Chapter 387: Impending Storm (Two-in-One)

When Zeng Xuecheng regained consciousness, the only thing he saw was Chen Xiaoxiao lying in a pool of blood before him.

And the dagger in his own hand.

He trembled in horror, and the blade dropped to the carpet.

'What the hell!'

Mustering his courage, he wrapped his fingers in his clothes and nudged Chen Xiaoxiao's arm, but she didn't react at all.

Severed wires spilled from the shattered mechanical core inside the gaping hole in her chest—clearly the "masterpiece" of the blade now resting on the floor.

A second later, snapping back to his senses, he frantically looked around.

Finding no one around, he immediately snatched the dagger off the ground and hurried downstairs in sheer panic.

It was only as he passed through the lobby, listening to the noisy chatter around him, that he finally realized just how wrong everything upstairs had been.

Without a doubt, this was a meticulously planned frame-up!

Either someone had controlled him to kill Chen Xiaoxiao, or they had killed her themselves and shoved the knife into his hand.

Either scenario was catastrophic for him right now.

Old Seven was dead, and now Chen Xiaoxiao was dead too.

If word got out, anyone would conclude that he was the most likely suspect.

Once outside, he saw Juxiang still waiting. He wiped the sweat from his face and walked over.

"Let's go."

He looked at Juxiang.

"President Zeng, why are you the only one coming back?"

Juxiang looked confused, his prior suspicions deepening.

Zeng Xuecheng had always been firmly under Chen Xiaoxiao's thumb. Normally, even if they went to the restroom together, he would faithfully wait by the door for her. This was the first time Juxiang had ever seen him emerge alone.

Two people had gone in, yet only one returned after a mere two or three minutes. Juxiang had every reason to be suspicious.

"Xiaoxiao... ran into a friend,"

Zeng Xuecheng said, his expression unavoidably darkening with gloom.

This was a deliberate signal on his part, implying that Chen Xiaoxiao had a lover on the side.

He knew about it.

And Juxiang knew that he knew.

Normally, if he said something like this, he would be deliberately trying to mask his own embarrassment.

Right now, he was desperately hoping Juxiang would mistake this for another one of those situations.

But clearly, given all the anomalies today, Juxiang was not so easily fooled.

His eyes flickered, but he didn't answer.

"What, are you ignoring what I said?"

A fierce glare flashed in Zeng Xuecheng's eyes, hoping to intimidate Juxiang.

But he forgot that Juxiang was at the Sixth Tier. Normally, out of fear for Chen Xiaoxiao, Juxiang would give Zeng Xuecheng some face. But under today's circumstances, his Sixth Tier intuition told him something was very wrong.

Ignoring Zeng Xuecheng's deterrence, he immediately surged his weird energy and stomped heavily on the ground. Instantly, the entire hotel building began to tremble violently, sending the panicked people inside scrambling toward the exits.

They were practically fleeing for their lives.

Minutes passed, yet there was still no sign of Chen Xiaoxiao.

Juxiang's expression instantly sank, his gaze toward Zeng Xuecheng turning vigilant.

By now, Zeng Xuecheng's face had gone deathly pale, sweat beading continuously on his forehead.

"Fine! Excellent! If you won't escort me, I'll go by myself!"

With that, he walked away briskly, practically fleeing.

Juxiang naturally wouldn't let him leave so easily. A thick trunk slammed down heavily, laying horizontally to form a towering wall that blocked Zeng Xuecheng in his tracks.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"

Zeng Xuecheng forced himself to stay calm and cursed at Juxiang.

"Do you know what will happen to you if you end up alarming the company?!"

Hearing this, Juxiang hesitated.

If Chen Xiaoxiao turned out to be fine, his actions against Zeng Xuecheng would be completely unjustified, and the punishment he'd face wouldn't be light.

Furthermore, he knew Zeng Xuecheng well. Though cowardly, indecisive, and incapable of achieving anything great, he was petty and vengeful—a classic scoundrel.

If Zeng Xuecheng got the upper hand, things wouldn't end well for Juxiang.

But ultimately, he bit the bullet and said, "President Zeng, I'm going to search with my weird energy. Forgive the offense."

"Fine—search all you want—"

Zeng Xuecheng forced a sneer, concealing his inner panic.

"Just don't ruin her mood."

Hearing this, Juxiang felt even less confident. But in the end, his weird energy flared, transforming into a pitch-black torrent that surged into the hotel, searching it inch by inch.

Underneath Juxiang's trunk, Zeng Xuecheng's face grew paler and paler with every inch the weird energy explored.

Finally, the weird energy surging around Juxiang ground to a halt. He looked at Zeng Xuecheng in utter disbelief, his gaze turning ferocious.

"It was you!"

He roared, his voice so loud it seemed to shatter the clouds in the sky.

Zeng Xuecheng's body jerked violently, and he collapsed to the ground, completely limp.

Two days later.

Muke District.

Inside a small noodle shop.

An upright Crocodile pushed the door open and walked in.

"Boss! Two bowls of noodles!"

The shop's business looked rather poor. Crocodile felt a bit dissatisfied and curled his lips.

He hadn't expected his old friend's tastes to have plummeted this far.

For a hole-in-the-wall joint like this, the flavor was all that mattered; everything else was just superficial.

"Coming! How many in your party? Is your friend already here?"

The one hosting him was a standing White Bear, a female bionic species, belonging to the same humanoid bionic category as Crocodile.

She seemed to be a waitress and poked her head out from behind the kitchen curtain.

"Two,"

Crocodile blinked.

"I don't know if he's here yet. He's naturally inconspicuous."

Before he even finished speaking, a newspaper flew over from a distant table and smacked right onto his head.

"Heh."

Crocodile wasn't angry at being hit. He just rubbed his head with a chuckle and walked toward that table, looking at Boss Rat who was standing on it.

"You're here early."

"Yeah, I should have come a bit later so you could talk a little more trash about me behind my back,"

Boss Rat sneered.

"What are you saying! What kind of talk is that!"

Crocodile sat down cheerfully at the table opposite Boss Rat.

"Ratty, didn't you call last time saying you made a fortune? Treating me to this place is way too stingy!"

"First of all, I didn't make a fortune. It was thanks to my son making a fortune,"

Boss Rat corrected.

"Yes, yes, yes."

Crocodile smacked his lips. He didn't have a son or a daughter, only an ex-wife, so he wasn't particularly interested in the ramblings of a guy who couldn't go three sentences without mentioning his son.

"Alright, I know you have a son. Look at you showing off."

"Second, I offered to treat you to some good food in the Peace District, but you didn't want to."

Boss Rat stated.

"Don't!"

Crocodile waved his hand.

"I don't like eating all that fancy nonsense. I prefer hole-in-the-wall places. But you could have at least picked a good one, right? The one we usually go to is perfectly fine. Why change to this place? It looks like it doesn't have any—"

Halfway through his complaint, Crocodile suddenly shut his mouth, because White Bear had walked out carrying two plates of peanuts.

Even though he used to be a lawyer and had a burly physique, he was actually quite a coward.

However, looking at White Bear's expression, she didn't seem to have heard him.

Humming a tune, White Bear placed the peanuts in front of them, seemingly in a very good mood.

"Enjoy your food, you two."

White Bear smiled at them. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she stared at Crocodile.

"You... are you Lawyer Crocodile?"

"..."

Crocodile blinked his small eyes and pushed up the small glasses resting on his snout.

"I haven't worked in that profession for many years."

"It really is you!"

White Bear said excitedly.

"I heard you're now a member of parliament for the Reform Faction. Does that mean you'll be participating in the upcoming MP elections for the Heavenly Kingdom Council?"

"Yes."

Crocodile nodded. He reached out his hand, clenched it into a fist, and smiled.

"I will be running. I hope you'll cast your vote for me when the time comes. Fight for the Anthill!"

"I will!"

White Bear nodded eagerly.

"I'm so lucky this week! I hadn't been able to find a job, but now I not only have one, I even get to meet my idol!"

"Fight for the Anthill! Lawyer Crocodile! I'll always support you!"

"Thank you."

Crocodile smiled and nodded.

After White Bear reluctantly left, Crocodile grinned at Boss Rat.

"Your brother is famous now! So, do you regret it? I told you back then—if you had been the public face while I stayed in the background, this position would be yours right now!"

"Heh."

Boss Rat held his teacup and took a sip. He sat on a tiny stool placed right on the table, looking entirely relaxed.

"Didn't you say it yourself? I don't have the face for it. People like me belong in the sewers, doing shady deals and plotting schemes that people despise."

"Ah, come on, don't say that."

Crocodile replied.

"Eh? No wonder you chose this shop. This is the first time, huh? Actually finding a chair your size in a place like this."

"Heh."

Boss Rat chuckled. "I was pretty pleasantly surprised myself. But it wouldn't have mattered even if they didn't have a chair my size—after all, my son helped me make a fortune."

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!"

Crocodile couldn't listen to this anymore.

He felt a bit annoyed. He used to mock Boss Rat all the time for raising three useless bums, never expecting that Mao Si would suddenly transform into a completely different person.

When the noodles arrived, he took a bite. Well, the flavor was strictly mediocre. However, he didn't complain about it. Instead, he looked at Boss Rat and said, "Down to business. Do you know about that highly publicized event recently?"

"The Sin Live Broadcast?"

"No, that's already a week old."

"Nuochen Biotech and the Song Wang Group teaming up to crack down on biotech sales companies?"

"No, wasn't that statement already retracted?"

"Oh! I know!"

Boss Rat said with certainty, "You mean the murder case of Chen Xiaoxiao and the Zeng Family's Old Seven!"

"Umm..."

Crocodile pursed his lips.

"It's somewhat related to that. It is indeed about Nuochen Biotech, but not entirely about that specific case."

"It's the Nuochen Biotech pollution case!"

He leaned in toward Boss Rat and lowered his voice.

"This incident is already causing a massive uproar. I want to get someone to take the case, and then publicly take a stance on it. I think this issue will continue to escalate. When that happens, if we win the lawsuit, our chances in this second election will be much higher."

Boss Rat frowned.

"This case... it won't be easy to win, will it?"

"If we end up losing, we'll just end up offending Nuochen Biotech. Let's drop it. I've basically pulled all the right strings already. I've spent the money that needed to be spent, and your chances of getting elected are at least ninety percent. Even if you lose—"

Boss Rat paused.

"At worst, we just wait another five years."

As his words fell, Crocodile across from him fell silent and simply lowered his head to eat his noodles.

Seeing this, Boss Rat didn't say anything more either.

The two of them ate their noodles face-to-face. Outside the glass door, the chill seeped into the small shop through the cracks, blooming into misty frost flowers across the glass. The cold air continued to push inward, colliding with the rising steam from their noodle soup.

Autumn was already half over.

At times like this, as the weather gradually cooled, interactions between people also softened. It was much like the heavy coats draped over their bodies—a layer of protection, but also a measure of distance.

Halfway through his meal, Crocodile took off his glasses and suddenly spoke.

"How long is five years to you?"

"..."

Boss Rat kept his head down, eating his noodles.

"I've told you before, this isn't a problem you need to consider. Being delayed a while might actually be better for me."

"Then what is a problem I need to consider?!"

Even though it was autumn, Crocodile couldn't hold his temper back anymore. He slammed his chopsticks down onto the table.

"If you go in there now, I can still pull you out. But if you go in five years from now, you'll die in there! Don't you understand?!"

Boss Rat still didn't look up.

"Five years for me is equivalent to thirty years for you."

"But I've pretty much lived long enough."

"Where in this world will you find a rat that has lived for nearly seventy years?"

At these words, Crocodile fell silent.

Finally, he spoke.

"But we still have to try, Ratty..."

"In this incident, children from so many families fell ill. They don't have the money for treatment, and Nuochen Biotech refuses to compensate them. A whole crowd of people has been kneeling at Nuochen Biotech's front gates day in and day out, and one of them was even crushed to death by a car. Now that they've finally managed to secure a chance for a court hearing, the whole group was so happy they were crying and cheering. They haven't thought about what happens if they lose. They haven't thought about it, and they don't dare to."

"..." Boss Rat's tiny hands holding the chopsticks trembled slightly.

A few minutes later, he raised his head and let out a sigh.

"Despicable, Old Croc. You're just as despicable as always."

Crocodile's brand of despicable was entirely different from his own, and it had always been that way for all these years.

Crocodile began to laugh.

"Hahaha! Is this something brothers should be saying to each other?"

"I haven't even mentioned how despicable you were for bringing me to this noodle shop."

Boss Rat laughed helplessly.

"Alright then, it's settled."

Crocodile was very pleased.

Boss Rat's expression was calm.

"When is the first trial?"

"We'll have to wait."

Crocodile said, "According to inside information, Nuochen Biotech is planning to have a new successor handle it this time."

"But there's no news yet on exactly who that person is."

Two days later, at Nuochen Biotech.

"Now, I announce that the new executive director of Nuochen Biotech will be taken by the chairman's primary successor."

An elder-level figure of Nuochen Biotech spoke. Instantly, the crowd present via holographic projections erupted into thunderous applause, lasting for several full minutes.

"Share your thoughts with us."

The figure seated at the highest position looked toward the focal figure of the event and spoke softly.

"Yes, Father."

Zeng Qing nodded slightly, then began to speak in a soft voice.

"I will do everything in my power to protect all of Nuochen Biotech. I absolutely will not let any of our grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, or uncles down."

"As I take on the role of executive director this time, I only have one principle in mind:"

"Nothing changes."

"Nuochen Biotech's leading position in the Peace Heavenly Kingdom remains unchanged."

"The interests of everyone here in Nuochen Biotech remain unchanged."

"Nuochen Biotech's ideals remain unchanged."

"And my dedication to Nuochen remains unchanged."

As her words settled, thunderous applause erupted once again.

Zeng Qing lowered her gaze to look at Mao Si by her hand, and the corners of lips curled up into a smile.

"My dedication to [Yin] will never change. You have to believe me on this."

In the Surface World, Yan Jing spoke to a figure shrouded in white gauze opposite him.

His expression was exceedingly resolute.

"The feelings I had for [Yin] at the very beginning are exactly the same feelings I have now. They will absolutely never change."