Chapter 129
Shang Yu didn’t doubt Yu Zhi’s words at all. On one hand, she trusted him. On the other, she truly couldn’t imagine what someone could possibly do to anger the system so much that it would refuse to close a livestream.
Even when she saw the barrage saying Yu Zhi was lying to her, she assumed the comments were deliberately trying to sow discord.
“The meeting won’t be ending anytime soon,” Shang Yu paused and said to Yu Zhi, “Brother Yu, I’ll take you upstairs to ask the command department?”
“Maybe someone at the branch has encountered something like this before.”
Yu Zhi nodded and followed her into the elevator. Casually, he asked, “Is the follow-up handling of the temporary resettlement zone troublesome?”
As Shang Yu pressed the floor button, she answered honestly, “For now, we’re still handling it according to Minister Yu’s instructions. But a few department heads strongly oppose his method, saying it’s just burying our heads in the sand.”
“Is it troublesome? Not exactly. But it’s also kind of troublesome. After all, the Action Bureau is made up of several departments, including the Operations Department…”
Yu Zhi pressed, “Is there any possibility the handling method will change?”
Shang Yu answered without hesitation, “That’s unlikely.”
She shook her head and analyzed, “Minister Yu’s attitude is very firm. The other department heads can’t do anything about it.”
“Even if it drags on until headquarters intervenes, they’ll probably still follow Minister Yu’s plan. After all, he came from headquarters, and headquarters is rather…”
She stopped abruptly and swallowed the word “protective.”
Yu Zhi didn’t pay attention to the pause in her words. He lowered his lashes, sinking into thought.
Fu Suxi could tell Ji Yangqiu about the next main storyline mission; the livestream could be turned off—but the system was constantly monitoring everyone.
Whatever Fu Suxi wanted to do, he had to do it alone. And relying on just one person, it would be impossible to complete everything in a short time.
Thinking of this, Yu Zhi’s eyelids twitched and his expression shifted slightly.
Fu Suxi had schemed for so long—he absolutely wouldn’t allow any mistakes in his plan.
There was still one month before the next main storyline mission. For now, Fu Suxi showed no signs of leaving S City Safe Zone.
That mad dog… he couldn’t possibly be planning to stay here until the next mission was released, right?
He had already waited so long.
There was no way Yu Zhi was going to wait too.
Yu Zhi slowly exhaled, a decision forming in his heart.
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” viciously questions whether you’re brewing some sinister scheme.]
[User “StrongestKing” suspects you have ulterior motives.]
[User “ClearMind” hopes you will plot to kill your temporary lover and tipped you 20 universal coins.]
“Ding—”
The elevator reached the fifth floor. The doors slid open.
Yu Zhi came back to himself and strode out, noticing Shang Yu’s gaze drifting toward him again and again.
He paused and asked directly, “What’s wrong?”
Shang Yu looked at him, hesitating several times before finally saying, “To be honest… just now I saw someone from the command department—well, that fake—uh, I mean, Minister Song from the command department—take advantage of the break while preparing the new meeting room to say something to Minister Yu.”
Yu Zhi’s curiosity was piqued. “What did he say?”
Shang Yu answered honestly, “I didn’t hear.”
Yu Zhi: “?”
“But,” Shang Yu cleared her throat, lowered her voice, and said mysteriously, “I saw that he couldn’t take his eyes off Minister Yu.”
Then she quickly added, “Of course, Minister Yu didn’t even spare him a glance. Didn’t give him a good face at all.”
Yu Zhi understood. Shang Yu was reminding him that the command minister seemed interested in Fu Suxi.
He knew this building was the command headquarters, but aside from that one time he’d come to find Ji Yangqiu to make a call, he had never gotten close to it. Normally, he rarely heard people mention the command department.
Following the topic, he asked, “What does the command department do?”
Shang Yu replied, “Before the apocalypse, they mainly worked with the Operations Department to eliminate contamination sources and clean polluted zones.”
“After the system appeared and long-distance communication became impossible, the command department temporarily began participating in eliminating contamination sources.”
“Our previous minister passed away two years ago. Headquarters never appointed a new one. So over the past two years, many elimination operations were interfered with by that fake—Minister Song from the Operations Department.”
“Song Guanyu is an ability-user from the Song family at headquarters. They—”
Shang Yu abruptly cut off her complaint and changed her words. “We’re here.”
Yu Zhi looked up and saw a sign reading Crisis Management outside the office door.
Shang Yu pushed the door open directly.
At a glance, Yu Zhi saw an entire wall covered by a massive screen displaying surveillance footage and various data from the safe zone.
Below the screen were several staff members in white uniforms. Some stared at the screens; others were tapping away at keyboards without pause.
“Brother Yu, sit for a bit. I’ll go ask,” Shang Yu said, leading him to a sofa by the wall before striding toward a man typing rapidly.
Yu Zhi tilted his head slightly back and scanned the large screen. He quickly located the temporary resettlement zone, marked in pink.
The image was extremely clear. He even saw Lin Xiangyuan standing at the entrance, his shiny bald head reflecting the streetlights, particularly conspicuous.
“Internal casualties in the temporary resettlement zone… one?”
“Yes, only the ability-user Yan Yang who turned into a contamination source died.”
Hearing Yan Yang’s name suddenly, Yu Zhi turned his head. A man and woman seemed to be reviewing reports on the resettlement zone, discussing them in low voices.
“The Action Bureau only had one death, but the number of safe zone residents who died is at least in the triple digits. It hasn’t been fully counted yet.”
“This incident is so serious. Did headquarters say anything about sending a third party to intervene?”
“No mention. It’s probably still left to Minister Yu from the Operations Department…”
The last few words were spoken softly. Yu Zhi couldn’t hear them clearly, but they were definitely not praise.
Soon, Shang Yu returned.
“Brother Yu,” she said, her expression not looking good, brows tightly furrowed. “No branch has encountered anything like this before. Headquarters hasn’t provided any similar records either.”
“So far, whether it’s livestreams or missions, there have been no malfunctions at all.”
Yu Zhi responded calmly with an “Oh.” Since she had mentioned headquarters, he said smoothly, “I need to call Ji Yangqiu.”
Remembering Fu Suxi’s instructions, Shang Yu immediately replied, “Okay.”
“Let’s go to the communications room.”
The communications room was far away. With Shang Yu handling the arrangements, once Ji Yangqiu’s call connected, Shang Yu and the communications ability-user stepped out.
“Shang Yu?” Ji Yangqiu’s voice came from the other end of the phone.
“It’s me,” Yu Zhi said.
Recognizing his voice, Ji Yangqiu drawled dramatically, “I need to take a dump—”
Yu Zhi: “…Don’t.”
Hearing that, Ji Yangqiu didn’t ask why. Instead, he said, “What do you want to say?”
Yu Zhi leaned back in his chair. “I want to tell you that Meteor’s next target will be B City Safe Zone.”
“How do you know?” Ji Yangqiu asked.
“I calculated it,” Yu Zhi replied casually.
Ji Yangqiu knew S City Safe Zone had an S-rank prophecy ability-user. He knew that ability-user was Yu Zhi. He also knew that the rumor about prophecy abilities had been spread by Fu Suxi.
Put together, Yu Zhi being an S-rank prophecy ability-user was obviously fake.
After a brief silence, Ji Yangqiu decided to play along. “Did you calculate the specific time?”
“I did,” Yu Zhi said.
“When?”
“Sooner or later.”
Ji Yangqiu: “…”
His mouth twitched violently. “I also calculated when Meteor will attack B City Safe Zone. It’s today!”
“Then that’s just a wild guess,” Yu Zhi replied.
Ji Yangqiu: “…………”
Yu Zhi looked at the countdown timer on the phone screen. The seconds ticked down bit by bit, yet Ji Yangqiu still hadn’t pressed him about the prophecy ability.
Ji Yangqiu must have already realized that the prophecy ability was nonsense concocted by him and Fu Suxi.
Blinking, Yu Zhi shifted the topic. “Do you think Meteor will eventually target B City Safe Zone?”
Ji Yangqiu caught the implication. “I do. And you?”
“You probably need Fu Suxi to return to B City,” Yu Zhi said slowly.
Back in J City, Ji Yangqiu had been eager to drag Fu Suxi back to B City. Now it seemed it wasn’t just because of Fu Suxi’s stable mental state—it was also because they needed his abilities to deal with Meteorite Biotech.
Yu Zhi got straight to the point. “I have a way to make him return to B City willingly.”
Ji Yangqiu was skeptical. “What way?”
“I’ll go to B City first. He’ll follow on his own.”
Ji Yangqiu froze.
He had considered that option before, but since Yu Zhi was an unpredictable variable with unknown background, he had dismissed it.
Now…
He narrowed his eyes cautiously. “What do you want to do in B City?”
“I’m looking for someone,” Yu Zhi said honestly.
“Who?”
Yu Zhi had originally planned to say “a friend,” but then remembered Fu Suxi already knew his real name. Ji Yangqiu might have already investigated him.
Suddenly going to B City to find a friend would sound suspicious.
While hesitating, he heard Ji Yangqiu’s breathing grow heavier, then Ji Yangqiu tested, “Are you looking for your biological father?”
Yu Zhi: “???”
“Your biological mother?” Ji Yangqiu tried again.
“…”
Yu Zhi forced a smile. “My biological… boyfriend.”
Ji Yangqiu was incredulous. “Boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Yu Zhi replied calmly, adding some truth. “My real boyfriend. He studies in B City.”
“I was heading to B City from the start, but I ran into Fu Suxi on the way.”
Before the next main storyline mission began, he had to find Ah—.
Originally, he’d planned to wait until Fu Suxi dealt with Meteor—or until Meteor dealt with Fu Suxi—before finding Ah—.
But things were different now. Fu Suxi wasn’t planning to move against Meteorite Biotech immediately. Meteorite Biotech wasn’t making any big moves either, and they were backed by the system.
Fu Suxi was the novel’s protagonist. He wouldn’t just die because of a few main missions.
Ah— knew the novel’s plot. He would know how to choose the next mission.
Among the three of them, the one with the highest mortality rate was himself.
If Ah— was targeted by both Fu Suxi and Meteor because of him…
Then he’d shoulder it alone.
Ji Yangqiu’s voice pulled him back. “You have a boyfriend in B City?”
“We were middle school classmates,” Yu Zhi said truthfully again, asking casually, “You didn’t find that in your investigation?”
Ji Yangqiu replied carefully, “We found some things.”
Seeing the call time running out, he quickly asked, “When are you coming to B City?”
“Soon.”
“Alright. I’ll make arrangements. If you need to contact me, you can go through He Hanhai. He has a communications ability-user.”
Yu Zhi acknowledged and hung up without further pleasantries.
Ji Yangqiu swallowed the words he had been about to say and muttered, “That dog-tempered habit of hanging up directly is exactly like Fu Suxi’s.”
He tossed the phone back to his subordinate and resumed browsing the documents on his desk.
“That’s all you found?”
The subordinate nodded and placed a sheet of paper before him. “Most of his records were deliberately destroyed. We could only retrieve this much because Yu Zhi participated in a small research project under his real name during university.”
“He’s a student at H University. He attended Taijiang High School.”
Ji Yangqiu raised his brows in surprise. “Taijiang High School? The one in S City that later became a spreading contamination zone?”
“Yes.”
“And middle school?”
The subordinate pointed to another page. “Most of his academic records from Taijiang High were also damaged or destroyed. We only confirmed that his household registration is in B City, and he attended middle school there.”
“So having a boyfriend in B City is plausible. What he just said might all be true.”
Ji Yangqiu followed his finger and saw a youthful photograph.
In the picture, the boy was slender. His features were still young and green, but his black eyes stared coldly into the camera—sharp and distant, keeping others thousands of miles away.
Ji Yangqiu picked up the photo and studied it for a moment. “Xiao Lin, don’t you think Yu Zhi looks familiar?”
“Feels like I’ve seen him somewhere before…”
