Book 3, Chapter 88: Application

“Her face has been modified? Can you confirm it?” Lu Fang asked.

“I don’t know what she originally looked like, but her bones and face have been reshaped and stabilized with implanted fibers.

“I heard from my family that some companies provide unique puppets or those similar to certain people based on their client’s preferences and kinks.”

When Lu Fang heard this, he understood what had happened. With a look of pity, he cast a glance at Thirteen before turning to Chen Chuan. “If that’s the case, it’s highly likely that she’s not Shen Zheng’s sister. Zhao Qian probably only ordered a puppet similar to her from some company. He might have done it to humiliate Shen Zheng or as a way to copy someone.”

Chen Chuan had thought of that possibility too. Thirteen’s face might have been modified after Shen Zheng’s sister.

Strangely, though, Zhao Qian had taken Shen Zheng’s sister with him, so why would he waste time and energy on ordering a puppet similar to her?

What had happened?

Chen Chuan changed his train of thought and asked the girl, “Has Zhao Qian ever told you that you look like someone?”

“He did say it once, but I don’t know who that is,” Thirteen whispered.

“Maybe it really is as we think,” Lu Fang mumbled.

“We might be able to find more clues here. Let’s look around and see whether we can find anything,” Chen Chuan suggested.

Lu Fang nodded.

Chen Chuan then turned to Thirteen. “Are there any special rooms here?”

“There’s a study in the southeast corner of the third floor. Mr. Zhao doesn’t let me anywhere close to it,” Thirteen supplied.

“She doesn’t seem particularly resistant to anything around her,” Lu Fang mentioned after noticing the girl answering all their questions without a second’s hesitation.

Wu Bei was quick to reply. “Big companies install a cognition modification implant in their puppets. Along with hypnosis, they can modify their puppets’ sense of logic, but the higher a customer’s requirements are, the higher the cost will be. I don’t think Zhao Qian would have ordered such services, though.”

Lu Fang pointed at the knocked out guard on the floor. “Who’s this?”

“Zhao Er. Mr. Zhao sent him here to guard the mansion,” Thirteen answered.

“So, he’s the one who orders the tubes of nutritional paste to be delivered to the mansion every day,” Lu Fang asked.

Thirteen nodded.

“Why not just order more in one go?” Lu Fang asked, puzzled.

“Because Mr. Zhao only gives him enough money for a day’s amount of food. We can’t buy a lot of it in one go, and we aren’t allowed to contact Mr. Zhao on our own either. We can only wait for his orders.”

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Lu Fang sighed. By the looks of it, the two were just tools for Zhao Qian. Since they couldn’t contact him, they couldn’t even leave after Zhao Qian died and continued carrying out his orders.

Once they understood what was going on, Chen Chuan and Lu Fang spoke to each other before deciding to split up to search the mansion. Lu Fang was in charge of the mansion, while Chen Chuan went to the third floor study Thirteen had mentioned.

The lock outside was, naturally, unable to stop him. With a light push, he broke the lock. The moment he stepped inside, he saw a plant reaching all the way from the floor to the ceiling.

“This is Cactus, a domain interference lifeform created by Five Sides,” Wu Bei explained. “It’s a mid-range product that can have five fixed biofield signals. It switches to a different biofield signal once every six days.”

Chen Chuan observed the room and noticed a hidden door on the wall. Once he opened it, he found a small storeroom inside. It had guns of various models covered in a transparent film that could be removed at any moment.

A metal cabinet stood near the front of the room. He tried opening it and found that it wasn’t locked. There were three drawers inside. The first drawer was stuffed full of cash and coins for emergency purposes. A quick glance told him that there were around four thousand devs inside.

The second drawer contained paper records. After flipping through them, Chen Chuan found that most of them were in code. However, based on how the papers were placed together, it was highly likely that they were about United Might.

Chen Chuan shut the second drawer and opened the third one, which had a beautiful, red, wooden box inside. He thought that it would contain some important item, but upon opening it, he found a book of the Zhao family’s genealogy.

The Zhao family’s ancestor was a sanctified general from the old era. One of his branch families moved to Yangzhi Town, which later became Yangzhi City.

Before the Algae Sap Revolution, the old town belonged to the Zhao family, but afterwards, the Zhao family didn’t cling onto that bit of land given to them and its meager yield. Instead, they started delving into overseas trade.

During the Great Expansion, the Zhao family actively supported and cooperated with the military, so they became one of its important suppliers. Because of it, they regained their political status and identity.

But in just a few years, the Zhao family lost to their rivals in the business field and experienced political suppression, which forced them to return to Yangzhi City. They only became active once more after forming ties with Black Orchid Co..

Chen Chuan skimmed through the contents. While the book appeared to be a mere record of the Zhao family’s genealogy, he had a feeling that it wasn’t as it seemed. It contained a detailed description of how the family had lived before the Great Expansion. While the high school history textbook had spoken about the Great Expansion, it only contained a brief record of it. Since this book contained a detailed account, Chen Chuan decided to take it back to have a proper look.

At the bottom of the box was a general’s golden tiger rank badge. It had the word sanctified written in seal script.

Did it belong to a sanctified general? But the book said that the Zhao family in Yangzhi City was just a branch family. How could such a thing end up in Zhao Qian’s hands?

While Chen Chuan was mulling over this, Lu Fang’s excited voice reached his ears. “Chen Chuan, take a look at this!”

Chen Chuan set the tiger rank badge aside and went to the bedroom on the second floor. Lu Fang was holding a picture. When he saw Chen Chuan, he handed the picture to him.

Chen Chuan took it and saw a girl of around ten years old; she was quite similar to Thirteen. However, it was clear that the two were different girls. The face of the girl in the picture was also much more similar to Shen Zheng’s.

“The date on the picture says that it was taken four years ago,” Lu Fang said.

“Four years ago? That’s the year Shen Zheng died, isn’t it?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Yes, and it was when Zhao Qian took Shen Zheng’s sister with him. The girl’s age also matches. This should be a picture of Shen Zheng’s sister,” Lu Fang said grimly.

Chen Chuan took a look at the background and found it incredibly familiar. It was the abandoned factory where the Mutual Aid Group had killed Shen Zheng. This location, too, matched their clues. They could basically confirm that this was really Shen Zheng’s sister.

“Let’s look around and see whether we can find any other clues,” he suggested.

Lu Fang nodded.

Unfortunately, even after they searched through the entire mansion and asked Thirteen a few more questions, they couldn’t find anything else that was of value.

Chen Chuan suggested that they end their search for the day. Zhao Qian had kept some coded documents, and Chen Chuan believed that they might learn something new from them. Lu Fang agreed to it.

But it wouldn’t be right for them to just let Thirteen and Zhao Er roam freely, so Lu Fang volunteered to stay in the mansion to keep an eye on them.

Upon his offer, Chen Chuan set up a code with Lu Fang in case of emergencies. Then, he took some items of value and left the mansion to return to the Arcane Palace.

The next day, he went to Gao Ming and handed over the code book and the documents that seemed to be connected to United Might before asking him to figure out their origins.

After he left the apartment, he went to Mr. Zheng’s house for training.

Whenever he came here, he sparred with Zheng Tongtong. In the beginning, she always overpowered him, but now, they could exchange blows.

Their sparring this time was different. Aside from the fact that his tendons, bones, and organs had become much stronger due to him pouring an endless stream of resources into himself, as his senses became stronger, he could react faster and had greater coordination, even in his pre-fusion state. Now, he could follow Zheng Tongtong’s rhythm.

They exchanged blows in a steady, calm fashion, and neither showed any openings. Despite sparring for an entire day, they did not stop.

With their stamina and endurance, they could keep it up for several days with no problem, but that would just end up as a battle of attrition.

While it was effective for polishing the technique, the effects wouldn’t be so great. Hence, as if they had made an agreement, they increased the speed and strength of their attacks. In a short dozen seconds, they exchanged more than a hundred blows. The sound of their sabers clashing rang through the training ground nonstop.

When Mr. Zheng saw them speeding up and increasing their strength, he knew that if this continued, they wouldn’t be able to control themselves, so he grabbed a wooden training saber and shoved it between their sabers at the perfect moment. With a flick, he knocked both of them off.

Chen Chuan used the momentum to put his saber away. Mr. Zheng had used the perfect amount of power to separate him and Zheng Tongtong. The timing and strength was just right and not a shred more or less. Even if Chen Chuan let go of all his restraints over his emotions, he wouldn’t be able to do that. It seemed like he still had a long way to go in terms of technique.

“Let’s put an end to the training today, Chen Chuan,” Mr. Zheng said in great satisfaction. “You’ve improved immensely, and there’s not much left for you to learn. What you need to do now is just polish your technique and master what you’ve already learned. I suggest applying for the technique exam when you return.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that. It was the beginning of June, so there was less than a month left before the end of the semester. Since he wouldn’t be able to improve his technique any further in such a short timeframe, he should take his exam.

After parting ways with Mr. Zheng and Zheng Tongtong, he drove back to the Arcane Palace and connected to Martial Valor University’s platform. “Hongfu, I’d like to apply for my technique exam.”

“Application received. Based on the time of your application, you can choose to take your exam on the fifth, tenth, or twenty-fifth of June. Please pick a time,” Hongfu said.

Chen Chuan thought about it. It was the fifth tomorrow, and there was no need for him to wait any longer. It would be better to have the exam done and dealt with as soon as possible. “I’d like to apply for the fifth of June.”