As soon as the city security team left, Wubei noticed. "Brother Chen, they’re gone!" he said, pleasantly surprised. "They’ve headed back."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that person chose Class C service," he said, the fear still lingering. "If it were Class B, they wouldn’t have left."
Chen Chuan didn’t know the specifics of the service tiers, but he had an Unlimited Defense Certificate and wasn’t afraid of the city security forces. Their departure simply ant less trouble.
’Still, I should probably look into those service terms later.’
Seeing that no one was left standing, he went back into the building. He retrieved the Sword Scabbard for his Snow Monarch Blade, collected so hair and blood samples from the bodies of Lang Teng and Bo Chen, and then ca back downstairs.
Wubei spoke up. "Brother Chen, are you leaving already? Wait a little longer. I’m hacking their information center to delete today’s records. Plus, their Boundary Point has tons of stored data, including a lot about their unusual jobs. I can package it all up and take it with us."
Chen Chuan nodded. "Take your ti. There’s no rush."
’Now that the city security team has turned back, no one else should be coming here for a while.’
The City Cleaning Team might send people to collect the bodies, but not right away.
Old Qi got the all-clear and drove the car over. With the local Boundary Point now uncontrolled and all Biological Domain signals blocked by Wubei, he no longer had to worry about being exposed. As he approached, Wubei handily added him to their private communication channel.
After parking, Old Qi walked over. Staring at the bodies littering the ground, he was left speechless.
He was getting a real sense of the destructive power of a Fighter like Chen Chuan. In such a short amount of ti, an entire elite team, including their security personnel, had been completely wiped out.
Over the channel, Wubei suddenly said, "Huh?" His voice rose slightly. "I found sothing. According to the access surveillance logs, it looks like they brought a large amount of cash into the company yesterday."
"Cash?"
Old Qi said at once, "We have to take the cash!"
He quickly added, "I’m not being greedy. Think about it. If we just leave, whoever cos to clean up later will take the cash for themselves and then bla us for its disappearance. We might as well take it now. If it’s gone when they get here, they won’t have anything to pin on us."
Wubei agreed. "There’s no record of this cash. If it’s in the company building, taking it won’t cause any problems."
Old Qi asked, "Brother Chen, what do you think?"
Chen Chuan’s reply was short and firm: "Take it."
’I still have to figure out how to deal with that strange case. If I can’t resolve it quickly, I’ll need a lot of money to buy containnt materials for an Esoteric Ritual. The Golden Shrimp Team’s money would be perfect for that.’
With Chen Chuan’s approval, Old Qi excitedly ran inside. Following Wubei’s directions, he found a bag of cash in one of the rooms, which looked like it hadn’t yet been processed.
As he ca back down with the money bag, he couldn’t help but lant, "We can only take the cash. Who knows which bastard will get the money in the Golden Shrimp Team’s accounts."
Wubei used the Boundary Point to check. "There isn’t much in the company account anyway," he reported. "Just over two thousand. Probably just for petty cash and ergencies."
Old Qi thought about it and figured that made sense. The new year had just passed, so the Golden Shrimp Team would have already paid out last year’s earnings. The bulk of the money wouldn’t be in the company account, but in personal ones.
But with private accounts, even if you could find the records and crack the passwords, it would be useless. Most of them are linked to the owner’s Biological Domain. As soon as the owner dies or leaves a designated safe zone, the account freezes instantly. No one can access it except the owner or their designated heir.
They waited for another ten minutes or so before Wubei announced excitedly, "All done! I’ve packaged all the data!"
Chen Chuan said, "Let’s go."
He and Old Qi got into the car. As it started, Old Qi glanced back at the flamboyant, holographic golden shrimp on the building’s roof. "Brother Chen," he said, "there are probably powerful people behind the Golden Shrimp Team. We’ll need to be careful."
Chen Chuan humd in agreent.
’But that depends. If the Golden Shrimp Team’s leadership were still alive, they might have been able to call on their connections. But according to the company files, they all died here today. How many people would really stick their necks out for a bunch of corpses?’
Wubei chid in, "Don’t worry. I deleted all of Brother Chen’s records, and I altered his travel logs for today as well. Without a definite target, they won’t be able to find him."
Old Qi asked, "What about the city security team? They must have a record, right?"
"They might, but the security team’s records aren’t made public. You’d have to buy their services, and only a Class A service contract grants partial access to that kind of information."
Old Qi breathed a genuine sigh of relief. Class A was one of the highest tiers of city security service, the kind only reserved for the most influential figures in Central City. The entire Golden Shrimp Team wasn’t worth enough to afford it. No one would go to that kind of trouble for them.
Just then, he received a private ssage from Wubei. After a mont’s thought, he looked at Chen Chuan. "Brother Chen, I think Brother Wu would be a great fit for our team. What do you say... we ask him to join us?"
In his apartnt, Wubei waited, nervous and full of anticipation.
He had asked Old Qi to make the proposal for him. He’d never seen a Fighter as powerful as Chen Chuan. The prospect of tackling those unusual jobs, of facing the filth and foes lurking in the dark corners of the city... just the thought of it thrilled him.
At this point, Chen Chuan had already realized that having a Resonator on the team was probably essential for operating in Central City. "Brother Wu is very capable," he said. "If he’s willing..."
"I’m willing! Totally willing!"
Chen Chuan smiled. "Alright. In that case, Brother Wu, welco to the team."
"Woo-hoo!" In his apartnt, Wubei excitedly threw his hands in the air.
After all the commotion, it was now noon. As the car drove on, Chen Chuan watched the footage Wubei had sent him.
It was the recording of his battle with the Golden Shrimp Team. However, since his own data had been blocked and erased from the start, it just looked like everyone was fighting a blurry mass of light and shadow.
But he could still see each of his opponents’ movents with perfect clarity. He couldn’t help but think, ’In Central City, it must be easy for Fighters to review their battles. That would be incredibly useful for post-fight analysis and improvent.’
However, when he saw their perfectly synchronized, almost identical movents, he instinctively felt it was related to Biological Domain technology. He clipped a segnt of the video, sent it to Wubei, and asked, "Brother Wu, do you know what this is?"
Wubei took a look. "Oh, that. I know what it is. They link to active or inactive Consciousness Bodies and use the records and data within them to coordinate and execute optimal tactics. Sotis the Fighter doesn’t even need to think; the Consciousness Body makes the adjustnts for them. The only prerequisite is having the right kind of Implant."
’So that’s how it works,’ Chen Chuan thought. ’This technology is not to be underestimated. It was only because the Golden Shrimp Team’s individual strength and equipnt were lacking that I won. If they had been a tier higher, it wouldn’t have been so easy.’
’The city security team must have access to this technology, and the individual skill of their mbers is bound to be much higher, too.’
’If I have to face an enemy like that, there’s no other way around it. I just have to beco stronger.’
He took a deep breath. ’I need to get stronger, and fast.’
Not long after they left, a dozen or so more cars pulled up. A crowd of people who looked like gang mbers got out. Most had their hair styled to look like moss, glowing with a rainbow of colors.
A man who appeared to be their leader surveyed the carnage in the plaza, then walked over to Jing Li’s corpse, which was lying on a car. He took off his polarized sunglasses and scoffed, "Looks like they picked a fight with the wrong person."
One of his underlings spoke up, "Boss, should we go after the guys who did this?"
"Go after them for what?" the leader shot him a sideways glance. "Was Jing Li your dad or sothing?"
The underling said blankly, "Neither, Boss. You know my dad’s your cousin."
"Fuck, I know that! And if *you* know that, then why the hell are you giving a shit about these assholes?"
The underling said weakly, "But Boss, I thought we were partners..."
The leader tapped the underling’s head with his sunglasses, making him flinch back with a yelp. "Use your fucking brain," he cursed. "We worked with them so they could move their goods through here. Now that they’re gone, we’ll just find soone else. Who the hell has the ti to go avenge them? You running a damn charity or sothing?"
"Boss, stop poking , stop! I was wrong, I was wrong..."
The leader grunted and looked around again. "On the other hand, the gear and Implants on these stiffs are pretty decent. We can strip the bodies and sell it all for a good price. We can take it with us."
With a wave of his hand, his underlings rushed into the building. A few monts later, one of them ran back out. "Boss, we found the package," he said, holding up a bag.
The leader said, "Since we have what we ca for, let’s not stick around. Tell the boys not to bother with the small-fry junk. Just strip the high-value models and let’s go."
"Got it!"
After his n had been at it for about half an hour, a ssage appeared on the leader’s Realm Token.
"Boss, the City Cleaning Team is on their way."
The leader imdiately shouted, "Everyone finished? If you’re done, let’s move!" His n shouted in reply, got into the vehicles with the Implants they had crudely stripped from the corpses, and the dozen-or-so cars quickly sped away.
anwhile, Old Qi’s car arrived back in the vicinity of the shantytown.
Before they got out, Chen Chuan asked, "Old Qi, I didn’t get a chance to ask earlier. Did you run into any trouble when you went to buy the Esoteric Materials?"
Old Qi replied, "No trouble, exactly. It’s just..." He hesitated. "It’s nothing. I can handle it."
Chen Chuan looked at him. "If there’s a problem, you can tell . We’re a team now. Your problems are the team’s problems."
Old Qi said earnestly, "Brother Chen, I can handle it."
Chen Chuan nodded. He got out of the car and stood at the intersection, gazing into the depths of the shantytown. They could talk about other things later. For now, it was ti to deal with that strange case.
...
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