Book 3, Chapter 216: Rest Area

When Chen Bitong extended an invitation to Chen Chuan to visit him, the others eyed him with burning jealousy.

Word about Chen Bitong wanting to set up a training center had been released a long time ago. While it was impossible for them to walk down the path of a pure martial artist after getting implants, some of their relatives and friends needed Chen Bitong’s guidance.

But he had set strict requirements for enrollment—they had to have a certain degree of talent and pay a hefty fee. Only those who were invited weren’t bound by such rules. Few had that honor, though.

After talking to Chen Bitong, Chen Chuan didn’t linger around. With a polite goodbye, he returned to his unit, but soon after he started walking away, Zhan Yi called out to him.

He stopped and turned around. Once Zhan Yi walked over, Chen Chuan asked, “How can I help you, Captain Zhan?”

Zhan Yi watched him for a moment before saying, “Captain Chen, Instructor Chen seems to regard you highly, and I’m the same. That’s why I’d like you to join the Heroic Blood Group.”

“The Heroic Blood Group?” Chen Chuan echoed, puzzled. He had never heard of the name before.

Zhan Yi explained, “It’s a group formed by like-minded, young, heroic people who want to serve the country. I’ll send some documents to you later. If you’re interested, you can contact me later. I can be your referrer.”

He then gave Chen Chuan a smile and nodded before leaving.

Factions and social circles existed everywhere in the world. In the past, there was the Mutual Aid Group, and he was sure that the Heroic Blood Group was the same.

Chen Chuan did not speak to Chen Bitong after this, but some of the young military officers would occasionally approach him to connect with him.

When the tea party ended, Chen Chuan said goodbye to Chen Bitong and the others, then left the briefing hall with Qin Qingque and Yuan Qiuyuan. The latter looked like he hadn’t had his fill of the tea party yet.

After exchanging a few more words with his team members, Chen Chuan went back to the meeting room where he had met with Advisor Pei.

The man was waiting for him inside. Once he saw Chen Chuan, he poured a cup of tea for him. The moment Chen Chuan sat down, he asked, “How was the meeting with Chen Bitong?”

“I wasn’t able to get too much information, but he invited me to join his training center. When I’m back in Central City, I’m going to visit it,” Chen Chuan answered.

“That’s good. Form a good relationship with him. Learning from him will be a good chance for you to observe him from a close distance, but remember not to make him suspicious. After his forced holiday ends, we’ll then have a reason to assign you to his side if he has the chance to come back to the merged space,” Advisor Pei stated.

“

Can

he still come back?” Chen Chuan asked.

Advisor Pei pondered over it before saying, “I can’t say. He’s just too capable, and his influence among the middle- and lower-rank soldiers is great. I’m sure you’ve seen it today. Forcing him on leave is the best way the higher-ups have come up with to deal with him after weighing all the pros and cons. I can’t tell how long the break will last. It all depends on him.

“But he’s a truly powerful martial artist. You can learn from him, and it’ll be good for you, but you need to maintain your distance. Remember to record your conversations with him and report it to us.”

Chen Chuan nodded before saying, “There’s one more thing. Zhan Yi invited me to join a Heroic Blood Group. What’s this organization, Advisor Pei?”

Advisor Pei’s expression turned stern. “Don’t join it. It’s a group of young extremist soldiers. It was formed outside the country’s soil, but later came over here as well. They want to use brute force to destroy all companies, so the countries could absorb them.

“Sounds good, doesn’t it? But let’s ignore whether the idea itself is plausible or not. Even if they could do it, would things really change from the way they are now? Besides, their motto is just that, a motto. What they really want is the things they can get from destroying the companies.

“The group is just a small faction too. They don’t represent the military. That’s why you should do your best to stay far away from them, or you’ll end up in trouble in the future.”

“I understand. Thanks for the warning. Since the higher-ups know about them, why aren’t they doing anything to control them?” Chen Chuan asked.

Advisor Pei sighed. “The old era has passed. After the collapse of the mega alliance, the fight over technology and power hasn’t stopped. That’s not unique to the Great Shun Republic. It’s the same for all countries in the world. But now, we have a common enemy. The Great Crash is right around the corner, so all of our internal conflicts have to be neutralized or pushed back for the time being.”

As Chen Chuan listened to him, he couldn’t help but remember Cao Guiqi telling him to reach a higher limit before the Great Crash.

Once he remembered what Cao Guiqi said, he also recalled something else.

When he removed the Iron Monster’s mask, he had found his face familiar, as if he had seen him before.

Finally, he remembered who it was.

Mr. Ding, Cao Guiqi’s butler. The man’s features were incredibly similar to the Iron Monster’s. Was this a coincidence, or were they related by blood?

Perhaps he could ask Cao Guiqi about it later, but this wasn’t an important matter, so he would do it whenever he had the chance.

He shifted his mind back to the conversation and said, “There’s something else. Someone in the fort revealed my communication channel to Zhan Yi. I asked Officer Qin to look into it and found that two people in the Communications Department had broken the rules.”

He took out a pen and paper and wrote two people’s names before pushing the paper to Advisor Pei. “It’s these two.”

Advisor Pei read the names, then folded the paper and put it into his breast pocket. “Got it. I’ll take care of it.”

Chen Bitong’s entourage stayed in Fort 4 for three days before leaving for Central City. Most of the other people also left after they did, so the fort regained its usual quiet.

One day, Ding Mou, the tactical advisor who had assigned them the mission to keep track of the Iron Monster, approached Chen Chuan.

“The Command Center has issued your unit a mission to inspect Fort 285. We haven’t received proper updates from them for two days.”

Chen Chuan read through the information. For two consecutive days, Fort 285 had sent meaningless telegram messages back. The fort closest to theirs had sent a unit to investigate them before Ding Mou approached them, but the results were the same, so the Command Center became sure that something had happened there.

It was highly likely that they were under some sort of anomalous influence.

Tian Yu had mentioned that the forts weren’t just made for military purposes. The soldiers also had the duty of expansion, but the situation in the merged space was incredibly complicated. Sometimes, they ran into unknown things.

“I remember reading in your report that you know how to perform certain rituals,” Ding Mou said.

“I do know a little.”

“That’s good. We believe that the problem is related to anomalies, so it’d be best if you go there with your unit.”

“I need ritual materials, though. I’ve used up pretty much everything I’ve brought with me in the last mission,” Chen Chuan said.

“You don’t have to worry about that. We’ll prepare the materials for you. We don’t know the situation there, Captain Chen, so I hope that you can leave as soon as possible to figure out the truth,” Ding Mou ordered.

“Alright. I’ll leave once I get ready,” Chen Chuan said.

He gathered all the papers together. Once he was back in his room, he contacted Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque. “We have another mission. Come to my room for a moment. We need to strategize.”

“Sure thing, Captain! I’ll come right away,” Yuan Qiuyuan responded loudly.

“I’ll head out now, Captain.”

Once his team members arrived in his room, he let them read the information, then they discussed some details, and he asked them to go back and get ready.

Since this wasn’t a mission where they had to fight against a concrete enemy, they weren’t assigned a tactical advisor. Still, they had the same auxiliary and logistics unit tagging along.

They didn’t know the situation there, so there might be survivors or people needing saving. While Chen Chuan’s unit had great fighting power, they weren’t skilled in handling rescue missions.

Two hours later, seven SUVs drove out of the fort and headed to Fort 285.

No railways led to the place, so the journey alone was around five days. The travel back and forth, along with the time needed to deal with the situation, might take until the end of the month. It was unlikely they would make it back to celebrate the New Year. Still, Chen Chuan was planning to deal with the problem as soon as possible. Of course, that was only if the situation allowed it.

Four days later, they reached a rest area. After one more day of travel, they were going to reach Fort 285.

The fort was located in a rather remote area. Because of it, even the closest fort was two days away. A simple rest area was located between them.

It started snowing when they reached it, but Chen Chuan was already used to it. At least one-third of the time he spent here was snowing. The only time the weather was nice was when he was chasing after the Iron Monster.

There was a three-man unit stationed at the rest area to guard it. They verified their handwritten orders and documents before letting them inside.

While the place wasn’t big, they had taken everything into consideration when building the place. The unoccupied barracks were large enough to accommodate their entire team.

Once they parked their SUVs, they immediately assigned people on guard duty, especially for the SUV carrying the domain entity. After all, it was crucial for internal communications.

With everything settled, Chen Chuan asked the people who were on the next shift to rest so that they could be ready to move out the moment the sun rose.

As the captain, Chen Chuan had his own room. This time, he didn’t train with special medicine. He just practiced his breathing technique for a bit and stayed alert.

Everything was fine during the first half of the night, but rustling sounds came from his Realm Pass in the second half. A soldier on patrol contacted him. “Captain, there’s a situation.”

Chen Chuan immediately opened the door and walked out. Two logisticians on sentry duty saluted him, and he motioned for them to follow him to the location of the report.

It was an empty warehouse. The soldier who made the report stood guard at the entrance. When he saw Chen Chuan, he saluted him before reporting the situation.

“When passing by, we smelled something, so we went to check and found these.”

Chen Chuan went in and saw three corpses. Based on their faces and clothes, they were the three soldiers who had welcomed them into the rest area. For some reason, they had all suddenly died.

Judging by the situation, though...

“Call the medic unit to inspect their bodies,” he ordered.

Two medical officers rushed over and examined the bodies. Their expressions turned strange, and they said, “Captain... we can’t determine the cause of death, but...”

“But what?”

The medic hesitated for a moment before saying, “Judging by the decay, they died more than forty-eight hours ago.”