He had begged and pleaded all night, but Lu Xihe refused to reveal his plan, only saying that he would know once he woke up.
Cheng Yuchuan wanted to go out and ask Qi Jin, but Lu Xihe had already wrapped his hands in green vines beforehand. Untying them wasn’t difficult, the hard part was the note tucked in between.
If you dare untie them, you’re done!
His curiosity was thoroughly piqued, and he didn’t manage to fall asleep until 3 a.m., only to be shaken awake by Lu Xihe before 9.
“Get up, get up. Time to answer the phone.” Lu Xihe called out while putting on his gloves.
Li Yuanshan’s assistant called Cheng Yuchuan promptly at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day. Although Cheng Yuchuan had thrown out harsh words yesterday, Li Yuanshan was certain to call today.
Because time was running out for him.
“He won’t call.” Cheng Yuchuan was too sleepy to open his eyes and turned over, trying to go back to sleep.
Lu Xihe, fully dressed, came to drag Cheng Yuchuan up: “He will. Not only will he call today, but we’re also going to go see him.”
“What do you want to do?” At that, Cheng Yuchuan grew interested, forcing his eyelids open to look at him, then casually rested his head on Lu Xihe’s lap and dozed for a few more seconds.
Lu Xihe’s hand stroked his cheek gently, a sly smile curling at the corner of his mouth: “Pay him back in his own coin.”
Cheng Yuchuan didn’t ask further. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze was resolute: “What do I need to do?”
“Play along with me.”
Half an hour later, at the Li family villa,
“Captain Cheng, Mr. Lu, this way, please.”
The butler led the two to the reception room, where Li Yuanshan had already been waiting for some time. Seeing them, he immediately beamed with joy, personally brewing tea to welcome them. Every word and action was nothing short of polite and considerate.
To put it plainly, his attitude was so humble and deferential that it bordered on fawning and ingratiating, a stark contrast to the previous few days.
When the team had returned to A City with the spirit stones, it was already evening. Initially, the outer city guards wanted them to undergo quarantine again, but after hearing that the spirit stones they brought back could repel aberrants, Li Yuanshan and his group came out within half an hour.
Under the privilege Li Yuanshan granted, the seven of them were even exempted from the basic entry security checks, going straight to the villa Li Yuanshan had arranged. He simply told them to rest well and discuss the spirit stone issue the next day.
At the time, they found it odd, from entering the city to moving into the villa, it was all too easy and smooth. But they were too exhausted physically and mentally to dig deeper. After washing up, they went to bed early, not even eating dinner until lunch the next day.
Not long after lunch, Li Yuanshan came by, saying that for caution’s sake, he needed Cheng Yuchuan to demonstrate the spirit stones’ effects.
Up to that point, no one had noticed anything wrong. After all, words alone proved nothing. A City had grown strong in the apocalypse and had once been the last safe zone to hold out in their previous life, it surely had its rules and requirements. Cheng Yuchuan and Lu Xihe immediately followed him.
But once they reached the outer city, Li Yuanshan’s attitude began to shift.
First, he asked for the giant spirit stone from Cheng Yuchuan’s RV, claiming he wanted the lab to test whether it had radioactive or other substances harmful to humans.
Then, citing the need to ensure the quality of all spirit stones, he insisted on personally going into the space to pick the stones for the demonstration.
Seeing the two grow wary, Li Yuanshan cleverly added that it was Li Qing’s request.
Li Qing was meticulous and cautious in her work, it was entirely possible she’d want each spirit stone inspected before acceptance. It was indeed her style.
Caution was naturally good, but Li Yuanshan’s downfall lay precisely in his over-caution.
He replaced all the ability users originally stationed at the outer city with his own people. On the surface, he claimed it was because city secrets shouldn’t be spread prematurely, but the more rigorous and thorough he was, the more suspicious it seemed.
And most of all, he shouldn’t have brought up Li Qing.
On the surface, the two said nothing. When Li Yuanshan asked to enter the space to pick spirit stones, Lu Xihe let him in, but only showed him a fifty-square-meter space.
Seeing the many spirit stones, Li Yuanshan’s eyes lit up instantly, caressing each giant stone with fondness. But when he hit the space barrier and realized it was only fifty square meters, his expression darkened in an instant.
Soon, though, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and he broke into a smile, choosing the two largest stones for Lu Xihe to bring out for testing.
That testing dragged on until 1 a.m. After witnessing that the giant spirit stones could drive away even the most active high-tier aberrants late at night, Li Yuanshan began probing openly and covertly for the location of the spirit stone mountain.
Cheng Yuchuan naturally wouldn’t tell him, brushing it off with vague excuses, roughly that the mountain was dangerous and all the stones had already been brought back.
Seeing that Cheng Yuchuan was a dead end, Li Yuanshan sidled up to Lu Xihe instead, talking about the city’s scarce resources and the recent surge in aberrants, all hinting that he wanted Lu Xihe to hand over all the spirit stones to bolster A City’s defenses.
In Li Yuanshan’s eyes, the group only had those fifty-odd stones, and Cheng Yuchuan had originally only planned to give A City fifty giant spirit stones anyway.
A single 2×1 meter giant spirit stone could ward off all aberrants within a ten-li radius. Fifty stones were just enough to reinforce the outer perimeter, with two left over to fill in the gaps and avoid leaving weak spots at the edges that aberrants could exploit.
As for the city itself, Cheng Yuchuan planned to gradually strengthen the interior only after every safe zone across the nation had been reinforced with a layer of spirit stones. Spirit stones were a gift from heaven, the key to turning the tide in humanity’s crisis, and he had to ensure as many people as possible were protected by them.
Moreover, City A was close to Spirit Stone Mountain, so it always received its share of spirit stones first during each mining operation. There was no need to worry about aberrants breaching the city, even in his past life, without spirit stone assistance, City A had held out for seven years. It couldn’t possibly become weaker with spirit stones now.
Furthermore, the main quest issued by S101 was only to establish a new safe zone, with no requirement to make it the largest in the nation or reach a certain population. Spirit Stone Mountain still harbored a secret that attracted aberrants to gather, and Cheng Yuchuan had no intention of relocating too many people to a safe zone with potential risks.
So strengthening and expanding the other existing safe zones was the necessary path to save humanity from extinction.
After the demonstration, Cheng Yuchuan asked to see City Lord Li Qing. Li Yuanshan dodged and weaved, refusing to take them to meet her. It was only then that they truly realized they had been set up.
Li Qing had left City A a week ago to find her younger brother. Her uncle-in-law, Li Yuanshan, was now acting as the city’s administrator. Seeing that they didn’t trust him, Li Yuanshan dropped the pretense and directly proposed commercializing the spirit stones.
Everyone around them was Li Yuanshan’s people. Though Cheng Yuchuan could fight his way out, he had to consider Li Qing and the other citizens, so he politely declined without causing a direct fallout.
By demonstrating the spirit stones’ powerful capabilities in front of the crowd, they had also exposed that Lu Xihe’s space still held over fifty spirit stones in reserve. Those fifty giant spirit stones had to be handed over no matter what.
But Lu Xihe wasn’t completely led by the nose by Li Yuanshan either. He demanded to go to the City Defense Force office and hand the spirit stones directly to the City Defense Force captain.
Li Yuanshan froze for a moment, his cunning eyes darting around, before finally agreeing to Lu Xihe’s request.
The City Defense Force was divided into seven brigades, with one chief captain, three deputy captains, and seven squad leaders in charge. Lu Xihe handed over the fifty spirit stones to the City Defense Force in front of all eleven captains, repeatedly urging them to ensure the stones were put to real use, before returning to the villa with Cheng Yuchuan.
But in Lu Xihe’s space, Li Yuanshan knew there were still five giant spirit stones and some scattered smaller ones. After going back and sleeping on it, on the third day, Li Yuanshan set his sights on those spirit stones again, calling every day to request a meeting with Cheng Yuchuan.
Cheng Yuchuan kept refusing, and somehow word leaked out, Li Yuanshan learned that Xiang Shenwan was also a spatial ability user. He firmly believed her space held at least fifty square meters of spirit stones, which made him even more persistent.
With Cheng Yuchuan repeatedly rejecting him and insisting on waiting for Li Qing, Li Yuanshan grew restless and resorted to various tactics to force them to hand over the spirit stones, which led to their current predicament.
But soon, the tide would turn. Let it surge one last time, then settle into complete calm.
At this meeting, Li Yuanshan was still relentlessly trying to strike a deal with Cheng Yuchuan to sell spirit stones, offering all sorts of generous conditions. He talked until his lips nearly went dry, yet Cheng Yuchuan remained unmoved.
“Captain Cheng, this is going a bit too far. Since you agreed to see me today, you must have made up your mind. Is it that my terms still aren’t satisfactory? I’ve already agreed to a seventy-thirty split, what more do you want? Ambition is fine in a young man, but you need to know whether you can stomach what you’re asking for.”
Li Yuanshan grew increasingly impatient. He had started with a fifty-fifty split and conceded to seventy-thirty, thrown in three villas in City A’s center, and promised to arrange cushy official positions for every member of the team. This was the apocalypse, benefits countless people would beg for, and Cheng Yuchuan still wasn’t satisfied. He was truly asking for the moon.
But for an endless supply of spirit stones, Li Yuanshan was willing to push himself.
“Last offer: eighty-twenty, and I’ll send people to help you mine. Is that good enough?” Li Yuanshan’s brows furrowed with anger as he gritted his teeth and made the concession.
It looked like a big step back, but it was actually a step forward. Li Yuanshan truly knew how to say pretty words and put on a good show.
It was precisely because Cheng Yuchuan hadn’t seen through his hypocritical facade in his past life that he had fallen for Li Yuanshan’s trap. Otherwise, Li Yuanshan wouldn’t have even gotten a glimpse of those fifty spirit stones.
But after all that talk, Cheng Yuchuan still shook his head with an indifferent expression: “I’ll only negotiate with Li Qing.”
“Hey, you!” Li Yuanshan was about to explode when Lu Xihe forcefully cut him off.
Lu Xihe slammed the table and stood up, cursing loudly. His expression and tone looked even more furious than Li Yuanshan’s: “Cheng Yuchuan, know when to quit! What did I tell you when I came in? Did it all go in one ear and out the other?”
Caught off guard by the sudden outburst, Cheng Yuchuan was startled and nearly failed to keep a straight face.
Lu Xihe’s sudden outburst was something Li Yuanshan hadn’t anticipated. No wonder Lu Xihe had been all smiles when they first met, while Cheng Yuchuan wore a face of obvious displeasure. He’d even worried that Lu Xihe’s smile hid a knife, that there was some trick afoot, turns out he’d been bracing against the wrong thing entirely.
Li Yuanshan hurried forward to stop Lu Xihe, plastering a smile back on his face. “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Capable men are always stubborn, just talk it through nicely and it’ll work out. No need to get worked up.”
Lu Xihe shook off the cold, clammy hand that reached for him, glaring at Cheng Yuchuan with irritation. “Talk properly. If you keep that deadpan face on, I’ll deal with you when we get back.”
Cheng Yuchuan’s expression turned serious in an instant.
After his scolding, Lu Xihe turned back to ask Li Yuanshan, “Drank too much water, where’s the bathroom?”
Li Yuanshan was about to call someone to escort him, but Lu Xihe waved a hand dismissively. “No need.” He glanced around the room, then said to himself, “Looks about the same layout as the place we’re staying. I think I know where it is. You two talk, I’ll go on my own. Better than listening and getting annoyed.”
With that, ignoring whatever reaction Li Yuanshan might have, Lu Xihe strode off.
Li Yuanshan quickly signaled to his bodyguard, who caught on and followed Lu Xihe out. About fifteen minutes later, the two returned, only to find the atmosphere in the reception room thick with tension, clearly the negotiations had fallen apart.
Lu Xihe was about to ask what had happened when Cheng Yuchuan, without a word, hoisted him up and carried him off. A fifth-level ability user wasn’t someone ordinary people could stop if they didn’t want to be stopped. Watching Li Yuanshan’s face darken by the second, Lu Xihe forced an apologetic smile. “My apologies, City Lord Li. Tomorrow, I’ll come personally tomorrow to talk with you!”
Li Yuanshan led his men chasing out the door, but he hadn’t expected Cheng Yuchuan to be so fast, in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
The two had just teleported back to the villa when Qi Jin pushed the door open and walked in, bringing two pieces of welcome news at once: “Li Qing and the others have made it back to the inner city, they’re staying at their maternal grandparents’ place for now.”
“Everyone else has been found and brought back to the villa. Yicheng is treating their injuries right now.”
Hearing this, a smile spread across Lu Xihe’s face, and his gaze slowly drifted to the wall clock in the living room:
“Time to take the second call of the day.”