Chapter 121
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
If they had to blame anything, they could only blame the fact that there were too many people in Bai Jing’s team, and the ranks of the ability users were too high. Even if they ignored the fact that Xiao Sa had disappeared, there were still seven level four ability users and many level three ability users. Perhaps other than Bai Jingcheng, none of the other factions would welcome such a team because no matter whose hands the team fell into, it would tip the balance between the powers in the base.
The Zhou Family was just making use of this loophole in order to deal with them in an open way. Although they claimed that it was for the sake of a mission, nobody bothered to search too deeply into their own hearts. There were four major factions in the base, and none of them were willing to see Bai Jingcheng sitting on the throne. Although they were afraid of Xiao Sa retaliating against them, the person taking the lead was someone else, and they could just sit back and watch the Zhou Family push ahead. Why shouldn’t they just sit on the fence and wait for the results?
That night, Bai Jingcheng returned home in anger, his face gloomy as though covered in storm clouds. As soon as he got back to his study, he smashed everything in the room, and when he heard knocking at the door, he glared at it fiercely, knowing that it was Zhou Suyun waiting outside.
“Oh, what’s going on, why are you so angry?” Zhou Suyun opened the door with a smile. Her figure was slender and graceful, and although she was clearly fifty years old, she only looked to be around thirty with no wrinkles at all on her bright face.
“Leave.” Bai Jingcheng restrained his expression and looked at her indifferently.
Zhou Suyun gave a light laugh and ignored his anger. Instead, she took a few steps forward, “What happened earlier for you to get angry about it now? Oh, right, by the way, your wayward son has gone missing. Tsk, tsk, what a pity. Say, if all of his people died, would he hate you to death?”
Bai Jingcheng took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew it wasn’t yet time to break ties with the Zhou Family yet, “It’s none of your business.”
“Humph!” Zhou Suyun sneered, “Bai Jingcheng, I’m telling you. If it wasn’t for my Zhou Family, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Don’t burn the bridge after you’ve crossed it.”
“Will you only be satisfied if I offer up my power to you guys with both hands?”” Bai Jingcheng spoke calmly, and there was no fluctuation on his expressionless face.
Zhou Suyun’s expression suddenly changed for a moment as she angrily rushed towards the door. However, right before she left, she turned and looked back at Bai Jingcheng, saying maliciously, “Don’t make it sound like such a good thing. If you have the guts to do it, then tear down our relationship right now. I’ll go and give your son a wonderful surprise!”
“Bang!” The door slammed shut, and the sound of high-heeled shoes striking the floor shifted away. The house became quiet once again.
“Mom, did you quarrel with Dad again?” Seeing Zhou Suyun coming down the stairs, Bai Rui smiled in a well-behaved manner and hugged her arm.
Zhou Suyun’s expression recovered as she looked lovingly down at her daughter, “Dear, when are you going to be changing your last name? Don’t concern yourself over these adult matters. All you have to worry about is getting along with Haoran. Men don’t like pampered women.”
“I know.” Bai Rui pouted, then supported Zhou Suyun to settle down on the sofa. She complained in dissatisfaction, “Haoran is busy every day and has no time to accompany me.”
“Of course. Men have to deal with big things; you should be a bit more understanding and sensible.” Zhou Suyun’s smile was a bit more gentle. She had been young once, and naturally understood her daughter’s mentality. If the environment permitted, she would also have wanted her daughter to enjoy a proper courtship.
“But he spends time with Liu Wenjing every day.” Bai Rui’s brows drew together in a frown, eradicating the beauty of her features.
Zhou Suyun was indifferent to this and counselled her daughter, “Men like to mess around before marriage. Didn’t your father still manage to have an illegitimate child even after marrying me? You should be a bit more tolerant of these things. It’ll be better after you have children.”
Bai Rui was still unwilling as she shook Zhou Suyun’s arm, “Can’t you think of a way? I get so angry when I see Liu Wenjing. Mother, can’t you just––”
Patting her daughter’s hand, Zhou Suyun’s gaze turned dark, “Rest assured, Mother has her own power. Right now, you shouldn’t do anything randomly. Haoran’s situation is quite sensitive currently, but later on, won’t you be able to deal with her however you like?”
Bai Rui’s small face collapsed. “How long will that be?”
Zhou Suyun laughed unconcernedly, “Relax. It won’t be long before Qi Haoran realizes exactly how he needs to choose if he doesn’t want to go up against both the Bai and Zhou Families. Right now, you should focus on practicing your abilities so that outsiders won’t have any chance to belittle you.”
Bai Rui gathered a ball of water in her hand and then retrieved it immediately after. “Can’t you just give me a few more bottles of gene solution?”
Zhou Suyun’s expression sank as she scolded, “What are you treating the research institute as? It was already bending the rules just to get you a few bottles. Who else do you have to blame for your state, not practicing properly and not being able to advance? Even if I work in the research institute, I can’t afford to do any more.”
Gene solution could help ability users advance, but it also depended on their innate talent. For some, one solution would be enough while others might take ten and still not advance. Bai Rui was one of the more difficult cases. She didn’t go out to fight and was pampered and spoiled at home; even after the apocalypse, she had Bai Jingcheng and the Zhou Family to support her and didn’t have to worry about anything. As a Young Miss who was high above others, the only use she had was to supply water for the base. Later on, as the base continued to expand and they developed disinfecting agents for water, her powers became basically redundant. She had never really practiced before and now had even less opportunity to use her powers, so it wasn’t surprising that Zhu Suyun had spent a lot of effort to provide seven bottles of level three gene solution with nary a sign of success.
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“Isn’t there also Father?”” Bai Rui refuted weakly, her voice getting smaller and smaller as she seemed to become very downcast.
“You’re still counting on him?” Zhou Suyun sneered. If Bai Jingcheng had gene solution, he would definitely first give it to his subordinates and not his daughter.
Bai Rui’s expression was unhappy. She also knew that her mother was telling the truth; her father couldn’t be relied on. She looked sad, her head drooping, but it only served to hide the ruthless light that flashed through her eyes. “He only has that little bastard in his heart. How would he remember me?” Zhang Qiucheng and the others’ gene solution had been provided by Bai Jingcheng, and Bai Rui would naturally push the blame for that on Bai Jing’s head. After all, Zhang Qiucheng had come to the Capital because of him.
In fact, their words were really wronging Bai Jingcheng. To him, if his daughter had talent, he would spare no effort to cultivate her. Since she didn’t have any aptitude though, it was better to keep her at home and pamper her properly rather than expect her to perform any better. In any case, as long as he was at the Base, nobody would dare bully his daughter. The amount of gene solution available was limited, and he would certainly give it to his subordinates first; only when they were more powerful would he be able to provide shelter for his family.
“Don’t worry. That little bastard will soon no longer be a problem.” Zhou Suyun’s smile was enigmatic.
Bai Rui was internally delighted, “Mother, do you mean…”
“Don’t ask any more about these things. You’d better go and study how to capture Haoran’s heart. Don’t let Mother down.” Zhou Suyun touched her daughter’s hair and nodded in satisfaction. Her hair was just as smooth as it had been prior to the apocalypse.
“Mother––” Bai Rui lowered her head shyly, her face covered in a pink blush as she coquettishly buried herself against Zhou Suyun’s bosom.
Zhou Suyun was smiling, but her eyes were dark as pitch. So what if Bai Jingcheng cared about that wild seed of his? Killing him off was as easy as pinching an ant to death. According to the news she’d received from her elder brother, Bai Jing and Xiao Sa had never come out again after entering the villa. She didn’t believe a single word of the news surrounding their disappearance. The reason why they were pushing the mission forward was so that they could eliminate the two of them; killing off the rest of the team was secondary.
She did not believe that two living people could just disappear and was more inclined to believe that something might have happened to them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have disappeared without a trace. Perhaps even Bai Jingcheng hadn’t imagined that the purpose of the mission this time was to draw the tigers away from the mountains. As long as all the ability users inside the villa left, the people left behind wouldn’t be able to hold up under a single blow. After eliminating the level five ability user, Bai Jingcheng could stop thinking about trying to overpower the Zhou Family.
The plan was good, and their guess was correct. It made sense for the Zhou Family to believe that Bai Jing and Xiao Sa must have disappeared without a single care for their subordinates because they were strong in will but weak in power. How could they take advantage of that? Naturally it would be when they were without their support. There had been too many people in the villa previously, and they had been unable to find an opportunity to make a move. As long as those people left…
The Zhou Family was right about everything, but unfortunately they had miscalculated Bai Jing and Xiao Sa’s situation. Those two belonged to the category of abnormal circumstances.
Bai Jing woke up from his meditation, opened his eyes, and eagerly threw out a space blade. Water splashed in the spring as the blade slashed the water, causing waves to rise up and crash against a transparent barrier. Spring water flowed into the ground after hitting the barrier and soon dropped back into the soil.
Bai Jing clenched his hands into fists with excitement. He felt like he was charged full of strength; he had never imagined that he would advance to level five. He had originally thought that reaching level four would already be amazing! He turned his head to look at Xiao Sa, wanting to immediately share his joy with him, but, hey? Where’d he go?
Bai Jing’s head was covered in question marks, but he gradually calmed down as he looked around in surprise. He suddenly discovered that the space had changed greatly. The land was vast and filled with clear streams, large tracts of rice paddies and fields, fruit trees, a dark blue lake, and even flocks of chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep. There was too much to take in all at once.
Xiao Sa was in the field some distance away at this time, using his powers to manipulate the plough and farm the land.
Bai Jing instantly teleported to his side.
Xiao Sa seemed to be unaware of his presence as he ignored him for a good while. It wasn’t until he had finished ploughing an acre of land that he finally turned his head over to look at Bai Jing, his expression ugly.
Bai Jing felt a burst of trepidation in his heart, but he quickly put a smile on his face and caught Xiao Sa’s hand, “Xiao Sa, Xiao Sa, I’m a level five ability user now!”
“Oh.” Xiao Sa responded indifferently, his facial features deep as he looked at him silently.
Bai Jing rolled his eyes and asked gently, “A-Sa, did you advance too?”
Xiao Sa felt a tremor in his heart. He really wished he could beat this little bastard up, but he had to endure it as he kept his face expressionless, resolutely refusing to speak. Heavens knew how much that ‘A-Sa’ made his heart cry out in glee.
“Why aren’t you talking? You’re angry.” Bai Jing probed carefully, feeling a little wronged. He thought that Xiao Sa was only putting on such an expression because he had forced him to eat a lotus seed. Although the lotus seed had been an unknown, look, wasn’t the result really good?
Xiao Sa sighed and pointed to the communicator on his wrist. When he saw Bai Jing’s aggrieved expression, he couldn’t bear to blame him any longer. He spoke faintly, “First take a look at the time.”
Bai Jing fell into a daze and showed a rare foolish expression as he stared at the number displayed on the communicator, “Ten days…” He really couldn’t blame Xiao Sa for getting angry at all.
Bai Jing glanced at Xiao Sa and bowed his head in shame, “You… When did you advance?”
Xiao Sa was quiet, then used an extremely calm tone to relate what had happened over the past few days.
Unlike Bai Jing, he had only needed one day to successfully advance. Because he couldn’t get out, he began to plant and farm the remaining space. After putting in a lot of work and finishing his work on the land, on the third day, the sky and earth suddenly changed, and the space began to shake. The air became distorted and stretched out continuously until the area expanded several times before stopping. He began to busy himself again, tidying up and organizing the space while counting the days. He had been worried about both the outside situation and what problems Little Jing might have encountered. He knew that it was difficult for Little Jing to advance, but he hadn’t expected it would take so long. He had really been distressed.