Master of Kaidan
Chapter 217

Chapter 217: Chapter 217

"Students nowadays truly had it tough." At five forty in the afternoon, Xiao Zhang leaned against the car, quietly waiting for the school bell to ring. Though it was said to be the end of classes, for students in their junior and senior years, it merely allowed for a dinner break before the evening study session resumed in half an hour. Even if final exams were just a few days away.

Of course, there were always exceptions. If one could prove that self-study was more effective than evening classes, they could secure the privilege of going home. It wasn’t surprising that Comrade Chen, who had unlocked the Achievement Panel and could improve his achievements by reading, had earned this honor.

As a member of the Investigation Team, Xiao Zhang had quite the keen eye and quickly spotted Chen Xiyao. Yet, for some unknown reason, Chen wore a grim expression, standing out in the crowd as if ready to snatch someone’s mom.

"What’s up, Chen? You don’t look too happy today?" Once Chen Xiyao got into the car, Xiao Zhang started the engine and asked.

Hearing the question, Chen Xiyao’s face grew even darker. She looked at him with an expression that made Xiao Zhang’s skin crawl and coldly said,

"Brother Zhang, can Sister Lin come to pick me up in the future? Or could I get a little allowance each month to take the car myself?"

"Uh..." Xiao Zhang didn’t expect such an outburst from Chen Xiyao and found it a bit baffling. But soon, he heard an answer that sent chills down his spine—

"Today Feng Xue sent a WeChat message saying he gained a ’Perception of a Uncle Driving a Mercedes-Benz’..."

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Caught off guard, Xiao Zhang slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop, and coughed violently for quite a while before finally recovering. He turned around, pointing to his barely thirty-year-old, youthful face, due to the lack of a beard, and said in bewilderment,

"Uncle... driving a Mercedes-Benz?"

"What else? It’s all because of that Initial D, some anime from so many years ago. It got inexplicably popular again. Isn’t this some kind of Kaidan?"

Chen Xiyao muttered indignantly, while Xiao Zhang’s expression turned serious. He said earnestly,

"It got popular?"

"Yes, it seems pretty popular. I often hear classmates talking about ’the battle at Qiuming Mountain’ or ’loser leaves the emblem.’ I often see related posts in forums too. I remember it being something like..."

Seeing Xiao Zhang suddenly become serious, Chen Xiyao pinched her brow, realizing she couldn’t recall the exact words, and quickly opened the web to search. Sure enough, she found the original text—

"Last night, I lost to an AE86. He used inertia drifting to maneuver through the bends. His car was very fast, and I only saw a signboard for a tofu shop. If you know, please tell him that I’ll be waiting for him at Qiuming Mountain on Saturday night."

(Note: Upgrading to Wuling Hongguang happened after 2016. I found two sources: one was a Wuling Hongguang from Guangzhou to Yulin, monitored for speeding at an average speed of 518 km/h, exceeding the speed limit by 331%. The other was a gif of a Wuling Hongguang skidding and overtaking in snow. The monitor was around July, while the snow gif was either early or late 2016, so the sequence is unclear.)

"Ah, this..."

Looking at what seemed like a movie script reply, although Xiao Zhang believed it was likely just a coincidence, as a professional, he nodded and said,

"Got it. I’ll start investigating it when I return. Such situations should be easy to track. We just need to review the mountain road’s illegal records, and then scan through areas with frequent issues. If there’s really a Kaidan, it will surely show up."

Saying that, Xiao Zhang restarted the car and added,

"About picking you up for headquarters, hmm, I’ll switch shifts with Xiao Lin."

Xiao Zhang agreed so decisively that Chen Xiyao felt a little awkward. Using the skills she learned from Feng Xue, she deftly changed the subject,

"By the way, Feng... I mean, has the position of ’Instructor’ been confirmed?"

"There are some leads." Xiao Zhang replied while driving, "In the phone background yesterday, we found several voices of passersby, all speaking Chinese. The previous speculation that he was in Yan Country has been largely confirmed. Through accent comparison of those phrases, the likelihood of him being in Shu is quite high. Considering that, the rushing water noises from before were likely the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, probably the Min or Jinsha River. Of course, it can’t be ruled out that he’s in an overseas Chinatown. Still, not many Chinatowns are near large rivers, so searching would be relatively easy."

"He’s actually in Shu?" Chen Xiyao’s eyes brightened slightly, yet she felt a bit nervous. After all, these things were revealed through her phone conversations with him. If he suffered any loss because of this, wouldn’t it be her fault? But she was, herself, under official monitoring and had no other choices.

Seeing Chen Xiyao’s conflicted expression, Xiao Zhang recalled Wang Lao’s instructions and shook his head,

"Don’t worry, in fact, we haven’t finalized how to approach the ’Instructor.’ The specifics still need discussion. The main reason to determine his position is for stability. Being out in the open or hidden are completely different concepts. You should understand that kind of thing, right? If you’re worried, you can directly tell him that we’re confirming his location through phone calls."

"Eh? Really?" Chen Xiyao widened her eyes in disbelief, even suspecting that this was some official test of her. Xiao Zhang was slightly speechless at the young lady’s naivety and sighed,

"These things are always tacitly understood by both sides. We didn’t exactly kidnap you. If you sneak a call to him, how could we possibly stop you? The fact that he was willing to leave his number for you in the first place showed he’s open to communicating with us. By not limiting you in any way, we are also showing goodwill. It’s just that neither side is ready for direct meetings yet, so we need you to convey both sides’ intentions. Of course, if you two actually end up together, the organization would also highly support it."

"I’m already immune to your topic-changing tactics!" Although slightly blushing, Chen Xiyao decisively withstood the baptism of romance talk and straightforwardly said,

"Then is it okay if I directly ask for his location during the call later?"

She spoke with some tact, avoiding saying that she’d tell Feng Xue "the officials have roughly pinpointed your location." Instead, she mentioned "directly asking for the location," leaving both herself and the officials some room to maneuver. The officials could simply say, "this might alienate the other party," as an excuse, allowing Chen Xiyao to easily drop the idea.

"No problem, you are free to ask anything." Xiao Zhang replied indifferently to Chen Xiyao’s probing. Meanwhile, back at the Kaidan Countermeasure Bureau, a "pre-battle meeting" had commenced.

It wasn’t that Xiao Zhang was bluffing. As often said, even if such things were largely assumed by both sides, one must consider the possibility that "the other side might actually be completely clueless and hasn’t thought about it at all."