Chapter 167: Zhuang Cheng and Manning
The Zhuang Residence.
Zhuang Feixue looked at Zhuang Cheng with great interest and asked, “Little brother, you know that wind-type ability-user?”
Zhuang Cheng replied, “Sort of, but we’re not close.”
His second brother wasn’t actually a wind-type ability-user, but since everyone online believed he was, there was no point correcting the misunderstanding.
Zhuang Feixue said in surprise, “I didn’t expect you to know such a powerful ability-user! You’ve got good connections!”
Zhuang Cheng smiled modestly, “It’s nothing really.”
He thought to himself: Not only do I know him, you know him too.
“Can you help contact him?” Zhuang Feixue asked expectantly.
Zhuang Cheng frowned. “Why do you want to contact him?”
She shrugged, “There’s an event that wants him to appear. If he agrees, they’ll pay him eight figures just to perform that ‘barehanded car-slicing’ trick.”
Zhuang Cheng: “…” Eight figures?! Talented people really do make money easily!
“He probably won’t agree.”
“How do you know?”
Zhuang Cheng took a deep breath and said, “Because he’s made a lot of money recently. He’s not short on cash right now. But fine, I’ll ask him for you.”
Zhuang Feixue nodded, “Alright. I thought you only hung out with useless friends, but I see you do know some impressive ones too.”
Zhuang Cheng scowled, “Sis, what’s that supposed to mean? Are all my friends just freeloaders to you?”
She shrugged, “Come on. What else do your friends do besides borrow money and make you pay for meals?”
Zhuang Cheng: …Well, that’s kind of true. He’d already given all his pocket money to Second Brother, so when his friends tried borrowing money, he had nothing. Now they think he’s stingy and don’t even invite him to things anymore. He wasn’t pretending to be broke—he really is broke!
Strictly speaking, Second Brother was family, not a friend. Maybe I do have poor taste in friends?
“What are you thinking about?” Zhuang Feixue asked.
Zhuang Cheng shook his head, “Nothing.”
*
Chu Feng received a phone call and was deep in thought.
Illya looked at him. “Who was it?”
Chu Feng tilted his head. “Zhuang Cheng. Said there’s an event that wants to invite me. Appearance fee: eight figures.”
“Eight figures?” Illya raised his fingers, counting, “Ten, hundred, thousand, ten-thousand, hundred-thousand, million, ten-million…” He was stunned. “They’re offering that much?!”
Chu Feng nodded. “Yup.”
Illya looked at him curiously, “Are you going to accept?”
Chu Feng shook his head. “Nope.”
He wasn’t interested in performing the ‘barehanded car-slicing’ in front of people. Besides, that offer was a bit low. Only ten million?
Wow, I really must be getting arrogant, Chu Feng thought. I’m turning my nose up at tens of millions.
Illya shook his head, “Only ten million? Manning gets a hundred million just to appear. You can’t be worth less than him!”
Chu Feng nodded. That made sense. I’m the boss—no way my appearance fee should be lower than an employee’s.
“Is Manning still in the capital?”
Illya nodded. “Yeah. Zhuang Cheng seems to be showing him around.”
*
Manning was in the villa, watching TV. The staff there knew he was an important master, so they were extremely attentive and catered to his every need.
“Are you comfortable here, Manning?”
Manning nodded. “It’s fine.”
“If you need anything, just let me know.”
Manning took out a tablet and showed Zhuang Cheng an image.
Zhuang Cheng looked at the picture and rolled his eyes.
The image showed a person lying on a bed covered in cash. In the past, Zhuang Cheng would have laughed at such a childish display of wealth, but now… he couldn’t laugh. Is Manning reminding me about the debt?
The Lin family was currently in chaos, and a hundred million wasn’t a small amount—it couldn’t be transferred right now.
Manning stared at the money-covered bed, eyes glowing with desire.
Zhuang Cheng looked at him and asked, “You want money?”
Manning nodded. “Yes.”
Zhuang Cheng scratched his head. Should I ask my sister to lend me some? How did I end up so broke when I come from money? Maybe he could pressure Madam Lin into paying a deposit first—at least enough to tide them over.
“Did my second brother give you any money?”
Manning nodded. “He did.”
He showed Zhuang Cheng his phone, displaying a 200,000 transaction and a series of payments after that. The remaining balance: just 200 yuan.
Most of Manning’s money had been spent by Xius, who had ordered a bunch of weapons online. Xius had high hopes for them, but when they arrived, he realized he’d been fooled by the pictures. Worse, he didn’t know how to return items, so he just tolerated it. Poor Manning—his money had flown away.
Zhuang Cheng looked down. Second Brother, you’re really stingy… This guy is so capable, and you only gave him 200k? Aren’t you afraid someone might poach him?
After some hesitation, Zhuang Cheng called Zhuang Feixue and asked to borrow ten million.
At first, she wasn’t too willing, but when she heard it was for the master, she immediately transferred the money.
*
Father Zhuang walked in with his briefcase and asked curiously, “Is there really a master visiting?”
Mother Zhuang nodded. “Yes, a genuine one.”
He asked, “Where did we meet someone like that?”
She shook her head. “I heard it was online.”
“Online? You can meet such powerful people online?”
Mother Zhuang nodded. “It is a bit odd.”
Manning seemed to be a foreigner and didn’t speak their language. If they met online, how did they even communicate before?
Madam Zhuang suspected that her son might be hiding something, but she didn’t think knowing a few capable people was a bad thing. Since he didn’t want to talk, she let it go.
“The one who cut open the car—does Xiao Cheng know him too?” Mr. Zhuang asked.
Mrs. Zhuang nodded. “He probably does.”
Mr. Zhuang said solemnly, “Then that person must be a real expert!” There probably weren’t many people like that even in the National Bureau of Paranormal Abilities. Mrs. Zhuang nodded. “Most likely.”
Zhuang Cheng took Manning out to eat, drink, and have fun all over town. After spending time together, the two of them grew noticeably closer.
Zhuang Cheng bought Manning lots of things, making Manning feel a bit guilty. Whenever they ran into someone Zhuang Cheng knew, Manning would proactively tell him how many wives, kids, or secret crushes that person had.
Thanks to Manning’s “science lessons,” Zhuang Cheng learned a bunch of worldview-shattering information.
Mrs. Zhuang looked at the two of them and said, “You’re back. Miss Shen is here.”
Zhuang Cheng frowned. “Shen Yuying?”
Mrs. Zhuang nodded. “Yes, she’s here to ask you and the master a few things.”
Zhuang Cheng took a deep breath. Shen Yuying was with the military—was she here to investigate the car-cutting incident? He brought Manning to meet her.
“Miss Shen.”
Shen Yuying looked at him and said, “Young Master Zhuang, a pleasure! Is this the master?”
Zhuang Cheng shook his head. “No, this is my friend. She likes cosplay—dressing up as a master.”
Shen Yuying: “…”
Zhuang Cheng turned to smile at Manning. Manning didn’t understand what they were saying but smiled anyway.
“I heard the master can locate relatives through blood ties,” said Shen Yuying.
Zhuang Cheng waved his hand. “That’s nonsense. There’s no such thing. Just rumors.”
Shen Yuying smiled. “Oh? So it’s not true? Young Master Zhuang, what do you think of that video of the car being cut?”
Zhuang Cheng frowned. “That ability-user was incredible. If they joined a film crew, they wouldn’t even need special effects.”
Shen Yuying asked, “Are you familiar with the recent fire in Yunling?”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “Yeah, it went viral online. Apparently, a panda caused it. Did they catch the panda? If they put it in a zoo, that place would be famous!”
Shen Yuying shook her head. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it. Most likely it died in the fire.”
Zhuang Cheng replied regretfully, “Really?”
She looked at him and asked, “Do you know anything about that earth-element ability-user?”
Zhuang Cheng shook his head. “Not really. I saw the footage though—they must be powerful. I’ve met ability-users before. My dad’s company hired a strength user, and they seemed about the same as normal people. But that earth user was different. They put out that huge fire with earth! Are they from the National Bureau of Paranormal Abilities?”
Shen Yuying shook her head. She wished they were, but they weren’t.
Zhuang Cheng took a deep breath. “They’re not? Then which organization are they with?”
He silently thought: There are a lot of ability-user groups nowadays. Some are even anti-human. If someone that powerful joined one of those groups, it would be dangerous.
Shen Yuying shook her head. “We don’t know.”
The Yunling footage captured the backs of three people. The flames and smoke made the image blurry, but Shen Yuying had a strange feeling—she suspected one of them was Chu Feng.
Zhuang Cheng noted her expression and thought: Why is she asking me about the Yunling fire out of nowhere? Could it have something to do with my second brother? That doesn’t make sense—he doesn’t know any earth users. Those are supposed to be rare.
Still, his second brother seemed to have quite a few ability-users around him. He himself had spatial powers, Illya’s abilities were strange, and Manning could always find people accurately. Plus, with all the elixirs his brother handed out, there must be an alchemist-type ability-user supporting him.
Shen Yuying wanted to ask Manning a few questions, but the language barrier got in the way—Manning couldn’t understand anything.
She turned to Zhuang Cheng. “So how do you usually communicate?”
Zhuang Cheng gave an awkward laugh and thought to himself: I haven’t known Manning that long, really. “We eat. Eating is the easiest way to connect.”
Shen Yuying: …That kind of makes sense.
…
After staying with Zhuang Cheng for a bit, Shen Yuying stepped out.
“See anything?” she asked her assistant.
“The scanner detected an ability fluctuation, around E-level. Not very dangerous.”
Shen Yuying rolled her eyes. She knew it was an ability-user. And Zhuang Cheng had tried to pass it off as cosplay. “Have we identified the language?”
The assistant shook his head. “No. We’ve compared it against 124 languages—it’s not any of them.”
Shen Yuying said, confused, “How can that be?”
The assistant nodded. “It is strange.”
