Book 3, Chapter 223: Contact

Referrers were required for some of the Secret Python Cult’s high-end services. The referrers were also required to have a certain degree of status. The Secret Python Cult didn’t provide door-to-door services, so the average person couldn’t buy their services.

In the past, Cao Guiqi had been Chen Chuan’s referrer. Now, with his current status, Chen Chuan could also act as a referrer, so he contacted Zuo Handan and said that he had a friend who wanted to purchase the Secret Python Cult’s services.

“Since you’re the one recommending them and your friend is from Martial Valor University, we’ll welcome him with open arms. If necessary, I can talk to your friend,” Zuo Handan replied.

Chen Chuan turned to Tan Zhi. “I’ve contacted him. When are you free? I’ll set up a time for you two to meet.”

“That’s great! How about now?” Tan Zhi hurriedly said.

Chen Chuan gave Tan Zhi’s address to Zuo Handan and said, “He’ll be here soon.”

Tan Zhi thanked him before sighing. “I have to sit for another assessment during the new semester, and I’m seriously worried about being sent to the tournament. The only thing I can do now is to train hard.”

Chen Chuan laughed in his heart.

If you put all the effort you spend on dancing into training, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

“By the way, I put Dawncall in the backyard. Come with me.”

Tan Zhi brought Chen Chuan out of the training room to the backyard. Over there, Chen Chuan saw a beautiful nest made on a tree.

When Chen Chuan went over, he heard a crisp chirp, followed by the sound of beating wings. Then, a shadow flew over, landed on him, and happily nuzzled against him.

Chen Chuan took a look at the Bird Reptile. It had been a long time since he last met Dawncall, and the creature had grown much larger. Its feathers were much brighter in color, a clear sign that Tan Zhi had been taking good care of it.

He caressed Dawncall’s head and said, “Thanks, Tan Zhi. I’m sure that Dawncall has given you a lot of trouble while staying here.”

Tan Zhi dismissed it with a wave. “It wasn’t any trouble. Dawncall is smart and loves being clean. I’ve never worried about it. Dawncall even built its own nest with twigs. It’s beautiful and stable. Honestly, I find it really interesting.

“I like Dawncall, you know? When you need to leave again and can’t take care of Dawncall, you should bring it here. I’ll keep its nest.”

“Thanks, Tan Zhi,” Chen Chuan said.

“Eh, it’s nothing.”

***

Meanwhile, after Ms. Wei left the house and got into her car, all the tension on her face finally disappeared, and she cast a complicated gaze at the house.

The brief flash of panic when she saw Chen Chuan had been an instinctual reaction, because not only did she know him, but, strictly speaking, she had even indirectly participated in a mission targeting him.

At one point, she had been asked to get some information related to Chen Chuan from the government. Back then, she hadn’t thought much about it and just talked about it to the politician she knew before sending the information.

The ambush on the flyover had happened immediately after, and she realized just how serious this matter was. The politician then warned her sternly not to get involved in this anymore.

When she learned that Chen Chuan had managed to kill Big Sis Huan’s entire team of Third Limit martial artists, she was shocked, because she knew Big Sis Huan and how strong her team was.

Fighting against Wei Wusheng alone and fighting against an entire team were two different matters. After that, she did some digging around and found to her increasing surprise that Chen Chuan had also defeated the Viper Order.

Because of it, she started getting worried about having been dragged into two huge potential problems. One of them was that the Resolution Department might find that she was involved during their investigation, and the other was the consequence of offending a powerful martial artist.

Just now, when she saw Chen Chuan, she had thought that he had come to settle accounts with her.

She had imagined this situation before, and she thought that she could remain calm, but when she actually faced him, she felt overpowered upon sensing his aura when he came inside.

That feeling of being overpowered was, of course, in the psychological sense. Even though they had never fought, she knew that if she attacked, there was a high chance that she was going to lose in no time.

Fortunately, he seemed to be close friends with Tan Zhi. Perhaps she could get closer to Chen Chuan through Tan Zhi and look for a chance to resolve this matter.

After all, when she agreed to teach Tan Zhi, she had taken this into consideration. Ms. Wei looked away, sucked in a deep breath, and started her car.

***

A young man of around twenty-eight years old was sitting in a bar in the merged space while drinking. He was handsome, had brilliant, black eyes, thick eyebrows, and short hair, and exuded a unique charm.

That made him stand out from the other mercenaries in the bar.

While he was drinking, he showed great restraint and did not binge. He only took small sips.

Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a man with half of his face replaced with implants plopped himself down on the seat beside him. He shook the young man a little. “Su Wei, why are you sitting here, drinking alone? Come on, have fun with us!”

“I’m not going,” he shot the offer down.

“Seriously, you... You’re always like this. Fine, then. We’ll have fun on our own.” The man sounded resigned. When he got up, he gave Su Wei a piece of advice. “Brother, with your abilities, you could earn big money if you just did

something

. You don’t have to drag those burdens with you.”

Su Wei ignored him, and the man shrugged before high-fiving a few people in a go. Then, he stepped onto the dance floor.

Just then, Su Wei noticed a connection request on his Realm Pass. Someone from the mercenary platform was looking for him. After checking the sender’s background, he found that the person was from the merged space’s Command Center, and a brief flash of surprise appeared in his heart.

But Su Wei remained cautious. He didn’t start discussing matters with the person in the bar. Instead, he left through the bar’s backdoor and went to an alley outside. Just when he was about to answer the call, he turned to the side.

Two daggers flew past his eyes and hit the wall with a loud thud. Most of the blades sunk into the wall.

With a sharp glare, Su Wei turned to where the daggers had come from and saw a bald man standing there. There was a tattoo of a scorpion on his head with its face on the forehead. The man had a braid at the tip of the tail, making it look like a curled-up stinger.

“Su Wei, I just came back and decided to say hi to you. Aren’t I polite?”

The bald man sneered and gave him a malicious look. “I told you before that we’re going to have fun. I have plenty of time to play this game with you, so don’t go dying on me first.”

Then, he turned around, as if he wasn’t worried about Su Wei coming after him. He left, just like that.

Su Wei watched the bald man leave. He was silent for a while, then turned his attention back to the Realm Pass. Due to the distraction, he hadn’t answered the call, and the person didn’t seem to be on the platform anymore.

Since the platform had no function for him to contact those outside, he could only wait for the person to contact him again. After some thinking, he decided to send a message to the person.

***

While Chen Chuan was waiting for Zuo Handan at Tan Zhi’s place, he heard the notification beep. It was a message from the mercenary platform. The person he contacted had sent it to him.

Chen Chuan had chosen this person because his records showed that he had gone through multiple difficult missions, and his success rate was more than 90%.

The missions he failed weren’t due to his own shortcomings either. They were all because of his team or some external influence.

Chen Chuan had three main criteria for recruitment: character, abilities, and experience.

There was no need for an explanation when it came to good character. A person with bad character could drag the entire unit down. Such a person would be a terrible addition to any team.

This mercenary’s strength was outstanding, so he should have risen to power a long time ago, but he didn’t do it. He gave up multiple chances to get stronger because he was taking care of the children of the teammates who sacrificed themselves for their team. That was why he was still fighting at the bottom rung of the hierarchy.

This person was loyal, so at the very least, he had good character.

He also often went to dangerous areas in the merged space and escaped unscathed, which showed that he had both experience and strength.

Unlike him, Chen Chuan and his unit were all new to the merged space, so they lacked experience. If a righteous, strong person who had been taking up missions in the merged space for a long time joined them, it would be a great help to their unit.

The only problem was that there were quite a number of people targeting this person. Still, one couldn’t have the cake and eat it too. If it weren’t because of this, Chen Chuan wouldn’t have been able to even ask whether he wanted to be part of his team.

If looked from another angle, this situation showed that this person was really tenacious, which was a good thing. After all, he managed to survive even though he was in such a situation.

After giving Tan Zhi a heads-up, Chen Chuan went to the side and contacted the person. Once the call went through, he said, “Mr. Su? Yes, I’d like to hire you.”

The voice that answered belonged to a young man and had a hint of guardedness to it. “I don’t have an agent. Why come to me?”

Agents guaranteed the mercenaries’ trustworthiness and served as their guarantors. If the mercenaries hired through an agent caused trouble, the clients could go and yell at the agent instead. Because of this, the agents had to make sure that the people they managed met the clients’ minimum requirements. Hence, hiring mercenaries through agents was much more reliable.

If a mercenary got hired without an agent or if agents avoided a mercenary like the plague, it often meant that there was something fishy about the mercenary.

“Because that isn’t the only criteria I have for the mercenaries I’d like to hire. Besides, based on what I’ve read, you don’t have an agent not because they don’t want to hire you, but because you suffered under an agent before and no longer trust them. I can accept that as a reason,” Chen Chuan said.

Su Wei was silent for a bit before saying, “I’ve accepted missions from the army before, and I know the rules. I need to tell you that I have people targeting me.”

Chen Chuan nodded in acknowledgment. Su Wei was indeed a trustworthy person. After all, he had immediately told him that he had people targeting him, which showed that he didn’t want to get his client into his mess, even if he was already in a difficult position.

Other mercenaries wouldn’t care about giving their clients trouble. Instead, they would do their best to hide those things and brag about how strong they were.

Without a doubt, Su Wei was a man with morals and convictions.

“I know about it, Mr. Su, and I’d like to tell you that your problems aren’t problems to me. Also, when we’re out on missions, you won’t have any chances of running into your enemies. I think that we should find a time and place to discuss it in detail. What do you say?”

Su Wei was about to answer when he looked up. He saw the man who had invited him to have fun in the bar fighting with another person across the alley. Both sides had drawn their melee weapons and guns. “I need to take care of something on my end. Please wait a moment.”