Book 3, Chapter 140: Old Item

It was now the seventh of September, and Martial Valor University was full of students moving about, taking the elevator, and generally being busy.

After one class, they immediately headed to another lecture hall. They spent every single day hurrying from one place to another, which was rare in the past.

The previous semester, Chen Chuan hadn’t been able to see many students in the large Arcane Palace, since they spent most of their time outside. Even if they couldn’t pass a particular class, they would just pay to pass it.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

But once the rule that would demote them to external students came into effect, many of the students became anxious. They didn’t want to become test subjects in the tournament, so they could only study hard.

Hence, when Chen Chuan moved about in leisure, he stood out like a sore thumb in the tense and anxious halls.

After reaching the Third Limit, assessment points were no longer a problem for him, and he had more ways to earn money. He also gained a certain social status. If he didn’t have any goals in life, he could just stay this way for the rest of his life.

But Chen Chuan wanted to live a life free of shackles, and the inevitable Great Clash wasn’t going to allow him to have a stable and peaceful future. He had to keep climbing up and become much stronger before the Great Clash. Or rather, he had to become capable of protecting himself.

The Resolution Department was still in the organizing phase, and no one else bothered Chen Chuan over the next few days, so he could focus on training. After some thinking, he decided to check out the address his parents had left for him.

He contacted Wu Bei and asked him to hide his tracks, then drove out of the Arcane Palace.

In order to make sure he didn’t run into any trouble, he didn’t head straight to his destination. Instead, he drove out of the city, to where he had stopped Zhao Qian, and parked his car there.

Then, he walked back to the city and used his second self to hide his biofield information so that no one could use any method to find him.

The address couldn’t be located on his Realm Pass, but it was mentioned on the old map he bought. After walking for around two hours, he arrived at his destination.

It was a high-end apartment located at the edge of Deep End District. It had security guards all over the place.

That made sense. If the place had been deserted for a long time or was located in some corner of Central City, someone would have broken in and robbed the place blind, considering the lack of law and order. His parents wouldn’t have been able to protect whatever was inside in such a place.

Chen Chuan didn’t intend to let anyone see him, so he climbed up the wall and entered the apartment building. Since his second self was hiding his tracks, he was able to easily enter without alerting anyone of his presence. He walked up the stairs until he reached Room 501 on the fifth floor.

He took out the key he got from his old house and tried opening the door. As expected, the key fit, and he opened the door with just a twist. Once he stepped inside, he shut the door quietly behind him.

Just then, he heard footsteps from within, as if someone was moving around. Chen Chuan took one look at the dust on the table and ignored it.

Instead, he took his time observing the layout of the apartment. The place was decorated similarly to his old house, so he could tell that his parents stayed true to their habits while arranging it.

After looking around the living room, he found nothing and went to the next room. He opened the partially shut door and found that there was no one inside. The footsteps he had heard were also gone.

Chen Chuan did a quick search of this room and the next two rooms, only to find nothing useful. It was as if this was solely a dwelling place. His parents had left behind the property ownership agreement with his name on it, but he refused to believe that they only left behind an apartment for him in Central City. There would have been no need for them to make things so convoluted, if that was the case.

So, something had to be hidden here.

He went through his memories and suddenly remembered a certain event that happened to the old Chen Chuan. It prompted him to go back to one of the rooms and remove a drawer. Then, at the bottom of it, he found a key.

Once he removed it, he noticed the word

Grand

carved on it, along with a string of numbers.

Was this... the key to a storage box in Grand Prosperity Finance?

Then, it should be important.

Chen Chuan put the key into his pocket but did not leave. Instead, he took his time searching through the entire place again. When he was sure that he hadn’t missed anything, he left and went straight to Grand Prosperity Finance.

It had branch companies in most Central Cities and even peripheral cities and Chaotic Lands. Grand Prosperity Finance was one of the top financial groups in the world, and its headquarters were in the Great Shun Republic.

The company’s branch in Jibei Road’s Central City was in Majestic Light District. Not only did it have its own active biosentient entity, but it also had its own security system.

When Chen Chuan arrived, he showed his key, and a manager came forward to meet him. The man had a polite smile on his face but did not ask for Chen Chuan’s name or background. Instead, he just said, “Sir, the client who stored this item said that you will need to show us a token along with the key to be able to access the item.”

Chen Chuan thought about it and produced the black card from Proto-Being.

This was the only thing he had that could serve as a token.

The manager took the black card and asked him to wait for a while before taking out a document from his bag for verification. His implanted Realm Pass flashed red. Then, he nodded and returned the card to Chen Chuan before standing up. “Please come with me.”

Chen Chuan stood up and took the elevator to the underground storage area. While they were on the way, the manager said, “This is the Class C Independent Storage Vault. Each storage box has sixty-four empty storage boxes with the same programming that will allow the encoding device to create a new order to open the storage boxes every three hours.

“If you don’t open the storage boxes in the correct order, even if you have the key, you won’t be able to find the correct storage box. If you open them in the wrong order three times, all the boxes will be locked down, and you’ll only be able to try again three days later.”

Chen Chuan was then brought into the storage vault in front of an independent cabinet containing all the storage boxes. The manager gave him some instructions before bowing and leaving.

Chen Chuan waited for the manager to leave before starting to open the boxes according to the order that had just been generated.

He moved quickly and didn’t make any mistakes. In just two minutes, he completed the entire process, something a normal person wouldn’t have been able to do without eight minutes. By then, Chen Chuan was really curious. What exactly did his parents value so much that they would go through so much trouble to store it in this storage box?

Once he inserted the key into the last storage box, he heard a series of turns. Then, the door opened, and a drawer jutted out. Chen Chuan took two steps back and pulled the drawer out a little more. It had a perfectly wrapped package.

After taking it out, he went to a table by the side and carefully removed the wrapping in order to not destroy the original packaging. Once he was done, he found that it contained a small password-locked box.

Password...

He remembered the series of numbers he had obtained when he first got the address. After recalling them, he keyed in the password.

It was correct, and the box opened with a click, revealing two syringes. One of them was red, and the other blue.

There was a note next to them with handwriting he recognized. It was his mother’s. She wrote that the blue one was a memory syringe.

It was medicine that could replicate memories, though only immediate family could receive them. In this way, family members could transfer crucial information and memories.

Chen Chuan picked up the blue needle and injected its contents into his vein. The medicine should be harmless. Even if it did cause him problems, he had his second self, so he didn’t need to be worried about potential harm.

He didn’t feel any effects immediately after injecting the medicine into himself. It was not unexpected, though, since the transfer of memories was bound to take time. They were most likely to kick in while a person was sleeping or at some point the person least expected it. In other words, it wouldn’t happen that quickly.

Since he already got the memories, Chen Chuan wasn’t in a hurry to know what they were. He was sure that he would gradually come to know them.

The note didn’t specify what the other syringe was, so Chen Chuan believed that he would learn about it from the memories.

At that moment, he couldn’t help but think about it. His parents had chosen to tell him whatever information it was by transferring their memories to him. If the old Chen Chuan had died on that day and Chen Chuan hadn’t replaced him, then even if someone else found the syringes, they would be unable to know what those memories were.

Chen Chuan didn’t take the red syringe with him. Instead, he put it back and locked up the box before returning it into the storage box.

In the elevator, he had asked about it, and Grand Prosperity Finance said that they had received the order to store the password-locked box thirteen years ago, while his parents had paid them to store it for twenty years. This meant that the password-locked box could remain here until Chen Chuan was twenty-five.

The syringe would be the safest while stored here.

Once Chen Chuan left the storage vault, he told the manager that he was done and signed a document before leaving Grand Prosperity Finance. When he walked out the door, he saw a memory in his head. Judging by the angle, whoever it was seemed to be looking up while standing at the bottom of the company’s stairs. Then, they walked up.

This meant that the transfer of memories had started taking effect. It was likely that because Chen Chuan was seeing the same scenery as his parents, it had triggered a response.

Just as he wanted to examine it more closely, he received a message on the Realm Pass he had reactivated after coming out of the storage vault.

It was an invitation from Green Satchel Pharmacy. They were asking him to continue being their drug tester. Fan Qingshan, the director he had spoken to previously, also sent him a voice message.

“Officer Chen, we’ve learned about your current status. Congratulations on reaching the Third Limit. Due to your excellent cooperation with our research, we will continue giving you a discount for our medicine.

“The political situation is changing rapidly, and everyone needs to find their role and path as soon as possible. If you’re willing to join us after graduation, we’ll give you all sorts of benefits and great working conditions. Please feel free to contact me once you’ve made up your mind.”

With a beep, the message ended.

While standing on the steps, Chen Chuan looked at the flashing lights on the building’s screen and the constantly moving people and cars on the road. Then, he looked up at the sky before walking down the road.

His gait remained relaxed.