Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 26: Foolproof Plan

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Because Zhang Lie and Zhang Hanxiang arrived at the inspection bureau early, there were relatively few hunters present, and he was able to get tested quickly. 

The inspection consisted of two stages: first, constitution, and second, mental acuity.
The constitution test was itself divided into two smaller parts.
The first was a test of strength, and the second a test of speed.
Of course, neither test allowed the use of genetic energy.

“Good luck, Brother!” Outside the testing area, Hanxiang was pumping her fists, causing Zhang Lie to smile.

The testing apparatus wasn't all too complicated: it was just a sandbag with a few extra gimmicks.

“No.
4, Li Feng, first attempt!”

“Strength: 4.5, C-grade.
Pass!

“No.
5, Song Jia, third attempt!”

“Strength: 3.3, D-grade.
Fail!”

The synthetic voice of the supervising robot caused some to erupt in joy, and others in tears. 

The world government had decided to quantify a hunter's strength in order to better categorize them.
Those hunters who had capped their mutated gene capacity would need a strength value of 4.0 to pass.
A 4.0 indicated that a hunter had about three to four times the strength of a regular human.
Failing to get a 4.0 or higher meant that those hunters were unable to make full use of their own strength.

After waiting for a few minutes, Zhang Lie's name was finally called, and he walked forward to an unoccupied sandbag.

“No.
9, Zhang Lie, first attempt!”

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Zhang Lie stepped forward, pretending to charge up his strength.
Only when his face was red from holding his breath in did he step forward and punch the sandbag with one heavy blow.

“Strength: 4.2, C-grade.
You still have two more attempts to try to improve your score.
Do you wish to continue?”

“No, just passing is enough for me!”

Zhang Lie happily took the certification card that the robotic attendant handed over, then walked back to where his sister was seated.

Just as with the test of strength, Zhang Lie managed a borderline pass for the test of speed and mental acuity.
In little more than ten minutes, Zhang Lie had obtained a silver first-class identification card, as well as a silver-gray subsidiary card for Hanxiang.

Looking at these two cards, Zhang Lie and Zhang Hanxiang both began to smile.

Hanxiang gasped.
“Brother, with this card, can I attend Holy Glory Academy now?”

Zhang Lie nodded.
“Of course! In fact, I was planning on bringing you there to enroll today.
What do you think?”

“Today?”

“Have you forgotten?  Holy Glory Academy is the best of the schools in the region, and they have an open admission policy even in the middle of a semester!”

“But isn't there an exorbitant fee if you do that…?”

“Don't worry, I can handle the expenses.
With me around, you just have to focus on your studies!”

“Brother, thank you!”

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“We're family, aren't we? Let's go.”

The two of them headed right for the school district. 

Just as they did so, Wang Bin arrived at the Zhang house.
Of course, by the time he got there, there was no one inside.
His delay was understandable: he had little experience in the commoners' districts, and he didn't realize the extent to which the morning rush would clog up all traffic.

After arriving, he received a message from the clan stating that their target had been sighted at the inspection bureau.

However, he wasn't told to give chase; others had already been dispatched to that location, and he was to head back to the manor instead.

However, those subordinates dispatched to the inspection bureau also failed to find their target, and were unable to retrieve anything but some footage of Zhang Lie's inspection exam.

As he glanced at that footage, at how Zhang Lie was barely able to meet the target with a huge expenditure of effort, Wang Han turned to Wang Jianxin skeptically.

“Brother, are you certain a kid like this had something to do with the entire affair?”

Wang Han wasn't the only one with suspicions: everyone who had seen the footage felt the same way.
After all, what had happened that night at the venombane glade was a shocking feat of cunning, certainly not something an ordinary hunter would be able to come up with.

“Don't be tricked by his appearance, Wang Han! He's a shrewd fellow, and I bet he's faking his performance!”

Given what had happened with the rental agreement, Wang Jianxin thought that he had a good grasp of what Zhang Lie was like, but no one else thought similarly.

“It's not a matter of whether we believe it, certainly, but whether the Blacksteel hunters and the six clans will.
Even if we made someone like him reveal the truth, would anyone even believe it?”

Wang Jianxin shook his head.
“Believe me, as long as we can control this lad, all our problems will be resolved.
“Where is he now?”

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Wang Han's face darkened.
“On campus grounds!”

“Didn't I tell you? He's a sneaky bastard! Damn it, I bet he's sent his sister to one of the academies so we can't get ahold of her!” Wang Jianxin had discovered Zhang Lie's plan.

“Not only his sister—if I'm not wrong, he'll find a teleportation device to enter the dimensional world directly from the academy.
And once he's inside, as long as he stays within the settlement, we won't be able to do anything to him.” Wang Han's face was icy.

“Brother, we have to think of some other strategy.
We don't have any more time to waste on this kid!”

Indeed, the most pressing issue was time.
The longer this problem dragged out, the longer the six clans would continue clamping down on their businesses, and the more severely their finances would be disrupted. 

Zhang Lie had managed to turtle himself up so tightly that, within the short term, no one from the Wang clan would be able to do anything about him.

The Holy Glory Academy had a somewhat Western name, but the construction and style of the buildings was all perfectly oriental.
The city of Ning lay at the heart of China, and the weight of that culture would not be so easily displaced.
Although the academy did hire foreign professors, it was still largely in line with traditional Chinese ideals.

Given how much money Zhang Lie was waving around to expedite the process, it was no surprise that Zhang Hanxiang's enrollment proceeded as smoothly as it did.
In no more than half an hour, they were done with all the paperwork.

After considering the issue of Zhang Hanxiang's safety, Zhang Lie decided to spend a veritable fortune—a million dollars a month—to rent the highest-class robot companion for his sister.
Zhang Hanxiang was his only sibling, and her disability could well make her a target.
He didn't want her to have to suffer any harassment on his behalf.

“Brother, did something happen to you inside the dimensional world?” Seeing Zhang Lie's behavior, even the innocent Zhang Hanxiang seemed to notice that something was amiss.

Zhang Lie laughed lightly.
“A small problem, but don't worry, I'm alright now.
I'm just afraid some people might try to get at me through you.
But since you're on campus grounds now, and with this robotic companion for protection, I believe you're safe from any potential danger.

“That being said, Hanxiang, make sure you notify me if anything—anything at all—were to happen! Keep this close to you at all times.
If you encounter any sort of danger, press it and I'll be notified immediately.”

Zhang Lie handed her what looked like a black button.
Zhang Hanxiang seemed a little perturbed, but she immediately kept the button without asking any questions.
After all, her brother was the only person she could rely on, as well as the person to whom she was closest.

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This black button, deceptively small and simple as it was, was actually a device that was able to bypass the technological restriction of the dimensional world and transmit signals from Earth.
Zhang Lie had spent a whopping half a million points on it, and it was a device that no ordinary hunter would be able to afford.

“I understand, Brother.
I'll be safe within the campus, and with all these safeguards, I don't have to worry about anything at all.
Brother, you're the one who has to be more careful—I wouldn't be able to stand losing you.”

Zhang Lie laughed.
“Don't worry about me, Hanxiang.
I don't have to fear my enemies—they should fear me!”

After touring the campus grounds with Hanxiang, and after introducing himself to her professors, Zhang Lie waved goodbye to his sister.
As Wang Han had anticipated, he found a teleportation apparatus and headed straight back to the dimensional world.

He returned to his room in the Blackgold Inn and immediately began to browse the forum to understand what had transpired since his departure.
Of course, the only thing of note was still the battle at the venombane glade.

The forum was filled with rumors and speculation about what had happened there.
Of course, it was difficult to discern between actual information and hearsay, or, worse, fake news. 

However, even though most people weren't aware of the events that had taken place at the glade, the aftermath was clearly known to all.
Zhou Qian, head of the Zhou corporation, had perished.
Qin Xiao had lost an arm.
Yun Bing, Chu Feng, and many other hunters had suffered serious injuries.

Such casualties had undoubtedly sparked interest into the details of what had happened in the glade.

“If you all want to know the truth so badly, then I have no choice but to oblige!”

Soon after, the article Showdown at the Venombane Glade (specifics included) appeared on the forum.
It spread like wildfire.

Zhang Lie had repeated his past strategy for dealing with Wang Xiaohua.
In this post, from the perspective of a bystander, he exhaustively described the events that had taken place in the glade: how Qin Xiao had lost his arm; who had actually pushed Zhou Qian out of the tunnel, causing him to die from the moonlight wyrm's attack; who had ultimately ended up killing the superior-grade scorpion; and even how the moonlight wyrm had been lured out.

And this time, over 90% of what he had written was even the honest truth!

Of course, the author was again anonymous.