Chapter 651

Chen Gu, her hair tied back in a practical ponytail, flashed a bright smile on her radiant face. She walked over to Ning Chen, extended her hand, and said, "You are very strong; I suddenly find myself admiring you."

Ning Chen looked at the female police officer before him. His expression remained unchanged, but out of politeness, he briefly shook her hand.

Afterwards, Ning Chen withdrew his hand and said, "Cooperation is possible, but any cooperation requires an agreement reached by both parties. I have my own bottom line. As for exactly what we should cooperate on, I think we should discuss that back at the police station, don't you?"

Xu Si was somewhat excited. He had encountered powerful people before, but those who were extraordinary in every aspect were mostly arrogant and biased in personality, making them difficult to befriend.

But Ning Chen had a good personality; he was polite without being overly arrogant. Although he indeed carried a certain air of pride belonging to the strong, it only made people willingly obey him rather than feel uncomfortable.

Xu Si nodded and said, "Agreed. I will call the Chief of Police in a moment to have him draft an agreement. We really should discuss the cooperation matters properly."

Ning Chen did not hesitate; he nodded.

During his last clock-in, Ning Chen had already sensed that the situation on Si Shiya's side had improved slightly. This time, the system had not yet issued a clock-in task. Taking advantage of this time, he could contact the police to ensure he wouldn't be noticed at any moment and subsequently invited for tea.

Ning Chen and his group spent half a day returning to the police station. Hua Ping was already waiting in his office. Hua Ping cared extremely about this cooperation; a freshly brewed cup of Pu'er tea sat before him on the desk as he waited for Ning Chen's arrival.

As soon as Ning Chen arrived at the police station, he was invited to Hua Ping's office.

Hua Ping had met countless people, but the moment he saw Ning Chen, he didn't even need to hesitate to confirm that this person was definitely Ning Chen.

The aura Ning Chen carried was discontinuously different from that of ordinary people. Hua Ping stood up from his chair, watched Ning Chen turn his back to close the door, and respectfully said, "You are Ning Chen, correct? It is a great honor to meet you for the first time."

Ning Chen glanced at Hua Ping's face, feeling a vague sense that he had seen this person somewhere before. He smiled and said, "The honor is mine as well."

Seeing that Ning Chen's expression was normal, Hua Ping invited him to sit in the chair before him and said, "This is the tea I just brewed; it is still hot."

Hua Ping's tone was too polite, which, paired with his shrewd eyes, felt somewhat incongruous. Ning Chen helplessly took a sip of tea, raised his eyes, and said, "Why be so polite? Just speak your mind directly. We will be partners in the future, so there is no need to hide anything."

"I like your personality," Hua Ping chuckled twice and pushed a document toward Ning Chen.

509. Cooperation Achieved, New Task Issued

It was a not-too-thick agreement, with the terms of this cooperation written clearly in black and white on white paper.

Ning Chen stroked his chin, somewhat curious: "Did you already predict that I would cooperate with you?"

The agreement was drafted very comprehensively; basically, every possible error that could occur was listed.

Hearing Ning Chen ask this, Hua Ping replied, "Naturally not. I did not expect you to agree to cooperate with us so easily. This agreement was drafted by me after confirming the cooperation."

A flash of surprise crossed Ning Chen's eyes. At the same time, he lowered his head to flip through the paper in his hand. The more he read, the more surprised he became: "Very comprehensive. It's hard to imagine such a thorough contract could be made in such a short time—"

While speaking, Ning Chen looked directly into Hua Ping's eyes. Hearing this, Hua Ping showed a smile on his face: "Besides assigning police officers, my daily work involves strategic deployment and arrangements. Drafting contracts may not be my main duty, but after doing it often and for a long time, I naturally became proficient."

Ning Chen's gaze flickered. He nodded, then flipped through the contract again. After confirming everything was in order, he took a pen and signed his name on it.

He also pressed his fingerprint to complete it.

Ning Chen pushed the agreement back to Hua Ping. Hua Ping looked at it with satisfaction, placed it completely in his drawer, stood up before Ning Chen, extended his hand toward Ning Chen, and said, "It is an honor to cooperate with you. I hope our cooperation is pleasant."

Ning Chen curled his lips: "I also hope you won't have so many matters on a daily basis. After all, I am very busy. If some major events require my intervention, a half-month advance notice might not be enough; notify me as early as possible."

Ning Chen was referring to Article 32 of the agreement: "The police may request the cooperating party to solve problems. If cooperation is requested, the police will inform the party half a month in advance."

It must be said that Hua Ping's tone in the agreement was quite good; he used the word "request." Hua Ping noticed these small details, so he replied, "Good, I have noted it and will inform you in advance. In recent years, major incidents have decreased significantly. You have cleaned up the three poisons, leaving us only to pave the way and clean up the battlefield."

Hearing Hua Ping say this, Ning Chen nodded and said, "Fine. Fewer matters are naturally best. What I fear is that while I am out on a mission, you might want to discuss assistance with me again... I cannot ensure I always have time."

Hua Ping lifted the tea in front of him, took a sip, and said slowly, "Rest assured. Unless it is a major incident, we will not seek you out. To put it in common parlance, this is mutual assistance. When you need our help, we will come to assist you without hesitation, even at the cost of our lives."

Hearing this, Ning Chen's body suddenly leaned forward slightly, and the smile on his face slowly faded because he thought of past events.

During the period when Si Shiya first disappeared, Ning Chen was nearly driven mad with anxiety. He reported the case, but perhaps because Si Shiya's disappearance left absolutely no trace, the police did not investigate any results.

During that time, Ning Chen almost visited every corner of the city, exhausting all efforts to find Si Shiya, but to no avail.

During that time, Si Shiya was as if she had evaporated into thin air. Although Ning Chen contacted the police to post missing person notices and reached out to her family, it was all useless.

It was then that he felt relying on external forces could not obtain what he wanted. Although the police were also looking, within a month, the police side had no news at all.

By then, it was no longer a matter of disappointment. However, Ning Chen had excellent psychological quality. After a low period of three or four days, he quickly adjusted his mental state. He began to contact his connections to try to find Si Shiya... but ultimately, it all came to nothing.

And now, if those police officers had not demonstrated their capabilities before him, Ning Chen would rather be wanted by the police than cooperate with them.

Hua Ping noticed the change in Ning Chen's expression. He rubbed the rim of his cup without showing his thoughts, stared at Ning Chen's face, and asked, "The agreement is signed. Does Mr. Ning need to stay here for lunch?"

Ning Chen really hesitated for a second, but he quickly replied, "I am a law-abiding good citizen. I do not want to eat prison food. Thank you for your hospitality."

Hua Ping was stunned for a moment, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face: "The food here is quite good. If Mr. Ning is willing to honor us with his presence, please stay and eat with us. This has nothing to do with prison food. As for being law-abiding... it is indeed law-abiding in a different sense."

While speaking, Hua Ping picked up his mobile phone from the desk, glanced down at the time, then raised his head to look at Ning Chen: "Mr. Ning is considered a VIP here."

Ning Chen raised his eyebrows, looking not very willing to honor them: "It is not that I refuse to give you face; it is just that my time is not abundant. Come to think of it, if I had not chosen to cooperate with you, would everything I do lead to you inviting me to the police station?"

"Mr. Ning is overthinking it," Hua Ping said. "We do not arrest people without reason. The main reason we wanted to invite you over before was to understand you better and to see who this He Fangshensheng was who single-handedly cleaned up an entire mercenary battalion."

Hua Ping's tone was not lacking in flattery. Ning Chen did not like hearing such flattery; he merely frowned and said, "No need to say these things. I just hope that in the future, when I go to handle some matters, you won't invite me for tea every time. I need to deal with my enemies while also finding time to evade your pursuit; I simply cannot be in two places at once."

Hua Ping smiled somewhat awkwardly: "After all, before this, you single-handedly killed an entire mercenary battalion. Whether it was us or the higher-ups, we were all shocked by this. Some wanted to take you in for a statement and study you, while others simply wanted to see who this He Fangshensheng was. Moreover, given your strength, we could not harm you anyway."

That was indeed the logic.

Ning Chen pressed his lips, his expression unreadable regarding joy or anger: "I have only one sentence: as long as you do not disturb me too much after the cooperation begins." He looked down at his wristwatch again, saw that it was exactly lunchtime, and stood up: "It is getting late; I will not stay long. I gave Xu Si my contact information. If there is anything, just call me."

Hua Ping's smile did not change; he nodded and said okay.

Ning Chen showed no attachment whatsoever; he turned and left the police station.

Hua Ping watched Ning Chen's back, and his eyes instantly darkened. After tidying up a bit, Hua Ping also walked out, preparing to have his lunch for the day.

The moment he walked out of the police station, Ning Chen also received the system's task notification.

Ning Chen's heart gave a sudden thud.

510. Clock-in at the Seaside Island

This time, the system issued the task much faster. Within one week after the task was issued, he must embark on the clock-in journey; otherwise, the Liaodaoni Society would declare the task failed in advance.

Ning Chen had accepted tasks for such a long time, and the task had never failed before. Naturally, he dared not imagine the consequences of task failure.

The location of this task was not far from here; it was on a beautiful seaside island. Speaking of the seaside, Ning Chen had always had a regret.

Previously, Si Shiya had made a list during their honeymoon phase. Si Shiya was an innocent and gentle, qualified girlfriend who often held some romantic little fantasies.

Normally, Ning Chen was willing to indulge Si Shiya. These little fantasies were nothing more than an additive, a mood. On the list Si Shiya made, it was written that they planned to visit certain places within three years.

There were many places Si Shiya wanted to go, spanning Dajiangnanbei. Her enthusiasm for seeing the sea was always high; during their travels, five out of ten times were spent looking at the sea.

And this time, the destination of the mission was a place Si Shiya had always wanted to visit but never got to go to.

Now that Si Shiya was missing, the beautiful little island they were supposed to visit together was now only for Ning Chen to go to alone.

There.

Ning Chen could only swallow this bitter feeling down.

He even began to suspect whether the system was deliberately targeting him—otherwise, why would it always choose check-in locations that filled Ning Chen with pain and regret?

Complaining was useless; Ning Chen quickly accepted the reality. Before each check-in, he needed to prepare extensively: planning departure times and routes, and selecting transportation in time.

This destination was not far from his current location—roughly half a country away. Moreover, with the mercenary battalion and Bay Family no longer posing a threat to his safety, Ning Chen chose the fastest mode of transportation available.

Within two days, everything was prepared: items needed for the journey, the transportation, and even the driver—all covered.

The moment he stepped onto the check-in location, the live stream automatically opened.

By the way, Ning Chen remembered it had been nearly a month since his last check-in. In that month, he had cleared out the Bay Family and the Long Hu Gang—he truly hadn't streamed in a long time.

Within one minute of opening the live stream, a flood of viewers poured in.

Most of these viewers were workers and students; though they didn't have much free time, they still had some. So after the stream started, they immediately told their friends who also enjoyed watching Ning Chen's streams, causing his live room to reach five-digit viewership within just one minute.

Ning Chen didn't care much about the live stream's popularity—he had already boarded the transportation to the check-in location.

This journey to the destination would take exactly two days. Ning Chen's daily routine was eating, drinking, and sleeping; during the trip, he had virtually no worries. As for what came after, he would decide only after arriving.

The live stream's comments continued to scroll endlessly.

"Damn, it's been a month since last time—I even canceled a class reunion just to watch your stream."

"Why do you stream so casually? Honestly, if any other streamer did this, I'd just quit—who'd stick with an irregularly scheduled stream? Only a fool like me."

"Ah, I bet your real life is super busy—after all, guys who are this handsome and powerful are usually successful."

"I'm leaving my contact info right now: 34xxx34—streamer, add me if you see this!"

"Enough already. With this kind of traffic, a few hours of streaming would make you rich—what can't money buy? Just watch the stream already."

Two days later, Ning Chen arrived at the destination. There really were idle viewers who refused to leave, watching his daily routines even though they had nothing else to do.

Ning Chen knew, but didn't care—until he reached the destination, he didn't even glance at the live stream.

Then he turned his gaze away, looking at the scenery before him.

This was actually a popular check-in tourist spot, but in recent years it had lost most of its visitors, officially because it was undergoing renovations and temporarily closed to tourists.

But money can buy anything—and the system that assigned him this task had already arranged everything in advance; there was no place he couldn't enter.

This was also the first time in a year that viewers had seen this seaside island.

The main reason this place became so popular was because the water was crystal clear. Though it was pure seawater, you could stand on the shore and see straight to the bottom.

The water was simply too clear, and combined with the pleasant temperature and beautiful shoreline scenery, even the beach had been thoughtfully decorated with drift bottles and starfish—it was the perfect spot for a date.