Book 4, Chapter 250: Case Settled. Time To Leave The Hometown
Book 4, Chapter 250: Case Settled. Time To Leave The Hometown
When Liao Donghai saw that Chen Chuan had no reaction whatsoever to what he said, he knew that he wasn’t interested in this. Because of it, he had a good idea of what to expect.
If Chen Chuan had been tempted after hearing it, he wouldn’t have minded going along with the flow and doing him a favor.
In any case, Enclosed Shore wouldn’t be able to benefit from this anymore. They had also gotten rid of the executives who voted for privately researching the martial arts masters. They were only able to continue being in charge of this matter because they were a state-owned enterprise, which meant that while the government was going to punish them, they still had to listen to their orders. With that being the case, it would be best for them to use this chance to get on a martial arts master’s good terms.
There were plenty of reasons why Chen Chuan chose not to take up the power of the artifact pieces. First, he didn’t know the exact situation of the artifact. Second, many parties were involved in the matter. Third, the government was also paying attention to it. If he got the artifact pieces, he was only going to attract trouble.
Considering the fact that the Akkala’s Kin were basically extinct at this point, it meant that over the past centuries, plenty of people had obtained the artifact pieces, so who knew just how many people and organizations were involved in this mess?
He also thought of another possibility. After the people who got the artifact piece got a boost in strength, they would want to get the complete artifact, so there was a certain possibility that they would end up killing each other for the artifact pieces. While Chen Chuan didn’t mind sparring or fighting against other people, it didn’t mean that he was willing to get himself into unnecessary trouble.
“Do you have any other methods to extract the artifact pieces?” he asked.
“Yes. Before coming here, I consulted with experts hired by the company. We can get the artifact pieces out if the owners are willing to give up on them. The artifact pieces have their own minds. If the host rejects them, they will move to another vessel. But I don’t think these two will willingly give up on them,” Liao Donghai answered.
Chen Chuan nodded in agreement. The two were absolutely not going to give the artifact pieces up. The white-haired woman had even attacked him without saying a single word because of this. She would rather be killed than give it up.
“Besides this method, there’s also a much simpler one: Have an active biosentient entity kill them. We can remove the artifact pieces this way too,” Liao Donghai continued.
“If there’s a simpler method, then there’s a more complicated method as well. Why don’t you tell me about that one too?” Chen Chuan looked him in the eye.
“There is one, but it’s a backup plan: We’d apply to the government to conduct a ritual to remove them. This method is rather slow and would require quite a lot of money. The government would also likely not be happy about it,” Liao Donghai explained.
Chen Chuan immediately asked for the information about the ritual. Apparently, half a month would be needed just to get started, from applying for it to setting up the ritual.
The extraction would likely take even longer, somewhere from three to four months. They would also need to bear all the risks that came with it, so it was much easier to just kill the two martial arts masters.
However, that was no way to settle things. Killing them was not a good choice to solve the problem. Based on what Chen Chuan had seen so far, the two hadn’t committed any crimes, so there was no need to resort to such extreme measures.
Besides, the two were martial arts masters. With the Great Crash being right around the corner, having another martial arts master around was having another helping hand. Since they weren’t enemies, they should be doing their best to draw them to the physical world’s side.
“Let’s use the last method. I’ll communicate with the higher-ups.”
“If you think it’s plausible, we’ll use it,” Liao Donghai immediately said.
Chen Chuan went straight to the telegraph clerk and asked him to write a report to the National Security Ministry to tell them about his decision and the reason behind his choice.
He sent the telegram in the afternoon and got his reply in less than two hours. It simply said that they agreed and supported his decision.
Considering how quickly they replied, it was clear that they were with him on this.
With their telegram serving as solid evidence, he didn’t have any problem pushing the plan forward.
After discussing some details with Liao Donghai, he said, “I’ll leave the two in the company for the time being, Mr. Liao. I hope that you can take care of the preparations and the ritual.”
“Don’t worry, Director Chen. The company has learned its lesson and won’t make the same mistake again. I’ll watch them closely and give you updates via telegram,” Liao Donghai promised earnestly.
“Okay,” Chen Chuan said. It was impossible for Enclosed Shore to have gathered such detailed information in such a short time, which meant that they had started getting ready right after they found the two martial arts masters. They had wanted to gather the artifact pieces for themselves, but a corporate spy ruined their plans.
This couldn’t have been a decision made by just one or two executives either. The ones who were punished were just the scapegoats, and he was sure that the government knew this, but there was no need for him to get to the bottom of this. Instead, they let Enclosed Shore remain in charge of this to make up for their mistake.
However, if they couldn’t deal with this properly, the axe was going to come down on their necks. The executives of Enclosed Shore should know this very well.
Chen Chuan believed that they wouldn’t have been able to hide this from the National General Affairs Bureau either way. After all, even Nian Fuli had heard about it, so there was no way the bureau didn’t have any information about it. Perhaps they had stayed quiet because they were waiting for something or were setting up some plan. Chen Chuan believed that they were planning to take down an executive in Enclosed Shore or a leader in Haixi Road through it.
If that were the case, Chen Chuan’s involvement might have unintentionally ruined their plan, but since he wasn’t involved in it and the bureau never spoke to him about it, all he needed to do was carry out his duties as the director of the Defense Bureau.
Enclosed Shore had a driver send him back home. Since he had been out for a few days and his family didn’t know when he was coming back, they had done as he told them and taken his airship to Aunt Jie’s place.
They had left him a note with the aunt's phone number and address.
Yu Jie had moved to Shannan Road after her marriage. On an airship, it would take around two days to reach it. There was half a month left until Chen Chuan’s holiday ended, so he still had plenty of time and told the National Martial Artists Council about where he was going.
While waiting, he went to his parents’ old house and cleaned up the place, then got rid of the weeds and vines nearby. Once he was done, he dragged a chair out, and just like the previous years, spent the afternoon there.
This time, before he left, he went through all the Sanshou techniques in front of the house to give the old Chen Chuan some closure while also showing him his determination.
The National Martial Artists Council’s answer came that night. The next morning, another airship came to Yangzhi City. With his suitcase in hand, Chen Chuan boarded the airship. Before he left, he took a look at Yangzhi City. He didn’t know when he could come back after leaving this time.
The airship rose into the sky and left Yangzhi City slowly under the morning sun. As the propellers spun, it flew southwest.
After almost two days of flying, Chen Chuan reached Shannan Road on the night of the seventeenth. This was the center of the Great Shun Republic. Yu Jie’s family lived in the residential area for soldiers outside Shannan City’s Central City, because Han Kuang—Yu Jie’s husband—was a colonel.
During the flight, Chen Chuan took time to go through his mother’s memories. Yu Wan occasionally appeared in them, but Yu Jie seldom did. Yu Wan had also seldom spoken of Yu Jie in front of him. Based on the old Chen Chuan’s memories, Yu Jie had spoken to his family before, but those occasions were rare, so he guessed that Yu Jie and his mother were not on good terms with each other.
Since it was night when the airship landed, Chen Chuan didn’t bother Yu Jie’s family with a late visit. Instead, he stayed the night in the airship and got ready to visit them at a suitable time tomorrow.
***
A car went into the residential area for soldiers in Shannan Road. It stopped in the underground parking lot of a villa.
Han Kuang walked out with a briefcase in hand. He shut the door and massaged his temples. Over the past few days, he had been busy with back-to-back military meetings. Even though he had medicine to keep him going on, the moment he got home, he felt fatigue crashing into him like a flood.
The moment he stepped into his house, he could sense guests, and he asked, “Who’s here, Mrs. Ling?”
Mrs. Ling, the housekeeper, came over to help him remove his military coat, and said, “Mrs. Han’s sister brought her family over for a New Year visit. They said that they’re here to thank you for your help all those years ago and brought a lot of gifts with them.”
Han Kuang immediately knew who came and said, “Oh. Make sure to make them feel welcome. I still need to take care of some business, so I might go to bed really late. Tell my wife not to save any breakfast for me.”
“Alright.”
Han Kuang grabbed some food before taking a shower and throwing himself right back to work. He only returned to his room to sleep at around 3 a.m..
He was so exhausted that he only woke up the next day at a little past 9 a.m.. Yu Jie was in the room looking for something, and he asked in puzzlement, “What is it, Yu Jie?”
“I can’t find a photo of myself from all those years ago. Oh, it’s here,” Yu Jie answered without even turning back. She took a photo out with three beautiful girls.
“I took this photo with my sisters before I married you. It’s been so many years since then.”
“What made you suddenly want to look for the photo?”
“Yu Wan’s family came, didn’t they? We ended up reminiscing about the past. Yu Zhen was so opinionated back then. She completely ignored the young man I wanted to introduce to her as a potential husband.”
“The boy from Lao Fan’s family?”
“Yes. He was handsome and carried himself well. Had great future prospects too. He’s younger than you by ten years but has the same military rank as you right now, doesn't he?”
Han Kuang huffed. “You should remember just whose daughter he married. If you had managed to make him marry your sister back then, I don’t think he would have gotten to his current position.”
Yu Jie glared at him. “How do you know that he wouldn’t have made it?”
“Fine. I won’t argue with you. Where are Xiao Huan and Xiao Jing?”
“The girls are playing with Nian Qian.”
After some thinking, Han Kuang asked, “Doesn’t Yu Zhen have a son too? He’s staying with Yu Wan, right? Did he come along?”
“Apparently, he has some government business and will come in a few days.”
“Government business? He’s working for the government too?” Han Kuang was interested.