pjbooks Chapter 42 Invitation
Chapter 42 Invitation
A boy appeared in the shot.
He was wearing the Jiangzhou Academy uniform, with a million swords behind him and a hundred thousand apostles in front of him. His expression was as calm as if he were taking a stroll, and his posture was as relaxed as if he were in a daze. There were no signs of battle on his body—no wounds, no blood, and not even a wrinkle on his uniform.
This young man appeared just when everyone was about to give up, wiped out all the apostles with a wave of his hand, and then left without looking back.
"Jiang Chen," Chu Tianxiong read out the name.
All eyes in the command center were focused on the screen.
"We have very little information about him." An intelligence officer stood up, walked to the projection screen, and pulled up a file. "Jiang Chen, seventeen years old, a student in Class 5, Grade 12 at Jiangzhou Academy. On Awakening Day a month ago, he was identified as the world's first 'abilityless' individual. Before Awakening Day, he was the top student in his grade at Jiangzhou Academy for three consecutive years and was hailed as 'human hope'."
"A powerless person?" someone couldn't help but exclaim. "This is what you call a powerless person?"
The intelligence officer ignored him and continued, "After the awakening day, his ex-girlfriend Liu Ruyan—the eldest daughter of the Liu family in Jiangzhou—awakened an S-level illusion talent and broke up with him that very day. Three days later, an explosion occurred at Liu Ruyan's celebration banquet, killing seventeen people and injuring two. Liu Ruyan herself was seriously injured, and her new boyfriend, Lin Feng—who also had an S-level talent—was judged to have his talent permanently damaged."
"It's him again?" Another person's voice changed.
"There is no direct evidence that he was responsible for the explosion, but the subsequent investigation showed that he had just left the scene a few minutes before the explosion." The intelligence officer turned a page. "A few days later, the entire Liu family was wiped out. Liu Mingxuan, Liu Ruyan, and 269 members of the Liu family all died overnight. There was no residual spiritual energy or signs of combat at the scene. The official classification was 'accidental fire'."
The air in the command room seemed to freeze.
Everyone understood the intelligence officer's unspoken message—it wasn't an accidental fire; it was that boy who did it. One person, in one night, wiped out a powerful family with an S-rank Awakened individual at its helm.
"And then?" Chu Tianxiong asked.
"Then, someone from the Wang family in the capital made a move." The intelligence officer pulled up another file. "Liu Mingxuan's younger sister, Liu Mingxia, married into the Wang family. Through the Wang family's connections, she released a C-level Black Scale Wolf into the combat training ground at Jiangzhou Academy, targeting Jiang Chen. As a result, the Black Scale Wolf died. Its death was exactly the same as those people from the Liu family—it turned into a blood mist, leaving no trace."
"Liu Mingxia was unwilling to give up, so she went to the Dark Night organization again and spent 30 million to buy Jiang Chen's life. Dark Night sent out the third team—three peak A-level Awakened individuals—to carry out the assassination mission."
"And the result?"
The intelligence officer took a deep breath.
"In the end, only one person came back alive. Night Owl, a peak A-level Awakened, and the third-ranked ace assassin in the Dark Night. When he returned, he had lost his right arm and left leg, was mentally broken, and kept repeating 'Don't think about it.' Mantis and Cicada died on the spot. According to Night Owl's confession, Jiang Chen only glanced at him."
The command room was deathly silent.
"The Dark Night organization canceled the mission the next day, refunded the deposit, and raised the threat level assessment of Jiang Chen within Dark Night to 'X' level—uncontrollable, do not provoke, do not be an enemy. Even more bizarrely, Liu Mingxia died the night she left Dark Night headquarters, leaving no trace of her body."
"Who did it?" someone asked.
The intelligence officer glanced at Chu Tianxiong, who said expressionlessly, "Dark Night."
"Did the Dark Night kill his own employer?"
"Because they judged that Liu Mingxia's survival would bring them even greater trouble." Chu Tianxiong's voice was cold. "Think about what it means for Dark Night to make such a decision."
No one thought about it. Because the answer was too obvious—Dark Night was afraid. Not afraid of Liu Mingxia, but afraid of Jiang Chen. They were afraid that Jiang Chen would take his anger out on Dark Night because of Liu Mingxia, so they simply took care of the trouble for him to show their "sincerity."
An assassin organization, fearing its target, is even willing to kill its own employer to curry favor with him.
This has never happened before since the founding of Dark Night.
"Alright," Chu Tianxiong raised his hand, signaling the intelligence officer to step back, "Everyone has heard about Jiang Chen's intelligence. Now I have something else to say."
He pressed a button, and a document appeared on the projection screen.
The document header reads: "Preliminary Plan for Special Invitation to Jiang Chen to Beijing for Exchange."
"After last night's events, Jiang Chen has become the focus of attention for the entire nation. Countless people want to know about his identity, his abilities, and his background. As the Awakened Ones Affairs Management Organization, we have the responsibility and the necessity to establish formal communication channels with him."
"You mean, invite him over?" someone asked cautiously.
"It's not 'inviting' you over, it's 'inviting' you. It's not an interrogation, not an investigation, it's an exchange. An equal, friendly, and open exchange." Chu Tianxiong's gaze swept over everyone present. "I'll say it again—he's not our prisoner, not our subordinate, not even someone we can 'order' around. He's a person with power we can't comprehend; last night he saved the entire city. We only feel gratitude towards him, not questioning."
In the command center, some nodded, some remained silent, and some had complex expressions.
"But what if he doesn't come?" a young analyst raised his hand. "What if he simply doesn't want to communicate with us?"
Chu Tianxiong remained silent for a moment.
"He will come."
Why?
"Because Su Ze told me," Chu Tianxiong looked out the window at the gradually brightening sky, "that Jiang Chen once said, 'I'm very interested in the existence of demon gods and apostles.' He's not here to help us; he's interested in those things. And we happen to be able to provide him with information on that."
He turned around and looked at the boy's face on the holographic projection screen.
"So what we need to do is not to 'persuade' him, but to 'tell' him—tell him everything we know about the apostles, about the demons, about this world. Make him feel that communicating with us is valuable."
"Then...who will go and invite them?" someone asked the most crucial question.
Chu Tianxiong fell silent.
Yeah, who's going to invite him? Send an S-rank Awakened? In front of Jiang Chen, what's the difference between an S-rank and an ordinary person? Send a team? That's not an invitation, that's a show of force. Send Su Ze? Su Ze is already in Jiangzhou, but Su Ze's relationship with Jiang Chen is only that of "being able to talk to him," far from being at the level where he can be "invited."
"I'll go."
A voice came from the doorway of the command room.
Everyone turned to look.
Shen Qingxue stood at the door, her school uniform tattered, her face bruised, her hair disheveled, looking utterly wretched. But her eyes shone with an astonishing light, as if something was burning within them.
"Shen Qingxue?" Chu Tianxiong frowned. "How did you get in?"
"My dad brought me here." Shen Qingxue walked into the command room, followed by Shen Wanshan. Shen Wanshan nodded to Chu Tianxiong without saying a word.
"You said you're going?" Chu Tianxiong looked at her. "Are you very familiar with him?"
Shen Qingxue remained silent for a second.
"He remembered my name," she said, her voice soft but firm. "In the wasteland north of the city, before he left, he called my name. He said, 'Shen Qingxue, you're injured. Go back and take care of it.'"
There was a moment of silence in the command room.
Everyone understood the weight of those words. The boy who remained unfazed in the face of 100,000 apostles, the one who crushed everything like ants, had said those words to a girl before leaving.
"I'll go and ask him for you," Shen Qingxue said. "Not in the name of the General Administration, not in the name of the Shen family, but in my own name. I won't preach any grand principles, nor will I tempt him with any benefits. I'm just going to tell him—we need him."
She paused.
"Maybe he will come."
Chu Tianxiong looked at her, remained silent for a long time, and finally nodded in agreement.