Book 3, Chapter 64: Information

Ten minutes later, Wu Bei wiped off the sweat on his brow and lowered the hand on his neck before sighing in relief. “It’s done.”

He then turned around and said, “Chen Chuan, I’m going in to look for possible information, and I’ll share some of the things I find with you on your Realm Pass so that you can read through it. If you find anything, you can also perform your own search. I’ll help you.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

Wu Bei removed his damp jacket and wiped his face and neck with a handkerchief before heading into the resonator nest.

Chen Chuan had been wondering whether Wu Bei would be able to squeeze into the tight entrance meant for Phantom Form, since their sizes differed quite a bit, but when Wu Bei got closer and touched it, the entrance expanded a little, naturally adjusting to its owner’s size.

It seemed like adjusting the domain frequency had worked.

Wu Bei sat down and tugged a vine down to connect it to a hole at the back of his head, right where his implanted Realm Pass was. After a while, more vines bound his body. They moved as if someone was controlling them.

The dim, flickering light from the resonator nest turned bright. Even the seemingly messy vines started shining brightly. At the same time, projections of light landed on the surrounding floor.

Chen Chuan watched for a while before a stream of information was sent to his Realm Pass.

Wu Bei had already found Phantom Form’s stored information. Most of it was him accepting assassination requests on a certain platform.

Phantom Form also seemed to like watching as his assassination targets died, because he had recorded them and stored the domain information perfectly in the resonator nest.

It wasn’t just images, either. He had recorded the entire thing clearly and in its entirety, including the audio, which was practically the same as him being right next to his targets when they died.

That wasn’t all. Phantom Form’s emotions were recorded as well, so Chen Chuan could sense the slight feeling of guilt and great glee when he committed murder.

From the records, Phantom Form seemed to have several companies and a mysterious organization supporting him. The organization was called Black Gate, but he only ever mentioned it briefly and never dared to delve into it deeply. The emotions generated when the organization was mentioned were fear but also a desire to get closer.

Chen Chuan could sense that there was something here, and it might be related to supernatural beings. Hence, he decided to look further into Black Gate.

Just as he tried searching for more information, the surrounding scenery changed.

He noticed that he was standing in a hall filled with fluorescent light. An altar stood before him. On its sides were people in black. They were all prostrating themselves to the altar, and something with no form was shining over it.

The altar seemed to be emitting light on its own, but at the same time, it looked like light was gathering toward it.

Just then, Chen Chuan saw his second self showing faint traces of blurring out. That wasn’t all. Even his Frost King Saber was trembling slightly. He focused his gaze on the light source, but when he wanted to take a closer look, the light around him suddenly dimmed, and he was back in the house.

Wu Bei removed the vine behind his head and massaged his forehead, seemingly suffering from a migraine.

“This was the first time I used a resonator nest, so I’m not quite used to it. The resonance amplitude increased by too much just now, and it was more than what I could handle. Thank goodness I recorded all the information left here. I’ll transfer what I hadn’t managed to give you just now,” he said.

Chen Chuan observed him and found that Wu Bei seemed to not have any idea of what he had seen just now. Just then, he received some verbal information.

He took a look and found that they weren’t just records of Phantom Form’s assassination requests but also his business deals with several companies. These companies often hired him to do some of their dirty work and gave him the legal identity necessary to get the resonator nest.

Based on the records, Phantom Form had relied on the supernatural being and his great skill with domain technology to achieve success in every endeavor. His winning streak lasted until he ran into a wall named Chen Chuan.

But they couldn’t find any clues about this incident.

Chen Chuan pondered over it. Even though Phantom Form could have destroyed his Realm Pass, he didn’t do it. That meant that he wanted Chen Chuan to sniff around. Regardless of whether it was because he wanted to drag his client down or whether he wanted Chen Chuan to end up getting killed, Phantom Form’s dying wish was on its way to be fulfilled.

Still, for either option to happen, Chen Chuan had to find the clues.

Since he couldn’t find any from the Realm Pass and the resonator nest, then the clues had to be somewhere else, but in some place that was still accessible to Chen Chuan.

If that was the case, there was only one possibility left.

“Wu Bei, did he send any messages through his Realm Pass before he died?” he asked.

“I found one record, but the address has been deleted, and I can’t figure out to whom he sent the message and what sort of message it was,” Wu Bei said.

Chen Chuan became even more certain at this point. “Wu Bei, could you help me block my current location?”

“Sure thing,” Wu Bei said and put the vine behind his head again. After a while, he said, “It’s done.”

Chen Chuan connected his Realm Pass to Martial Valor University’s platform and found a message sent to him in his inbox on the public platform. The sender was empty. Judging by the time sent, it was at the moment he killed Phantom Form.

His guess was right.

Phantom Form had sent a message directly to him before he died, but Chen Chuan had changed to another Realm Pass before he left. Upon noticing this and worried that he wouldn’t receive it, Phantom Form had sent his message to Martial Valor University’s external message platform on the public platform.

Of course, Phantom Form didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart. He just wanted to see Chen Chuan and his client fight.

Chen Chuan wanted to check the contents of the message, but he couldn’t open it. After asking Wu Bei about it, he learned that Phantom Form had locked it with a targeted frequency technology. Chen Chuan would have to return to Martial Valor University and use his original Realm Pass to check it.

If that was the case, then he would have to go back now.

“Looks like we need to return. We should gather up all that’s useful from here,” he declared.

But Wu Bei looked around the place and said, “This is a pretty good place. It’s secluded and safe.”

Chen Chuan agreed with the statement that this was a secluded place. If Wu Bei hadn’t marked the house on his Realm Pass, he wouldn’t have been able to find it easily.

Safe, though? Chen Chuan didn’t quite agree with it. While he didn’t see any gang members on his way, it was because Phantom Form had killed them all. Still, those people wouldn’t disappear just because of it. Without Phantom Form serving as a deterrent any longer, they would return soon. The guest rooms upstairs also made it clear that guests came to stay here, so they could not spend too much time here.

“Take what you want back to the truck. I’ll wait here. If Mr. Qi has time, ask him to come too so that he can take the cars. We’ll put everything in your warehouse for now,” Chen Chuan said.

Wu Bei pumped his fists in the resonator nest. “Sure thing! Leave it to me.”

After settling some things, he put on his jacket and went down the mountain with his umbrella. Since he already knew the correct path to take after Chen Chuan brought him up, he drove his truck up.

Chen Chuan remembered seeing a cart on the third floor, so he put all the things they needed to transfer out on it, then pushed it down the ramp at the back of the third floor and moved it to the back of the truck.

They moved the resonator nest, the calorie and nutrient-dense cans, and the medicines. Since there were quite a number of them, they would have to take two rounds before they finished bringing everything to the warehouse.

Wu Bei’s heart finally settled when the resonator nest was placed carefully into the truck and secured. Suddenly, he remembered something and slapped a hand against his head.

“I almost forgot. I need to pay you for the resonator nest and the calorie and nutrient-dense cans. But the government will start keeping an eye on anyone who suddenly transfers a huge amount of money to someone else, and we also have to pay a trade tax. It’s better for me to give you cash, but I don’t have that much on me right now. Wait a bit while I gather the money ready for you, okay?”

Chen Chuan shook his head. “We’re a team, Wu Bei. Getting a good item for you means helping the team grow. If you insist on paying, then put it into the team’s public fund.”

Wu Bei had provided him with support all this while for free, and Chen Chuan was sure that he would need his help in the future as well. If they really did the math, hiring a skilled resonator wouldn’t come cheap.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Yet Wu Bei didn’t lack money, so if Chen Chuan tried paying him, he’d be putting distance between them. He had been thinking all this while on how to repay him and found that this resonator nest was the perfect gift.

Wu Bei didn’t feel torn about it, since he didn’t care where the money went. “Great! That’s settled then,” he said happily.

He hopped into the driver seat, gave Chen Chuan a wave, turned on the headlights, and left the hill.

Chen Chuan watched him go before turning around to continue packing up. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes landed on the long staff on the floor.

He went over and picked it up. Right away, he felt something strange.

It was as if the weapon was rejecting him.

Immediately, Chen Chuan realized that this was a mutated weapon.

This was a rare thing. No wonder he had found it so hard to cut the staff apart, even though he had hacked at it repeatedly during the fight.

I should have a showroom in the future to store such weapons,

Chen Chuan thought.

He took the staff with him and went to the third floor. After a quick test, he found that he could start the car from Jiade, so he called Ni Qianqian and reported the two cars he seized. She instantly gave him a temporary driving permit.

According to the rules of confiscation, if he wanted to keep the two cars, he needed to pay a certain amount of money to the Resolution Department and the related departments. It wasn’t a high amount, since it was a benefit the Resolution Department gave to the people working for them. He did have to fill out some paperwork, though.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan decided to keep the cars. Right now, he had to take the tram wherever he traveled, and that made going to certain places inconvenient. Setting aside the silver Lightning Flash, the car from Jiade had been modified and had armor plates. It didn’t stand out and had pretty good defense. It could even carry things around. It wasn’t flashy, but useful.

Chen Chuan put the remaining things he wanted to bring into the trunk and the back seat before returning to the first floor.

He didn’t just ignore Phantom Form’s corpse. He brought the body to the pit they had created during the fight and buried him with a spade.