Chapter 624: People Can Display Talents Freely if They Have Sufficient s.p.a.ce
After saying that, A’ji became worked up.
If he were not bound, he would definitely be flailing his arms.
“At that time, my mind was filled with a lot of questions.
“What? Dragon City transmigrated to this Other World from Earth?
“What? This stupid Other World is filled with zombies and monsters?
“What? I’m actually an old man who is the leader of a gang and commands an entire area?
“What? I’ve built a secret lab underground and even captured more than one hundred evil wanted criminals to experiment on them?
“Can you imagine what sort of a fierce storm these questions would create in an innocent nine-year-old boy’s mind?
“I spent three days and three nights digesting all my memories and slowly accepting reality.
“But even now, I still won’t admit that I’m Saber Jin Wanhao. I’m A’Ji. I just want to be A’Ji, a normal boy from Earth!”
Meng Chao and Lu Siya looked at each other.
“Wait. There’s something wrong.” Meng Chao narrowed his eyes and pointed at A’Ji’s silver eye and canine teeth. “A normal boy from Earth would not have a silver eye. Also, what’s with those canine teeth of yours? They make you look like a werewolf or a vampire.
“Besides, you can still use Celestial Tyrant’s Star Shattering Slash.
“They show that you didn’t just return to Jin Wanhao’s nine-year-old self. You have a lot of memories and abilities Jin Wanhao had when he was an adult, and you even retained his personality.
“So, if anyone believed that you’re an ignorant normal boy from Earth after listening to you, they’re as stupid as a pig. They’ll also have no idea what is happening after you stabbed them in the back!”
A’Ji’s face turned red, and he looked quite embarra.s.sed.
But the next second, he grinned carelessly again.
“As expected of Big Brother Chao, you have a keen eye. I really can’t deceive you,” A’Ji said. “Alright, I admit it. I’m not really the same as my nine-year-old self from Earth, but I’m really not Underground Emperor Jin Wanhao, either. If I had to explain it, I’d say that I’m the fusion of the nine-year-old A’Ji and the old Jin Wanhao. I’m a brand new personality!
“In any case, at the moment I entered spirit energy deviation, the circ.u.mstances matched, and I regained my youth. The past Saber Jin Wanhao is dead, and this is a fact.”
Meng Chao thought about it.
When it came to personalities, the relationship between souls and bodies was deep and profound. For the time being, there was no value in discussing it. It would be better if they focused on more realistic problems.
“Alright, let’s say that you’re telling the truth, why did you run to Leprosy Village?” Meng Chao asked/ “Wouldn’t it have been better for you to stay here and live a comfortable life?”
“No. It’s absolutely terrible.” A’Ji shook his head. “This place might be hidden, but no matter what, it belongs to the gangs. Even if the door of the secret lab is really st.u.r.dy, it will be broken down one of these days. If I stayed here, I’d be a sitting duck.
“But if I snuck into Leprosy Village, I could maintain a certain distance from the gangs. That place is also rather chaotic, so it was easy for me to lurk around there and investigate the secrets in my body. Then, I could think about what I should do and where I should go next.
“So, over the past few months, I spent most of my time in Leprosy Village.”
Meng Chao was a little surprised. “You want to break free of the control of the gangs? But you’re the master of Golden Tooth, the strongest gang in the lair. Even if you’re… tiny now, your fingerprints, irises, and ear shape haven’t changed. Your cells and genes haven’t changed, either. You could definitely find a way to verify your ident.i.ty and gather a group of people you could trust.”
“Forget it!” A’Ji said with wide eyes. “I finally got rid of my status as the leader of Golden Tooth after so much effort and regained my freedom. There’s no way I’d go back to being the Underground Emperor!”
“Isn’t… being the Underground Emperor good?”
“It’s not the problem of it being nice or not,” A’Ji said. “Having glory, power, a nice car, and beautiful ladies is definitely good, but those are meaningless to a nine-year-old boy.
“Besides, even if I still wanted to be the Underground Emperor, my physical condition wouldn’t allow it.
“The living environment in the lair is pretty bad, and the compet.i.tion between the gangs is brutal. This is a small area, and every day, there are b.l.o.o.d.y fights. All of the mighty-looking gang leaders are terrified in the dark. They constantly risk their lives and live with their necks on the line.
“In the past, Saber Jin Wanhao used his domineering power to suppress the people who refused to bow down to him, including powerful, fierce, and ruthless people like Phantom Bear Xiong Wei. All of them then regarded him as their leader.
“But during this process, he naturally offended a lot of people and created loads of blood feuds that would never end unless he or the other party died.
“When Saber Jin Wanhao showed signs of weakness and was going to die, many of the forces of power became restless. Quite a number of people tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, but since he constantly hid underground, they didn’t find the opportunity to kill him.
“If everyone learned that the powerful and domineering Underground Emperor had turned into a nine-year-old boy, how do you think Jin Wanhao’s enemies, rivals, and compet.i.tors would treat me?
“This is especially so when the secret lab and the other secret warehouses still have all the treasures that Jin Wanhao gathered throughout his entire life. Those things could help a nameless n.o.body become a top-cla.s.s fighter, and I’m the only one who knows their coordinates, pa.s.swords, and the methods to open them.
“If I declared my ident.i.ty, I’d end up attracting attention, and once that happened, I’d soon end up in a ditch somewhere!”
Those words were logical, and it also showed that A’Ji had a clear understanding of the darkness within human hearts.
Asking a nine-year-old boy to become the gang leader of the strongest gang in the lair was the same as throwing him into a pack of hungry wolves.
“Besides, even if I truly regained all that belonged to Saber Jin Wanhao, it would be meaningless,” A’Ji said. “Jin Wanhao fought for his entire life, but at the end of the day, he only got himself the empty t.i.tle of the Underground Emperor. It sounds mighty, but he was just the puppet of the nine great mega corporations. He had to go against his own will and help the nine great mega corporations to do dirty, tiring, and dangerous unpresentable work.
“The strongest emotion I received from Jin Wanhao’s memories is his resentment toward the nine great mega corporations. He constantly wanted to break free from the control of the mega corporations, but all of Dragon City belongs to them. He couldn’t do anything, not when he lived in the society they ruled. So, there was no way for him to escape from the mega corporations’ palms.
“But now, things are different for me. I’m reborn, my appearance has changed, and no one knows who I am. That’s the same as me having all the room to do whatever I want. Only an idiot would go back to take Jin Wanhao’s ident.i.ty. It would be the same as jumping into a trap!”
Meng Chao cast Lu Siya a glance.
He could finally understand where A’Ji’s hostility toward Lu Siya came from.
Lu Siya just kept listening quietly. She did not bat an eye nor show her stance or att.i.tude on the matter.
Even when A’Ji said that all of Dragon City belonged to the mega corporations, she said nothing.
“So, you snuck out through this secret tunnel and went to Leprosy Village?” Meng Chao asked.
A’Ji nodded. “Saber Jin Wanhao built that tunnel in secret a long time ago. The initial goal was to have a backdoor. That way, when he said that he went into isolated training, he could escape from the ears and eyes of Golden Tooth and run off to capture wanted criminals and bring them here for his experiments.
“After I was ‘reborn’, I was panicking, but I also knew that I couldn’t let any outsider know anything regarding the secret lab.
“Coincidentally, there was an evil criminal who hadn’t died yet, but was on the verge because of the torture Saber Jin Wanhao subjected him to. I used him as Jin Wanhao’s subst.i.tute and lied to Red Brows Su Lun through the door of the lab.
“Honestly, my lie was very bad, and with Red Brows Su Lun’s intellect, he should have seen a lot of flaws in it. At that time, I was really scared and worried that he would summon a large group of Golden Tooth members to charge in regardless of the cost. I even made the decision to give up on everything in the secret lab and run away with the most valuable cultivation resources.
“To my surprise, Red Brows Su Lun accepted everything that I said and didn’t suspect any of it. He even helped me handle the affairs in Golden Tooth. My ident.i.ty wasn’t exposed in the slightest.”
Meng Chao thought about it and could not help but laugh.
Humans would only believe in the things that they wanted to believe.
Red Brows Su Lun was definitely smart, but at that time, his focus was on the Vortex’s scheme.
He longed for Saber Jin Wanhao to really be paralyzed in bed and in a state of near death. He wished for him to be comatose.
As long as Jin Wanhao was really curled up in the underground lab, Red Brows Su Lun did not care about his true condition.
In any case, if the Vortex succeeded in its plan, the lair would be in chaos. Even if Jin Wanhao is resurrected from the dead, he would be unable to do anything.
“After I was done setting things up in the secret lab, I left the place through the secret tunnel and went to Leprosy Village,” A’Ji said. “The old village chief of Leprosy Village was once a comrade of Saber Jin Wanhao. They had fought side by side back then and kept in close contact over the years. Jin Wanhao had also given a lot of help to Leprosy Village. Of course, he only provided what he could within his power, but even so, without him, the descendants of the infectees would not have been able to survive to this date.
“Compared to the jackals in the gangs, I trusted the old village chief more.
“Of course, I wasn’t as stupid as to meet the old village chief directly. I just used Jin Wanhao’s name to indirectly ask for some help.
“At that time, I still hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do and what path I should take. I only wanted to recover some of the Saber’s strength so that I could protect myself. Also, I wanted a new ident.i.ty in Leprosy Village. It didn’t need to be a legal ident.i.ty, either. As long as it made sense and sounded plausible, it would do.”