After going back to the dorm, Chen Chuan contacted Wu Han, Wei Dong, Lu Fang, Lu Ke, and his other friends to tell them to be careful.

The Fu-Mu Entity’s split was coming, and Central City would soon be embroiled in even more chaos. Once the gaps that had been gathered together spread out, severe problems would pop up in various parts of the city.

Even though Central City was huge and trouble wasn’t going to necessarily visit every part of it, there was no need for them to get involved in it.

Chen Chuan also made a phone call to Wei Changan and the others to tell them that Central City was soon going to be in deep trouble and asking them to postpone their arrival.

He didn’t give them any details, but after Wei Changan and his group heard it, they immediately knew what was up and what they should do.

After it was all done, Chen Chuan went to his training room. He took a look at his hand and clenched it slowly. If he wanted to improve his mental energy, he would need to get into a hard fight.

Right now, aside from his own strength, Chen Chuan also had his second self, who was getting close to the Third Limit. Chen Chuan had a feeling that he was only a short distance away, but it had become quite difficult to grow his second self, and this was even more apparent the stronger he got.

Opponents like Toliu barely let Chen Chuan resonate with his second self. Sancheng Huang was a good opponent, but they were just sparring, so he didn’t improve much either. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

If he met someone stronger, he might be able to help his second self reach the Third Limit, and even if he couldn’t reach Chen Chuan’s level, once they overlapped with each other, Chen Chuan was going to become much stronger than before. The width of his mind would also increase. Perhaps that could help him travel further into the other world.

***

Entering United Might’s branch company in Deep End District was a heavy-duty convoy. Once they reached the spacious underground parking lot, the armed security guards got out of the cars and stood by the sides.

A man with a hook nose wearing the company’s uniform walked out of the lead vehicle. He had a fair face, large skeletal structure, and light brown eyes that shone dangerously cold. Despite the weather not being particularly cold, he wore a thick pair of gloves.

The man was Che Gaoyi, the newest executive in charge of all the operations in the branch company. Due to the conflict with Ferris Wheel before his arrival and the special situation that Jibei Road’s Central City was about to face, the headquarters had sent him over to be in charge of securing the company’s businesses in Jibei Road.

Che Gaoyi took the elevator from the underground parking lot and went to an office in the building. When he walked in, the secretary bowed to him and said, “Mr. Che, this office offers the best facilities and services in the branch company. It originally belonged to Mr. Zhao Qian of the External Operations Department, but after he passed away, no one used it.”

Che Gaoyi cast a glance at the decorations and said coldly, “Replace everything inside.”

“Alright,” the secretary promised immediately with a bow.

Che Gaoyi went to the window and stared at the building of Black Orchid Co. It was as silent as death itself and looked like a withered orchid.

He stood there for a while before checking the time and saying into his Realm Pass, “Is everything ready?”

A respectful voice came through. “Everything’s ready, sir.”

“Activate all passive biosentient entities,” Che Gaoyi ordered.

“Understood!”

He had brought a large amount of nutrient and calorie-dense nutritional injections from the headquarters to activate all the stored passive biosentient entities. In order to make them serve their purpose, he even ordered the company to use a technology to unify their domains, though doing this might very easily lead to their lifespans dwindling.

This was to prepare for the major event that was about to happen. Even though United Might had no intention of fighting for one of the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagated parts, they needed to arm themselves and get ready.

They were going to provide powerful mercenaries. The organizations and forces of power that could get their hands on a propagated part needed to hire companies like United Might to transport the propagated part in order to mitigate risk, even if they had an established channel they usually used to transport goods.

As a transport and mercenary-for-hire company, United Might would take up any job as long as the money could neutralize the cost of all future problems.

The government might be displeased and target them, but their company would earn a lot of praise from the business world and other global companies.

After around ten minutes, a dull voice of a man entered his ears. “Hello, sir. Giant Star has been activated and is ready to serve.”

“Search for the reports over the past year and list out all the things that require my attention. Then, organize them from the most recent to the oldest,” Che Gaoyi ordered.

“One moment.”

Che Gaoyi waited. Passive biosentient entities couldn’t compare to the active ones. They couldn’t fight and didn’t have much of a mind of their own. They could only help complete some complicated tasks, carry out relatively stable plans, and cover for anything he overlooked or missed.

After around five minutes, a list of items showed up on his screen, and the first thing he saw was Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation’s friendly greeting. This was sent last month, and they were hinting that they were willing to support and help their company against Ferris Wheel. They also stated that they looked forward to United Might’s reply.

“Reject it,” Che Gaoyi said coldly.

Due to the nature of their business, United Might stayed neutral and never formed close ties with any company. They also refused to join any alliances.

Even though they got into a fight with Ferris Wheel, if Ferris Wheel decided to hire them and paid enough, they were still going to take up the job.

Che Gaoyi continued reading. The second most important thing was the most recent status report from the Elephant Gang. After reading it, Che Gaoyi immediately made his decision.

“Send another batch of weapons to the Elephant Gang.”

Even though he had no intentions of working together with other companies, he intended to continue antagonizing Ferris Wheel for not publicly apologizing after using them as scapegoats for an attack.

The Elephant Gang had shown their worth during their emergency, so United Might could support them. Suppressing the Swordfish Gang would allow them to shackle one of Ferris Wheel’s hands as well.

“Giant Star, set up a new task: We’re going to look for a suitable gang in Deep End District and support them,” he instructed.

He had come with a mission. United Might needed an obedient proxy to do their dirty work. The previous executive didn’t care about this, so Che Gaoyi had to fill in that gap.

Che Gaoyi was of the opinion that the previous executive had no drive to expand the company’s business and only passively performed the tasks given by the company. He was no good.

“The task has been set and is classified under ‘ongoing priorities.’”

Che Gaoyi read through every listed item and dealt with them one by one. While he couldn’t say that he resolved all of them perfectly, at the very least, he put a proper end to things instead of leaving them unresolved.

As he continued dealing with the tasks, he saw a request to look into Zhao Qian’s death. Then, Giant Star said, “Sir, there’s an analysis report we might have overlooked from last year.

“Mr. Zhao had a puppet named Thirteen from Paperdoll. After he passed away, the puppet disappeared, and we believe that it has something to do with Mr. Zhao’s death. His murderer might even be involved. Should we look into this?”

In a completely flat tone, Che Gaoyi said, “Delete all files related to the incident. Don’t leave a single backup. You don’t need to tell me anything related to Zhao Qian in the future either.”

He was not concerned about the death of an external operations supervisor with no background. As long as it didn’t affect the company’s business, an individual’s interests were of no importance.

Honestly, if he hadn’t contributed in that matter, Zhao Qian wouldn’t have gotten his position. To Che Gaoyi, looking into his death was just a waste of the company’s resources.

“Understood, deleting item.

“All related information has been deleted.”

Once Che Gaoyi finished, he said, “Set up a new task: Search for active companies and attempt contacting them to form business ties. Also, bring the mercenary groups we’ve formed business ties with into Central City. We’ll give them suitable statuses so that they can join our channel.”

“Understood.

“Contacted the companies. Currently waiting for replies.”

***

Western Wisdom Theater had sold out all the seats for every performance of the Divine Song of the Wilderness for the past two months. Many people had come to watch the show and gotten familiar with the actors and actresses.

Astrid, the actress playing the shepherdess, received the most attention. At that moment, she stepped down from the stage, removed her helmet, and revealed her golden hair.

Since she had to fight seriously during every finale, she couldn’t relax in the slightest. Hence, despite having the body of a Third Limit martial artist, she felt rather tired.

In order to stay in top condition, she took a few tubes of nutritional paste and some medicine to replenish her stamina. Energy returned to every inch of her body, and a glint shone in her eyes. Then, it flickered and vanished.

“Very good, Asti. You need to stay in top form at all times.”

Astrid shot to her feet. Then, she saw a voice-transmitting Realm Pass disguised as a mask sitting on the table. The voice came from there.

“Who are you?” she asked with great suspicion.

“Don’t be so nervous, Asti. While staying on guard is a good thing, you need to learn how to relax too. This is why the company has arranged replacements.”

“You’re from the company?”

Astrid didn’t relax because of this. She didn’t lower her hand from her rapier’s hilt either.

“I’m here to tell you that you’ve completed your mission to act in the play. The company needs you to await further orders and carry out the next step of the plan.”

Astrid clenched her fists. The theater group had come to this particular Central City because the company had given them a rather important mission, and the shows were never their main focus. She wasn’t the only one involved in the mission either. The other members of the theater group were part of it. Otherwise, there would’ve been no need for the company to arrange so many replacements.

“We need equipment, suitable weapons, and medicine. What I have is far from enough,” she said as she remembered the person who had defeated her so easily that day.

“You’ll get them. We’ll send you everything, but you must get ready. May the heroic spirits smile upon you, Asti.” A chuckle came from the mask.

Astrid put her hand over her chest armor and said, “May the heroic spirits smile upon you too.”

The voice vanished.

Asti walked over and picked up the mask. After taking a few looks at it, she threw it on the floor and stomped on it with her metal boot. Only then did she leave.

Her job hadn’t ended. Soon, there was going to be another show, and she would be needed on the stage.