Chapter 137: The Martial Science Students of Other Schools

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　November 17th.

　　Fang Ping’s team once again located the mission target.

　　Before they managed to join the fray, the few individuals who were following Fang Ping, Zhao Qing included, saw a shift in Fang Ping’s figure and, in the blink of an eye, his toes struck his opponent’s throat at an improbable angle.

　　“Cough…”

　　Bang!

　　Within seconds, they saw the peak Rank-1 martial artist in front of them fall to the ground, convulsing.

　　Zhao Qing’s expression changed slightly as he said softly, “Captain, you…”

　　“I’ve improved a bit lately,” Fang Ping said indifferently, but in the eyes of Zhao Qing and the others, it was more than a little progress.

　　Fang Ping’s strength had always been superior to theirs during the special training classes. Even so, when Fang Ping battled Peak Rank-1s previously, the fights took longer and he required backup to resolve the battles.

　　It was completely different now.

　　When facing a Peak Rank-1 now, it was practically an instant kill. Of course, it was possible that the current target was just weak.

　　Fang Ping said nothing else and the instructor who had tailed them soon appeared at the scene.

　　After observing a while, he looked over at Fang Ping and said with a rare smile on his face, “You were decisive with your initial attack and killed in one hit. Now you’ve truly lived up to the title of Newcomer King.”

　　Fang Ping did not reply to the compliment; a life had been exchanged for it.

　　In the half month’s time since the beginning of the 2nd, he had taken on a total of 7 missions. There were 4 killings and 3 captures.

　　Coupled with his skirmishes at school, it had taken less than three months since his enrolment for him to have six deaths in his hands!

　　Before entering the martial arts university, the thought of killing had never passed his mind.

　　After experiencing it time and time again, Fang Ping’s mentality was gradually changing. His fighting style, too, was undergoing a metamorphosis.

　　His initial fear had faded as he got used to the violence. His attacks were fierce and concise and there were obvious changes in them with every passing mission.

　　The Rank-5 instructor said again, “For this mission, Fang Ping receives 60%, the others divide the remainder equally.”

　　Zhao Qing and the other two did not complain and neither did Fang Ping.

　　Although Fang Ping had killed the target, Zhao Qing and the others had made great efforts in the search.

　　Sometimes the hardest part of a mission was not the killing but the search.

　　Some of the targets they apprehended had hidden very deeply and the location given was only a rough approximation. The team’s ability to locate the targets so quickly was the main reason why Fang Ping could complete seven missions in half a month.

　　Apart from their first two missions, Fang Ping had accumulated five missions’ worth of credits which he had not returned to the school to collect.

　　With a few mental calculations, the five missions earned him a total of 15 credits without accounting for the school’s promise of doubling the reward. With that, he would have 30 credits altogether.

　　He was raking in credits at a considerably fast rate.

　　Fang Ping led the others out of the industrial park as he thought about things.

　　Outside the park, the deputy director of the local Detective Bureau was bringing some people outside to be guarded. When he saw Fang Ping coming out, he immediately called out excitedly, “Mr. Fang, the target …”

　　“The target is dead.” Fang Ping answered. He could not help but glance at the deputy director.

　　He was just a deputy bureau of the Department of Investigation Services of a small county. Given the size of the county, the department was also not strong.

　　Fang Ping had not seen their director, although this deputy director was also just of peak Rank-1.

　　Judging by his build, he may not even be able to fight.

　　There were more and more of this sort of pure casual martial artist nowadays.

　　Fang Ping sighed softly in his heart. With the peaceful life these years, pure casual martial artists had been sprouting like weeds. Meanwhile, the dangers of the Catacombs were increasing.

　　What kind of changes will the upper management make?

　　In fact, Fang Ping had recently felt some changes. Perhaps it was because of the increased danger of the Catacombs that the policies had also been altered.

　　In these two days, public opinions on the Internet had been turbulent.

　　Suddenly, there was a rumor that the government might introduce a new policy in the future that would cause the ranks of societal martial artists to no longer judged solely on their Vitality or bones honed.

　　Previously, the ranking of societal martial artists was relatively straightforward. For those below Rank-1, their Vitality was the main factor; for those above Rank-1, it would be the number of their honed bones.

　　As for the ranking system beyond honed bones, Fang Ping currently did not know how it was defined.

　　Rumor has it that it was related to standards such as Vitality and would not involve actual combat.

　　Now, various departments were negotiating agreements to prepare to change the system and reboot the rankings.

　　Once the new policy was implemented, it was likely that many casual martial artists would lose their current status and rank.

　　These few days, the Internet has been in uproar. The situation was the same in real life.

　　Many of the current casual martial artists occupied lofty positions in the corporate world.

　　Once their rank had been reconsidered, could they still maintain their status?

　　Apart from the dissatisfied casual martial artists, even some of the combat martial artists found the change inappropriate.

　　Some of the casual martial artists were able to reach their high positions due to their other abilities. If their martial artist status had been terminated, some of the previously established policies would also change. The changes would be fairly significant.

　　Some people had also suggested that when it came to civil and military partitioning in the future, martial artists should be assigned to martial science whereas scholars should be assigned to culture.

　　This proposal was also rejected.

　　If that were to happen, would those powerful men of great strength willingly be governed by scholars who did not even have the strength to truss a chicken? (TN: basically weak people.)

　　Would they be willing to simply play the role of a hired thug and face the dangers of the Catacombs?

　　Perhaps some would, but most martial artists would not agree.

　　The changes were currently still in the development stage and did not mean much to Fang Ping.

　　Fang Ping pulled his mind away from these thoughts. He was still dealing with some conversation from the enthusiastic deputy director.

　　Declining the invitation to dine together at night, Fang Ping gathered Zhao Qing and the others and left quickly.

　　…

　　County Hotel.

　　Fang Ping called Zhao Xuemei and inquired about their progress.

　　On Zhao Xuemei’s side, after separating from Fang Ping, they had completed two missions, one fewer than Fang Ping. Some of their members had also suffered minor injuries.

　　After Zhao Xuemei had said a few words, Fang Ping heard Tang Songting interjecting, “I’ve asked around a bit and it seemed Fu Changding’s team has accumulated 90 credits, not counting the school doubled reward!

　　“Chen Yunxi’s side had slightly less: they accumulated 70 credits.

　　“Zhao Lei’s team has the most. Although one of them was killed, after taking care of their wounds, they continued accepting Rank-2 missions. They have accumulated 100 credits!

　　“Yang Xiaoman has almost the same as Fu Changding…

　　“As for us, with the two teams combined we have a total of 94 credits, and this includes the 30 credits that we got from Shi Feng. If it weren’t for that, we would barely be ahead of Chen Yunxi…”

　　Last time, Shi Feng’s mission had been doubled, giving them 60 credits, which was far more than a Rank-2 reward. Even 30 credits was exceeding it by a fair margin.

　　Excluding the extra 15 credits, Fang Ping would have less than 80 credits.

　　Among the 5 teams, it was not high.

　　At the moment, Tang Songting seemed a little anxious.

　　More than half of the time they had till the end of the month had passed. If it continued this way, it was likely that they would be overtaken by the other teams.

　　Fang Ping groaned for a moment and said, “So, what you’re trying to say is …”

　　“This is what I’m thinking. Let’s divide into two teams, but not with this lineup.

　　“Me, you, Zhao Xuemei, the three of us will form a team of three people and carry out the Rank-2 missions.

　　“Zhao Qing and the others will form another team and carry out the Rank-1 missions.

　　“Our strength has increased a lot. According to the current team model, bringing Zhao Qing and the others to the Rank-2 missions would not be very effective.

　　“Alternatively, we can divide it a little more specifically and make it three teams.

　　“Zhou Yuehong and others can be mainly responsible for collecting information, negotiating with various detective bureaus and military departments to help us look for people.

　　“As for us, we do not participate in this, just wait for news and then head straight for the target.

　　“What do you think?”

　　The roles of the team had been redefined by Tang Songting. This was also a kind of growth.

　　Until now, people like Zhao Qing had been following Fang Ping and had a hard time getting involved. If they went on like this, they would be allocated fewer credits and would not get the opportunity to experience actual combat.

　　Fang Ping considered for a moment and nodded. “Yes, let’s gather tomorrow and discuss it in detail. Even if we go into logistics, we must discuss how are we going to distribute the tasks. Otherwise, it will be troublesome.”

　　“Alright. Let’s not wait for tomorrow, we can go tonight!”

　　They decided to gather in Jiaxin City near Magic City at night. Soon, Fang Ping was driving them straight to Jiaxin.

　　…

　　Jiaxin City.

　　Hotel.

　　When Fang Ping and co reached, Zhao Xuemei and the others had already arrived.

　　Everyone went straight to the private lounge of the restaurant.

　　As soon as they entered the private room, Tang Songting addressee the whole team. “Everyone should know that we are currently ranked second in terms of credits but based on our current efficiency, the position would be difficult to maintain.

　　“Even if we don’t participate in the tournament, everyone still wants to earn more credits.

　　“First, the reward is at least 100 credits which will be shared evenly so each person would have 10 more credits. Up until now, without counting the school’s double reward, many of us have not even received 10 credits.

　　“That’s why…”

　　Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Qing said, “The captain has already told us about your proposal and, to be honest, we also feel that we cannot continue this way.

　　“The captain’s strength has improved very quickly. Now he can even deal with a Rank-1 martial artist without our help.

　　“Even if we want to participate in the Rank-2 mission, we won’t be playing significant roles and we might be a hindrance.

　　“Back then with Shi Feng, several of us didn’t do anything at all.”

　　Fang Ping said at the moment, “It’s good that everyone understands. So, following this, Zhao Xuemei, Tang Songting and I will form a team of three to carry out the Rank-2 mission.

　　“Zhao Qing, Wu Kepeng, Zhang Hao… you five will go pick up the Rank-1 mission.

　　“Zhou Yuehong and Zhang Ping, you two will be mainly responsible for providing us with information and contacting the local detective and military bureau.

　　“We are all involved in the missions and the credits will be allocated according to our contributions. As for Zhou Yuehong and Zhang Ping, each time our team completes a mission, you will get a 10% commission. Is everyone okay with that?”

　　10% was not low. Usually, when Zhou Yuehong and Zhang Ping were in the team, they might not even receive 5% when the mission was completed.

　　Now, they only needed to handle information collection to get 5%. That said, neither girl had any objections.

　　Zhao Qing and the others shook their heads. There had no objections either.

　　“Good. Let’s follow this arrangement starting tomorrow. Now, there is still about ten days before the end of the month. It would be best that each team complete more than three missions!”

　　If luck was not on their side and the target could not be found, the missions could take a lengthy time to complete.

　　Addressing this situation, Fang Ping simply said, “If we can’t find the target within three days, we should abandon the mission and accept a new one. Of course, you can choose not to terminate the mission. I have consulted with the authorities and it’s fine if we complete the mission within a month. We can resume it after the ranking at the end of this month.”

　　The group nodded again and began to distribute their missions.

　　Fang Ping browsed the missions and soon came across a mission that he felt was quite appropriate.

　　“Name: Yao Jincheng

　　Sex: Male

　　Age: 40 years old

　　Strength: Rank-2, completed lower limbs and left hand bone-honing completed…

　　Location: West River City

　　Reward: 15 credits (Note: The target is a follower of the Holy Faith and there may be other martial artists from the sect, additional rewards after killing)

　　“Holy Faith?”

　　Fang Ping saw the information and his expression changed slightly. “Finally found it!”

　　Previously, he had met a cult disciple in Auspicious Sun City but he had never heard of it at the time.

　　He did not expect to meet this kind of person again as they were looking for missions.

　　Zhao Xuemei’s face had also changed a bit. “There are both strong and weak people amongst the disciples,” she said, her voice low. “The main thing is the organization. What worries me is that the organization may pull together a rally all of a sudden and that would put us in danger.

　　“If we can avoid that, then the disciples are probably not that strong. Besides, if we are hunting a Rank-2 cult disciple like this, we might bump into two or three Rank-1 martial artists as well. They can also add bonus credits.”

　　“West River City… West River City is not far from Nanjiang.”

　　Fang Ping frowned slightly. West River City should not be the opponent’s base camp. If it was their base camp, they would not be allowed to kill the opposite party’s Rank-2 martial artist.

　　“Let’s not worry about that too much. We will go to West River City tomorrow and decide further after taking stock of the situation.”

　　The few individuals nodded. They would only consider how to go about it after arriving in West River City. It was unlikely there would be a mass gathering of cultists and if it were indeed the case, they could just abandon the mission and leave it to the military and detective bureaus.

　　…

　　The next day, Fang Ping and his team rushed to West River City.

　　Although there was still no news from Zhou Yuehong, Fang Ping was not in a hurry and first went to find a hotel.

　　Upon arriving, Fang Ping frowned and glanced sideways at the door.

　　Outside, a group of people was headed toward the hotel.

　　The people were very young, with a total of six individuals. They were all martial artists.

　　The martial artists were not bok choy (TN: a common vegetable in China. The author implies that it was very common.) and they rarely appeared in groups.

　　Fang Ping observed the six martial artists for a moment and after a brief observation, he assumed that they were probably students of other martial arts universities.

　　The military also had such a team but it was easy to distinguish between people from the military and students of martial arts universities.

　　After Fang Ping took a glance, he quickly shifted his eyes. Taking the room card, he waited until they were in the elevator before he asked, “From which martial arts university were the ones who just entered?”

　　Six martial artists appeared at one time. If they were senior students then it would be understandable.

　　For new students, however, it was unusual.

　　Except for MCMAU and CCMAU, normal martial arts universities rarely had new students at this time who were martial artists.

　　Of course, the situation was different this year. Normal martial arts universities had concentrated their resources and trained many new martial artists.

　　Zhao Xuemei and Tong Songting had also noticed them. After thinking about it, Zhao Xuemei said, “West River City is located in Dongwu Province. In Dongwu there is the Dongwu Martial Arts University and two other universities that teach the martial sciences subjects.

　　“Also, we’re not far from Nanjiang and there are also three other universities in Nanjiang.

　　“The schools that only have a martial arts department are unlikely to have so many martial artists even if these were all new students. They’re probably from Dongwu Martial Arts University or Nanjiang Martial Arts University.”

　　“Nanjiang Martial Arts University, hm?”

　　Fang Ping had mixed feelings with regards to Nanjiang Martial Arts University…

　　On one hand, Nanjiang Martial Arts University was the martial arts university of his hometown. He had been preparing to enter Nanjiang Martial Arts University before.

　　In addition, Fang Ping’s classmates, including Wang Jinyang, were at Nanjiang Martial Arts University.

　　This was Fang Ping’s first encounter with a student from another martial arts university.

　　Of course, he had not been sure where the other party was from but regardless, if they were new students then he might meet some of them again in the championship in the near future.

　　After some thought, Fang Ping said, “We’ll head back and talk to them. I’m afraid that they might also be carrying out a mission. It’ll be a pain if it conflicts with ours. ”

　　Something like that was not impossible. If they had already accepted a mission, it would be locked.

　　However, if the other team’s target was not Yao Jincheng but someone related to him, the two sides would likely clash.

　　Tang Songting nodded slightly and said, “I can’t sense them clearly. Fang Ping, how strong are they?”

　　“The others are average but the leader’s Vitality might have reached about 250cal.”

　　“That strong? If they were old students, then we don’t have to worry about. But if they’re new students, the championship this year is getting scary.”

　　Tang Songting sighed. His Vitality was now almost 250cal but he was a student of MCMAU.

　　It was indeed terrifying that other normal martial arts universities could have someone who had reached this level of Vitality.