Retired for A Hundred Years: Re-Employment for the Apocalypse Bigshot!-Chapter 457 - 452: Cooperation? You’re Pretty Confident
At first, she always thought that the mastermind behind the [Commander Plan] was the Ye Family, which made Li Wenxin one of the insiders.
However, as she investigated further, she discovered that besides the Ye Family, there were many others unrelated to them involved in the plan.
The list of deceased researchers provided by Ji Hong showed that most of them had no connection to the Ye Family.
To command them to hide on an island for decades focusing on training [Commanders] like Ji Hong, aside from the research value of the project itself, there must be someone providing them with substantial funding, equipment, and resources.
Apart from Qi Shixiao, she couldn’t think of anyone else.
Ji Ning’s gaze toward Qi Shixiao gradually turned cold.
But Qi Shixiao, on the other hand, showed no fear; instead, he smiled slightly, "That’s also why I’m here to see you."
Ji Ning sneered, "What do you want? Help you create another Commander? Or help you blow up another island and kill everyone on it?"
Lin Yuanyang was so shocked by her words that he jumped up from the sofa, looking at Qi Shixiao in disbelief.
"Sister Ning, did he kill anyone?"
Facing the only bloodline left by his sister, Qi Shixiao felt guilty and quickly waved his hand, "Don’t talk nonsense, how could Uncle kill someone? That’s the Qi Family’s decades of effort, I’m not such a beast."
Saying this, he looked at Ji Ning with surprise, "Did you actually find that island?"
Ji Ning remained expressionless, waiting for him to continue.
Qi Shixiao calmed his emotions and continued speaking, but his voice gradually filled with anger and hatred.
"After the island successfully nurtured high-level superpower users of three systems, we valued it greatly. But when I arrived, I found the entire island reduced to ruins, and the Qi Family’s hard work of many years destroyed completely.
At first, we thought Ji Hong discovered the truth and, in a fit of rage, killed everyone on the island. But after investigation, we found out she wasn’t the culprit. The real perpetrators were the scum from the Eternal Life Sect!
They infiltrated the island for years, trying to get Ji Hong first and turn her into a host for a big figure in the West Continent. However, during their operation, they were discovered by the researchers on the island.
Those researchers sacrificed themselves to send Ji Hong off the island, destroyed most of the data, and ultimately blew up the island perishing with the assassins from the Eternal Life Sect..."
Discussing this, Qi Shixiao’s eyes reddened with anger, suppressing the hatred in his eyes with effort.
But Ji Ning across from him remained expressionless, as if what he mentioned were known to her already, evoking no emotional ripple.
Ji Ning asked, "If that’s the case, why not bury them? They were top talents you invested dearly in, just left soaking in the sea, buried under rubble?"
Qi Shixiao was taken aback, looking at Ji Ning with a somewhat peculiar gaze.
"It’s not that we don’t want to bury them, but that it’s temporarily impossible to move them."
"Why?"
Qi Shixiao’s eyes revealed a bit of confusion: "When the island was blown up, many pieces of equipment were destroyed, and a lot of pollutants leaked out, contaminating the nearby waters. Contacting the bodies rashly would result in severe poisoning, even superpower users couldn’t withstand it."
Ji Ning frowned instantly but then relaxed thinking of Ji Hong, who looked fine.
Qi Shixiao seemed to consider that Ji Ning’s subordinates sent for investigation might have already contacted the bodies and explained, "If you find a Healing Ability User in time, it won’t be much of an issue. But Healing Ability Users are too precious, and hard to make them heal others. So, we can only leave it as is, waiting for the pollution source to lessen before handling it."
Ji Ning’s face looked somewhat better at this point.
Qi Shixiao continued, "Now, the Eternal Life Sect over there is also creating Commanders. According to internal information, that [Commander] has already entered the borders of the Hua Continent and could be pushed out anytime to contest with the Huazhou Alliance. So, I’ve come to you, hoping for your cooperation."
Qi Shixiao’s clasped hands tightened slightly, his gaze fixed on Ji Ning, lacking full certainty in his heart.
Sure enough, she showed a hint of disdain on her face, "Cooperation? You’re quite confident."
Qi Shixiao immediately said, "I know you won’t agree easily, but years ago, besides aiming to reclaim internal powers from the Ji Family Army, another goal of conducting this plan was to counter the Eternal Life Sect.
Perhaps you don’t know, but the brain chip controlling the believers of the Eternal Life Sect is a sub-program of the Smart Brain, and the highest authority who can command the Smart Brain’s main program can only be the Commander. That’s written in the main program’s self-destruct program. If the Commander reveals the original code of the Smart Brain developed back then, the Eternal Life Sect will no longer exist."
Qi Shixiao’s words successfully plunged Ji Ning into thinking.
The original code?
Could it be that original USB left to her by Fu Huayu?
...
Qi Shixiao’s gaze gradually revealed a hint of certainty. Lin Yuanyang too well understood what this kind of gaze signified, promptly reminding, "Sister Ning, this is just Uncle... his one-sided statement, further verification from various sources is required."
Lin Yuanyang looked towards Qi Shixiao, his complex emotions slowly turning to dissatisfaction, "Let’s not talk about cooperation first, I just want to ask you, is my mother’s death related to you?"
Qi Shixiao hadn’t expected this sudden question from him.
His face changed momentarily but soon returned to calmness, "Your mother’s death was an accident."
But Lin Yuanyang didn’t believe it, pushing up his glasses, looking at Qi Shixiao with unfriendly eyes.
"I investigated, the plane malfunction was caused deliberately. Was it because my mother found some secret, then you silenced her..."
"Shut up!"
Qi Shixiao suddenly reprimanded harshly, his face filled with seriousness, "Even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs, let alone we are siblings from the same mother. Her death is an eternal pain in our hearts. It’s not as you suspect..."
"Then who harmed her? Don’t tell me it’s the West Continent Eternal Life Sect again? Sister Ning has already investigated, they wanted to act but hadn’t had time before my mother’s plane accident happened."
Lin Yuanyang’s gaze directly met Qi Shixiao’s face, not missing any expression on his face.
While Qi Shixiao’s look seemed to fall into some sort of memory, he rigidly repeated the previous words after a long while, "Your mother’s death was an accident."
Lin Yuanyang’s fists hardened instantly, standing up swiftly from the sofa, walked briskly to the desk, and slapped his hands on the table, staring straight into Qi Shixiao’s eyes.
"Then tell me, what kind of accident was it?"
Qi Shixiao looked at the boy bearing a seventy percent resemblance to his sister, his heart full of bitterness.
He found it hard to withstand such a gaze, leaning back against the chair, pulling the shirt collar button slightly.
Controlling the bitter emotions, he responded in the calmest voice, "Sorry Xiao Yang, I can’t tell you now, but once all of this is over, I’ll tell you the truth."
"Why not say it now?" Lin Yuanyang asked coldly.
But Qi Shixiao didn’t respond anymore, only looking at Lin Yuanyang with a trace of sadness in his eyes.
Ji Ning watched the uncle and nephew in a silent stalemate, understanding in her heart.
What kind of accident?
Merely a gambit of interests and human lives.
"What kind of cooperation do you want?" Ji Ning interrupted this pointless standoff with her voice.
Qi Shixiao gathered his emotions, stood up from his seat, walked to the window directly opposite Ji Ning, and took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, removing one.
Like engaging in casual chatter, he suddenly said, "Ji Hong isn’t dead, she’s in the training camp, right?"
Ji Ning knew he wanted to create some pressure before discussing cooperation, a very common negotiation tactic.
But in the face of absolute strength, it still wasn’t enough.
A massive spiritual power nearly immediately approached Qi Shixiao.
His hand halted as he was about to light a cigarette, turning around, quickly saying, "Don’t get worked up, besides me, no one knows about this. Not even those three families are aware."
"What do you want to do?" Ji Ning’s voice was filled with threat.
Qi Shixiao nervously swallowed.
"I want your blood."
