“From now on, we still need to retain our military faction as an effective supplement to the sheriffs. Therefore, the higher-ups do not want too many people to leave the military faction, as that would not help the current situation!” Wang Zhijun continued to explain.
"Alright, brother, I know you're not very articulate, you've been talking for so long and still haven't explained yourself clearly!" Wu Zhimin interrupted him.
"There's nothing I can do, I'm just bad at speaking, but I think you all probably understand by now. This meeting should have been led by the second brother. We won't go into the reasons, but you should all understand. Let's talk about the project!" Wang Zhijun took out his notebook.
"The conference program is still confidential, but they've given us a sneak peek, which is one of our advantages!"
"The competition isn't just formal combat; it also includes tests of agility, the power of hidden weapons, accuracy, and skill. These are all scored separately, but the official ring match still carries more weight. Fourth brother, your hidden weapons aren't good, and second brother and I aren't very good at agility. We need to focus on practicing those skills. Although we don't have high expectations for our ranking, it would be embarrassing if we didn't make it into the top ten in total score..."
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They weren't the only ones to get the news; many large families and factions had their own information channels, and quite a few government departments also wanted a piece of the pie, because it was rumored that this head of security had considerable authority, at least much greater than that of the police chief.
However, Zhang Lei didn't have that channel. He only got this news because Tang Guo still cared about him.
Back on land, Zhang Lei's first stop was to visit Tai Chi Chen, but the old man clearly didn't appreciate it and, after a few words, was already thinking of seeing him off.
"Senior Chen, we haven't seen each other for so long, let's have a spar first. Are you really not going to participate in this martial arts tournament?" Zhang Lei was reluctant to leave. He no longer had a place to stay in the country, and it wasn't convenient for him to go to the Tang family. Besides, there was a little sister here who was thinking about him.
"I'm getting old, so I'll leave these to you young people. I'm no longer in the mood for them!" Tai Chi Chen waved his hand and said.
"Who said that? You look much younger than you did six or seven years ago. If I hadn't known you for so long, I would probably have doubted your age!" Zhang Lei looked at Tai Chi Chen and flattered him.
However, Zhang Lei wasn't entirely flattering him; Tai Chi Chen genuinely looked younger than he had a few years ago. This wasn't just an isolated phenomenon; with the increase in vital energy concentration, average human lifespan was indeed increasing. If it weren't for some social disorder and the rise in accidental deaths, the average lifespan would likely be even longer. There were quite a few elderly people who seemed to have reversed their aging process, especially those with martial arts skills; their internal energy was practically an element of youth.
"Hehe, I'm not being modest, it's true. But it's a pity that old guy Bagua Li passed away a few years too early. Otherwise, he might have caught up with this trend and lived many more years!" Taiji Chen said with a sigh.
Zhang Lei thought differently. If Bagua Li were still alive, Li Yang would probably be much harder to kill. Taiji Chen and Li Yang couldn't really be considered family, and there was too much mutual suspicion. If it were Bagua Li, and Taiji Chen joined forces, it would be hard to say who would be hunting whom.
"Old Chen, why haven't I seen Xiaosi for so long?" Zhang Lei had finished flattering her and looked around, searching for Chen Xiaosi.
"That girl is at her own home, of course. I knew you had ulterior motives. Let me tell you, the first thing I did after getting word that you were coming was to trick her into going home, haha!"
Episode 4: An Eye for an Eye, a Knife for a Teeth - Chapter 100: Looking at People Through Dog Eyes (Part 1)
Zhang Lei only received the conference charter half a month before the conference started, and what he received was just a bunch of useless introductions. The truly useful information was only found in a small corner of it.
Fortunately, Zhang Lei was still staying at Taiji Chen's house at this time, which allowed Taiji Che to find out the shady dealings involved.
Unfortunately, Zhang Lei isn't one to make the rules now. Even if he wanted to break them, he wouldn't be qualified. To rise above others, one either needs to make the rules change for them, adapt to the rules, or create their own. Sadly, Zhang Lei is none of those things right now.
Half a month is neither a long nor a short time, but it is obviously impossible to turn Zhang Lei's previous ignorance into strengths in just half a month.
Leaving aside his lightness skill, Zhang Lei has been summarizing his internal energy over the past few years and is researching and creating a qigong suitable for himself. It mainly uses the internal energy in his body to counteract the force of gravity, which is a completely different system from the general lightness skill of raising qi and lightening the body. If he masters it, even flying is not impossible.
Zhang Lei might be determined to study this seemingly hopeless skill of lightness and agility just to fulfill his childhood dream of flying. It's not that no one has practiced this skill before, but no one has ever been heard of mastering it, since the human body cannot provide such a large amount of internal energy consumption.
But Zhang Lei is different. Zhang Lei's internal energy absorption is much faster than others, not to mention that the concentration of primordial energy in the world now is incomparable to that in the past.
However, there is one thing: before you succeed, this kind of lightness skill is not completely useless, but its effect is too small. Zhang Lei has never cared much about it. With his extraordinary physical strength, he can completely suppress the speed of other people's lightness skills. At most, he is not as good at small-scale dodging and turning.
"Sigh, you should just give up. I bought a lot of tofu at noon, and now all that's left is soybean pulp!" Tai Chi Chen shook his head at Zhang Lei. "Actually, considering your personality, it's already incredible that you've achieved what you have. But as for this lightness skill, you shouldn't count on it. Just consider it a zero!"
"Hehe, this convoluted way of doing things really doesn't suit my personality. Oh well, let's just call it a zero!" Zhang Lei didn't care at all. "As long as I get first place in close combat, this score should be enough for me to enter the top group. As for representing others in the competition, I find that too much trouble. Our people have almost forgotten about me, but many others still remember me!"
"I'm so angry!" Just as Zhang Lei was saying this, Tang Guo walked in from outside, complaining. Zhang Lei treated Tai Chi Chen's place like his own home, and Tang Guo treated it like her base, coming and going without ever saying hello.
"Boss, they said you don't have any ranking points in China right now. If you want to participate in the competition, you either have to take the basic test or go to the additional competition. They're really looking down on people!" Although the final venue for the competition is in the Sichuan Basin, there are registration points all over the country. Even overseas Chinese, or people with Chinese citizenship or honorary citizenship, can register.
It's just that Zhang Lei was not well-known in the domestic martial arts world, and had been living in anonymity for many years. It's normal that a receptionist at a regional registration point had never heard of Zhang Lei.
"Then let's participate in the additional matches, hehe!" Zhang Lei didn't care about this. His previous reputation wasn't something to be proud of. It was better if no one knew about him. Zhang Lei didn't want to change his name, but with a completely different appearance and a different fighting style, there shouldn't be any problem, right? Besides, even if these brats found out, so what?
"However, boss, then you'll have to set off earlier. The supplementary matches will be held five days earlier. Although Sichuan is our Tang family's territory, we can't get involved in this competition from beginning to end!" Tang Guo was a little embarrassed. He had encouraged Zhang Lei to come back to participate, but he couldn't even get a single official spot. You know, there are more than sixty chief security officers alone, not to mention second and third-ranking officers. You can tell how big this competition is from the number of finalists. It can be said that martial artists with a little reputation are actively invited.
"It's alright, this is actually a good thing. But there's no issue with the murderers being penalized at this conference, is there?" Zhang Lei patted Tang Guo's shoulder, revealing his gleaming white teeth again.
“Zhang Lei, let me give you some advice: don’t deliberately kill anyone at this conference. It will easily make people associate you with the original Zhang Lei. Actually, it was a mistake for you to stay here. You should find a family you have no connection with at all to stay with!” Tai Chi Chen kept telling Zhang Lei to leave, but Zhang Lei knew that this old man wished he were really his junior.
"Yes, I understand. You're right!" Zhang Lei nodded.
"Also, after entering the main competition, there will be a group stage, with eight people in each group playing a round-robin tournament. The top two will directly enter the next round of the knockout stage, and the third and fourth place will participate in the revival tournament. My advice is that if you encounter a strong opponent, you'd better lose to them, since it won't affect your final result!"
"Not bad, old man, you're really wise beyond your years, haha! I just need to make sure I qualify as the second-place finisher, and I can pretend to be inexperienced at the beginning and grow slowly throughout the tournament. Isn't that interesting?"
Zhang Lei immediately understood what Taiji Chen meant. Zhang Lei said he didn't care about being recognized, but if his identity were really exposed, even if he wasn't forced to leave again, he might not be able to become the chief of security. Even if he did become the chief, he probably wouldn't be able to hold his position.
"However, Senior Chen, I have to set off earlier. Your granddaughter is coming back, so please let her come to Sichuan to watch my competition!" Zhang Lei said with a smile as he escaped Tai Chi Chen's attack range.
Tai Chi Chen cursed twice, then couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, she's back. I'll take her to watch your match. There's no stopping her anyway. But remember, you absolutely must take the defensive zone where Shanghai is located!"
"Don't worry about that, I won't give Shanghai to anyone else!" Zhang Lei waved from afar. "I won't be bringing my family; please take care of them! I'm leaving now!"
"Hey, what are you up to, kid?" She stamped her foot. "This kid really knows how to use people!"
Episode 4: An Eye for an Eye, a Knife for a Teeth - Chapter 100: Looking at People Through Dog Eyes (Part 2)
Zhang Lei enjoys threatening others, including family, friends, children, and women, using any means necessary. However, he is still human and has his own weaknesses. He is also afraid of being blackmailed. Although he doesn't know if he would give up something for the safety of the hostages, it's best not to know such things.
Fu Ao and Wen were considered experts a few years ago, but in recent years, they have focused their energy primarily on Shi Rui, leaving them with very little fighting spirit or internal energy for their own advancement. While this makes it convenient for Zhang Lei to control them, it also renders them unreliable, especially in China, the birthplace of martial arts. Moreover, Zhang Lei knows that these two will always prioritize Shi Rui above all else.
No matter what, Zhang Lei couldn't take care of his women while he was in the ring. It would be ridiculous if Zhang Lei were blackmailed.
It would be a shame not to take advantage of Taiji Chen at this time. Even without considering Taiji Chen, the power of his family alone would deter others from having any ulterior motives. Moreover, since Zhang Lei left his family with him, Taiji Chen would feel obligated to take care of them.
Zhang Lei's plans were meticulously laid out, and Tai Chi Chen could only laugh and cry as he became the unpaid bodyguard, because Zhang Lei had already boarded the private jet prepared by Tang Guo.
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"Kid! In the ring, I'll beat you so badly your own mother won't recognize you!"