Book 4, Chapter 252: Word Spread Fast
Book 4, Chapter 252: Word Spread Fast
Han Kuang walked into the room where the phone was and picked up the receiver. The moment he put it by his ear, he heard a familiar voice. “Lao Han, how could you hide such a huge matter from me? You’re horrible!”
It was Chief of Staff Bai, Han Kuang’s commanding officer. His heart started racing, because he could already guess why Chief of Staff Bai had called. “What are you talking about? Did you get some sort of news?”
“Stop playing dumb. The moment your nephew arrived, headquarters got news about it and sent soldiers over to Central City to help maintain security. Seriously, you... I can’t believe you’d keep this secret so well hidden. You didn’t even tell me about it so I would get a surprise? That’s rude.” There was feigned displeasure in Chief of Staff Bai’s voice.
“Sorry, I wasn’t being considerate and caused trouble to all of you,” Han Kuang immediately apologized.
Chief of Staff Bai laughed at that. “Your nephew is amazing, you know? The moment he arrived at Shannan Road, he shocked half of Central City into action. I need to represent the headquarters and show my face right now. Come with me, Lao Han. Don’t go thinking that it’s embarrassing. You might be his uncle in private, but we need to be professional outside.”
Han Kuang immediately stood at attention and shouted, “Roger!”
“Eh, don’t need to be so serious. Just remember to put in a good word for me later, hmm?” Chief of Staff Bai said in a half-joking manner.
“Of course.”
“Alright. I’ll reach your place in five minutes. Get ready. I’ll be hanging up now.”
Han Kuang felt complicated emotions stir in his heart, but after composing himself, he said to his daughters, “Chen Chuan, your other cousin, is coming. Tell your mother and brother to come back. I need to go see him.”
“Will he even want to come back?” Han Xiaohuan asked.
Han Kuang took the coat Mrs. Ling gave him, buttoned it, straightened his hat, and said, “Tell him that if he doesn’t come back, he can forget about ever stepping foot inside the house again.”
Then, he grabbed his briefcase and strode out.
The moment he left, Han Xiaohuan whispered to Nian Qian, “The person you were talking about is Chen Chuan, right? He sounds amazing. I’ve never seen Dad react like that before.”
“Chen Chuan isn’t just amazing. Not many at his age can compare to him, at least not in the Great Shun Republic,” Nian Qian said with unmistakable pride.
The sisters were shocked, but their eyes were also sparkling, and they started looking forward to Chen Chuan’s arrival. Han Xiaohuan even said cheerily, “Chen Chuan will be coming to our house later, right? Come on, Sis. We need to start making calls!”
“Alright. I’ll go upstairs to call our brother. You call Mom.”
“Kay.”
The sisters split up. Things went smoothly for Han Xiaojing, because Yu Jie had brought logistics officers with them. She had taken Yu Wan and Nian Fuli into Central City to shop with her, so all Han Xiaojing needed to do was find the logistics officer and use a Realm Pass to contact them.
Things were harder for Han Xiaohuan, because her brother didn’t stay in a single place. No one knew where he was, so she had to keep calling different places to find him.
***
Once Han Kuang was outside, he started wondering how he should talk to his nephew. The last time they met was at least seventeen years ago. Back then, Chen Chuan was a toddler, so Han Kuang didn’t have much of an impression of him.
When he reached the junction, he saw that the chief of staff’s car was already there, and the man was sitting with a handsome younger officer.
Han Kuang recognized him. He was the second son of the Fan family, the son-in-law of Deputy Commander Liu, and a young, talented member of the Staff Department.
When Chief of Staff Bai saw him, he pointed at him and grinned, “Lao Han, you never mentioned your nephew before. Why did you keep him hidden from us?”
“I’ll be honest with you. My nephew lives on Jibei Road, and we seldom communicate with each other. I don’t bother their family unless something urgent comes up. I didn’t say anything because it’s been a long time since I met him,” Han Kuang said.
“It’s okay. I was just joking. I wasn’t actually blaming you. Come. Get in.”
Chief of Staff Bai turned to the handsome officer. “Xiao Fan, sit in front. I’ll sit at the back with Lao Han.”
Xiao Fan smiled and saluted them before walking over to open the door to the back seats for them.
When Han Kuang got in and Xiao Fan shut the door for him, he felt great, though he couldn’t quite explain why.
The car started moving and headed to the main road. Right away, he saw that the entire road was full of patrol guards. Every so often, they saw a sentry or a patrol car drive past them. “What’s this?” he asked.
“Central City made the arrangements, and the Defense Bureau sent City Patrol. They’re not doing this for show, but because they’re worried about someone causing trouble. The resistance groups have been quite active lately. If someone causes trouble during this period of time, we’d be lucky to come off with just being embarrassed. What if we actually offend your nephew? Martial arts masters have quite the temper,” Chief of Staff Bai explained.
Han Kuang nodded in understanding. The resistance groups in the city had been running rampant recently. If they caused trouble and got into a fight with a martial arts master from another Central City, there would be a huge mess. Perhaps even the central government would be alerted of it, so it was no wonder why Shannan Road’s government paid so much attention to this and went to such lengths to secure the area.
***
Han Cheng, Han Kuang’s eldest son, was in a residential area near the main commercial center in Central City. He paced around in his bedroom in his pajamas. He was talking to someone on his Realm Pass.
“Hey, what’s going on? Didn’t you say that you’re going to ship the goods into the city before noon? Why aren’t you moving?”
He was feeling quite frustrated. He had settled all the details long ago and even got the transport personnel temporary citizenships so that they could come in. All they needed to do was transport the goods into the city, and yet, they were acting out at the last moment.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Han. It’s not that we don’t want to bring the goods in. It’s because something special is going on today,” the person said.
“What is it?”
There was a brief moment of silence. “Did you just wake up? You should look outside.”
Han Cheng was quite surprised. He went to the window and pulled the curtains back. Under the colorful neon lights City Patrol cars were zooming back and forth. There were even combat airships flying in the sky.
He was stunned.
“We just got news that an important person is coming today, and the checkpoints have all gone into lockdown. We contacted the checkpoints’ manager, and he said that the Defense Bureau has temporarily stationed their people at most of the checkpoints. Apparently, the Resolution Department has even sent a lead investigator to one of them, so it’s not that we don’t want to bring the goods into the city today, but that we can’t,” the person explained.
Han Cheng watched for a while as he considered it. “Only one area is under martial law. I’ll get an official travel permit for all of you. Try to come in through another checkpoint.”
“We thought about it, but you know that all of us have criminal backgrounds. Even if you got temporary citizenship for us, going into the city now is just too risky. If you insist, though, we will try,” the person said weakly.
Han Cheng hesitated. Just then, he heard panicked sounds from the Realm Pass. Immediately, he asked, “What happened, Lao Feng?”
“Mr. Han, a group of inspectors have surrounded us. Should we...” Lao Feng said nervously.
That alarmed Han Cheng, and he immediately said, “Don’t resist. Do whatever they ask you to. I’ll deal with everything later!”
Once the conversation was over, he cursed under his breath and started contacting the people he knew to solve the problem, but for some reason, the people who were usually really close to him either avoided him or outright stated that they couldn’t do anything about this. Only one person said, “You got really unlucky today, Brother. The Defense Bureau, the Resolution Department, and even the military have stated that today all the main roads inside and outside Central City are under martial law. No private activities are allowed. You’d need to bring this to the chief secretary, Director Li, or Commander Zhao to get this matter resolved, and that’s only a maybe. I suggest you stay put today.”
After thanking him, Han Cheng cursed under his breath again. He had thrown a lot of money into this. If it failed, losing all the money would be a minor problem. The actual issue was that his company’s reputation would plummet down the drain.
He hit his head as he kept trying to think of a solution. Suddenly, the phone rang, and he frowned before picking it up. “Hello? Who is it?”
“It’s me, A’Cheng.”
“Oh, Xiao Huan? What is it? Is Mom asking you to tell me to go back again? Tell her that I have something important to do,” Han Cheng almost snapped at her, since he had a huge problem he had to solve right now.
“No. Dad said that you have to come back today, or you’re never allowed to come back again. He’s serious this time.”
Han Cheng felt his heart tremble in fear. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll come back.”
“Hurry up.”
Once Han Cheng put down the phone receiver, he thought, The old man seems to know something. Maybe...
He immediately changed his pants, grabbed a shirt, and rushed out.
***
The Staff Department’s car headed straight to the mooring tower in the industrial area. When they reached it, they saw a large airship on top of it.
“That’s an airship from the National Martial Artists Council,” Chief of Staff Bai said.
As they stared at the large airship, they could feel its strength.
Once the car stopped in front of the tower, they got out and found that there were already a lot of armored cars in the area, along with more than a hundred implant-enhanced combatants from the Defense Bureau who had secured the area.
“Director Li came here immediately after he got the news. Let’s go,” Chief of Staff Bai said.
When they arrived under the mooring tower, Han Kuang looked up and saw a tall young man walk out of the airship.
There seemed to be light shining in the young man’s eyes. While he was dressed in casual clothes, Han Kuang’s breathing stopped after meeting his gaze. He wasn’t the only one affected. Even Chief of Staff Bai and Xiao Fan stopped walking for a brief second.
In comparison, despite walking out with the young man, Director Li was almost too easy to overlook.
They walked down the tower while talking. When they arrived in front of the group, Han Kuang saw the young man look toward him, and his heart tensed in anxiety. Then, the young man smiled at him and said, “Happy New Year, Uncle.”