Chapter 129.1: Twilight Has Passed Part 1
It was said that in the face of this unprecedented terror threat, the Governor, in a fit of rage, got angry again. And then got angry several more times.
In short, he was furious, very furious.
But before his impotent rage could continue, the powered exosuit was already gone. After crushing several Chosen One under Lei Yaoxing’s command, it hadn’t even had time to escape before it was dealt with by a rapid-response unit urgently deployed by the military.
There were no survivors, communication, or attempt at negotiation. The only order from the command center of the Haizhou garrison base was a simple word: Eliminate.
With a single command, a combat squad equipped with four Hurricane-class powered exosuits descended from a cloud-piercing airship. They tore the attacker, along with his stylishly mismatched gear, into evenly distributed fragments no larger than a palm, scattering them across a three-hundred-meter radius. Only a head was left behind, placed at the center of the ruins as a warning to all those with ill intentions: this is what happens when you cross the line.
It was said that after Tong Shan returned from the Governor’s office, his expression was unprecedentedly grim. As for Lu Shenzhou, the head of the Security Bureau branch in the South Ridge District where the incident took place, he said nothing, but one of his team members just posted something on social media.
The background was the largest gym in Cliff City, and the subject of the photo was a mountain of barbell weight plates. Each one weighed twenty kilograms. Piled together, they reached over two meters high. All of them had been shattered into pieces, crushed into sludge in a fit of rage. Finger-shaped impressions were clearly visible.
It was easy to imagine exactly who Mr. Lu had in mind while venting his anger on those weights.
As this increasingly uncontrollable underground war escalated, all sides were rapidly running out of patience.
Tong Hua texted, Ms. Wen told me to pass a message to you: stay put, don’t stand out, don’t cause trouble. In a couple of days, it’ll all be over.
Okay, Ji Jue replied, attaching a GIF of a rose blooming with a soft pink glow, signaling obedient compliance.
After turning off the screen, he looked at his own reflection with a serious expression and couldn’t help letting out a sigh.
So tired.
He glanced back at Chen Yubo, who was comfortably and happily holding up a cat in the living room while going “meow meow,” and a wave of inexplicable irritation rose in him.
Ji Jue had the urge to walk over and kick him, shouting, You damn brat, I treat you even better than your father! Even a real father probably wouldn’t treat his son this well. When you eventually climb out of this mess, don’t forget to show some filial piety, alright? If you so much as forget a stick of incense on my memorial tablet during festivals, I’m coming over to slap both of you idiots.
Noticing Ji Jue’s complicated gaze, Chen Yubo turned around. “Something wrong, Mr. Ji?”
Ji Jue forced out a kind smile and shook his head, signaling, Dad’s fine, go play.
Only once he grew up would he realize that a father could only face his bitterness and tears alone.
***
In the makeshift workshop in the garage, An Ran, who was fiddling with his phone behind Ji Jue, suddenly asked, “Speaking of which, why don’t you take the money, Mr. Ji? You’re clearly short on money, right? My dad used to say that I shouldn’t lend to Ember Chosen Ones. No matter how much you give, it’s never enough. They’re like bottomless pits, and aside from a ‘thanks,’ you won’t even hear another word.”
“Huh?”
Ji Jue turned around in confusion, unsure whether he should correct An Ran’s “misconceptions” about Ember Chosen Ones first or answer the question. Even from the strictest moral standpoint, at a time like this, Ji Jue risking himself to save Chen Yubo’s life absolutely deserved payment, and quite a large one at that. No amount could be considerd excessive.
If he asked for half, it would be reasonable. Even if he wanted it all, based on his understanding of Chen Yubo’s personality, with enough pressure, trust, and carefully chosen words, it wouldn’t even be impossible to achieve.
Such a huge inheritance could sound staggering at first glance, enough for someone to live a lifetime of luxury. But in reality, if actually used for serious purposes, it would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket, barely enough for a down payment on a commissioned workshop built by Professor Ye.
In this era, building a single city highway cost more than that. If Ji Jue really wanted money, it wouldn’t have to be this troublesome. He could simply sell part of the priceless materials he brought back on the market, or even set up a basic introductory Fluid Alchemy course priced in the tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. There would be plenty of Ember Chosen Ones eager to pay for it.
But unfortunately, the former was tied to his future development in alchemy, and the latter was tied to his academic direction, his papers, and even the stepping stone toward becoming a master. He wouldn’t let even the slightest bit of it leak out.
And this sum of money was tied to Chen Yubo’s life.
Ji Jue sighed softly. “You know, An Ran, trust is sometimes a very fragile thing. But suspicion is extremely powerful.”
It was easy to make people believe a child with holes in his shoes was a thief, but it was far harder to make them believe the child was innocent. Even if you lay the truth right in front of them, they’d only scoff and continue to pin the label of “thief” on the child’s head.
Until that child climbed to a height they could never reach and looked back with contempt, only then would those shrouded in shadows lose the courage to doubt. Or they could just starve to death in the winter snow, which was faster and simpler.
Suspicion was absolute. Suspicion needed no evidence, no clues. Especially when even trust was built on rumor and hearsay. That was why he made Chen Yubo donate all his inheritance. A donation list publicly released by the Radiant Church would make everyone believe he had nothing left. The bigger the number on that donation list, the better. The more, the better. But it absolutely could not be less.
If the amount Chen Yubo donated was even slightly less than the full sum, people would suspect he had secretly kept the rest. For someone like Chen Yubo, who was ambitiousless, defenseless, and unable to withstand pressure, this would be catastrophic. A lifetime of lingering consequences and endless harm was to come.
An Ran blinked blankly. “Mm... I don’t really get it. Even if he dies, it shouldn’t matter much, right? We’ve only met once or twice, anyway.”
“I don’t really want to admit it, but I think... he might count as my friend, I guess?”
Even as Ji Jue said that, he sounded unsure. He laughed at himself. “I don’t really care about his money, but he treated me and my family to a meal, and he watched cartoons with the youngest kid. Now the little one still occasionally asks why that man who likes the blue-haired anime girl hasn’t come around lately. If a friend asks for help and I end up killing him because of my own reasons instead, even you would probably look down on me too, right, An Ran?”
“I don’t know.” An Ran shook his head firmly, neither agreeing nor denying. As always, he didn’t deal in hypotheticals. He didn’t think in terms of “what if.” His likes and dislikes were always clear; if he liked something, he got close to it; if he disliked it, he stayed away; if he hated it, he gave a warning; if it was troublesome, he killed it.
That was why he couldn’t understand.
“In short, if a friend needs help, you do what you can!” Ji Jue smiled, patting him on the shoulder. “If you ever need something from me, I’ll definitely try harder too. I’ll go all out! When I get strong in the future, I’ll help you pull out that nail first. As for life goals and all that, we can take ten, twenty, or thirty years to figure them out slowly. If your sister disagrees by then, I’ll team up with you and fight her!”
He gave a thumbs-up. “It’s a guaranteed win, boss!”
An Ran didn’t speak. He just seemed frozen, staring blankly at Ji Jue. After a moment, he lowered his head and looked away.
“Thank you, Mr. Ji.”
Ji Jue’s expression twitched.
What’s going on?
This atmosphere was getting way too weird. It was even making Ji Jue feel a bit embarrassed.
He also looked away. He kept focusing on his own work, but it felt like needles pricking his back, as if someone behind him was still watching. That made him even less willing to turn around.
He concentrated on manipulating his own spirit matter. Under the interference of Pacifier, the bullets on the workbench faintly took on a layer of gold. After a simple alchemical process, impurities were purified and stripped away, their material properties enhanced, spirit matter elevated to make them easier to manipulate.
Finally, a simple spiritual circuit was engraved around an emblem of Entropy inside, ensuring that once it hit the target, the heat carried by the bullet would detonate and burst outward, maximizing its destructive power.
The struggle of opposing forces never ended. Facing thicker and harder defenses, what Ji Jue needed now was a bigger and more destructive cannon.
In truth, if he wanted to increase a bullet’s lethality, the simplest way would be to turn the entire bullet into a blessed artifact, combining it with a specific blessing and unleashing its full destructive power in a single shot. Unfortunately, such an extravagant, ruinous approach was something Ji Jue wouldn’t even dare to dream about.
In state-level supply systems, everything was refined to the extreme. From identical blessings, only the best were selected. Then Ember master craftsmen personally oversaw the process, elevating, purifying, extracting, harmonizing, ultimately forging lethal weapons capable of leaving permanent scars even on a heavenly body.
Not only was that level of ammunition beyond his skill and financial means, even if he managed to make it, there wouldn’t be a single small-time thug in Wasteland Assembly qualified to use it. Across all of Cliff City, the only one who was worthy of a headshot from it would probably be the governor of Cliff City appointed by the central government.
Thinking about it, that was actually a little thrilling.
Anyway, that governor had done nothing but take money since he arrived. He hadn’t achieved a single good thing. If there was a chance in the future, it could be satisfying to send him on his way as practice.
But for now, better stay grounded.
“An Ran.”
Ji Jue tossed the bullet behind him. The boy caught it, but he froze for a moment. When he finally reacted, he looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.
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