Book 3, Chapter 83: External

Relaxing music drifted about Golden River Drinks while gentle light filled the drinks shop. The dazzling light and restlessness of the world outside seemed to be far away from Chen Chuan and Lu Fang.

They sat across from each other. Once the waitress left their table after serving their drinks, Lu Fang asked in a voice laced with hope, “Did you want to see me because you found some clues?”

“I do have some clues, but I haven’t verified them yet. I need to investigate a bit more. You might need to wait a little longer for real results,” Chen Chuan said.

Lu Fang could understand that, and he sighed. “Thanks for going through all this trouble, Chen Chuan. I wasn’t hoping to immediately get any results. Central City is full of hardships, and I’m sure that you face plenty of difficulties too. Then, there’s Zhao Qian standing as an obstacle in your way, so I know just how difficult this can be...”

“Zhao Qian isn’t a problem anymore. He died,” Chen Chuan said.

Zhao Qian... what now?

Lu Fang wasn’t able to react in the beginning, but then he couldn’t help but look at Chen Chuan. With a hesitant look and in an uncertain voice, he said, “Did you just say...”

As if he was talking about the weather, Chen Chuan said, “Zhao Qian suddenly fell sick when he left on an escort mission and left the escort team to return to Central City. On his way back, he was attacked by some unknown force. He’s been confirmed to be dead.”

Lu Fang sat in a daze for a long while. His grip around his cup tightened as he said in excitement, “Good! He’s finally dead!”

He teared up and picked up his hot drink to finish it all in one go before slamming the cup on the table. Then, he exhaled and met Chen Chuan’s gaze to give him a nod.

Unknown force? Coincidences weren’t that common in the world. He was sure that Chen Chuan was behind it.

This junior of his had destroyed the Mutual Aid Group back in Yangzhi City, so he was sure that he could take out Zhao Qian too.

With gratitude, he said, “I always knew that you’re the only one capable of doing the things that we can’t do. You gave us hope back in Yangzhi City as well.”

He filled his cup and toasted Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan also picked up his drink, toasted Lu Fang, and took a sip.

At this point, Lu Fang calmed down and asked hopefully, “You mentioned finding some clues just now. What did you mean by that?”

Chen Chuan then passed the restored video Wu Bei gave him to Lu Fang’s Realm Pass and said, “Based on the limited information we currently have, a teenager had appeared beside Zhao Qian that looks like the person we’re searching for, but we don’t have enough information yet, so I’m not sure whether it’s her.”

Lu Fang watched the video for a while. He didn’t get worked up when he saw that the teenager resembled Shen Zheng, but he did frown when he saw her kneeling in front of Zhao Qian. He appeared much calmer than before.

“Will you be able to find her?” he asked.

“The video was shot within United Might, but she only appeared once and doesn’t seem like an employee. She looks like Zhao Qian’s dependent instead, so we can narrow down our search,” Chen Chuan said.

He then sent a location to Lu Fang that Wu Bei had just provided to him.

“Zhao Qian has a private mansion in the residential area of Smoked Wind Gardens. According to his records, he goes to this place once every two months. Since this isn’t where he lives, and the mansion isn’t even registered under his name, whatever secrets he has are bound to be there. We should go and check it out.”

After seeing it, Lu Fang said earnestly, “I’ve caused you too much trouble before this. Let me investigate it instead.”

“This sort of place usually has a unique domain signal. If you barge in recklessly, the City Patrol will discover you. When you go, remember to tell me. I’ll ask a resonator help you with the domain signal,” Chen Chuan offered.

“Alright. I’ll do as you said,” Lu Fang promised.

Chen Chuan wasn’t worried about him. At the end of the day, Lu Fang was a Second Limit martial artist who had graduated from Martial Valor University. Aside from Third Limit martial artists, only a handful of people could threaten him.

Once they dealt with the technical obstacles, everything else wouldn’t be a problem.

“No time to waste for this, Chen Chuan. I’ll go back and get ready,” Lu Fang stated.

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said.

“I’ll be leaving now. Let me pay this time,” Lu Fang said as he stood up. Then, he went to the counter to pay before leaving Golden River Drinks in a hurry.

Chen Chuan looked outside the window and noticed that Lu Fang seemed to be moving lighter, as if a burden had been removed from his shoulders. Meanwhile, Chen Chuan leaned against his chair and listened to the relaxing music.

Half an hour later, he left the shop and returned to the Arcane Palace. The moment he stepped through the gate, he saw a group of students gathered in the hall. They were all dressed in Martial Valor University’s uniform.

The sight surprised him somewhat, because most of the time, the underclassmen of the main campus were busy training with the lecturers, while the upperclassmen joined companies or the government, leading to them not being in the university a lot of the time. Hence, it was rare to see students gathered together like this. Chen Chuan would even say that the only time he had seen the students gathered in one place was on the Realm Pass.

Hence, Chen Chuan had gotten to know many of his peers, aside from a handful like Tan Zhi, through his Realm Pass.

In short, he had never seen anything like this before.

Once he observed them, he found that all the students had implants, and he immediately figured out who they were—the external students.

A few days ago, he had read on the university’s platform that this year’s martial arts tournament was about to begin. Since the external students were acknowledged as the university’s students, they should have come for group training before the tournament. After all, the main campus had the best facilities, training locations, and lecturers.

The students had been engaged in a fervent discussion, but when they saw Chen Chuan, their voices faded to a whisper. When he walked past, their gazes were glued to him.

The external students had complicated emotions toward the official students.

They often had to fight to the death in various matches, because only those types of matches could attract a crowd, which meant that they lived dancing on the edge of the knife every day. They longed for the superior living conditions of the official students, but at the same time, they mocked them for hiding in their offices and drinking hot drinks while giving orders.

After Chen Chuan went into the elevator, he turned around and watched the doors close slowly. Before they shut completely, someone suddenly pushed their hand in, and two external students who were both two meters tall walked in and stood beside him. Fortunately, the elevator was wide enough, so it wasn’t cramped.

Once the elevator doors shut, one of them started sizing Chen Chuan up. A moment passed before the elevator started going up, and a challenging look appeared in that student’s eyes. “Hey, official student, I’ve always wanted to know the distance between us. Care to give me a chance to find out?”

Chen Chuan turned to him. “We’re both students here. You don’t have to be so polite with me.”

The student instantly perked up. He rolled his wrists for a bit before throwing a punch at Chen Chuan with his eyes fixed on him. Meanwhile, his other hand was positioned at his lower belly. Moments earlier, he had shuffled closer to Chen Chuan and found the perfect angle to attack.

They were both Second Limit martial artists, and this was an enclosed space. Chen Chuan couldn’t possibly be able to generate power properly in the face of his fast and sudden ambush. If he dodged or defended, the student could immediately adjust his attack. He was confident that Chen Chuan wouldn’t be able to neutralize his move.

He wanted to prove that external students weren’t that much weaker than official students.

Right when that thought appeared in his head, he noticed that Chen Chuan wasn’t defending or dodging. Instead, to his surprise, Chen Chuan took a step forward.

He also turned to the side a little and positioned his shoulder to receive the punch. At this point, the student hadn’t fully executed his punch, but his fist already struck Chen Chuan’s shoulder and was pushed back. The power of that push was like a truck ramming into him so hard that his feet were thrown off, and his back slammed against the elevator doors.

The moment the other student saw this, he brought his leg up to kick Chen Chuan’s back. He wasn’t trying to gang up on Chen Chuan, but just moved on instinct. They were teammates in the tournament, so when his buddy was at a disadvantage, he instinctively attacked to hold the opponent back as well as hurt him.

The moment the student attacked, Chen Chuan took a step to the side and grabbed the first student’s hand before spinning on his feet to dodge the kick. Then, he dragged the first student to him, and with the momentum of the spin, threw him at the second student.

When the second student missed his kick, he was already lunging forward to stop him, only to suddenly see his teammate coming at him. He brought his hands up in a hurry to grab him, but an overwhelming power charged at him. Both of them fell on the floor and wound up in a tangled mess of limbs that tumbled backward until they crashed into the elevator wall.

Chen Chuan watched them rapidly get back on their feet and instinctively put on defensive stances. Then, to the one who threw the first punch, he said, “You punch fast, but you were thinking too much just now. It would be better if you were more decisive.”

To the other one, he said, “You had great timing with that kick, but you went all in with that attack. It’s better to leave some leeway for yourself.”

The two students were stunned. Just then, the elevator let out a ding, and the doors opened. Chen Chuan took a look. It was the twenty-eighth floor, so he stepped aside to make way.

The two students exchanged looks before walking out. One of them suddenly turned around and said, “I’m Cao Rui!”

“Chen Chuan,” he replied after giving him a nod. Then, the elevator doors shut.

As the elevator began rising again, the other student said, “He’s good, Cao Rui.”

Chen Chuan had only used one hand just now, the one not holding his saber.

Unable to accept his defeat and feeling indignant, Cao Rui wondered, “Are all official students this good?”

He had obtained great results and a high ranking during the tournament, which led to him thinking that he wasn’t that much weaker than an official student. Besides, he often got involved in death matches, so he thought that he should be able to overpower an official student at the same limit as he was, but the fight just now was a real wake-up call. It was quite a blow to him.

The other student sighed and said, “The official students simply have too many resources.”

Suddenly, Cao Rui walked to another elevator and pushed the down button. The other student asked in surprise, “Where are you going?”

“Go to the event on your own. I’m going to train,” Cao Rui declared.