Closer to Revealing My True Self-Chapter 675 - 436_1

On a mountain road far from the city center, the rumbling of sports cars echoed once more.

"Hey, Professor Shen, it’s Feng Yi. Sorry for disturbing you at this hour, hopefully you haven’t gone to bed yet...there’s something I need to tell you. I was out having fun with friends and we accidentally caught a beetle. It looks a lot like the one you told me about, the kind that hasn’t been seen in An City for a long time. I’ve sent you some photos and a video, could you take a look and see if it’s the one?"

About three minutes later, the phone rang on the other end.

Based on the video and photos shot by Feng Yi, Professor Shen was almost certain of the beetle’s species and sounded particularly excited:

"It does look like it from the video! But I need to see it in person! Where are you at?"

Feng Yi gave the location.

Professor Shen was currently not in An City and was quite far away, unable to make it immediately, and could only arrive by tomorrow at the earliest.

Feng Yi was talking to Professor Shen on the phone.

Parking area.

Wang Xuqin leaned against a car, lighting up a cigarette to calm his nerves.

It’s just playing with beetles, no big deal, what haven’t I, Brother Xu, seen before...

And then he saw Feng Yi catch a snake from the bushes, which seemed to be some kind of poisonous snake, at least as long as an arm.

Wang Xuqin: !!!

He was so startled he almost dropped his cigarette.

He picked up his phone to look for security, and then remembered, the person currently holding the snake is an expert.

Feng Yi, with his phone in his pocket and communicating via Bluetooth headset, beetle in one hand and snake in the other, turned back to Wang Xuqin, who was still dumbfounded with his cigarette, and said:

"Brother Xu, there’s a poisonous snake here. I’ll throw it far away."

Then he ran off into the distance, disappearing from Wang Xuqin’s sight.

Wang Xuqin: "..."

You’re throwing the snake, but why are you running so far off into the mountains!

Normally nonchalant and bored during car races, but now he’s jumping around like a monkey!

He tossed his cigarette into a nearby trash can and hurriedly called out:

"Watch your step, don’t fall!"

Wang Xuqin couldn’t understand why Feng Yi didn’t just get someone from the property management of the nearby residential area to help, why did he have to do it himself?

It was so dark around, and the terrain in those areas full of weeds and trees was unclear. He didn’t even have a flashlight, was it really okay to run off like that?!

Worried about the important guest getting into trouble, Wang Xuqin quickly shouted:

"Hey! Feng Yi! Don’t be impulsive, I’ll find you a flashlight!"

"Ah? No need, I’m already on my way back."

Following his voice, Feng Yi quickly returned from a distance.

His steps were steady, as if walking on flat ground, his pace swift as the wind.

It wasn’t an exaggeration, he really did dart through the bushes that fast!

Wang Xuqin, ready to dial on his phone: "..."

His mind was a whirl of complicated thoughts, but at the moment he didn’t know how to express them.

However, seeing Feng Yi return safely, Wang Xuqin did breathe a sigh of relief.

As Feng Yi approached, the lights in the parking area illuminated him, and Wang Xuqin’s gaze swept over him.

The snake was indeed gone, but weren’t his hands full of beetles just a moment ago?

"What about the bug you caught?" Wang Xuqin asked.

"I let it go. I didn’t need to keep holding onto it after taking pictures," said Feng Yi.

During the moment he was throwing the snake, he had taken a careful look around. There was indeed more than one beetle of the same species nearby, so the poor thing in his hands wasn’t needed anymore.

Professor Shen and his team will come here to search for beetles, using their habitat and life traces, with maybe a bit of lure added, they will find their target. They are more professional.

Wang Xuqin spoke with a hint of inscrutability: "I can’t tell that you like beetles."

Feng Yi took a tissue from the car to wipe his hands, and upon hearing this, he explained, "It’s not about liking them, it’s just that some of the recent documents I’ve been writing involve this topic. Professor Shen and other experts sent me a lot of information, that’s how I recognized it. Had it been a week earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to identify it.

"Going through those materials was pretty interesting. Beetles, a group that has existed on Earth for hundreds of millions of years, have evolved all kinds of bizarre appearances and extreme abilities due to competition for survival resources..."

Feng Yi spoke as the thoughts came to him.

Some species, even after such intense competition, still survive.

And some species, no matter how much they compete, will still be driven to extinction due to shrinking survival resources.

Wang Xuqin couldn’t relate to Feng Yi’s sentiments, as he had something else on his mind.

He hesitated before asking, "This thing you’re talking about, will it alarm the people from the Urban Conservation Bureau?"

After speaking, remembering that the person in front of him was an expert from the Urban Conservation Bureau, he added, "I mean those inspectors from the bureau."

He wasn’t afraid, but Wang Xuqin got frustrated just seeing them.

Once, when some issues at his hotel drew the attention of the Urban Conservation Bureau, they chased the case like mad dogs for a long time. Even after it was resolved, he still had a psychological shadow.

If he had the choice, he would rather not deal with those inspectors from the Urban Conservation Bureau.

"It shouldn’t," said Feng Yi.

No sooner had he spoken than another call came through on the phone.

The caller ID made Feng Yi’s brow jump. He glanced at Wang Xuqin strangely and answered, "Hello, this is Feng Yi."

Wang Xuqin, noticing the tone of Feng Yi’s voice, felt something was off and waited for Feng Yi to finish the call before looking at him questioningly.

Feng Yi said, "It’s from the An City branch of the Urban Conservation Bureau."

Wang Xuqin paused, and his tone was unexpectedly calm, "They’re coming over?"

"No, just inquiring. They’ll have to wait until the species is confirmed before they come over to collect information and whatnot. It’s fine, even if they do come, they’ll just be collecting data and taking samples."

Wang Xuqin recalled the famous incident that Feng Yi had been involved in.

"When you caught that poisonous snake called Qing or whatever, I heard the Urban Conservation Bureau made quite a fuss."

"Oh, that incident. That was because there was an Urban Conservation Bureau investigative team already on site, and it involved a first-class protected wild animal. Plus, that case was connected to some old ones, which is why there was a big commotion. The beetle issue today is different from that event; it’s more about local ecology, a more positive direction."

Wang Xuqin let out a breath and a smile appeared on his face.

That’s good then.

If the United Insurance Bureau were to suddenly come out at a time like this, everyone’s mood would be completely ruined.

According to Feng Yi, even if the people from the United Insurance Bureau were to come, it would be after the Mingyao event is over.

Feeling relaxed, Wang Xuqin was also willing to talk about this.

However, the parking area here really isn’t a good place to chat. Just thinking about the snakes nearby made Wang Xuqin unable to stand still.

Calling over Feng Yi, the two of them walked toward the pavilion. Chatting as they went.

"The owners of the community next to us, actually many of them don’t come very often. Apart from occasionally forming teams to race cars, there’s very little human activity in the vicinity. Perhaps it’s for these reasons that some of the small animals come here. It also shows that this place has got good ’feng shui’ huh!" Wang Xuqin laughed.

"Yeah, there are those factors," Feng Yi didn’t argue.

However, apart from what Wang Xuqin mentioned, there was also the possibility that the people who came here for field research and sampling behaved conservatively due to the resident demographics and the occasionally reinforced security management. Therefore, their sampling scope was limited, which is why the beetles hadn’t been discovered until now.

If it weren’t for Feng Yi coming here to race tonight and catching that one by chance, it might have taken until the beetle’s population had grown to a certain number for researchers to notice them.

Thinking of his call with Professor Shen, Feng Yi mentioned, "Professor Shen’s team will send a group over tomorrow or the day after."

Wang Xuqin was unconcerned, "No problem, everyone will be busy ’blasting mountains’ here tomorrow or the day after. We’ll go play on the yacht. I’ll have someone keep a lookout, and if they see the research team coming, I’ll have someone take them to the place where you caught the beetles."

"Thanks, Brother Xu."

"It’s nothing. Our foundation also supports some ecological and environmental research projects," Wang Xuqin casually mentioned a few projects that were not well known to the public but were familiar to Feng Yi.

"That’s pretty good."

Feng Yi looked at the sports car speeding on the road nearby and said, "Although I’m not inside the community, since it’s close by, I might as well mention it in the chat group so that the owners here are aware, to avoid unnecessary conflicts later on."

After all, the people who live here are no ordinary folks. They would thoroughly investigate if they spotted an unfamiliar team within their activity area.

Feng Yi took out his phone.

The guests participating in the event had set up a temporary chat group.

Feng Yi called out to the homeowners in the group, and briefly informed them: a team of about five people, led by a professor studying insects, would come the day after tomorrow to look for beetles. They will not enter the community.

By now, many guests had stopped racing on the roads and were resting. Seeing Feng Yi’s message, someone quickly replied:

[No big deal.]

[Sure, let them come. I won’t be here tomorrow or the day after anyway.]

[I object! Unless you let me get a fix on your car [smirk]]

Feng Yi: [Come and drive it!]

The person from earlier continued: [Forget it for today. After the Mingyao auction ends, our club will book a racetrack and I’ll test drive your car, that’s a deal, don’t hide your car then]

People who weren’t homeowners of this community were finding their point of interest:

[Noob question here, weren’t we racing cars? Feng Yi, how did you end up catching bugs?!]

[Shocking! Are cars not fun anymore? To think you’d play with beetles instead!]

The group started to rib each other.

On this side, Wang Xuqin also started talking to Feng Yi about the auction.

"Did Feng Chi tell you about the auction item?" Wang Xuqin asked.

"About the diamond?" said Feng Yi.

"Yes, it’s a black diamond rough. My father got it from a mine overseas. At that time..." Wang Xuqin was about to tell a story.

Feng Yi’s phone rang.

Because of the beetle, Professor Shen had contacted several colleagues, and also informed the An City branch of the United Insurance Bureau, which is why he got the call.

And at this moment, it was another professor who was studying the ecology of the south who called.

After a brief chat and just as it ended, another call came in.

Wang Xuqin opened his mouth but then closed it again.

It seemed the conversation wasn’t going to continue today.

Indeed, after Feng Yi took another call, he apologized, "They need me to join an online meeting."

"No worries, important matters come first," Wang Xuqin smiled understandingly.

Feng Yi left a message for Feng Chi and said goodbye to the others in the group.

Then he tapped on his smartwatch.

Wang Xuqin looked towards the parking area. They were already some distance away: "Your car is parked over there..."

A deep roar approached.

A car was coming from the direction of the parking area. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Feng Yi’s car.

The car stopped beside them, the car door opened, and Feng Yi sat in the driver’s seat.

"Then, I’ll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Wang Xuqin watched Feng Yi’s car drive away.

If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, there had been no one in the car just then.

At that moment, someone from the direction of the parking area came over; it was a friend who was very close to Wang Xuqin.

"Wow, Feng Yi’s car came out on its own! We had just parked our cars in the parking area and were watching his car when it started moving by itself!"

Auto-driving is nothing new, and intelligent stances are not a new trick. It’s just that they had been taken by surprise without any warning.

That person walked up to Wang Xuqin and asked, "Brother Xu, what were you and Feng Yi chatting about in private for so long? Did you discuss a deal worth several billion?"

Wang Xuqin had a complicated expression: "Beetles and the circle of life."

The person: ???

Could this be some new model of car or industry jargon?

Elsewhere, back at the hotel.

Feng Yi opened a somewhat concealed storage compartment and took out a bag of brain-nourishing supplements specially made by Bing.