When news came that Li Qing and his group had mysteriously vanished near A City, Li Yuanshan completely panicked.
Forgetting that he had just had a falling out with Cheng Yuchuan, Li Yuanshan called again.
At 9:58, the living room phone rang. Lu Xihe turned and went down to the basement level to check on the three guests before leisurely coming back up to answer. As soon as the call connected, Li Yuanshan’s anxious voice came through.
“Is this Mr. Lu?”
Lu Xihe pressed the speakerphone button, feigning ignorance: “Yes, it’s me. What business does City Lord Li have with me?”
“Is Captain Cheng there with you?”
Lu Xihe glanced at the man beside him, who was busy peeling chestnuts with his head down, and casually made something up: “No, he’s not. He’s got a scowl on his face and I don’t know where he’s run off to.”
The voice on the other end clearly breathed a sigh of relief, then shifted to a laugh: “Well then, Mr. Lu, about that matter we discussed this morning… what do you think…”
Li Yuanshan hemmed and hawed without getting to the point, so Lu Xihe simply said it for him: “Selling spirit stones?”
“Uh, hahaha, Mr. Lu is certainly direct.” Li Yuanshan let out a dry laugh, then switched to a hypocritical tone: “But this kind of mutually beneficial arrangement, we usually call it a partnership. What do you think?”
“City Lord Li is certainly particular about wording, but a partnership requires both parties to reach a consensus. This can’t really be called a partnership, can it?” Lu Xihe countered.
“Why not? Although Captain Cheng isn’t too keen on it, the goods are in your hands. As long as you’re willing, we can discuss it privately. I guarantee Captain Cheng won’t find out, and the terms will be as agreed this morning, you take eighty percent, I take twenty. It’s a win-win, and it won’t affect your relationship with Captain Cheng. That’s a pretty good deal, isn’t it?”
“Hmm…” Lu Xihe dragged out the sound, pretending to ponder, and only after a long while said with a half-smile: “It certainly is a good deal.”
“Then our partnership? When would be a good time…” Seeing Lu Xihe wavering, Li Yuanshan immediately pressed his advantage, trying to seal the deal.
“No deal.” Those three light words from Lu Xihe extinguished all his fantasies.
Li Yuanshan immediately flew into a rage, but for the sake of the spirit stones, he still suppressed his temper and tried to make his voice sound as amicable as possible: “Mr. Lu, what do you mean by this?”
“No deal. No partnership. I don’t want to. I’m not willing. Does City Lord Li understand now?” Lu Xihe repeated it several times in an infuriating manner, and at the end couldn’t resist adding a jab: “Seems City Lord Li’s Chinese proficiency could use some improvement.”
“Lu Xihe, are you f*cking messing with me?!” Li Yuanshan could no longer maintain his carefully crafted facade. His hand gripping the phone cracked audibly as he cursed into the receiver.
“Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare. Laozi was an ancient Chinese thinker and philosopher, how could I dare to mess with him? I’m clearly just toying with my grandson.” Lu Xihe stifled a laugh, then realizing he no longer needed to pretend, burst into unbridled laughter.
“Damn it, you forced my hand, don’t blame-” beep!
Lu Xihe couldn’t be bothered to listen to him ramble on with threats, so he hung up and retreated in triumph, just waiting for Li Yuanshan’s next move of retaliation.
Hopefully it would be loud, earth-shattering, and known to all.
The bigger the fuss, the more advantageous it would be for them later. It’s just that before the truth came to light, Cheng Yuchuan would have to suffer for a while.
“Sorry for the trouble, bro.” Lu Xihe grinned as he scooted close to Cheng Yuchuan, picked up a chestnut that Cheng Yuchuan had peeled for him, and held it to Cheng Yuchuan’s lips.
Looking at Lu Xihe, who was all smiles and offering a borrowed flower to Buddha, Cheng Yuchuan shook his head helplessly, but a doting smile tugged at the corners of his mouth: “As long as you’re happy.”
“Hehe~”
Li Yuanshan moved fast. Within half an hour, recordings and videos claiming that the Xihe Squad was hoarding spirit stones, refusing to contribute to strengthening defenses, and even verbally abusing the city lord with terrible attitudes had spread through every street and alley.
The video was from their meeting with Li Yuanshan at the Li residence that morning. In the surveillance footage, Li Yuanshan was groveling and bowing low, while Lu Xihe sat with his arms crossed and legs propped up like some mob boss, which really cemented Li Yuanshan’s image as the weak and pitiful one.
The video had been maliciously edited, so what the public saw was Lu Xihe’s arrogance and unreasonableness versus Li Yuanshan’s humility and fawning. But that wasn’t the worst part, the recording was the real disaster zone.
Aside from the few lines where Lu Xihe had toyed with Li Yuanshan on the phone, everything else was AI-generated. Talk of selling spirit stones, private partnerships, all of it was supposedly Li Yuanshan’s own words. He had played the thief crying “stop thief” to perfection.
But Li Yuanshan was truly backed into a corner to resort to such crude tactics. He was only able to get away with it because most people in the apocalypse didn’t have phones, relying solely on the unified loudspeaker announcements and laggy televisions meant no one could spot the editing traces.
Still, lies need to be half-true to be convincing. Overdo it, and people will latch onto the holes.
When it came to personal safety and individual interests, the video quickly ignited public fury. This time, even residents living in the outer city were clamoring for uprising, demanding to come punish the Xihe Squad.
Within just two hours, the city center was packed with an enraged mob.
Li Yuanshan, accompanied by his assistant and bodyguards, also arrived at the villa. To make it easier for him to continue stirring up public outrage, Cheng Yuchuan thoughtfully shrank the barrier’s range, leaving the garden fountain and pool area exposed.
The top tier of the fountain’s cascading platform stood over three meters high, more than enough for Li Yuanshan to stand on and deliver his impassioned tirade.
Then a flash of blue light streaked across the sky, and in an instant, a massive barrier descended over the entire city of A. Above the barrier, countless projection-like screens materialized, simultaneously broadcasting live footage of the villa where Xihe and his squad were staying in the city center.
Of course, the focus of the footage was fixed squarely on Li Yuanshan.
Cheng Yuchuan had inexplicably shrunk the villa’s barrier, and an unknown giant barrier had appeared in the sky. Though Li Yuanshan sensed something was off, he urgently needed a tool to incite panic and escalate the situation, and the massive barrier in the sky was like a godsend. Without overthinking it, he stepped onto the fountain and launched into his fiery speech of the day.
He spoke with great emotion, weeping and wailing, performing with such heartfelt sincerity.
His words were all about condemning how hypocritical, selfish, and domineering Xihe and his squad were. The sound and images spread through the giant barrier to every corner of City A, fueling the public’s growing fury.
Those far away cursed and shouted, while those nearby violently smashed against the ability barrier, desperate to break in and tear the seven of them to shreds.
The heroic team that had been praised by everyone just two days ago had now become rats crossing the street, hated by all. Watching the situation escalate further, Lu Xihe could barely contain his excitement.
He couldn’t wait to make his entrance.
To be honest, it was a shame Li Yuanshan wasn’t an actor with that kind of talent. Since he loved performing so much, today they’d give him a show to remember.
Seeing that the atmosphere had been built up enough, Lu Xihe pushed open the villa’s front door, put on an indignant expression of someone wronged and humiliated, and stormed straight toward Li Yuanshan.
“Li Yuanshan, I handed over the fifty giant spirit stones for strengthening City A’s defenses to the City Guard four days ago, and you were right there. What’s the meaning of this now?”
The other protagonist of the spirit stone hoarding incident had finally appeared. Most people instinctively paused their actions, simmering with resentment, wanting to hear how Lu Xihe would try to talk his way out.
When they heard Lu Xihe bring up the City Guard, many eyes turned to the right. Li Yuanshan showed no fear at all, instead, a hint of smug satisfaction flickered across his face, as if things were going exactly as he’d planned.
He raised his left hand high, gesturing toward the City Guard, and shouted with confidence: “Where is the City Guard?”
“Here!” A team of people responded loudly from about ten meters to Li Yuanshan’s left front.
“He says he handed the spirit stones to you, so tell me, where are they now?” A triumphant smile flashed in Li Yuanshan’s eyes before he turned serious.
The captain standing at the front of the team snapped to attention and saluted, speaking coldly and sternly: “Four days ago, Xihe and his squad did indeed hand over fifty giant spirit stones, but the very next day, someone used a teleportation ability to enter the warehouse and took all the spirit stones away into a spatial storage.”
With that, the captain raised his hand and pointed at Lu Xihe: “It was him, he came in the middle of the night and stole the spirit stones. I, along with the second and sixth squad leaders, saw it with our own eyes.”
Before anyone else had a moment to think for themselves, Li Yuanshan pointed at Lu Xihe and roared in accusation: “Lu Xihe, so this is what you call handing them over?”
“Nonsense! When did I ever go to the outer city? You’re slandering me!” Lu Xihe was furious, practically laughing in disbelief at their shamelessness.
“Slander?” Li Yuanshan sneered coldly and signaled his assistant with a glance. “Then let everyone see whether I’m slandering you or not.”
As he spoke, Li Yuanshan’s assistant lowered his head and fiddled with his phone. Moments later, surveillance footage of Cheng Yuchuan and Lu Xihe teleporting away from the entrance of the Li family villa that morning appeared before everyone.
The crowd erupted once more. The City Guard was publicly elected by all ability users in the city, and many families had relatives serving in it, so public trust in the City Guard was relatively high. With the City Guard testifying, people’s confidence in Li Yuanshan grew significantly.
“Two-faced, saying one thing and doing another, is that the style of you Xihe and your squad? Handing over the spirit stones publicly, tricking me out of my villa and sealing it with abilities, then sneaking in at night to steal them back. Do high-level ability users think they can toy with people like this?” Li Yuanshan’s words instantly ignited the fury of everyone in City A.
The privileges and special treatment ability users enjoyed were something ordinary people felt keenly, and Li Yuanshan’s move had thoroughly stoked people’s resentment and envy.
“That wasn’t us at all!” Lu Xihe roared. “It’s clearly because we refused to partner with you in selling spirit stones that you’re spreading these rumors and slandering us!”
“Hahahaha…” Li Yuanshan laughed triumphantly, malice and venom churning in his eyes. “You refused to sell spirit stones with me? You think you can fool everyone by flipping the blame onto me? I may be easygoing, but I’m not someone to be pushed around!”
“Too arrogant! Don’t think you can fool us people of City A, hand over the spirit stones now!”
“That’s right, hand over the spirit stones!”
Someone in the crowd led the charge, and the atmosphere was once again pushed to a fever pitch of tension.
With so much evidence pointing to Lu Xihe’s theft of the spirit stones, the crowd refused to listen to any of his explanations. Curses and blows came crashing down like a tidal wave, and quite a few ability users began attacking the barrier.
Cracks splintered across the pale blue, translucent barrier under the violent assault. Seeing that their attacks were working, the crowd erupted in frenzy, striking the barrier with even greater force. They looked like a pack of ravenous demons ready to devour someone, and Lu Xihe, pale with terror, stumbled backward in fright.
Just as the barrier began to show signs of damage, Li Yuanshan’s bodyguard seized the opportunity to land a heavy blow. The full-force strike of a fourth-rank ability user was not to be underestimated, he actually managed to force his way through the barrier.
Lu Xihe seemed frozen in shock by the sudden turn of events, staring blankly at the bodyguard as he approached step by step, his body rigid and motionless.
At the sight of this, the people gathered outside the barrier cheered in unison.
“Hit him! Teach him a good lesson!”
“Go on! Show him what we’re made of, don’t think we folks in A City are pushovers!”
Nothing instills confidence and boldness quite like having the crowd’s backing, especially when that “backing” is built on a mountain of lies and scheming.
A “crime” that everyone knows about is propped up by a bunch of fools into the position of “justice,” allowing evil to openly pass judgment on righteousness. The thrill of twisting right and wrong sent an uncontrollable excitement coursing through Li Yuanshan.
“Make your move.” he ordered.
A cruel, bloodthirsty smile curled at the corner of the city guard’s mouth. He rolled his wrists, gathered his ability once more, and leaped into the air, driving a heavy strike straight at Lu Xihe’s face.
“Xihe!”