The seven-day National Day holiday was a brief carnival for most people.
Technically, Lin Mo could have stayed a while longer, even returned to Guangba for school.
But Tong Dong was still in Tianjing, and that wouldn't look good.
Especially since Lin Mo hadn't told the school about returning to Yangcheng.
So Lin Mo didn't linger and once again set out on the road to Tianjing.
Meanwhile, in Tianjing.
The Yanhuang Awakening headquarters compound was lit up all night, the air thick with a mix of anxiety and the smell of oil.
The fall of the Chai family was like knocking over a giant domino, its chain reaction far more complex than imagined.
Those tangled webs of interest, the hidden flows of funds, and all sorts of shady historical leftovers were like countless knotted cables, making department heads' scalps tingle.
Deep within the Red Walls, in a simple, elegant study.
The Leader personally brewed a cup of tea for Long Tianqi. Wispy white steam blurred her composed face.
“The Chai family matter, you handled it well.”
His voice was gentle but carried undeniable weight. “Avoiding major unrest—that's the most important thing.”
“It was our oversight that let these tumors grow so large.” Long Tianqi bowed her head, a hint of self-reproach in her tone.
“Water too clear has no fish.”
The Leader pushed the teacup toward her. “Now the water's murky, which makes it easier to fish out what shouldn't be there. Tianqi, go ahead and do what you need to do.”
He paused, his gaze piercing through the tea steam to settle on Long Tianqi.
“Someone you trust, someone even the Ancestral Dragon trusts—that person is of great use to the nation.”
“Such a person shouldn't become our enemy. They must be our friend.”
Long Tianqi's hand holding the teacup froze slightly, the heat of the tea seeming to pierce through to her marrow.
These words were a verdict and a promise.
Then the Leader added, “If there's anything you want to do, go ahead. Whatever you need, the nation will provide.”
This was an unmarked blank check, granting her supreme authority.
The heavy stone that had been hanging in Long Tianqi's heart finally dropped, but it brought an even heavier sense of responsibility.
What she was about to do was nothing less than personally wielding a scalpel to cut away the rotting flesh from the massive body of Yanhuang Awakening, piece by piece.
The process would inevitably be agonizing, bloody, and might even shake the foundation.
But if she didn't cut it out now, the decay would spread, eventually corroding the entire nation.
Then it would be too late.
Thinking this, Long Tianqi couldn't help but think of Lin Mo.
She looked up and asked tentatively, “Leader... would you like to meet Lin Mo?”
The Leader showed a hint of intrigued amusement. He tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, pondering for a moment.
“Go ask about his thoughts. If he's willing to come see me and have a chat, that would be a good thing.”
Long Tianqi was a little surprised, yet not surprised at all.
After all, Lin Mo wasn't an ordinary person; he deserved such a gesture from the Leader.
And in Lin Mo's eyes, status probably didn't matter much.
“What about Xu Wendong and the Xu family...”
“Leave that to you. Once you've dealt with it, we'll take care of the rest. We can't let you carry all the blame. If they have any issues, I'll make sure they shut up!”
This was harsh, at least showing the Leader's determination.
It gave Long Tianqi a reassuring peace of mind.
Late at night.
Xu Wendong sat alone in his study, just sitting there by himself.
Because of the silence, he was virtually blind in Tianjing City.
The Chai family's downfall didn't surprise him; fools always fall.
But for some reason, he felt Yanhuang Awakening had become busier.
Logically, he should have been busier too. At this time, he would normally be resting at the base.
But instead, a lot of his work had been delegated away.
Such changes were often a signal, yet Long Tianqi had left him the task of wrapping up the Chai family affairs.
That meant he hadn't been exposed—was Long Tianqi protecting him?
Long Tianqi's attitude, the redistribution of his work, and the changes in Yanhuang Awakening—these were all things Xu Wendong needed to analyze carefully.
With that thought, he took a deep breath and sat down at his computer to start reviewing files.
On the other side, Long Tianqi's private secret team.
“Director, he's started checking those files. Xu Wendong really is cautious.”
Dongfang Shuye observed Xu Wendong's account activity. Although he had initially believed Lin Mo's accusation only seventy or eighty percent,
now he believed it a hundred percent.
Long Tianqi stood with her arms crossed.
“Let him check. After all, those people were just placed in those positions. They have no will of their own.”
After searching most of the night, Xu Wendong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
These people were indeed clean, not even students or children of any major families.
What did this mean? It meant Long Tianqi was deliberately trying to exclude family members from the Yanhuang Awakening organization.
For Xu Wendong, that was actually a good thing.
It meant he could plant even more of his own people later.
The Xu family might be big, but Xu Wendong was Xu Wendong, and the Xu family was the Xu family.
“Wendong, still awake?” A voice sounded from outside the door.
Xu Wendong immediately responded, “Mom! What's up?”
A woman who looked to be in her fifties or sixties pushed the door open. Seeing Xu Wendong still at his desk, she couldn't help but sigh.
“Wendong, at your current position, you still need to rest.”
Xu Wendong smiled. “It's nothing, Mom. I'm usually even busier at the base. By the way, why aren't you asleep yet?”
“I woke up to use the bathroom and saw your light still on...”
“It's okay, I'll sleep soon. I'm just not used to going to bed so early.”
Xu Wendong's mother nodded, looked at her son one last time, and said hesitantly, “The main branch said they hope you can go back tomorrow.”
“Mm, I know. I'll go when I have time.” Xu Wendong's tone wasn't very good.
Xu's mother didn't say anything more. She knew why her son felt that way.
So finally, she sighed. “Just have your limits. Don't let yourself be controlled in the end.”
These words carried deep meaning.
Xu Wendong nodded. “Don't worry. No one can control me, and I won't let anyone control me.”
The Xu family? Hmph!
With that thought, Xu Wendong turned off his computer, stretched as if to rest, and said, “Alright, Mom, go to sleep. I'll sleep too.”
“Mm.”
After his mother left, Xu Wendong pulled out a small laptop from the drawer. It had a design and interface unlike anything available on the market.
He started operating it.
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
