Chapter 67: Return to Sun City

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　In the Deputy Director’s office.

　　Zhang Yong continued after a moment’s consideration. “This incident is not directed toward you specifically…

　　“The army and the Department of Investigation Services has deployed men simultaneously to do a thorough sweep.

　　“The retribution that you’re worried about won’t happen.

　　“Of course, if you’re still anxious, the Department can assign someone to protect you in secret until the incident is completely wrapped up…”

　　Fang Ping thought the possibility of him being attacked for revenge quite low. Plus, he would feel awkward if someone was watching over him.

　　He still nodded in acquiescence, though, for his own life and his family’s safety. “If possible, I hope that both my family and I can be protected.”

　　“No problem. We’ll set about arranging this after you return to Sun City.”

　　Zhang Yong was practically clamoring for this guy to leave immediately. The secret protection he would leave to his subordinates to carry out. He did not need to worry about that.

　　Next, he complimented Fang Ping.

　　Something along the lines of “young but accomplished”, “prodigious”, “a bright future”…

　　Any other high school student would be swayed by his words of praise.

　　Zhang Yong was a Rank-2 martial artist and the Deputy Director of the Department of Investigation Services too. He was quite an important person in Auspicious Sun City.

　　Fang Ping did not take his praises to heart. He let him go on for a while before piping up somewhat shyly, “Director Zhang, I heard my brother say that there’s a reward for those who assist the government in apprehending criminals? Especially criminals who are martial artists.”

　　The corners of Zhang Yong’s lips twitched. His praise was all for naught, then?

　　After some thought, Zhang Yong explained, “There is, but there are necessary procedures.

　　“There are missions like this, but they are geared at martial arts university students.

　　“Sometimes the Department is short of hands. When we need assistance, we will work with martial arts universities to issue some missions.

　　“We only have a deal with martial arts universities. We don’t assign missions to individuals, in case everything goes south…”

　　There were quite a lot of casual martial artists. If every one of them, as it was with the Department, held the right to sentence criminals, would there be any need for the Department?

　　The Department only worked with martial arts universities.

　　This also applied to some missions assigned by the army.

　　In the public’s eyes, martial arts universities were also institutions under the jurisdiction of the government, and martial arts university students were under the government.

　　Coincidentally, martial arts universities were also striving to open up more opportunities for their students to train. This cooperation between the two parties was a win-win situation. Only with this deal could Wang Jinyang and the others have the chance to carry out missions.

　　Fang Ping was not a martial arts university student. Even if he really did assist in the process, rewarding him went against protocol.

　　Fang Ping was instantly displeased. He rolled up his sleeves and deliberately shook his bruised arms in front of Zhang Yong.

　　“I’ve been injured severely this time. Who knows if my future cultivation of martial arts would be affected…”

　　Zhang Yong was torn between laughing and crying in frustration. He considered his words before saying, “Fang Ping, this really is against protocol.

　　“A governmental department is not a corporation. We have to do things by the book.

　　“What if…”

　　Considering the fact that Fang Ping was quite the piece of work, Zhang Yong considered for a while before venturing, “We’ll report this to the higher-ups and see if we can award and compensate you in the name of heroism.”

　　“Uh, about how much would that be?” Fang Ping assumed an innocent tone.

　　Zhang Yong coughed lightly. “It may not be much, but we’ll try our best to lobby for it on your behalf…”

　　It would not be much; that was what his words conveyed.

　　The most he could get was fifty thousand yuan.

　　The minimum, some ten thousand yuan.

　　As for the hundred thousand to a million yuan he was thinking about, well, he might as well keep dreaming about it.

　　The mission Wang Jinyang had accepted – the one that sent him after Huang Bin – had only paid three hundred thousand.

　　The authorities in Sun City had only increased the reward after he had escaped.

　　Fang Ping had only assisted in apprehending this time. He did not subdue the criminals, or kill them, for that matter. This reward amount offered to him was only due to Wang Jinyang’s clout.

　　Fang Ping knew that he could get nothing more from the look on the other’s face.

　　Having to apply and everything, and use Wang Jinyang’s name, all for a couple thousand yuan… It was not worth it, in the end.

　　Fang Ping also worried that this would be blown out of proportion, attracting the notice of those lunatics, who would take revenge on him.

　　If he was rewarded cash or a few pills on the spot, he would have accepted them graciously.

　　Now that an application was necessary, Fang Ping could only forget about it. He said, with graciousness, “It’s fine. As a progressive young man in the new era, working with the government to rid society of crime is my responsibility.

　　“Also, everything is owed to Director Zhang saving my life. I was kidding just now. Please don’t take it seriously.”

　　Now Zhang Yong was the one taken aback. The young man was calculating and stingy just now. He had feared that he would be difficult to dismiss.

　　Now he was suddenly all gracious!

　　It was good that Fang Ping decided to stop pestering him, though. Zhang Yong put on a smile quickly. “Fang Ping, you’re of a different caliber indeed! You will definitely rise to the top of the university in the future…”

　　Platitudes such as that came easily to Zhang Yong.

　　He treated Fang Ping with more graciousness once there was no more conflict of interest between them.

　　He also tried his best to answer every question Fang Ping had.

　　When Fang Ping made to leave, he insisted on seeing Fang Ping off personally. Fang Ping did not refuse him.

　　Fang Ping asked as he walked, “Director Zhang, is something like this incident today common?”

　　“Not really. They’re all amateurs. Malevolent attacks like this one today are rare.

　　“As for why it happened this time…”

　　Zhang Yong paused, hesitation evident. He still continued with his answer to Fang Ping’s question, though. “The reason why it happened this time is related to Governor Zhang’s leading a delegation to Tiannan.

　　“A part of the elites in Nanjiang had gone to Tiannan.

　　“These criminals thought that this was their opportunity to strike. This was why they behaved as they did…”

　　“Governor Zhang went to another province?”

　　Fang Ping muttered. He did not persist in asking for answers. Judging from Zhang Yong’s expression, this was the limit of the information he could tell him.

　　When they walked to the carpark, a previous question in Fang Ping’s mind rose to the surface, and so he asked again, “Director Zhang, you said that missions on assisting the apprehension of criminals are delegated to martial arts university students sometimes.

　　“Does this mean that martial arts university students all possess certain expertise in combat?”

　　“Of course!”

　　“But when I talked with Director Tan from Sun City, he told me that combat techniques are not necessary…”

　　Zhang Yong sneered. “I’ll put it like this. Modern martial artists are divided into three main categories.

　　“The first one, martial arts university students.

　　“The second, martial artists from the army.

　　“The third, casual martial artists.

　　“There probably should be another category: people from a martial arts family. These people enter martial arts universities most of the time, though.

　　“Both martial arts university students and those from the army prioritize practical technique. Their rank is subsidiary to that.

　　“These two categories form the bulk of martial artists.

　　“The third type – casual martial artists – are not recognized in the field.

　　“Most think that casual martial artists lack wisdom and combat skill.

　　“Can a martial artist be called a martial artist if he doesn’t possess either wisdom or combat skill?

　　“They’re worse than brutes!

　　“Martial arts university students excel at both.

　　“Martial artists in the army might lack in the intellectual sense, but they’re definitely formidable in battle.

　　“Most casual martial artists are useless. They have nothing but their ranks.

　　“The Director Tan you’re speaking of should be Tan Zhenping, am I right?

　　“He learned everything from supplementary classes. There’s a lot that he doesn’t know. You don’t need to take everything he says at face value.”

　　Zhang Yong disdained Tan Zhenping. He did not even bother to conceal his feelings while he told Fang Ping plainly to not take him seriously.

　　Martial artists of that particular category were only martial artists by name in order to enjoy a few privileges.

　　They were not approved of by the field — unless they had proved their mettle.

　　After hearing his words, Fang Ping said thoughtfully, “You mean that true martial artists possess definite combat prowess, instead of just keeping up appearances…”

　　“That is a given!”

　　“But… Are the combat skills that martial artists possess useful in these times?”

　　As Fang Ping finished asking, Zhang Yong smirked. “What do you think?

　　“Haven’t you felt its importance during today’s incident?

　　“Although it rarely occurs, it doesn’t mean that they never happen.

　　“Do you think you’d be able to survive the ordeal if you don’t have a certain level of skill?

　　“Your opponent was only a rookie Rank-1 martial artist, too. When they reach Rank-3, firearms can only do limited damage to them.

　　“We can’t operate tanks every time we go on missions, can we?”

　　There were some things that Zhang Yong did not bring up. The Catacombs, for example…

　　Of course, he did not know much about it because his rank was not high enough. He was only at Rank-2 currently.

　　Under normal circumstances, those at Rank-3 are privy to certain details. Rank-2 martial artists like him were mostly in charge of jobs within their responsibility.

　　Although Zhang Yong did not reveal anything to him in detail, Fang Ping felt emotional.

　　How long had it only been since then?

　　First, it was Huang Bin. Now it was those pagan lunatics. Sometimes, this society was not as peaceful as he thought.

　　If he did not enter this world, if he remained a civilian for his whole life, he probably would not know anything about this for his whole life.

　　Now that he had entered the world of martial arts, could he be willing to confine himself in Sun City for his whole life, as Tan Zhenping had?

　　Sun City was too small. Tan Zhenping would be happy to stay there, but he would not.

　　He was initially on the fence about learning some combat techniques for self-defense.

　　Now it seemed to be compulsory.

　　He did not know how much his Vitality needed to be before he could break through to Rank-1. Practicing some combat technique was a must nevertheless.

　　There was also the matter of this attack orchestrated by this Genesis cult. Although Zhang Yong said that Auspicious Sun City had already assigned a crew to wipe up the mess and that the culprits on the scene were either captured or dead, who knows if there would be a next time?

　　He was targeted this time. How about next time?

　　So he would have to take some precautions. He must possess a certain level of prowess in combat.

　　Although he had not gotten anything from the ordeal, he got to face a real martial artist and glean some information from Zhang Yong. He did not really go home empty-handed.

　　What Fang Ping lacked now was not the resources, but knowledge about the inner workings.

　　…

　　When he arrived at the hotel, Wu Zhihao and the others had already returned.

　　They did not know that Fang Ping was attacked. They were still discussing previous incidents.

　　Auspicious Sun City had already asked to keep it quiet, and no one was killed, so there were fewer conversations on the subject by then.

　　When they knew that all culprits had been apprehended and some of them killed on the spot, they were less enthusiastic about this.

　　After lunch at the hotel, the procession of coaches left for Sun City in the afternoon.

　　Staying a day more in the hotel cost quite a lot.

　　There was also the matter of recent incidents in Auspicious Sun City, too. No one wanted to stay there for longer. Sun City was safer.

　　…

　　Fang Ping’s eyes had a distant faraway look to them after he got on the coach leaving for Sun City.

　　He had come only to take his exams.

　　Now, as all sorts of incidents happened to him, most notably the attack on him, his understanding of martial artists had deepened.

　　Tan Zhenping’s words to him were completely dismissed.

　　Sun City was too small, to the extent that most people paid no attention to those who seemed important to the people of the city.

　　Governor Zhang’s excursion to a neighboring province, the pagan-orchestrated attacks, martial arts university students assisting the government in missions…

　　Those were gradually linked in Fang Ping’s mind. He felt that there was something he did not know of.

　　“I’m close…”

　　Fang Ping muttered. After he took his cultural studies exams, soon it would be his entrance to a martial arts university.

　　He would know everything he wanted to know then.