Disappearances

Judging by the recent combat and his prior preparation and momentum, Chen Chuan estimated that such sparring sessions would need to take place roughly once every three days. While he was pondering this, Hongfu's voice rang in his ear once more. "Privacy policy in effect. Trainees may choose to delete all records from the sparring session once the service concludes. Should reproduction be required, please retain your own informational trace." Chen Chuan asked a few questions and came to understand that once the privacy terms were activated, the sparring scenarios could be deleted directly, and even Hongfu herself would retain no memory of the sparring process. However, he could preserve the field data himself. If he deemed it necessary, he could hand it back to Hongfu during the next sparring session or when utilizing other services, at which point Hongfu would recall it all. He gave it some thought. Considering that sparring was an ongoing process, he followed Hongfu's guidance to delete the data logs, retaining only the field trace on his end so that it could be restored during their next sync. Once the operation was complete, several notifications suddenly popped up on the platform. He glanced at them; they were all advertisements concerning the arena tournament, inviting formal trainees to attend as spectators. Formal trainees did not need to pay any fee—they only had to confirm on the platform invite to receive spectator credentials. He scrolled through them. Listed below were the tournament dates, along with an announcement informing him that trainees from Wuyi academies in other center cities would also arrive by then. At that time, there would likely be exchanges between them; interested trainees could participate to earn a few evaluation points. Earning evaluation points held great appeal for many trainees, but the bonus was minimal—at most a point or two—which held little significance for him, so he swiped them away. After logging off the platform, he gave it some thought. Over the next month or two, he needed to dedicate a large amount of time to cultivation in hopes of achieving an early breakthrough. He immediately reached out to Ni Xixi to ask if there were any assignments lined up for him. He also informed her that because his mutated tissue growth seemed to have entered another growth phase, he required a relatively settled period for training, and requested that the bureau grant him some downtime to adjust in accordance with their agreement. Ni Xixi was understanding. She said, "In that case, following the usual protocol of our agreement, the bureau can postpone your assignments. Is one month enough?" Chen Chuan said, "I might need a little more time." Ni Xixi murmured in acknowledgment. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. For a trainee with your potential, the bureau can make an exception. As for the exchange tournament, they originally planned to have me invite you again, but I'll decline on your behalf as well." Chen Chuan thanked her and asked, "Sister Ni, last time you mentioned the bureau was making a move against Wei Wusheng's junior brother. Has there been any breakthrough there?" Ni Xixi said, "We failed to catch Wei Wusheng this time, but there has been progress regarding his junior brother. The two definitely are in contact. The bureau is digging down along this lead. The higher-ups want the official arena tournament held at the end of June, so they're demanding we apprehend him before July, but in my view, it won't be that easy. "Anyway, focus on your cultivation and don't worry about bureau business for now. I'll submit your request in a moment." With that, she ended the transmission. Chen Chuan pondered. It was already June. If Wei Wusheng truly came to attack him one day, even if the man retreated afterward, Chen Chuan could make use of the civet cat urban legend to strike back at him. Yet upon second thought, given Wei Wusheng's strength, the urban legend at its current power probably wouldn't be able to kill him. It would severely injure him at best, and with his level of external conditioning, he might well recover after a few days. Therefore, for now, his priority remained focusing on his breakthrough. Once his own strength had risen, even if the man didn't come looking for him, Chen Chuan would seek him out proactively. It was already noon. He ate a few tubes of nutritional paste, rested and composed himself, and browsed the Fringe Channel for a bit. After two in the afternoon, he lit the censer again, took his medicine, and entered deep meditation. *** In Jiyang District, after a night on duty, An Cheng completed his shift handover and let out a long breath. Lately, he felt as if his workload had been steadily mounting—standing duty, patrolling, and helping the bureau deal with all kinds of violent incidents. Running from one place to another without a moment's rest, he could barely schedule any time for combat training. He estimated this state of affairs would persist for some time. Wei Wusheng had still not been captured, so the bureau had no choice but to heighten its vigilance. Furthermore, because of the arena tournament, a large influx of people had arrived in Center City, most of them fighters, which had triggered a spate of violent incidents. He probably wouldn't see a single free moment over the next two months. He walked into a restaurant whose specialty was the famous fisherman-style chicken rice balls from the Southeast Baliu Islands—rice balls simmered in chicken broth served alongside sliced, savory chicken, delicious and convenient. After ordering at the counter and waiting for his chicken rice balls to be served, he saw Sun Rao walk in from outside and sit down across from him. An Cheng said, "You're a bit late." "Had some things to take care of," Sun Rao replied. An Cheng gave a chuckle. "As if work ever ends. I heard you were partnered with that newcomer a few days ago? How did it go?" Sun Rao looked at An Cheng and said, "Very polite. Not unpleasant to be around, and doesn't carry an arrogant air." An Cheng shot him an irritated look. "If you want to take a jab at me, just say it outright. Why beat around the bush?" He picked up a chicken rice ball, took a hearty bite, followed by a piece of chicken, and chewed them together. After swallowing, he asked again, "By the way, he didn't come with you this time?" The chicken rice balls Sun Rao ordered were brought over. Picking up his chopsticks, Sun Rao said, "Supposedly he has other arrangements. If not for the special circumstances this time, he probably wouldn't have been paired with me either. It's hard to say about the future—after all, his potential far exceeds ours. The bureau won't just treat him like an ordinary reserve enforcement officer." "Is that so?" An Cheng grunted, clearly still nursing an obstinate reluctance to admit defeat. Sun Rao took a bite and nodded. "Not bad. Worth coming back for. Have you kept up with your daily training lately?" An Cheng said, "Of course. No matter how late I get back each day, I carve out time to train. If I don't, how could I ever catch up to that newcomer?" He glanced at Sun Rao. "I say, don't go becoming the one among us who gets weeded out." Sun Rao said with absolute certainty, "I won't." "You won't?" An Cheng stared at him. "You're that sure?" Sun Rao said calmly, "Because my marksmanship is better than most in the bureau. There are plenty of second-limit fighters, but few with marksmanship like mine." An Cheng had to admit he had a point. A marksman like that, after taking medicine and equipped with a high-caliber weapon, could pose a threat even to those above them. Back when Sun Rao practiced marksmanship, An Cheng had scoffed at it; looking at it now, he himself was the one most liable to be weeded out. A sense of urgency inevitably crept into his chest. Just then, a communication chime rang from the boundary credential beside his ear, notifying them of an incident in their district and instructing them to handle it. The two had to quicken their pace to finish the food on their plates, then hurried into their armored patrol vehicle and rushed toward the scene. *** More than ten days slipped by in a flash, and before long, it was late June. Chen Chuan had not long finished his sparring session with Hongfu that day when he noticed the contact indicator over Old Qi's avatar lighting up on his boundary credential. He accepted the call and asked, "Old Qi, what's going on?" Old Qi said, "Brother Chen, you told me to keep an eye out for anomalies. I came across one recently that you might want to look at." Chen Chuan knew that Old Qi wouldn't contact him unless it was something unusual and relatively impactful. He said, "Old Qi, take your time." Old Qi transmitted a photograph over and said, "This hotel..." Chen Chuan took a look. It appeared to be an old-fashioned hotel, about ten stories tall, with nothing out of the ordinary visible from the outside. He asked, "The anomaly is inside this hotel?" Old Qi said, "There's always been something wrong with this hotel. People who stayed inside would sometimes disappear in bizarre ways. There were even families who checked in together, only for one person to vanish without explanation by the time they came out. Yet after that person was gone, their family and friends completely forgot about them, as if that person had never existed in their lives..." Chen Chuan asked, "If that's the case, how did anyone ever find out about it?" Old Qi said, "Supposedly, it was a photographer who needed a set of photos of old-style hotels. This hotel happened to fit his criteria, but due to weather and other factors, he ended up photographing it for over a dozen consecutive days. Yet while sorting through his photographs, he realized the people entering and leaving didn't match up. "After discovering this, he made a point of watching it for over a month, confirming his suspicions. Later, he went inside to cross-reference the registry records and found quite a few people missing. Over the past three years, no fewer than three hundred people have disappeared in that hotel—averaging one every three days. And these missing persons completely vanished from the world, with no one remembering them anymore." Chen Chuan looked pensive. Looked at this way, the missing persons had merely vanished from human memory, rather than having the traces of their existence erased. Based on this alone, it was impossible to tell whether it was an anomaly or an esoteric ritual. Old Qi continued, "Later, that photographer posted about it across various platforms, drawing a lot of interest, but no explanation was ever found. "Until last month, when things took another turn. Anyone who went in never came out again. Even though someone posted warnings nearby telling people not to enter, most passersby would wander inside unconsciously. A colleague I knew from the company also disappeared when passing by there. "Now the entire street is deserted. But because it's located in Hongsheng District, and in the Lower District where non-citizens reside, no one bothers to deal with it at all." Chen Chuan's expression grew more serious. "I'll find time to go take a look."