1825 The Price of Freedom
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you contact me directly?”
Meng Chao thought about it and asked, “Even if you didn’t have my contact information, you were clearly there when I went to check the place, where Tailless Monkey lived, with Ai Lei. You even left a mark of time.”
“Indeed, I could have contacted you, but that would have increased the chances of you being discovered by my grandfather.”
Lu Siya frankly said, “My grandfather had been monitoring me very strictly. It wasn’t easy for me to avoid his omnipresent and pervasive eyes and ears alone, more so if I had included you.
!!
“I believed that you must’ve had your own reasons for not wanting to publicize the news of your return to Dragon City.
“Your secret was your most important weapon. Why would I destroy it?
“Aside from that, there’s a more important reason. If I had shown up and confessed everything to you, would you have believed me?”
Meng Chao was stunned.
He understood Lu Siya’s meaning.
Regardless of whether he accepted Lu Zhongqi’s refinement or whether he was affected by the monster mastermind, he had been pushed off the cliff by Lu Siya, who had turned into a wild banshee. He had fallen into Devil’s Eye and drifted downstream of the Raging Tiger River.
One year later, when he returned to Dragon City without any preparation, it was impossible for him to trust Lu Siya 100%.
In fact, even though he had been secretly observing and collecting information and found nothing unusual about Lu Siya in the past year and she had been serving the Broken Star Club, Superstar Company, the Azure Alliance, as well as the tens of millions of ordinary citizens wholeheartedly, Meng Chao still found it hard to judge what state she was in.
“As long as you’re honest with me, I should believe you,” Meng Chao said dryly.
“That should be the case, right?”
Lu Siya smiled. “Do you trust me completely like you did in the past?”
“Well…”
Meng Chao hesitated.
“If you couldn’t trust me 100%, then there was no point in me showing up.
“It was better to hide the clues in a place where you would most likely find them after careful consideration. You could follow the clues and investigate all the way, and I would cooperate with you in secret. That way, we could ‘fight side by side’ more efficiently,” Lu Siya said nonchalantly.
Meng Chao blushed slightly and changed the subject. “In other words, you already knew that there was a problem with Horizon Biotechnology Co. Ltd.?”
“I knew that a lot of the Blood Alliance’s members were lurking inside Horizon Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and that there were many secrets surrounding their experiments on the Blood Flower that could not be revealed to the public. But I didn’t know how big the problems and secrets were. It was even more impossible for me to guess that the Blood Alliance had planned the a.s.sa.s.sination of Shen Yuanbao with the secret weapons produced by Horizon Biotechnology Co. Ltd.”
Lu Siya said, “That was a coincidence. Perhaps your return has brought new luck to Dragon City.”
“Then, what about the matter of you being captured by Yun Deidian?”
Meng Chao stared at Lu Siya. “Was that also a coincidence?”
“That’s not the case,” Lu Siya said unhurriedly.
“After the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on Shen Yuanbao was exposed, the nine mega corporations were all involved in a mysterious storm. Dragon City’s entire atmosphere suddenly became tense. Even I didn’t expect my grandfather to be so ruthless to the point that it might overturn the whole city.
“I realized that I had to present solid evidence as soon as possible to expose the Blood Alliance’s scheme and force the mastermind behind the scenes surface. Only then could I resolve the crisis with the least cost.
“If we wanted the Blood Alliance to reveal their most powerful and most secretive strength, we needed bait that was attractive enough.
“After thinking about it, only I could act as the bait!”
“So, the moment you were captured by Yun Feidian, you were sure that I would save you?”
Meng Chao asked, “You knew that I was nearby?”
“Of course.”
Lu Siya smiled. “Don’t forget, we have a telepathic connection.”
Meng Chao frowned. “You were playing with fire. Yun Feidian and your grandfather were both Deity Realm experts. If things had gone wrong, I wouldn’t have been able to save you. I might have had to pay a heavy price for saving you too. What you’re experiencing now is no different. You’ve lost all your martial arts and become a normal person who can’t even rope a chicken.
“If you want to play with big boys at the gambling table, you have to pay for some chips,” Lu Siya said lightly.
“I’ve said this before—no matter what the situation is, I won’t let anyone control my fate, not even my grandfather.
“If I were always my grandfather’s chess piece, what would be the point of having absolute unparalleled strength?
“Now, I’ve regained my freedom.
“Even though I’ve become an ordinary person without the strength to even truss a chicken, I don’t regret it.
“The ident.i.ty of an ordinary person has its advantages too. At the very least, after the tens of millions of ordinary citizens hear my story and know how much I’ve sacrificed for them, they’ll likely be more compelled to see me as their kind and spokesperson.
“As for martial arts, I still have you. I believe that as long as you’re here, there won’t be any problems that will require my personal intervention, right?”
Lu Siya looked at Meng Chao with a smile.
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes.
He did not miss any of Lu Siya’s expressions, even the movement of her eyelashes.
“So, besides Tailless Monkey, you really didn’t hurt any innocent people while you were under the monster mastermind’s influence?” Meng Chao continued to ask.
“I would need a reason to do harm. Even if the monster mastermind did exist, it was still a high-level carbon-based life form filled with intelligence and not a bloodthirsty murderer. May I ask, what reason would the monster mastermind have to control my body to harm a innocent person?”
Lu Siya said, “When I was still in the Lu family, my grandfather tried to drag me down, but I used all my will to control the overflowing killing intent in my body because I didn’t want to tarnish my reputation or leave any evidence that might be used to threaten and attack me in the near future.
“I wanted to be able to reach the peak of power in an upright and innocent way.
“It’s also the biggest reason why I publicly broke ties with the Lu family and Sky Pillar Corporation.
“You can’t even say that I hurt Tailless Monkey. The medicine I gave him was made from materials from high-ranking monsters. It was a cultivation medicine that could help people enter a deep sleep state, and it had absolutely no toxic side effects.
“When I signed the contract with him, I also kept the clause that ‘for the sake of confidentiality, if the employer asks, the broker must live in seclusion for a certain period of time and place.’
“According to the terms, I transferred a large amount of money into his black market account.
“I believe that when he completely wakes up and sees the amount in his account that far exceeds the contract amount, he’ll be overjoyed. He won’t have any objections, let alone make any accusations.”