"Hmph, for someone who got their Master's at sixteen, your language skills must be watered down," Zhi Yue pouted. She had intended to smile, but her lips curled downwards involuntarily after a soft hum.
She pursed her lips, but the emotion in her heart inexplicably grew stronger. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she suddenly stood up and lunged at Bai Cha, tackling her to the floor.
Zhi Yue hugged Bai Cha tightly, as if trying to constrict her in half with all her might. However, she didn't use any real strength, merely the limited power of a woman, holding Bai Cha and sobbing hysterically.
It started with small whimpers, but soon her cries grew louder and louder.
"I'm sor—"
"What good is an apology? You always say sorry, and I don't want to hear it! I don't want to forgive you! I just want him back. This must be a dream, right? Tomorrow he'll still be giving me the cold shoulder." Zhi Yue interrupted Bai Cha's apology, her voice changing with her tears. "This is the first time I've liked someone, so why can't I still be angry with you! I want to be angry with you, I hate you!"
With that, as if to vent her emotions, Zhi Yue angrily lifted her head and bit down hard on Bai Cha's shoulder. She bit so hard that Bai Cha flinched and quickly relaxed the muscles in her shoulder to avoid instinctively reacting and hurting Zhi Yue's teeth.
"You're all liars. That guy told me he'd reject me every day. You said you'd protect him. My parents also said this mission would only involve you, and no one else." Zhi Yue held on for a long time before looking up indignantly. She was already attractive, and with tear streaks still on her small face, she looked rather cute. "You all lied!"
Bai Cha: "?"
As Zhi Yue poured out her sorrow, Bai Cha initially held her with the simple intention of comforting her. However, as Zhi Yue spoke, things became increasingly strange, and Bai Cha's keen senses caught the crucial points in her words.
What was this situation with Cang Liu telling you he’d reject you once a day? Are you a masochist? And you even agreed to him rejecting you once a day.
Thinking of Cang Liu's distressed expression when he found her that time, Bai Cha could already visualize it. She could imagine Zhi Yue cheerfully running up to Cang Liu, saying aggressively, "Either agree to me, or you dare to reject me every day."
No, that's not the main point.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean your parents said this situation would only involve me?" Bai Cha frowned. "What's going on?"
"My parents said they wanted to negotiate with you, to have you abdicate after the world competition. They said they only wanted to talk with you and wouldn't involve anyone else," Zhi Yue wiped away her tears.
Zhi Ying envied her, being the eldest legitimate daughter with excellent talent and receiving much attention. However, Zhi Yue detested her own family. Her parents had always treated her as a tool. Whenever her ranking in any subject, or even an elective, was low, she would be severely beaten.
The scolding would last all night, invariably about, "How can you embarrass us like this?" "We spent so much money on you, only for you to disgrace us?" "If you don't work hard, how can you be first? If you can't be a top student, how can you have status?" "Are you useless? We told you that you're the most talented in the Zhi family. Are you trying to slap our faces?"
Those words were something Zhi Yue never wanted to recall. After becoming a Dragon Knight, she never returned home. Even during holidays, she would immerse herself in fragmented small missions. Although her missions paled in comparison to Bai Cha's, she had still made a name for herself.
Occasionally, when she accompanied her parents to banquets, Zhi Yue could only remain silent as she watched them proudly claim all the credit.
Zhi Yue vaguely understood that she seemed to be merely a tool for her parents' power struggles and boasts.
Years ago, when she had just entered the top one hundred in the world competition, being the lowest-ranked, her parents sought all sorts of remedies to improve her strength. Finally, they heeded the advice of a doctor from the laboratory who claimed that electric currents could stimulate the body's functions and potential, thereby promoting energy enhancement.
During that period, she was repeatedly electrocuted to the brink of death, even losing control of herself several times, all for that faint increase in power. Despair deepened, and this time Cang Liu's death finally shattered her last line of defense.
Zhi Yue suddenly understood. Since childhood, her dolls would be thrown away by her parents because they were useless. They assumed that Cang Liu was no more than a doll in Zhi Yue's heart, useless to her and useless to them.
Therefore, she was also a doll. If, one day, she too became useless...
Zhi Yue dared not think further. She didn't know why, but she subconsciously cast her gaze towards Bai Cha.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Bai Cha frowned. This incident was no longer just about her being involved. The Shadow faction had suffered heavy losses, with two Oracle figures dead. She hadn't expected this to be a setup by the Zhi family.
Bai Cha had reason to believe that it wasn't just the Zhi family involved. She had been so overwhelmed with other matters recently that she had neglected this side of things.
"Come on, you've never lost an argument, whether it's your ability or your words. If it was just a conversation with them, they would have taken advantage of you," Zhi Yue mumbled softly, lowering her head. "Who knew something like this would happen."
Bai Cha was speechless. Although Zhi Yue had a bad temper and could be spoiled and unreasonable at times, she was actually quite naive to believe that her parents would seek a calm discussion with her.
Would two fiercely opposed factions sit down for a peaceful conversation?
"Wait a minute, Zhi Yue, do you know Zhi Yunshan and Tu Qingyuan?" Bai Cha suddenly seemed to recall something. She retrieved some photos from her tablet and handed them to Zhi Yue. "Do these reports ring a bell?"
"Zhi Yunshan? You mean my grandfather? My grandfather passed away years ago, wasn't he someone you killed along with others?" Zhi Yue glanced at the report and shrugged. "Tu Qingyuan? Isn't that the former patriarch of the Tu family? I remember he was quite close to my Uncle Mo Ziye. What's up?"
"Do these two reports look familiar to you?" Bai Cha repeated her question. She was already very familiar with these interpersonal relationships from her private investigations and didn't need Zhi Yue to remind her. However, as Zhi Yue looked at these two reports, a hint of confusion flickered across her expression.
"Aren't these two from the same time period's research?" Zhi Yue found the reports spanning three years a bit strange. "I remember they researched this together before, but aren't these two the same report?"
Although this report looked very different, in reality, they were similar. Children of the Light faction and the Shadow faction were unlike each other. The Shadow faction was taught assassination and various peculiar knowledge from childhood, while the children of the Light faction had to engage in scientific research from a young age. It was only when scientific research and theoretical knowledge proved fruitless that they would choose to engage in combat-related work.
And Zhi Yue clearly belonged to the category of those with less sharp minds. However, she had some exposure to these matters. She was considered semi-familiar with these professional terms and was certainly more knowledgeable in this area than Bai Cha.
"One report, one research? Are you sure?" Bai Cha narrowed her eyes, a cold glint flashing within them.
As expected, Mo Yuntian and those from the neutral faction had concealed some matters. This connected everything.
"Of course. After all, I was once on the verge of entering the scientific research field," Zhi Yue puffed out her chest, appearing particularly proud of finally surpassing Bai Cha in some areas. "When I went to the laboratory with Mo Ziye when we were younger, I personally saw and heard them researching this together."
Although Zhi Yue's relationship with Mo Ziye seemed ordinary now, they were from the same faction. In their innocent childhood, they had played together happily. It was only as they grew older that they gradually drifted apart.
"Zhi Yue, I think you might need to prepare yourself mentally." Bai Cha put away her tablet, her expression turning serious.
"Huh? What's wrong now?" Zhi Yue was confused, not understanding why Bai Cha's emotions were fluctuating. "What else could possibly happen?"
What could be more serious than her losing her beloved?
"Although I don't want to say it directly, I have to remind you that your beliefs might be about to collapse," Bai Cha spread her hands. "Your grandfather, Tu Qingyuan, and the Light faction previously claimed they were killed by me during the Shadow's cataclysm. But now it seems most of those people might not be dead."
Zhi Yue: "What?"
"They should have gathered together, secretly conducting human experiments, aiming to create a devastating weapon capable of becoming a god. To put it simply, it would be a controlled version of me," Bai Cha added.
Zhi Yue: "Huh?"
Zhi Yue was completely stunned, her mouth agape. It took her a long time to snap out of it. She now admitted that this matter seemed even more serious than losing her beloved.
She had only lost her love, and before she could even finish grieving, her own family was planning to destroy the world?
"What what what what, wait a minute, wait a minute, what is going on, where is this all coming from?" Zhi Yue suddenly stood up, shaking her head for a long time and tapping her temples, but she couldn't quite come to her senses. "No, what is the situation here?"
"The situation is that your people are disregarding ethics and conducting illegal experiments, disrupting social order and security, colluding with foreign powers to undermine China's foundation, acting with utter madness, and framing others," Bai Cha concisely summarized. "Do you understand now?"
Zhi Yue: "..."
I don't understand! I don't understand! Do you know what you're saying? Do you even hear yourself?
"Furthermore, if you want to protect your family's laboratory, I think it would be best for you to hurry over there now," Bai Cha mused again, hesitating slightly. "I scared away the semi-finished products they released to cause trouble, and if I'm not mistaken... your home should be in complete chaos right now."
She recalled the incident on the plane not long ago. Knowing that those Asuras shared the same origin of power as hers, she had used her superior's pressure to frighten the semi-finished product into scurrying back in terror.
Zhi Yue: "I didn't understand."
"Imagine you've raised a highly aggressive snake. Normally, with a little control, it's quite docile. But if someone were to provoke it with pain and danger one day, it would trigger the snake's stress response and animalistic nature. As it flees in panic, it might end up biting the first person it sees," Bai Cha explained. "Even if that person is its owner."
For example, those Asuras.
Comparing Asuras to snakes was actually quite fitting. Although Asuras couldn't be considered living creatures, they certainly had more in common with cold-blooded animals.
Moreover, these people from the Light faction would definitely not treat their test subjects well. Even a dog wouldn't wag its tail at these people, let alone these test subjects.
"So, those monsters should have turned on them by now. Therefore, if I'm not mistaken, something has happened at your home."