CHAPTER 177: PUSH FORWARD

A little over ten minutes later, armored patrol cars drove into the park. After investigating the place, the constables confiscated all the guns and equipment before dragging the corpses into a trailer.

A constable went to the captain and saluted him before saying, “Captain Qian, upon inspection, we’ve discovered that all of the deceased are armed criminals.”

“Got it. Have you identified them?” Captain Qian asked without batting an eye.

“We’ve identified them as a mercenary group from outside the city. The leader is Flathead Suo with a criminal record. I’ve compared the deceased with our records. His entire group is here. No one’s missing.”

Captain Qian sighed with emotion. “The youth of today will outshine us tomorrow... Brigade Commander Nian is so lucky.”

He then instructed the constable, “Remember to give a report to Brigade Commander Nian after you’re done here.”

“Understood,” the constable said.

“Are you guys done? If you are, we’re wrapping up!” Captain Qian shouted outside.

“Roger!”

A few minutes later, the armored patrol cars left the area, and the lake and the reeds were swathed in darkness.

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan had already returned to the martial arts training center in Respite Street. When he went in, the security guard didn’t notice anything amiss. He just smiled and asked why Chen Chuan was back so early today.

Once Chen Chuan went up, he put the Frost King Saber on its stand and called Gao Ming. This time, however, he didn’t say anything. He just let the phone ring a few times before hanging up.

A few minutes later, the phone rang. Chen Chuan picked up the receiver and heard Nian Fuli’s voice. “Xiao Chuan, I heard that armored criminals attacked you. Is that true?”

Upon leaving the park, Chen Chuan had called the Constabulary. As the brigade commander, Nian Fuli was bound to learn about it sooner or later, so he didn’t intend to hide it from him.

“Yeah. Those people were after me. Uncle, I have some problems I need to take care of, so I’ll stay away for a while.”

“Got it. But remember, Xiao Chuan, you’re one of us,” Nian Fuli said sternly.

“I know, Uncle.” Chen Chuan nodded.

***

After Nian Fuli ended the call, he pondered over the situation in his office, signed a document, and gave an order to the constable on duty outside. “Tell Xiao Wu to come to my office.”

A moment later, a young, professional-looking constable came into his office. He saluted him and said, “Master.”

Nian Fuli handed the document to Xiao Wu. “Send a squad to the Quanzhou District. The document will tell you what to do. The constables at the station there will work with you.”

“Roger!”

Xiao Wu went forward to take the document, saluted Nian Fuli again, and left the office without forgetting to shut the door.

***

Gao Ming hurried over to the martial arts training center the moment he got the call.

Chen Chuan poured a cup of tea for him before saying, “A group of people attacked me just now, but I killed them all. I’m sure the Constabulary has already cleaned up the place.”

Gao Ming asked for the details before saying, “That’s fine. If anyone wields a weapon without a permit in Yangzhi City, the citizens have the right to kill them. The constables also arrived at the scene immediately. They won’t be able to use this against you.”

“Now comes the next step,” Chen Chuan said.

“Exactly. Since these criminals weren’t able to kill you, they’re either going to try again or send someone with more of an advantage in terms of fighting power against you. This person will be someone they’re going to be sure you won’t be able to win against. They’ll want to kill you before you go into hiding.

“But this also gives us a chance. This sort of martial artist won’t have any sort of powerful background or won’t be tied to anyone important. Regardless of whether you capture them or kill them, you’ll be able to bring about the next phase.”

“After that, it’ll be the third phase,” Chen Chuan continued.

“Yes, the most important part of our plan. If they really make that choice, you can let loose. Try your best to get rid of all your problems at once,” Gao Ming said seriously.

Chen Chuan nodded. Even if things turned out different from Gao Ming’s deductions, they had prepared a few backup plans to deal with different situations.

The Mutual Aid Group wanted to control the situation, but so did he, and he planned to guide it toward the direction he longed for.

After just an hour, the news about the mercenary group not only failing to kill Chen Chuan, but also being wiped out reached Shao Xiaobie’s ears. He kicked his desk so hard that it toppled over, and he started cursing up a storm about how useless the mercenaries were.

Frustrated, he started pacing around his office while cursing.

He had taken up the task of killing Chen Chuan and promised that he would definitely succeed, but the mercenaries fucking failed and even alerted their target.

After pacing around for a long time, he sat down and called the butler to his office. With a dark expression, he hissed, “Can you send someone else? Don’t hire any of those useless groups anymore. I want someone who can fucking do their job!”

The butler knew just what sort of person Shao Xiaobie was, so he said patiently, “Young Master, Flathead Suo’s group seldom fails. They were either wiped out because of an accident, or because their target’s strength exceeded their expectations. I checked the target’s file before, and I believe that we underestimated him.”

Shao Xiaobie was still burning with annoyance and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Stop talking about these useless things. Look around for capable mercenaries and pay them to kill that kid!”

“This will be hard, Young Master. Flathead Suo’s group had worked with us a few times before, so we could trust them. If we hire someone else, they might not be able to do it even after we pay them. The Constabulary has been conducting frequent checks as well. We’re going to have to wait if we want to hire someone to kill the boy,” the butler stated.

“Offer more, then. There’s bound to be someone who’ll take up the job.”

“News travels fast within that circle. Even if they take up the job, I’m sure the other mercenary groups will be really cautious after hearing about the failure of Flathead Suo’s group. We’ll have to wait,” the butler explained. That was all he could tell Shao Xiaobie.

The mercenary groups weren’t easy to deal with. If he offered a higher price, they would immediately know that Shao Xiaobie was in a hurry to get rid of Chen Chuan, and they would start wondering whether they could wait a little longer for the price to grow even higher. All of them would wait and watch. This matter couldn’t be settled immediately.

“How long do I have to fucking wait?”

“Up to half a month from releasing the news to hiring someone.”

“That’s too long! There’s not enough time for that! The new semester will start by then, damn it!”

Shao Xiaobie couldn’t wait until then. Once the new semester started, Chen Chuan was going to move into the dormitory again, and it was clear that the university’s management was supporting him. Why else would he have been able to do all that? If Chen Chuan went back to the campus, they wouldn’t be able to take him out.

On top of that, Chen Chuan might apply for the unrestricted defense permit test and take the test with Wei Jun, which would make things really awkward.

“If you’re in a hurry, we can hire local forces,” the butler offered.

“No! We can’t use anyone from the city!” Shao Xiaobie rejected the idea outright. If they hired a local and they failed, the clues would lead back to Shao Xiaobie. While the others would stay safe, he would end up as the scapegoat. Why should he suffer while helping someone else do their dirty work? He wasn’t that stupid.

Suddenly, he slammed his hands on the table and pointed at the butler. “That’s right. He has a family! If we can’t take him out directly, we take out his family!”

“Young Master, the boy was brought up by his aunt’s family. His uncle is Nian Fuli, constable brigade commander, so they live in the constables’ residential area. We can’t attack them carelessly,” the butler shot down the idea.

“Fuck!” Shao Xiaobie cursed again. The idea was a no-go.

The constables were really close-knit, and due to the nature of their work, they lived in a residential area designated specifically for them and their families. Armed personnel were guarding the area at all times, so no outsiders could enter the place. There were, of course, ways to make it in, but things could blow out of proportion, and then the whole Constabulary would go on a rampage. Shao Xiaobie couldn’t handle that.

“Young Master, we don’t need to hire the local forces ourselves or do anything else like that. You can stay uninvolved," the butler suggested.

“What do you mean?” Shao Xiaobie sat up straighter.

“I asked around to get more information about the boy aside from his file and records. Recently, he got into a conflict with the Blood Scars Gang. He broke the arm of Zhuo Bao, who’s one of the Five Claws. Zhuo Bao is suing him because of this, but this matter isn’t settled yet. We can leak the information that he’s at the south of the city to Zhuo Bao,” the butler said.

“The Blood Scars Gang? Aren’t they fighting against the Chain Links Gang now? Would they have the time to deal with this? Besides, why would Zhuo Bao listen to you? Is he going to go there just because you ask?” Shao Xiaobie was skeptical.

“Zhuo Bao is a lunatic and mentally unstable. He’s also a vengeful person, who remembers those who have hurt him before. I’m sure it’ll be especially so toward the person who made him lose his arm.

“He also got an implant installed, and we’re the ones providing his anti-mutation medicine. We can add some... additional things... into his medicine and give him some suggestions. I’m sure he won’t be able to resist attacking the boy.

“With the Blood Scars Gang’s manpower and equipment, he might be able to kill him. Even if not, the Blood Scars Gang won’t let such a humiliating defeat slide, while it’ll have nothing to do with us.”

“Good idea.” Shao Xiaobie always loved strategies like this where he just incited someone to do his dirty deeds while he sat back and did nothing. Besides, if the Blood Scars Gang actually attacked Chen Chuan, he could blame the ambush carried out by Flathead Suo’s group on them too.

“It’s settled, then. I don’t care what you do, just get me results as soon as possible.”

The butler nodded respectfully. “I’ll be off, then.”

“Go.”

The butler was really efficient. In just one day, Zhuo Bao received news about Chen Chuan and photos of Respite Street, where he stayed.

He was really sensitive toward Chen Chuan’s name. After all, he had lost an arm to him and ended up becoming a joke in the gang. Everyone laughed at him for losing to a freshman of Martial Valor University and called it his fall from grace. They even said that it would be better for him to hand over his position to someone ranked lower than he was.

Even though he had already received an implant arm and was stronger than before, the incident remained a thorn in his side.

After he took the newly delivered anti-mutation medicine, he felt a fire burn within him, and the name just kept triggering him and burning away at his rationality.

He crushed the glass cup in his hand, and the lackeys around him stared at him nervously.

Zhuo Bao looked up and found that he was in a pub. He frowned. When had he come here, and what had he been doing before? He couldn’t remember, but that was not important.

He stood up and said in a chilling voice, “Come with me.”

His lackeys immediately stood up. Zhuo Bao had told them to come to the pub, then started downing shot after shot. His temper had gotten worse after he lost an arm, so they didn’t dare ask him what was wrong and just kept him company.

After Zhuo Bao got into his car, the well-built man who had led Chen Chuan through the underground fighting ring to see him sat down as well and shut the door. “Where to, Boss?”

Zhuo Bao massaged his temples. With a ruthless expression, he said, “No. 17, Respite Street. Tell the guys to bring their best friends along.”

The well-built man’s heart leapt to his throat. Best friend was code word for guns, but Respite Street was in the city...

Even so, he didn’t dare to disobey Zhuo Bao. He had served under him for a long time because he always did as he was told and never cut corners.

“Got it. I’ll tell them to do just that.”