might have more planned, so he put his hand on the Realm Pass.
Just then, he thought about the possibility that this might be some internal fight in the Department of Administrative Affairs, so he lowered his hand and didn’t contact Chen Chuan directly. Instead, he sent a voice message.
***
Chen Chuan was waiting for word from the purity faction in his house when he received the voice message. After reading it, he immediately knew that someone from Gray Shell Office had done this.
Everyone in frequent contact with him or close to him were getting attacked one by one.
He sent a message back to Lu Fang.
Chen Chuan: Don’t worry. If things go well, this problem will be settled in the afternoon.
He checked the time. It was 10:19 a.m.. There was only a little over an hour until noon.
***
A large, white airship flew over from the center of the mainland to the airspace outside Central City. It didn’t enter the city but stayed hovering outside.
The pure white airship stood out like a sore thumb under the brilliant sun. There were a few simple silver threads on the hull that seemed to form the outline of an awe-inspiring face with its eyes shut.
The higher-ups of Central City were all alarmed by the airship’s arrival, and the Department of Administrative Affairs as well as the municipal government immediately sent officials to contact the airship.
The number of calls made via domain connection entities rose exponentially. Countless emergency signals were released from Jibei Road to all directions.
The army in Oceanway District received orders to be on alert. A large number of security forces moved to Majestic Light District. The active biosentient entities of the international companies were activated as the companies watched the situation cautiously.
Half an hour later, the liaison officers who took an airship over to communicate with the white airship sent a message back, and the higher-ups of Central City started an emergency meeting.
It was conducted with unprecedented efficiency. A decision was made in a little over ten minutes.
Then, a group of administrative clerks rushed to the Resolution Department at full speed. Since they had already notified the place, they didn’t experience any delays and were able to get Ji Xinming’s group out of the detention cell immediately.
Ji Xinming’s group looked relaxed. Even though they had been locked up, they never believed that they wouldn’t be released.
There hadn’t been any news over the past few days, but lawyers kept visiting the Resolution Department, and they maintained contact with the outside world, so they knew that the group was putting pressure on Chen Chuan. Similar things had happened in the past, and no one had ever been able to put up a fight for long.
Things should come to an end today.
When they saw a man wearing sunglasses and a prominent jaw walk in, their expressions screamed that they had been expecting this.
He was from Gray Shell Office and was in charge of communicating with the higher-ups. If such an important person showed up here, it could only mean that things had changed outside.
They sat down with relaxed expressions. One of them was even in the mood to joke. “Mr. Lin, you didn’t have to come for such a trivial thing. You could have just called, and we would have walked out on our own.”
Mr. Lin’s face was unreadable, since he was wearing sunglasses. He took a stack of papers from the lawyer behind him and pushed it to the trio.
“We need to go through some procedures. Sign these.”
They smiled. Mr. Lin wanted them to sign the release forms.
Even if they were detained, it didn’t matter. In the end, they were still going to be released.
They took the papers with nonchalance, but after reading the contents, they were stunned. Then, they brought them closer to their eyes as shock, rage, and disbelief appeared on their faces.
One of them slammed the form heavily on the table and growled, “What’s the meaning of this, Mr. Lin?”
Ji Xinming was also frowning. “Please explain, Mr. Lin,” he said while staring at him.
“It’s exactly as stated,” Mr. Lin replied.
Ji Xinming met his gaze and clenched his fists. “I’d like an explanation.”
“Explanation?”
Mr. Lin removed his sunglasses to reveal a pair of cold eyes. “Why didn’t you consult the faction before doing this? Why did you take things into your own hands?”
Ji Xinming sucked in a deep breath and said, “I’m sure you know that we received a phone call from that person. He asked us to do this.”
Mr. Lin pointed at him with his sunglasses. “Don’t lie. You did this of your own accord.”
He motioned at the three forms. “Sign them. This is the faction’s decision and the best outcome for you. Your families will be protected. If you don’t want to do it, I can help you.”
“Why? Why are you so afraid of a mere lead investigator?” Ji Xinming asked angrily. He was furious and puzzled.
“A mere lead investigator?”
Mr. Lin sighed and leaned forward while staring at the trio. The veins on his temples bulged as he hissed, “I suppose you don’t know that two of the purity faction’s martial arts masters are in the airship outside Central City right now.
“That’s two martial arts masters. Do you know what this means? The Department of Administrative Affairs and the municipal government are both watching me closely right now. The higher-ups in the faction have also sent a telegram to get this settled properly.
“The purity faction even got proof that you attacked the lead investigator. Do you understand? He has proof, you idiots!
“If this matter isn’t settled within the time limit they set, there’s a huge chance that the two factions will go into a full-on confrontation and start a war!
“The best outcome is for you three to die!”
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