Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 898 - 717: Concealment

Didn’t expect Ai Qing to be so straightforward.

For a moment, Huai Shi was stunned: "He, he really came to Yingzhou?"

"Maybe." Ai Qing said, "This has nothing to do with what you and I need to do, Huai Shi. Sometimes, confidentiality is best maintained by keeping the circle of knowledge as small as possible—what I just told you is within the scope of the mission’s permissible information, but for more, if you don’t want to be thrown into the Sea Trench Prison, you’ll need higher-level authorization."

"Wait a minute!"

Huai Shi finally came to his senses, eyes wide open: "Old Liu is the Green Day big boss’s child?"

"...Adopted child."

Ai Qing sighed for who knows how many times because of his bluntness: "The leader of Green Day doesn’t have lovers or biological descendants, but has adopted many orphans. They call each other father and son. Although there’s no blood relation, the bond is strong—I thought you knew."

"How could I know such explosive news?" Huai Shi was shocked, "This is just too crazy! The world’s number one terrorist raising a Cowherd, that’s outrageous!"

"Then how did you end up giving that guy a hair growth solution at the station? Okay, I get it, a habitual mess-up."

Ai Qing didn’t wait for Huai Shi to answer, already guessing the whole story, and rubbed her temples in frustration: "By the way, according to the Jurisdiction Bureau’s monitoring, that bottle of hair growth solution eventually ended up in Liu DongLi’s hands—this might be the only good news for now, at least he now has enough hair growth solution to last."

"Alright, I got it."

Actually, Huai Shi didn’t get it at all, instead becoming more curious: "Why did he go to the Astronomical Society? Why did he come to Xinhai?"

"Classified matters, Huai Shi." Ai Qing replied coldly, "Just consider that he came to Xinhai for retirement and to inspect the depth of the Magic City."

"And the Feuerbach Mansion?"

"Of course because of ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, then ▇▇▇, eventually ▇▇▇▇, which led to ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇..."

Huai Shi felt dizzy, as every syllable produced by Ai Qing’s mouth in the air quickly disintegrated and reformed into a strange and incomprehensible noise, which, when it reached his mind, resulted in bursts of stabbing pain.

Ai Qing calmly spoke for five minutes, as if she was reading through an entire briefing. She only stopped speaking when Huai Shi saw blackness in front of him and his ears were in pain, and she asked curiously: "How do you feel?"

"Ababa ababa aba..."

After a long time, Huai Shi finally raised his hand to wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth, feeling dizzy: "This... was all encrypted?"

"Without clearance for non-existent floors, that’s the result, and it even got me a major demerit."

Ai Qing picked up her phone, glanced at the red alert on it, and tossed it aside: "So, that’s it, Huai Shi, for a tool person, you know too much."

"Alright then..."

Huai Shi sighed, rubbing his numb face, worried: "Old Liu... wouldn’t do anything illegal, would he?"

"He even follows the rules selling his looks as a Cowherd, never daring to skip work, do you think he has the guts to? Anyway, since you know now, consider it an extra task. The sooner you find him, the better, his ex-girlfriend is already going crazy looking for him..."

Huai Shi wanted to speak but hesitated, hesitated but wanted to speak.

There was a question he wasn’t sure whether to ask.

Until Ai Qing sighed helplessly: "I know what you want to ask, the answer is the Astronomical Society won’t do anything to him, at most they’ll break his legs and send him back to the hospital to recuperate, and incidentally add more than three layers of security. Apart from that, not a hair on his head will be lost, not a cent of his pension will be deducted.

His value is higher than you think, even exceeding you and me—in a way, he’s one of the safety valves that keep the Astronomical Society and Green Day in check today from launching full-scale wars. "

"That outrageous, huh!"

"What else could it be?" Ai Qing shook her head helplessly: "Do you have any other questions?"

Huai Shi shrugged, but before hanging up, he still felt a bit uneasy, and although it wasn’t very polite, he still opened his mouth to ask:

"Besides this... is there anything you’re hiding from me?"

"Of course not." Ai Qing’s tone turned cold: "I think we need to learn to trust each other, don’t we? Regrettably, after all this time, there doesn’t seem to be any progress."

"Sorry, my bad, my bad." Huai Shi raised his hands in surrender.

"Get a good rest tonight, tomorrow’s banquet won’t be simple, at this critical moment, the meet between the five big shots, who knows what they’re brewing."

Ai Qing finally reminded: "The venue may likely be equipped with interference devices, when it comes time to gain further clues, you might have to rely on your own efforts."

She paused, and before the call ended, bid farewell: "I wish you all the best."

"Let’s hope so."

Huai Shi sighed, lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and began to toss and turn.

Elsewhere, in the temporary command post hidden outside the edge of the Tanbo Inner Circle, Ai Qing calmly handled the report in her hand, archiving information sent by her subordinates, transmitting it further back.

Finally, her sight moved away from the screen, looking to her side, where the action files scheduled for backup archiving in the Decision Room tomorrow were located.

In the silence, she extracted a document envelope from the top of the files, examining the assassination order for the covert operations team that she personally signed.

Ultimately, it was thrown into the shredder.

A slight rustling sound.

Before archiving, the names of the deceased silently disappeared in the ashes, without anyone knowing.

"I say... doing something illicit right in front of me is not very proper, is it?"

In the corner, the security guard and tough guy, almost devoid of presence - Mr. Tony, with a horse-like face raised a hand to ask, "Besides, isn’t this also something you’re hiding from Huai Shi? Aren’t you going to tell him the tr..."

In the silence, Ai Qing didn’t speak, just turned her head quietly, looking at him.

After a long while, a gentle smile appeared.

"It’s okay, I trust you, Mr. Tony," she said. "As long as you don’t tell anyone, there’s no issue, right?"

Tony decisively raised both hands, surrendering.

Then he wrapped several layers of tape over the mouth of his horse-head mask and stopped speaking.

"Looks like we’ve reached an agreement, that’s good."

Ai Qing nodded slightly, withdrew her gaze, and looked at the clues and information on the screen: "Let’s speed up... before the Green Day people find Liu DongLi."

In the long silence, there was only a crisp click.

The numbers on the counter changed again.

——[4]

.

.

The next day, in the afternoon, on the streets of the Tanbo Inner Circle, Huai Shi was lounging on a chair under the Fujimoto Corporation Building, lazily basking in the sun.

"Mr. Huaizhi."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Huaizhi."

"Hello, Mr. Huaizhi, would you like some fruit?"

"My shop has some new dishes, would Mr. Huaizhi be interested in trying them?"

As people passed by, those who knew him would give a greeting, and the bolder ones would chat for a bit. Some people would take a wide path around when they saw the hybrid features on his forehead, as if they had come across something dirty.

The newcomer buying everyone beer had some effect.

At least quite a few people now knew the young man lazing in the chair, the hybrid who had recently risen to fame as the leader of the Huaizhi Gang, the most dazzling guy in the entire Tanbo Inner Circle.

At least more people on the street were acknowledging him.

"You’re going to the dinner party of the Five Bosses dressed like this?" Lawrence appeared out of nowhere, looking down at his outfit.

The suit, shirt, and tie he casually bought at a tailor’s shop this morning were just for show, even the shoes came as a bonus from the shop owner.

Even a job-seeking youth for an interview wouldn’t dress like this.

"Isn’t this already very formal?" Huai Shi looked up at him, puzzled. "Besides, aren’t you even more casual?"

Lawrence still had the homeless aesthetic, with an old coat, jeans, messy hair, and holding a bottle of cola... he was just a few flies away from being a walking eyesore.

"Can you compare with me?" Lawrence glanced at him, full of doubt. "Are you really from Yingzhou? Show some respect to your predecessors, newcomer!"

"...Had you not mentioned it, I might have forgotten."

Huai Shi raised his hand, patted his head, and pointed at Ueno behind him: "Hey, don’t you know how to treat people? Quickly get a chair for the predecessor and a fruit plate, move it!"

"Never mind, I’m just here to remind you to be careful during the dinner," Lawrence said, coughing like someone with tuberculosis, as he lit a cigarette. "The Arakawa Family might make a move against you. The Tiger King Group dared to secretly sell contraband in violation of the ban because large sums were being offered... You crushed the Tiger King Group, and even though Tobio and Chiba value you, the Arakawa might not let it go. Especially since this time it’s on Arakawa Family’s turf."

"Can’t Green Day handle it?"

"If they couldn’t handle it, would the Arakawa Family just be all talk right now?" Lawrence retorted. "You ascended too quickly, your foundation is shaky, many people want to see you embarrass yourself, so don’t end up unable to save face.

You’ve offended too many people, Huai Shi, at least most of them."

Huai Shi was at a loss: "I’ve only been this ragtag leader for a few days, and you’re already telling me I’ve almost offended everyone in the Alliance?"

"What did you expect? You think the beers you drank weren’t enough to attract hatred? That small amount of money doesn’t matter to them, but why did no one else do it? From the beginning, you showed everyone that you’re different from them. Why would they like you?"

After finishing, Lawrence couldn’t help but groan: "Why do I, a foreigner, seem more like an Yingzhou person than you... Let me make it clear, helping you smooth over relations with the Five Bosses is one thing, but if you anger everyone, I won’t intervene."

"Is it that serious?"

Huai Shi was dumbfounded: "All I did was start a water supply company."

"Suppose you have a well-cooperated business partner, maintaining a courteous distance for a long time, meeting mutual needs, and ignoring other matters. But suddenly in the past few days, he changes his demeanor and starts giving excuses about the heat to offer bonuses and benefits to your employees..."

Lawrence finished and turned back to ask, "Wouldn’t you think this guy has ulterior motives, trying to mess with you?"

Huai Shi frowned and couldn’t contain his anger, "Shouldn’t these guys with some conscience have provided those benefits themselves sooner?"

"Since when did you start having the illusion that those on the Extreme Path have a conscience? Huai Shi, only you would extend such excessive empathy towards others... To be honest, you’re nothing like a Green Day person."

"Then what do I seem like?" Huai Shi was amused, "The Astronomical Society?"

Lawrence was also amused, patting his shoulder: "If everyone in the Astronomical Society were like you, there would be no need for Green Day."

Ahead, a black sedan stopped in front of the Huaizhi Corporation building.

The window rolled down, and an old face with a radiant smile emerged, waving warmly: "Ah, isn’t this Mr. Lawrence? Such a coincidence! Would you like to join us?"

"No need, I’ll come later." Lawrence replied.

So, Tobio looked over at Huai Shi, his smile growing even warmer: "Well then, Huaizhi-kun, let’s go, the dinner party is about to start."