Quickly conquer the martial arts world, and let your fists dominate the heavens!

Chen Zuyan stared at the figure on the chair, her body stiffening slightly.

But he didn't shout or draw his gun.

He knew all too well what it meant for someone to be able to sneak into his residence without a sound.

There were four hidden sentries at the courtyard wall and two guards at the gate. He was watched the whole way from getting out of the car to entering the house. The fact that this person was able to get through all the defenses and sit in his chair to wait for him shows that these defenses were as fragile as paper in the eyes of the other party.

Pointless.

The person with his back to him still exuded a chilling aura, as if he had been outside all night.

Chen Zuyan suppressed her racing heartbeat and spoke in a steady voice: "Does Your Excellency have something to discuss with me?"

At the same time, his mind was racing.

Who is this person, and what is their purpose?
Thinking back to Hong Kong, someone purged the entire Tsing Yi branch of the Tsing Yi Society, leaving more than sixty people alive.

At the dock, Lü Desheng's hand was clenched together with the gun; there was a handprint on the metal.

Last night, news came that the Green Gang headquarters was stormed by a single man, who killed two gang leaders and many of their men.

And now, the other party is able to sit quietly in his study.

It's not easy to get into one's own home; it must be that mysterious expert.

He had already made up his mind, but he was still waiting for the other person to speak first.

He also knew some martial arts, having trained for a few years in the Qingyi Society when he was young, but it was completely insufficient against a master of this level.

Running and resisting are pointless.

Since they didn't take direct action, they must have something in mind.

It's highly likely that Ye Ningzhen and Qingniao, these two baitfish, have attracted something much bigger.

He really hadn't expected the other party to be able to find their way into his home, but it didn't matter.

As long as he doesn't die here, the Military Intelligence Bureau has made sufficient preparations, and the Qin brothers are still alive. If the other side wants him, they will have to negotiate, and he will have room to maneuver in that negotiation.

But all of this thought and planning was shattered the moment the person with his back to him spoke.

"Brother Chen, it's been a long time."

A voice came from the figure's back.

His voice was unremarkable, even quite ordinary, with a medium tone, neither too high nor too low, and his speaking pace was neither too fast nor too slow, like he was giving a casual greeting.

But familiar.

too familiar.

In 1920, in the living room of the Qingyi Society in Beijing, this voice said to him, "Brother Chen, you're too kind."

He was stunned.

For a good dozen breaths, my mind went completely blank, as if something had shattered all my thought processes.

Then I came to my senses.

An extremely complex expression appeared on his face, a mixture of shock, doubt, and vigilance, as well as something he himself couldn't quite explain.

He shook his head and gave a cold laugh.

"Why bother with this pretense? Your skills are indeed impressive, but isn't this kind of trick a bit disrespectful to Mr. Chen?"

The "Mr. Chen" he referred to was not himself.

It was that person, the founder of the Chinese Martial Arts Federation, a man who had disappeared for more than a decade, a man everyone thought was dead.

The technique of imitating voices is not uncommon in intelligence circles; Chen Zuyan has seen it far too often.

The person in the chair did not respond.

The next moment, he turned around.

Directly facing Chen Zuyan.

The light shone on that face.

The disguise of the Bone-Changing Technique has been removed; the facial bones have returned to their original positions, and the eyebrows, eyes, contours, and expression are all the same as before.

Compared to when we met in Beijing in 1920, there has been almost no change.

Chen Zhan was in his twenties back then, and now sixteen years have passed. There are no signs of aging on his face; there are no lines between his brows, no gray hairs at his temples, and his skin is not sagging.

The person sitting in the chair has almost the same face as the young man who walked into the gates of the Qingyi Society in Beijing sixteen years ago.

"Brother Zu Yan has aged quite a bit."

When Chen Zhan spoke, his voice, tone, and even the faint smile at the corner of his mouth were exactly the same as in my memory.

Chen Zuyan's eyes widened slightly.

Having held a high position for many years, he had long since become adept at concealing his emotions. Within the Kuomintang's intelligence system, he had interrogated traitors, survived assassination attempts, and faced scenes of mountains of corpses, yet he had never lost his composure.

But at this moment, he couldn't control his expression at all.

"Brother Chen, you're really back?"

Once the words were out, they felt absurd.

"No! How is this possible? How could you still be alive!"

The sound involuntarily amplified.

Footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by knocking: "Sir, are you speaking? Is something the matter?"

The guard heard his voice, knocked on the door, and pushed it open before anyone could answer. Two men walked in, their hands on their guns, and quickly headed toward the study, just a few steps from the door.

"You'd better send them all away. You should know me," Chen Zhan said softly.

His tone was very flat.

Chen Zuyan quickly turned her head and shouted towards the living room, "Get out! I'm on the phone! Don't come in without my permission!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

The guards retreated hastily, the living room door closed, and then the front door slammed shut.

The study fell silent again.

"Sit down, let's talk."

Chen Zhan raised his hand and pointed to the guest seat opposite the desk.

He sat in Chen Zuyan's chair and let Chen Zuyan sit in the guest seat.

Chen Zuyan paused for a moment, then walked over and sat down.

The two people looked at each other across a desk.

The light shone on two faces. One face was almost unchanged, as if it had walked straight from sixteen years ago. The other face had aged considerably, with graying temples, sunken eyes, and weariness etched into every wrinkle.

"Where have you been for the past ten years or so?"

Chen Zuyan spoke up, asking an unrelated question.

Chen Zhan paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Does that matter?"

"important."

Chen Zuyan's voice sounded somewhat subdued.

“If you hadn’t left, things wouldn’t be like this now. I believe you can make the right choice. The Party and the country are the future. If you were here, the General Council wouldn’t have split, and we wouldn’t have become adversaries.” He stared into Chen Zhan’s eyes, speaking faster and faster.

"The infighting of the past years will not happen. The society will rise to its zenith and flourish. In fact, it may have already ended by now. We have worked together to build the country. Our decades of hard work will not have been in vain, and those who died will not have died in vain."

"But once you left, morale within the organization plummeted. Several veterans disagreed and even got into a fight, leading to the situation we see today."

His hands clenched into fists on the table.

"Isn't it your fault?!"

The last sentence was almost shouted out; the people outside must have heard it, but no one dared to move.

Chen Zhan looked at him, his expression unchanged, and waited for him to finish speaking.

"Are you done talking?"

Chen Zuyan's chest heaved, but she didn't reply.

Chen Zhan spoke, his voice calm: "Do you know why Ye Ningzhen insisted on choosing the Su faction?"

Chen Zuyan's body stiffened slightly.

"Everyone knows you're powerful. You know it, Wan Laisheng knows it, Gu Ruzhang knows it. But Ye Ningzhen doesn't know?"

Chen Zuyan's expression changed.

With his intelligence, he realized what was going on after hearing most of what was said, and his voice trembled: "You left it behind, you asked for it?"

"You've kept your distance from us from the very beginning, waiting for this situation to unfold?"

"But...but why!"

"Why did you do this! You can't possibly be blind to the situation; a million-strong army, who can withstand them!"

Chen Zhan shook his head.

"The Japanese thought the same way back then, but what about now?"

These words silenced Chen Zuyan.

When the Japanese army of a million swept across half of China, no one thought they would lose.

But they lost.

Chen Zhan didn't wait for him to finish processing his thoughts before continuing.

“When I left more than a decade ago, the situation was already very clear. Your internal problems were not in the headquarters or the Tsing Yi Society, but at their root.”

"A million strong army can hold off the enemy outside, but it can't stop the rot inside. If I stay on your side, I'll rot along with you in the end."

Chen Zuyan's lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to refute, but she didn't say anything.

"Ningzhen is just carrying out my ideas."

Chen Zhan paused here, his gaze lingering on Chen Zuyan's face for a few moments.

"Enough with the reminiscing, let's get down to business."

Chen Zuyan's breathing hadn't completely calmed down, but when he heard the words "serious business," his intelligence officer instincts kicked in, and he quickly composed himself and sat up straight.

"Release Ye Ningzhen, and release the person she was trying to save as well."

Chen Zuyan stared at him for a few moments but did not answer immediately.

He was waiting for the next question: He would release the man, but what were the conditions? What information did he need to hand over? What did he need to do?
But what Chen Zhan said completely exceeded his expectations.

"In exchange, I'll give you a chance to kill me."

Chen Zuyan was stunned.

"After you release him, you can mobilize all the forces you can: the Green Robe Society's experts, the Military Intelligence Bureau's spies, the Green Gang's thugs—no limit on the number or the firepower. Come and kill me."

Chen Zhan's tone was extremely calm, as if he were talking about something insignificant.

"If you can kill him, then you've got the skills."

The study remained quiet for a long time.

Chen Zuyan sat in the guest seat, looking at the person in front of her, and remained silent for a long time.

He considered many possibilities.

He had considered that Chen Zhan might coerce him, threaten him with his life, and force him to order the release of the people. He was prepared to die, even if it meant his own death. The Military Intelligence Bureau would not collapse just because Chen Zuyan was gone.

I had considered that Chen Zhan might storm into the Military Intelligence Bureau building.

They've deployed a large force there, with the Qin brothers stationed there, just waiting for this.

She had considered what conditions Chen Zhan would propose in exchange for Ye Ningzhen, and what promises he would make in return.

That's exactly what I didn't expect. I made him release the people, and then I came to kill them openly.

"Are you crazy?" Chen Zuyan blurted out.

Chen Zhan looked at him, his expression unchanged.

"You saw me take action back in the capital. This matter is actually very simple. Ye Ningzhen and an intelligence agent are not worth more than me."

Chen Zuyan fell silent.

His mind was racing; the instincts of an intelligence officer were calculating every variable in this calculation.

How much time do you give me to prepare?

Chen Zhan held up three fingers.

"Three days."

"Place?"

"You decide."

Chen Zuyan stared at him for a long time.

Three days.

In three days, he could mobilize a great deal of resources: the Qin brothers, all the armed forces of the Military Intelligence Bureau in Shanghai, the people sent by the General Secretary, the experts of the Green Robe Society, and even more people from Nanjing.

Three days is enough to create an inescapable trap.

"Aren't you afraid I'll detain them and then send people to surround you?"

Chen Zhan stood up and walked to the window: "Then I'll kill your whole family. Are your family still in Nanjing?"

He drew back a corner of the curtains, and the morning light shone in, illuminating his face.

"I'm giving you three days, not because I need to prepare, but to give you a decent chance to take a gamble."

Chen Zuyan sat in the chair, remaining silent for a long time.

The lamplight and morning light mingled in the study, illuminating the faces of the two people.

Chen Zhan stood by the window, waiting for his reply.

Chen Zuyan clenched and unclenched her fists on her knees, her gaze shifting from Chen Zhan's face to the documents on the table, then back again.

He nodded.

"Okay." (End of Chapter)