DTTM 65

Chapter 65: Should Have Used This on You Long Ago

“And those miners…” Yu Xuan paused, then changed the subject, “When I sent people to treat them this morning, I found that someone had already taken them away before me.”

“Who?” I frowned.

The first thing that came to mind was Bondor’s dying order to squeeze every last drop of value out of the miners. Live dismemberment, organ trafficking, leaving not even a drop of blood in their bodies.

“Zong Yanlei”.

All suspicions came to an abrupt halt after Yu Xuan said Zong Yanlei’s name. I was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what he had been doing all night.

“It’s just the people of Penglai putting on a show,” Yu Xuan sneered.

I didn’t reply, but I thought: if he’s putting on a show, then so am I. Even every step I took to get to where I was now had been driven by self-interest; it was all part of the performance.

Later, Yu Xuan told me that Bondor’s body had been found this morning at his own residence, with the letters”WRA” carved into his forehead. Chu Shengcheng had framed his death on the Wo Republic Army.

“WRA is really a great tool to be used wherever needed,” I remarked sarcastically.

After my meeting with Yu Xuan ended, I returned to Zong Yanlei’s room. As soon as I opened the door, I bumped into him, who was about to leave.

“Where did you go?” He frowned, his eyes cold.

Feeling the subtle change in his tone, I swallowed dryly and quickly held up the bag in my hand to show him: “I went out and bought some things. These are local folk medicines from Wo Province, very effective for reducing swelling and bruising.”

Zong Yanlei’s gaze lingered on the bag for a few seconds. Although his expression was still not good, he did not pursue my whereabouts any further.

“Chu Shengcheng is still here, how dare you wander around?” he said, turning and walking towards the restroom.

I tossed the bag onto the coffee table and followed.

“Young Master, Chu Shengcheng is, after all, the Crown Prince of a country. How could he possibly do something like robbing innocent civilians in the street?”

Although I explained it to him yesterday, I knew he was too angry last night to listen. So I recounted what happened yesterday, repeatedly emphasizing that Chu Shengcheng was just using me to provoke Yu Xuan and didn’t actually do anything to me.

“You should have chosen the first option.” Zong Yanlei stood in front of the mirror, squeezed out the toothpaste, looked up and noticed that he had hurriedly buttoned his shirt wrong. His brows furrowed even more, and he roughly tugged at his collar. “Recently, Wuxi Kunpeng has faced public backlash over the human hunt incident, and his position as family head is in jeopardy. Many people want to push my mother to become the leader. In addition, at this critical juncture, I divorced Chu Luo and am no longer subordinate to the royal family. This is exactly the time when Chu Shengcheng urgently needs to win me over, and it is also the time when I am most likely to become his new ally. He will not easily touch me.”

He pulled so hard that the two misbuttoned buttons were almost torn off. I couldn’t bear to watch, so I went over and took the two buttons from his hand. I undid them properly, and then fastened them one by one.

“But he’s a madman. He even killed Bondor without hesitation. I couldn’t afford to gamble with that.”

Zong Yanlei looked down at me, and after a long while, he smiled and said softly, “He is a madman. Maybe that’s just how easily you Wo people can drive people crazy.”

He definitely wasn’t “happy”.

I was afraid he would get upset again, so I quickly changed the subject and asked him if he wanted the food delivered again, since the previous food had been sitting for a long time and should be cold by now.

He declined, so I didn’t stay in the restroom for long and turned to leave.

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I sat opposite Zong Yanlei the whole time during the meal.

His posture in holding the knife and fork was very elegant, and his movements in cutting food were as precise as if he were operating a scalpel. There was no unnecessary clinking between the cutlery, which was a complete display of elegant aristocratic style.

“By the way, did you and the princess see His Majesty when you went to the palace this time? I heard he was furious.” I subtly inquired about the King of Penglai.

“It wouldn’t exactly be called ‘seeing’,” Zong Yanlei said calmly. “His Majesty and His Holiness the Pope were both there, but they were far away behind a partition when they saw us. We could only hear their voices; we didn’t see them in person.” He picked up a piece of steak and examined it closely, as if trying to figure out what was hidden behind that partition. “I always feel that these two people…”

He paused, as if he couldn’t find the right words, or as if he didn’t want to explain his intuition too clearly.

“Something’s strange,” he finally concluded and took a bite of his steak.

He didn’t elaborate on what was strange, leaving the matter unresolved.

He had almost finished eating, so he put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and looked toward the coffee table: “Go and get the things you bought.”

I thought he wanted to check, so I went to get it as instructed. Just as I was handing him the bag, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down onto his lap.

Although I was already aware of the “resilience” of this body, the repeated pounding I endured last night still left me feeling sore and swollen. Now, suddenly sitting on his not-so-soft leg muscles, the pressure instantly traveled to my peripheral nerves. I subconsciously struggled, but he held me even tighter.

“Don’t move.” He said calmly as he placed his chin on my shoulder. He opened the bag in front of me, and took out a small jar without any label.

Upon opening the jar, a pure, natural herbal aroma wafted from the white paste.

“How do I use it?” Zong Yanlei put his long, slender fingers together and picked out a dollop of the moist paste on his fingertip. “Do I apply it directly?”

After asking the question, he started tearing at my clothes and even tried to undo my belt.

“Young master, you don’t need to trouble yourself with this. I can manage on my own… Besides, actually, I don’t intend to use it here…”

No matter how much I resisted, Zong Yanlei remained unmoved, controlling me with one hand to prevent me from leaving, and applying medicine to me without a word.

“When you used to apply medicine to me, I was much more cooperative than you were,” he said with a hint of mischief. “The more you struggle, the slower I’ll go.”

I held his hand tightly, thinking to myself, how could this be the same? But I still bit my lip and obediently loosened my grip.

By the end, I was covered in sweat again.

After the meal, he got busy again with some official business, so he let me go back to my room.

As soon as I stepped out of the room, I let out a long sigh of relief.

It seemed that the discord between us caused by deception had been resolved after last night’s exhilarating sexual encounter. At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

In the afternoon, the team drove to the train station. At the same time, Chu Shengcheng and his group also left the hotel. His striking red hair and exceptional height made him easily noticeable even when surrounded by guards.

Seeing that the servants weren’t carrying any luggage, I guessed they were just temporarily out. To my surprise, Chu Shengcheng, who was perfectly fine yesterday, was now wearing a mask, completely covering his face.

Yu Xuan followed quietly behind him the whole time. He stopped halfway and leaned close to Yu Xuan as if to make a joke, but the other party didn’t even look at him, let alone give him a smile.

Suddenly, my view was blocked.

I looked up and met Zong Yanlei’s expressionless face.

I quickly looked away and got into the car.

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Back in Baiyujing, the atmosphere was noticeably different from before I left. The streets were under martial law, there were several times more checkpoints at intersections than usual, patrol cars were coming one after another, and pedestrians were walking faster, seemingly afraid of being stopped and questioned by someone.

Following the assassination of Bondor by the WRA, Wuxi Kunpeng’s series of martial law and manhunt operations escalated rapidly.

I was supposed to go back to the dormitory to rest with the team’s van, but when we got to the parking lot, Zong Yanlei suddenly notified me to go with him to the company first, and then back to Luoying Mountain.

Yes, “notified.” He never even considered giving me a choice.

I had a feeling that after what happened with Chu Shengcheng, his desire to control me had become even stronger.

However, having the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the Sun God Group was by no means a bad thing.

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Located in the most bustling area of Shangcheng District, the Sun God Group building had 98 floors and was the third tallest building in Baiyujing. The entire building’s facade was a cool-toned glass curtain wall, and from the street corner, it looked like a silver shuttle that had fallen from the sky and plunged straight into the ground.

The lobby on the first floor was so spacious that even a slightly loud footstep echoed. As soon as we entered, the security guards and the receptionist seemed to have been triggered by some kind of mechanism. Those standing stopped moving, those seated rose. Their movements synchronized as they bowed to Zong Yanlei in unison.

As soon as we entered the company, Zong Yanlei went about his business, but he specially assigned a secretary surnamed Song to act as my “guide” and take me to visit various places.

Sales Department, Business Department, Development Department…

As I walked through each department, many employees recognized me and glanced in my direction from time to time. I smiled and waved to them, and they immediately blushed, cautiously approaching with pens and paper to ask if they could have my autograph.

Secretary Song wanted to stop them, but I shook my head at him, took the paper and pen, and signed them one by one.

“Your company seems to have quite a few Wo employees.” Although not many, you should know that Sun God Group was one of the top companies in Penglai. I thought that hiring Ye Shuer was already an exception, but I didn’t expect that there were Wo employees even in administrative positions.

“These are all people recruited in the past year. Originally, there might only be one Wo out of a hundred employees, but since Mr. Zong took over the Sun God Group, he has forcibly increased the proportion to 15%,” Secretary Song explained.

“I see.”

The tour of the laboratory took place in a long, clean corridor. One side was a white wall, and the other side had thickened glass windows through which one could see into the laboratory. Because the instruments inside were very delicate, I didn’t go in for fear of accidentally damaging them; I only observed them through the glass.

Arriving at the window of a laboratory, I stared at Ye Shuer, who was raging inside, with some surprise.

He was wearing a white lab coat, sitting in an office chair, and yelling at a young researcher: “Are you even capable of doing this job? If you are, then do it; if you aren’t, then get out!”

“Oh, this is Director Ye, the head of our Neural Interface and Consciousness Simulation Laboratory. He’s also a Wo,” Secretary Song introduced to me.

Looking at Ye Shuer, who was training his subordinates like dogs in the lab, I sighed inwardly. I wish he could be this decisive and resolute in Free Will’s handling matters in normal times.

After reprimanding the person, Ye Shuer stood up and walked to a large silver machine. His serious face suddenly turned into a twisted tenderness in the next second.

“Sweetheart, the new guy was being naughty, and Daddy already scolded him. Don’t be angry, okay? Let’s run the experiment again and get the data properly this time. Daddy loves you.”

Me:”……”

I started to reflect on whether I had been putting too much pressure on him.

After a moment of silence, the secretary gestured and led the way: “Come, Mr. Jiang, let’s continue our tour.”

After an afternoon of touring and a quick look around the entire building, my last stop was the secretary’s escort to Zong Yanlei’s office on the top floor, after which he withdrew.

I waited in the office for another hour, but Zong Yanlei didn’t return. So I went out to ask Secretary Song when the meeting would end. But the workstation by the door was empty, and Secretary Song was nowhere to be found. Just as I was about to close the door, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a bespectacled Wo man walking past at the end of the corridor and disappearing around the corner.

Although the other person wore glasses, changed his hairstyle, and even looked quite different, I recognized him at a glance. He was the fourth of the four brothers who kidnapped me and Zong Yanlei back then, and he was an expert in hacking.

I chased after him without hesitation.

After turning a few corners, the other person seemed to have heard the footsteps behind him and quickened his pace. Just as he disappeared around the corner again, I accelerated and sprinted forward, only to crash into a warm and hard human wall the very next second after turning the corner.

I staggered, but was supported by a pair of strong hands.

“Why are you in such a hurry? Where are you going?” Zong Yanlei raised an eyebrow at me.

“I…” I looked over his shoulder and saw that the end of the corridor was empty; the fourth brother was nowhere to be seen. “I’m looking for the restroom.”

“There’s one in my office, didn’t Secretary Song tell you?” he said as he grabbed my wrist and led me away from the corridor.

I looked back down the corridor and then at Zong Yanlei beside me, who seemed oblivious to everything. My heart was filled with shock and suspicion.

If WRA really existed… then were they hiding in the Sun God Group with ulterior motives, or had they already been recruited by the Penglai people and were being used by Zong Yanlei?

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Zong Yanlei and I had dinner on the top floor of the building. By the time we returned to Luoying Mountain, it was almost ten o’clock.

As soon as we entered, Zong Yinzhuo, wearing a bright yellow tiger pajama, rushed over enthusiastically. Aunt Chun smiled helplessly and said, “The little guy was already in bed, but when he heard you were coming back, he insisted on staying in the living room to wait for you.”

I held him in my arms and, together with Zong Yanlei, escorted him back to his room. His smile was innocent and untroubled; his parents’ divorce seemed to have had no negative impact on him.

I actually wanted to ask Zong Yanlei, this wasn’t his child, so was he just going to keep him as his own? Like Wei Jiarui, I was his father for five years, but ultimately I wasn’t his blood relative. Once Wei Bao was released from prison, I had to give him back…

“Uncle, I recently learned a really nice song. Can I sing it for you?”

Facing Zong Yinzhuo’s expectant gaze, I nodded: “Okay.”

Zong Yinzhuo cleared his throat professionally, and then began to sing.

Although he was often off-key and his breathing was erratic—he would often take a breath before finishing a line and break up the lyrics—he sang with utmost gravity. He drew out the last notes and his voice was loud and clear, which, surprisingly, didn’t sound harsh but rather endearingly earnest.

By the time I helped him into bed, he had finished the entire song.

“Does it sound good?” he asked me and Zong Yanlei with bright eyes.

“It was beautiful.” I tucked him in.

“Our Xiao Mitang is a great singer.” Zong Yanlei patted his head and leaned down to gently kiss his forehead.

Zong Yinzhuo chuckled and shyly burrowed deeper under the covers.

Zong Yanlei asked me to go home with him. I thought he would make me sleep in the same room as him and put me completely under his watchful eye. But to my surprise, he actually gave me a guest room, which was very proper.

But that was good, I could finally get a good night’s sleep.

After a long day of running around, I was truly at my limit. After showering, I stood by the door, my fingertips hovering over the lock for a long time. Finally, I sighed and didn’t lock it.

In the dead of night, as I slept, the mattress suddenly sank. Sensing a familiar presence, I struggled to open my eyes and saw Zong Yanlei sitting silently on the bed, reaching out his hand toward me.

As expected… he had come.

Seeing it was him, I felt a little relieved. My eyelids felt heavy, so I simply closed my eyes again. The next second, however, I suddenly felt a very slight stinging pain on my neck, like being stung by something.

My brow furrowed, and I reached out to touch it, only to find my arm incredibly heavy.

“Sleep.”

Zong Yanlei’s voice, which was originally very close, suddenly seemed to be stretched out, as if it were a world away.

“I should have used it on you a long time ago…”

As my body relaxed, I gradually sank into deeper darkness.

A jumble of memories assaulted me like snowflakes, and then, the voices of men, women, and children from those snowflakes were released at the same time, filling my entire brain.

I covered my ears, my head was throbbing, and I didn’t know where I was or what I was supposed to do.

“Dong—”

Suddenly, it was as if a giant bell had been struck above my head, and the resounding echo that shook my very soul swept over me, dispelling all other noises.

When I came to my senses, I found myself standing in a study, with Zong Shen’an sitting behind the desk in front of me.

Zong Shen’an, still alive.

I hesitated for two seconds, then remembered that this was when I was nineteen years old, the third to last day before I was about to donate my bone marrow to cure Zong Yanlei.

***

Author’s Note

Reminder: Chapter 44.