Chapter 29: Successful Contact
Jiangzhou City, Garden Shopping Center.
Lu Yuan walked into the men’s restroom on the first floor and entered the third stall on the right.
Like all poorly managed public restrooms, the back of the door was plastered with all kinds of small advertisements.
Fake ID services, drugs for sale, weapons for sale, rentals, prostitution—everything was there.
Lu Yuan found a blank spot, took out a marker, and wrote:
Old Chinese doctor, specializes in infertility. Instant results, full refund if ineffective.
He also left his phone number below.
It wasn’t that Lu Yuan had suddenly changed careers—this was the cult’s method of making contact. It just showed that these cult people were all petty and sneaky; even their contact methods were this lowly.
After finishing this, Lu Yuan left the Garden Shopping Center. All he needed now was to wait.
After saying goodbye to his younger sister in the morning, Lu Yuan once again took a train to Jiangzhou City. It hadn’t been many days since his last visit, and he really wanted to go to the hospital to see his mother.
But with a mission on his shoulders, he didn’t dare create unnecessary complications. In the end, he could only circle around the hospital once, his gaze lingering on the inpatient building. One injection of Xikanuo could only sustain her for two years. If he wanted to completely cure his mother, he would have to get into one of the top four institutions and find another way.
Lu Yuan wandered aimlessly for the entire morning and didn’t receive any calls. Later, he realized this was just wasting time, so he found a fast food restaurant and sat down.
The food offered here was just as unimpressive. Lu Yuan glanced at it casually, then shook his head and lost interest. This world had lost too many culinary techniques.
For Lu Yuan, that was naturally a way to make money. But instinctively, he felt that if he tightly held onto the cooking techniques and recipes from his previous life and squeezed out maximum profit, it would ultimately feel wrong.
He ordered two steamed buns, sat down, and ate while reading and reviewing his materials. He carried a backpack and had brought his study notes with him.
Reading like this made time pass quickly. Around three in the afternoon, he received a call from an unknown number.
“What is the biggest thing in the world?” the caller asked immediately.
Lu Yuan answered without hesitation: “The Divine Lord is the biggest.”
There was a pause for a few seconds on the other end. “In one hour, go wait at the Square Stop of Bus Route 8.”
Then the call ended.
Lu Yuan packed up his bag and left the restaurant. After asking for directions several times, he barely managed to find the Route 8 bus stop.
The infrastructure of the Shenzhou world was almost identical to his previous life, except for one thing—it didn’t have mobile navigation. For now, he didn’t know why.
The Square Stop was five stops away. Lu Yuan used a coin to board the bus. By the time he arrived, nearly half an hour had passed with all the delays.
This stop wasn’t large. Only three to five passengers were waiting around. Lu Yuan looked around the platform but didn’t see anyone suspicious. Just as the appointed time approached, his phone buzzed once. It was the same unknown number, but the call was immediately hung up.
While he was still hesitating about whether to call back, a silver-gray car slowly stopped by the roadside.
The middle-aged driver rolled down the window and called out, “Get in.”
Lu Yuan climbed into the back seat. The driver stepped on the gas and drove off in less than five seconds.
The car circled around the streets of Jiangzhou City. The driver didn’t say a word, and Lu Yuan didn’t ask any questions either. However, his eyes kept drifting to the scenery outside, trying to figure out the route.
After more than ten minutes, Lu Yuan gave up this pointless effort. The car was clearly driving in circles, and he wasn’t familiar with Jiangzhou’s streets anyway. He was already completely disoriented.
At that moment, the driver answered a phone call. Lu Yuan couldn’t hear clearly what was said, only the driver’s reply: “Understood, I’ll bring him over immediately.”
After that, he turned the steering wheel, and the car drove into a residential complex.
Lu Yuan was taken into a rented apartment. The lights were off inside, making it very dark. Before he could see anything clearly, someone behind the door grabbed his neck. The man was extremely strong—likely a cultivator.
Lu Yuan had experienced this kind of thing several times already at the Internal Affairs Bureau.
He struggled a bit, and someone shouted in the darkness, “Don’t move!”
Next, his backpack was taken away, and his clothes were stripped off, leaving him in only his underwear.
Just when he thought that was the end of it, a hand suddenly pressed against his lower abdomen. Before he could react, a powerful force surged from the palm into his body. His internal organs churned violently.
Lu Yuan’s vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
In the last second before passing out, he heard someone speak.
“There are no signs of a formed dantian. Not a cultivator.”
...
When Lu Yuan opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a single bed. His removed clothes were piled messily beside him.
Three middle-aged men were standing nearby, chatting about something.
In that moment, Lu Yuan instinctively wanted to check his ass to see if anything had happened to him. But the thought was too embarrassing, so he gave up.
A man in his thirties saw that he had woken up and asked, “Lu Yuan, right? Zhang Baocheng sent you?”
Lu Yuan nodded.
The man continued, “The mission’s been canceled. Didn’t Zhang Baocheng tell you?”
Lu Yuan’s heart tightened. He immediately realized this was a test. His thoughts raced, but his face showed confusion. He replied:
“The guard lord ordered me to come to Jiangzhou today. Later, he said I should wait for his notice before setting out.
I waited until today and still didn’t get any notice, so I came ahead anyway.
If I didn’t come and the guard lord got angry, that would be bad.”
Lu Yuan spoke in a somewhat aggrieved tone. The man asked again, “Then why didn’t you contact Zhang Baocheng?”
“I can’t reach him!” Lu Yuan answered. “He always contacts me. I don’t know how to reach him.”
The man nodded, then brought over a math test paper and ordered, “Do this question now.”
Lu Yuan was shocked. He thought to himself, are cults this competitive now? Do you have to pass exams to join a cult?
He began answering as instructed, feeling a bit worried. The test was quite difficult, and there were many questions he didn’t know.
If he failed, would they kill him?
Damn it—if he could pass this test, why would he be taking on a life-threatening mission like this?
His worry turned out to be unnecessary. They weren’t testing his academic performance. Before he could even complete a few questions, the paper was snatched away.
Then he saw the man take out his study materials and compare the answers he had just written with the notes in his materials.
After checking, the man nodded. “He really is a high school senior.”
If he were an undercover agent sent by the Internal Affairs Bureau, where would he get so many study notes—and with handwriting that matched exactly?
The man exchanged glances with the other two. He seemed to want to ask more questions, but one of his companions interrupted:
“This kid’s not even a cultivator. That’s enough.”
Another laughed. “If the Internal Affairs Bureau really sent a high school senior as a spy, they must have lost their minds.”
After saying that, the two of them left.
The remaining man—the one who had been questioning him—smiled at Lu Yuan.
“Little brother Lu Yuan, sorry about that.” He helped him up. “There have been quite a few Internal Affairs Bureau spies lately. This is just to be safe.”
“My name is Guo Huai, a guard of the Holy Cult.”
Lu Yuan put on a frightened and respectful expression. “Guard lord is absolutely right. Long live the Holy Cult! Those dogs from the Internal Affairs Bureau all deserve to die!”
Guo Huai was very satisfied with Lu Yuan’s attitude. He instructed, “Get dressed and come with me.”
Lu Yuan put his clothes back on. He saw his backpack and study materials scattered on the ground. He wanted to pick them up, but was worried it might arouse suspicion.
Unexpectedly, Guo Huai said, “Pick everything up and bring it. You’ll need it later.”
Exactly what he wanted.
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