Book 3, Chapter 82: Clue

Green Satchel Pharmacy’s branch company was located in Majestic Light District, in a four-sided corridor building. Even though it was already nighttime, all fifty-two floors of the building were lit.

The company’s strategy research group was collecting and analyzing feedback about the new medicine.

Every year, Green Satchel Pharmacy would put a new batch of medicine into the market. The company’s market in Jibei Road wasn’t just the residents in the Great Shun Republic, but the island nations beyond the country.

Due to their geographical advantage and their long-term partnership with Azure Dragon, Tiancong Baicao—their rival—wasn’t able to compete against them in this area. But Tiancong Baicao’s medicine for martial artists was always better than theirs. Recently, they had also been proactively seeking to form a business partnership with Azure Dragon.

This gave the strategy research group a lot of stress.

Last year, Green Satchel Pharmacy had created a batch of new medicine catering to martial artists, but so far, they hadn’t found a lot of people willing to test it. After all, Tiancong Baicao and the foreign mega corporation Troyden Pharma already had perfected medicine.

To martial artists, it was better to wait for the limited amount of medicine the two mega corporations distributed every month than test new medicine that might hurt them and had no guarantee of success.

The drug testers the company found were mostly people who couldn’t walk far down the path of martial arts. They were only willing to test the medicine because they wanted to find ways of developing further as martial artists.

But those who could reach high heights were all people with great talent. In more hyperbolic terms, those people were completely different from normal martial artists, which meant the results of their drug test were not ideal.

Fan Qingshan, head of the strategy research group, was reading the reports his subordinates sent him on his Realm Pass. All of them were feedback for the new medicine. Right now, their main drug testing site was Central City’s prison. It was their only choice.

There was another group they could pick—Martial Valor University’s external students. All the companies, without a single word uttered to anyone, treated these external students as their test subjects. As long as they paid them enough money, they would accept it. However, these students usually had their bodies full of implants from other companies and had to regularly take a large amount of anti-mutation medicine, so the effects they got from Green Satchel Pharmacy’s new medicine would be much weaker.

Just then, a company employee strode in and handed Fan Qingshan a document. “Mr. Fan, I have a new drug test report with me. It’s from a Class A drug tester. Please take a look.”

Fan Qingshan’s expression instantly turned a little more serious. Class A drug testers were rare, and all of them were worthy of his attention.

The report was written in great detail. Every section was filled out, and he could tell at a glance that this drug tester had chosen to practise the breathing technique the company provided for all drug testers.

He nodded at that. Regardless of the drug tester’s physical condition, his attitude, at the very least, met their standard. Fan Qingshan hated those who weren’t strong enough yet were unwilling to cooperate with them.

Hmm? Continuous consumption?

He continued reading the report and was shocked. Up to this date, even the most extreme drug testers hadn’t dared to take three pills within ten days.

After all, after taking two pills back to back, most drug testers reported having severe reactions and entering an abnormal state of excitement.

Some naturally gifted martial artists, whose mutated tissue couldn’t get significant growth after taking medicine, would enter an excited state. This was a form of pushing past their limits that might cause them to reach their slump sooner, so they did not dare to continue afterwards.

Even the ones who weren’t naturally gifted wouldn’t dare to joke around with their lives. They waited until the medicine’s effects disappeared fully instead of taking another pill, thereby making the effects stack on top of each other.

That was why Green Satchel Pharmacy had requested the drug testers to finish all the pills within three months.

While there were people who were reckless enough to take the pills back to back, they were in the minority and were people who didn’t have much hope of reaching the Third Limit. Their mutated tissue also only covered a small area and was weak. Because of it, their reports provided little reference value, and all Green Satchel Pharmacy could know was that it wouldn’t put their lives at risk if they did take the pills back to back.

But that wasn’t enough. Even if worthless medicine posed little risk, it was still a failed drug.

This report was written in great detail and contained a record of the drug tester’s reaction after taking the pills back to back, which was something incredibly rare. This person was completely different from the drug testers who took their pills along with other medicine. Fan Qingshan could tell that this drug tester was no average martial artist, because from the start to the very end, his emotions remained stable.

This was a rare gem.

Immediately, Fan Qingshan contacted the person in charge through his Realm Pass. “Send me the martial artist’s information.”

Then, he recited a series of numbers.

For secrecy’s sake, the drug test reports and the martial artists’ information were kept separated. Only heads of the departments were allowed to read them, and the information was kept as hardcopies.

After five minutes, the person in charge sent Chen Chuan’s public information to him.

Fan Qingshan became even more shocked as he read it. This was a Martial Valor University student who had more than an 80% chance of reaching the Third Limit? Why would someone like this test their drug?

Then, he checked Chen Chuan’s resume, and he immediately understood why.

This student had won against a Third Limit martial artist after taking medicine. Once he joined the Resolution Department, he was recorded to have killed another Third Limit criminal after taking medicine.

This was a talented person!

Fan Qingshan praised Chen Chuan in his heart. Without a doubt, this martial artist possessed natural talent no average person could hope to compare.

There were people who could use medicine far more effectively than others while suffering only minimal side effects. They were one in a million. This student should be that sort of person, and he was precisely who Fan Qingshan needed.

Enthusiasm burned in his heart as he said, “Ask this drug tester whether he’d be willing to continue taking our medicine back to back. He’s free to tell us what he wants in exchange.”

It would be a great pity for the drug tester to stop now. If they could take all ten pills back to back and give them a first-hand, comprehensive record, the value of that report would be worth mountains. Fan Qingshan could then answer to the headquarters.

Unfortunately, the contract stated that the drug tester was the one who decided whether they wanted to continue taking the medicine. It would have been easier to persuade a drug tester with no background to continue taking the medicine, but since this one was a Martial Valor University student and a backup law enforcer of the Resolution Department, they could only go through normal procedure with him.

***

Chen Chuan was training in his room while the medicine’s effects were still strong when he received a message from Green Satchel Pharmacy.

Green Satchel Pharmacy: Would you be willing to continue taking the medicine?

Chen Chuan, of course, was absolutely fine with it, but he didn’t agree to it immediately, because he didn’t want to appear too eager. So, he shot a message back.

Chen Chuan: Please let me think about it. I’ll give you my reply after a few days.

Two days passed, and it was time for his scheduled Radiant Light session. Hence, he took the Treasure Paste ahead of time and went to Oceanview Hall. Since his Radiant Light sessions that month added up to more than eight hours, he spent the whole day at Oceanview Hall.

When he drove out, it was already dark outside. Due to the domain interference, the northern stretch of the road in Oceanway District was completely dark aside from the red light from sentry posts and searchlights. Only his car’s headlights lit up the road ahead.

Chen Chuan turned on the car radio, and pulsing music started playing. It pumped him up while he was driving on the quiet road. A while later, he left the domain interference area and received a piece of news from a niche channel. Apparently, another martial artist had been killed, and the murderer was suspected to be Wei Wusheng.

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. He had been busy dealing with Zhao Qian a while ago, and immediately after that, he threw himself into training with Green Satchel Pharmacy’s medicine. During that time, Wei Wusheng had kept attacking, and another three martial artists who had been on Rhinoceros’ Horn died.

He was able to kill his targets in seconds, and he had also changed the manner of his attack. Now, he picked underhanded ways instead of the straightforward and fierce attacks from before.

One of the martial artists had been on a ferris wheel with his family when he was murdered. When they found him, his head had been split open, and no one noticed anything amiss until they eventually found him dead. If they hadn’t determined that it was Wei Wusheng based on the remnants of the refined force and the angle of attack, they would have thought that someone else had killed the martial artist.

Then, Chen Chuan remembered what Wei Wusheng had said.

If he fulfilled his purpose, he would be rewarded.

Perhaps he was beginning to be rewarded as he continued killing the martial artists who had been on Rhinoceros’ Horn that day.

While deep in thought, Chen Chuan noticed Wu Bei contacting him and answered the call. Wu Bei’s excited voice then traveled into his ears. “Chen Chuan, I found something that might be useful to you.”

Chen Chuan perked up at that. “Do you need me to go over to your place?”

“No need. I’ll send it to you. I found some fragmented information from Zhao Qian’s automatic records related to the thing you asked me to check. I tried to restore it and found someone who fits what you told me... Yup, I think you can see her somewhat...” Wu Bei said.

Chen Chuan then received a restored video. It was fragmented and had massive chunks missing, but Chen Chuan could still see the recorded person.

The video was taken in an office. It was filmed from a first person point of view, by a glass wall, through Zhao Qian’s eyes. The person in the video was a delicate teenager holding a glass of liquid. She knelt down in front of Zhao Qian and offered him the glass.

When she looked up, a part of her face became obvious. A flicker of emotion appeared in Chen Chuan’s eyes. The teenager’s face and contour resembled Shen Zheng’s.

Could it be her?

Zhao Qian had told him that he would never be able to find Shen Zheng’s sister in a tone that had been full of certainty. But if she were right beside him, would he really have said that?

“By the way, I almost forgot. I noticed some things hidden deep within his recorded data. The first are some secret bank accounts. After checking them, I found that only one isn’t linked to Zhao Qian’s biofield and wasn’t frozen. I haven’t checked the amount of money inside yet. I’m still trying to breach its security.”

“Thanks for that, Wu Bei,” Chen Chuan said.

“This is nothing. I have to end the call now. There’s still plenty of stuff waiting for me to discover here. I might be able to find more clues.”

“Okay.” Chen Chuan checked the restored video again.

After some consideration, he called Lu Fang. “Are you free for a cup of tea?”