Chapter 154: Plan

The next day, Chen Chuan left the company and headed straight to the place where he had promised to meet Cheng Zitong. He called that phone number again in a phone booth nearby and started waiting.

Soon, a car came over, and he got into the front passenger seat. Once he shut the door, he greeted Cheng Zitong. “Good morning, Mr. Cheng.”

Cheng Zitong stared at him for a long while before he asked hesitantly, “You’re done with the test?”

Chen Chuan nodded and took out the unrestricted defense permit from his pocket and handed it to Cheng Zitong. “Here it is.”

Cheng Zitong removed his sunglasses and gingerly took the permit. After looking it over a few times, he was finally certain that it was real. “It really is… Seriously, you’re always giving me pleasant surprises.”

As Chen Chuan watched Cheng Zitong, he thought, It’s better than me scaring you with my antics, right?

Cheng Zitong handed the unrestricted defense permit back to him and cautioned, “Keep it safe, and don’t lose it.”

Even so, he was still in disbelief about the whole situation. “Come on, tell me. How did you manage to finish the test so quickly?”

“It’s because I went there pretty early,” Chen Chuan said humbly.

He chose the important points and gave Cheng Zitong a summarized version of the whole journey. Since he arrived on the first day and did his test on the second, the entire process wasn’t complicated at all.

Chen Chuan finished his account in just a few minutes.

Cheng Zitong leaned back against the backrest with an unfocused gaze; he seemed to be trying to wrap his head around what Chen Chuan just told him. A long while passed before he looked over and said, “I went to a secluded place to avoid all the people I know, but right after I settled down, I got your call. I hurried back overnight because I thought you were in trouble.

“Don’t blame me for worrying. The students who are taking the Class C permit test left a few days ago, and they’ll only be coming back in about a month or so. Yet you already finished the test and came back, even though yours is the Class B permit. If I didn’t know that you were reliable, I’d begin suspecting whether you actually went for the test.”

He started laughing while smacking the steering wheel and sighed with emotion. “But this is good. This is great!”

In a while, he sat up properly and said to Chen Chuan, “We need to get our story straight so that we won’t slip up while talking to the others. Anyway, you got the permit during your freshman year. You’ll now have a chance to get recommended to go to Central City.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

They started discussing what they were going to tell the others so that their story matched. All the while, Cheng Zitong was really excited, because he was truly happy. He had taught Chen Chuan and watched him grow from a student who knew nothing until he got the unrestricted defense permit.

He was glad for his mentee, but also felt pride and a sense of accomplishment as a mentor. What could bring more happiness to a teacher than his student’s achievements?

At the end, he said, “Be patient for now. There’s still a month left before you finish your freshman year. There’s also a procedure for applying to go to Central City. You won’t be able to do it within a month. Once you become a sophomore, we’ll talk about how to get you to Central City.”

“While I’d like to go to Central City as soon as possible, I’m not fully prepared yet. I’d like to get stronger over the next few months,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

Cheng Zitong started the car. “You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you? Come. I’ll treat you to something nice to celebrate the unrestricted defense permit.”

After Chen Chuan had a hearty breakfast with Cheng Zitong, they went back to the university.

Their return was a quiet affair and didn’t catch anyone’s attention. Everything was the same as usual. Only Chen Chuan and Cheng Zitong knew that something was different.

Chen Chuan went back to his room and took a shower. Then, without even unpacking first, he went to the living room, picked up his phone receiver, and called Gao Ming.

The moment the call went through, he said, “Hey, Gao Ming, it’s me.”

“Didn’t you go for a training trip with your mentor, cuz?” Gao Ming asked.

“Everything went smoothly. I managed to make progress, so I came back,” Chen Chuan replied.

Those words were a code he had set with Gao Ming beforehand. The phrase “progress” stood for the unrestricted defense permit. Chen Chuan had told him that he got the permit.

Gao Ming fell silent for a while before he said in an impressively calm voice. “Congratulations are in order, then.”

“Why don’t we meet up to talk when you come back?” Chen Chuan suggested.

This time, a barely noticeable hint of excitement slipped into Gao Ming’s voice. “Sure. It’s been a while since I saw aunty and uncle. I’ll go back and visit them during your summer break.”

With a click, they hung up at the same time.

Both of them knew that since Chen Chuan had successfully gotten the unrestricted defense permit, they now had to start planning how to get that recommendation to go to Central City.

***

Wubian City was three hundred kilometers away from Yangzhi City. At that moment, Wei Jun was pondering over how to go about his test.

The entire group of examinees was tasked to take down a group of death row criminals.

They had been released into the wilderness before the test and given some water, food, and weapons. The examinees were tasked to recapture or kill these criminals within a set amount of time.

The test wasn’t hard to Wei Jun, because he had gotten the criminals’ details from the wardens keeping watch over them. He also had his subordinates tracking them. All he needed to do was to shoot a few of them when he felt like it.

It was all too easy for him to get the Class C permit. Even though he was annoyed by the fact that it was only effective for two years, he could get the Class B permit after graduating and training for a few more years.

No other senior recommended student could compete against him. After he graduated next month, he was going to go to Central City. Over there, he would receive even more comprehensive training, resources, and guidance and build more connections in preparation for entering his family’s businesses.

But he needed to go through another screening. He couldn’t allow any mishaps.

Not that long ago, Shen Zheng had gotten the recommendation to go to Central City because he obtained the unrestricted defense permit. No one in the university could win against him. One of the upperclassmen back then nearly had his recommendation taken from him. Fortunately…

Due to Shen Zheng setting a precedent, they became even more attentive toward this. They were not going to let another student take the unrestricted defense permit test without their permission. They had to nip all possibilities in the bud.

He called his butler over and said, “Mr. Tan said that I can go to Central City after I master his refined force, and I’ve almost reached mastery. I’m about to get the unrestricted defense permit too. I won’t allow anything to go wrong at the last step. Go and check whether any student has left the university over this period of time.”

“I’ve been keeping an eye out and have detailed records, Young Master,” the butler said confidently.

“Show me,” Wei Jun ordered.

“Alright,” the butler said and rummaged through his bag before handing over a stack of papers. “Since the start of the semester, only a small number of students have left the campus. I also have a record of the amount of time they were away.”

Wei Jun looked through the data. He first checked the records of all the seniors, even though he knew that the Mutual Aid Group had either oppressed or taken in all the outstanding senior students. They were all under their control and did not dare to misbehave anymore, so he soon moved on.

His attention was mainly on the sophomores. After all, they also had the right to sit for the unrestricted defense permit test.

During the test, Wei Jun had run into rich kids from other cities. They were all students who had a chance of going to Central City, so they exchanged information with each other.

Through them, he learned that a year before, a commoner sophomore from Barrier City had gotten the weapons permit and tried to take the unrestricted defense permit test without permission. Based on the student’s strength, he would have had no problems passing, but he couldn’t keep the fact that he was taking the test a secret, and he was killed on his way to the test.

Apparently, they broke his limbs, covered him in cement, and threw him into a lake. Wei Jun didn’t know whether this was true, but if it was, their boldness was unmatched. Such actions would bring them under the suspicion of challenging the examination committee’s authority and bring a lot of problems.

Even though they would not be linked to this as long as they didn’t do the deed themselves, the government might still target the companies supporting them.

Thankfully, Wei Jun didn’t have to worry about this. The most talented sophomore in Yangzhi City’s branch campus was Geng Zheng. He hadn’t wanted to join the Mutual Aid Group, but they managed to force him by offering the medicine his family needed for their treatment. That medicine came from Central City, and the Mutual Aid Group was the only one who could provide it. There was no way he would disobey them.

After Wei Jun reached the freshmen, he considered stopping because none of those students could possibly pose a threat to him, but since he was already doing this, he decided to take a quick look.

The most talented freshman was, without a doubt, Chen Chuan. During the follow-up exam, he defeated Zhong Wu, one of their most obedient dogs, and left a deep impression on Wei Jun. He also seemed to be related to the fact that Tan Wang had moved out of the branch campus and went back to Central City. Most important of all, however, was the fact that he didn’t join the Mutual Aid Group.

Chen Chuan didn’t seem to have a fixed schedule as to when he left the campus, and he frowned while pointing at his name. “What’s going on with this Chen Chuan? Has he been absent from the campus all this while?”

“We’ve checked, Young Master. While Chen Chuan is often away, his longest absence has only been around eight days. We’re also certain that he’s in a martial arts training center in the south of the city where he trains with Mr. Cheng. While he did leave the city recently, he returned to the campus yesterday. I believe that he left to learn a unique technique,” the butler answered respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun stopped paying attention to this matter. “Alright. You can leave now. I’m going to get ready for my test.”

***

One kilometer away from Wei Jun’s luxurious hotel were the accommodations of Deng Fu, Tai Dongwei, and Geng Zheng. They were assigned to the same dorm.

They had read up on the test details and thought that it was quite difficult. Still, if they could fight without holding back, they should be able to pass with no problems.

Yet, they had to give up.

Such an action would deny them another chance to take the unrestricted defense permit test.

Tai Dongwei didn’t know Deng Fu and Geng Zheng’s opinions about this, but even though he no longer cared about such things, he still felt a little upset about the idea.

Perhaps he hadn’t actually completely given up.

He sighed. This was how the world operated, and he couldn’t change a thing about it.

Tai Dongwei cast a glance at Geng Zheng. The guy looked like he couldn’t accept the fact that he had to give up and was considering causing trouble.

Only Deng Fu seemed to be relaxed and was lounging on his bed, completely engrossed in a magazine. He seemed to have long since accepted how the world truly was. Since he no longer cared about anything, he didn’t feel like he was losing out. He even thought that he lucked out.

Deng Fu had a keen awareness of his surroundings, and when he saw Tai Dongwei watching him, he met his gaze, gave him a playful smile, then turned to Geng Zheng. When he saw him quietly brooding in a corner, he laughed, and set aside his magazine. “Are you still thinking about how unfair it is?

“Let me teach you something today. Don’t fight over short-term wins or losses. Temporary humiliation is nothing. Don’t beat yourself up over this either. Let me tell you something: You still have a long road ahead of you. Just focus on living, and you’ll see all kinds of strange things. It’s not an unheard of thing to see former servants rising to become masters while the old order collapses.”

A thought rose in Tai Dongwei’s mind.

Unable to help himself, Geng Zheng asked, “Are you saying…”

“I’m asking you to do your best to live, nothing else,” Deng Fu said with a smile before placing an arm behind his head and going back to reading.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep