Aftermath

Wei Chang'an looked at Chen Chuan, took a deep breath to steady his emotions, and then broke into a smile. He gave him an emphatic nod and said, "Well done, Junior!" To be honest, he had originally intended to step in and help, but he quickly realized that he likely had no place intervening in a fight between those two. Rushing in rashly might have done more harm than good, so he had simply stayed put. Turning to the people around him, he barked orders: "Hurry! Get the wounded into the vehicles! Triage anyone who can be saved, then get them to the nearest medical post!" Then, glancing at Cai Si, who had squeezed his way to the front, he instructed, "Old Si, go secure Scarface. Don't let him die—we still need his confession." Cai Si nodded and went off immediately to carry out the order. Wei Chang'an gave several more instructions in quick succession. Under his direction, the crowd regained their backbone and sprang into action. Previously, some had been dissatisfied or skeptical of Wei Chang'an, but things were different now. Everyone obeyed submissively, for he had proven his capability, and the capture operation had succeeded. Moreover, everyone knew that after this victory, this man was going to be far from what he once was. Once he had taken care of the string of tasks, Wei Chang'an pulled Chen Chuan aside, patted him on the shoulder, and said with feeling, "Junior, I really have to thank you this time." Chen Chuan said, "Brother Wei, I'm part of this commission too. It was only what I ought to do." "It's more than that." Wei Chang'an shook his head. "Thank you for giving me face at the end." He said solemnly, "Your Brother Wei owes you one." How could he not know? At the very end, when Chen Chuan had walked up to him and addressed him as Brother Wei, it was unquestionably elevating him in front of everyone. How could he not appreciate the gesture? He would certainly keep this in his heart! On the other side, Cai Si walked to the rear of the street. Looking at the slick of oil across the ground, he muttered, "Well, look at that. Spilled all that oil for nothing." Still, he knew the oil had only looked useful to give people peace of mind. With such a strong odor, Scarface couldn't have missed it; he most likely would have crashed through the adjacent shops to find a way out. With that brute's strength, bursting through walls would have been child's play, and no one could have stopped him then. What truly made the difference in the end was absolute physical might. Remembering Chen Chuan's final hammer swing, he thought to himself that this was the kind of strength that truly sealed the deal. Then again, was Scarface still alive? It was touch-and-go. He stepped into the shop and leaned in close to check on Scarface. Fortunately, the brute had a tenacious vitality; he was still breathing, and the bleeding all over his body had stopped on its own at some point. He immediately called over several men to bind Scarface securely and carry him away, remarking with a sigh, "Looks like after today, Scarface is going to have to be called Faceless." Just then, a man leaned in and asked, "Fourth Brother, who was that young fellow just now? Taking on Scarface head-on—incredible! If I had someone like that under me, would our last commission have botched?" Cai Si smiled and said, "Don't even dream of poaching him. That's a junior Brother Wei worked hard to recruit from Wuyi. A person endowed with natural talent. And he only came this time out of respect for Brother Wei." "Natural talent, huh..." The man's face was filled with envy and wonder. Lowering his voice, he added, "I suppose only someone like that could go toe-to-toe with someone bearing military implants." Cai Si glanced at him and kept his voice down as well: "You noticed too?" The man nodded. "Hardware like that—who'd believe there's no backer behind him? Plus, this guy was supplying Fang Dawei's gang. Who knows what kind of dirty tricks Fang Dawei's bunch have up their sleeves?" Cai Si shared the sentiment. He said, "Let's not worry about all that for now. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He extended a hand. "Old Shen, good working with you this time." "Hey, don't mention it." Old Shen shook his hand. "We help each other out. Didn't manage to help much this time anyway, and who knows, next time I might need your backing." Cai Si said, "Just showing up counts in our book. If you ever need our help down the line, just say the word." Old Shen chuckled. "Then I'll hold you to that." Meanwhile, in a corner, Commissioner Qu had gathered a group of people—all operatives dispatched by the commission company. "Commissioner Wei got lucky this time, landing a helper who can fight like that." "After this, Commissioner Wei's definitely going to rise in the world, isn't he?" "Naturally! Who would've thought Commissioner Wei was holding a trump card like this up his sleeve beforehand?" Commissioner Qu let out a cold snort and sneered, "It's not that simple. Catching Scarface was meant to lead us to Fang Dawei's gang. But so many people got injured this time, and the commotion was so massive—do you really think we'll still be able to track down Fang Dawei and his crew? Hmm?" He looked left and right, adding dismissively, "If we can't catch them, this won't amount to much either." Those nearby exchanged glances, and someone chimed in, "Right, right, Commissioner Qu is right." After finishing his conversation with Wei Chang'an, Chen Chuan walked over toward the injured boxing club members. He hadn't thought much of it earlier, but later, from their training uniforms, he recognized that these fighters were all from Xiujiang Boxing Club. Xiujiang Boxing Club, Shouguan District. He remembered that the location printed on the flyer he received last time seemed to be right around here. As he walked over and looked around, he saw quite a few club fighters and utility workers helping treat the wounded and moving supplies. When they saw him approach, their eyes were full of awe and respect. A man who appeared to be in charge came forward of his own accord and asked, "Hello, young brother. Does Commissioner Wei have any instructions?" Chen Chuan shook his head. "I just came to look around. I know Liang Tong and Sheng Hai from your club. Are they here by any chance?" The man had a look of realization. "Oh, them." He glanced behind him. "Everyone who came today is an expert. Their skills aren't there yet, so they're staying at home." As they spoke, a voice came from behind: "Junior, there you are." Cai Si walked up and patted Chen Chuan amiably before addressing the club head: "Coach Qiao, thanks for today. Without your help, it wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly." Coach Qiao quickly replied in a solemn tone, "It was nothing. This is only what our club ought to do." Cai Si said, "Looks like your club had several good hands injured this time. If you need medicine, you can let us know. We have channels." Coach Qiao hurriedly said, "No need, thank you, Commissioner Cai. They are our club's people. Even if they don't recover, the club will support them for the rest of their lives." Cai Si said, "Still, thank you for your help." He shook Coach Qiao's hand and then gestured to Chen Chuan. "Junior, let's go. Coach Qiao probably has plenty to do. Let's not hold up their medical aid." Chen Chuan nodded in agreement, bid Coach Qiao farewell, and the two walked back. Cai Si said, "Heh, that Old Qiao... do you know why he refused our medicine? Because they need these injured fighters to prove they have nothing to do with these wanted criminals." Chen Chuan thought about it. Going by Cai Si's explanation, the club had deliberately sent several fighters—good ones at that—to get injured just to shake off suspicion. Whether it worked or not, it at least gave them a presentable excuse. It was rather cruel to those fighters, but from the boxing club's standpoint, for their own survival, the interests of a few had to be sacrificed. He couldn't say whether it was good or bad; all he could say was that to survive in this world, many people had no choice but to do things out of helplessness, willing or not. Changing trains of thought, another matter came to mind, and he asked, "Fourth Brother, what Scarface had on him—I heard Brother Wei say earlier that they're military implants?" Cai Si hummed in confirmation. "Yeah. But the waters run deep here. If you want to get to the bottom of it, not to mention your Fourth Brother, even everyone in the commission company rolled together wouldn't carry enough weight." Chen Chuan said, "Fourth Brother, do you have information on implants here? I'd like to learn more about them." "About that..." Cai Si thought for a moment and said diplomatically, "You really don't need to rush. As long as you take on more commissioned tasks, or if you join a commission company, you'll naturally learn about these things. Frankly, Brother Wei and I ran into this sort of thing for the first time today, so you don't need to worry too much about running into it again." Chen Chuan nodded, seeing that Cai Si meant well and didn't want him getting involved in that side of things—perhaps worried he might take an interest in implants, or afraid he might get dragged into something murky. Even so, having already encountered them, he couldn't simply turn a blind eye; understanding them was necessary. He figured he might ask Wei Chang'an about it later.