"An opera troupe?"
Manager Huang said, "That’s right. The Lanxiang Cinema used to be the Fenghua Theater, and they perford traditional operas. That was about sixty years ago, before the Great Expansion even started. Is Mr. Chen looking for this person? Based on her appearance, she couldn’t have been more than twenty at the ti. If she’s still alive, she must be an old woman by now."
Chen Chuan nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Manager Huang."
"Mr. Chen, you’re being too formal. By resolving this matter, you’ve beco my benefactor."
Chen Chuan said, "Now that the matter is settled, Manager Huang, I should be heading back."
"Of course, of course. Take care, Mr. Chen. Please co visit again. I’ll be sure to host you personally."
Manager Huang enthusiastically saw Chen Chuan to his car. After returning upstairs, he couldn’t help but wonder to himself why Chen Chuan was looking for a woman from so many years ago.
But as he dwelled on it, sothing seed to occur to him, and his face turned deathly pale. He tremblingly took out a handkerchief to wipe away his sweat, trying to compose himself. "It’s resolved. It’s resolved," he muttered. "I’ll just get so sleep. Everything will be fine after so sleep."
anwhile, Chen Chuan rode back to Wuyi Academy. Once he was back in his dorm, he forcefully raised his arm, and the fabric under his armpit imdiately ripped open.
As expected, his clothes had beco old and brittle. He grabbed the collar at his chest and gave a slight tug, tearing the entire garnt apart.
He had actually brought a change of clothes before heading out today. Fortunately, the situation hadn’t been as bad as he’d imagined.
He gathered the shredded cloth, went to the bathroom to take a shower, and then went back to catch up on sleep.
When he woke up, it was exactly eight in the morning. He glanced at his Second Self and saw that it was still showing signs of fading, but this ti, it seed he had gained a great deal.
He inspected himself with the Breathing thod of Qi Breathing. Spurred on by the urban legend, the Mutated Organization within his body had grown by the equivalent of a month, which in turn had made it stronger. However, if he hadn’t patched up the weakness beforehand, the outco would have been far from pleasant and could very well have taken a turn for the worse.
Furthermore, the persistent fading indicated there were still additional negative effects. But the duration of his overlap was much greater than before, so he estimated he could probably purge these effects sooner than last ti.
He first went to eat breakfast, then returned to call Cheng Zitong and report that the matter was resolved. Cheng Zitong, in turn, told him to co to the administration building.
He agreed and left his dorm building, heading over to the school’s administration building. He went all the way up to the logistics departnt office on the sixth floor.
The office door was open. When he arrived, Cheng Zitong was on the phone. Upon seeing him, Cheng Zitong gestured for him to co in and sit down, then looked up and said, "The tea is in the cabinet."
Chen Chuan noticed his teacher’s cup was nearly empty, so he walked over, picked up the thermos, and refilled it for him before taking a seat to the side.
After finishing his call and signing a few forms, Cheng Zitong walked to the door, called soone over, and gave a few instructions. Only then did he walk back, look Chen Chuan up and down, and say with a smile, "Looks like it went smoothly."
Chen Chuan said sincerely, "Your thod was very effective, Teacher."
As he spoke, he took out the Ancient Mirror. He was surprised to find that the originally rust-spotted surface was now as bright and clean as new.
Cheng Zitong didn’t seem surprised at all. He took the mirror from Chen Chuan’s hand, walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and placed it inside. "Tell the details," he said.
Chen Chuan recounted the whole process. He then took the photograph out of his pocket. "I just found this photo where the urban legend disappeared. I asked around later and was told it’s an old photo from over sixty years ago. It might be related to this urban legend."
Cheng Zitong walked over, took it to have a look, then handed it back. In a relaxed tone, he said, "You can keep the photo. We can’t trace those things from the past. After an urban legend is dealt with, it sotis leaves things behind. And as you’ve seen, these items can change. You can collect them. So of them might be useful later on, just like my Ancient Mirror."
"Yes, Teacher."
Chen Chuan agreed, but he couldn’t resist asking, "Teacher, what exactly are these urban legends and tales?" He was still very curious about this question. Cheng Zitong hadn’t given him a straight answer last ti, so he took this opportunity to ask again.
Cheng Zitong said, "After this experience, you must have so theories of your own, right? But I want to say that what you’ve seen is only a part of the whole, not the complete picture.
"On this path, I am just a student and an explorer, sa as you. I’ve just been walking it a bit longer and have encountered more things. But even I can’t give you the real answer, and my own theories might just mislead you.
"So my advice is this: don’t be in a hurry to draw conclusions. Just wait and see. Once you’ve had more exposure, you might co to your own new understanding."
Chen Chuan nodded. "I understand, Teacher." After a pause, he added, "Teacher, I’d like to ask for your guidance. If I plan to take the exam for the Unlimited Defense Certificate, what is the procedure?"
Hearing this, Cheng Zitong’s expression turned serious. He walked to the doorway, glanced outside, and closed the door. "Let’s not rush this. The New Year holiday is in a few days. I’ll find so ti before then to explain it to you in detail."
Chen Chuan said, "Alright, Teacher."
He didn’t disturb Cheng Zitong any further and left the office. Standing in the hallway, he glanced outside and saw snowflakes drifting down.
Without him noticing, the snow had begun to fall.
「One day later, on South City’s Guangmo Street.」
Inside a plainly decorated hall, a man in a white shirt, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, was looking back and forth between the forms in his hand, a worried expression on his face.
A few young people, both n and won, sat beside him. Every one of them was dressed in exquisite, well-fitted clothes, but right now, they all looked listless.
A large chandelier hung above them. On the solid wood table they were gathered around lay a map of Yangzhi City and its surrounding towns, which was covered in nurous marks made with different colored pens.
Just then, the door was thrown open with a BANG, and a gust of wind and snow rushed in along with a person, making everyone in the hall shiver involuntarily.
"HISS... I’m freezing to death."
"Quick, close the door!"
"Xiaojiang, are you crazy? Shut the door!"
Xiaojiang paid no mind to the scolding. He hurriedly pushed the door shut, then ran over to the man. "Brother Ren," he said, "did you hear? I heard the phantom urban legend at the Lanxiang Cinema has been resolved."
"Resolved?"
Brother Ren froze for a mont, then his eyes lit up. He grabbed Xiaojiang and asked urgently, "It’s been resolved?"
Xiaojiang nodded vigorously.
Hearing this, the other young people all looked up.
Brother Ren asked impatiently, "Who resolved it? Did you find out?"
"I asked, I asked," Xiaojiang said. "Manager Huang said he couldn’t reveal the agent’s information. But I found out that his driver was responsible for pickup and drop-off every ti the person ca. So I slipped his assistant so money, and the assistant told privately that it was a student from Wuyi. He couldn’t give a na, but he said the person brought a weapon every ti and that Manager Huang had to pull so strings to find him."
"From Wuyi? And brought a weapon every ti? Then he must have a Weapon Permit. No wonder!" Brother Ren said excitedly. "This is exactly the person we need!"
But one of the young n in the group threw a wet blanket on his excitent. "Brother Ren, don’t get your hopes up too soon. A Wuyi Academy student isn’t that easy to hire. They all go to the major commission firms. Why would one co to our little startup?"
Brother Ren, however, was full of confidence. "How will we know if we don’t try? Have you forgotten our dream? We’re going to make our company the biggest commission firm in Yangzhi City and the entire Prefecture Path! We just need to find a way to overco this small hurdle."
He rallied the young people around him. "We can’t compare to the big firms right now, so tackling these urban legends is our best chance for a breakthrough. An expert who can solve these kinds of problems is the agent we need to find. No matter what, we have to find a way to convince him to join us."
"Okay, you’re right, Brother Ren. But we can’t even get into Wuyi Academy, and we don’t even know his na. How are we supposed to et him?"
Soone said, "Doesn’t Manager Huang know him?"
"Impossible. Manager Huang is very professional. If he leaked information about the person he hired, no one would hire him in the future. Besides, even he had to call in a favor. He won’t help us."
"Then give the assistant more money. If he can leak a little, he can leak more. Even without a na, we can get a physical description, right? There aren’t that many people with a Weapon Permit. We can definitely find him."
Listening to the young people bicker, Brother Ren thought for a mont. His eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers. "That’s it! The arena tournant!"
"What?" The young people all looked over at him.
Brother Ren clenched his fist, his excitent palpable. "Wuyi Academy holds arena tournants at the end and beginning of the year! During that ti, the public can enter the academy to watch the matches. As long as we get tickets, we’ll have a chance to get inside Wuyi Academy! We might be able to find him then!"
"That’s right!"
The young people’s eyes all lit up. They enjoyed watching the arena tournants anyway. They could look for the person and watch the matches at the sa ti—killing two birds with one stone.
Just then, a girl with her hair in a bun raised her hand and said in a clear, bright voice, "Leave getting the tickets to . I haven’t had a chance to help everyone out yet."
"Alright, we’ll leave it to Xiaowan."
Brother Ren agreed readily.
Getting these tickets might have been difficult for others, but for this group of rich kids, it was no problem at all. They had enough tickets in just half a day.
However, today was already the 27th, and the holiday vacation would start in two days. Tomorrow’s tournant was the last one of the year. If they didn’t look for him now, they might have to wait until next year.
The young people, feeling lazy, thought it would be fine to look for him next year, but Brother Ren disagreed and gave them a compelling reason:
"An expert like this... if we noticed him, other commission firms definitely noticed him too. If we don’t find him quickly, another company might snatch him up first!"
Spurred on by this reasoning, the young people drove to Wuyi Academy the very sa day they got the tickets.
Around six o’clock, Chen Chuan walked out of the training room. He had just heard the dorm supervisor knock on his door, telling him to clear out his internal delivery box.
So he went out and opened the box, only to find it stuffed full of letters, which surprised him.
He took the letters back to his dorm and looked through them one by one. He found that many were from upperclassn. Most of them said they wanted to have a al with him and get to know their junior, and the wording was always enthusiastic and polite.
Chen Chuan checked the dates on the letters and saw they had all arrived within the last two days. He thought for a mont and realized this was most likely related to his handling of the Lanxiang Cinema incident.
Many graduates and upperclassn were interning or working at various commission firms. They had probably heard about what happened and were now seeking him out. With the resources of a commission firm, it wouldn’t be difficult to find out he was the one who did it.
He tidied up the letters and was about to head out for dinner. As he left the dormitory, however, he saw a female upperclassman with a heroic and dashing bearing, dressed in a foreign-style formal suit, standing there as if waiting for soone.
He glanced at her once and continued walking. But at that mont, footsteps hurried up from behind him, and a voice called out, "Chen? Are you Chen? Please wait a mont."
Chen Chuan stopped and turned. "Can I help you, senior?"
The female upperclassman extended a fair hand toward him and smiled. "Chen, it’s a pleasure to et you for the first ti. My na is Min Lan. I’m a Wuyi graduate, now working as an agent for a commission firm. You should have received the Na Card we had Fang deliver to you."
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