Jing Pei stopped going to the Tribunal Division to help out. After spending several days at home slacking off, scratching her feet, and playing online mahjong, Long Yiming finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He dragged her out to inspect the Long family’s properties.
Although the Long family had declined over the past two centuries among the ranks of Atavist families, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. They had ventures in cosmetics, hotels, and catering—a real massive family estate. Since Jing Pei’s return to the Long family, their business development had been soaring in a straight line.
After a casual round of inspections, Jing Pei eventually ended up visiting Bubble 109.
The Bubble 109 project was a joint venture developed by all the prominent Atavist families on the ranking list. Two years ago, when the government put this bubble up for sale, the Feng family had bought it.
The government occasionally sold off small bubbles that were of little use and had short lifespans. Of course, the buyers had to keep a constant eye on the space barrier’s activity to prevent these tiny bubbles, stuck to the spatial globe like dust, from suddenly detaching or shattering.
Ordinary people rarely bought bubbles. They were expensive and could disappear within a few years, making them highly unreasonable investments. When Atavist families went to war, they usually rented bubbles from the government instead. When Bubble 109 was sold, the government had announced that it would remain stable for only about ten years.
Thus, when the Feng family bought it for nine hundred million yuan, everyone was shocked. No matter how wealthy Atavist families were, they didn’t usually throw money into the Yellow River like that.
Only later did the Feng family reveal the unique nature of Bubble 109 to the other families.
As everyone knew, these spacetime bubbles were leftovers from the Great Cosmic Convergence, small fragments squeezed off when those worlds separated from this one—like a tiny flake of skin or a small knuckle left behind by a giant.
Buried beneath Bubble 109 were the remains of many wondrous creatures that had died during the Great Cosmic Convergence. The Feng family discovered that over thousands of years, these remains had turned into crystals resembling fossils and amber, holding a peculiar energy.
Although the exact nature of this energy was unknown, it was confirmed to increase an Atavist’s purity.
If they could, the Feng family would have kept it all to themselves. However, Bubble 109 only had a ten-year stable period, and they found that mining these crystals was very difficult, requiring immense wealth and manpower to complete on time. Moreover, if the other Atavist families found out, the Feng family would become a target for everyone. Unable to swallow this prize alone, they reluctantly made the project public and invited other families to join.
The Long family, originally excluded because they lacked an Atavist, had managed to squeeze in at the last minute to grab a share after Jing Pei’s return.
But they did not know that this project would eventually lead to a complete, tragic break between Atavists and ordinary people.
At that moment, Jing Pei stood in the helicopter, looking down. The endless ground was scarred with massive pits, inside of which lay bone-white or amber-clear crystals. Each crystal was as huge as a mountain, twisted into strange shapes, looking like colossal beasts frozen in their final, agonized moments of death.
These massive crystals and deep pits made the workers below look like tiny ants. Even the multi-ton stone cutting machines appeared as small as beetles. Their specially made blades would wear out after cutting just a few blocks, requiring immediate replacement.
Near the giant pits stood clusters of mushroom-like tents, serving as dormitories and resting areas for the workers.
More than one hundred thousand ordinary people were working inside this bubble.
“You see, if this bubble collapses right before the 8.20 conference, and those hundred thousand ordinary lives are snuffed out, how will the Atavist families take responsibility?” a man with glasses and a scar through his left eyebrow whispered to the man beside him.
The other man heard this, and a sudden chill ran down his spine, his hairs standing on end.
“The Atavist families mine these crystals to absorb their energy. In other words, all these people will have died just to dig up food for the Atavists. Doesn’t that sound crazy? Just like the feudal era before the Great Cosmic Convergence, where a king’s anger would leave a million corpses in its wake. How furious do you think the public will be? Will it be enough to destroy the fragile peace between Atavists and ordinary people?”
The man beside him slowly raised a thumb. “Brilliant.”
And ruthless.
This would do more than destroy their current relationship. It would create a deep hatred that could never be undone. This involved one hundred thousand people. It meant one hundred thousand children losing a parent, two hundred thousand parents losing a child, and three hundred thousand broken homes. Their tears would be enough to drown an entire prefecture.
Under those circumstances, the government would have to abolish the Atavist Management Regulations to calm the public’s overwhelming rage. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to contain it.
Yet the Atavist families would feel completely wronged. They had been carefully monitoring the space barriers. How could they have known the bubble would collapse so suddenly? Even the government’s own assessment had predicted that it would remain stable for ten years. Besides, proud as they were, they would never bow or apologize under pressure.
The two sides would eventually drop all pretenses and become mortal enemies.
“It’s just a shame about those energy crystals,” the man beside him murmured. Their organization had purposely leaked news of the crystals beneath the bubble to the Feng family, specifically so they could use the Atavist families to do the hard work and then claim the rewards.
“What does it matter? Once our great cause succeeds, they’ll be nothing more than ordinary rocks anyway,” the scarred man said with a shrug.
“True.”
“Then let’s act tonight,” the scarred man said with a smile. Looking down at the hardworking, honest people quietly trying to support their families, he could already hear a funeral song playing cheerfully in his head.
Jing Pei waited a short while before Chu Xusheng and Mei Yanlan returned. They had probably fought a criminal not long ago. Chu Xusheng’s eyes still held a dark, dangerous edge, like a pitcher plant using its sweet scent to lure in prey. Anyone foolish enough to approach would meet a terrible end.
But the moment he saw Jing Pei step out of the car, he froze. The wild wolf-cub look in his eyes immediately melted away, replaced by the bright, eager gaze of a puppy. The gloom and hostility vanished as he ran over, practically wagging his tail with delight. Mei Yanlan watched in complete amazement.
“Young heir, did you come to pick me up?”
Even his voice seemed to soften.
Jing Pei gave her retainer a comforting pat, then looked at Mei Yanlan as she strolled over gracefully. “Teacher Mei, how is our little Chu doing? He didn’t cause any trouble for you, did he?”
Jing Pei had entrusted Chu Xusheng to Mei Yanlan’s care, letting her guide him just as she had guided her before. There was so much he could learn from her.
“This kid has great potential,” Mei Yanlan said with a smile, leaning her elbow on his shoulder like she was teasing a younger boy, her sexy figure pressing lightly against him.
She continued, “But he absolutely refuses to let anyone say a single bad word about you. Someone might use that to bait him in the future. Though, I suppose it’s not entirely a weakness. Once he gets furious, his combat power skyrockets, turning him from an ice block into a berserker. The criminal just now was quite strong and almost won, but he had a big mouth and made a comment about your breasts. Little Chu turned the tables and beat him so hard his brains almost came out.”
Chu Xusheng’s face turned bright red. He looked away, not daring to meet Jing Pei’s eyes. But since everything Mei Yanlan said was true, he could only lower his head and mumble under his breath.
Jing Pei looked down at her own chest. Well, Long Jin’s body had been somewhat flat due to malnutrition, but since her arrival, she had never mistreated herself. With proper nourishment, her once-emaciated frame had filled out at right places, and her chest had indeed grown quite a bit.
She had a fantastic figure in her past life as well, which had sparked a lot of rumors during her middle and high school years. But she knew those rumors only stemmed from jealousy and deep-seated insecurity, so she had never cared. If anything, she would always shoot back with a sweet, gentle comment calling the other person a flat board.
Just then, the door of a car parked ahead opened, and Xiao Cheng stepped out. He didn’t walk over, choosing instead to stand there holding a bouquet of flowers.
His pregnant belly was already quite prominent, yet he showed no hint of embarrassment.
Jing Pei raised an eyebrow at Mei Yanlan, who said nothing. Mei Yanlan simply straightened up and said to Chu Xusheng, “Let’s go, punch out and head home.”
“Young heir, wait for me a moment,” Chu Xusheng said quickly, rushing inside after Mei Yanlan.
Xiao Cheng saw that Jing Pei wasn’t coming over either, so he simply nodded in greeting, and Jing Pei nodded back.
Perhaps because of the impact Wen Can’s diary had on him, Xiao Cheng seemed completely transformed from the inside out. Now the entire country knew he was pregnant with Mei Yanlan’s child, a revelation that had initially caused a nationwide uproar.
However, because Xiao Cheng seemed completely at ease and even proud to be carrying Mei Yanlan’s child, people gradually stopped seeing it as strange. After all, if male seahorses could do it, why not a human man? Plenty of other men were even gathering online, saying they wished they could carry Mei Yanlan’s child too.
Instead, netizens were now more curious about whether Xiao Cheng and Mei Yanlan would remarry, with opposing factions often brawling online over the matter.
A moment later, Chu Xusheng ran out of the Tribunal Division, having washed away the bloodstains and changed his clothes.
Just then, her phone chimed.
A news notification about Nevergone District popped up on her screen.
The headline read: [A girl from Nevergone District causes a scene at the police station, speaking gibberish, suspected of mental illness]
Jing Pei immediately sat up straight. It had begun!
“Xusheng, go back and pass a message to the people in the Tribunal Division for me.”
Chu Xusheng, who was about to climb into the car, stepped back out, his eyes shining as he awaited his master’s orders.
“Tell them that if anyone comes here say they want to see me, they must call me immediately.”
“Understood!” Chu Xusheng turned and ran back, bounding up the steps in a few strides, his youthful energy clear in his hurried movements.
