Contact Established

Jiangzhou City, Garden Shopping Center.

Lu Yuan entered the men's restroom on the first floor and went into the third stall on the right.

Like every poorly maintained public restroom, the backs of the doors here were plastered with all kinds of little advertisements.

There were plenty for fake documents, medicines, arms, rentals and prostitution.

Lu Yuan found a blank spot, took out a marker and wrote:

Veteran Chinese doctor specializing in infertility. A cure with the first dose, or your money back.

He left his phone number underneath.

It wasn't that Lu Yuan had suddenly changed careers. This was how the cult made contact. Clearly, cultists were all flies and dogs scurrying after petty gains, using such sleazy methods just to make contact.

After that, Lu Yuan left Garden Shopping Center. All he had to do now was wait.

After saying goodbye to his younger sister that morning, Lu Yuan had taken the train to Jiangzhou again. It had only been a few days since his last visit, and he had wanted very much to see his mother at the hospital.

But with a mission to carry out, he hadn't dared invite complications. In the end, he had only walked around the hospital once, his gaze lingering on the inpatient building. One injection of Xikangnuo could only keep her safe for two years. To cure his mother completely, he still had to wait until he got into the Four Greats and found a way.

Lu Yuan wandered aimlessly all morning without receiving a single call. On second thought, wasting time like this was no solution, so he found a fast-food restaurant and sat down.

The dishes on offer were just as unremarkable. Lu Yuan glanced over them and shook his head, paying them no further attention. This world had lost too many cooking techniques.

For Lu Yuan, this was naturally a way to make money, but he instinctively felt that keeping the cooking techniques and recipes from his previous life firmly in his own hands to squeeze out the greatest possible profit was somehow improper.

Lu Yuan ordered two steamed buns and sat eating while he read and reviewed. He had brought his backpack and study materials with him.

Studying like this made the time pass quickly enough. A little after three in the afternoon, he received a call from an unfamiliar number.

"What's the greatest thing in the world?" the person on the other end asked as soon as he picked up.

Lu Yuan answered without hesitation. "The Divine Lord is the greatest."

The person on the other end paused for a few seconds. "In one hour, wait at Square Station on the No. 8 bus route."

Then the caller hung up.

Lu Yuan packed his backpack and left the restaurant. After asking several passersby for directions, he finally managed to find a No. 8 bus stop.

The infrastructure in the Divine Land was almost no different from that of his previous life, except that mobile phones had no navigation function. He didn't yet know why.

Square Station was five stops away, and Lu Yuan used a coin to pay for the ride. By the time he arrived, nearly half an hour had passed.

The stop was small, with no more than three or five passengers coming and going. Lu Yuan looked around the platform but saw no one suspicious. When the appointed time was near, his phone rang once. It was the same unfamiliar number as before, but the caller had already hung up.

Lu Yuan was still hesitating over whether to call back when a silver-gray car slowly pulled up by the roadside.

The middle-aged driver rolled down the window and called out, "Get in."

Lu Yuan climbed into the back seat, and the driver stepped on the gas and drove off. The whole thing took no more than five seconds.

The car wound back and forth through the streets of Jiangzhou. The driver didn't say a word, and Lu Yuan asked no questions, but he kept glancing out the window, trying to work out the route.

After a dozen minutes or so, Lu Yuan gave up the pointless attempt. The car was obviously going in circles, and he wasn't familiar with Jiangzhou's streets. By now, he was completely turned around.

At that moment, the driver took a call. Lu Yuan couldn't hear what was said, only the driver's answer: "Got it. I'll bring him over right away."

With that, he turned the wheel, and the car entered a residential compound.

The driver led Lu Yuan into a rented apartment. The lights were off, and it was dark inside. Before he could get a clear look, someone behind the door grabbed him by the neck. The person was quite strong, possibly a cultivator.

Lu Yuan had already experienced this sort of treatment several times at the Internal Affairs Bureau.

Lu Yuan struggled a few times, and someone roared in the dimness, "Don't move!"

Immediately afterward, his backpack was taken away and his clothes stripped off, leaving him in nothing but his underwear.

Just when he thought it was over, a hand suddenly pressed against his lower abdomen. Before Lu Yuan could react, a powerful force blasted into his body through the palm, and his internal organs churned like rivers and seas in turmoil.

Everything went black before Lu Yuan's eyes, and he fainted.

In the last second before he lost consciousness, he heard someone speak.

"No sign of a Dantian having formed. He's not a cultivator."

When Lu Yuan opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a single bed, his discarded clothes piled haphazardly beside him.

Three middle-aged men stood nearby, talking about something.

At the sight, Lu Yuan instinctively wanted to feel his backside and see if he'd been, well, you know. But that was too embarrassing, so he gave up on the idea.

A man in his thirties saw him wake up and asked, "Lu Yuan, right? Zhang Baocheng sent you?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

The man continued, "The mission was canceled. Didn't Zhang Baocheng tell you?"

Lu Yuan's heart tightened. He realized this was a probe. His thoughts raced, but he put on a puzzled expression. He answered:

"Lord Guard ordered me to come to Jiangzhou today, but later he told me to wait for his notice before setting out.

I still hadn't received any notice by today, so I came over first.

If I hadn't come and Lord Guard got angry, that would've been terrible."

Lu Yuan spoke as though he had been wronged. The man asked again, "Then why didn't you contact Zhang Baocheng?"

"I couldn't get in touch with him!" Lu Yuan replied. "He's always the one who contacts me. I don't know how to find him."

The man nodded, then brought over a math test paper and ordered, "Now solve this problem."

Lu Yuan was aghast. Damn, are cults this competitive now? You have to take an exam to join one?!

He did as he was told and began working on the paper, feeling a little worried. It was very difficult, and there were many questions he couldn't answer.

If I fail, will they kill me?

Fuck, if I could pass this test, why would I have taken a mission where I risked my life? This is bullshit!

His worries were entirely misplaced. The man wasn't testing his grades. Before he had answered more than a few questions, the paper was snatched away.

Then Lu Yuan saw the man take out his study materials and compare the answers he had just written with the notes in them.

After comparing them for a while, the man nodded. "He really is a senior in high school."

If he were an undercover agent the Internal Affairs Bureau had sent at short notice, where would they have found so many review notes, all in exactly the same handwriting?

The man exchanged glances with his two companions. He seemed to have more questions, but one of the others cut in:

"The kid isn't even a cultivator. That's enough."

The other laughed and said, "If the Internal Affairs Bureau really sent a high school senior as a spy, water must have gotten into their brains."

With that, the two men left.

The man who had questioned Lu Yuan remained and smiled at him.

"Little brother Lu Yuan, sorry about that." He helped Lu Yuan to his feet. "There have been quite a few Internal Affairs Bureau spies around lately. This was just a precaution."

"My name is Guo Huai, a guard of the Holy Church."

Lu Yuan put on a look of awe and trepidation. "Lord Guard was right to do it. Long live the Holy Church! The dog thieves of the Internal Affairs Bureau all deserve to die!"

Guo Huai was very pleased with Lu Yuan's attitude. He instructed him, "Get dressed and come with me."

Lu Yuan put on his clothes. He saw his backpack and study materials scattered across the floor. He wanted very much to pick them up, but worried that doing so would arouse suspicion.

Unexpectedly, Guo Huai said, "Pick it all up and bring it along. You'll need it later."

That was exactly what Lu Yuan wanted.