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nChen Shaojie had assigned the tasks that each of them would be responsible for. Although Zhong Chaofeng and Lin Yongxin were secretly unhappy with it, they didn’t dare to mention it in front of him.

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nThey did not stay in the teahouse for long and quickly set off.

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nThe area that needed to be checked on the same day was a village called Mingxiang Village near the teahouse.

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nThe village was not big. There were a total of a few hundred households, and only three roads led into the village.

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n…

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nSoon, they arrived at the north entrance of Mingxiang Village.

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nAt this moment, there were very few people at the village entrance. Most of the villagers who worked outside during the day had rushed home before it got dark.

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nLooking down the street from the village entrance, every household had their lights on.

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n“Lin Yongxin, let’s follow the usual rules. The one who guesses correctly will get to choose first,” Zhong Chaofeng suggested as he took out a coin from his pocket.

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nThe street at the village entrance extended all the way to the center of the village. As to which end of the street was relatively safer, each had their own judgment. Therefore, they usually flipped a coin to decide.

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n“Sure, toss it. I’ll guess it’s a heads,” Lin Yongxin said casually. Anyway, the probability of guessing right or wrong was the same.

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nOnce Lin Yongxin agreed, Zhong Chaofeng tossed the coin into the air and caught it before it fell to the ground.

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nOpening his hand, the coin in his palm was revealed to be tails-side up. He smiled and said, “It’s tails. Looks like I’m in luck.”

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nLin Yongxin didn’t show any disappointment. He usually preferred to guard the end of the street facing outside as he felt that it was safer there.

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n“Consultant Chen, I’ll enter the village first and stand guard at the other end of the street,” Zhong Chaofeng informed Chen Yiming and immediately set off into the village.

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n“Let’s get started.”

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nChen Yiming patted Chen Shaojie’s shoulder and urged him to take action.

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nHe still had to work part-time at the Power-doubling Martial Arts Training Center at night, so he hoped that their inspection would go as fast as possible.

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n“Okay, Cousin.”

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nChen Shaojie took the lead and walked to the door of the first house. He knocked on the metal door and shouted,

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n“Open up! Open up! The city patrol team is here to check the household register.”

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n“Coming, wait a moment.”

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nThe sound of a middle-aged man’s voice was heard, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.

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n“Clang!”

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nThe bolt on the metal door was pulled open and a middle-aged man appeared in front of them.

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nHe was wearing a tattered jacket and white washed jeans. His clothes and pants were conspicuously covered with a layer of dust.

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n“You three are here to check the household register, right? It’s cold outside, come in quickly.”

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nThe middle-aged man invited Chen Yiming, Chen Shaojie, and He Chunping into the house.

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nThese villagers had long received notice that there would be city patrol team members coming to check the household register and arrest those whose identity could not be verified.

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nAt this moment, the family was having dinner.

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nAt the dining table sat the middle-aged man’s parents, wife, and three children.

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nOf the three children, the older one was a girl, about 14 or 15 years old. The younger two were both boys, about seven or eight years old, just starting school.

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nThe three children were afraid of strangers, and when they saw Chen Yiming and his group, they hid behind the middle-aged woman.

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n“Here, we have prepared the documents.”

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nThe middle-aged man invited Chen Yiming and the other two to sit on the sofa. He bent over and took out a plastic bag from under the coffee table. He took out his identification card and household register and placed them on the table.

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nChen Shaojie picked up the identification card on the table and looked at the photo. Then, he looked at the middle-aged man to verify whether they were the same person.

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nNext, they verified the identity of the rest of the middle-aged man’s family in the same way.

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nFinally, they checked the information in the household register to see if it was the same as their address.

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nAfter completing these tasks, Chen Shaojie stood up and walked around the house to make sure that there were no other people in the house.

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nThe inspection of this house was completed.

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nThe three of them did not stay for long and went out to check on the next house.

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n…

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nThey checked ten houses in a row, but there were no unidentified persons.

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n“Cousin, I was too naive. News of the city patrol team’s investigation has already spread throughout the city. I reckon our targets have already been informed and hidden away. We’ve wasted a lot of your time, making you come here for nothing.”

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nChen Shaojie sensed that something was amiss as things did not go as expected, so he apologized to Chen Yiming.

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n“That’s true. It seems that the reward isn’t that easy to get. Otherwise, why would the city patrol team loosen the restrictions and allow external assistance?”

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nChen Yiming said in a low voice as he nodded.

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nUnidentified persons were the targets that Chen Yiming and the team had set out to capture. The city patrol team’s reward was based on the number of such people they captured.

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nThe more they captured, the higher the reward. On the other hand, if they couldn’t capture anyone, they would have worked for nothing.

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n“From the next house onwards, we don’t need to bother you to follow us in. I’ll call you if there’s anything suspicious. It shouldn’t be a problem since you’ll be close by.”

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nThe more Chen Shaojie thought about it, the more he felt that he had burdened his cousin. He was very upset, so he made this suggestion.

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nWithout waiting for Chen Yiming to respond, he added, “He Chunping, stay with my cousin and chat with him. I’ll do the verification work alone.”

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nAs he spoke, the three of them had reached the next house.

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nChen Shaojie knocked on the door and said a word to Chen Yiming before entering alone.

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nBy that time, the sky had already turned dark. The temperature dropped very quickly in winter. He Chunping stomped her feet from time to time and stuffed her hands into her pockets. From time to time, she would breathe out a cloud of white smoke.

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n“Consultant Chen, you are so young. How did you cultivate to achieve so much at your age?”

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nWhen He Chunping saw that Chen Yiming wasn’t taking the initiative to speak, she started the conversation since she would still need him to take care of her for the rest of the job.

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n“Um… I just practiced on my own,” Chen Yiming replied awkwardly.

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nHe never knew how to answer questions that others asked him about how he cultivated. He couldn’t possibly say that he relied on the martial arts talent system to increase his talent. In any case, what he said matched well with what he presented to others.

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n“Geniuses like you always make others envious. You’re able to learn it easily, unlike me who took over ten tests trying to get into the martial arts schools, but failing each time.”

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nHe Chunping spoke about her past, biting her lips slightly as she blushed.

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nShe was going all out. In order to continue the conversation, she would say whatever came to her mind.

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n“I see. I passed the test in one try, and I don’t have much experience with tests. I really don’t know how I can help you.”

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nChen Yiming didn’t know how to continue the conversation, so he just voiced his thoughts.

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n“…”

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nHe Chunping’s heart suffered a critical hit of 10,000 points.

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n“Alright, can you tell me about life in the martial arts school?”

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nHe Chunping didn’t dare to confront Chen Yiming about his tactless reply. Instead, she changed the topic.

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n“Actually, there’s nothing much to say. It’s just a group of people cultivating in the same place every day. The content is the same every day without even the slightest change,” Chen Yiming replied.

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n“Oh, I guess there really isn’t anything much to talk about.”

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nHe Chunping could not continue the conversation even if she wanted to.

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nJust like that, the two of them made some small talk to kill time while waiting.

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