Book 3, Chapter 118: Spreading Influence

The moment Chen Chuan went to the niche channel, he found loads of new discussion threads. To no surprise, all of them were talking about his fight with Wei Wusheng.

Most of them were discussions about who he was.

Someone commented that they thought that Chen Chuan was just a normal Martial Valor University student, so they were surprised when they found that he was the Resolution Department’s trump card. The person was sure that everyone had misjudged his strength.

The speaker’s tone was full of malicious glee, and his words were clearly directed at the people who bet on the wrong fighters.

Some people also came forward to grumble about why Chen Chuan had decided to keep such a low profile, even though he was so strong.

Of course, no one dared to be harsh. After all, Chen Chuan was a Third Limit martial artist and was from the Resolution Department, so they didn’t dare to offend him.

Some people also theorized that Chen Chuan was the one who had stopped Wei Wusheng from killing everyone on the cruise ship, not Du Geng.

Back then, Chen Chuan had indeed stopped Wei Wusheng’s massacre, which was why he had come back to specifically seek him out. Based on the path he took and the preparations he made, it was clear that Chen Chuan was his target. But this time, he was still unable to win and couldn’t even run away, which resulted in him getting killed.

That statement brought about surprised exclamations and enlightenment. Then, the conversation shifted to a discussion about their strengths.

Since the talk was about Third Limit martial artists, they couldn’t perform an accurate analysis based on the details of the fight. After all, they couldn’t see it. They could only judge based on their impressions of the fight.

There were stubborn people who believed that Wei Wusheng wasn’t able to bring out his full strength because he was previously injured and even lost his weapon, so he didn’t lose because he was weaker. Still, most people believed that Chen Chuan had overpowered Wei Wusheng and defeated him. No other factor affected his victory.

After all, Wei Wusheng had been at a disadvantage from the start. They could tell based on the fact that he never dealt Chen Chuan any substantial damage.

However, as the one directly involved in the fight, Chen Chuan knew that the fight had been dangerous, and he had been exposed to the most danger when Wei Wusheng stood up during his final moments.

Chen Chuan didn’t know what exactly had happened, but he had sensed that the two forces within Wei Wusheng had merged into one and started to heal him.

If Chen Chuan had been a step slower, he wouldn’t have been able to tell who would have had the last laugh. Perhaps he would have had to fight against Wei Wusheng at his best, or perhaps his opponent’s strength could have doubled.

That was why he had overlapped with his second self and used all his strength to crush Wei Wusheng’s heart.

While his current second self was relatively weaker and far from Chen Chuan’s current level of strength, he was strong enough. Even if he could only boost Chen Chuan’s strength by a bit, it was still a boost.

Chen Chuan had thought about it. If he couldn’t kill Wei Wusheng after crushing his heart, then he would have to do whatever it took to retrieve the Frost King Saber and wait for reinforcements from the Resolution Department.

Among the discussions of the fight, most people were talking trash about a certain person, though Chen Chuan wasn’t surprised by that.

“Old Cat Han didn’t live up to his fame. Wei Wusheng killed him while he was dying! To think that I had such high hopes for him. Damn it…” What came after that was a string of curses and foul words. Clearly, this person had put a lot of money on Old Cat Han to win.

Many people agreed with his statement, and practically no one defended Old Cat Han. After all, he had died a humiliating death. He had even tried to steal Chen Chuan’s kill. Most people hated those who acted like that.

Practically everyone hated on Old Cat Han, but at that moment, Dancing On A Cap came forward and disagreed with their statements.

“Old Cat Han might not be a good person, but I don’t think that makes him a weak martial artist. He’s an agile fighter, and he thought that Wei Wusheng was dead. You can’t fault him for thinking that way. Didn’t you see Chen Chuan leaving back then as well?

“But for some reason, Wei Wusheng wasn’t dead. He caught Old Cat Han by surprise, and the bounty hunter couldn’t bring out his true strength. You know that melee fights are his weakness, and that happens to be Wei Wusheng’s greatest strength.

“I believe that if these two were to fight normally, Wei Wusheng wouldn’t have been able to touch the bounty hunter. No matter what, Old Cat Han wouldn’t lose. There’s a reason why he was so arrogant, but his greed got him killed.”

His words immediately brought forward the naysayers who had been waiting for him to speak. The discussion then shifted to a comparison between the Pei brothers, Bayonet Zuo, Old Cat Han, and the other martial artists who died. These people were dead, so they could comment about them all they wanted without being afraid of anyone causing them trouble.

Chen Chuan read through the discussion for a little longer before picking up the book Cao Guiqi gave him and taking his time reading it.

***

The sky wasn’t entirely dark yet, but an underground martial arts school in Deep End District already had its lights turned on. Many of its students had come over to train at night.

Lu Fang had some free time, so he took a few tubes of nutritional paste and started training hard as well.

Chen Chuan’s words stayed in his mind. It was only when he reached the Third Limit that he would have the right to look into the things he wanted.

Hence, these days, whenever he had free time, he trained much harder than he did when he was a student.

Fortunately, Chen Chuan had delivered on his promise to sponsor his medicine, which allowed Lu Fang to not have to worry about training resources. Still, even though Chen Chuan had never said anything, Lu Fang had decided to repay him bit by bit after he started earning money. He would also remember this great favor done unto him.

The two upperclassmen were amazed by his hard work, and even they started feeling the pressure to reach the Third Limit.

After finishing a set, Senior Yu walked over and said, “Rest for a bit, Lu Fang. Let me show you something good.”

“Is it a match from the tournament?” Lu Fang asked.

They weren’t official citizens, so they didn’t have the right to watch the tournament. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Some people, despite not being citizens, managed to procure videos of the tournament, and their price was quite affordable as well. It was also getting lower and lower as time passed because plenty of people were selling the videos. By next year, aside from the contestants, no one would watch the old tournament videos, so it was better to sell them as soon as possible.

Senior Yu gave him a mysterious smile. “It’s a fight, alright, but it’s different this time. It’s a fight between two Third Limit martial artists. Want to see it?”

“The Third Limit?” Lu Fang asked in surprise.

“Yup! The Third Limit! I went through quite a lot of trouble to get this video. Aren’t I a good friend?” Senior Yu asked smugly.

Recorded fights between Third Limit martial artists were indeed rare, but Lu Fang was someone who had seen quite a lot of the world, so he asked, “Can we even see the details of the fight between Third Limit martial artists?”

“Don’t worry. The video is from the arena, so they’ve fixed their frequency band to make it so that even an average person can see the fight clearly. Apparently, you can even see the details if you’re using a high-end Realm Pass. It’s a pity that I can’t get that,” Senior Yu whispered.

Lu Fang wanted to see it to broaden his horizons, so he said, “Let me treat you to a meal later.”

“That’s a promise. I’ll send it to you now.” Senior Yu put a hand on his Realm Pass and sent the video to Lu Fang.

Lu Fang’s Realm Pass was just a normal, secondhand Realm Pass, so he was only able to get the full video after a long time. The moment he started playing it and saw one of the people, he was stunned.

Chen Chuan?

His amazed expression made Senior Yu feel really proud of himself. He patted Lu Fang’s shoulder and said, “Not bad, right?”

Since it only took a few minutes for the two fighters to decide upon a victor, Lu Fang soon finished the video, but the fight left a deep impression on him.

His heart was filled with deep shock and a profound, emotional impact.

“The Third Limit…”

He remembered what Chen Chuan had told him, and his heart was filled with deep emotion and admiration as he whispered, “You did it, Chen Chuan.”

“I wonder when we can ever reach that stage,” Senior Yu said with a sigh.

“No matter how long and difficult the road is, we have to persevere,” Lu Fang said firmly.

Senior Yu seemed to have recalled all his hard work over the years. He fell silent for a while. “You’re right, we have to keep walking down this path, no matter how hard it is.”

***

There was a manor that occupied an entire hill in Motie Mountain. At that moment, Meng Shu, Chen Chuan’s childhood friend, sat on a long, spacious sofa in the living room with a ramrod straight back. A butler was introducing a variety of things to her.

The butler was in her thirties and wore a pair of delicate, women’s glasses, which gave her a polite, intellectual air. By her ears was a thin line of an embedded Realm Pass, which was practically invisible.

“Recruiting qualified martial artists is our next focus. If martial artists want to climb up the social ladder, they have to fight against people from the same social class. That’s why most martial artists seize all the opportunities they can get, and most of the time, only big companies and the government provide those opportunities to them long-term.”

“Yes. After all, resources are limited,” Meng Shu pointed out.

“Indeed. That phrase can be applied anywhere. Martial artists can also be seen as a type of resource, and we need to fight for this resource with others.

“Many big companies and government departments sponsor martial artists with potential from when they’re young. While we’ve also sponsored quite a number of martial artists, the supervisor in charge of this project doesn’t seem to have a good eye. The martial artists she sponsors are either only able to produce mediocre results and don’t meet our requirements, or they have their names removed from our list of sponsored martial artists.

“Over the past two years, we’ve sponsored no less than two hundred martial artists. Every year, we use a large amount of funds specifically for this purpose. We sponsor martial artists from Martial Valor University, the gangs, and all sorts of martial arts factions, but the results are less than ideal.

“The reality is that this scattered distribution of resources isn’t really useful. What we need now is an elite, because one such person can win against a hundred mediocre martial artists. As for the average martial artists, we only need to give them implants.”

Meng Shu then asked coldly, “The company has been researching high-end implants all this while. Have they still not produced one fitting our requirements?”

“This is the other problem I was going to mention,” the butler replied. “A lot of the high-end implants we produce barely meet our requirements, and their recipients need a long time to get used to them. They require a few years or even decades to get the full set of implants.

“We tried to shorten the time, but it ended up with the recipients’ lifespans being reduced drastically. Right now, we don’t have a solution for this technical problem.

“I’d like to remind you that only mega corporations have implants to certain parts of the body. We need to buy those from them, and the recipients all need a lot of suitable medicine that can only be purchased from powerful pharmaceutical companies like Tiancong Baicao, Green Satchel Pharmacy, and Troyden Pharma. These companies, of course, place restrictions on our growth.

“And these are just the high-level issues we face. Miss Shu, if you want to inherit the company, you need to compete with your cousin, and you need to produce much better results. We don’t have enough resources, so we have to concentrate them on only a select few. We have to invest in those who don’t need that many resources but are worthy of our investment.

“The moment we make the right choice, we’ll get a hundred times the reward.”

Meng Shu nodded, acknowledging the butler’s suggestion. She asked, “You have a candidate?”

The butler nudged her glasses up her nose and said, “We’ve found someone suitable.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep