CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER THIRTY: MYSTIFYING

Chen Zili escaped a beating—his sister and mother knew it was this guy who, thinking himself clever, had invited Chen Gu to dinner. They had teamed up to chase him to the basement, pounding on the door of his "safe house." Consequently, they had safely avoided the Mutant’s attack!

They didn’t witness the battle between Chen Gu and the Mutant.

However, after agents from the Bureau of Mystic Security arrived and conducted a thorough check and cleanup, they also left empty-handed with Chen Jixian, preparing to move.

This area would be temporarily quarantined, publicly declared as a "biochemical agent leak," requiring three months of cleanup work.

Once again, the contamination from the Mutants was not to be underestimated.

Chen Jixian left Chen Gu in the basement, taking his family away—now, the agents remaining here were just ordinary operatives of the Bureau of Mystic Security, and Chen Gu was capable of leaving secretly on his own.

Chen Jixian’s troops dispatched another 16 fully armed soldiers to protect their colonel. Sitting in the armored maglev vehicle, Chen Jixian simply told his family, "Pick a place. We’re buying a house."

Xiao Jiangxia was startled, "You..."

"I’m about to retire, so I’m making preparations in advance."

The family’s expressions darkened, but they didn’t have the heart to say more at that moment, not wanting to discourage their husband and father.

...

Chen Gu quietly returned to his apartment, wondering: Why would the Mutants attack Chen Jixian?

Moreover, from the Mutants’ actions, it seemed they knew in advance that Chen Jixian was a professional.

Chen Gu suddenly remembered some details he had discussed with Ossosa about professionals and muttered to himself, "Old Sosa, you sly dog. You seemed to know that son of mine is a professional."

Checking the time, it was nine o’clock in the evening, so he called Gorilla. Just as he made his request, Gorilla persuaded him in return, "It’s not that I don’t want to help. But about adding a trainee to the company, if you really want your... granddaughter to take this path, I can arrange it right away."

"But you know, across the entire Confederation, how many newcomers enter the industry each year? In the end, how many can succeed in releasing an album?"

"Not to mention whether they can eventually achieve fame and success; even just this very first step, the elimination rate is astonishingly high."

"Take our company, for example. Every year we recruit 50 or 60 trainees, but only one-tenth of them end up debuting."

"At the same time, each year we also eliminate 7 or 8 singers with little prospect..."

"These people have invested the prime of their youth, like a gamble, and in the end, they might be left with nothing."

Chen Gu: "Er..."

Actually, I just wanted to get closer to my granddaughter.

Gorilla, however, was quite considerate. "How about this: pick a weekend, bring the girl to the company for a visit, and I’ll show her the harsh realities of this profession."

"Sure," Chen Gu agreed.

No sooner had Chen Gu hung up the phone than the doorbell rang. The captain of the security team arranged by Zhao Ji entered, his expression somewhat serious, "Mr. Chen, there are some things we think you should take a look at."

Moments later, the captain brought Chen Gu to the building opposite. In a dimly lit hallway, several other bodyguards surrounded a window, one of them holding a device.

The device was pointed at a spot below the window—where a pair of faint footprints lay—emitting a sound: CRACKLE... CRACKLE...

Chen Gu was puzzled, "What’s wrong here?"

The captain first pointed at the instrument, "This is a contamination monitor."

"Contamination?"

Lowering his voice, the captain said, "Mutant contamination. We are top-notch security personnel specifically for the Tao family; we’re privy to certain secrets."

"You must have been involved in a Mutant attack incident today—the cover-up methods of the Bureau of Mystic Security are recognizable to us at a glance."

The captain even indicated the bodyguard holding the instrument, "He used to be an operative for the Bureau of Mystic Security."

Chen Gu was truly surprised. He realized for the first time just how much of a freeloader Zhao Ji was! Even bodyguards from Tao Industries knew secrets like professionals and Mutants and possessed very professional countermeasures.

"Since you were involved in such an incident, and due to the need for top-tier security, we conducted a comprehensive check of the surroundings. We were planning to conduct a secret check at your school tomorrow, but we didn’t expect to actually find something so soon."

Looking at the instrument and then at the pair of footprints on the floor, Chen Gu could see his room through the window. He frowned, thinking, Were Mutants secretly surveilling me before? Could I have led them to Chen Jixian’s house?

However, the security captain said, "I’m afraid it’s not so simple. The target of these Mutants might very well be Chen Jixian himself. They tracked you—perhaps to find Chen Jixian’s real residence, or to assess your importance to Chen Jixian, considering whether to use your life or death to threaten him."

Chen Gu nodded. Chen Jixian was a colonel, so his protection was undoubtedly thorough. Chen Zili and the other family members likely had secret agents protecting them too, making anyone following them easy to expose.

"How will you handle this matter?" Chen Gu asked tentatively.

The security captain responded, "You don’t have to worry about us at all. We’re responsible only to our employer. Even if our employment relationship ends, we will not disclose any secrets related to the employer."

Chen Gu breathed a sigh of relief and pointed at the footprints on the ground, "This contamination is dangerous..."

"Rest assured, these are just residual traces; the dosage is very small, and we have the appropriate measures to deal with it. We won’t leave any hidden dangers behind."

"Thank you for your trouble," Chen Gu said gratefully and then returned.

The matter became more bewildering. Although on the surface it seemed the Mutants were targeting Chen Jixian—and the security captain firmly believed this—it was because the captain didn’t know the secret Chen Gu himself carried.

Could it be that these Mutants were actually targeting me from the start?

Was Chen Jixian just a decoy?

Besides that, there was another underlying concern. The captain had said they were responsible only to their employer. However, Chen Gu wasn’t their employer, and neither was Zhao Ji, the great freeloader. Their true employer was the Tao family.

If Zhao Ji’s marriage ever ran into trouble... Chen Gu felt his son’s reminder had been astute. I need to find a way to establish a legitimate background for myself as soon as possible.