Book 3, Chapter 221: Present

Since the airship didn’t have its movements limited by terrain and only needed to travel in a straight line, it moved much faster than the SUVs. Of course, it still needed to land and rest at night. Even if they were airborne, they couldn’t avoid the anomalies in the merged space.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Despite that, it only took them two days to return to Fort 4.

The moment the airship landed, Lai Wu came over with soldiers. “Captain Chen, I’m under orders to take Fei Tong from your hands. He’ll be under my jurisdiction from now on.”

Chen Chuan motioned to the soldiers behind him, and they brought Fei Tong out from the airship. When they were handing him over to Lai Wu, Yuan Qiuyuan said, “Keep a close eye on him. We went through a lot of trouble to capture and send him here. Don’t get him killed.”

No expression appeared on Lai Wu’s face when he heard that. He just had the martial artists behind him go forward and drag the still severely wounded Fei Tong away.

Chen Chuan called over the rest of his team. After giving them a few instructions, he released them. The members saluted him before heading off to the rest area to relax and drink.

Chen Chuan went to the war room alone and saw Ding Mou waiting for him there. He handed the report he wrote on the way back.

Ding Mou had received a rundown of the situation from the telegram, so after receiving Chen Chuan’s report, he just skimmed through it before setting it aside. “Captain Chen, you and your team finished the mission in no time and prevented a large number of deaths and losses. You even captured the mole. I hereby thank you on behalf of the base.”

“I just did my job. By the way, is the base sure that Fei Tong is the mole?” Chen Chuan asked.

“He’s not the only one, but we’re sure that he’s one of those involved in that case.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

After handing over Fei Tong to Lai Wu and submitting the report, Chen Chuan could be considered to have completed all the procedures, so he left the war room. Just then, Advisor Pei contacted him, saying that since it was near the end of the year, he was going to release the special medicine for the mission over the next few days. All Chen Chuan had to do was wait.

Chen Chuan already knew that he shouldn’t be getting the special medicine so quickly, not if they went through all the steps required for it. Advisor Pei and his faction must have pulled strings behind the scenes for it to happen this fast, so he sent a message thanking him.

Once back in his room, Chen Chuan rested for two days. On the twenty-first, Advisor Pei contacted him saying that he brought the special medicine. He then asked to meet up.

Chen Chuan went to the same room he always used to meet Advisor Pei. They shook hands, and Advisor Pei asked him to sit before brewing him a cup of tea. Then, he sat down on the sofa across from Chen Chuan.

“Now that you’ve finished this mission, the base won’t assign anymore missions to your unit until after the New Year. You can go back to Central City. Once there, your main mission will be to establish contact with Chen Bitong.

“Since he has invited you to go to his training center, don’t miss this chance. Do your best to get close to him.”

“What’s going to happen to my unit members?” he asked.

“If they want to participate in more missions, I’ll think of something. After you come back, they’ll still be part of your unit, though. If they don’t want to, they can also be on standby for the time being. Still, what you want will come first. If you have any thoughts, you can tell me.”

Chen Chuan pondered over it for a moment before saying, “I’m fine with this arrangement.”

Advisor Pei then dragged out a metal box from beneath the sofa and put it on the table. “This is the special medicine for this mission. Distribute it among yourselves. By the way, we’ve also sent something for you. Remember to receive it when you’re back.”

“What is it?” Chen Chuan asked.

Advisor Pei answered with just a smile.

When Chen Chuan saw that he didn’t want to say anything, he didn’t insist on getting an answer. After drinking a few cups of tea and talking about some things in the base, Chen Chuan left with the special medicine.

Once he was gone, Advisor Pei’s expression turned stern. He returned to his room, took out a key, opened a drawer, and grabbed a telegram with a unique number on it. Then, he started typing a telegram.

Officer Chen will return before the end of the year and will approach the target.

Time: 2:10 p.m., 21st December

Sender: Wasp

Once Chen Chuan returned to his room, he called Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque to distribute the special medicine and the bonus. As for the other team members, they also got a bonus, but it was from the base.

With the special medicine in hand, Yuan Qiuyuan said in glee, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, being in the same unit as you is great. I’ve never heard of another unit getting special medicine so quickly.”

Qin Qingque nodded seriously. As someone born in a family of soldiers, she knew that special medicine was seldom distributed in such a timely manner.

Chen Chuan smiled. “It’s already the end of the year. I think the higher-ups are just considerate. They must be pitying us, since life isn’t easy here. Anyway, I didn’t call you two here today just to distribute the special medicine and bonus. I also need to talk about something with you two.

“I might have to stay in Central City for some time after the New Year, which means I won’t be able to participate in any missions in the merged space. What do you two intend to do?”

“I told you before, I’m not accepting anyone else as my captain,” Yuan Qiuyuan answered without hesitation.

Qin Qingque, too, replied seriously, “We’re in your unit. We’ll wait for you to come back.”

Things would be very different if they worked with the wrong captain. Even though Chen Chuan had only led their unit twice, he always took charge. He was also strong, fair, and took care of his unit members. Where else were they supposed to find another captain like him?

They might not have been here for long, but they did know certain things about the merged space. Some captains extorted their unit members and squeezed them dry. After the mission, they would think of all sorts of ways to get more special medicine for themselves. They didn’t treat their unit members as human beings. With those examples serving as a comparison, they believed that they were lucky to be in the same unit as Chen Chuan and would never go to join anyone else.

Chen Chuan watched them, and when he saw how firm their decision was, he said, “Since you’ve made up your mind, we’ll go with it. Once I come back, we can start taking up missions again.”

Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque stood up to salute him.

“Roger!”

Once Chen Chuan settled everything in the merged space, his team members saw him off the next day as he boarded the train to return to Central City.

Since he was a squad captain, even without Advisor Pei accompanying him, Chen Chuan could have an entire carriage to himself. There was also a train attendant assigned to him. He could call her whenever he needed something.

It was no wonder why many people did whatever they could to get promoted. The benefits were truly different.

After leaving the merged space, the train traveled for a day before reentering the tunnel under Central City. This time, Chen Chuan saw another train traveling past him at the tunnel junction.

He took a quick look and found that the train was full of people. They appeared to be an armed force traveling with some people in suits.

They were likely people from some company, though Chen Chuan had no idea where they were going.

The two trains headed in different directions and quickly passed each other by.

Soon, Chen Chuan’s train entered the platform and slowly came to a stop.

With a suitcase in hand, Chen Chuan got out. When he passed by the checkpoint, he heard a beep followed by a woman’s voice from his Realm Pass.

“Identified personnel returning from the merged space.

“Name: Chen Chuan.

“Status: Squad Captain.

“Vitalization Rate: 0.

“Permitted to pass.”

Then, the voice spoke in a friendlier manner. “Welcome back, Captain Chen.”

Chen Chuan straightened his hat and smoothed out his clothes before walking out of the checkpoint. He then walked up the corridor.

He had come down this very same tunnel last time, but there were special corridors leading to the merged space under every tram station in Central City. These corridors were not open to the public and were guarded 24/7. With the Fu-Mu Entity monitoring them with her domain, only those who had been to the merged space before were permitted to pass through them.

There were so many entrances in order for the fighters scattered all over Central City to be able to quickly return to the merged space to fight should an emergency arise.

When Chen Chuan reached the parking lot, the countless noisy advertisements on the large screens assaulted his senses, but they just made him relax.

At the merged space, he was in a military zone wherever he went. He couldn’t move around at night nor feel safe at the forts. He was always exposed to danger. The atmosphere there never allowed him to truly let his guard down.

As the two worlds got closer and the merged space grew bigger, there was no telling what would happen to Central City and the merged space.

Once Chen Chuan located his car, he opened the car door, got inside, and started the engine. While doing so, he sent a voice message to all his friends and family to tell them that he had come back.

He didn’t head straight to the Arcane Palace. Instead, he went to the house Border Fusion had given him to dump all his spoils and memorabilia.

When he drove into his courtyard, one of the housekeepers told him that they had received something two days ago and put it in the garage.

Advisor Pei had said that he sent something to him, so could it be his gift? Chen Chuan had to admit that he was quite curious.

He went to the garage and saw a large wooden box. It was about two meters tall and two meters wide.

Once he parked his car, he got out and pulled out the wooden peg holding the box together. The structure collapsed, and as dust flew into the air, a dust-proof tarp was revealed covering something. Chen Chuan yanked it off and found a mannequin wearing armor sitting beneath it.

Immediately, Chen Chuan recognized the Iron Monster’s armor.

It was propped up by a movable mannequin. The iron mask, helmet, shoulder plates, breastplate, forearm guards, belt, armored skirt, shin guards, hip guards, and leather boots were all there. They had even gone through meticulous repair. Not only was the armor shining, but there was even a mantle draped over its shoulders.

Chen Chuan also noticed that one of the arms was lifted in a manner as if it was holding something, but there was nothing in its hand. What it lacked was obviously the Iron Monster’s spear.

Wow. They know that I like collecting weapons, so they gave me a whole “weapons rack”?

The merged space had actually given him a full-course meal after he ordered himself some fries.

Chen Chuan loved it.

He couldn’t leave the armor here, though. It had to be moved to his weapons display room. So, he lifted the support frame underneath and carried it to his house.