Book 4, Chapter 54: Training Camp
Book 4, Chapter 54: Training Camp
“The purity faction’s secret technique? Do you have any evidence?” Chen Chuan watched Gao Yanjun.
“Miss Gao is quite talented in terms of mental energy and is born with the ability to observe martial artists’ biofields,” Chang Dong explained. “Even if she can’t see their movements, she can get some information from their biofields.”
Chen Chuan nodded at that. This explained why a Second Limit martial artist could detect a Third Limit martial artist following her.
Gao Yanjun adjusted her glasses. While she was talented, she couldn’t sense Chen Chuan’s biofield at all. This wasn’t because he had restrained it after learning about her talent; it had been the case from the start.
“Mr. Chang, Miss Gao, could they be from the refined training faction or the fusion faction?” Chen Chuan asked.
“No. They wouldn’t have been able to fool me by just copying our techniques,” Gao Yanjun stated confidently.
Chang Dong agreed with that. “Besides, regardless of whether it’s the refined training faction or the fusion faction, we’ve just knocked them down a peg. They’re now busy trying to avoid getting into a conflict with us.
“Besides, they have their own legacies and techniques. Even setting aside whether they could turn our techniques into a coherent system, it would clash with their faction’s methods. They couldn’t conceal that, so they wouldn’t bring it out so casually.”
His expression turned a little more serious. “A strange person who knows our techniques showed up in Central City... I have reason to suspect that they might be connected to the target.”
He put a hand under his bouncy chin and put on a contemplative expression. “Perhaps what happened a few days ago alarmed him. We can’t set aside the possibility that the fusion faction and the refined training faction leaked information to him about us coming to set up a branch here. He might have sent someone to investigate.”
Chen Chuan considered it. This was a likely scenario. If he were that person and the purity faction was rebuilding its branch here, he may not necessarily target it, but he would absolutely pay attention to it.
Based on the current situation, this guess made the most sense.
“Lead Investigator Chen, I asked Miss Gao to come here right away for her safety’s sake,” Chang Dong continued.
Chen Chuan nodded. This was the correct decision. If the person observed them, they wouldn’t be able to hide their base, and it would be dangerous for Gao Yanjun to stay outside alone, so it would be better for them to all gather together.
“We don’t know the goal of that person. If they’re really here for us, they might come and test our strength. I’ll try to capture them at that time. If they don’t come, I’ll find a safe place for you two tomorrow,” he said.
Chang Dong had read up on Chen Chuan’s achievements and knew just how strong he was. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Chen Chuan was the main fighting power of the branch, so he immediately agreed to it. “Alright. We’ll do that.”
After their conversation, they went to Wu Ruo’s house. The place had already been cleaned up, and a panel building was set up beside it.
“Thank goodness for the middleman you introduced. He helped me secure this piece of land with ease,” Chang Dong said gratefully.
Chen Chuan hummed at that. He had asked Border Fusion to help Chang Dong buy the land to make things easier, so no problems popped up in the process. After all, this place had been abandoned for more than thirty years and had since become barren.
That wasn’t all. Due to the place being polluted in the past, no one wanted to develop it. Besides, Roaring Victory District’s basic infrastructure had fallen far behind that of every other district. This allowed Chang Dong to buy the land at an extremely low price.
With familiar ease, Gao Yanjun found the cups and tea leaves and brewed tea for them. Then, she asked whether they had eaten yet before going to the next room with a box in hand so that she could make a nutritional meal.
After a while, she came back with two bowls containing crystalline white jelly resembling pudding. Just by smelling it, Chen Chuan and Chang Dong felt their mutated tissue wake up from dormancy. Chang Dong might not be a martial artist, but he had mutated tissue in his brain due to his innate talent.
Chen Chuan knew that this meant that his mutated tissue longed for the nutrients in the pudding, and he guessed that there might be some ingredients from the merged space in it.
Gao Yanjun also made a warm drink, though Chen Chuan’s was different from Chang Dong’s.
Chen Chuan thanked her and took a bite of the pudding and immediately felt a refreshing, comfortable sensation fill his body. His eyes shone, and his mutated tissue became filled with life and energy.
Chang Dong took a bite as well and praised the pudding. “This is much better than the tasteless, dry nutritional paste. With you around, our taste buds will be blessed, Miss Gao.”
He then took out his briefcase and grabbed some documents from within before handing them to Chen Chuan. “These are our recent expenses. Please take a look, Lead Investigator Chen, Miss Gao. If neither of you have any objections, sign it.”
Chen Chuan took the documents. The purity faction’s accountants should be going through expenses, since they had nothing to do with him, but Chang Dong said that according to protocol, all the branch’s members needed to monitor expenses. Everyone in the branch had to sign the papers to verify that the accounts were right.
After a quick glance, he handed the documents to Gao Yanjun. “There’s nothing wrong,” she said after going through them.
Then, they signed the papers.
Chen Chuan handed them back to Chang Dong and discussed some things about the branch before leaving for his daily training.
Nothing wrong happened over the course of the afternoon, and in the blink of an eye, night fell.
As the sky turned dark, Chang Dong turned on the industrial lights installed all around the branch with the help of the algae-fuel generator. In an instant, the hill became bright as day.
“I have to say, it’s a good thing that this land is corrupted. Even insects don’t come here. Otherwise, if we turned on the lights, we’d be swarmed—Huh?” Chang Dong looked down.
A flash appeared in Chen Chuan’s eyes. He extended his hand and grabbed a cement slab that came charging at him. Then, he let go and let it fall.
Chang Dong looked into the distance and sensed someone staring at them. He also felt his instincts screaming at him that this person was dangerous. They stood in place with their hands in their pockets. After watching them for a bit, they moved and dashed up the hill toward Chen Chuan and Chang Dong.
Right when Chang Dong saw the person do this, he felt a powerful gust of air arrive in front of him.
It filled his heart with shock.
He’s so fast!
At the same time, he noticed that Chen Chuan had vanished from beside him. Another blast of air howled. The industrial lights swayed, and thunderous explosions rose around him. He could see shockwaves everywhere in the darkness around him.
After just a few breaths, silence returned, and Chang Dong turned to the side with wide eyes.
Chen Chuan appeared in the darkness and walked into the now-steady light while dragging a person behind him. Slowly, he came to the empty space in front of Wu Ruo’s house and threw them down.
Chang Dong lowered his head to look and found that it was a thin young man in his twenties. He had high cheekbones and deep-set eyes. It was hard to see more due to him gasping on the ground for air while vomiting blood. He also coughed from time to time. When he looked up at Chen Chuan, his eyes were filled with amazement, fear, and disbelief.
“I don’t think he knows you, so he should have only recently come to Central City,” Chang Dong stated and sniffed the air before humming. “The smell of the merged space is strong on him. He has most likely come from there. It’s no wonder why he doesn’t know you.”
“Not everyone in Central City knows me too,” Chen Chuan pointed out.
“All the martial artists in Jibei Road know you.” Chang Dong laughed and took two steps forward to stand in front of the young man. He squatted down and patted his shoulder. “Well, then, start talking.”
“Heh.” The young man sneered.
Chang Dong didn’t seem to mind the young man’s lack of cooperation. With his hand still on the youth’s shoulder, he continued, “You used the Airborne Breathing Technique and the Interwoven Force just now, didn’t you? Those are the purity faction’s techniques. Who taught you?”
Suddenly, the young man felt his thoughts getting muddled. He shook his head and did his best to keep his mind clear, but after a while, he felt really tired, and his expression turned lax as he said slowly, “My instructor taught me.”
“And who’s your instructor?” Chang Dong stared at him.
The young man struggled, as if he was fighting hard to answer the question. Upon seeing this, Chang Dong switched to another question. “You seem to respect your instructor a lot. Is that right?”
The young man relaxed again and nodded.
“What’s your name?”
“Qu Tianli.”
“Why did you attack us?”
“I heard that some purity faction members came to Central City, so I decided to say hello. If I could, I’d kill all of you.”
“Did your instructor ask you to come here?” Chang Dong asked.
“No, they don’t know. I’m the one who wanted to see you and check just how strong the purity faction is.”
After those questions, Qu Tianli started shaking, and he stopped trying to get more answers from this topic. Instead, he moved onto miscellaneous, seemingly normal things.
As they continued talking, Qu Tianli’s guard fell and he stopped being resistant toward even the more sensitive questions. Chang Dong then returned their conversation back to the original topic. This time, things went more smoothly, and he managed to get some useful answers.
According to Qu Tianli, he learned martial arts at a place called Swamp Training Camp. The instructors there picked teenagers of a suitable age to become their trainees. Qu Tianli himself was picked thirteen years ago. He trained and learned all his martial arts there.
There were apparently two instructors in the training camp, and a head instructor above them. He was the creator as well as spiritual leader of the place.
Chang Dong frowned after he finished his questioning. “Based on the martial arts they teach, quite a number of them are secret techniques from the purity faction. The creator is most likely the target we’re looking for. I can’t believe that he managed to train a batch of his own students after leaving. Things have become troublesome.”