Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Song Yangming Has Been Found
Fortunately, Li Xingye knew not to take the teasing too far, lest someone get genuinely angry out of embarrassment.
He smoothly changed the subject. "Wanwan, our base is now officially established in Rongcheng Center."
The city was dilapidated, but most of the buildings were still in decent shape. Many of the communication towers were even being slowly brought back online, thanks to maintenance from Duan Qianyu and Lin Wei.
The biggest surprise, however, came from Li Xingye’s constant experiments. He discovered that the verdancy of his vines was inextricably linked to the soil within the space and an exchange of energy.
As a result, he had been preoccupied with matters concerning the space and his superpower.
He had initially worried that taking soil out of the space would affect its stability, but Li Xingye accidentally discovered something remarkable. While Crystal Cores could no longer be used to expand the space, they could rapidly replenish any soil he removed.
And during this replenishment process, his superpower was continuously being refined by the Spatial Energy.
He found himself wondering, ’If one day my superpower is completely transformed by the space, and the plants I create—even in the apocalypse—are no longer toxic, mutated strains... could that change the very fabric of this world?’
Regardless, it was a future brimming with hope and purpose.
Sure enough, Chi Wan was pleasantly surprised. "That fast? With a more stable base, Sister Qianyu and the others can finally operate at full capacity. Just let me know if you need me to buy anything~"
Li Xingye laughed. "No need to worry, we have enough for now. As for you, Wanwan... I can’t make promises about much else in the apocalypse, but our control over various materials is more precise than the most advanced machinery. So... if you ever want any little mechanical animals in the future, why not leave it to me?"
Chi Wan chuckled. "What do you mean, ’leave it to you’? You mean leave it to Sister Qianyu. I’m afraid she’ll end up cursing me behind my back: ’Always bothering me for these little trinkets.’ You can’t make me take the fall for that."
But Li Xingye’s tone became calm. "Qiangzi, Qianyu, and the others are all very grateful to you. For the entire base, anything concerning you is the highest priority. If we weren’t separated by worlds, they’ve always wanted to meet you."
Hearing the calm sincerity in Li Xingye’s voice, Chi Wan was momentarily at a loss for words.
But having her contributions remembered and treated with such gravity was a heart-warming feeling.
However, recalling what Li Xingye had just said about material manipulation more precise than any machine... ’That might be incredibly useful,’ Chi Wan thought.
Now that school had started, it seemed the work of bridging the apocalypse and the modern world could slowly be put on the agenda.
As they talked, Chi Wan arrived downstairs at her apartment complex.
Just as she swiped her key card to call the elevator, her phone buzzed with a new message.
"Song Yangming has been found."
It was from Zhou Huai’an.
She hadn’t heard anything about Song Yangming in so long that the sudden message took her a moment to process.
Li Xingye, who had also seen the message, asked in confusion, "Wasn’t he missing? Who found him?"
But Chi Wan had a pretty good idea. "Should be the cops. For a while now, they’ve been using Song Yangming’s case to follow the breadcrumbs, hoping to find leads on the He Family’s human trafficking operation. Now that Song Yangming has been found, the affair with the He Family should be wrapping up."
She just wondered how the He Family would be brought to justice this time.
She typed slowly as she unlocked her door. "Was he recovered from one of the compounds? Is He Lingfeng involved in this?"
Zhou Huai’an’s reply was quick. "The He Family is likely cutting off a limb to save the body. As for He Lingfeng, it’s hard to say. The good news is, regardless of whether he escapes this time, he won’t have the main family’s backing anymore. He won’t be able to act as brazenly as he used to."
Without the main family branch, He Yunzhen’s faction are, to put it bluntly, just nouveau riche without any real foundation.
Perhaps they couldn’t even be called that. After all, they’ve only been doing legitimate business for a few years—and whether it was actually "legitimate" is highly doubtful.
After all, the He Family’s real specialty was setting up shell companies. After He Yunzhen arrived in the Huazhong Region, she opened a few entertainment and media companies. Relying on their resources, they mostly signed internet celebrities and live streamers.
Compared to running a business, her family was perhaps more skilled at... money laundering.
Chi Wan scoffed but asked anyway, "And Song Yangming? Is he still in one piece?"
She had a good idea of Song Yangming’s fate. To fall into He Lingfeng’s hands and be rescued from one of those compounds... he was lucky to have even made it out alive.
Sure enough, Zhou Huai’an sent two photos.
The man in the photos was Song Yangming. Missing for just over two weeks, he’d lost so much weight from his original 220 pounds that he was almost unrecognizable.
He lay on a hospital bed, his body swathed in gauze, but even that couldn’t conceal the hand that was shattered at the wrist.
Even though she was mentally prepared, the sight still made Chi Wan’s stomach turn.
It wasn’t for Song Yangming’s sake. Her thoughts were with all the innocent people who had been duped into those compounds. She could only hope that this incident would finally be enough to uproot the He Family for good.
As for Song Yangming, he had brought this on himself. Apparently, when Qian Cuicui couldn’t pay his gambling debts, her only recourse had been to tell him who his biological father was.
And just as one would expect, Song Yangming had immediately tried to find the man and show up on his doorstep.
But He Lingfeng was the one who had put Song Yangming in this predicament to begin with; why would he ever let Song Yangming get what he wanted?
In the end, not only did Song Yangming fail to find his biological father, but he also ended up dragging Qian Cuicui and her husband down into a gambling pit with him.
Knowing He Lingfeng’s character, he would never let Qian Cuicui and Song Jianguo off the hook for instigating Song Yangming’s attempt to "reclaim his ancestry."
However, with the police investigating Song Yangming’s disappearance, He Lingfeng couldn’t make any overt moves. He simply fed the couple some misleading information, hoping to lure them into searching on their own.
The ludicrous part was, Qian Cuicui and Song Jianguo paid the information no mind. They were already too deep in a gambling frenzy, their eyes red with desperation as they tried to win back the money to "ransom their son."
They even sold the house Chi Yuanshan had bought for them and, predictably, lost every last cent.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t considered asking Chi Yuanshan and his wife for money, but the debt collectors showed up at their door first.
They kept explaining that they could get the money if they just found their daughter and son-in-law, but the men wouldn’t listen. They just threatened to chop off their hands if they didn’t pay up.
Terrified, Song Jianguo could only flee back to his hometown with Qian Cuicui in tow, not daring to show his face again.
After Zhou Huai’an recounted the whole sordid tale, Chi Wan was truly speechless.
"Still, Wanwan, be careful," he added. "Desperate gamblers are capable of anything."
Chi Wan exhaled. "Don’t worry, Brother Huai’an. I know. Thanks~"
Song Yangming’s life was ruined. ’He was no saint,’ she thought, ’but someone like He Lingfeng, who has zero regard for the law, has to pay a price eventually.’
But He Lingfeng never had to get his own hands dirty. Even if the bridges built by the main family branch collapsed, the fallout was unlikely to reach a junior member of a collateral branch like him.
’So how,’ she wondered, ’can I make sure the blame for Song Yangming lands squarely on He Lingfeng’s shoulders?’
