The memories of all humanity are awakening, except for mine.

Chapter 170 Institutional Ranking! Number One in the Nation! (6k)

The underground secret warehouse of the No. 2 office building of the Qing City organization.

Chen Xingyang sat in the chair and lit a cigarette.

The glow of the cigarette flickered on and off. He sat silently between the shadows of two huge spotlights, looking at the fish tank across from him from seven or eight meters away.

He already knew the whole story, of course.

The Aoshi City authorities also received orders to transfer the "goods".

This vampire will be transported back to Yanjing along with some stone statues and fragments of the Anle Stone Statue from the Anle Tomb in Qingshan. However, before that, he received a secret mission from headquarters, which required him to obtain answers to some questions before the vampire Jack was transported to Yanjing.

Chen Xingyang asked, "Aren't you going to tell me?"

Jack scoffed, "I won't trust any of you."

"Isn't it just being used as an experimental subject?"

"I've figured it out..."

"Since you won't die, one day I will make you pay for it, one by one..."

His voice was extremely weak as he lay on the silver object. He would not die, but he would become increasingly weak and feeble.

Chen Xingyang felt that Jiang Chuan had gone a bit too far, as the vampire wasn't cooperating at all.

If it were that innocent and naive version of him, his work would be much easier.

But it's not impossible.

Chen Xingyang continued, "My questions are nothing more than some of your personal information, as well as the vampires' sphere of influence and numbers in Lundon..."

"These things have no meaning for you anymore."

"And in essence, it won't harm your vampire clan."

"Hurry up and tell me, so I can finish work as soon as possible."

Jack did not respond.

Chen Xingyang continued:

"It's okay if you don't say anything."

“I sent a letter to London with your blood.”

"Your address is still easy to find."

“Some of your men will travel across the ocean to come here and meet with my people.”

"If you tell them now, they'll suffer less."

Jack stared in astonishment into the shadows cast by the light. He pounded on the inside of the fish tank, yelling, "You're a monster!"

Chen Xingyang remained calm; as the commander of the Northern Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this was a minor matter for him.

Manipulating prisoners is his specialty, regardless of whether the prisoners are human or not.

He smiled:

"I'll compromise further; you can just tell me some of your personal information."

Jack paused for a moment. He was already in the enemy's hands, a fish on the chopping block. Whether he talked about these things or not didn't really matter.

His current insistence stems solely from his unwillingness to betray his people.

Name, age, who the awakened memories belong to, and what abilities they possess.

Hearing this, Chen Xingyang nodded: "Not bad."

"Let's talk some more. I'm very interested in you and your ethnic group."

"Are you family-centric?"

Jack nodded.

He began by talking about himself, describing the division of power among vampires, and also briefly mentioning the general situation of other vampire families in Lundon.

Chen Xingyang then asked, "Is it true that the vampire legend originated in Romania?"

Jack then recounted some irrelevant history.

Chen Xingyang seemed genuinely interested, and he continued to ask, "To what extent have your people infiltrated? As a core city, London, you must have infiltrated a large number of key figures, right?"

Jack's expression changed: "I will only talk about things that concern me, as you promised."

Chen Xingyang nodded: "Of course."

"I always keep my word."

Hearing such a sincere tone, Jack subconsciously felt a little relieved, but at the same time, he became extremely vigilant.

However, it's just personal information and won't harm your family.

I've said everything I can. As for those fellow clansmen who were tricked into coming here by that letter, that's all I can do to help them.

Chen Xingyang then said, "Forget it, since you're not going to talk about it, I won't ask anymore."

"Let me ask you another question."

"Your race has a long lifespan, so your ability to awaken related abilities must be due to relevant genes."

Why didn't you know you were a vampire before?

"If you don't awaken your memories, will you experience birth, aging, sickness, and death like an ordinary human being?"

Jack was unaware that the person asking him the question possessed an extraordinary ability to discern micro-expressions.

He only heard that the other party had actually changed the question, instead of hinting at it, and he thought that the person sitting in the shadows was more trustworthy than the young man.

He didn't shy away from the question at this point: "Yes, if my memories hadn't awakened, that part of my genes would have remained dormant."

"I will grow old and die just like any other person."

"As for why other ancient vampires have fallen into silence, and why these genes are dormant..."

"I don't know the real reason, but in my awakened memories, there is a poem like this."

"Lilith has left the Sea of ​​Blood. The vampires must lie low and wait to welcome Lilith's return."

Lilith?
Chen Xingyang rubbed his temples, lit another cigarette, and continued to ask about Jack.

Chen Xingyang didn't stop asking questions until several hours later.

He stood up and stepped out of the shadows.

This was the first time Jack had seen what the middle-aged man looked like.

Chen Xingyang said, "I am very satisfied with your cooperation."

"I will keep my promise and not take action against your family."

Hearing his promise, Jack felt a little more at ease.

And Chen Xingyang was indeed not lying about what he just said.

Although they obtained a considerable amount of the vampire's blood, the "letter" had not yet been sent.

Chen Xingyang turned and left, departing from the underground warehouse.

Under the streetlight, he looked at the document in his hand, flipping through it to see if he had missed anything.

The title of this document is in large, bright red letters—

"The replacement of the 'Bloodline-1A' infiltration plan".

What is the sphere of influence and number of vampires in London? What are the vampires' future plans? What is the distribution of power within the Papacy and a detailed explanation of the bishops' abilities?

These problems are nothing but a smokescreen.

Jack's seemingly useless personal information was actually the core of the plan.

Someone will take Jack's place and use that identity to gain access to more information.

The intelligence war has already begun. Having obtained such a vampire count, they will definitely make the most of him.

Next, Jack's family will have a new owner who will send letters from time to time, without them noticing.

Even the nature of vampires is completely unimportant.

A covert operation is quietly unfolding, starting with this vampire family, and the intelligence network will gradually expand outwards.

One-way transparency is only a matter of time.

……

Jiang Chuan returned to his dormitory and turned on his computer.

The holiday is over... time to get back into intense training and practice.

"While teaching the fifth lesson on mental strength, the training to control five white mice must also begin."

"There's also dagger skills training."

"Training on the use of the dagger's spiritual power extension should also begin as soon as possible."

"..."

"Improving our strength as quickly as possible is the key to uncovering the secret."

"Once we can fully utilize the power within our spiritual sea, we should be much safer."

"The third phase of training is about to begin..."

"I don't know what the third phase of training is?"

"The first stage is an 80-kilometer run to improve overall physical fitness."

"The second stage is the Bronze Men Formation, which improves combat skills and burst damage..."

"So the third stage should be mental training?"

"I've secured the second phase's 200,000, so the third phase's bonus should be pretty good too..."

"I wonder what kind of training method it will be. Will it be similar to the courses in short videos?"

Jiang Chuan watched the video on his computer screen while thinking about these things.

The schedule for the next period of time needs to be more compact.

Although Jiang Chuan can meditate in the dream world to improve his mental strength more efficiently, and can even keep himself in training almost 24 hours a day, he still feels that there is not enough time.

Especially after the Qingshan incident, he was basically unable to fight back against those high-end combat forces.

If it weren't for the unusual nature of my dream, I probably would have thought that entering the tomb meant death.

But if it weren't for this special dream, Princess Anle probably wouldn't have chosen him...

I probably won't even be in this organization.

Jiang Chuan didn't dwell on these matters any further.

He had already chosen a video to accompany him to sleep today. It was a 49-hour video, taught by an elderly man with a Taoist-like demeanor, and the course was called "A Beginner's Guide to Commonly Used Talismans".

From mechanical repair to pharmacology and medicine, and now to this course on talismans...

I've learned a wide variety of things.

Although the course title mentioned "Commonly Used Talismans," the old man's first words were:
"Fellow Daoists who frequently deal with zombies and blood corpses know that to subdue these evil creatures, one must prepare a sufficient number of talismans. These talismans can be life-saving in critical moments..."

Listening to what the old Taoist priest said, Jiang Chuan felt that he would never need these things in his life.

And "fellow Daoists who frequently deal with zombies and blood corpses"?
Who exactly is the target audience for this course?
Where can I go to deal with this kind of thing regularly?
Although it was just a rant, Jiang Chuan knew in his heart that these days, nothing is surprising.

After all, all sorts of strange monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas are appearing one after another. In the photos that Teacher Cao showed me before, there were even more exaggerated things in the sea and mountains, but I only know very little about them now. Perhaps there are things like zombies?

With the video playing and the volume adjusted, Jiang Chuan went to bed.

……

10 month 1 day.

Early in the morning, all the students in the training program at the Qing City institution received a message from their teacher.

Jiang Chuan naturally saw the message sent by Teacher Cao Zhigang.

Cao Zhigang: [Today's theory class. Bring your phones; we're going to install some software developed by headquarters.]

"software?"

What software?

Jiang Chuan glanced at the computer and wondered if the organization's short video app had finally been launched.

I had long suspected that this video app would eventually be made available to the general public, so starting with trainees in training institutions would be perfectly reasonable.

But Jiang Chuan was wrong. After he sat in the classroom and installed the software, he looked at the nameless software with a dragon icon and his expression was somewhat surprised.

"What is this?"

Teacher Cao Zhigang's deafening voice rang out: "Today, trainees from various organizations will register for this software!"

"After downloading and installing, follow the steps to register!"

"Just fill in the registration information truthfully! You can use it normally after registration!"

Jiang Chuan opened the software and was somewhat surprised by its interface; it looked like a half-finished product.

Unlike the sophisticated designs and exquisite UIs of various software programs nowadays, this software looks extremely crudely made.

It's like an ancient version of the 12306 ticketing software.

Aside from being usable, it offers no advantages whatsoever.

Jiang Chuan silently began the registration process. Although Teacher Cao said to fill in the information truthfully, there weren't many options to fill in.

Besides the institution, the information includes the name and class.

After quickly entering the information, Jiang Chuan clicked the register button.

After the buffering indicator lasted for a moment, a line of text popped up on the phone screen;

[Congratulations to Jiang Chuan, Class 1, of the Qing City branch, for successful registration.]

Then, you enter the actual software interface.

There are four tab buttons at the bottom of the interface: "News", "Achievements", "Rankings", and "Users".

Upon entering, it appears like a normal news app, displaying a list of various types of information.

On September 30th, staff members of the organization killed a strange fish on the East China Sea coast. During the operation, the staff demonstrated teamwork and unity...

On September 30th, Liu Zhongyun (Class A9), member of the Seventh Field Operations Team, tragically lost his life during a mission. We are deeply grateful for Comrade Liu Zhongyun's dedication to the organization and offer our heartfelt condolences.

On September 30th, the agency's staff cracked a serious smuggling case, which is now in its final stages. During the investigation, the staff demonstrated remarkable resourcefulness and intelligence…

"..."

"What kind of news is this?"

The time and location are unclear. Except for the deceased, who have been identified by name, all other personnel are referred to as "staff members".

Although it's obvious that this "smuggling case" is the same vampire that Jiang Chuan and his team caught at the Shengjing Hotel a couple of days ago, looking at this information feels very strange. If it's going to be kept secret, then keep it secret. What's the point of making this news, which seems to say nothing at all?
Considering what Teacher Cao Zhigang had just said, Jiang Chuan understood a little better.

This is probably to prepare the students who are currently in training mentally...

The training at the Qingdao organization started on August 4th, and it's now October 1st, almost two months have passed.

In other words, the overall training period is already halfway through, and in another two months, the trainees will be truly deployed to various locations to begin carrying out their missions.

These obituaries and the results of missions in various places, though vague, still let students know what they are about to face.

At this moment, Tang Songming's voice came from beside Jiang Chuan: "I am ranked 1156th. May I ask what your ranking is, Brother Jiang?"

On the other side, Liang Cheng's voice came through: "I am 1133..."

"A bit taller than you."

Tang Songming nodded: "From this perspective, this ranking is a comprehensive ranking of institutions in various regions."

Song Xi said, "I'm almost 1,500th... Sis, what's your ranking?"

Li Yi said, "Three hundred and twenty-nine."

Song Xi was shocked: "So much difference!?"

Discussions had already begun in the classroom. Instead of reacting to the news, everyone started talking about the rankings.

Lin Ci asked Chen Ming, "How much do you have?"

Chen Ming said, "Five hundred and seventy."

Lin Ci nodded: "I am number two hundred and seventy-one."

Tian Tian said helplessly, "I only have a little over six hundred..."

"How come you guys are so much taller than me?"

Ai Zhe remained silent. The others were all in the top 1,000, but he had jumped directly to the 2,000s, almost reaching 2,500.

Wu Zhen sat by the podium, looking at his ranking of nearly 3,000, and calmly turned off his phone screen.

In fact, their ranking is already quite exaggerated.

Not only in Class 1, but also in Class 2, they were discussing the rankings.

Lu Ming asked the person next to him, "How much? Mine is over 1,600."

A student from Class 2 next to him exclaimed in surprise, "You're so tall? I'm almost 5,000th, how come you're ranked over 2,000th?"

Another student was also surprised: "My score is over three thousand, the difference is so big?"

"I wonder what number Brother Chuan is?"

Listening to the surrounding chatter and looking at her ranking, Zhong Huahua remained silent in surprise.

She was ranked 140th? She wondered if there was a mistake.
She took a screenshot of the rankings and sent it to the group chat, then posted a message.

Zhong Huahua: [Image].

Zhong Huahua: [What were everyone's rankings?]

Although she was asking everyone, she actually wanted to see Jiang Chuan's ranking.

But as soon as Zhong Huahua's ranking was posted in the group, the group suddenly exploded.

Tian Tian: [143!? Zhong Huahua, what have you been doing?! I only have a little over 600!]

Song Xi: [So tall?]

Aizhe: [...]

Lin Ci: [? ? ? 】

Chen Ming: [Is it related to the Qingshan Tomb incident? Is it linked to achievements?]

Lin Ci: [How many names are there in Jiangchuan?]

Not only Lin Ci, but many people in Class One were discussing this matter.

"Where can Jiang Chuan rank? Shouldn't he at least be in the top five?"

"I think it will be difficult. Jiang Chuan performed well in the second stage, but he was always at the bottom in the first stage of training... He might be dragging the team down?"

"Yes, Jiang Chuan is very capable, but with so many people training nationwide, and the others being quite strong as well, getting into the top five will be a bit difficult..."

"But we've still made it into the top ten, after all, the second stage was a record-breaking 49 seconds! That far exceeds the absolute limit!"

"Damn, being in the top ten is pretty impressive. I only got a little over 1,500..."

As they were discussing this, Cao Zhigang's fierce voice rang out:
"Quiet! Quiet!"

The discussion in the classroom was immediately silenced.

When the class quieted down again, Cao Zhi spoke up once more:
"I see everyone has already seen their rankings!"

"This ranking includes all trainees from institutions across the country this year! A total of over 35,000 people!"

"The ranking data combines your assessment data from the first and second phases!"

"It also includes the help you provided to the inspection team and the organization during the training process!"

"It's a comprehensive evaluation!"

He paused slightly at this point.

Although he was wearing sunglasses, his gaze as he scanned the faces of the crowd was as real as if it were solid.

A proud smile appeared on his lips:

"Everyone! Your results are excellent!"

"Even compared to institutions in Beijing, Fengtian, and Shenzhen, our class's overall strength is top-notch!"

"You know, in some smaller cities, even the top trainee might not make it into the top 1,000!"

"But out of the thirty-one students in our class, a full eight of them made it into the top one thousand!"

"You're all great!"

"I am proud of you!"

He continued:
"Of course, I must specifically mention one student..."

"Jiang Chuan!"

"Awarded first place in the overall ranking of the first national training program!"

Upon hearing this news, the classroom suddenly erupted in chaos!

Everyone looked towards the first row, focusing their gaze on Jiang Chuan.

"First!!"

"Jiang Chuan is truly number one!!"

"Holy crap! I thought being in the top five would be good enough... but it's number one!?"

"Jiangchuan is awesome!!"

Before confirming Jiang Chuan's ranking, rationally speaking, I felt that Jiang Chuan couldn't get first place.

It's important to understand that this is not some shoddy training course; these 35,000 people are all highly skilled individuals selected from institutions across the country.

Like Zheng Yang, whom they met in Yanjing before. As the number one student in the Yanjing organization, he was also a very powerful expert. When the Qing City Class went to Yanjing for exchange and study, Zheng Yang even seemed to be able to suppress Lin Ci and Li Yi...

There are certainly many such geniuses, and various municipal and prefectural institutions should also have top geniuses like Zheng Yang.

Most people originally thought that even if Jiang Chuan was powerful, it would be good enough if he could make it into the top ten.

How did he manage to get first place among so many talented people, number 35,000?

This is incredibly valuable!
Tang Songming sighed, "My two brothers and I were almost equal in the first stage... In less than two months, Brother Jiang has grown to such a level!"

He immediately cupped his hands in celebration to Jiang Chuan, saying, "Congratulations, Brother Jiang, on winning first place!"

Song Xi patted Jiang Chuan on the back: "Wow, Brother Chuan is awesome!"

Li Yi also looked at Jiang Chuan and said, "This first place is indeed hard-won and well-deserved."

Li Yi's words struck a chord with Jiang Chuan.

Isn't it hard-won?

This was all earned with blood and sweat...

Jiang Chuan initially didn't think this was anything to be happy about, but when he saw the bright "one" in the ranking software, and when the cheers started...

Ichikawa thought of many things.

I once ran until I fainted on the playground.

He was surrounded and beaten by those bronze men in the formation, and almost went blind.

The immense pain during normal flow state training.

The several life-or-death experiences I've had during this period...

Effort and dedication are certainly valuable.

It's not just about the growth in ability, but also the recognition from the classmates around me.

Even though it was just an empty title, Jiang Chuan still felt a surge of intense joy from the bottom of his heart.

This sense of accomplishment was something Jiang Chuan had never experienced before.

And it's not just about a sense of accomplishment...

The students' admiring and envious whispers, the proud expression on Mr. Cao Zhigang's face when he mentioned his name alone, the congratulations from friends...

These things also satisfied his vanity.

Although it's not very useful, it is indeed very comfortable.

"This feeling... is pretty good."

Jiang Chuan thought to himself.

……

(End of this chapter)