Chapter 318: Application |
Lu Fang, upon hearing his words, couldn't help but ask: "Her face has been altered? Brother Wu, can you confirm that?"
Wu Bei said: "I don't know what she originally looked like, but her bone structure and facial features have been adjusted to a certain extent, and Implant fibers were used for reinforcement.
I've heard from my family before that some companies provide unique or human-like figures according to customers' preferences and private fetishes."
Hearing this, Lu Fang suddenly realized something. He glanced regretfully at the young woman, then turned to Chen Chuan, saying:
"If that's the case, then she might not be Senior Student Shen's sister after all. Perhaps she's just a doll made to resemble someone, ordered by Zhao Qian from some company. Could it be to humiliate Senior Student Shen? Or to mimic someone?"
Chen Chuan also thought of this possibility. If so, this young woman who calls herself "Number Thirteen' likely resembles Shen Zheng's sister, as modeled by Zhao Qian.
But what's strange is that Shen Zheng's sister was taken away by Zhao Qian in the first place. Why would he go to the trouble of ordering a doll that resembles her?
What exactly happened here?
He pondered for a moment, then asked: "Did Zhao Qian ever mention who you resemble?"
Lu Fang murmured: "Perhaps that's the case."
Chen Chuan said: "Senior, there might still be some clues in this house. Let's search here first to see if we can find anything."
Lu Fang nodded.
Chen Chuan then looked at the young woman, "Do you know if there's any special place here?"
The young woman said: "There's a study in the southeast corner on the third floor. Mr. Zhao usually doesn't let me get close."
Seeing that she answered every question, Lu Fang couldn't help but say to Wu Bei: "She doesn't seem to have much resistance?"Wu Bei replied: "Large companies all have an Implant for consciousness editing, which, combined with hypnosis technology, can predetermine the behavior logic of a doll. However, the higher the requirements, the more the cost. Zhao Qian might not have ordered these services."
Lu Fang understood, so he pointed to the person lying on the ground and asked the young woman, "Then who is he?"
The young woman said: "He is the person arranged by Mr. Zhao to guard the house, his name is Zhao Er."
Lu Fang asked again: "So the Nutrition Paste delivered every day is ordered by this person?"
The young woman nodded.
Lu Fang asked puzzledly: "Then why not order more at once?"
"Because the amount Mr. Zhao transfers to his account daily is limited, just enough for daily consumption, so we can't buy too much at once. And we are not allowed to contact Mr. Zhao on our own initiative, we can only wait for his instructions."
Lu Fang couldn't help but sigh. It seems these two are truly tools in the literal sense. Since they can't contact Zhao Qian on their own, they wouldn't even leave after Zhao Qian's death, only rigidly executing the commands left by Zhao Qian.
After understanding the situation, Chen Chuan and Lu Fang discussed and decided to search separately. Lu Fang was responsible for other places, while he directly went to the room mentioned by the young woman on the third floor.
The lock outside naturally couldn't stop him. With a gentle push, he shook open the lock and walked in, seeing a plant inside that grew from the ground up to the ceiling.
Wu Bei's voice came: "This is an energy field interference creature. This one is the "Cactus' from Five Sides Company, a mid-range product that can have five fixed energy field signals, rotating every six days."
Chen Chuan took a look, observed the room, and found a hidden door on one side of the wall. He went up and pushed it open, seeing a small collection room inside, with several models of guns on the wall, each encapsulated in a transparent film that could be torn off at any time.
In the front of the room, there was a metal cabinet. He tried it and found it wasn't locked. Opening it, there were three rows of drawers inside. The first drawer was stuffed with some spare money and coins. A rough count showed there were about three to four thousand.The second drawer contained some paper records and documents. He flipped through them; most were recorded in code, but from the files placed together, it was likely related to the United Power Heavy Industries Company.
He pushed it back and opened the third drawer, finding a beautifully crafted red wooden box. Initially, he thought it might contain something important, but upon opening it, he discovered it was a Zhao Family genealogy.
He took it out and flipped through it. It recorded that the Zhao Family ancestors once served as the Imperial Protector General in old times, with one branch moving to Yang Zhi Town, which later became Yangzhi City.
Before the Algae Revolution, all the fields in the old town belonged to the Zhao Family. In the new era, the Zhao Family did not cling to the land's output but instead engaged in overseas trade.
During the Great Reclamation period, the Zhao Family became one of the civilian military suppliers due to their active support and cooperation with the Army, thus regaining political identity and status.
However, within a few years, the Zhao Family lost in commercial competition and suffered political suppression, retreating back to Yangzhi City, until they connected with Molan Company, becoming active again.
Chen Chuan roughly flipped through it. Although it was just a genealogy, he felt it wasn't that simple, and it contained extensive descriptions before the Great Reclamation. When he was in high school, although this period of history was mentioned in school, it was only briefly touched upon, whereas this was very detailed, and he thought it could be taken back for further reading.
Underneath the genealogy box was a General's Tiger Talisman, entirely made of pure gold, with the ancient characters "奉圣' (Feng Sheng) on it.
Was this the item of the Imperial Protector General from back then? However, the genealogy stated that the Yang Zhi Zhao Family was just one branch, so how did this item end up in Zhao Qian's hands?
Just as he was pondering, Lu Fang's excited voice came through the Boundary Token: "Junior Chen, come take a look at this."
Chen Chuan put the items down and walked over, arriving at the bedroom on the second floor, where Lu Fang was holding up a photo and handed it to him as he approached.
Chen Chuan took it and looked; it was a little girl about ten years old, with some resemblance to the Number Thirteen below, but comparing with the photo, it was clear they were two different people, and her facial features were closer to those of Shen Zheng in the photo he had seen before.Lu Fang said: "There's a date on the photo, it's from four years ago."
Chen Chuan asked: "Four years ago, that's the year Senior Student Shen had the accident?"
"Yes," Lu Fang said in a deep voice: "Senior's sister was taken away by Zhao Qian four years ago, and the age of the girl in the photo matches, this should be a photo of Senior's sister."
Chen Chuan glanced at the background of the photo, it looked very familiar, it should have been taken in the abandoned factory where the Mutual Aid Society plotted against Shen Zheng, the location also matched, so the identity should be confirmed.
He said: "Let's see if we can find any other clues."
Lu Fang nodded vigorously.
Unfortunately, after searching the entire building and repeatedly questioning the young woman, they couldn't find anything more useful.
Chen Chuan suggested that they call it a day for now, as Zhao Qian had left some coded records, and perhaps something could be found from them. Lu Fang agreed.
It wasn't appropriate to let the young woman, Number Thirteen, and Zhao Er go just yet, so Lu Fang volunteered to stay and watch over them.
Seeing this, Chen Chuan, just in case, set up some contact signals with him, then took some valuable items and left the house, returning to the Mysterious Palace Tower.
The next day, he first went to Gao Ming's place, handed over the codebook and some data suspected to be from United Power Heavy Industries, and asked him to check the origin of this code.
After coming out, he went to Teacher Zheng's house for training.
Recently, whenever he came here, he would engage in actual combat training with Zheng Tongtong, from being completely suppressed at the beginning to now being able to fight back and forth.
This time was particularly different, besides his muscles and internal organs becoming stronger with continuous resource investment, and with the improvement of his Senses, even in a low state, he had faster reaction ability and coordination, able to keep up with Zheng Tongtong's Rhythm.
Both of them were very steady in their moves, neither showing any flaws, and they kept attacking each other for a whole day without stopping.Given their physical strength and endurance, dragging it out for a few more days wouldn't be a problem, turning the situation into a complete test of stamina.
While this could also be useful for honing skills, the effect isn't particularly significant. Therefore, as if by mutual agreement, both simultaneously began to increase the rhythm of their strikes and the strength of their swings. In just over ten seconds, they exchanged more than a hundred blows, with the clashing sounds of their swords echoing throughout the training ground.
Seeing the two's speed increasing and the strength of their swings gradually intensifying, Teacher Zheng knew that if they continued, they wouldn't be able to stop. So, he casually picked up a training wooden sword and, with perfect timing, inserted it into the gap between their sword movements. With a light flick, he deflected both their swords.
Taking advantage of the situation, Chen Chuan sheathed his sword. He felt that the force coming over had just the right timing and strength to separate him and Zheng Tongtong, not too much, not too little. Even if he had let go of his state, he could never have done it so precisely. It seems he still has a long way to go in terms of skills.
Teacher Zheng then said in a satisfied tone, "Chen, let's end today's training here. You've made significant progress. For now, you don't need to learn more; just refine and master what you have. My suggestion is that you go back and apply for a skill assessment."
Chen Chuan nodded. It was already early June, and with less than a month left until the end of the semester, his skill level couldn't improve much in such a short time. It was indeed time for an examination.
After bidding farewell to Teacher Zheng and his daughter, he drove back to the Mysterious Palace Tower and contacted the Wuyi platform, "Hong Fu, I'm applying for this semester's skill assessment examination."
Hong Fu's voice came through, "Application received, Chen. Based on your application time, the available examination dates are: June 5th, 10th, and 25th. Please confirm your time."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment. The 5th was tomorrow. He saw no need to wait and decided to resolve it tomorrow. So he said, "I apply for the examination on June 5th."