Wei Tianyang took one last look at the white wall of the Sushi Delivery warehouse before slowly retracing the route he used to take to work.
The trucks transporting building materials and military vehicles raced down the potholed road, the wind howling past him like a gale.
The economic activities in Qiayang City had not yet recovered. At the onset of the civil war, this area was the main battlefield of the tug-of-war between the two factions. Countless had died or fled; the population loss was particularly severe, making it difficult to return to pre-war levels.
Thus, he leisurely walked to the outskirts of the city, looked up, drank a can of Red Bull, and checked his phone—it was already 6 PM.
Wei Tianyang had originally planned to fly to the top of the Six-faced God Mountain to enjoy the view and then find Li Songyan, but unexpectedly, Li Songyan called him.
"Little brother, co to the café—I have sothing for you to keep safe," Li Songyan said mysteriously.
Without asking more, Wei Tianyang hung up and imdiately re-engaged with objective reality, flying straight back to Kongse and appearing in front of the café.
A custor had just exited and almost bumped into Wei Tianyang, staring at him for a long ti in surprise, unable to comprehend his sudden appearance.
Ignoring him, Wei Tianyang walked into the café and scanned the area, spotting Li Songyan sitting in a corner.
He hurried over and sat down opposite him.
Li Songyan also seed startled, saying, "You arrived quickly... I had just hung up the phone."
Wei Tianyang stared at him for a long while, trying to detect anything amiss. Nothing but his clothes which were old and dirty, stained with blood. However, he looked clean himself, so Wei Tianyang asked,
"I went to the hospital to find you, then t an old man from the Sethiyan Federation who said you were troubleso. I thought you were done for. What exactly happened these last few days?"
"Let’s not talk about it, these last few days have been eye-opening. The agents of the Sethiyan Federation kidnapped . I guess they wanted to contact you but feared I might get there first," Li Songyan said with a bitter smile.
"That old man wanted to give a green card. He seed untrustworthy; I thought about killing him right there but felt it wasn’t just," Wei Tianyang said.
"Don’t kill people rashly... killing certain individuals could seriously complicate things... And then, they transferred to the hands of Tiantai’s rcenaries, even telling them that I had incriminating evidence against Tiantai," Li Songyan added.
"So, you were toyed with by two groups... How co there’s not a mark on you?" Wei Tianyang asked, puzzled.
"Just so happened that those rcenaries were taken out by your fellows, they rescued and even healed . Look, my leg is completely fine now," Li Songyan said with a laugh, extending his right leg and moving it around, even stamping it.
Yaha and their group have already co back?
"The influence of Tiantai Pharmaceutical in Chicken Snake Country no longer exists. What were their rcenaries doing here?" Wei Tianyang continued probing.
"They were smuggling Heavenly Falling Objects. I saw large trailers and super-large optical camouflage cloaks folded up. But the trailers were empty, evidently they hadn’t received the items yet and had no clue where they were. The whole team just froze. I suspect the new regi played a part," Li Songyan explained.
So, the Heavenly Falling Objects have not been moved yet, still within Chicken Snake Country?
"I can’t...no...not right now..." Wei Tianyang shook his head. Li Bin and Du Yan? Wei Tianyang had recently felt they were increasingly dismissive.
In fact, with the end of the civil war, Tiantai’s power had also dissolved. Ruan Yu and Hans both died; the two sides no longer owed each other anything.
"Let’s not talk about that anymore. I want to entrust this to you for safekeeping," Li Songyan said, picking up a silver bulletproof briefcase from under the table.
The briefcase was not big, about the size of a 13-inch laptop. Li Songyan verified his iris, opened the case, and inside lay a yellowish-brown leather docunt envelope and a super-thin portable hard drive.
"Tiantai Pharmaceutical bought a list of refugees from the conservative faction in Chicken Snake Country in the year after the civil war began. All these people are now either dead or missing."
"The hard drive contains so high-resolution videos and photos I took of refugee transfer points and transport scenes, and the exteriors of the containnt stations they built in Chicken Snake Country," Li Songyan explained.
"You didn’t think of sneaking in to take interior shots? The morgue’s full of mangled corpses," said Wei Tianyang.
"That part is up to you... Honestly, even with the evidence I’ve got, Tiantai Pharmaceutical’s legal team can find a way to get off the hook, but add you to the mix, and it’ll be the final nail in the coffin! Once this is done, their only option will be to start selling down jackets," Li Songyan said, clapping his hands.
"Do you really trust with these things?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"I think they’re definitely safer with you than with ; at least no one dares to ss with you," Li Songyan replied.
"Aren’t you afraid I’ll betray you?" Wei Tianyang asked again.
"If you betray , it’s the sa as betraying yourself," Li Songyan answered.
The two n locked eyes for a few seconds, each recognizing the other’s resolve.
"Fine! I’ll go with you to testify," Wei Tianyang nodded.
"I’m going back to rest up and prepare, then I’ll take you straight to Yin Country. By the way, don’t open the briefcase; just keep the evidence intact and safe," Li Songyan instructed.
Wei Tianyang nodded, picked up the briefcase, and left the café.
Leaving Li Songyan, he entered the tangible reality and returned to his room at the Pei Guode Hotel, stuffing the briefcase into his backpack.
At that mont, he saw Docunt 091 in his backpack and, after pondering, he decided not to ask Li Songyan about it.
Li Songyan didn’t seem like a bad person, but he couldn’t get too close - after all, the United Council was behind him.
In the evening, Wei Tianyang had dinner with Kacha Starbucks, and they went to the café as usual for a short sit.
He wanted to ask them about Tiantai Pharmaceutical’s rcenaries, but Starbucks and Kacha were too caught up in their love affair, passionately kissing next to him for a long ti.
Sigh...
He had to let it go.
Later that night, back at the hotel, Yaha, after ignoring him for a while, finally took the initiative to co to his room.
"Shall we go up to the rooftop for so drinks?" Yaha asked, smiling and holding two bottles of wine at the door.
The two headed to the rooftop, settling at the sa small table.
"Past few days, it seems like you’ve been avoiding ," Wei Tianyang said, holding a wine glass.
"I don’t want it to be like this... Ishmael. We’re not like you; we’re not as lucky... At least you don’t have to prove your worth to anyone," Yaha shook her head, the smile in her eyes profound.
"We don’t have to prove anything to anyone. If it’s just about the antidote imposing control, I’ll help you raid the pharmaceutical company... they owe us that much, Yaha!" Wei Tianyang said with deep intensity.
"No... It’s not as simple as you think... Your own power is too great; you look down on any organization or group. The antidote isn’t an isolated thing; behind it lies a vast production chain and research institutions, Ishmael. You can kill one person, a group of people, but what if an entire country turns against you?" Yaha said helplessly.
She walked to the edge again; this ti, she didn’t drink the wine but tilted her glass, letting the wine slowly pour into the night breeze.
Watching the red liquid scatter into droplets in mid-air and fall, she felt as if she were seeing her own future.
"Besides, killing cannot replace ruling," Yaha sighed.
Wei Tianyang stepped forward, grabbing Yaha’s arm.
"If you jump like last ti, there won’t be anyone to catch you," he said.
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