Chapter 359: Beneath the Truth (1)

The Rabbit Woman finished speaking. She looked at the silent Zeng Qing and smiled.

"Ah Qing, have you been away from home for too long? Hmm?"

"Is this something you even need to hesitate over?"

"You don't actually think he can win against the Family, do you?"

"..."

Zeng Qing rested one hand on the steering wheel. Keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead, she said flatly, "I will talk to him."

"But I can guarantee the probability of his agreement won't exceed one percent."

"Then I'll have to trouble you to waste a bit more breath." The Rabbit Woman's three-lobed mouth split into a grin. "If you fail in the end, whatever happens next won't be your concern."

"Ah Qing, you're in luck. Once this is all over, whether that man ends up eliminated or taken in by the Family, you will be the one and only king of Muke District."

She leaned her head through the car window, her eyes narrowing.

"Your big sister is actually a little jealous of you, hmm?"

"..."

The Rabbit Woman left.

Zeng Qing sat in the driver's seat, a flash of murderous intent passing through her eyes.

She despised this woman even more than she despised the Zeng Family.

For as long as she could remember, this woman had used every available means to humiliate her. She had treated Zeng Qing as a laughingstock for her own amusement, and had eventually even driven her out of the house.

Like Song Haozhe, she was of the direct bloodline. Out of the six children in the household, she was the second youngest.

The youngest boy, mercilessly suppressed by the Rabbit Woman, had ultimately thrown himself into the waste recycling pool at the family's factory. Not even his mechanical core could be salvaged.

What if...

She just killed her?

The thought suddenly sprang to mind, setting her heart unconsciously pounding.

This was the first time since coming of age that she had entertained the thought of rebelling against this woman.

Compared to before, she certainly had much more confidence to back her up.

She didn't even need to do much...

All she had to do was maneuver her into provoking that man.

With her personality, she would definitely die a miserable death, wouldn't she?

Thinking of this, her lips curled into a smile. The day's foul mood vanished without a trace.

Mao Si was right.

As long as she could ensure she didn't die at that man's hands, so what if she fell under his control? All her previous troubles would cease to exist.

She would just be trading suppression by a whole group of people for suppression by one person.

With that in mind, she dialed Luo Sheng's number.

Unexpectedly, the call from her Information Component did not go through.

Remembering what Luo Sheng had said earlier about delegating authority, she called Mao Si instead.

Soon, the Information Component connected.

"Hello? What is it?"

Mao Si's raspy, drake-like voice rang out.

"Where are you? I'm looking for Mr. Luo, but he isn't answering his calls."

"I'm at home."

Yan Jing projected the Information Component's holographic display outward and opened the beer in front of him.

He hadn't been home long and was just about to have a drink with Papa Rat.

"Where is Mr. Luo?"

"I don't know. What do you need him for?"

"...Forget it, it's nothing. If he contacts you, let me know."

"No problem."

Yan Jing disconnected the Information Component.

He placed a beer—only about the size of a baby's fist—in front of Boss Rat.

This was the first time father and son had met since the incident.

Moreover, Boss Rat had been the one to suggest having a drink.

Clearly, Boss Rat had something to say.

Drinking and eating synthetic meat patties, the two chatted idly, neither taking the initiative to bring up the recent events.

It wasn't until they were a few rounds in that Boss Rat, watching the president deliver a regretful speech on the screen regarding the Tianji incident, finally broke the ice.

"I had a call with that Mr. Luo."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Mr. Luo told me."

"Actually, from my perspective, I'd rather you didn't work with him. He's a very dangerous person." Boss Rat sat on Yan Jing's shoulder with his hind legs spread, holding the beer in both front claws.

"Since you didn't want to use me, Pops, I naturally had to look elsewhere for a career." Yan Jing smiled.

"It's not that I don't want to use you." Boss Rat's gaze remained calm. "I told you, one day Plague will be handed over to you to manage, but not right now."

"Three months from now, Plague is yours."

Yan Jing shook his head with a smile.

"I don't want it. Give it to Second Brother and Third Brother."

Boss Rat's expression didn't change. A few seconds later, he spoke softly, "Your Second Brother is dead."

"..."

For a second or two, all sound seemed completely stripped from the room.

Promptly, Boss Rat continued, "During this incident, your Second Brother went out of control and was killed by another rampaging bionic species."

"..."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"Stop joking around, Pops."

"It's no joke." Boss Rat's eyes were placid. "Your Third Brother already knows. He invited you for drinks so he could find a chance to tell you."

After saying this, he jumped down from Yan Jing's shoulder, landed on the coffee table, and looked up at him.

He was lying.

And it was an unconvincing lie at that.

Yet it could be used to test many things.

Under his scrutiny, Yan Jing smiled.

"Mr. Luo never said anything to me about Plague being involved this time, but Zeng Qing came looking for me to say there was a mistake in the Happy Water test report."

Boss Rat's face remained impassive as Yan Jing continued with a smile. "Everyone assumed there were only three types of Happy Water, but there's actually a fourth."

"A type of Happy Water that isn't addictive, yet its effects are far stronger than the ordinary kind."

"Pops, I recall telling you before that I saw the Third Level Line for this Happy Water was run by people from our company."

"You said I saw wrong."

"Looking at it now, I didn't see wrong at all."

"So, since they are our company's people, there are only a few possibilities."

"One, they work for Third Brother. Two, they work for Second Brother. Or... could they be your people, Pops?"

Faced with Yan Jing's questioning, Boss Rat still didn't answer. Instead, he hugged his bottle and took another large gulp of beer.

Yan Jing also took a sip of his drink and went on. "When I found Third Brother, he told me that Second Brother had brought people over and beaten him up."

"But during this rampage incident, the uniform symptom for every bionic species that lost control was a resurgence of primal instincts, a loss of consciousness, and a descent into a bloodthirsty frenzy."

"Yet Second Brother was still able to issue orders."

"Second Brother... didn't go out of control because he drank Happy Water, did he?"

Yan Jing looked at Papa Rat, his gaze flickering.

"He simply wanted to rebel."

"More accurately, he didn't want to rebel—he wanted to become the sole heir."

"'There are four types of Happy Water,' 'Second Brother wanted to be the sole heir,' and 'Second Brother is dead'—there are a hundred different ways to piece these three facts together. To be honest, I don't know which one is the truth."

"For example, this fourth type of Happy Water was actually created by someone Second Brother brought in. With that backing him up, he felt that even if he eradicated Third Brother, you wouldn't blame him, Pops. But he guessed wrong, and in the end, he died."

"Or perhaps, this fourth type of Happy Water was made by Third Brother, and Second Brother found out. Knowing that you despise Happy Water, Pops, he planned to tie Third Brother up and bring him to you. As it turned out, that wasn't what you had in mind, so he died."

"Or, for instance—"

Yan Jing cut himself off and chuckled.

"There are many other variations, and like I said, I have no idea which one is the truth."

"I also don't want to know."

"But regardless, Second Brother is dead, and he didn't die by the hands of a bionic species."

"I refuse to work under you, Pops, precisely for this reason."

"You say Mr. Luo is a dangerous person, Pops. In my eyes, if our relationship is strictly father and son, then I am incomparably safe with you."

"But if our relationship is that of ruler and subject, then I am scarcely any safer with you than I am with Mr. Luo."

"Growing up, I truly wasn't as outstanding as Second Brother and Third Brother, but I still wanted to prove myself. That's why I went over there."

As Yan Jing said all this, he kept his eyes lowered. Light and shadow mingled in his eye sockets, flickering unpredictably.

"..."

Papa Rat took another sip of beer, then suddenly started to laugh.

"Not a bad deduction."

"As expected of my son."

"Fine. Since you've made up your mind, there's no need to stay at home anymore."

"Get lost."

He grabbed something off the table, tossed it into Yan Jing's lap, and picked up his beer again to take another swig.

Yan Jing gave a slight bow to Papa Rat.

"I will work hard toward my childhood dreams. Please take care of your health, Pops."

Promptly, Yan Jing walked toward the door.

Just as he was about to reach the doorway, Papa Rat suddenly spoke up.

"Your old man is preparing to make a move."

"The target is the president of Peace Heavenly Kingdom."

"The one pushing that councilor candidate from the Reform Faction who secured his slot long ago is me."

"You can tell Mr. Luo half of this and hide the other half, just to make him pay a little more attention to you."

"When you're out doing business, listen more and watch more. If you run into something you don't understand, come home and ask."

"Whatever you encounter, think before you act. If you run into someone trying to bully you, weigh the odds first before deciding whether or not to strike back."

"Try not to stir up trouble, but don't be afraid either. After all, you still have two people standing behind you. Also, don't be stubbornly rigid. Don't act like an idiot and just do whatever Mr. Luo tells you to."

After Papa Rat finished speaking, Yan Jing waited a moment longer before saying to Boss Rat, "Everything you've said, Dad, Mao Si has committed to memory."

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After the door closed, Boss Rat sat back down on the sofa. Looking like he had been completely deflated, he stared blankly at the television in front of him as the words Yan Jing had spoken earlier surfaced in his mind:

"If you're truly worried about these children of yours, you need to provide them with more guidance and care. I don't think money alone can raise..."

Of the three things Yan Jing had just mentioned, the first one was true: he was the one behind that fourth type of Happy Water.

More accurately, his Happy Water should have been the third type.

That was how he had been able to detect Tianji's Happy Water from the very beginning.

Acting as a backer required money.

But he hadn't planned to make that money directly from Happy Water; instead, he meant to get it through confiscation.

He had invested money into researching a new type of Happy Water and dispatched Xiong Er and Hu San to track the Happy Water down. Whoever uncovered the truth first would be set up to interface with his backed councilor.

The councilor would seize the Happy Water, using half to grease the wheels of their relationship networks and the other half to exchange for campaign funds for next month's Heavenly Kingdom Council election. This method was far more reliable than him trying to find a direct way to invest.

It was a simple political maneuver.

But the crux of the matter was that a problem had occurred in the middle.

Xiong Er had tracked down the Happy Water first.

But what he found was Tianji's Happy Water.

And the source he traced it back to was him, Boss Rat.