Hearing Chen Chuan's words, Old Qi could not help but shudder. He suddenly recalled Chen Chuan's unlimited defense license and realized that what came next was very likely to be a bloodbath.
Yet a thought struck him immediately after.
"Wait!"
He jogged after him, hurrying back to Chen Chuan's side.
"Little Brother Chen, if you just go knocking on their door like this, even if you can deal with Golden Shrimp's bunch, they have a resonator. Afterward, they could tamper with the records and manufacture evidence against you. That Golden Shrimp crew probably has people backing them up top and major gangs supporting them from behind. I know you might not fear any of that, Little Brother Chen, but getting tangled up in that kind of trouble wouldn't be good either, would it?"
Chen Chuan was not actually worried about this. If he wanted to sever his connection to other bio-fields, it was simple enough; he only needed to have his Second Self divert the intrusion, and the other party would gain nothing—they wouldn't even be able to prove it was him.
Still, if there was another way to avoid complications, he was willing to take it.
"What do you suggest, Old Qi?" he asked.
Old Qi offered, "Get Little Brother Wu to provide us with technical support. When the time comes, he can block anything disadvantageous to you, and he can also help you quickly pinpoint the people you need to find."
Chen Chuan said, "Little Brother Wu doesn't seem short on money, and this had nothing to do with him in the first place. There shouldn't be any need for him to get mixed up in this."
Old Qi glanced upstairs and explained, "Little Brother Wu actually has a very strong sense of justice. You can tell, Little Brother Chen, that he comes from a wealthy family. He only stepped out of his household to work in this trade because he's pursuing what he believes is right. He never harms others, and whenever the boss hands down commissions involving data theft, he turns them down. But his technical skills are truly exceptional, so even the boss can't do anything about him. Normally, he's always willing to help us out. Besides, he already knows about this. I'd bet that even if we don't say another word to him, he'll still step in behind the scenes to help us."
Chen Chuan looked at him and pondered briefly. "Old Qi, if you're sure..."
"I'm sure!"
Old Qi said, "Wait here for a moment, Little Brother Chen. I'll head up and talk to Little Brother Wu." With that, he hurried back upstairs. After only a short wait, a new contact request popped up on Chen Chuan's boundary credential.
The contact's avatar was an eyepatch-wearing wandering swordsman set against a crescent moon. The swordsman sat sideways on a cliff clutching a sword, his gaze desolate, a cloak fluttering in the wind, while a little monkey stood on his shoulder, jumping up and down and pulling faces.
The display name read: Wu Bei.
Upon seeing it, Chen Chuan accepted the request. The line connected immediately, and Wu Bei's excited voice came through: "Little Brother Chen, thank you for letting me join in! I'll definitely give you guys solid support."
Chen Chuan gave a solemn reminder: "Little Brother Wu, make sure to look out for yourself, too."
"You got it!"
Just as Chen Chuan finished speaking, a chime sounded from his boundary credential. He glanced at it and saw that Wu Bei had sent over an image displaying the primary activity zones of the Golden Shrimp commission team, along with the location of their headquarters.
Old Qi hurried downstairs at that moment and saw the map as well. "How about that, Little Brother Chen? Didn't I tell you? With Little Brother Wu helping, we'll save ourselves a lot of trouble."
Chen Chuan gave a nod. After reviewing it, he said, "We can't drag this out. I'm heading over right now."
Old Qi agreed and walked out of the apartment building with him. Once they were in the car, Old Qi followed the address Wu Bei had provided and drove toward the Golden Shrimp headquarters. He glanced over and asked, "Little Brother Chen, don't you need to prepare anything else?"
"No."
When Chen Chuan stepped out, both the Xuejun Saber and the Wuji pistol were on his person, and he was already wearing his protective suit. Having these was more than enough.
At the same time, he reviewed the detailed information on the Golden Shrimp team that Wu Bei had sent him.
This commission team had been founded five years ago, with active squads stationed across all the major districts of Center City. The operative who had killed Xiaoman and Big Brother Chong was Bo Chen, a member of the Weiguang District squad, and his squad leader was named Lang Teng. Lang Teng had been stationed just outside the shantytown back then, and it was exceedingly likely that he was the one who had issued the direct order.
Although the team specialized in anomalous commissions, that was not their only line of work; they accepted standard commissions just as well, but were simply far more active when dealing with anomalies.
However, their approach varied depending on their clientele. When dealing with individuals of some status or the ruling elite, they would dispatch a dependable, professional team to resolve the issue, using the opportunity to expand their connections.
When dealing with the underclass, on the other hand, they tended to resort to the simplest, most brutal methods. As for whether more anomalies might arise in the aftermath, they couldn't care less. Such areas were generally remote and would never affect the upper city, and once the people involved were dead, certain anomalies would naturally dissipate on their own.
As they were driving, Wu Bei sent another message: "Little Brother Chen, I ran a search through the network. Half an hour ago, that guy named Lang Teng and his squad returned to their headquarters on Shuinan Road in Hongsheng District."
Chen Chuan said, "Thank you, Little Brother Wu."
He turned to Old Qi. "Old Qi, once we reach Hongsheng District, let me off. I'll head over on my own so nobody traces it back to you afterward."
Old Qi solemnly agreed.
After driving for a little over an hour, the car pulled up to an intersection. Old Qi said, "Be careful, Little Brother Chen. Just give me a shout, and I'll come pick you up."
Chen Chuan nodded, stepped out of the car, and walked toward a tram stop.
Back in the apartment, Wu Bei used the field boundary points scattered across the entire city as relays to maintain a continuous link with Chen Chuan's boundary credential. In essence, he was watching right beside Chen Chuan, able to provide real-time technical support.
Unlike Chen Chuan, who remained thoroughly calm, Wu Bei could not help but feel a mounting wave of nervousness as Chen Chuan boarded the tram and drew nearer to Golden Shrimp's headquarters. He grabbed a large bag of snacks and began crunching away, shoving mouthful after mouthful into his mouth. Whenever he got nervous, he had an uncontrollable urge to eat, as it allowed him to temporarily empty his mind.
With the chime of a bell, the tram pulled into the station. Chen Chuan stepped off alongside a scattering of passengers.
Hongsheng District lay to the northwest of Center City and was among its oldest sectors. Its public facilities clearly had not been maintained in a very long time, and skyscrapers were visibly sparse.
The people around him wore outdated, obsolete boundary credentials, and even their clothes were drab and worn. The streets carried a lingering air of decay and decline.
Following the guidance on his boundary credential, he got his bearings and walked about a kilometer until he arrived outside the Golden Shrimp headquarters.
It was a five-story office building. Through his boundary credential, a massive golden shrimp could be seen floating above the roof, its two pairs of pincers drooping downward in two closing semicircles, as though poised to snap shut on something.
Numerous security personnel were patrolling the perimeter. Out front was a relatively large parking lot with a dozen or so vehicles parked inside. Chen Chuan glanced over, and his boundary credential flickered a few times, tagging one of the cars. It indicated that this was the very vehicle that had appeared outside the shantytown that day. If the vehicle was here, its owner was likely inside as well.
Chen Chuan took a few looks, then walked toward the building. The security guards outside immediately glanced over, and an alert popped up on his boundary credential indicating that someone was scanning his identity. Wu Bei's voice sounded in his ear: "Little Brother Chen, I spoofed your identity credentials. They won't stop you."
Sure enough, after watching him for a moment, the guards made no move to block his path.
Wu Bei added, "There might be dedicated field interference set up inside this building, but they should have their own internal field frequency. Little Brother Chen, give me a second, let me track it down..."
Chen Chuan eased his pace slightly.
Wu Bei's technical skills were indeed outstanding. In barely twenty seconds, he said, "Found it! Ha, it's only a tier-five frequency. Their resonator must be really lazy. They do have two alternating frequencies, though, and they'll probably cycle them in half an hour. Once that happens, the traces of my intrusion might get noticed."
Chen Chuan said, "Thanks, Little Brother Wu." He looked toward the building and added, "It won't take half an hour." With that, he pushed open the glass doors and walked inside.
A holographic projection of a golden shrimp rotated in the lobby. At the same time, a voice from the reception desk greeted him: "Welcome to the Golden Shrimp Commission Team. May I ask what kind of commission you'd like to entrust to us, sir?"
Commissions did not always go through public platforms; there were plenty of discreet, off-the-books jobs that couldn't be displayed in the open. As such, walk-in clients were common enough that the receptionist was not surprised.
Chen Chuan said, "I'm looking for Lang Teng."
"Are you looking to designate a specific operative for your commission? Do you have an appointment?"
Chen Chuan gave no reply. A three-dimensional wireframe map of the entire building had already appeared across his boundary credential, filled with densely packed silhouettes. Every person inside the building utilizing the shared field frequency had been pinned down and marked one by one through Wu Bei's field signal interfacing.
Wu Bei's voice came through: "Little Brother Chen, the guy you're looking for is in the fourth-floor lounge. I just looked him up—it seems he's cousins with Golden Shrimp's general captain. There's also a resonator on the fifth floor. I didn't disturb him, nor did I mark him on the map."
Chen Chuan scanned the layout, located a stairwell off to the side, and walked straight toward it.
"Sir?"
Seeing that Chen Chuan ignored her, the receptionist immediately contacted Lang Teng up on the fourth floor via her boundary credential. The latter was in the middle of watching a movie through the company's public boundary point. Hearing the chime, he asked irritably, "What is it?"
"Captain Lang, someone came in looking for you, seemingly for a commission, but he doesn't have an appointment. The client is heading upstairs on his own right now."
"Let him come. Might be big business. Tell him I'm on the fourth floor," Lang Teng said dismissively.
Usually, clients who came straight to the door offered high-paying private gigs. Besides, this was Golden Shrimp's headquarters; he didn't give it much thought.
"Understood, Team Leader Lang."
Halfway up the stairs, Chen Chuan was informed by an automated prompt echoing through the stairwell that Lang Teng was waiting for him in the fourth-floor lounge. His pace did not waver in the slightest as he climbed steadily to the fourth floor. Taking a moment to orient himself in the wide corridor hall, he walked toward the lounge.
The door stood wide open. Lang Teng was sitting on the sofa inside, watching Chen Chuan walk in from outside. "You the one looking for me? Speak up, what do you need me for?"
Chen Chuan said, "Lang Teng? You're the team leader in charge of handling anomalous commissions in Weiguang District?"
"Looking to hire me for an anomalous commission?"
The moment Lang Teng heard that, his interest vanished. He had been about to get up and shake hands, but now he leaned right back into the cushions.
Prolonged exposure to such commissions always led to problems, so he rarely handled them personally, leaving them to his subordinates instead. The only exceptions were high-ranking, powerful figures, but those never fell to him anyway—they went straight to the elite squads. Still, since the man had come knocking on his door, there was no reason to turn business away.
"Yeah, that's me. What's the situation on your end?"
"Then you're the right one."
The moment Chen Chuan finished speaking, the Xuejun Saber in his hand thrust abruptly forward. With a sharp squelch, the sheathed blade punched straight into Lang Teng's face, the tip of the scabbard erupting out the back of his skull and pinning him firmly to the back of the sofa.
Lang Teng jerked violently backward. Though his brain had been destroyed in an instant, his implants urgently fired erratic impulses, causing his arms and legs to twitch and kick wildly, looking for all the world like a flopping shrimp.
Wu Bei had been preparing to jam Lang Teng's implants to give Chen Chuan an opening, but he hadn't anticipated the man would be pinned to death in a single breath. He froze in stunned silence.
And the very instant Lang Teng died, red alert lights flashed across the boundary credentials of everyone inside the building.
"Damn it, they noticed!" Wu Bei cried out in alarm, kicking himself for failing to manage the sudden severance of the field link in time.
"Then let them come!"
Chen Chuan gripped the hilt of the Xuejun Saber with one hand and slowly drew the blade from its sheath. In an instant, a flash of cold light swept across the hall.
Chapter 242