Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 357 - 88: Application

After hearing this, Lu Fang couldn’t help but ask, "Her face has been modified? Brother Wu, can you confirm?"

Wubei said, "I don’t know what she originally looked like, but her bone structure and facial proportions have undergone some adjustments, and implant fibers were used for reinforcement.

"I’ve heard my family mention before that some companies provide unique individuals, or people who resemble certain others, according to their clients’ preferences and private tastes."

Hearing this, Lu Fang suddenly seemed to understand something. He glanced at the girl with a sense of pity, then turned to Chen Chuan and said,

"If that’s the case, then she’s probably not Senior Brother Shen’s sister. Perhaps she’s just a similar-looking puppet that Zhao Qian had custom-ordered from some company. Could he have done it to humiliate Senior Brother Shen? Or maybe to imitate someone else?"

Chen Chuan had also considered this possibility. If so, the appearance of this girl who called herself "No. 13" was likely modeled by Zhao Qian after Shen Zheng’s sister.

But what was strange was that Zhao Qian was the one who had taken Shen Zheng’s sister in the first place. Why would he go to the trouble of ordering a custom puppet that resembled her?

’What exactly happened here?’

He switched his line of thinking and asked, "Did Zhao Qian ever say who you look like?"

The girl said softly, "Mr. Zhao seemed to say I looked a lot like someone, but I don’t know who."

Lu Fang murmured, "That’s probably it, then."

Chen Chuan said, "Senior Brother, there might be more clues in this house. Let’s search the place first and see what we can find."

Lu Fang nodded.

Chen Chuan looked at the girl again. "Do you know of any unusual places here?"

The girl said, "There’s a study in the southeast corner of the third floor. Mr. Zhao usually didn’t let me go near it."

Seeing that she answered every question, Lu Fang couldn’t help but say to Wubei, "Her psychological resistance doesn’t seem very strong?"

Wubei replied, "The big corporations have consciousness-editing implants. Combined with hypnosis techniques, they can pre-program a puppet’s behavioral logic. But the higher the requirements, the greater the cost. Zhao Qian probably didn’t order those services."

Lu Fang understood. He pointed at the person lying on the floor and asked the girl, "Then who is he?"

The girl said, "He’s the person Mr. Zhao arranged to guard the house. His name is Zhao Er."

Lu Fang asked again, "So he’s the one who orders the Nutrition Paste that’s delivered every day?"

The girl nodded.

Lu Fang asked, confused, "Then why not order more at once?"

"Because the amount of money Mr. Zhao transferred to his account each day was limited, just enough for our daily consumption. So we couldn’t buy too much at one time. And we weren’t allowed to contact Mr. Zhao proactively; we could only await his instructions."

Lu Fang couldn’t help but sigh. ’Looked at this way, these two really are just tools in the truest sense.’ Because they couldn’t contact Zhao Qian, they wouldn’t even leave after his death, just rigidly carry out the orders he left behind.

After understanding the situation, Chen Chuan and Lu Fang discussed their plan and decided to split up to search. Lu Fang would take the other areas, while Chen Chuan went directly to the third floor, to the room the girl had mentioned.

The lock on the outside was no obstacle for him. With a light push, he vibrated the lock open and stepped inside, where he saw a plant growing from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

Wubei’s voice came through: "That’s a domain interference organism. This one is the ’Cactus’ from the Five-sided Company, a mid-range product. It can generate five fixed domain signals, rotating every six days."

Chen Chuan glanced at it, then surveyed the room. He found a hidden door on one of the walls. He went over and pushed it open, revealing a small collection room. Several models of firearms were displayed on the wall, each sealed in a transparent film that could be torn off at a moment’s notice.

There was a metal cabinet near the front of the room. He went up and tried it, finding it unlocked. Inside were three rows of drawers. The first drawer was stuffed with spare cash and coins. A rough count put it at around three or four thousand.

The second drawer contained some paper records. He flipped through them; most were written in code. However, based on the other documents stored with them, they were likely related to the Lianwei Zhongyu Company.

He pushed it shut and opened the third drawer, where he found an exquisite red wooden box. He had originally thought it was some important object, but upon opening it, he discovered a Zhao Family genealogy book.

He took it out and flipped through it. It recorded that an ancestor of the Zhao Family had served as General Feng Sheng in the old era. One branch of the family had moved to Yangzhi Town, which later became Yangzhi City.

Before the Algae Fluid Revolution, all the fields in the old town belonged to the Zhao Family. When the new era arrived, the Zhao Family didn’t cling to the meager output of their land, but instead went into overseas trade.

During the Great Expansion period, the Zhao Family actively supported and cooperated with the military, becoming one of the civilian military suppliers. Through this, they regained political status and position.

But a few years later, the Zhao Family lost to rivals in business competition and suffered political suppression. They retreated back to Yangzhi City and only became active again after connecting with the Molan Company.

Chen Chuan skimmed through it. ’Although it’s just a genealogy book, I feel like there’s more to it than that.’ It contained lengthy descriptions of the time before the Great Expansion. In middle school, this period of history was mentioned, but only briefly. The book, however, was very detailed. ’I can take this back to read.’

Beneath the genealogy box was a General Tiger Token, made of pure gold, with the two ancient characters for "Feng Sheng" engraved on it.

’Did this belong to that General Feng Sheng from back then? But the genealogy book says the Yangzhi branch of the Zhao Family was just one offshoot. How did this end up in Zhao Qian’s hands?’

Just as he was thinking, Lu Fang’s excited voice came through the Realm Token: "Junior Chen, come take a look at this."

Chen Chuan put the items down and walked out of the room. He went to the second-floor bedroom, where he saw Lu Fang holding up a photograph. When Lu Fang saw him approach, he handed it over.

Chen Chuan took it and looked. It was a photo of a little girl about ten years old. No. 13 downstairs bore some resemblance to her, but comparing them to the photo, you could tell they were two different people. Furthermore, the girl’s features more closely resembled the Shen Zheng he had seen in a previous photo.

Lu Fang said, "There’s a date on the photo. It’s from four years ago."

Chen Chuan said, "Four years ago? The same year something happened to Senior Brother Shen?"

"Right." Lu Fang’s voice was grave. "Senior Brother’s sister was taken by Zhao Qian four years ago. The age of the girl in the photo also matches. This should be a picture of Senior Brother’s sister."

Chen Chuan glanced at the background of the photo. It was very familiar. It must have been taken in the abandoned factory where the Mutual Aid Association plotted against Shen Zheng. The location also matched up, so her identity should be confirmed.

He said, "Let’s keep looking for other clues."

Lu Fang nodded emphatically.

Unfortunately, they then searched the entire building and questioned the girl several more times, but couldn’t find anything else useful.

Chen Chuan suggested they call it a day, as Zhao Qian had left behind some coded records that might contain clues. Lu Fang agreed.

It wasn’t appropriate to let the girl, No. 13, and Zhao Er go for the time being, so Lu Fang volunteered to stay behind and watch over them.

Seeing this, Chen Chuan arranged some contact signals with him just in case, then left the residence with the valuable items and returned to the Profound Palace Building.

The next day, he first paid a visit to Gao Ming, handing him the codebook and the documents suspected to be from Lianwei Zhongyu, asking him to look into the origin of the code.

After that, he went to Teacher Zheng’s home for training.

Lately, whenever he came here, he would engage in combat training with Zheng Tongtong. He had gone from being completely suppressed at the beginning to being able to hold his own in a back-and-forth fight.

But this time was particularly different. Not only had his muscles, bones, and internal organs grown stronger with the continuous investment of resources, but his enhanced senses also gave him faster reactions and better coordination even in a low state, allowing him to keep up with Zheng Tongtong’s rhythm.

Both of them were steady in their exchanges, neither revealing any openings. They traded blows for an entire day without stopping.

With their stamina and endurance, they could have gone on for several more days without issue, but that would have turned it into a pure contest of attrition.

While that was also useful for honing technique, the effect wasn’t that great. So, as if by unspoken agreement, they both began to quicken the rhythm of their strikes and the power of their swings. Within a dozen or so seconds, they clashed hundreds of times, the sound of their blades ringing throughout the training grounds.

Teacher Zheng saw their speed increasing and the force of their swings growing, knowing that if they continued, they wouldn’t be able to pull back. He casually grabbed a wooden training sword and, at the perfect moment, inserted it into the gap between their sword stances. With a light flick, he knocked both of their blades aside.

Chen Chuan took the opportunity to withdraw his sword. He felt the force that separated him and Zheng Tongtong was perfectly timed and measured—not too much, not too little. Even if he went all out, he couldn’t have achieved that. ’It seems I still have a long way to go in terms of technique.’

Teacher Zheng said in a satisfied tone, "Chen, that’s enough training for today. You’ve made great progress. For now, you don’t need to learn too much more. You just need to hone and master what you already have. My advice is that you should apply for the skill assessment when you get back."

Chen Chuan nodded. It was already early June, with less than a month left until the end of the semester. His skill level wasn’t likely to improve much more in such a short time, so it was indeed time for the assessment.

He bid farewell to Teacher Zheng and his daughter, then drove back to the Profound Palace Building. At the same time, he contacted the Wuyi platform. "Hong Fu, I’m applying for this semester’s skill assessment."

Hong Fu’s voice replied, "Application received, Chen. Based on your application time, the available assessment dates are: June fifth, tenth, and twenty-fifth. Please confirm your desired date."

Chen Chuan thought for a moment. The fifth was tomorrow. He saw no reason to wait and decided to get it over with. "I’ll apply for the assessment on June fifth."

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