After having lunch at Cheng Zitong's home at noon, Chen Chuan took his leave and departed.
When he stepped outside, the sunlight was pleasant and birds chirped among the treetops. This time, he did not conceal his presence, instead strolling right past the main gate of Lakeside Villa.
Beside the road, two elderly men sat across from each other at a stone table. Each held a teapot, squinting into the sunshine as they chatted.
Just then, they suddenly saw Chen Chuan walk past in front of them. Both froze, their squinted eyes involuntarily going wide.
Chen Chuan nodded to them and said, "Happy New Year, seniors."
The two old men were startled at first, then instinctively scrambled to their feet, stammering in response, "Happy New Year, Happy New Year..."
Even after Chen Chuan had walked past, the two remained staring dumbfounded. After a moment, one of the old men said excitedly, "Lao Qian, did you see that? Did you see that?!"
"I saw it! I saw it! Old He, quit slapping me—these old bones of mine can't take your pounding..." The other old man hastily backed away.
Old He pulled his hand back to stroke his beard, his face glowing with excitement. "That's a martial artist! A martial artist just wished us a happy New Year! Ah, this old life was worth living! Totally worth it, haha!"
Lao Qian couldn't help but nod vigorously as well.
Unlike ordinary people, as retired instructors from Wuyi Academy, they understood all too well what a martial artist represented. To them, being the chief of the Defense Department was certainly a high office, but it was just a bureaucratic position—plenty of people could sit in that chair. But a martial artist? That was a realm not just anyone could ever attain.
In the hearts of those who had practiced martial arts their entire lives, that title held an irreplaceable sanctity!
Only when Chen Chuan was completely out of sight did the two old men look at each other and chuckle. Now they had something to brag about for the entire New Year festival—no, something to brag about every single year!
Old He looked back toward the residences. "He just came out of Supervisor Cheng's house. Taking on this disciple was the best thing Supervisor Cheng ever did. Have you heard? Back then, Supervisor Cheng went knocking on Old Qiao's door for this student, begging for a saber manual. Old Qiao implied that handing over the saber manual was fine, but only if Chief Chen became his own disciple's lackey before he'd deign to throw him a scrap! Heh, I wonder if that old bastard's face is burning red now."
"Isn't that the truth? Old Man Qiao hurried off to Center City with his disciple last year—what do you think that was for? He was trying to save his own wrinkled hide! Who knows, maybe he's still brooding over how to win that face back."
"Bah, I heard about that. Tell me, what was Old Man Qiao competing with Supervisor Cheng for anyway? Senior brother and junior brother—what couldn't be talked out between them?"
"Don't you get it? Was that mere bickering? They were fighting over the path of their past! Neither would ever back down."
"Well, if you ask me, Old Man Qiao had better drop that delusion early. That disciple of his won't catch up to Supervisor Cheng's student in eight lifetimes. Admitting defeat isn't shameful."
"Admit defeat? Hiding away works too! Eh, as long as I don't see it, it doesn't count as a loss!"
While the two were rambling on, they suddenly saw several cars driving in from outside.
Old He peered over. "Huh? Isn't the lead car Director He's? Coming to pay New Year visits, is he? The sun must have risen in the west. In past years, the Disposal Bureau only sent a few junior agents here as a token gesture. Why did he come in person today?"
The two suddenly realized something and exchanged a meaningful look. Everyone knew that Disposal Bureau Director He Fen was an incurable climber. Who he had come to curry favor with was obvious at a single glance.
Still, one couldn't really blame Director He—he just wanted so desperately to advance in his career.
As Chen Chuan walked out, he saw the motorcade pulling in from a distance and recognized who it was. Having no interest in crossing paths with them, he took the path alongside the dormitories.
Inside the dormitory building, a resident student who had just finished training was sitting by the window drinking water. Glancing down casually, his expression suddenly froze.
Then, excitement overtook him. "Senior Chen! It's Senior Chen!"
Just as he called out, Chen Chuan seemed to hear him. Turning his head, Chen Chuan glanced up in his direction and smiled with a nod. Shivering all over from sheer excitement, the student waved frantically out the window.
After a moment, seeing that Chen Chuan had walked beyond his line of sight, he immediately bolted outside. Skipping the elevator, he dashed straight down the stairwell to the ground floor. Looking left and right outside and finding no one in sight, he felt a sudden pang of loss.
After standing there for a bit, excitement flared up in him again. Thumping down the corridor, he ran to the public telephone under the dormitory building, picked up the receiver, dialed a number, and blurted out eagerly as soon as the line connected, "Guess who I saw today?!"
After returning from the academy, Chen Chuan spent the next few days walking about and meeting up with some of his old classmates.
However, once most of his former classmates learned of his current position, they acted somewhat restrained and distant. Only his close friend and middle school desk-mate, Ding Jiao, treated him exactly as before. In Ding Jiao's words: what did titles or positions matter? A person was still the same person. Little Chuan was his buddy before, and he was still his buddy now.
When Chen Chuan mentioned that his family would likely be moving away with him, Ding Jiao felt quite reluctant to see him go. Previously, even though Chen Chuan had moved to Center City, he would at least come back once a year. But given the current situation, it seemed unlikely he would return often in the future.
Chen Chuan gave him his private phone number and telegraph contact information, telling him he could get in touch if anything ever came up. If Ding Jiao ever wanted to visit Center City, all he had to do was give advance notice. Finally, Chen Chuan added that it wasn't as though he would never return; this was his hometown after all, and the ancestral home was still here, so he would always come back for a visit.
Time flew by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Chuan was already making arrangements for his family's relocation to Center City when Civil Administrator Zhu Xian suddenly called. Zhu Xian asked if he could come to the Civil Affairs Department, mentioning that a representative from Yuangan Company had arrived today and that an urgent matter required his presence.
Chen Chuan did not know what was going on, but judging by Zhu Xian's tone and phrasing, as well as the involvement of Yuangan Company, he could tell it was no minor affair.
He replied immediately that he would be right over. Since the off-road vehicle had been left for his family's use, he took a car dispatched from nearby and headed straight for the Civil Affairs Department. Upon arrival, he was escorted into the reception hall by Secretary Xiao Pan.
Waiting inside alongside Civil Administrator Zhu Xian was another man. When Chen Chuan walked in, this man stepped forward of his own accord and reached out to shake Chen Chuan's hand. "Chief Chen, allow me to introduce myself. I am Bao Ning, branch supervisor of Yuangan Company."
Chen Chuan looked him over. The supervisor was in his forties, with one half of his face covered in ornamental implanted skin. He was very gaunt, with high cheekbones and hair styled high and spiked, half white and half blue-green. Such a style was rarely seen in Yangzhi City, but quite common in Center City.
Bao Ning apologized, "Chief Chen, I'm truly sorry to trouble you today. However, our company has encountered an unexpected situation. As you are the Chief of the Jibei Dao Security Defense Department, we had no choice but to intrude upon your time."
Chen Chuan asked, "What is the matter?"
Bao Ning signaled with a hand, and an assistant promptly presented a hard-cover folder. Bao Ning handed it over with both hands to Chen Chuan. "Chief Chen, this is our company's incident log report. Please take a look."
Chen Chuan took it and glanced through, his brow furrowing slightly in surprise. What was recorded inside was precisely the incident Nian Fuli had mentioned earlier. He had originally intended to look into it after returning to Center City, never expecting it would be brought right to his doorstep now.
The report stated that during a recent railway construction project in the north, while passing through a certain stretch, Yuangan Company had accidentally unearthed two bodies.
Attached to the report were two sets of on-site photographs. They roughly depicted a man and a woman, both having exceptionally massive builds. They wore garments made of some special material that carried an ancient nomadic style, though the exact cut and pattern were unrecognizable.
Moreover, one had white hair while the other had yellowish hair, both with high-bridged noses and deep-set eyes—clearly not natives of the Eastern Continent.
"After discovering these two, we consulted specialists for an analysis and suspected they were ancient martial artists. Amazingly, our tests detected faint signs of life. We placed them in a secure environment and prepared to transport them to company headquarters for further handling. However, two days ago, the train carrying them was ambushed by an unidentified force, and both individuals have gone missing."
Supervisor Bao said, "At present, we are still uncertain whether the two woke up and fled on their own, or if the unidentified faction abducted them."
Chen Chuan looked up and said, "Given that they still exhibited signs of life and were identified as martial artists, this was an exceptionally perilous matter. As a state defense enterprise, Yuangan Company clearly retains martial artists of its own. Why didn't you assign someone to take charge and escort them during transit?"
Supervisor Bao hung his head, looking thoroughly ashamed. "It was truly our negligence. We did not treat the matter with the seriousness it warranted. Because both showed only faint biological signals, we assumed there would be no issue, which led to this incident. We are deeply sorry! Yuangan Company is willing to bear full responsibility for any losses incurred because of this." As he spoke, he bowed slightly.
Chen Chuan gave him a knowing look. He understood the mindset of these corporations all too well. This wasn't a lack of attention; it was valuing them far too much.
It wasn't hard to guess: upon discovering these two, Yuangan Company undoubtedly deemed their value astronomical and wanted to conduct private research on them. But the local branch lacked the necessary facilities, making transport to headquarters unavoidable.
If they wanted to guarantee security along the way, they would have had to request a martial artist's escort. Such a mobilization, however, would inevitably leave a record with the Martial Arts Council. Since they didn't want the outside world to catch wind of the discovery, they skipped that step altogether.
Looking at the log, the two had been found back in late November, yet they were only dispatched toward headquarters a few days ago—and in an apparent rush. He had good reason to suspect that the branch had realized he had arrived in Yangzhi, and fearing he would catch wind of the matter and intervene, had hurried to ship them out.
Now that the two had vanished, they realized they could no longer keep a lid on the disaster, which was why they had turned to him.
He pondered. Two martial artists of unknown identity and intent—if they were indeed alive, leaving them free to roam unrestrained was extraordinarily dangerous. Furthermore, this directly impacted the security of Jibei Dao. As Chief of Defense, he could not stand idly by; he had to find a way to locate these two and bring them under control!
Chapter 850