Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don"t read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.
TL: Zhao
Editing: Krisaia
"Wu Yun…" Yun Yiyuan said in a low voice after Ying Mei left.
Although Ying Mei did not bring any good news, it was not a complete surprise to Yun Yiyuan considering the fact that he had noticed Wu Yun"s presence back at the banquet. He still thought of Li Yiming as nothing more as a p.a.w.n in the grand scheme of things — even if the latter was no ordinary guardian, the person to be feared was the one behind him.
"The staff alone is not a threat, the problem lies with the person holding it. Mr. Kong has taken over Heaven"s Laws, but he"s still not in full control of it. What should I make out of this situation?" Yun Yiyuan"s thoughts wandered far beyond taking his revenge against Li Yiming, planning his allegiance in the fight that would soon decide his fate.
"But I know nothing… Who"s going to come out on top?" Yun Yiyuan could not afford to make a misstep as it would be the last mistake he would ever make.
"I want all the information about any woman involved with Li Yiming," After a long moment of thinking, Yun Yiyuan picked up his phone.
"Ms. Ying has already…" A voice full of reverence answered.
"I want you to do it," Yun Yiyuan interrupted him.
"Ah, yes, right away." The voice said after a brief moment of silence.
"Try to make it as detailed as possible." Yun Yiyuan hung up the phone.
It was no secret that the woman Li Yiming had erased was someone dear to him, and Yun Yiyuan wanted to get first-hand information on the matter, for it could be a decisive lead in figuring out who exactly was behind Li Yiming.
At the same instant, Ying Mei sat down in her car in the underground parking lot. She took out a thick file folder containing a list of over a hundred names and began noting down information as she went along.
Anyone would have been impressed by Ying Mei"s meticulousness — she noted down the name of every female friend that Li Yiming had made since birth. She knew where her priorities lied and she knew better than to tell Yun Yiyuan about everything she knew.
Once Ying Mei finished composing her list, she began to cross out names until only nine remained.
"Wu Jia…" Ying Mei pointed at one of the names with her pen.
* * *
Inside a research laboratory in A309, an old man with bloodshot eyes frowned as he stared at the computer screen. On display was the picture of a ball of flesh. From the little bits of hair which remained on it, it seems like it was flesh taken from some kind of primate.
"Another failure... So even chimpanzees don"t work... Do we really need human subjects then?" The old man sighed and looked at the phone by his desk hesitantly.
"Doctor, they"re never going to allow us to conduct human experiments…" the old man"s a.s.sistant said.
"What"s the situation with Zhou Jiazheng?" The doctor asked.
"Everything is normal, he ingested a bag of artificial blood two hours ago. Although…"
"Although what?"
"He seemed rather uncooperative when I tried to take blood samples."
"Tell him it"s simply routine procedures," The doctor said as he resumed staring at his phone.
"The people above seem to be paying a lot of attention to us, they just sent another team of people to handle Zhou Jiazheng."
"Alright, you can leave now."
"Yes, doctor."
As the doctor watched his a.s.sistant exiting his office, he leaned back against his office chair and let out a long sigh of frustration. The circ.u.mstances he was presented with was an opportunity of a lifetime, allowing him to create an army of superhumans.
"No, I cannot simply give up like this…" The old man gritted his teeth as he picked up the phone. "General…"
* * *
Inside the tea shop, Lin Lu began to scroll through page after page of information about the stone Market.
"Boss." Chen Jiaw.a.n.g pulled Li Yiming over.
"Oh right, I have a question for you. What was it with those people?" Li Yiming said as he walked over behind the counter with Chen Jiaw.a.n.g.
"I don"t know. Ms. Wu was here looking for you. The others did nothing but drink tea after coming in." Chen Jiaw.a.n.g scratched his head nervously.
Li Yiming nodded and wondered what their motives were.
"Boss, are they…"
"Yes. Be careful when you meet them again."
"Oh yeah, boss, here"s something the skinny man left us," Chen Jiaw.a.n.g said as he took out a bill from the drawer.
"What?" Li Yiming took the piece of paper and scrutinized it.
"Look, there"s some writing here!" Chen Jiaw.a.n.g pointed at the corner.
"So she"s been searching for Liu Meng?" Li Yiming saw what looked like very faint scratch marks. Being a sage, he saw through Qian Man"s disguise and as soon as he laid his eyes on him.
"Anything else?" Li Yiming put away the banknote carefully.
"That"s it. This is the only one with something written on it." Chen Jiaw.a.n.g waved the other bills.
"Did anything else happen during the past few days?" Li Yiming asked.
"Yes."
"Oh? " Li Yiming was not expecting that answer.
"Two people came looking for you this morning. One was a drunkard, and the other one was a blind girl." Chen Jiaw.a.n.g said.
"Tian Yan?" Although Li Yiming did not a.s.sociate Li Huaibei to Chen Jiaw.a.n.g"s description, he was sure that the blind girl must have been Tian Yan.
"What did they say?"
"Well…" Chen Jiaw.a.n.g retold the story to the best of his memory.
"A carving on a stone tablet?"
"Yes, this!" Chen Jiaw.a.n.g took out his drawing.
"What?" Li Yiming could not believe what he saw. Although the drawing was very rough, he instantly recognized the phoenix and Bai Ze: this was a drawing about himself.
"Can you tell me everything you remember about the people who brought this tablet in?" Li Yiming said with a grave countenance.
"You said that you took a drawing of the three people who came in with the tablet?" After having finished hearing Chen Jiaw.a.n.g"s story, Li Yiming asked.
"Yes, it"s here." Chen Jiaw.a.n.g took out another few sheets of paper. Li Yiming"s expression suggested that he was onto something important.
"Chen Quan?" Li Yiming instantly recognized the rather special features of his teammate.
"Those are the drawings of the people who came this morning…" Chen Jiaw.a.n.g was disciplined enough to record the appearance of every single guest who visited the shop during the last few days.
"Tian Yan… Li Huaibei?" Li Yiming did not expect to see Li Huaibei to be traveling with Tian Yan.
"That"s the drunk man."
"And you said that he asked for Chen Quan"s picture?"
"Oh, yes. They told me that they were your friends…" Chen Quan said in a low voice, afraid that he might have made a grave mistake.
"Don"t worry, they are my friends…" Li Yiming rea.s.sured him.
"Oh! You"re back!" An eager voice came from the entrance.
"Wu Jia?"