You're Strong But Now You're Mine
Chapter 35: The Traitor Slacker Remains Unmoved

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: The Traitor Slacker Remains Unmoved

"No need to stand on ceremony."

Seeing Chen Fu seemed about to stand up and salute, Lan Yan pressed down with a motion of his right hand. Chen Fu’s butt, just rising off the bed, landed back down again, making Le Yu’s eyelids twitch wildly.

Although it was just a faint mark, Le Yu clearly noticed a flash of light on Chen Fu’s shoulder. Apparently, Lan Yan had just used a weak burst of light from a distance to pin Chen Fu in place!

"For Awakeners, Dragon Capture and Crane Control weren’t considered any sort of supernatural miracle. Not to mention the long-range killing power of techniques like Sword-Wielding Combat Technique, even ordinary people could sometimes ’call things to hand’ in daily life, beckoning a daily item to fly into their grasp at will."

"However, such object-manipulation skills generally had very limited range—maybe two or three meters at best—and always came with conspicuous special effects. Lan Yan, casually crossing three meters for long-distance manipulation like it was nothing, truly revealed his solid fundamental skills and level of Spiritual Cultivation."

"Simply put, he acted like a total showoff."

"Off duty now, so you don’t have to worry about department etiquette out here. On the clock, we’re superiors and subordinates. Off the clock, I’m just a visitor coming to see a patient." Lan Yan moved over to sit in the chair nearby, picking up an apple from the fruit basket, "Captain Qian, want an apple? I used to peel apples all the time; I’d say I’m pretty good at it."

"Sure, sorry to trouble you, Director." Le Yu said quickly.

"Haha, thanks for giving me a chance to shine, Captain Qian." Lan Yan seemed rather pleased and began to peel the apple lightly, "Honestly, I’ve been itching to do this again. I’m not a fan of eating apples myself, though, so few people even know about this little skill of mine..."

"If you don’t like apples, why learn to peel them..." Le Yu grumbled inwardly, but outwardly teased, "It’s not like normal people get the honor of eating an apple peeled by the Director."

"So you’re saying, Captain, you’ve had a stroke of luck here?" Chen Fu chuckled.

Lan Yan peeled the apple as he shook his head, "You two are still too polite... but that’s my fault. I called you by your titles first, so you assumed this was an official visit."

He paused a moment, "Actually, I’d like to call you both by your names, but even though I’m a bit older than both of you, I’m not old enough to be a whole generation apart. To call you by name might make it seem like I’m looking down on you—don’t get excited, I know you don’t mean it that way. But my family enforces strict traditions; when it comes to etiquette, it’s just become natural for me."

Lan Yan shrugged and gave a wry smile, "But now, looks like all these rules just end up pushing everyone miles away from me."

Chen Fu couldn’t help saying, "If the Director doesn’t mind, you can call me Chen Fu or Xiaofu. That’s what my friends call me."

"Then you two don’t need to call me Director either," Lan Yan said, glancing at Le Yu, "Just call me Brother Lan. I’ll call you Yuliu, if Captain Qian doesn’t mind."

"Not at all, I think ’Yuliu’ sounds way better than ’Captain Qian’ anyway," Le Yu laughed, "I just worry that if I get used to calling you Brother Lan, one day I’ll let it slip in the Statistical Department, and people will think you’re backing me up."

"As long as you and Xiaofu are loyal and hardworking for the Statistical Department, I, Lan Yan, will always have your backs!" Lan Yan said firmly, "As long as I’m here, you can both realize your potential in this department. No one will be able to frame or suppress you!"

"So he’s here to recruit us, huh..." Le Yu and Chen Fu couldn’t help but exchange glances.

"’Recruit’ is kind of a weird word, since we’re already Lan Yan’s subordinates anyway. Following his orders is only natural. But after Shi Jie from the Fifth Squad got arrested, the newly promoted captain is now under Deputy Director Kui Zhao. Plus, the Third Squad Captain, Yin Guyue, is tight with Kui Zhao, meaning he suddenly controls half the battle strength of the department."

"Le Yu didn’t really understand this upper-level power struggle, but right now, the Statistical Department was basically the ultimate secret police in Star Engraving County, the true rulers and enforcers. The Governor, Ding Yiding, would never want Lan Yan to hold all the power by himself, so letting Kui Zhao take charge was surely a move to split authority."

"Given the circumstances, Lan Yan getting close to Qian Yuliu and his squad made perfect sense. Realizing this, Le Yu felt his heart stir—Qian Yuliu, though he was the squad’s captain, was always just an Executor, never truly part of the decision-making core. If he pledged his loyalty to Lan Yan now, would he have a shot at becoming a true confidant?"

Le Yu coughed and saluted with his fist, "Yuliu is willing to serve the Statistical Department loyally until death, never letting Brother Lan down!"

Chen Fu followed with a salute, "Me too!"

"I, Lan, will remember this well." Lan Yan tapped his chest in a simple gesture of thanks, "To honor your squad’s achievements, I’ve already submitted a request to the Governor. All members of your squad will be granted military ranks, equivalent to the Linhai Army, including multiple privileges and a secondary wage. If you keep achieving, I’ll do my best to secure you an opportunity for military combat training in the army."

"Unless something comes up, the regular members will have Senior Seaman rank, Xiaofu, you’ll be Seaman Chief, and Yuliu will be Deputy Lieutenant Seaman."

Chen Fu froze, then his face lit up with joy, "Thank you, Director... Thank you for the promotion, Brother Lan! From now on, I’ll follow orders without a word!"

Lan Yan’s way of winning loyalty wasn’t just about empty promises—since Chen Fu and Le Yu had pledged undying faith, he immediately tossed them a huge benefit—actual military ranks!

"In this world, there’s no such thing as ’good men don’t serve or good iron doesn’t nail.’ On the contrary, because the lands are plagued by barbarian invasions, the regional armies of the Eight Major Districts were always stationed on the frontiers, repelling the Barbarian Invaders. The army’s importance was undeniable, and with everyone valuing martial skills, a soldier’s status naturally soared."

"Military rank was divided into five grades—General, Colonel, Captain, Soldier, and Private. The ’Soldier’ and ’Private’ grades had four levels each: Private Second Class, Private First Class, Senior Private, and Squad Leader; Deputy Soldier, Assistant Soldier, Senior Soldier, and Chief. What Chen Fu received—Seaman Chief—was a level 8 rank. Still, Soldiers and Privates in the army were just the bottom-level grunts, so from level 1 to 8, they all received the same treatment."

"But once you became an officer, everything changed. Even the lowest Deputy Lieutenant Officer was allowed to participate in military decisions—and could even mobilize the Imprisonment Department and army without prior approval. Not that people would necessarily obey, but they wouldn’t refuse you outright either."

"Le Yu’s new rank, Deputy Lieutenant Seaman, was a level 9 mid-tier officer. Besides the real benefits, the Gloria people deeply valued military service at or above officer level—for ordinary families, having someone in an officer role was a massive honor."

"Look at Chen Fu right now—eyes sparkling, itching to kneel and lick Lan Yan’s boots. It was obvious he’d taken the bait completely. Sure, he was happy to become Seaman Chief, but Le Yu, meanwhile, just became a mid-ranking officer—Deputy Lieutenant Seaman! How could it not gnaw at his pride?"

"Over the past few days, Le Yu had come to understand Chen Fu even better. Simply put, the guy was just a regular man: the Statistical Department brought him power, status, and money, so he hung out here for a living. His real ambition, though, had always been to join the Linhai Army as an officer—that’s been his dream all along."

"He thought you couldn’t have your cake and eat it too, but now he’s getting the best of both worlds. Of course he bit the hook!"

"As for the military ranks, Le Yu was actually more interested in that ’military combat training’ Lan Yan mentioned."

"These days, aside from playing cards, he’d done some digging into the average combat power in this world—and realized that the system panel’s ’Elementary Qian Yuliu Biting Battle Technique’ was already considered a solid backbone skill among Martial Artists. The next step up would be the ’Skilled Mastery’ instructors at Star Engraving Military Academy."

"Higher up were the ’Integration and Mastery’ Martial Artists—Le Yu only knew there were plenty in the army. Spotting one in a city was next to impossible."

"But either ’Skilled Mastery (Intermediate)’ or ’Integration and Mastery (Advanced)’ weren’t realms that Le Yu could reach by effort alone."

"It wasn’t just a matter of talent. Even the gifted Qian Yuliu was stuck at the elementary level. The truth was, that was the absolute limit for self-cultivation."

"To put it in e-sports terms, humans fighting bots could only reach Silver rank at best—higher ranks required playing against real people. You wanted to get better, you had to jump into ranked matches against stronger players."

"Combat Techniques operated the same way: to advance beyond basic levels, you had to fight real, tough opponents. Only through that genuine combat experience could a Martial Artist adapt the Technique to their own style, giving life to the Technique—instead of making life conform to the Technique."

"So every Intermediate Technique Martial Artist Le Yu ever met had either served in the army like Kui Zhao and Mu Feihong or come out of the Royal Academy, like Li Shijie. The so-called ’military combat training’ was a chaos match in the barracks, forging high-level Martial Artists by forcing them into constant battle."

"Thinking about it, Le Yu felt a chill."

"Combat training and military rank—Lan Yan nailed Chen Fu and Qian Yuliu’s soft spots. Le Yu cared about the training, partly because of Qian Yuliu’s lingering influence."

"Within one sentence, Lan Yan didn’t just give them benefits but painted them a massive future. Le Yu couldn’t help respecting him more."

"Scary—was this what real power play looked like?"

"Did he notice I’ve just been playing cards lately, and came by to give me a warning?"

"But no matter how good you are at power games, I’m just a lurking traitor, steady as a rock. What can you do to me?"

"As for whether Lan Yan would fire me for slacking off, I wasn’t worried at all. Once I finished the system’s fifteen-day survival quest, I’d be looking for a way to bail."

"Come on, let’s see—will you lose your patience and fire me first, or will I ditch work and sneak off before you can?"

Le Yu put on a look of sincerity, "Brother Lan, I honestly can’t wait to get out of here and back to work to repay your kindness!"

"No, no—this isn’t thanks to me. The Governor saw your contributions, which is why my application got approved," Lan Yan said with a smile, "Before the reward notification becomes official, keep this quiet for now. If the Governor suddenly changes his mind, I’d be left out in the cold."

"Now how could we blame you, Brother Lan?" Le Yu didn’t buy for a second that Lan Yan would even tell them if this were an uncertain matter, but even if, worst case, the reward fell through, after a sincere chat like this, the only one they’d blame was the Governor.

"Not a flaw in his kind, warm, and flawless style... Even though I always assumed this Director was a big bad guy, it’s really hard to dislike Lan Yan after talking with him."

After a few minutes of chatting, Lan Yan suddenly asked, "Yuliu, about your gunshot wound, you already heard the investigation results from Xiaofu just now, right?"

Le Yu glanced at his right arm—while the wound had healed, the new pale skin stood out, fragile-looking, like one poke would break it.

"Both Chen Fu and I figured the sniper was an official operative."

"No need to mince words—anyone in Star Engraving County able to use high-powered firearms for sniping is almost certainly a Statistical Department operative."

Lan Yan frowned slightly and sighed, "The biggest question now is, why risk exposure to snipe Yuliu? Does this sniper have any connection to the Lin Family? Did he snipe me during the vendetta to frame the Lin Family, or was he just a Lin Family assassin?"

"Yuliu, do you think we need to bring the Lin Family in for questioning again?"

Le Yu’s expression didn’t change, "No need. I didn’t notice anything suspicious during the fight. They probably had no idea about the sniper, otherwise they’d have jumped me while I was wounded. Besides, if we arrested them right after a vendetta verdict, it’d totally ruin the department’s reputation."

Lan Yan gave Le Yu a look, "If you say there’s no need, I trust your judgment, Yuliu."

"Oh, right—since you weren’t in today, let me give you a briefing. According to our intel, an organization called ’White Night,’ an arm of the Backlight Organization, is trying to infiltrate Star Engraving County. Our main mission now is to root out ’White Night’ and destroy them completely."

"Would you count me as one of those ’roots’...?" Le Yu nodded vigorously, "We’ll do our best to bring in all these Backlight traitors—piece of cake."

"With people inside deliberately protecting these Backlight traitors, this mission won’t be simple. What’s more... the Statistical Department itself is anything but united."

Lan Yan handed the peeled apple to Le Yu and said,

"For example... what do you think about the traitor inside the Statistical Department?"