June 30, 1997.
Today was a day of nationwide celebration.
Hong Kong, the child who had been separated from the motherland for a hundred years, was about to return to her embrace.
The eyes of the world were fixed on Hong Kong, and people from all walks of life gathered at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
At 11:56 p.m., the Chinese and British flag guards entered. The ceremony to lower the flags, symbolizing the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty between the two governments, began. All the Chinese and foreign guests in attendance rose to their feet. Everyone's eyes turned to the flagpoles on either side of the ceremonial platform at the front of the stage.
At 11:59 p.m., the foreign flag and the Hong Kong flag were slowly lowered to the sound of the foreign national anthem. As the Union Jack descended, a century of foreign colonial rule in Hong Kong came to an end.
At midnight on July 1, 1997, the sacred, momentous hour arrived. The People's Liberation Army Military Band played the stirring national anthem of Hua Nation, and the national flag of the motherland and the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region rose together.
The entire assembly hall stood in solemn silence. Thousands of eyes watched as the bright Five-Starred Red Flag and Bauhinia Flag were raised. This was a moment the Chinese people had awaited for so long, a moment that would be recorded forever in the annals of world history!
The hall erupted. Many people had tears of emotion in their eyes, and thunderous applause rang out without end. Cameras flashed continuously, capturing this solemn moment in history.
Although he was a nobody in real life, the country was still the same country. Wang Yan's status here could influence a great many things.
Longteng was practically no different from a terrorist organization. They were all bad news.
The Little Prince wasn't afraid of Hua Nation. A major power had its reputation to consider. What he feared was someone like Wang Yan, who might get carried away and start blowing things up for fun. Even if Wang Yan were eventually killed, he'd be dead too. You only got one life; it wasn't worth provoking a hothead.
Besides, the two countries had already agreed on the terms of their negotiations. There was no need for him to pull any more petty tricks to annoy people. He could end up getting himself killed without even managing to irritate anyone. That would be a terrible trade.
So the process went fairly smoothly. Of course, the Little Prince held a grudge against Wang Yan now, and would have to join the ranks of those determined to take down Longteng.
It was just that Wang Yan's status kept rising, and he was becoming more and more level-headed.
After that, Wang Yan's life returned to normal.
Longteng had been developing for years and had a complete organizational structure. There was no need for Wang Yan to worry about it. He only reviewed the group's reports from time to time and occasionally promoted talented people. There wasn't much else that needed his attention.
With nothing else to do, he devoted himself to studying.
At this point, Wang Yan was mainly studying Chinese classics. He had already visited nearly all the country's renowned scholars in the field. His knowledge was now about on par with a graduate student specializing in it. His Chinese proficiency was at professional level, LV3; that mainly reflected his understanding of written language and his ability to express himself.
During this period, Wang Yan had also begun studying Taoism. The scholars had some understanding of it themselves, and he had learned a fair bit from them. But they were specialists in Chinese classics, not universal experts. Most of them focused on Confucianism and Western philosophy, so their understanding of Taoism still fell short of that of dedicated Taoist priests.
For that reason, Wang Yan began visiting accomplished Taoist masters around the country.
Intellectuals had their own circles, and the scholars knew who was genuinely knowledgeable. Thanks to their introductions, Wang Yan could find Taoist priests whose expertise was up to scratch.
He stuck to his usual approach. The priests had practiced Taoism for years and were relatively detached from worldly concerns, but that didn't mean they had any reason to refuse Wang Yan's generous offer.
So whenever Wang Yan arrived somewhere, he would immediately put up money and ask for guidance. First, he donated to renovate and build up the temples. Then he would pay his respects and seek instruction.
Chinese classics were already a little mystical; Taoism was even more so.
The void, nonaction, opposites, unity, and so on.
It all left Wang Yan bewildered and dizzy. He didn't even feel like finding anyone to spar with anymore.
Even his strong mental fortitude was no help in this situation. This stuff depended on intelligence and required years of accumulated knowledge.
The more he learned, the more profound it all seemed. There was a saying that knowledge was like a circle: the more you knew, the more questions you had. Wang Yan was the same. His circle was growing larger, and there were more and more things he didn't understand. He still had a very long road ahead of him.
The more Wang Yan learned, the more ignorant he realized he was. That realization drove him to keep studying, and he became deeply absorbed in it, unable to pull himself away.
Time passed slowly as Wang Yan studied. It was now 1999.
After all this time, Wang Yan had only just barely begun to get a feel for Taoism. He hadn't even gained a skill in it. Fortunately, he had laid a solid foundation by studying under all those masters, so he could continue learning and gaining insights on his own.
One day, Wang Yan was handling business at Longteng's headquarters when he suddenly received a notice that he had completed a system task.
To be honest, he hadn't thought he could complete it. He'd assumed he would have to die of old age in this world before he could return. He hadn't expected it to happen without warning. It was a pleasant surprise.
He didn't rush to return. Instead, he had one of his men investigate what had happened to Chen Yongren that might have completed the task.
The next day, Chen Yongren's file was placed in front of Wang Yan.
After Wang Yan had arranged for Chen Yongren to become a Probationary Inspector, he was promoted to full inspector in less than six months.
Not long after, perhaps because fate was hard to change, he met Amei, just as he had in the original story.
The two hit it off immediately and quickly fell in love.
Chen Yongren was an inspector, and under Hong Kong's policy of paying public servants high salaries to deter corruption, his pay and benefits were excellent.
This time, things went differently from his original fate. When they discovered Amei was pregnant, they got married right away and had a daughter.
The previous year, Chen Yongren had earned some commendations, though he lacked the seniority for a promotion. But everyone knew Wang Yan had helped him rise through the ranks, so perhaps it was also a gesture of goodwill. They promoted him to Senior Inspector.
Over the past few years, Chen Yongren's career had gone smoothly, and his home life had been happy.
Recently, as he watched his lively daughter, Chen Yongren had thought back to what had happened in the past and reflected on it.
Once he started thinking, he couldn't help remembering what Wang Yan had said to him back then.
At the time, he hadn't paid it any attention. But many years had passed, and Chen Yongren had matured. He no longer saw everything through the lens of youthful passion.
Looking back, what would have happened if Wang Yan hadn't been there?
Most likely, Huang Zhicheng would have talked him into continuing undercover until the day he died. The only difference would have been how it happened.
Chen Yongren considered all sorts of possible outcomes. No matter how he looked at it, none of them ended well. He might have died in some unknown corner, with no one to take care of his affairs. Or he might have struggled through most of his life, then died alone and miserable.
Thinking about it, he was truly grateful to Wang Yan. Wang Yan had saved him from what might have been a tragic life.
As for the possibility that Wang Yan had ulterior motives, Chen Yongren had seen through that long ago.
What sort of level was Longteng at now? It was competing on the world stage, against globally renowned financial groups and organizations. What did a mere inspector like him amount to?
That was how he finally understood everything. In the system's eyes, this might have counted as a kind of redemption.
In Wang Yan's view, the best redemption for Chen Yongren was simply that he hadn't died. The happy family and successful career were more than anyone could ask for.
That was why Wang Yan had anticipated the ordeals Chen Yongren might have to face, and why he had so forcefully unified Hong Kong's underworld in four years.
Every bit of blame came down to Wang Yan being too ruthless.
After reading the file, Wang Yan had a rough idea of what Chen Yongren had been thinking. He was probably just looking back on his hardships and appreciating how far he'd come.
He didn't dwell on it any longer. He had spent nine years here, which was long enough.
He brought up the system panel and chose to return.
A flash of blue light, and Wang Yan vanished from the spot.
Wang Yan woke up, his mind battered by the violent collision and impact of memories.
He had spent too long in the world of Infernal Affairs, experienced too much, and learned too much. The impact was even more intense than it had been when he returned from the previous world. That time had already been excruciating. This time was even worse.
The sensation nearly drove Wang Yan to collapse. The system awarded attribute points, so he gritted his teeth and brought up the system panel, rapidly assigning them all to his mental attribute.
Soon, a cool spring seemed to well up deep in his mind, washing over his chaotic mental world and soothing the relentless onslaught.
Before long, Wang Yan began to feel much better. The major increase in his mental attribute had raised his tolerance. It had essentially neutralized the shock of the memories. He would have to work through the remaining side effects himself.
To give an example of those side effects:
How was someone who had experienced the world, seen through its illusions, and yet still lived in it supposed to face the world again?
Should he retreat to the mountains and renounce worldly affairs?
Or keep drifting through the tumult of a materialistic world?
Wang Yan intended to keep rolling around in the world, so how should he face it?
He had just come through two worlds and filled his head with Chinese classics, philosophy, and Taoism. He had thought deeply about society, human nature, and life. The more he experienced and understood, the more he wondered: what kind of person would he become?
How to view the world and himself was a question Wang Yan would have to answer throughout his life.
Wang Yan wasn't a fool. He was bound to keep growing. As his understanding deepened and his perspective broadened, his views of the world and himself wouldn't stay the same. They would keep changing, over and over.
Taking a deep breath, Wang Yan opened the system panel.
Wang Yan Attributes: Strength 20 Agility 20 Constitution 20 Spirit 18 Unassigned Points 0 Storage Space 2m Skills: English LV3 Fighting LV3 Management LV3 Sales LV3 Chinese Classics: LV2 Philosophy: LV2 ...A whole bunch of skills omitted.
Most importantly, his storage space had upgraded. Its capacity had increased by one cubic meter, so he could fit more things in it.
His Strength, Agility, and Constitution had reached 20 long ago. All these years, he had only needed to exercise regularly to maintain his condition. Training any harder wouldn't do much good.
The completed task had rewarded him with four attribute points, which he had just put into Spirit, bringing it to 18. His memory and logical thinking had improved greatly. He had reached LV3 in Fighting seven or eight years ago, and Management and Sales had long since reached professional level. Chinese Classics and Philosophy were separate skills, and both were at LV2.
Wang Yan had studied Taoism for two years. He felt he was close to getting the hang of it, but that was only a feeling. It mainly depended on insight. When the insight came, he would have made it through the door.
Besides those things, he hadn't let all those years go to waste. He had learned plenty of other skills, too, such as psychology and sports medicine. He'd picked up all sorts of things.
Wang Yan studied all kinds of subjects and read all kinds of books. As the saying went, you could never have too many skills. It never hurt to know a few more tricks when making your way through the world.
In addition, the system had given him a reward: in the next world, after completing the wish-granting task, he could stay for up to one more year. He figured it was a vacation period; perhaps the system wanted him to relax for a while.
Taking a deep breath, he got out of bed, poured himself a glass of water, and went to the window to look out at the night.
He had just raised his Spirit attribute. He wasn't sleepy at all; in fact, he felt wide awake.
After taking a moment to settle down, Wang Yan picked up a book and began to read. The night was long, and sleep was nowhere to be found. He might as well read for a while.
Before you continue