"Are you stupid?" Song Jia’s eyes were filled with a resentful gaze, looking at Hu Feifei with disappointnt.
"But if anyone bullies Jiajia, I’ll definitely help you beat them up," Hu Feifei quickly added.
"Feifei, fighting... is wrong," Wang Lan said. "You should get along well with your classmates. If soone wants to argue, I’m not saying you should let them win, but you can ignore them. Your brother is a guard, so that’s why he tells you these things. Actually... a Star Martial Warrior shouldn’t use offensive Star Martial Skills against ordinary people, but purely defensive ones are fine. Moreover, as long as a Star Martial Warrior doesn’t attack ordinary people with Star Martial Skills, throwing a couple of punches or kicks isn’t really a problem. I’m not inciting you to fight; I’m just telling you not to be bullied easily. Although the schools in Jade Country have the best managent in the world, school bullying objectively exists. We don’t bully others, but we can’t let others bully us."
"Mhm, I understand," Hu Feifei obediently nodded.
"Tonight’s Little New Year’s Eve, Feifei. Why don’t you stay and have dinner with us? I’ve already ordered the al; it should be delivered in about half an hour," Wang Lan’s aunt said.
"Thank you, Auntie, but I don’t need to. My brother just sent a ssage. He’s off work now and will co to pick up soon."
"Since he’s coming, he can join us too," Wang Lan said. "Here, let give your brother a call."
As she spoke, she took out her phone and dialed.
Hu Qing was driving, but his car phone didn’t interfere. He knew Feifei was visiting a classmate’s ho today but didn’t expect this classmate to be Wang Lan’s cousin.
Fate is such a curious thing, Hu Qing thought. I never imagined the world could be this small.
When Wang Lan saw Hu Qing, her expression tensed. Hu Qing looked gloomy, with deeply sunken cheeks and bloodshot eyes. A mustache under his nose added an air of maturity and fierceness to his appearance.
It’s only been a month since I last saw him, Wang Lan thought. How could he have changed so much?
"Brother Hu, what happened to you?"
"Oh?" Hu Qing was initially taken aback but quickly understood. As if changing masks, he flashed a smile. The mont the smile appeared, the gloom and chill on his face lted away as if scorched by intense fire.
The sa face transford in an instant, making him seem like two different people. This sudden change of expression left Wang Lan stunned.
"How was that? Isn’t my acting top-notch? I practiced camouflage and infiltration in the army. The tip you gave us last ti led us to uncover sothing much deeper. It turns out all those visible gangs we saw were just small-ti operations; the situation is far more complex than it appears. I’m now on a mission to infiltrate the enemy, and for my identity... well, I’m conveniently borrowing Lang’s. My sister’s illness was cured, but not by you. It was because I agreed to sell myself to a gang leader in exchange for so black-market advanced technology treatnt. I now have the lives of several guards and over a dozen other people on my hands; there’s no turning back. Just now, did my expression look like that of an extremist who’s gone completely off the deep end, soone antisocial and anti-humanity?"
"Damn... I was wrong. You really should have beco an actor in the first place."
"Hahaha... I thought so too. Enough talk for now. We can wrap things up after the New Year, and I’ll treat you to a al then."
Wang Lan quickly covered Hu Qing’s mouth with her hand. "Don’t you know you shouldn’t jinx it like that?"
"Lanzi, you actually believe in that stuff?"
"It’s sothing countless predecessors have proven with tragic consequences; it’s better to be careful. I’ve heard going undercover is very dangerous."
"Don’t worry, everything is under control."
Since Hu Qing currently had a different identity, it wasn’t appropriate for Wang Lan to invite him in for dinner. She casually said goodbye and watched his car drive away.
Back ho, Song Jia was dutifully cleaning the living room she had turned into a ss throughout the day. Her pitiful, aggrieved expression was enough to make anyone’s heart ache. Wang Lan imdiately grabbed a broom, about to help, when her aunt called her over.
"Let her clean it by herself. You co and talk to ."
"Auntie, please don’t punish her. Honestly, I think she did a good job. To handle things so well at such a young age, she’s guaranteed not to be at a disadvantage in the future."
"I’m not punishing her. Doing household chores is an essential life skill she needs to master. When you were her age, you were already living alone in Xinyu Building." Her aunt had changed out of her uniform and into casual ho clothes—a very light and breezy outfit.
Although there’s no central heating in the south, for wealthy families, things like heating and air conditioning weren’t an issue as long as they had money. The temperature outside was approaching zero degrees Celsius, but indoors it was a comfortable twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees; one wouldn’t even feel cold in short sleeves.
Her aunt sat in an armchair on the balcony and sighed deeply.
"What’s wrong? Are you tired?" Wang Lan asked with concern.
"Very tired, but also very excited! The company’s Gene Potion has achieved a breakthrough, and it’s now in the clinical trial phase. We expect good news in the next few days. Once the clinical trial results are out, people will be able to use genetic coding to treat most diseases originating from the body itself. By then, hereditary diseases and most types of cancer could be completely cured."
"Really? That’s incredible!"
"Of course, it’s incredible..." As her aunt spoke, her eyes showed not only pride but also a faint trace of sorrow.
"The research your uncle left behind ten years ago... it took eleven years just to begin to truly understand it. Compared to him, I feel like a complete idiot. If he were alive, human biotechnology would have advanced by at least fifty years..."
"Uncle... was a true genius," Wang Lan sighed regretfully.
Actually, Wang Lan didn’t know much about her uncle. When she was very young, she had only t Song Zifeng a few tis. He was a sowhat scholarly young man who didn’t talk much.
However, she had heard her mother, Wang Ling, say that Song Zifeng was one of the rarest, most exceptional talents she had ever encountered. His genius was comparable to any of the greatest scientists in human history.
Unfortunately, heaven is often jealous of exceptional talent. At the young age of twenty-six, Song Zifeng died prematurely due to a malfunction in an experintal apparatus.
Previously, Wang Lan hadn’t understood the full weight of her mother’s praise for him. But now, knowing Wang Ling’s true identity, she felt an even deeper regret for Song Zifeng’s death.
Her aunt was already one of the country’s top scientists in biotechnology, yet it had taken her ten years just to begin to grasp the research Song Zifeng had produced a decade prior.
By the ti Song Jia had nearly finished cleaning, the takeout her aunt had ordered arrived.
The three of them were at ho, toasting to celebrate Little New Year’s Eve. As dinner progressed, fireworks suddenly filled the night sky over Suzhou City.
DING-DONG—
Xie Sisi sent a celebratory text ssage: "Wang Lan, Happy Little New Year’s Eve! The fireworks outside are so beautiful."
DING-DONG—
Jiang Xinyu sent a text, but it was just two words: "Cheers."
Then, that guy Xu Xiangwen also sent a long string of ssages, with the classic ending: "Whoever doesn’t forward this will be single forever..."
Definitely his style, Wang Lan thought.
His aunt had wanted Wang Lan to stay over, but he still chose to take his leave.
After Little New Year’s Eve, the festive atmosphere in Suzhou City grew even stronger. Supermarkets played New Year’s songs, and every place he went was a sea of vibrant red and joyous celebration.
Even though Wang Lan was alone, he believed celebrating the New Year, even by himself, had to be filled with a sense of ceremony.
Sweeping away the dust, bidding farewell to the old year, and decorating his ho—Wang Lan had to do all of this himself. It was only at this ti of year that he truly felt what an extravagance it was to live alone in a four to five-hundred-square-ter house.
Cleaning up is so exhausting, he thought.
It took Wang Lan an entire day to clean the house. That was even with him using the Star Cloud Dance; otherwise, with conventional cleaning thods, it would have easily taken three or four days.
Wang Lan then made another trip to the supermarket, buying spring couplets, "Fu" character posters, fireworks, peace knots, and other festive decorations, filling an entire shopping cart.
Driving ho, he found the roads of Suzhou City very empty as it was the end of the year; hardly anyone was around. He leisurely drove to the entrance of his underground parking garage.
The barrier lifted. Just as Wang Lan was about to drive down, he suddenly slamd on the brakes.
Through the rearview mirror, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of sothing lying in the flowerbed near the entrance.
Wang Lan got out of the car and cautiously approached the flowerbed. A person was lying prone there, their condition unknown—dead or alive.
Carefully, he reached out and checked the person’s neck for a pulse. It was there—faint, but present. The person was alive. Wang Lan gently turned them over. Their face was covered in blood, and their body was soaked in it too.
When Wang Lan clearly saw the person’s face, his expression changed drastically.
"Hu Qing!"
He quickly carried Hu Qing to the car. While driving into the underground garage, he pressed one hand against Hu Qing’s chest, healing him.
By the ti Wang Lan parked the car, Hu Qing’s life-threatening injuries had mostly stabilized.
Wang Lan hurriedly carried Hu Qing out of the car and took the elevator back to his apartnt.
"It’s only been two days since I last saw you, and you’ve already gotten into an accident! I told you back then that you shouldn’t have tempted fate, but you didn’t listen! You’re lucky you ran into . Otherwise, the next ti we ’chatted,’ I’d be lighting incense for you."
Stripping off Hu Qing’s clothes revealed a shocking sight. Besides knife wounds, Hu Qing’s body had over a dozen gunshot wounds. He was riddled with so many holes he almost looked like a beehive.
If it weren’t for the nearly abnormal physical defense of a Star Martial Warrior, coupled with Hu Qing’s Earth Attribute Star Martial Skills for protection, so many gunshot wounds would have certainly killed him long ago.
There were more than ten bullet entry wounds, but none had penetrated deep enough to damage his internal organs. Even so, due to excessive blood loss, Hu Qing was in a critical condition.
Without hesitation, Wang Lan imdiately began to heal him. He worked for a full three minutes, consuming half of his Star Power, to repair Hu Qing’s injuries. However, there was nothing Wang Lan could do about the massive amount of blood Hu Qing had already lost.
Was Hu Qing’s undercover mission exposed? Or did sothing else unexpected happen? Wang Lan wondered. To know the exact situation, he would have to wait for Hu Qing to regain consciousness.
"Wang Lan, the situation is a bit problematic," Xiao Ai’s voice suddenly sounded.
"What is it?"
"Unauthorized individuals have entered the building."
"How many?"
"Thirty!"
"They must be the ones chasing Hu Qing. Connect to the security caras and track all of them."
The television screen in front of him lit up, displaying more than a dozen feeds. So intruders were taking the stairs, so were in the elevators, and others had reached the underground parking garage, attempting to breach the security door of the second basent level.
"There’s no one else in the building, right?"
"Everyone has already gone ho from work."
Wang Lan’s Xinyu Building primarily rented office space to high-end, high-paying companies. These companies strictly adhered to national labor laws regarding working hours and rarely had employees work overti. Even if they occasionally did, everyone would definitely be gone after six o’clock.
Although each company might only have a few dozen employees, any one of these thirty-odd companies boasted an annual profit exceeding one hundred million. This often made Wang Lan quite envious, to the point where he had even considered raising the rent.
"Cut the power to all floors below the top floor."
"Understood!" Xiao Ai replied.
CLICK!
Instantly, the entire Xinyu Building, except for the top floor, plunged into darkness.
Seven or eight people were trapped in the elevators.
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