Chapter 1 Li Cheng Yi's Thoughts

As Li Cheng Yi walked, his thoughts became clearer, but his contemplation made him appear somewhat silent, drawing the attention of those around him.

"What are you thinking about? Is it work-related?" Zhou Xing Tong asked softly from the side.

Initially, she had been somewhat embarrassed about Chen Pi wanting to introduce her to a boyfriend.

She disliked this kind of utilitarian meeting, but she couldn't resist her friend's good intentions.

However, after seeing Li Cheng Yi, she thought... it wouldn't hurt to get to know him.

Although he wasn't particularly handsome, he always had a smile on his face, was in good shape, and had a lot of energy. Chen Pi said he didn't have any bad habits either.

She was the kind of person who went with the flow, lost and confused, not knowing what she wanted to do or what she was capable of. If no one set a goal for her, she would be at a loss, standing still.

"It's nothing, I just like growing flowers, so I was thinking about the wisteria I planted," Li Cheng Yi replied casually.

If Chen Pi hadn't dragged him to this gathering, he might not have discovered the sub-categories of evil thoughts so quickly, so he was in a good mood.

"Growing flowers? Flowers are very pretty... and fragrant..."

Zhou Xing Tong didn't know much about this topic, only the morning glories and wild chrysanthemums near her parents' house.

She tried to squeeze out some relevant content, but unfortunately, her mind was blank.

"It's okay, I'll invite you to the botanical garden sometime. It's very beautiful. A single flower isn't much, but when there are many, it's visually stunning," Li Cheng Yi said with a smile.

He seemed to be in an even better mood now.

Not because of anything else, but because, while talking to Zhou Xing Tong, he once again felt a trace of evil thought drifting from somewhere.

'Evil thought: jealousy +0.1'

'Evil thought: jealousy +0.1'

'Evil thought: jealousy +0.1'

The continuous prompts made him understand how he should acquire these subdivided evil thoughts.

Although the second evolution of the wisteria hadn't started, and the evil thought of jealousy couldn't be absorbed, only allowed to dissipate, at least he had found a way.

Chatting with beautiful girls could generate the evil thought of jealousy, so... some of the ideas he had before would definitely generate even more evil thoughts.

The walk was short. Although Chen Pi and Xue Xue had tried their best to create space for the two of them, it was soon time to part ways.

"Let's all hang out again sometime!" Chen Pi waved to Li Cheng Yi with her two friends.

Li Cheng Yi gave a thumbs-up, watching the three leave.

He didn't need a polite smile; his face always looked like he was smiling anyway.

After the gathering, he took a taxi straight home, washed up, and rested.

His parents were sitting in the living room, chatting quietly. His older sister, Li Cheng Jiu, was in her room, not making any noise.

She had been at home a lot lately, often staying in her bedroom alone, not knowing what she was doing.

She was a person with a big temper and many secrets. She had a wide circle of acquaintances, and no one knew what she was often busy with.

Like the last time she brought someone home.

The complexity of her circle was such that even Xin Dela couldn't find out anything for a while.

Li Cheng Yi didn't have time to worry about these things. His top priority now was to secure the botanical garden as soon as possible and then transplant the flowers he needed.

So, every day he went to training early in the morning, busied himself with the botanical garden during lunchtime, preparing to interview employees and register the company, and went to other botanical gardens in the afternoon to absorb the flower qi of gladiolus variants to increase his evolution progress.

His daily life was extremely fulfilling.

In the blink of an eye, half of August had passed.

The shadow of Zhong Ying's death had gradually faded from Li Cheng Yi's life.

His sleep at night was also much better than before.

Just as the botanical garden company's structure was nearing completion, on the afternoon of the 17th, Li Cheng Yi came out of a small ornamental park in the suburbs of Suiyang, intending to take a taxi home.

He had basically absorbed the flower qi of the gladiolus variants, reaching 91%. He had touched all the gladioli in the nearby botanical gardens.

Next, he would look for gladioli in other places. If that didn't work, he planned to try flower shops or university gardens, green belts, and the like.

With these few places, he should be able to gather enough.

The afternoon sun shone on his body, warming him up a little before the cool breeze carried away the heat.

This contradictory feeling was a sign of the end of summer.

Li Cheng Yi took out his phone, opened the taxi app, and was about to enter his destination.

*Ding-ding...*

Suddenly, a simple, automated ringtone sounded, piercingly.

To distinguish certain important calls, he had specifically set the calls from the company to this urgent sound with a strong sense of warning.

Hearing the sound, he knew it was a call from the company.

The phone display showed Song Ran.

He pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Brother Song?"

"Found it," Song Ran's voice came from the other end of the phone. "The person you wanted to know about who your sister was in contact with, that Marian, we found her."

"Oh, please tell me!" Li Cheng Yi's eyes instantly became serious.

"Marian, full name Marian Westlink, is from a small country called Libiru. This person's identity is very complicated. She has been expelled from some countries for committing public safety crimes. She also has a criminal record in White Star for violent crimes, but because of the Cold War relationship between White Star and Yi State, and their mutually hostile stance, she helped Yi State obtain some classified information from White Star. So, she was allowed to come to Yi State and live normally through a political asylum program."

Song Ran quickly introduced.

"She now works for Hongli Group in Yi State. Hongli is a chain brand that mainly deals in sports, martial arts, fitness and other products. Her specific position is design director. But I haven't seen her design any products, it's probably just a nominal position."

"Why would my sister have contact with someone with a criminal record?" Li Cheng Yi asked, puzzled.

"Your sister had a training period some time ago, where she went to the underground black market to help test the performance of various flying instruments. It was probably then that they had contact. She has a good talent, but because of her temper, several companies she contacted rejected her," Song Ran replied.

"I feel like this Marian is still hiding something," Li Cheng Yi frowned. He had personally seen Marian forcing Li Cheng Jiu to agree to something.

What could Li Cheng Jiu have that she would value?

The only thing of value was probably her flying instrument talent.

So, what did Marian need her flying instrument talent for?

"Alright, we'll continue to keep an eye on her for you, but the Marian information that can be found online is only this much. Perhaps there are other secrets, but if she doesn't record them online, there's no way to obtain them," Song Ran replied.

"Then I'll have to trouble Brother Song and everyone in the company," Li Cheng Yi paused. "I'll treat everyone to milk tea this month."

"Okay," Song Ran responded with a smile.

Everyone in the company had a habit of drinking milk tea, while the coffee machine was rarely used.

A month's worth of milk tea for all the company employees, calculated at one cup per day, wasn't a small amount. Only Li Cheng Yi, who had just earned five million, would dare to be so extravagant.

Quickly sending Song Ran a large red envelope, Li Cheng Yi turned off his phone and fell into thought.

This Marian, with her complex identity and hidden secrets, capable of generating so much killing intent and daring to have such thoughts in Yi State, a place with strict order, showed that her personality was accustomed to doing whatever she wanted.

If she dared to be so unrestrained in Yi State, she would probably be even more arrogant outside.

No wonder it was Li Cheng Jiu; people of the same kind gather together.

She was a rotten person herself, and the people she associated with were dark enough.

'Hongli Group... I can find a chance to investigate in secret.' Li Cheng Yi made a decision in his heart.

Of course, not now. In the city, he didn't have the ability to hide his Flower Language, so it would be easy to be exposed and cause trouble.

So, in the future, he should consider choosing a Flower Language that could hide himself. Otherwise, many things would be difficult to handle.

Thinking of this, he immediately remembered the small white flower in the dead corner of Mist Street. That mysterious high martial arts technique was like a magnet, firmly attracting his attention.

Although he knew that it would take a long time to complete the evolution progress and obtain the Flower Language ability.

Li Cheng Yi still couldn't suppress the anticipation in his heart.

Sigh....

He sighed deeply.

Tapping the taxi app, he retracted his thoughts and stopped thinking about it.

*

*

*

Night.

Suiyang's bar street.

A white electric scooter slowly stopped at the entrance of a bar called Qingyun Road.

The driver was a lithe and graceful mature woman. Long straight black hair, a black cropped sweater, gray flared trousers, and shiny silver beads adorning the outside of her thighs.

Sitting behind her was a girl with a pure and pretty face, also with black hair, about ten years old, with a baby face. Her eyes were innocent and clear, and she was still wearing her school uniform, looking like a high school student.

"Sis, you go back first, I'll take a taxi back later myself," the baby-faced girl said earnestly. "I'm with my classmates, it's very safe, don't worry."

"I'll pick you up later, remember to call me," the mature woman with long straight black hair said coldly.

"Oh, I'm just attending a classmate's birthday party, nothing much," the little girl felt a little embarrassed. She was so old, but her sister still controlled her like a mother every day, not allowing her to leave her sight even a little.

"Just listen to me, or I'll beat you when you get home," the mature woman said coldly.

"Okay, okay...." The little girl grumbled as she got out of the car, then followed the crowd into the bar, and was quickly pulled into a large private room by a classmate who greeted her at the door.

Seeing that her sister had someone to receive her, the mature woman felt relieved and rode her scooter around the corner and left. She still had work to do, she was just temporarily here to send her sister to her classmate's birthday party.

Before long, the electric scooter merged into the traffic and gradually disappeared into the light-filled streets.

Time flew by quickly, and more than three hours passed in the blink of an eye.

The number of people on the bar street also rapidly decreased, leaving only some night owls who were unwilling to go back.

Many teenage boys and girls who looked like students came out of the Qingyun Road bar one after another, some leaving by taxi, some leaving by bicycle, and some walking back together.

But the baby-faced girl who had gone in earlier was nowhere to be seen.

More than half an hour passed.

On the side of the bar, at a hidden back kitchen door, the door was gently opened, and two half-grown teenagers carried something wrapped in a black bag out of the back kitchen, sneaking around.

The two looked left and right. In the dim light, only one of them could be seen wearing a dark gold bat earring on his ear.

"What do we do now? You have to give me an idea!" the earring-wearing teenager said anxiously, with a strong sense of unease.