Chapter 123.1: Too Mindblowing Part 1
Late at night, the North Mount branch of the Security Bureau was brightly lit and bustling with noise. After the late-night supper was over, no one had gone home. Tong Hua had suggested going back to play cards to help with digestion. Everyone had rooms in the branch anyway, and it wasn’t like it was the first time they’d fallen asleep mid-game and gone straight to bed.
Wen Wen was holding a terrible hand of cards and quietly fuming, even starting to suspect Tong Hua was cheating.
Just then, Wen Wen heard her phone ring from her pocket. The screen lit up, revealing a familiar name. For some reason, lately, every time she saw that name, she felt a little uneasy. It always seemed like whenever he called her, nothing good ever came out of it. Perhaps he had caused trouble again?
After mentally preparing herself, she picked up the call. “Hello? Ji Jue? It’s so late already, what is it?”
“Uh, Ms. Wen... you see, the thing is...” Ji Jue hesitated. “It’s a bit complicated. Could you come over here? Also, um, it’s better if you come quietly. Don’t let anyone notice.”
Wen Wen’s eye twitched hard.
What? You’re telling me to sneak over to your place in the middle of the night? Kid, have you gotten way too bold for your own good? What are you even thinking?!
Tong Hua, who had been secretly leaning in to eavesdrop, suddenly had her eyes light up with a full-on gossip spark. Even Mr. Zhang seemed to, intentionally or not, perk up his ears a little. There was clearly a story behind this phone call!
Things were moving that fast already? Wait, what? Nobody had even noticed anything happening! When did this even start? Wen Wen had made a move that quickly?
Seeing the admiration in Tong Hua’s eyes, Wen Wen couldn’t help but smack her on the head.
“This damn brat.” She hung up the phone without hiding anything, even waved at the others. “Let’s go give him a surprise visit. And see what exactly this kid is up to.”
If he really had any improper intentions in the middle of the night, then he wouldn’t blame her for teaching him the ways of the world with a fist.
***
Fifteen minutes later, in Ji Jue’s living room...
Wen Wen pushed the door open, took one look at the person sitting on the sofa, and opened her mouth in shock. “Holy crap.”
She wasn’t pleasantly surprised; she was horrified. This was a bit too mind-blowing for her. She couldn’t handle this at all.
***
After a brief moment of chaos, everything quickly returned to normal. Under the dim, yellowed light of a somewhat old lamp, everyone sat on the sofa with their arms crossed, surrounding the guest seated in the middle.
Chen Yubo had his head lowered. He was trembling slightly, instinctively clutching the bag in his arms tightly.
“Meow!”
From the opening of the bag, a black-and-white cat stepped over a blue cat, curiously poking its head out. It looked around, then tilted its head toward him. As expected, it was very cute.
Ji Jue pointed as he introduced them. “This one is Captain, the other one is Fufu. And their owner is Chen Yubo.”
Mr. Zhang was the first to nod, delivering his verdict. “Mm, Chen Yubo.”
“Chen Yubo, huh...” Wen Wen rubbed her forehead in frustration. “He does look a bit like his brother. Just a bit fairer.”
“That is indeed Chen Yubo,” Tong Hua said expressionlessly, “I’d recognize that face even if it turned to ash.”
Chen Yubo let out a bitter laugh. “Miss Tong, please don’t make fun of me...”
“You two know each other?” Ji Jue asked blankly.
Tong Hua’s expression grew increasingly grave and solemn. “We’ve dealt with each other before. I’ll never forgive him for stealing my precious baby!”
“What?” Ji Jue blurted out in shock, turning to look at Chen Yubo. Chen Yubo immediately shrank back in guilt.
That only made Ji Jue even more shocked.
Tong Hua added, “Last year, JC released a limited edition, diamond-studded girly pink bag in the Empire. I went overnight to the main store in the Empire to line up and place an order, but someone bribed the people in front of me and cut in line to snatch it from me...”
She glanced at the bag in Chen Yubo’s hands, looking even more at a loss for words.
“...and then he took it home to use it as a cat carrier.”
“I really didn’t know you had already ordered it,” Chen Yubo weakly defended himself. “As the saying goes, first come, first served. If I had known...”
“If you had known I wanted it, would you have let me have it?”
Chen Yubo fell silent, hugging the bag tightly.
If I give you the bag, how am I supposed to carry the cats?
Hearing the two cats inside the bag meowing, he hurriedly fumbled to open a can of cat food for them.
“What’s JC?” Mr. Zhang asked in a low voice.
Ji Jue replied, “A luxury brand.”
Tong Hua shook her head with a sigh, watching Chen Yubo feed his cats. “In any case, Cliff City isn’t that big. If you stay in these circles long enough, most people become familiar faces. Didn’t Ye Chun introduce him to you as well? He really does love those two cats.”
Unfortunately, the cats remained aloof and elegant, fighting over the canned food without any concern for their owner’s predicament, not even bothering to act cute.
Ji Jue figured that he couldn’t continue keeping silent about the issue, so he coughed twice and asked in a low voice, “Is Chen Xingzhou really...”
“Yeah. I saw it myself. He’s still being resuscitated.” Chen Yubo hesitated for a moment, then finally let out a sigh. “This time... I’m afraid things don’t look good for him.”
After being shot, Chen Xingzhou was immediately sent to the hospital by Mr. Lin, but his condition was far from optimistic. The bullet had been cursed. By relying on the alchemical items he carried, he had barely managed to keep a breath of life hanging on. He couldn’t really be called alive, but he wasn’t quite dead either, just barely clinging to that last thread. He was still undergoing emergency treatment at the charity hospital of the Radiant Church.
After arriving at the hospital and learning the full situation, Chen Yubo’s first instinct had been to run. Taking advantage of the chaos when no one was paying attention, he slipped away.
It wasn’t out of coldness or indifference. It was because Chen Xingzhou had given him those instructions in the past. If anything ever happened to him, Chen Yubo was to ignore everything, leave Cliff City immediately, and go somewhere else to live under a false identity.
He seized the last opportunity and ran back home. He didn’t pack gold or valuables, didn’t take any personal belongings, not even his collection of luxury cars he had accumulated over more than a decade. He only took a gold watch for emergencies, and, most importantly, the two cats.
Then, after calming down, he realized that he couldn’t escape at all.
In this era, natural disasters ran rampant in the wild, with constant storms and earthquakes. Traveling between cities could only be done by airship or by rugged convoy routes forcing their way through difficult terrain. Without connections, he couldn’t even leave Cliff City secretly.
Chen Xingzhou did have experience in smuggling and had plenty of connections, but Chen Yubo didn’t dare trust any of those people now that his older brother’s future was uncertain. One wrong choice, and it would cost him his life. When he looked back on his life and tried to find a friend he could trust, he was sorrowfully shocked to realize that there was almost no one he could rely on.
The only person who hadn’t, at the moment of life and death, kicked him aside just to save themselves was the sole unfortunate kid sitting directly across from him right now: Ji Jue. That was the origin of everything.
After understanding the situation, Ji Jue didn’t fire a shot, nor did he coldly shut the door on him. Despite knowing how much trouble Chen Yubo was carrying, Ji Jue still sighed and let him into his home.
He even helped him contact the North Mount District Security Bureau. Just that alone had already moved Chen Yubo so much that he had no idea how many times he had cried over it before Wen Wen and the others showed up.
It was just unfortunate that Ji Jue didn’t have much hope for the situation either. Even the North Mount District branch might not be able to help with something like this.
After Wen Wen stubbed out her cigarette, she sighed. “Mr. Chen, we understand your situation. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.”
Chen Yubo’s face slowly turned pale. “Even you, Ms. Wen...”
Wen Wen said bluntly, “This afternoon I acted on impulse and went to cause trouble for Lei Yaoxing, and I nearly got set up badly myself. When I came back, Tong Shan kept going on and on with that deadpan face of his... Honestly, just seeing people from the Wasteland Assembly makes my head hurt.
“Even if I can’t stand the Wasteland Assembly’s trash acting all high and mighty, I still have to consider the Safety Bureau’s position. At a time like this, if we forcefully intervene, things could spiral out of control and become the trigger for a conflict between the White Deer Chosen Ones and Origin Chosen Ones.”
“I, I...” Chen Yubo gathered his courage to speak. “I can give up all my assets...”
Tong Hua cut him off. “That’s pointless. If the Safety Bureau wants your assets, there are plenty of ways to take it. If Ms. Wen wants to make this little bit of money, I have my family’s connections. Do you really think we can’t handle someone like you?”
Chen Yubo was completely speechless.
“Then... we run,” Ji Jue said, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. “Ms. Wen, can you contact someone with a boat? A speedboat is fine, just get a big one. I’ll send him out of Cliff City right now. If we move fast, by tomorrow morning he could be in Ship City or Tide City, just in time for breakfast.”
Wen Wen was about to speak, but Tong Hua stopped her.
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