Chapter 353: Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit

Gao Peng flipped to the last page of the document. On it, a map of the swamp was printed.

Flamy began crowing excitedly.

“I’ve been there before!”

“Is this where you were born?” asked Gao Peng, somewhat surprised.

“No, but I’ve been there before,” said Flamy, its eyes glued to the map. “It’s not too far from where I was born.” Flamy’s eyes began to redden.

“Chen Qi, would you come here please,” said Gao Peng, beckoning at a man standing silently in the corner.

The man named Chen Qi strode briskly towards him. “What are your orders, Young Master?”

“Do you know this place?” asked Gao Peng, showing the map of the swamp to Chen Qi.

Chen Qi glanced at it for a moment, then frowned, as if wondering whether he should answer Gao Peng’s question.

“This is the Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit. It’s the Qian family’s territory.”

“The Qian family’s territory?” repeated Gao Peng incredulously. “In the middle of the wilderness? Is that even legal?”

“The Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit was bought and paid for by the Qian family. Everyone in Jiangnan knows that,” replied Chen Qi, chuckling slightly.

Gao Peng nodded thoughtfully.

“So, are there a lot of crocodile-type monsters in that place?”

“Indeed. The Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit has a lot of Red-Eyed Crocodiles living in it. However, they wouldn’t attack the swamp’s human inhabitants unprovoked. All kinds of monsters reside in the swamp. Anyone could enter that place and hunt them. They simply need to pay an entrance fee and sign a release of liability form. Also, due to the presence of the Red-Eyed Crocodiles, there aren’t that many dangerous monsters in the swamp. Most of the monsters there are quite low-level.”

Gao Peng was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. He looked at Chen Qi and said, “Have you been there before?”

“No, but my kid’s school organized a field trip to that place last year,” said Chen Qi, closely observing Gao Peng’s face.

“Help me check if there are any crane-type monsters living in the swamp,” ordered Gao Peng.

Chen Qi quickly turned around and walked out of the room to carry out his orders, but not before throwing a surreptitious glance at Flamy, who shifted slightly behind Gao Peng.

On the first floor, Chen Qi sent someone to gather the information that Gao Peng had requested. Then he called his son on the phone.

Chen Mingliang was surprised to receive a call from his father in class. The latter rarely ever called him, especially when he was still in school. Something must have come up. Chen Minglian snuck out of his classroom and answered the call.

“Liang, remember last year when you went on that field trip to the Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit?” asked his father.

Chen Mingliang raised a brow in surprise. “Yeah, I remember. Is something wrong, Dad?”

“Did you happen to see any one-legged crane-type monsters in the swamp back then?” asked Chen Qi seriously.

Chen Mingliang mulled over his father’s question for a moment, then he shook his head and said, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?” asked Chen Qi.

“I really didn’t see any cranes there,” said Chen Mingliang. This was getting ridiculous. “I would have remembered seeing something as absurd as a one-legged crane back then. I do remember seeing some two-legged cranes, though. Does that help?”

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This had his father’s full attention.

Chen Qi said to his son, “Did you take a picture of them? If not, can you ask for some from your friends? See if one of them took a picture of the cranes back then.”

While Chen Qi had no idea what Gao Peng needed this information for, the fact that Gao Peng hadn’t ordered him to go straight to the Qian family for answers spoke volumes about the nature of his problem. Chen Qi was quite adept at reading his employer’s thoughts. This was the reason why he had been made the manager of the Southern Sky Group’s Jiangnan branch during Ji Hanwu’s reign.

Chen Mingliang didn’t have any pictures of the cranes in the swamp. However, some of his friends did, and Chen Mingliang usually had a good rapport with them in class. Within minutes, he was able to get a hold of a couple of pictures from his friends and send them to his father.

Chen Qi tried to compare Flamy’s current appearance to the cranes in the pictures. However, Flamy had changed so much since its evolution that Cheng Qi couldn’t find any similarities between it and the cranes in question.

Chen Qi then anxiously knocked on Gao Peng’s door and entered the room. “Young master, these are pictures that were taken during my son’s school trip to the Swamp of the Crocodile Spirit. Do take a look at them…” Chen Qi stole another glance at Flamy, who was now craning its head behind Gao Peng, trying to take a peek at the pictures.

When Flamy saw the pictures in Gao Peng’s hands, it froze.

“Is this one of your kind?” asked Gao Peng.

“Yes! It’s one of them!” it said, flapping its wings excitedly. The room was getting hotter and hotter as sparks leaped out of its feathers.

The room cooled down as soon as Gao Peng calmed Flamy down.

“Always keep your feelings in check. You don’t want to roast everyone here alive, do you?”

Cheng Qi, who was standing in front of them, wiped the sweat off his forehead. “It’s all right, Young Master.”

“Which trainer in the Qian family has a Lord-tier Red-Eyed Crocodile as their familiar?” asked Gao Peng. Chen Qi was a Jiangnan native. He should know this.

“The second oldest member of the Qian family, Qian Wuliang, does. This is pretty common knowledge in Jiangnan.”

“I see,” muttered Gao Peng, nodding. It seemed that the key to resolving his current problem rested on the Qian family.

“Send a written challenge to Qian Wuliang. Have him meet me on the northern outskirts of the city in three days,” said Gao Peng.

“Er… of course.” Despite already being mentally prepared to hear this from Gao Peng, Chen Qi was still somewhat taken aback to hear him say it out loud.

To the Qian family, their two Lord-tier trainers were presences that could be described as pillars holding up the heavens. Challenging any one of them meant declaring war on the entire Qian family. As tenuous as the four families’ alliance might have seemed, this was also akin to declaring war on the Zhao, Sun, and Li families.

Even Jiangnan’s government couldn’t fully keep all of them in check. All four families were the economic lifeblood of the Jiangnan region, after all.

“Also, I’m holding a banquet for the Zhao, Sun, and Li families. Would you mind sending invitations to them?”

The only reason an alliance existed between the four families was to protect their own interests from the local government. This didn’t mean that they were on good terms with each other.

“We’ll kick the Qian family out of their territory. It’s time for the Southern Sky Group to step in,” said Gao Peng, coughing slightly. “It’s not like there’s a player count restriction in this game, anyway.”

Chen Qi sent out Gao Peng’s written challenge as ordered, then he sent someone to invite the other three families to his boss’s banquet.

Gao Peng went to visit Jiangnan’s mayor He Wei. No one had any clue as to what happened in the mayor’s office…

The Qian family soon caught wind of Gao Peng’s challenge.

“Did someone offend the Southern Sky Group? Why are they challenging Qian Wuliang?” A somber silence fell over the room where the Qian family’s high-ranking members had gathered.

“Chief, we just received word that the Southern Sky Group sent invitations to a banquet to the other three families. The other families have accepted the invitation,” said one of them.

A shiver ran down everyone’s spine at that moment.