Bureau Director Lei held up the notebook and said, "Judging by the records in here, within the borders of Great Shun, including this time, they have only conducted two rituals. But there are no records here regarding their activities abroad, so there is no telling what number this actually was."
Chen Chuan asked, "Since they have conducted cult rituals multiple times, had they never been arrested before?"
Bureau Director Lei said, "A Sun Wheel Stone isn't easy to come by; it's contraband in every nation. That they could get their hands on one means cultists of considerable standing were running cover for them.
"According to past archives, Sun Worship Cultists rarely select locals for their sacrificial offerings. On top of that, they usually stay in desolate, remote wilderness, which makes it very hard for any government to track them down. To tell the truth, if something hadn't gone wrong on their own end this time, we hardly would have discovered them at all."
Chen Chuan understood this. The Esoteric Cult Bureau had limited manpower and usually only kept watch over the interior of the city. For incidents that occurred outside city limits, unless there were news reports or a sudden bizarre outbreak, virtually no one would ever take notice.
At this point, he asked another question: "Was the Sun Wheel Stone they carried brought in from abroad this time?"
Bureau Director Lei said in a deep voice, "Because different countries have different processing methods for Sun Wheel Stones, there are distinct differences. I examined it just now; this one wasn't brought in from abroad. It should be domestic."
Chen Chuan looked at Bureau Director Lei. "Someone within the country is helping them too?"
"Perhaps believers of the Sun Worship Cult. From the looks of it, their standing won't be low." Bureau Director Lei's expression grew solemn. "This is no small matter. I need to report this to higher authorities and pursue the investigation."
Then he said solemnly to Chen Chuan, "Trainee Chen, I'll submit a report to credit you for your service in this affair, but what comes next will be very complicated, so there is no need for you to follow up on it."
Chen Chuan nodded. "Bureau Director Lei, I understand."
Bureau Director Lei looked outside and said slowly, "I will be transferred next year. While I'm still in office, I may as well see this final task through."
Once the officers of the Esoteric Cult Bureau had cleared up the matter, they packed up their gear and withdrew. They would submit a formal report to the Municipal Administration to take over the case officially, while providing the public with a plausible explanation.
Chen Chuan exchanged a few words with Ren Shu and the others, bid them farewell, then returned to his car and drove back.
After arriving home, he went into his room, picked up the Xuejun Saber, and drew it to take a look. He saw that the streak of red along the blade's spine seemed to have grown even more vibrant.
Truth be told, he had never quite known what had entered the blade in the first place, but as far as things stood, it seemed to bring far more benefits than harm. Thus, he chose not to dwell on it for now, confident that he would figure it out sooner or later.
Because the end of the holiday was drawing near and he could return to Center City in just a few days, he did not go anywhere else during the time that followed. He only made occasional phone calls to classmates and acquaintances, and every day he took his younger cousins to the newly opened amusement park for a turn.
On August 30, Chen Chuan wheeled his suitcase out of his aunt's house. Attached to the luggage were gifts from family, friends, and classmates. He placed them into the trunk, then turned around and spoke to Nian Fuli and his family, who had walked him to the mouth of the alley:
"Auntie, Uncle, you can head back now. Whenever I have time, I'll come back to visit you."
"Chan'er, remember to call."
Chen Chuan smiled. "I will." Looking down, he saw the two little ones clutching the hem of his shirt with teary eyes.
The days he spent at home had been the happiest time for the two kids. He brought them fun toys, bought them delicious treats, and took them out to play every single day. Now that he was leaving, they were reluctant to part with him.
Chen Chuan smiled and patted their heads. "Whenever your cousin comes back, he'll take you out to play."
Nian Mo looked up, saying wistfully, "Then Cousin has to bring Xiao Ming back too."
Chen Chuan chuckled. "All right, I'll bring it along when I come back." Chaoming, perched on the car seat backrest, let out a cheerful chirp toward the four of them. Chen Chuan looked back up at Yu Wan and Nian Fuli. "Auntie, Uncle, I'm heading off."
Yu Wan said, "Chan'er, drive carefully on the road."
Chen Chuan nodded in response. He opened the car door and slid inside. After closing the door, he looked out the window. Aside from his aunt's family of four, quite a few neighbors and locals were watching him from behind. Smiling, he raised a hand with a wave, then started the car.
The Jiade car pulled forward slowly. After driving some distance, Chen Chuan could still see in the rearview mirror his aunt and the others standing there watching him go, their figures vanishing only after he turned the corner.
He set his gaze ahead, once again driving toward Center City along the same road he had traveled at the start of the year.
Setting out at seven in the morning this time, he passed the final checkpoint on the National Boulevard by three in the afternoon and entered the perimeter of Center City. The boundary credential he had put on in advance rustled a few times before connecting to Center City's platform.
Immediately after, voice messages refreshed in rapid succession, scrolling upward non-stop across the light screen.
He listened to them one by one. They were all messages from Center City acquaintances, classmates, teachers, and colleagues—greetings sent because he had been unreachable for so long, most of them with nothing urgent to discuss.
He replied to them in chronological order, letting them know he had returned to Center City today.
At the same time, he also received several advertisements for the arena tournament. The competition was slated to last into September and had not yet concluded, though it was now approaching the grand finals.
He paid it a bit of attention. Of the two finalists, one was Huo Yucheng, whom he had noticed before. Yu Shen, whom everyone had once favored, had already been eliminated, though remarkably, he had managed to withdraw unscathed.
It had to be understood that these were life-and-death bouts. To withdraw completely uninjured required not only voluntarily conceding, but also that the opponent lacked the confidence to press on.
He pulled up scenes from their match to take a look. Just as he had assessed back then, Yu Shen's actual strength surpassed Huo Yucheng's, but he lacked the resolve to fight to the bitter end. Several times, Huo Yucheng had forced him back with mutually destructive gambits, until Yu Shen had no choice but to forfeit.
Although Yu Shen had considerable backing, from the tournament organizers' perspective, he couldn't generate much profit for them anyway, so reaching this stage was already quite respectable.
After watching for a while, seeing that he had entered the city proper, he closed the light screen and drove onto an elevated highway. A little over an hour later, he arrived back at the Xuan Palace Building. Looking up, he caught sight of that flash of red standing above the eaves. He gave it a nod, then drove into the underground garage beneath its watchful gaze.
After parking the car, he stepped out carrying his suitcase and took the elevator up. When it reached the first floor, the doors slid open, and two trainees in casual wear—a young man and a young woman—stepped inside. Both had well-proportioned physiques and quite handsome features.
After getting in and pressing their floor button, the male trainee noticed his suitcase and tentatively greeted him, "Hey there, classmate. Are you a new trainee too?"
Chen Chuan said, "You could say that."
Hearing this, the male trainee grew friendlier. Stepping forward, he extended a hand and introduced himself: "My name is Fan Cheng, and this is Kong Yao. We're both first-years this term."
Chen Chuan shook his hand. "Chen Chuan. Nice to meet you."
Fan Cheng looked curiously at Chaoming perched on his shoulder and asked, "Classmate Chen, is this a pet of yours? What kind of creature is it?"
Kong Yao also cast several glances at Chaoming, clearly intrigued.
Chen Chuan said, "His name is Chaoming. His species is bird-lizard." Chaoming let out a chirp toward the two of them as a greeting, and the creature's cleverness astonished them both.
Fan Cheng had no idea what a bird-lizard was, but unwilling to appear ignorant, he feigned realization. "Ah, so it's a bird-lizard! No wonder, haha..."
Chen Chuan gave a slight smile.
As they spoke, the elevator slowly ascended to the twenty-second floor and came to a stop. Fan Cheng and Kong Yao's dormitories were on this floor. The three of them exchanged contact information, and Fan Cheng said to Chen Chuan, "We're all freshmen. Let's chat more whenever you're free."
Chen Chuan smiled and agreed.
After the two walked out and the elevator doors slowly shut, Fan Cheng turned to Kong Yao and said, "Hey, that Classmate Chen lives way higher than us. All the way up on the forty-ninth floor."
Kong Yao said, "The floor supposedly depends on the academy's initial evaluation of the trainee. The higher the evaluation, the higher the floor you live on. I heard the highest doesn't exceed the sixtieth floor."
Fan Cheng marveled, "If Classmate Chen was placed on the forty-ninth floor, his rating must be considerably better than ours. Looks like we should stay on good terms with him."
Kong Yao said, "But that's just the initial evaluation. Only the enrollment evaluation truly counts."
Hearing her mention that, Fan Cheng's face fell into dismay. "Here I was thinking getting into Wuyi Academy meant a carp leaping through the dragon gate. Who knew that if your evaluation score drops too low, you get demoted to an external student and thrown into the arena tournament—and they don't even let you drop out! It's utterly brutal."
Kong Yao muttered, "I don't want to fight in the arena tournament either. All we can do is spend more money to purchase courses from instructors. Having good sparring partners should help us improve quite a bit."
"Yeah, but everyone else is working hard too. Sigh, forget it, let's leave it at that for now."
On the forty-ninth floor, the elevator doors slid open smoothly, and Chen Chuan stepped out. After a few paces, he reached his room door. He took out his key and unlocked it. Chaoming spread his wings, glided down from his shoulder, and darted right inside. Chen Chuan set his suitcase down by the base of the wall, walked to the other side of the room, and drew back the curtains.
Instantly, the daylight outside streamed in and washed over him. He gazed toward the pillar of light rising from the arena tournament and stood there in thought for a while.
As for what to do next, he needed to find time to visit the address left behind by this body's parents and see what had actually been left there.
Before that, however, he had to take care of a few trivial matters first.
Just as he was thinking about this, Ni Xixi's profile icon flashed on his communicator. He connected, and Ni Xixi's voice came through: "Brother Chen, back in Center City?"
Chen Chuan said, "I'm back."
Ni Xixi said, "If you're free over the next few days, remember to drop by the bureau. There are things the bureau needs to brief you on. Knowing them sooner will be good for you."
Chen Chuan said, "All right. Thanks for the heads-up, Sister Ni."
Officer Qiu from the Disposal Bureau had mentioned earlier that there was a fairly important matter to discuss once he returned to Center City; this was likely it.
And Cao Guixi had said something similar before as well.
In the past, he had always felt that something lurked beneath the surface of Center City. It was just that his level had been insufficient back then, so he had no right to know. Now that he had reached the third limit, the secrets concealed within seemed poised to unfold before him.
Chapter 362