Chapter 125: Discussion

When Chen Chuan walked to the crowd, behind him was an empty road that stretched into the distance. Only Douma, the defeated opponent, lay on the ground. The students were momentarily stupefied.

Chen Chuan cast one look at them. By then, the Martial Valor University students had subjugated all the Merkarian students and those who had participated in the attack.

As elite students of Martial Valor University, they were reserve law enforcers, so they had no problem jumping into action to take down these people.

The students’ eyes were filled with shock, curiosity, and admiration as they stared at him.

Even if Douma was a Merkarian, he was still a lecturer, and Chen Chuan had managed to defeat him in a one-on-one fight. They had to admit that they were far beneath him in terms of strength.

Once Chen Chuan arrived in front of the crowd, a student full of admiration on his face handed his jacket to him. With a thank you, he took his jacket.

During the fight, his shirt had become torn in several places, so he put his jacket around his shoulders and buttoned it up again.

Chen Chuan took the chance to observe his second self. Several areas were blurred, and the damage was quite extensive. His second self had suffered a lot of damage for him during the fight.

Chen Chuan had not thrown caution to the wind during the fight just because his second self could absorb damage.

He had done his best to block and dodge so that he could minimize his injuries. Only when he could not do either did he let his second self absorb the damage. This was because there was an upper limit to how much damage his second self could absorb, so he had to be careful. If his second self was destroyed, not only would Chen Chuan no longer be able to use him to protect himself, but his fighting strength would also go down the drain. Hence, even if he had the upper hand when he used his second self, he had to stay cautious.

Once Chen Chuan fastened his last button, Guan Xinyin walked over. She held the hat he had dropped when he was chasing after the shooter. “Here, Chen Chuan.”

Chen Chuan took it and adjusted it over his head. “Thanks, Guan Xinyin.”

“Looks like there’s no need for us to spar anymore. Even though I’ve managed to create refined force, I’m still far weaker than you are,” Guan Xinyin said.

She wanted to ask Chen Chuan whether he also practiced body hardening, but she held back, because this concerned personal techniques, which were usually secrets. She knew better than to ask.

“Since we already agreed to a spar, I can wait. Whenever you feel ready, just tell me,” Chen Chuan said.

“Sure!” Guan Xinyin agreed readily. Even if she could not defeat Chen Chuan now, it did not mean that she could not defeat him in the future. Besides, even if she could not defeat him ever, she could still use him as a goal to push her forward.

Just then, Chen Chuan turned around and saw Luo Kaiyuan walking over to Douma. Luo Kaiyuan stared at him quietly for a moment before he left.

Armored vehicles from the Constabulary drove down the road. It had only been around ten minutes since the shooting started, so they had come in a great rush.

The security guards had never stepped forward to help. Their task was to protect the government officials from the Department of Administrative Affairs, while chasing down the criminals was the Constabulary’s job. It had nothing to do with them. Even if the world around them descended into chaos, they would not care.

Mr. Han walked over. As a lecturer of the Operations Department, he had a position in the Resolution Department, so he had to protect the officials from the Department of Administrative Affairs as well. This meant that his hands were tied when it came to helping the students against the Merkarians and the shooters. It was only when the government officials were all escorted to safety that he had time to check on the situation.

He cast a glance at the defeated Douma. When he saw his mutated state, his gaze turned grim. Then, he looked at Chen Chuan. He seemed like he was going to deliver one hell of a lecture, but what came out of his mouth was only a single question.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mr. Han,” Chen Chuan answered.

“You’ve got guts. To think you actually won against Douma,” Mr. Han marveled. He had only ever seen one person this talented before.

He turned his stern gaze to the students around him. “I can’t say that you did the wrong thing by stepping forward to stop the Merkarians and the shooters, but they had guns. If you had died because of this, it would have been a huge loss. I won’t say anything this time, since no one got hurt, but I want you to think carefully before you jump into action next time.”

The students gave scattered replies.

“The Constabulary will take care of this, and the university will wrap things up. You’re all to return to the campus with me now,” he continued.

On their way back, Luo Kaiyuan sat beside Chen Chuan. “I don’t understand it. Why would they do this? They gave it away to the government as a tribute. Even if they wanted it back, did they really have to resort to such a method?”

Chen Chuan knew that he was talking about the oak leaf. After some thinking, he said, “There might be something more to that leaf. Maybe they did this because they were worried we wouldn’t return it?”

He, too, was thinking about Douma’s final words. “The echoes of the world are getting stronger.” What did he mean by that? Is it a Merkarian manner of speech?

The Merkarians lived in harmony with nature and often said some pretty mysterious things, but he had a feeling that this time things were not that simple.

Once the bus returned to the university, it was about time for lunch, so Chen Chuan and Luo Kaiyuan decided to head straight to the cafeteria. Luo Kaiyuan went to give Feng Xiaoqi a call. Once he joined them, he immediately asked, “I heard that you got attacked today, and the Merkarians even stole the sacred item. Is that true?”

“You already know?” Luo Kaiyuan asked in surprise.

“Someone called the university. I heard that someone from the Department of Administrative Affairs even got shot. Did you see it?”

Chen Chuan nodded. “The resistance group might have been involved, but it was a council member who got shot, not a government official from the Department of Administrative Affairs, and he was not the only one. A lot of civilians were hurt too. We don’t know the details yet, so we’ll have to wait for the news report.”

“Okay.” When Feng Xiaoqi saw that neither of them seemed like they wanted to talk about it, he tactfully dropped the subject.

After they had lunch, Chen Chuan returned to his room and called Cheng Zitong. Once it went through, he told his mentor about what had happened.

“I heard about it, and I’m glad you’re okay. Anyway, I’ll go over to your room tonight to talk about sitting for the unrestricted defense permit test.”

Chen Chuan’s expression turned serious. “Got it.”

When he hung up, he checked his watch before overlapping with his second self and going to the training room to do his daily training.

Once his second self stepped away, Chen Chuan checked the time. After defeating Douma, he had gained an extra twenty minutes or so. This meant that his total overlap time had reached around two hours.

It might seem like a lot, but during the battle earlier, his second self had been hurt pretty badly whenever he was hit, which took away overlap time each time it happened. In the end, he only had a bit of overlap time left.

Chen Chuan also had to occasionally fight against supernatural beings, and they did not stand by and listen to Chen Chuan reason with them. So, he had to continue training to increase his total overlap time even more so that he could protect himself better.

At 7 p.m., Cheng Zitong arrived just as he had promised. Once he came in, he said, “Seriously, you’re amazing. To think that you even defeated Douma. Merkarians may not be good martial artists, but those who become lecturers still need to pass a certain threshold. Looks like you’ve been improving far quicker than I expected.”

Chen Chuan invited him to sit and poured a glass of water for him. “I just don’t know why they did that.”

“I can’t say anything about it either. Small countries have their own hardships, though it doesn’t have much to do with us. Let the government think about it. While we’re weak, we only need to focus on staying true to ourselves,” Cheng Zitong remarked.

After Chen Chuan sat down, Cheng Zitong continued, “I read through the papers you gave me. Your cousin is amazing. His analysis makes complete sense. On the surface, it does seem like you’ll have the highest chance of getting your review approved by the main campus if you get your unrestricted defense permit while you’re still a freshman.

“But that’s not the crux of the problem. If you get the permit, you will likely run into the same obstacles as Shen Zheng did. You would only be strong enough to protect yourself if you were in your senior year.”

“That was my original assumption, too,” Chen Chuan said. “But later, I gave it some further thought. Did Shen Zheng really die because he wasn’t strong enough?

“His injuries were all self-inflicted. None of them came from others. I believe that it’s precisely because he had the unrestricted defense permit that he wasn’t directly attacked. Instead, someone controlled him via other means. Clearly, you don’t need to rely solely on brute strength to cause others trouble.

“I think that with Shen Zheng as a precedent, certain people will be even more wary of capable commoners.

“Let’s switch perspectives for a second. Taking down a student without the unrestricted defense permit is much easier than taking down one with it. Based on this alone, getting the unrestricted defense permit sooner should be better for me.”

Cheng Zitong nodded. “Yeah. That’s one way of putting it.”

Chen Chuan then changed the topic. “Mr. Cheng, after I defeated Douma today, he told me his last words. ‘The echoes of the world are getting stronger.’ I think it’s because of this that they risked their lives to get that oak leaf, but I don’t know what that means. Do you know?”

“The echoes of the world?” Cheng Zitong mulled over it before shaking his head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“The Merkarians fought desperately to get what they offered to the Great Shun Republic as a tribute. Setting aside the reason behind it for now, the urgency behind their act and the information I got is making me think that the world might go through some sort of transformation later. It might affect the entire world, and it’s highly likely that it’s connected to us martial artists.

“If I can’t get the answer in Yangzhi City, then I’ll have to find it in Central City. If I can head over soon, that change may even be a good thing, since I would be able to be there just in time to reap the benefits. If I’m late, then I won’t necessarily get those benefits.”

Cheng Zitong fell into contemplative silence before he said prudently, “You need to exercise caution regarding this. Your cousin mentioned that there was a branch campus commoner who was recommended to go to Central City. You might be able to replicate his success, but he’s still searching for further information about that student, is that right?”

“Yes,” Chen Chuan answered.

“That’s very important and is worth using as a reference. Once he gets it, we can look at it together. Xiao Chuan, if you’ve come to a decision, no matter what it is, I’ll do my best to support you as your mentor.

“If you get a chance to go to Central City, by all means, seize that opportunity. Otherwise, you’ll forever be trapped within this circle and won’t be able to see the world outside. Such a life is meaningless. When I was younger, I lacked the courage and resolve to do it, but you might be able to. I hope that you can. Just remember, be prepared before you make your choice.”

Chen Chuan listened earnestly and said, “I know. I’ll always remember your warning.”

Cheng Zitong nodded and tapped on the table. “By the way, your cousin stressed a lot on getting evaluation points from the governmental departments. He’s not wrong. Regardless of whether you take the unrestricted defense permit test ahead of time or not, the evaluation points will remain important to you, and he’s right by saying that the evaluation points from the Resolution Department alone are not good enough. Even if you get evaluation points and are recommended by the Constabulary, I don’t think that’s a foolproof plan.

“We might be able to solve Mr. Lei’s case, but I lack clues right now, so I can’t make any judgment. But while I don’t know Mr. Lei personally, I know someone who’s pretty close to him. Meet up with her to understand the situation.”

He then took out a business card from his briefcase and handed it to him. “This is my martial niece. She’s basically one of us. Just ask her if you have any questions.”

Once Cheng Zitong discussed everything with Chen Chuan and gave all his instructions to him, he did not linger around. He got up, and just as he stepped outside the room, he suddenly remembered something. Are the echoes of the world the thing the old man talked about?

He shook his head and left with his briefcase under his arm as he thought, But Chen Chuan is right. If it’s really something that affects the whole world, then we can’t afford to wait. We have to be ahead of the others to reap the benefits.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep