Fu Zongchen, one of the Conclave Deacons.
"Deacon, it has been confirmed that Li Ming is indeed the son of a certain remnant of the Soaring Dragon. Here is his dossier," he said while holding a transparent crystal board.
There was no movement, and after waiting for a moment.
The silhouette in front of the floor-to-ceiling window finally turned around, his expression solemn, he took the crystal board from his hand, sat behind the desk, and began to flip through it slowly.
"...Foster home director... taciturn... introverted character... hesitant in doing things... poses no threat, huh." Fu Zongchen laughed, "The people below should get their act together. Does the paper file resemble the man as he appears by half?"
"They wouldn’t try to fob me off with such foolish talk as ’the death of the father changed the son’s temperament,’ would they?"
"Wang Yan, you are the Commander-in-Chief of ’Ashes’. What’s your opinion?"
Wang Yan’s heart tightened slightly as he spoke, "Deacon, I believe this person is a good seedling covertly cultivated by the remnants of Soaring Dragon to take revenge on you."
"Good, that’s more like it." Fu Zongchen’s expression softened slightly, "Now it seems that when Professor Wu phoned specifically, it wasn’t at all about the safety of the interstellar inspection team personnel."
"It was to intimidate me, to prevent this Li Ming from being harmed."
Wang Yan said in a deep voice, "It was the negligence of my subordinates. I am willing to accept punishment."
"Such high potential? Who would have thought? It can’t all be blamed on you."
Not all to blame, but still blame to bear.
Wang Yan’s heart sank slightly, and he asked, "So what should we do next? This person will surely rise to power in the future. Should we... kill him?"
"Kill him?" Fu Zongchen scoffed and shook his head, "If we kill him, who will bear Wu Yanqing’s wrath?"
"I will bear it!" Wang Yan declared decisively.
"Do you have the qualifications?" he retorted.
Wang Yan fell silent, feeling slightly relieved.
Fu Zongchen casually threw the dossier on the table and said indifferently, "Some people can be disposed of easily; others, not so much."
"I don’t have such a great grudge against him. The man who killed his father has already been dealt with. Go and see him for yourself, clarify the matter. If he’s willing to turn hostility into friendship, all the better."
"Understood." Wang Yan nodded, then hesitated slightly before asking, "But what if he’s unwilling? The remnants of Soaring Dragon must have brainwashed him extensively."
Fu Zongchen pondered and said, "If that’s truly the case, then I’m out of options. An eighth-level potential development is a problem for the future."
"Wu Yanqing wouldn’t kill me over a dead man, after all."
In a dilapidated starport, a cripple sat on a rusty seat, his head lowered, his body trembling slightly.
On the smart terminal in his hand, the entire text was filled with news reports about Li Ming.
"He... actually did it," the cripple murmured, having left Silver Grey Star naturally after Li Ming did.
Doubtful of Li Ming’s words to secure Professor Wu’s support, skepticism remained until this moment.
Afterward, a mix of shock and surprise interwove into a complex emotion within his gaze.
Sitting here for a long time, he finally lifted his hand with difficulty, opened the Black Hole Network, and clicked on a contact far down the list.
"Brother Yong, this isn’t the way back, is it?"
In the hover car, Li Ming had been pondering the issue of the gene sequence. When he occasionally glanced out of the window, he couldn’t help but frown slightly.
High-rise buildings were increasing in the surroundings, but when they headed back to the lab, there should have been a sea all around.
"That’s right, Mr. Luo Chuan asked me to take you somewhere," Zhang Yong casually replied.
Li Ming shifted his gaze back from outside the window, "Why didn’t Brother Luo tell me about it?"
"He didn’t? I don’t know about that; maybe you should ask him?" Zhang Yong’s tone seemed slightly surprised.
Li Ming nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly exploded into action without warning, choking Zhang Yong’s neck from behind.
"Brother Yong, where exactly are you taking me?" Li Ming asked in a low voice.
"I... I..." Zhang Yong’s face reddened as he seemed to struggle to breathe, but his hands remained steady on the hover car’s controls.
Before Li Ming could make a move, Zhang Yong’s head suddenly spun around three hundred sixty degrees, the sound of snapping bones echoing sharply in the confined space, his face grinning viciously scant inches from Li Ming’s cheek.
Li Ming frowned deeply, recognizing the trap. Without hesitation, he kicked furiously at the car door.
A dull thud sounded, and Li Ming felt numbness in his legs; something wasn’t right. The door wasn’t supposed to be this durable.
"Stop resisting; you can’t escape," Zhang Yong warned while watching him.
Then an invisible, massive force surged from all directions, gradually compressing Li Ming’s space to move.
What ability was this? Zhang Yong couldn’t possibly have this kind of power.
"Wait..." Li Ming suddenly spoke, and the pressure around him momentarily paused.
"We can talk this out; there’s no need for such hostility. If you kill me here, you won’t get away either," he argued.
"Interesting," Zhang Yong said, still staring intently at him, "Why not try to fight back?"
"If you’ve moved against me, it can’t be so simple as to let me escape. Rather than waste time, I might as well save some energy," Li Ming said, straightening his clothes and sitting in the back seat.
"But how can I trust you?"
Li Ming sounded faintly surprised, "Don’t tell me you really came intending to kill me. Don’t you have some sort of gene shackles or something?"
Zhang Yong fell silent, feeling extremely frustrated. Although they had captured Li Ming, they were in turn somewhat controlled by him.
Li Ming was right; there was a high-voltage bomb on the car. If they couldn’t subdue him, they were ready to resort to killing, but not having used this threat gnawed at him.