Atlas of Heaven and Man

September passed, and time entered October.

Chen Chuan forgot everything else, focusing wholeheartedly on practicing the Zhou Yuan Strength Method, repeatedly honing the Orthodox Scattering Hand, and also taking some time to learn the basic saber techniques that Cheng Zitong taught him in his spare time.

When the first rest day of October arrived, Cheng Zitong called him in the morning and said, "Xiao Chuan, the assignment can begin. The specifics have been arranged by the teacher. The person leading you is my martial nephew, of the same generation as you. You can call him Senior Brother or Senior Apprentice Brother.

He's downstairs waiting for you now. Assignment tasks inevitably involve many unforeseen circumstances. He's more experienced, so listen to him when handling them."

Chen Chuan said, "Okay, Teacher, I understand." He then asked, "Teacher, what's this Senior Brother's name?"

Cheng Zitong said, "Ren Xiaotian."

Chen Chuan thought, this Senior Brother's name is quite wild.

After hanging up the phone, he thanked the dormitory manager, went back to his room to prepare, and took the elevator downstairs. Exiting the building, he saw a gray-green SUV parked not far away. A man, less than 1.6 meters tall and probably in his thirties, was waiting there. His face was stern and serious. Seeing him come out, he said briefly, "Chen Chuan?"

Chen Chuan nodded and said, "Senior Brother Ren?"

Ren Xiaotian said, "It's me, get in the car." As he spoke, he opened the driver's side door and strode inside.

Chen Chuan went to the passenger seat, opened the door, moved inside, and sat down. After closing the door and fastening his seatbelt, the car started.

Unlike Wei Changan, who he had met before and was good at socializing, this Senior Brother Ren kept a straight face and didn't say a word for a long time after leaving the school gate.

Chen Chuan didn't know if it was his personality or some other reason, but since the other person didn't speak, he wouldn't bother him. He didn't waste that time either, focusing on practicing his breathing technique.

After a while, Senior Brother Ren suddenly said, "Basic breathing technique?"

Chen Chuan said, "Yes."

Senior Brother Ren fell silent again, and after waiting for a while, he said, "Not bad."

Chen Chuan looked over, confirming that this Senior Brother wasn't much of a conversationalist. He thought for a moment and took the initiative to speak, "Senior Brother Ren, where are we going?"

Senior Brother Ren seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before saying, "We're going to Jiao Mountain."

Chen Chuan was thoughtful: "Jiao Mountain?" He then asked, "What exactly are we doing?"

Senior Brother Ren said, "We're retrieving something for the client."

Chen Chuan thought of what Lu Ke had told him before and could roughly guess where they were going.

Ren Xiaotian then gave him a notebook and said, "You... take a look."

Chen Chuan took it and flipped through it. It was filled with densely written words, all about the assignment task, with the key points underlined in red.

He couldn't help but nod.

What was being compared here was information channels. One was being able to quickly find various assignment tasks, and the other was being able to understand the information of the tasks that needed to be executed in a timely manner. The more detailed and accurate the information, the higher the success rate and the lower the cost, so personal connections in this line of work were very important.

However, below the sentence "Information channels are very important," was another sentence: "Protecting yourself is the most important."

He agreed with this even more. Assignment tasks were just tools on his path forward. If he couldn't protect himself, then none of this would matter.

He flipped through it for a while. The things written in this notebook were both new and old, and the very important points were specially underlined in red, presumably to make it easier for him to read. He thought, "This Senior Brother Ren is thoughtful. The person the teacher found is indeed reliable."

The SUV headed east all the way, and after leaving the city, it traversed the national highway and drove towards the almost non-existent wasteland.

Chen Chuan looked at the desolate scenery outside, feeling as if he had suddenly left the civilized world, even though this place wasn't far from Yangzhi City.

However, the six counties of Yangzhi City were concentrated in the west and south, with mountains and small towns mostly in the north, while the eastern part near Jiao Mountain was truly sparsely populated. It was said that only a few illegal organizations existed there.

On the other hand, there were many people living near Jiao Mountain who made a living by scavenging garbage. They were nominally citizens of the Da Shun Republic, but in reality, they didn't enjoy any civil rights, and they didn't even have household registration, so these people didn't exist in any records.

He looked at the black ring-shaped mountain shadow in the distance. According to Lu Ke, there were many villages living near the ring mountain, and they didn't trust each other, and they had divided their spheres of influence.

Most of the time, the people of Jiao Mountain traded with the people in the Zhang Mountain area and surrounding villages in the northwest, obtaining supplies from there. Among them, the Iron Chain Gang controlled a large share, but it seemed that this time they were not going there.

The road was very bumpy along the way, but fortunately, both of them were in very good physical condition and didn't feel any discomfort. After driving for about three hours, a patch of scorched black soil appeared in front of them. Seeing this, and the huge black mountain shadow that stretched across the horizon and gradually rose, they knew they were about to enter the Jiao Mountain area.

Ren Xiaotian then handed him a mask and a scarf and said, "Put them on."

Chen Chuan took them. He knew that most of the residents of Jiao Mountain had lung diseases, which were likely caused by the special dust here. Wearing these was a necessary precaution, so he immediately put them both on.

At this time, they could already see a vaguely flat road in front of them, which should have been carved out by previous traffic. After driving along this road for more than half an hour, a simple road sign built from old tires and metal coils appeared beside the road. At the top, the three characters 'Nangou Village' were crookedly bent out of metal wire.

It seemed that because the sound of the car had carried over, a man in gray, dusty overalls emerged from behind the road sign. He wore old goggles and a leather hat that covered his ears, carefully peered a few times, looked at the license plate number, and compared it to the note in his hand, and then waved his hands at them.

The SUV slowly drove over and stopped not far from the road sign. Ren Xiaotian put on his hat and quickly wrapped his scarf around his neck, covering himself tightly, and said, "Get out of the car." As he spoke, he opened the door and jumped out of the car, walking towards the man.

Chen Chuan also got out of the car. As soon as he got outside, he felt gusts of wind blowing, mixed with some fine powder. He looked at the Jiao Mountain shadow in the distance that seemed to be entering the clouds, reached out and held his student hat, and followed Ren Xiaotian.

When the two of them walked over together, the man jogged over, smiling and reaching out his dirty hand to Chen Chuan, nodding and bowing and saying, "Mr. Ren, right? Mr. Ren is really young and promising."

Chen Chuan waved his hand, gesturing to the side and saying, "This is Mr. Ren."

The man immediately realized that he had mistaken the person, but he didn't feel embarrassed at all. He quickly turned around and shook hands with Ren Xiaotian, saying, "Mr. Ren? Mr. Ren is truly unassuming."

Ren Xiaotian said with a straight face, "You're Lao Mi?"

"Yes, yes, that's what they all call me."

"Where's the thing?"

Lao Mi sighed and said, "I originally had the thing with me, ready to bring it out for the transaction, but I encountered an accident when I left the village..."

Ren Xiaotian said dryly, "The price can be renegotiated, but don't lie to me."

"No, no." Lao Mi quickly waved his hand, "It's like this, isn't the village afraid of accidents? The village chief wants to invite you to the village to trade, so everyone can rest assured when talking, right?"

Ren Xiaotian was silent for a while, then suddenly pulled out a revolver from his clothes, pressed it against Lao Mi's forehead, stared at Lao Mi's astonished and flustered eyes, and said in a voice without emotional fluctuations, "Give me the thing. If you don't, you die."

...