It was almost noon when Chen Chuan and his team members returned to Yangzhi City.

However, due to the recent explosion in the city, the high alert had not yet been lifted. Patrol Bureau vehicles were everywhere, and all passing cars were being strictly inspected.

Fortunately, Chen Chuan and his team were escorted by a Patrol Bureau vehicle on their way back, which saved them a lot of trouble.

Since it was almost lunchtime, the group decided to eat at a well-regarded lamb restaurant near South City before going their separate ways.

After returning to his dorm, Chen Chuan changed out of his clothes, took a quick shower, and turned on the radio as he came out.

The news reported on a meeting between representatives from various companies. Celebrities had been invited to offer their perspectives. One side was optimistic, believing it would benefit Yangzhi City. The other was cautious, questioning if this would just lead to another Molan Company. The two sides were locked in a fierce, back-and-forth debate.

’Most of the foreign company representatives sent this time died on the train,’ Chen Chuan thought. ’Even if some from Porlon Company survived, the conflict is already there. They probably don’t stand a chance anymore.’

Meanwhile, there was no mention of the train hijacking. It seemed the news was being deliberately suppressed. Perhaps the Administrative Affairs Hall wasn’t ready to release the information.

After listening for a while, he turned off the radio.

He took out the medicine he’d received during the national draft and swallowed it. Then, he sat down on a soft cushion and began his daily practice of the Furnace Breathing Method.

It had been almost three months since August. Thanks to his relentless training and several battles against powerful enemies, the Mutated tissues in his internal organs had grown considerably. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The Second Limit was once known as the "Guardian of the Heavy Mandate." He Xiaoxing had told him that the key was to shift from "guarding" to "living." To put it simply, it meant possessing a second life.

According to the data, a Fighter at this stage could survive on a secondary set of organs even if their original ones were destroyed. The two sets of organs could alternate and repair each other. The two systems didn’t replace one another; rather, they supplemented and strengthened each other, forming a single symbiotic entity.

This was also preparation for the next stage. Similar to the First Limit, the more robust, resilient, and reasonably distributed the Mutated tissues of the Second Limit were, the greater the advantage in the subsequent stage.

From what he could feel, he was still in the strengthening phase, a good distance away from the fully formed state he envisioned.

’Still, this progress is already fast enough.’

It had only been a little over a year since he started learning the Fighting Skill. No matter how much the Mutated tissues were stimulated, they had a natural limit to their growth.

After all, he wasn’t someone born with true talent. He had come this far because his Second Self allowed him to ignore the damage from medicine and most of the overexertion injuries from training.

While others could only manage three or four hours of high-intensity training a day at most, he could continue without interruption. The effort he put in was many times that of an ordinary person.

He could now maintain the Basic Breathing Technique around the clock, anytime and anywhere.

This Breathing Technique was the true foundation. Even the various other techniques he’d encountered later, including the Furnace Breathing Method, contained elements of it.

Of course, the Furnace Breathing Method was far more complex. If one were to compare it to a large circle, its intricacy and variations were enough to completely encompass the former.

But the stronger the foundation, the more it could support, and the more pronounced the effects of the Furnace Breathing Method would be. Even the slightest improvement was good, especially since his goal was the theoretical limit. He couldn’t afford to neglect any area that could offer a potential gain.

His practice this time lasted until midnight. He first emptied his mind and entered a deep sleep. After midnight, he woke up on his own, merged with his Second Self, and began his self-assessment.

He had gone about his day as usual, but he hadn’t done much that required his Second Self to absorb damage. He concluded that this latest operation had increased his merge time by more than two hours, but he was still short of a full twenty-four-hour merge.

He had expected this. There hadn’t been any particularly strong opponents among the people he dealt with this time. He estimated that most of the increase was likely due to the urban legend and the Esoteric Ritual.

He decided to let it happen naturally, though.

’Huge fluctuations in spirit and emotion would mean encountering dangerous and unpredictable opponents. For now, even if I just work step-by-step, I should be able to accumulate enough time. There’s no need to take unnecessary risks. Besides, once I get to Central City, there won’t be a shortage of opponents.’

For the next ten days or so, he threw himself completely into his Fighting Skill training. In the blink of an eye, it was mid-November.

That day, Gao Ming called. "Cousin, I’ve taken care of the matter of the joint departmental commission for you. The payment for the commission will be transferred to your account by the end of this month at the latest."

"Alright, Gao Ming. Thanks for your trouble," Chen Chuan said.

"Cousin, there’s one more thing," Gao Ming said. "We have a concrete result regarding the murder of Wuyi Academy student Shen Zheng three years ago."

"You’ve already dealt with most of the people involved in this case, Cousin. But one person got away, and it seems there’s no way to get a definitive outcome for him right now."

Hearing this, Chen Chuan knew he must be talking about the Zhao Qian that Wei Jun had mentioned.

In fact, this person was the main perpetrator of the incident back then. He was a student in the same year as Shen Zheng; Wei Jun was a year below them.

This person had gone to Central City three years ago. So even with the fall of the Molan Company, he couldn’t be brought to justice. The Yangzhi City Patrol Bureau couldn’t exactly go to Central City to arrest someone.

Gao Ming warned, "Cousin, you need to be careful with this guy. The Zhao Family in Yangzhi City has been completely uprooted and their assets confiscated, but their holdings in Central City are not so easy to touch. I checked; they don’t just have business dealings with Molan Company, they also have deep ties with other major corporations."

"As the direct instigator and participant in this incident, Cousin, you must be careful of him if you go to Central City."

"Are you sure there’s no way to get him through official channels?" Chen Chuan asked.

Gao Ming replied, "Zhao Qian’s company has an entire team of Litigation Masters and connections with the Upper Layer of Central City. Even with ample evidence, he can mobilize enough social and administrative resources to exonerate himself."

"Even if he fails and the law finds him guilty, due to the unique nature of Central City, the sentence would likely be unenforceable. The verdict would be no different from a piece of scrap paper."

"So if you want the sentence to be carried out, you’d have to possess more social resources and greater power than them, is that it?" Chen Chuan asked.

"That’s right. And it also depends on whether the entity with that power is willing to confront them. But usually, institutions with that kind of power won’t waste their energy on such ’trivial matters’ unless something bigger is at stake. However..."

He paused before continuing, "As far as I know, there are other ways to solve this kind of problem in Central City."

Chen Chuan nodded. "I have a good idea what you mean."

If legal channels yield no results, then one must resort to private means: using money or other terms to hire people or an organization to achieve one’s goal.

"Yes, it’s just as you think, Cousin," Gao Ming said. "When power isn’t centralized, it leaves a lot of gaps. And wherever there are gaps, all sorts of groups and organizations will pop up to fill them."

"But in a way, that’s a good thing. In Central City, even an ordinary person can spend some money to hire help to take care of certain troubles. Of course, that’s provided they have enough money and their target isn’t a major figure."

Chen Chuan grunted in acknowledgment. ’If I go to Central City, I’ll have to be careful of this Zhao Qian. He’s backed by a company and has significant Energy behind him.’

"One other thing. Regarding the vehicles you asked me to investigate, Cousin, I’ve gathered some information. Currently, in Dashun Country, there are three types of vehicles with that kind of tile-blue paint."

"There’s the ’iCAUR,’ a women’s car popular with female corporate employees; the ’Celestial Realm’ series of luxury cars produced by the Guide Company; and a more common ’Cyan Lake’ series sedan. Apart from the Celestial Realm series, which is quite rare, the other two are fairly common. I’ve already mailed the detailed information to you, Cousin."

"Thanks, Gao Ming," Chen Chuan said.

After hanging up, he glanced at the sky outside. He remembered that his predecessor had seen the silhouette of a tile-blue car before his death. However, the light had been dim back then, so there was no guarantee the color wasn’t distorted. For now, he would treat it as a lead and investigate.

Meanwhile, at the Fenxin Society’s headquarters, the older members of the society were gathered together, looking over the details of Shen Zheng’s case that the Patrol Bureau had just released.

"So that’s how Senior Brother Shen died..."

The members had only known that Shen Zheng was murdered by the Mutual Aid Association using underhanded methods, but they were unaware of the specific details. Seeing them now made their blood run cold, and it intensified their hatred for the group led by Zhao Qian.

They couldn’t win in a fair fight, so they resorted to assassination. The members could well imagine that even if that attempt had failed, more schemes would have followed. They would have found a way to kill Shen Zheng eventually.

"Thank goodness for Junior Chen! He wiped out the entire Mutual Aid Association in one fell swoop. A beautiful job!"

The members all nodded, their emotions stirring. ’We couldn’t deal with you, but in the end, there are people in this world that even you can’t deal with.’

"But Senior Brother Shen had a sister. I wonder what happened to her. The Wei Family’s butler confessed that she was taken to Central City by people from the Zhao Family..."

A silence fell over the room. Their senior brother had been murdered by the Mutual Aid Association; they could hardly imagine what his sister must have gone through.

Just then, Lu Fang silently stood up and walked outside, standing there alone as if lost in thought. A moment later, Shu Han and Shen Shao came out.

The two exchanged a glance before Shu Han walked up and asked, "Senior Brother Lu, are you planning to find out what happened to our senior brother’s sister?"

Lu Fang turned around and admitted freely, "Yeah, I’m going to give it a try. She might be the last person our senior brother cared about. If we don’t look into it, who will?"

Shu Han said, "But she’s probably in Central City. And you don’t have any official status, Senior Brother Lu. It’ll be hard for you to even get by there, let alone find someone."

Shen Shao added from the side, "Senior Brother, it’s not that I’m heartless. I’m just thinking... it’s been three years. We don’t know what her situation is now. Maybe... it’s possible..."

"We still have to try," Lu Fang said.

He walked over and clapped them both on the shoulder. "With you two here, I can leave the Fenxin Society in good hands. Don’t worry, I won’t overreach. I know my own limits. I just want to confirm what happened. If she’s still alive, I’ll let you know, and we’ll figure out a plan together."

...

...