The ancients also said: do not flaunt wealth.
The reason for the Lu family's extermination was that people knew there was treasure in the house.
Now that only Lu Yaoyang remains of the Lu family, how could he not learn from it…
Everyone shifted their gaze from Lu Yaoyang to Xia Qingtian, their eyes scrutinizing: they must have been corrupted by her.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” Xia Qingtian met everyone’s gaze, blinking her innocent big eyes, her lips pursed as if wronged, “Is there something on my face?”
“Girl, was this your idea?” Professor Tang looked at Xia Qingtian and asked, “What pillow talk have you been whispering to this young Lu?”
“What kind of person do you think I am?” Xia Qingtian cupped her face with both hands, feigning shyness, “We are innocent!”
“Who said that! You’re good at playing dumb, I’m too lazy to talk to you!” Professor Tang gave Xia Qingtian a speechless look. He still remembered when this girl brought Er Ya into the laboratory, and he still couldn’t figure out if this Xia girl had done it on purpose back then!
Such a little girl, with a thousand eight hundred schemes, perhaps the Tang and Miao families combined wouldn't be enough for her to play with!
Professor Tang simply turned to Lu Yaoyang and asked, “Don’t you even know what happened to the Lu family back then? How dare you…”
“It is precisely because of the lessons of the past that I, after discussing with Qingtian, decided that we will not only dig for treasure but also dig for it with great fanfare,” Lu Yaoyang continued, “At the Lei family’s auction yesterday, not only were we there, but so were the people who destroyed the Lu family.”
“What?” Professors Tang and Miao immediately frowned.
“That’s right,” Mrs. Miao said, “I sensed him, he was indeed there.”
Hearing Mrs. Miao’s words, Mr. Miao’s expression changed immediately. He crossed the small square table and held Mrs. Miao’s hand, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, so many years have passed, he might not recognize me,” Mrs. Miao smiled reassuringly at Mr. Miao before her gaze turned serious, “But I remember him, I’ll remember him even if he turns to ashes!”
“Is… it Xiang Xueyuan?” Xia Qingtian didn’t know the deep feud between Mrs. Miao and Xiang Xueyuan. Mrs. Miao’s gaze seemed to want to grind Xiang Xueyuan into dust.
“His real name should be this,” Mrs. Miao nodded.
“Mom, is he the one…” Miao Tong suddenly asked, as if remembering something, “The person you asked me to find in Northern Europe back then?”
“Yes, it’s him,” Mrs. Miao nodded, “You found him.”
“Uh…” Miao Tong scratched the back of his head and gave a dry laugh, “I didn’t actually find him. You didn’t give me concrete evidence. It was on the last day, to help Qingtian and her sister escape, that I used a gu near a port in Northern Europe. I guess I saw him then.”
“As long as you saw him, and appeared within ten meters of him, the gu will tell me,” Mrs. Miao said, “So your mission was not a failure, it was very successful.
After so long, I successfully marked him again. Otherwise, in a few more months, I might not be able to find him again.”
At that time, perhaps only the hatred would remain buried in the heart, never to dissipate.
“Mrs. Miao, would you mind if I ask what kind of deep-seated hatred it is?” Xia Qingtian said, fearing Mrs. Miao might misunderstand, “I also have some grievances with him.”
Mrs. Miao looked up at Xia Qingtian, then at her husband. Seeing him nod to her, Mrs. Miao then placed a golden button on the table.
Seeing this golden button, Xia Qingtian’s pupils contracted sharply.
She was too familiar with this button.
“You’ve seen it?” Mrs. Miao caught the change in Xia Qingtian’s expression and asked.
“Yes, someone once chased and killed me, and he had this button on him. I thought it was very special at the time…” Xia Qingtian didn’t elaborate, her gaze never leaving the button. She vaguely felt that something about it was not quite right, “It seems not quite the same.”
“Then your observation is indeed meticulous,” Mrs. Miao said, “This is my button. There were originally eleven buttons, and mine is named 【tabit】, which is also a main-sequence star in Orion.
Before I married into the Miao family, I was a killer trained by Orion. Orion’s killers were all orphans due to war or other reasons.
Although Orion’s training was cruel, the relationships between its members were exceptionally close. None of us had our own families, only codenames. Perhaps we cherished that little sense of belonging more, so the eleven people who could get a button were like blood siblings.
When I wanted to leave Orion, I had already been issued multiple pursuit orders. It was only because the other members of Orion showed mercy that I managed to escape several times.
And then later…”
Taking a deep breath, Mrs. Miao’s brows furrowed, as if unwilling to recall that incident, “Orion was annexed by another rapidly rising organization. They not only massacred all Orion members but also took away our button totems. After modifying them, they used them, as well as our training methods.
No, it should be said that their training methods were even more brutal than ours.”
Mrs. Miao pursed her lips before continuing, “Orion selected suitable children from orphans to train as killers, but they did not. They created orphans. As long as they fancied a child, they would turn that child into an orphan, and then appear as saviors, either adopting them or using the excuse of helping them find their biological parents to train and enslave them.”
“!” Xia Qingtian’s eyes widened as she heard this, and she immediately thought of Nie Qingkong.
According to Mrs. Miao, Nie Qingkong also became an orphan after being selected?
His parents were actually killed by Xiang Xueyuan?
Immediately after, Xia Qingtian thought of the Shen Yao sisters, her gaze shifting.
The Shen Yao sisters also became orphans before encountering a fire and being separated, then trained into pawns, and then forced to kill each other…
Thinking of this, Xia Qingtian felt a chill run down her spine, a shiver spreading from the bottom of her heart to her limbs.
Lu Yaoyang noticed the change in Xia Qingtian’s expression. He crossed the small square table and held Xia Qingtian’s hand, which was trembling slightly on the edge of the table.
Held by Lu Yaoyang’s hand, Xia Qingtian snapped back to reality. She hooked her lips at Lu Yaoyang, indicating she was fine, and then looked back at Mrs. Miao, waiting for her to continue.
“Miao Tong, you must have already discovered that Xiang Xueyuan is not affected by your gu,” Mrs. Miao said to Miao Tong, “Not only is he not affected by gu, but even ordinary poisons can’t harm him. This is why I’ve only dared to use the marking gu to confirm his location until now.
Xiang Xueyuan is far more terrifying than you can imagine.
He has never been just a simple scholar, businessman, or criminal…
He is a madman.
A madman with high intelligence, high capability, and high destructive power.”