True Solution of the Sword Dao
Chapter 184 - 178 The Upper Echelons II

Chapter 184: Chapter 178 The Upper Echelons II

"Hmm, we’ve arrived in Yuan City territory. Are you awake, sister Ya?" the man driving the car replied.

"Almost, I stayed up too late last night." The woman rubbed her neck and stretched her arms. The blanket suddenly slipped down, revealing her upper body dressed only in a black tank top. A blue, ferocious centipede stretched from her left arm into her back and occasionally twisted slightly with the woman’s movements.

"The two missions are too far apart, forcing us to run around everywhere, and the only time we can sleep is in the car. When will this kind of life end?" The woman looked up helplessly, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. "Even the air still smells like blood from last night."

"After this mission, we should have enough points and then we can rest for a while," the man driving nodded. "In four days, we’ve killed over four hundred people. Even big sister is tired."

"Although we’re not from the same camp, they are also human. I hate this feeling of snuffing out lives one by one," the woman spoke indifferently.

"After this mission, Bing Luo is going back for a visit, right?" the driver asked.

The man in the passenger seat nodded.

"My family, I am all there is to it." He seemed not very good at speaking.

"However, William, this person, probably won’t cooperate well with our protection. With the Thunder God’s top-level mercenaries around him, we might not be so welcome in comparison."

Click!

A red spark suddenly lit up, and thick smoke quickly filled the car.

The woman gently exhaled a puff of smoke.

"It doesn’t matter. Whoever stands in our way, just kill them all," she said.

"Then, we’ll do as big sister says," the man driving said as he gently adjusted his glasses.

Whoosh...

The silver Volkswagen roared down the highway, kicking up a few fragmented leaves.

*****************

Guangyuan Hotel

After reserving a room on the first floor and settling Jiang Nan in, Lin Fei directly went to the address sent in a text message by the Society.

The second floor of the hotel.

The entire second floor was guarded by special personnel.

As soon as Lin Fei went up, he was stopped by a white-haired Caucasian man with short hair at the staircase turn.

"Sorry, the upper floor has been booked, and we are not accepting guests," the burly man said after sizing Lin Fei up. "Didn’t the hotel tell you?" His Chinese was very pure.

Lin Fei’s face changed slightly, taking on a more mature unfamiliar appearance, and he was carrying a black sword bag. He looked nothing like an ordinary person.

He took out a white ID card from his pocket. "I’m with the National Security Bureau of the Hua Nation. Mr. William’s safety during his visit will be partly our responsibility," he said, presenting the ID, which was a cover identity provided by Shueisha for field operations.

The burly man took the ID, examined it and said, "The National Security Bureau has already sent someone. I’ll take you to see them."

Lin Fei nodded and followed him through what seemed a lax, but actually incredibly tense, security perimeter. Along the way, they passed several muscular men with bulging waists patrolling the hallways until they reached a room at the edge of the perimeter on the second floor.

After knocking, the door was opened from the inside.

A young man with delicate features and a prominent black mole on his lip appeared. It was quite noticeable.

"A newbie? We’ve already received the notice," he said with a smile to Lin Fei.

The burly man returned to the security perimeter of his own accord.

The young man pulled Lin Fei into the room. Lin Fei struggled a bit, but without much force, he allowed himself to be pulled in.

The room was fairly spacious, with the large bed in the center disassembled into several large pieces and propped against the corner, freeing up most of the space. Besides the man with the black mole, there was another man and a woman. The man was well-built and constantly puffing smoke from the cigarette in his mouth.

The woman was gently cleaning a pistol, leaning against the wall.

But what puzzled Lin Fei wasn’t any of this, it was the fact that everyone here had an aura of being at the peak of D-level. Clearly, none of them were weak. There was a time when D-level strong individuals were incredibly rare, yet here, he had encountered so many at once

"You must find this strange, don’t you?" The black-moled man who had opened the door earlier explained, "Those here are all elites from all over the country. Some of you are Martial Artists, others are Psychics. Of course, most are Psychics. The purpose of gathering here is just one, to complete the task."

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Xu Zhikang, and these are Feng Man and Luo Yixiong. We are all participants in this task."

Lin Fei asked with confusion, "Then are you the commander of this task?"

"Commander? Of course not," the man with the black mole quickly waved his hand, "The one in charge of commanding is Captain Lu Xiuya, who hasn’t arrived yet. By the way, which group are you from?"

"What do you mean ’which group’?" Lin Fei asked, totally confused.

This time, it was the turn of everyone in the room to be surprised. Three pairs of eyes suddenly fixed on Lin Fei.

The woman cleaning her gun stopped, and Luo Yixiong, the smoker, turned his head. Xu Zhikang was especially taken aback.

"Are you a member being assessed this year?" The woman suddenly spoke up.

"Assessment? Indeed, the message I received was about an assessment mission," Lin Fei nodded.

"A Martial Artist with a medium-grade weapon?" Xu Zhikang glanced at Lin Fei’s Sword Bag. "If you are a newcomer, then it’s necessary for me to explain some precautions to you."

"What precautions?" Lin Fei vaguely felt that he was about to enter the true elite ranks of Hua Nation.

Xu Zhikang spoke seriously, "Although there are confidentiality rules and some things can’t be discussed in detail, the soon-to-arrive Captain Lu Xiuya has a terrible temper. Whatever she says, do not talk back. Make sure to obediently follow her orders, and never defy her."

Lin Fei raised an eyebrow slightly, "What? Is this captain that formidable?"

"People like us, she could squash us like bugs with a flick of her hand. You tell me if that’s formidable," the sole woman said indifferently.

"C-level?"

"No, B-level," Luo Yixiong stood up from his chair. "I’ve seen her kill three C-level peak strong individuals who dared to defy her in under a minute. Hong Qiangwei died in that conflict."

"What? Hong Qiangwei!! She killed her?" The woman was clearly shocked. Seeing Lin Fei’s puzzled expression, she calmed down before explaining, "Hong Qiangwei, a C-level strong individual who was very active in the Northeast region in recent years, rumored to be a returnee from overseas. After several battles, she was known as invincible below B-level. Lord Gao Ge even personally acknowledged her strength. But she disappeared suddenly, and I never expected she was killed by Lu Xiuya. You should know that Hong Qiangwei had escaped from the hands of B-level strong individuals overseas several times."

"Lu Xiuya, she has two strong men under her command, forming a small team on their own. They have been influential in Hua Nation for decades, only ever losing once under the hands of Lord Gao Ge," Xu Zhikang said somberly. "Although she has a bad temper, as long as you don’t provoke her, there shouldn’t be any problems. Buddy, you’re in luck this time, with her leading the assessment mission, it’s pretty much guaranteed success."

"Is that so?" Lin Fei said with a smile. B-level strength was indeed not something he could contend with. Even fighting with C-level peak individuals would be difficult to win, at best he might maintain an unbeaten status. Moreover, Lu Xiuya, who had managed to kill someone like Hong Qiangwei who had escaped from B-level individuals several times, must have some special technique to prevent her opponent from fleeing. It seemed he really needed to be cautious.

"Buddy, you don’t look very old, yet you’ve managed to reach D-level peak at such a young age. Not bad at all," Xu Zhikang seemed quite friendly.

"It’s nothing special, isn’t everyone here the same?" Lin Fei said casually. He was beginning to understand that the people here were the crème de la crème selected from all over Hua Nation, all of them geniuses. Shunyan was once proclaimed to have reached D-level peak at the age of thirty-something and had hopes of breaking into C-level, earning him the title of the number one genius in Europe. For those here to reach D-level peak by the age of fifty was naturally also considered genius level. After all, strength isn’t easy to come by, and a slight misstep could mean no breakthroughs for a lifetime, possibly staying at one level forever. Apart from Lin Fei, the progress of others was extremely difficult. Everyone’s understanding was different, and they could not learn from each other. Typically, the advancement of Martial Artists or Psychics depends either on their own insight and luck, or on accumulating huge amounts of energy within their bodies with various resources, forcibly pushing through. But this only works up to a certain level.

"The same?" Luo Yixiong couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. "The three of us, aren’t we all above fifty? Generally, when you break through to D-level, your appearance and aura characteristics at that time will be set. Don’t all three of us have the aura characteristics of someone in their forties? Only you look like you’re in your teens."

"Ah," Lin Fei suddenly had nothing to say. Indeed, compared to his own teenage years, these people were indeed much older.

"After this mission’s Points, I will have enough to gain an opportunity to observe Divine Patterns. I originally thought it would be very difficult, but I never expected that it would be Lord Lu Xiuya leading the team; I’m really lucky," Xu Zhikang said with a relieved expression.

"Divine Patterns?" Lin Fei asked, puzzled.

"You’ll understand later. Once you truly join us, you’ll see how plentiful the resources you can access are," Xu Zhikang said mysteriously. "There are resources to quickly enhance your strength, eliminate side effects, treat combat injuries, strengthen the body, and various secret techniques for Cultivating strength. Although they cannot be learned directly, they can be used for reference. There are all sorts of Divine Weapons, high-tech weapons and so on—whatever you need, whatever problem you encounter, our support system can provide help."

"Anything?" Lin Fei was suddenly struck by a thought. He had been stuck at a bottleneck for a long time. Without any unexpected advancements, it would take at least another year or two to completely stabilize. During this time, he would not make any progress, which was very detrimental to his current plans for the Dream World. If he could really get a solution to the bottleneck from what Xu Zhikang mentioned, it would save a great deal of time.

"Of course, the premise is only assistance for yourself, but no matter what, Points will be spent. That’s the rule." Xu Zhikang spread his hands, "Alright, I’ve said enough. If it weren’t for your young age and huge potential to break through D-level, I wouldn’t dare to tell you so directly."(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and Monthly Tickets at QiDian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)