After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH2

Chapter 2

Seeing that Xie Xingchen didn’t speak and only stared at him dully, the lawyer pushed up his glasses and continued, “This is the new property division arrangement. You can take a look and see if you’re satisfied. If not, we can discuss it again.”

At this very moment, Xie Xingchen really wanted to open that document.

But if he did, the persona he’d just set up would completely collapse, so he could only suppress the little burst of happiness in his heart, pretend not to care, and toss the document aside. If not for the fact that he didn’t put much force into it, his acting would’ve been passable. As things stood now…

Xie Xingchen thought optimistically: It’s fine—so long as I make my attitude clear! Besides, Fu Yunzhou won’t be watching that closely.

Who would’ve thought Fu Yunzhou would catch it by accident?

Though he felt Xie Xingchen was strange, on second thought, Xie Xingchen had been acting like a madman these days anyway, and Fu Yunzhou felt relieved again.

Seeing this, the lawyer calmly took out the backup copy in his hand and began explaining it word for word.

Fu Yunzhou was giving Xie Xingchen a lot—so much that it would be enough for Xie Xingchen to lie back and live extravagantly for hundreds of years.

However—

Most of what was being given to Xie Xingchen was, in fact, the Xie family’s wealth that Fu Yunzhou had taken over. Only a small portion was Fu Yunzhou’s personal assets.

On the surface, this division looked like Xie Xingchen was getting a massive bargain. But that wasn’t how the real accounting worked.

The book Xie Xingchen had transmigrated into was deliberately set in a multi-civilization alliance background in order to highlight how overpowered the protagonist’s profession was.

Human Civilization, Mechanical Civilization, Beast Civilization, Plant Civilization, Insectoid Civilization… along with more than a dozen other minor civilizations—together forming a Star Alliance with complex populations and abundant resources.

The founding of the Star Alliance was sudden, yet also natural. Originally, the major civilizations had been locked in wars to the death. Decades of fighting had wiped out almost all of their top combat forces. Even so, the most important reason the Star Alliance was formed wasn’t because everyone was scared of war—it was because something called “dark matter” suddenly appeared in the universe.

While everyone was killing each other, this mysterious existence slowly infiltrated the soil, was absorbed by plants through the soil, then spread to animals through the food chain, and finally spread to humans.

By the time the silent, pervasive “dark matter” was discovered, it had already harmed the bodies of countless soldiers and caused irreversible damage.

Even more terrifying: the more elite the combat power, the more easily they absorbed this dark matter.

A few years passed like this. For survival, the major civilizations had no choice but to sit down and negotiate.

With deadly “dark matter” looming, the different civilizations entered a rare honeymoon period.

To stay alive, everyone brought out their strongest cards. In the end, they still didn’t solve “dark matter,” but Plant Civilization found, among vast numbers of plants, a substance that could expel dark matter—“green matter.” Not long after that, Human Civilization also found the same “green matter” in animals, and experiments yielded a conclusion: the “green matter” in plants could be absorbed by other lifeforms through eating and other means. And not only could “green matter” expel “dark matter,” it could also increase mental power.

Just as the civilizations believed they’d found a way to deal with dark matter—and were celebrating what seemed like a shortcut to advancing mental power—fate struck them with a thunderbolt.

There was too little “green matter,” and it was extremely difficult to cultivate. The environmental requirements were outrageous, and the demands on the cultivator were even more absurd.

Because of this reality, in order to obtain more “green matter,” the five major civilizations took the lead in drawing in more than a dozen minor civilizations. After years of probing and negotiation, they finally established the Interstellar Civilization Alliance!

On the day the Alliance was founded, it announced the assessment and promotion standards for the “Planter” profession, and established the Planters’ status within the Alliance.

After more than three hundred years of development, Planters became the most sought-after existence—second only to planetary lords.

The Xie family’s business was planting planets.

What is a planting planet?

A planetary lord who possesses large numbers of Planters!
Planters + planetary lord = an absolutely obscene profit industry.

And it wasn’t just any high-profit business—it was a technical industry that even ordinary rich people found difficult to enter.

Even the Fu family, as an energy clan, needed outside help to enter the field and stand firm. That was exactly why the Fu and Xie families arranged a marriage alliance.

But only half a year after the engagement, Xie’s parents died. After they died, the Fu family took over the Xie family as a matter of course. Borrowing the Xie clan’s remaining resources and foundation, they entered the industry and secured their footing within just a few years.

Now the Fu family’s planting business was on track, but the Xie family had long since become a hollow name. The only planting planet that truly belonged to them had been completely wrecked by alien beasts. The other planets they’d leased ended up in the Fu family’s hands, and most importantly, their Planters had been absorbed by the Fu family entirely.

So… even if Fu Yunzhou converted the Xie family’s assets into value and returned them to Xie Xingchen without a single coin missing, Xie Xingchen still felt the original owner had suffered a huge loss.

A starved camel is still bigger than a horse!
So what if the planting planet was destroyed by alien beasts?
As long as you had money and Planters, the Xie family would be a hen that laid golden eggs. But what landed in Xie Xingchen’s hands now was only a single golden egg.

Ugh—no matter how you thought about it, it was a loss!

And yet he had no ability to do anything about it.

In the end, Xie Xingchen could only comfort himself that taking a loss was a kind of blessing.

It was just that…

Xie Xingchen couldn’t help lifting his head to glance at Fu Yunzhou, cursing the Fu family in his heart for acting sanctimonious while profiting.

Some people looked glamorous on the outside, but their character was only so-so.

Sure, it was the original owner who’d clung to Fu Yunzhou like an older brother at first, but the idea of the marriage alliance had been proposed by the Fu family first.

After the original owner’s parents died, the Xie family’s planting planets and Planters were taken over by the Fu family too.

And after the Fu family got the benefits, they turned around and said the original owner was extreme and wanted a divorce?
Heh—how was that any different from picking up a bowl to eat and then cursing the cook after putting it down?

They took everything useful from someone else to strengthen themselves, then put on a fake show about “incompatibility” and divorce, and returned the Xie family’s assets in full.

Return in full?
They were only returning the money you could see, while cutting off the whole path that actually supported making that money. How was that “in full”?

The Fu family really were qualified capitalists—when it came to sucking blood, they were strong.

Yet this kind of behavior, wrapped in a slightly nicer-looking skin, was actually praised as being selfless and high-minded.

It had to be said—this was the single worst insult “high-minded” had ever suffered!

It was only because the original owner was stupid—he liked Fu Yunzhou so much he was willing to give him everything. He hadn’t even done a prenup, which let the Fu family step smoothly into the planting industry. And this industry took time to develop, with massive investment and barely any cash in the early stage—so Xie Xingchen couldn’t even pull off one big, satisfying score.

“Mr. Xie, what do you think?” 

Setting down the folder in his hand, the lawyer couldn’t help licking his dry lips.

Though he often served the wealthy, today he was still shaken.

The assets the Fu family was giving Xie Xingchen were enough for him to lie back and live extravagantly for ten lifetimes.

Xie Xingchen didn’t look at the documents. He tried hard to keep his gaze unfocused, creating a numb, empty-eyed look to fool Fu Yunzhou.

“Can we not get divorced?”

Before Fu Yunzhou could answer, Xie Xingchen chanted in his heart: We can’t.

Sure enough—

Fu Yunzhou: “No.”

Xie Xingchen smiled: ?See? He knew it.

Alright then—time to pinch his thigh again.

Since he really couldn’t cry on command, Xie Xingchen could only viciously pinch his thigh again.

The rough force made him jump up despite himself.

Fighting back the pain, cheeks flushed red, his voice choked as he said, “Then… then I won’t interfere with you and Yu Cheng anymore, okay? I know you all like Yu Cheng. Next time I see him, I won’t curse him anymore.”

Xie Xingchen’s words were so childishly naïve they were almost funny, but his thin body trembling nonstop made people feel an inexplicable pity.

However, the repeated “Yu Cheng” coming out of his mouth one after another was just that grating—and it made Fu Yunzhou, who’d been softened a little by his crying, turn hard-hearted again.

Still, there was the bond of growing up together. Thinking of the past, of that Xie Xingchen who used to tug at his clothes and obediently call him “brother,” Fu Yunzhou ultimately softened.

After a long while, he nodded, signaling the lawyer to place another set of documents in front of Xie Xingchen.

Seeing the new document, Xie Xingchen nearly couldn’t stop himself from smiling smugly.

But when he discovered that what had originally been a thick stack of paper was now only a few sheets, he almost slammed the table and jumped to his feet.

Xie Xingchen: ?

Fuck, no way— I only cried twice!

You big idiot actually dare to dock my assets?
Weren’t you supposed to be the softest-hearted in the Fu family?

Just as Xie Xingchen was about to start cursing, the lawyer spoke in time: “Mr. Xie, this is another asset list. Mr. Fu knows you don’t intend to run businesses, so he is willing to convert these assets into cash for you at a price 20% above market.”

Seeing Xie Xingchen still didn’t speak, the lawyer continued without caring, “Of course, the most valuable assets will still be left to you. The part being converted are businesses that would be comparatively difficult for you to manage.”

The lawyer’s wording was extremely polite, but Xie Xingchen heard the subtext.

What do you mean, ‘comparatively difficult to manage’? Isn’t that just looking down on the original owner—thinking he might run those companies into the ground? Heh. Seriously, that’s way too much underestimating the original owner. Fine—not just the original owner. Even if those companies were handed to him, he might actually bankrupt them too.

Guess this scumbag did one good thing—saving him from selling them off cheap.

With his head lowered under the cover of his fringe, Xie Xingchen subtly glanced at the lawyer and Fu Yunzhou. Seeing neither of them speak again, he guessed this was the best offer Fu Yunzhou could give.

Xie Xingchen decided to take it and stop while he was ahead.

But agreeing too easily didn’t seem quite right?

His mind spun rapidly, while his hand honestly pressed down on that very pleasing divorce agreement.

After a few minutes, Xie Xingchen finally thought of a solution.

He raised his head stubbornly and glared at Fu Yunzhou, tears hanging in his eyes, refusing to fall.

Xie Xingchen forced his eyes wide until they turned red, then said in a deliberately cold voice, “Fu Yunzhou, I can sign this divorce agreement, but you need to understand: if I sign it today, then from now on, when we meet again, we’ll be nothing but strangers.”

The threat was so childish it was laughable coming out of Xie Xingchen’s mouth—yet it still made Fu Yunzhou uncomfortable.

And then he didn’t care.

Treat him like a stranger? Could Xie Xingchen really do that?

Thinking of everything Xie Xingchen had done for him over the past decade, Fu Yunzhou pressed down the strange feeling in his chest. He didn’t believe a word of it.

Fu Yunzhou dipped his chin. “Fine.”

As if he hadn’t expected Fu Yunzhou to say something so hurtful, Xie Xingchen froze. Then he slowly lowered his head, and the tears that fell blurred the ink on the page.

Fu Yunzhou watched the person across from him grip the pen so hard his fingers turned white. He watched him slowly sign his name on the divorce agreement. For an instant, Fu Yunzhou felt as though something important had disappeared.

That hollow feeling was unfamiliar—but he deliberately ignored it.

Fu Yunzhou said, “Since we’ve decided to divorce, there’s no need to pick another day. Let’s go to the civil affairs office.”

They went to the civil affairs office in silence. With the help of a self-service robot, the two successfully registered their divorce information.

For some reason, Fu Yunzhou—who’d been eager to escape—fell silent after seeing Xie Xingchen’s expression that was half-crying, half-not. He drove him back to the villa without a word.

But in the end, he still fled in a sorry state amid Xie Xingchen’s “heartbroken” sobbing.