translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
After meeting up with Wu Guoan and others, the two of them did not linger for long, only ordering them to be careful before rushing back to the Capital Base. They travelled day and night, and the journey that clearly should"ve taken seven days only took two and a half days to complete.
They bypa.s.sed the checkpoint, and Bai Jing pulled Xiao Sa with him as they teleported straight to the villa. That afternoon, the two of them made it a point to wander around the base. After all, this was their best alibi.
Bai Jingcheng and He Yong jumped up in surprise when they received the news. Bai Jingcheng was surprised, while He Yong was delighted.
Ever since Bai Jing had arrived at the Capital, Bai Jingcheng just felt haggard, like he didn"t have enough brainpower on hand. He was afraid that his son would cause trouble that he couldn"t solve. Or worse, maybe he had already caused it, but Bai Jingcheng couldn"t find any evidence. He couldn"t publicly investigate it and could only feel nervous. As soon as he heard that his son had appeared in the base, his first reaction was to be on alert as he secretly hoped that nothing serious would happen again.
After waiting for three days without discovering anything wrong, Bai Jingcheng was a little relieved, but he was unaware that there was still a great surprise waiting for him later.
He Yong came to the villa that evening, his heart full of agitation. He knew that if there hadn"t been any harvest, the two of them definitely wouldn"t have made such a public appearance. However, he was also worried since it had only been such a short period of time. Had they really succeeded? The giant amount of pleasant surprise he felt made everything seem unbelievable, and even though he knew that the two of them wouldn"t let him down, he couldn"t help but be nervous before seeing the fruits of their efforts. His heart was filled with ups and downs out of fear that anything unexpected might crop up. He was too worried about his personal gains and losses.
It wasn"t until Bai Jing piled up the weapons in front of him and filled up the entire room that He Yong woke up from his daze and pulled himself out of his nervous mood. He instantly returned to his usual calm and turned his head to face Bai Jing"s bland gaze that seemed to have seen right through him.
He Yong didn"t keep up his arrogance and felt no embarra.s.sment as he met his gaze frankly and said, "Apologies. I let you see me make a fool out of myself."
Bai Jing pouted and looked at him in disdain. He was already used to He Yong"s pretentiousness and false fronts, so he raised his eyebrows and said, "Is this already enough to satisfy you? The rest is still in my s.p.a.ce. Do you want me to bring it out for you to see?"
He Yong’s eyes shone even brighter. He pretended not to have heard Bai Jing"s mockery and laughed as he said, "It seems that I"m going to have to trouble you. I"ll have someone come over and fetch everything later."
Bai Jing harrumphed and didn"t reply. He Yong continued, "Relax. The people who will come are definitely reliable and won"t leak out any information."
After Bai Jing heard these words, he finally nodded. He could still be considered quite tolerant towards his allies.
The three of them chatted for a few minutes, and He Yong tentatively asked about the situation at the military factory. He didn’t get any response and immediately changed the topic.
Bai Jing was very satisfied with He Yong"s self-aware behaviour. He and Xiao Sa had already discussed it between them and decided to conceal the matter of the zombie army in the military factory. The people who had gone to the military factory this time had definitely suffered heavy losses, which would leave everyone with the impression that it was a dangerous place of death. Only when people were full of fear in their hearts would they feel afraid, and only then would people stop risking their lives there. Although he didn"t have much of a connection to those zombies, he also didn"t want people to go and disturb them. He hoped that by doing this, the zombies could be restored to the peace they desired.
He Yong didn"t stay for long before leaving in a hurry. Xiao Sa could understand his mood; there was a huge pile of weapons here that he couldn"t take away. Although it was already in the bag, as long as it wasn"t in his hands, he wouldn"t be able to feel at ease. It would"ve been the same for anyone, and for He Yong to be patient enough to continue chatting with them for a while showed that he was firm and tenacious. Xiao Sa had quite a good impression of this ally of theirs.
When they were approaching the entrance to their villa, Xiao Sa indifferently prompted him, "If you have any plans, you should get them ready as soon as possible. The overlords of the Capital will change soon." Since He Yong had plans to make a move, there wasn"t anything wrong with giving him a push.
He Yong’s eyes flashed, “What do you mean?”
Xiao Sa laughed but didn"t reply. It wouldn"t be good if he said it too clearly. If He Yong was unable to succeed even with his prompting, then there was no need to cooperate.
He Yong hid his fluctuating emotions and thanked the two of them before leaving. He didn"t look back as he disappeared into the dark night.
Shortly afterwards, he brought three s.p.a.ce ability users with him and took all the weapons that were his share of the loot. As for the situation regarding the Zhou Family, he had already obtained information about them from his own people. The Zhou Family had lost two of their level four successors a few days ago, and as for the situation at the military factory, although Xiao Sa hadn"t said anything, he could guess that since all the weaponry had fallen into Xiao Sa"s hands, the rest of them…
Tonight was another sleepless night.
Moving on from He Yong"s repeated speculation regarding Xiao Sa"s words, it was a bleak scene at the military factory. Out of 1700 elite, only 400 people were able to flee to safety. The Zhou Family was completely annihilated, and n.o.body dared to guess at or inquire about what had happened in the third level of the bas.e.m.e.nt. They also didn"t dare to investigate what the Zhou Family might have encountered that had actually left none of them alive.
Tranquillity was restored at the military factory, but the atmosphere outside was heavy. Some people were crying loudly, while others looked numb. This was a kind of deep pain they would carry with them for the rest of their lives and it seeped deep into their hearts and marrow. Even the air around them and the sound the wind made as it whistled through seemed to carry traces of a mournful eulogy.
Other than Wu Guoan and his group who escaped intact, the other teams had countless members who had been killed or injured.
Faced with the silent complaints of the survivors, Wu Guoan appeared very calm. The tasks of the mission had been a.s.signed by their leaders, and their leaders had also chosen the locations they were meant to go to. Was there something wrong with them being safe and sound? It was unreasonable to say that no matter how they looked at it.
Song Guoxing patted Wu Guoan on the shoulder and looked shattered as he said, "It"s really thanks to you this time." If it wasn"t for Wu Guoan and his group"s timely rescue and the sudden withdrawal of the zombies, they might not have been able to escape with the people they had left.
Wu Guoan expressed that it wasn"t a problem and saving them was something they should do, but in fact, if it hadn"t been for Brother Sa"s reminder to help the Song Family out so that they would owe them a favour, he wouldn"t have interfered. One had to know that although they had all escaped unscathed this time, they had all been under great psychological pressure. He would even dare to go so far as to say that the number of zombies that all of the other teams had encountered was definitely less than the amount that they had run into. It had felt like a dream, and the sudden arrival and retreat of the zombies was still baffling to all of them. The only thing they knew was that it must be related to Brother Sa and Young Master Jing in some way. This was also the reason why they were able to maintain their calm this time. Otherwise, perhaps they would have started fighting long ago and wouldn"t have been able to maintain this tentative peace with the zombies.
The crowd arrived in high spirits but left in a dismal and bleak mood. They were faced with endless sarcastic and snide remarks the whole way back, though it didn"t go overboard. Wu Guoan finally understood the reason why Xiao Sa had told them to gain favour with the Song Family. Although they had obeyed orders this time, they were still intact as a team while everyone else had suffered heavy casualties, which was a mistake in and of itself. With the Song Family"s support, the voices of discontent were somewhat suppressed. After all, Bai Jing"s backing was also quite solid, and if they added in the Song Family, anyone who wanted to find trouble for them needed to weigh matters carefully.
The Zhou Family"s entire army had been destroyed, the Qi Family was heavily weakened, and the remaining mercenaries could at most say a few sarcastic remarks, but didn"t dare to cause trouble. As for returning to the base, Wu Guoan believed that Brother Sa and Young Master Jing would definitely have arranged everything well.
The way back was smooth, with only a few minor battles and no additional casualties.
Ten days later, the group of them finally arrived safely at the Capital Base.
The news that no one in the Zhou Family had survived caused a great uproar at the base. When the head of the Zhou Family heard the news, he fainted and only recovered after receiving treatment. He vowed on his personal honor that he would obtain revenge.
The spearhead very naturally pointed towards Wu Guoan and his group.
Sure enough, before long, Bai Jing discovered that he was under surveillance. A few days later, he received a subpoena from the base stating that they were going to make a court ruling, and even Bai Jingcheng"s words were overruled.
Bai Jing sneered. He very much understood what the Zhou Family was trying to do. The Zhou Family"s strength had been greatly reduced, and at present, it was already on the decline. If they wanted to maintain their position, they would only be able to do so by causing disorder. The Zhou Family must have a certain level of understanding of his and Xiao Sa"s character and knew that they were extremely arrogant and had the power to back it up. If the base was serious about carrying out the trial, the two of them would definitely refuse to cooperate, causing conflict between the Families and the major mercenary corps and drawing hatred to themselves.
The Zhou Family had the intention of taking advantage of the two sides" fight in order to make a profit, which was why they had used the fact that a lot of people had been lost during the mission to the military factory to try their best and provoke antagonism between their relationship with the various factions. As long as they started fighting, no matter whose forces won, both sides would be weakened, and the Zhou Family would be able to strive for the time they needed to continue on and survive. Perhaps they would even be able to rise again. Bai Jing hadn"t forgotten that it had been the Zhou Family who had sent him to the research inst.i.tute in his previous life.
Lean camels were still bigger than horses. Even though the Zhou Family was on the decline, they should not be underestimated. As long as they still had the research inst.i.tute, they would have a chance to come back into power.
As for Bai Jing, he would definitely not give them the opportunity to recover.
Bai Jingcheng was trembling with nerves, and several more strands of his hair turned white. He was both happy and worried in his heart; the decline of the Zhou Family was both a good thing and a bad thing for him. After all, no matter how much discord there was between the families internally, from the outside, he and the Zhou Family were in-laws and related to each other. It was also because of this marriage that he and the Zhou Family had a mutually beneficial relationship and were able to take advantage of many favorable opportunities.
If the Zhou Family collapsed, his influence would be reduced. However, at the same time, it could be enlarged again. The Zhou Family was like a fatty piece of meat that anyone could s.n.a.t.c.h, and he at least would be able to eat it more righteously than any outsiders.
Bai Jingcheng alternated between happy and sad. Faced with the upcoming trial, his feelings were complex, and he didn"t know what he should do. His intuition told him that his son must have been involved in these two events concerning the Zhou Family, but facts told him that there was no evidence.
Towards this son of his, other than helplessness, Bai Jingcheng only felt even more helplessness.
He Yong was more confident in the two men than Bai Jingcheng was. He believed that they would never fight an uncertain battle. Faced with the upcoming trial, he only sped up the actions he was taking in the dark and waited for the right opportunity to rise up into power.
On the day of the trial, Bai Jing and Xiao Sa watched the spectacle with amus.e.m.e.nt. They were faced with various inquiries, asking why they had disappeared, and why they had reappeared, but all they said was that they had sequestered themselves away for cultivation and cleanly shut down all other arguments.
As for Wu Guoan and the others, they also didn"t answer the judges" irrelevant questions, such as why they hadn"t suffered any casualties, why they had insisted on only taking action one day later, why…
In any case, they were faced with a large number of charges that included causing disorder, eating and drinking too well on the journey, and deven ressing too neatly. All of these became reasons to charge them with the crime of being disobedient to the arrangements made by the leaders of the mission.
When everyone had finished speaking and nearly all the blame had been doled out, Wu Guoan was naturally pushed out to be their spokesperson. He looked at everyone around them and curved his lips, then said slowly, "I"m very sorry about the Zhou Family"s situation. I also feel deep sympathy towards the casualties everyone suffered. If only everyone had acted together back then, it definitely wouldn"t have reached this point. I only have one thing to say to everyone regarding all this. My condolences during your grief."
Wu Guoan pointed out that the mission had been arranged by the leadership, and it was also the leaders" decisions to split everyone apart. Now that the death toll and injured count was so high, wasn"t that the fault of the leadership?
“Can everything be settled just like this?” Someone cried out in disapproval.
“Why did we have to wait until the next day to act?"
“If you don’t give us an account today…”
“What more do you want?” Wu Guoan’s face turned cold as he gave the people present a meaningful glance. "At the time, we insisted on taking action the next day because we had discovered something that the Zhou Family had lost. We were kind enough to return it that night. What"s wrong with that?"
“What did you say?” The Zhou Family"s family head was so angry that his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets as he glared viciously at Wu Guoan, wanting to bask in his blood.
“What did they lose?" Someone discovered that something was wrong.
Wu Guoan laughed coldly, "A wooden box. Everyone should have some impression of it. As for what was inside, you"ll have to ask the Zhou Family about it."
“What wooden box?” Those who were paying attention immediately began to secretly speculate that the collapse of the Zhou Family"s entire army was related to this box.
Looking at the Zhou Family"s angry mood, a seed of suspicion took root and sprouted in people’s hearts.
The trial was a farce, starting in a hurry, and ending in a hurry.
Perhaps the Zhou Family had never imagined that Wu Guoan would fabricate rumors out of thin air in public. The boxes indeed existed, but the meteorites were important experimental objects, and most of them had been left in the research inst.i.tute. The Zhou Family only had one piece, and under Wu Guoan"s provocative words, the situation became one where the Zhou Family had harboured ill intent. Even if there was no evidence, as long as there was suspicion, someone would be able to discover the truth as long as they investigated.
The most depressing thing for the Zhou Family was that this could indeed be investigated. Most of what Wu Guoan said had been true, and even if there was only one false statement, it wouldn"t be discovered. Without proof, this would become the truth that everyone else believed.
This time, the Zhou Family had lifted up a stone only to drop it on their own feet, but the tragedy didn"t end there. Very soon, news that two of their descendants had lost their abilities was spread out by interested parties.
People who depended on the Zhou Family began to panic, and other forces also began to foolishly make moves. Especially for those in the mercenary corps, the Qi Family"s abrupt rise to power encouraged their ambitions. Why couldn"t they also have a proper say in the management of the base like the Qi Family?
Regardless of how much of a storm the Zhou Family was under, He Yong rose up and devoured the Zhou Family"s influence incredibly quickly, before anyone who was watching even had time to react.
A war without smoke began.
Bai Jing and Xiao Sa served as protectors, and He Yong rose to prominence as a dark horse and soon occupied a place in the Capital, shocking everyone.
After that, the matter was already settled, and it was too late for anyone to do anything even if they wanted to.
Among them, Bai Jingcheng was the most surprised. He had no idea when He Yong had formed an alliance with his son. Was it before he treated Zhou Hua or after? Or was it even as early as when they were in contact in D City?
Bai Jingcheng would be lying if he said he didn"t feel uncomfortable. Bai Jing was clearly his own son, but he had gone and helped others instead.
He wanted to ask why, but when faced with his son"s clear gaze, Bai Jingcheng"s words were stuck in his throat.
Bai Jing only said, “Your daughter is also surnamed Zhou.” This sentence blocked anything Bai Jingcheng wanted to say. He wanted to say that she was also his elder sister, but thinking about the means that the Zhou Family had used to try and deal with his son, this sentence really caught in his throat, and he couldn"t say it out loud.
After staying in the Capital for three months, He Yong’s forces stabilized, and the two of them were finally ready to leave for home.
Yes, they were going home!
Back to Jing Sa City, which was their home.
Over the past three months, they had recruited quite a few talented researchers and made deals with both Bai Jingcheng and He Yong. Jing Sa City would exchange food with them and obtain the results of their research and technology in return.
The three parties were all satisfied with this result. Bai Jingcheng was only a little dissatisfied; he felt like he had simply handed over a share of the pot to He Yong, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do. He knew too little about his own son and had spent too little time with him. He couldn"t really blame his son for not putting his eggs in one basket.
Before leaving, Bai Jing didn"t forget to ask for a map of the research inst.i.tute from He Yong.
He Yong was rather shocked. Although he didn’t know what Bai Jing wanted to do with the map, his intuition told him that it was definitely not a good thing. However, based on their relationship as allies, after thinking about it for a while, he still tried everything possible to obtain it for him. This was the difference between He Yong and Bai Jingcheng - Bai Jingcheng would never let his son to do whatever he liked.
Bai Jing gave He Yong a rare look of admiration, which left He Yong a little flattered while simultaneously giving him even more of a scare. He didn"t relax even after Bai Jing and Xiao Sa took their people away from the Capital, and within a few days, his antic.i.p.ation was fulfilled as a large-scale explosion occurred at the research inst.i.tute. By then, the two of them were already thousands of miles away.
Bai Jing threw away the remote control in his hand, and his entire person was filled with an exuberant mood as he cackled sneakily. The arms they had obtained in the military factory had played a very important role, but he also hoped that it wouldn"t cause too much chaos in the Capital.
Xiao Sa pulled Bai Jing into his arms in a public display of affection. After leaving the Capital, he felt that Little Jing had become much more relaxed. Although they were still far away from Jing Sa City, he believed that there would definitely be someone waiting for their return in their home city.
Home! Bai Jing laughed lightly as he began to plan out their future. They had gained a lot during this trip to the Capital, and not only could they add several kinds of equipment for Jing Sa City, they even had enough to build another city. They still had a long future ahead of them, and he believed that there would definitely be a day when Jing Sa City surpa.s.sed the Capital Base!