Chapter 106.2
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Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Ning Tianxing: Ning Kongran’s father, Ning Tianya’s older brother.
Long Ruifeng: the ex-President.
Long Baorou: the ex-President’s daughter.
“Elder”: the mastermind of the conspiracy.
An Xei: The former Emperor’s younger brother. A Prince and a scholar.
Ten minutes later, the hover car stopped in front of a general hospital.
Fan Xiangnan was already waiting for them at the entrance. Upon their arrival, he immediately, along with the hospital director who had rushed over, escorted them through a special passageway to the already secured emergency floor. While walking, he quickly explained, “The attack on Ling Yingxu was extremely bold. The assailant attacked him right at his residence, located above his own mecha combat training center. By the time we arrived, only Ling Yingxu was there. He had a deep wound on his left chest, nearly hitting his heart. If we had been a little later, he might have been in real danger.”
Qiao Zhiya’s expression grew increasingly tense upon hearing this, and he immediately asked, “Did you catch the assailant?”
“No,” Fan Xiangnan shook his head, then dismissed the hospital director. He took an isolation shield from his spatial button and handed it to them, frowning as he said, “We found this at the scene.”
Chu Rong looked over and frowned deeply.
Black background, red patterns, oval-shaped – it was a mini version of a black hole generator. He had just seen something similar today at the military department; it had been extracted from Long Baorou’s body. However, the one inside Long Baorou was much larger than this one.
Qiao Zhiya also frowned. He had secretly researched this thing before, but unfortunately, he had never been able to figure it out. Now, seeing this object, it would remind him of the night of the Presidential Palace collapse, almost like a shadow.
Moreover, if the perpetrator used a black hole to escape, it would be extremely difficult to catch them.
“The final exams of the Federal Military Academy are fixed, so the other party must have planned this in advance,” Fan Xiangnan continued with his speculation when he saw them remain silent. “They were able to find out about the relationship between Ling Yingxu and Ling Yi, knew that Ling Yi had interactions with Qiao, and even knew the location of the fourth-year mecha manufacturing major exam. The person planning this should have had access to the military academy’s student records system.”
However, Chu Rong shook his head and replied, “No, the other party doesn’t have that much power. Using the tactic of kidnapping parents to threaten their children seems more like something a brainless young person would do recklessly. The other party is likely someone Ling Yi knows and had a good relationship with Long Baorou. They obtained this teleportation device from her, considering these two conditions together.”
Initially, Long Baorou couldn’t have hidden in the Presidential Palace without help, aside from Xiang Hui. After the collapse of the Presidential Palace, his attention had been entirely focused on Qiao Zhiya, and he hadn’t had the chance to thoroughly clear Long Baorou’s network of connections. He hadn’t expected that before he could make a move, the other party would show up first.
Upon hearing this, Fan Xiangnan realized that he had overcomplicated things again and quickly complied with his orders before turning to arrange them.
Qiao Zhiya, however, was puzzled and asked, “Why Long Baorou?”
Chu Rong glanced at him, lifted his hand to touch his face, and replied, “Because her memories betrayed her.” Among the fragmented memories extracted, there was a scene of Long Baorou providing this device.
Over an hour later, Ling Yi, who had regained consciousness, arrived at the hospital under Lin Zhen’s protection. Just as Ling Yingxu was being pushed out of the operating room after the rescue operation, father and son, both out of danger, were arranged by Chu Rong to stay in the same hospital room.
“I received a communication from my father in the morning,” Ling Yi recalled, glancing at his father lying on the other side. He paused for a moment before continuing, “A person wearing a black robe was holding my father hostage, forbidding me to call the police or inform anyone else. They instructed me to go to locker B in the school cafeteria to retrieve a bottle of medicine and drink it, then put on the mental induction device inside, and then ordered me to harm Qiao Zhiya.”
“I tried to seek help from a passing teacher, but that person immediately fed my father a strange drug. I had no choice but to make up an excuse to fool the teacher. Later, I followed the commands of the person in the black robe and approached the fourth year exam room. Then my consciousness suddenly became blurry. I regained consciousness briefly when I saw Qiao Zhiya, and then I tried to knock myself out by hitting the wall to avoid being manipulated further, but I failed. You know the rest.”
Chu Rong frowned and pondered for a few seconds before asking, “You mentioned the Ning family before you passed out. Why?”
“I was in a hurry, and I saw the person in the black robe feeding my father a drug. The drug they made me drink before was also strange, so…” Ling Yi explained apologetically. Having seen the public trial, he immediately associated the situation with the Ning family after realizing that the person in the black robe was targeting Qiao Zhiya and using drugs to threaten people. It was just an instinctual response.
Qiao Zhiya felt extremely guilty and apologized, saying, “I’m sorry, I’ve implicated you and your father.”
“No need to apologize. It’s the bad guys’ fault,” Ling Yi turned to look at him, his expression gentle with gratitude. He continued, “I never had the chance to thank you in person for saving my father during the finals on that planet. Thank you.”
Qiao Zhiya hurriedly waved his hand to indicate there was no need for thanks. Seeing him like this, his low spirits lifted slightly.
Later in the evening, Ling Yingxu also regained consciousness. He recalled the events before he passed out, only remembering a black hole suddenly appearing at home, followed by something rushing out of the black hole and attacking him.
During the brief moment of clarity, he saw a knife swinging down in a daze and instinctively exerted all his strength to dodge aside before passing out in pain.
“It’s likely that the problematic drug fed to you by the person in the black robe stimulated your mental consciousness, causing you to briefly regain consciousness,” Fan Xiangnan speculated. Suddenly, the communicator rang. It was a message from the investigation team left at the school, stating that after reviewing the surveillance footage from locker B of the cafeteria, they found that the person who placed the drug was a freshman. He didn’t know what he was doing, and delivering items to the cafeteria was just part of his part-time job as a campus runner.
“Continue the investigation. The perpetrator’s actions weren’t very careful, so there should be clues left behind,” Chu Rong ordered. Seeing that it was already late, he nodded at Ling Yingxu and his son, then took Qiao Zhiya home directly.
The next day at noon, the mastermind behind the incident was caught. It turned out to be a former admirer of Long Baorou, now an assistant instructor at the military academy. Long Baorou had contacted him after secretly returning to the Federation, using him to contact Xiang Hui, and then seizing the opportunity to control Xiang Hui. This admirer was just a member of a small family. Unable to rescue Long Baorou upon hearing the news of her capture, he was furious and sought revenge, using some “toys” left by Long Baorou.
He was an advisor to a club that Ling Yi participated in, and had seen Ling Yingxu come to pick Ling Yi up and had also seen Ling Yi and Jian making contact. Knowing that Ling Yi had connections with Qiao Zhiya, he focused his attention on him.
This incident seemed to have no major conspiracy, just a minor aftermath of the Long Baorou incident.
But Chu Rong felt that something was amiss.
While Long Baorou and Long Ruifeng were father and daughter, they occupied drastically different positions within the entire conspiracy chain.
Long Ruifeng was merely a tool of the lowest rank, unaware that behind An Xei stood the real mastermind. Meanwhile, Long Baorou was deeply entrenched in the center of the conspiracy. Not only was she personally mentally locked by the mastermind’s spiritual power, but she could also freely manipulate those black hole devices. This was all very strange.
Moreover, the mastermind had just mentioned through Long Baorou that this was only the beginning, and then trouble ensued on Qiao Zhiya’s side.
Chu Rong sat on the sofa, lost in thought, playing with the black hole teleportation device taken from Ling Yingxu’s home. Suddenly, his hand stopped, and he sat up.
Sometimes, the human subconscious remembers things that the brain ignores. The word “Ning family” that Ling Yi mentioned at the critical moment may not be just an association caused by the drug used, but a genuine discovery of something.
And those intermittent memories in Long Baorou’s mind, contacting someone…
No, besides Long Baorou, there were others manipulating events targeting the Chu family.
He took out his communicator and dialed Fan Xiangnan’s number, instructing him as soon as the call connected, “Communicate with Ling Yi, calm his mental state, and ask him to try to vividly recall the scene when he contacted the person in the black robe.”
Fan Xiangnan was taken aback but quickly agreed.
That afternoon, Chu Rong received a projection video. Ling Yi couldn’t remember the details of the incident, so at Ling Yingxu’s suggestion, he voluntarily agreed on using spiritual power for a mental search.
Qiao Zhiya slipped into the study and sat next to Chu Rong, grabbing his arm. Chu Rong glanced at him and silently consented to his company, then clicked play.
The video began from Ling Yi’s perspective, starting with the scene of Ling Yingxu being kidnapped in a video call. The first half of the video matched Ling Yi’s account, up until he drank the drug. However, as Ling Yi’s consciousness began to blur, another video call screen faintly appeared behind the person in the black robe facing him. And the person on the screen…
“Ning Tianxing?”
Qiao Zhiya’s vision was much better than Chu Rong’s, and he immediately recognized the vague figure. His eyes widened in shock — if he wasn’t mistaken, Ning Tianxing should be undergoing interrogation, awaiting death in the most tightly guarded prison in the military headquarters! But what was this video about?
Chu Rong’s expression also changed, and he stood up, ready to rush to the military headquarters. Qiao Zhiya glanced at the video, which was still playing normally but didn’t show the additional call screen, and hurriedly followed.
The two of them hastily boarded the hover car and headed towards the military headquarters. Upon arrival, Chu Rong, utilizing his authority, unlocked the prison blockade along with Qiao Zhiya and made their way to the highest security cell in the advanced containment area. They stood outside the observation screen and looked in.
Inside, Ning Tianxing lay with his eyes closed, seemingly lifeless. To prevent his spiritual power from destroying his brain once he regained consciousness, the military had been trying to keep him in this comatose state. Even though he was currently undergoing interrogation and awaiting death, the military had not allowed him to wake up.
Perhaps he was conscious at the moment and could sense external events, but his thoughts were extremely disjointed, unable to control his brain. He was essentially a living dead with his eyes closed.
The monitoring data on the screen confirmed that the figure lying inside was definitely a living person, and definitely Ning Tianxing. It couldn’t be a puppet.
Frowning, Chu Rong turned off the external screen, gesturing for Qiao Zhiya to stay outside, then entered the cell alone and closed the door, blocking Qiao Zhiya’s view.
Qiao Zhiya had a vague sense of what Chu Rong was about to do, and his heart tightened anxiously as he obediently waited outside. Ten minutes later, Chu Rong emerged from the cell, his spiritual power unstable, his expression cold and filled with killing intent. Qiao Zhiya stole a glance inside as Chu Rong exited and caught sight of Ning Tianxing lying on the bed, blood flowing from his seven orifices. His heart pounded heavily, and he was left stunned.
Chu Rong quickly covered Qiao Zhiya’s eyes and pulled him into his arms, then turned to the guards who were alerted by Ning Tianxing’s death alarm. He said solemnly, “The one inside is just a replica of Ning Tianxing. After breaking the mental lock, his brain only holds a few fragmented memories, and his spiritual sea is damaged. The real Ning Tianxing is still out there. Starting today, lock down the entire Capital Planet and conduct a thorough search!”
The soldiers were shocked by his words, nearly scared out of their wits.
The high-ranking officials of the Federation, who had just enjoyed a brief respite, were thrown into disarray by the news Chu Rong had revealed. Political and military officials abandoned their current tasks and gathered urgently at the military headquarters for an emergency meeting. Meanwhile, the Capital Planet was locked down, and the operation to investigate the Federation’s population and clean up all the planets under its control, proposed by Chu Rong on the day of the Presidential Palace collapse, was accelerated.
That night, Chu Rong secretly boarded the Chu family flagship with Qiao Zhiya and set course for the garbage planet.
“First An Xei, then Ning Tianxing. The mastermind found a way to protect his two most important tools. I should have realized it earlier. Ning Tianxing, that old fox, how could he be easily caught and be without any resistance? The mastermind deliberately threatened and frequently made small moves harmful to the Chu family’s safety, forcing us to not dare to act rashly, only able to stay in the safe area of the Capital Planet. They are delaying our time to go to the garbage planet!”
Chu Rong explained, his spiritual power in turmoil due to breaking the mental lock, showing how bad his emotions were at the moment.
Fan Xiangnan finally straightened out his thoughts and hastened the flagship’s speed once more. He glanced at Chu Rong’s distressed expression and Qiao Zhiya’s worried face beside him, furrowing his brow.
If everything was as the commander said, then the Ning family laboratory on the garbage planet was likely destroyed by Ning Tianxing during the time he delayed them. Ning Tianxing would definitely target key points, knowing that Qiao Zhiya was Chu Rong’s weak spot, and would burst upon touch.
The enemy was much more cunning than they had imagined.
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Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Ning Tianxing: Ning Kongran’s father, Ning Tianya’s older brother.
Long Ruifeng: the ex-President.
Long Baorou: the ex-President’s daughter.
“Elder”: the mastermind of the conspiracy.
An Xei: The former Emperor’s younger brother. A Prince and a scholar.
Ten minutes later, the hover car stopped in front of a general hospital.
Fan Xiangnan was already waiting for them at the entrance. Upon their arrival, he immediately, along with the hospital director who had rushed over, escorted them through a special passageway to the already secured emergency floor. While walking, he quickly explained, “The attack on Ling Yingxu was extremely bold. The assailant attacked him right at his residence, located above his own mecha combat training center. By the time we arrived, only Ling Yingxu was there. He had a deep wound on his left chest, nearly hitting his heart. If we had been a little later, he might have been in real danger.”
Qiao Zhiya’s expression grew increasingly tense upon hearing this, and he immediately asked, “Did you catch the assailant?”
“No,” Fan Xiangnan shook his head, then dismissed the hospital director. He took an isolation shield from his spatial button and handed it to them, frowning as he said, “We found this at the scene.”
Chu Rong looked over and frowned deeply.
Black background, red patterns, oval-shaped – it was a mini version of a black hole generator. He had just seen something similar today at the military department; it had been extracted from Long Baorou’s body. However, the one inside Long Baorou was much larger than this one.
Qiao Zhiya also frowned. He had secretly researched this thing before, but unfortunately, he had never been able to figure it out. Now, seeing this object, it would remind him of the night of the Presidential Palace collapse, almost like a shadow.
Moreover, if the perpetrator used a black hole to escape, it would be extremely difficult to catch them.
“The final exams of the Federal Military Academy are fixed, so the other party must have planned this in advance,” Fan Xiangnan continued with his speculation when he saw them remain silent. “They were able to find out about the relationship between Ling Yingxu and Ling Yi, knew that Ling Yi had interactions with Qiao, and even knew the location of the fourth-year mecha manufacturing major exam. The person planning this should have had access to the military academy’s student records system.”
However, Chu Rong shook his head and replied, “No, the other party doesn’t have that much power. Using the tactic of kidnapping parents to threaten their children seems more like something a brainless young person would do recklessly. The other party is likely someone Ling Yi knows and had a good relationship with Long Baorou. They obtained this teleportation device from her, considering these two conditions together.”
Initially, Long Baorou couldn’t have hidden in the Presidential Palace without help, aside from Xiang Hui. After the collapse of the Presidential Palace, his attention had been entirely focused on Qiao Zhiya, and he hadn’t had the chance to thoroughly clear Long Baorou’s network of connections. He hadn’t expected that before he could make a move, the other party would show up first.
Upon hearing this, Fan Xiangnan realized that he had overcomplicated things again and quickly complied with his orders before turning to arrange them.
Qiao Zhiya, however, was puzzled and asked, “Why Long Baorou?”
Chu Rong glanced at him, lifted his hand to touch his face, and replied, “Because her memories betrayed her.” Among the fragmented memories extracted, there was a scene of Long Baorou providing this device.
Over an hour later, Ling Yi, who had regained consciousness, arrived at the hospital under Lin Zhen’s protection. Just as Ling Yingxu was being pushed out of the operating room after the rescue operation, father and son, both out of danger, were arranged by Chu Rong to stay in the same hospital room.
“I received a communication from my father in the morning,” Ling Yi recalled, glancing at his father lying on the other side. He paused for a moment before continuing, “A person wearing a black robe was holding my father hostage, forbidding me to call the police or inform anyone else. They instructed me to go to locker B in the school cafeteria to retrieve a bottle of medicine and drink it, then put on the mental induction device inside, and then ordered me to harm Qiao Zhiya.”
“I tried to seek help from a passing teacher, but that person immediately fed my father a strange drug. I had no choice but to make up an excuse to fool the teacher. Later, I followed the commands of the person in the black robe and approached the fourth year exam room. Then my consciousness suddenly became blurry. I regained consciousness briefly when I saw Qiao Zhiya, and then I tried to knock myself out by hitting the wall to avoid being manipulated further, but I failed. You know the rest.”
Chu Rong frowned and pondered for a few seconds before asking, “You mentioned the Ning family before you passed out. Why?”
“I was in a hurry, and I saw the person in the black robe feeding my father a drug. The drug they made me drink before was also strange, so…” Ling Yi explained apologetically. Having seen the public trial, he immediately associated the situation with the Ning family after realizing that the person in the black robe was targeting Qiao Zhiya and using drugs to threaten people. It was just an instinctual response.
Qiao Zhiya felt extremely guilty and apologized, saying, “I’m sorry, I’ve implicated you and your father.”
“No need to apologize. It’s the bad guys’ fault,” Ling Yi turned to look at him, his expression gentle with gratitude. He continued, “I never had the chance to thank you in person for saving my father during the finals on that planet. Thank you.”
Qiao Zhiya hurriedly waved his hand to indicate there was no need for thanks. Seeing him like this, his low spirits lifted slightly.
Later in the evening, Ling Yingxu also regained consciousness. He recalled the events before he passed out, only remembering a black hole suddenly appearing at home, followed by something rushing out of the black hole and attacking him.
During the brief moment of clarity, he saw a knife swinging down in a daze and instinctively exerted all his strength to dodge aside before passing out in pain.
“It’s likely that the problematic drug fed to you by the person in the black robe stimulated your mental consciousness, causing you to briefly regain consciousness,” Fan Xiangnan speculated. Suddenly, the communicator rang. It was a message from the investigation team left at the school, stating that after reviewing the surveillance footage from locker B of the cafeteria, they found that the person who placed the drug was a freshman. He didn’t know what he was doing, and delivering items to the cafeteria was just part of his part-time job as a campus runner.
“Continue the investigation. The perpetrator’s actions weren’t very careful, so there should be clues left behind,” Chu Rong ordered. Seeing that it was already late, he nodded at Ling Yingxu and his son, then took Qiao Zhiya home directly.
The next day at noon, the mastermind behind the incident was caught. It turned out to be a former admirer of Long Baorou, now an assistant instructor at the military academy. Long Baorou had contacted him after secretly returning to the Federation, using him to contact Xiang Hui, and then seizing the opportunity to control Xiang Hui. This admirer was just a member of a small family. Unable to rescue Long Baorou upon hearing the news of her capture, he was furious and sought revenge, using some “toys” left by Long Baorou.
He was an advisor to a club that Ling Yi participated in, and had seen Ling Yingxu come to pick Ling Yi up and had also seen Ling Yi and Jian making contact. Knowing that Ling Yi had connections with Qiao Zhiya, he focused his attention on him.
This incident seemed to have no major conspiracy, just a minor aftermath of the Long Baorou incident.
But Chu Rong felt that something was amiss.
While Long Baorou and Long Ruifeng were father and daughter, they occupied drastically different positions within the entire conspiracy chain.
Long Ruifeng was merely a tool of the lowest rank, unaware that behind An Xei stood the real mastermind. Meanwhile, Long Baorou was deeply entrenched in the center of the conspiracy. Not only was she personally mentally locked by the mastermind’s spiritual power, but she could also freely manipulate those black hole devices. This was all very strange.
Moreover, the mastermind had just mentioned through Long Baorou that this was only the beginning, and then trouble ensued on Qiao Zhiya’s side.
Chu Rong sat on the sofa, lost in thought, playing with the black hole teleportation device taken from Ling Yingxu’s home. Suddenly, his hand stopped, and he sat up.
Sometimes, the human subconscious remembers things that the brain ignores. The word “Ning family” that Ling Yi mentioned at the critical moment may not be just an association caused by the drug used, but a genuine discovery of something.
And those intermittent memories in Long Baorou’s mind, contacting someone…
No, besides Long Baorou, there were others manipulating events targeting the Chu family.
He took out his communicator and dialed Fan Xiangnan’s number, instructing him as soon as the call connected, “Communicate with Ling Yi, calm his mental state, and ask him to try to vividly recall the scene when he contacted the person in the black robe.”
Fan Xiangnan was taken aback but quickly agreed.
That afternoon, Chu Rong received a projection video. Ling Yi couldn’t remember the details of the incident, so at Ling Yingxu’s suggestion, he voluntarily agreed on using spiritual power for a mental search.
Qiao Zhiya slipped into the study and sat next to Chu Rong, grabbing his arm. Chu Rong glanced at him and silently consented to his company, then clicked play.
The video began from Ling Yi’s perspective, starting with the scene of Ling Yingxu being kidnapped in a video call. The first half of the video matched Ling Yi’s account, up until he drank the drug. However, as Ling Yi’s consciousness began to blur, another video call screen faintly appeared behind the person in the black robe facing him. And the person on the screen…
“Ning Tianxing?”
Qiao Zhiya’s vision was much better than Chu Rong’s, and he immediately recognized the vague figure. His eyes widened in shock — if he wasn’t mistaken, Ning Tianxing should be undergoing interrogation, awaiting death in the most tightly guarded prison in the military headquarters! But what was this video about?
Chu Rong’s expression also changed, and he stood up, ready to rush to the military headquarters. Qiao Zhiya glanced at the video, which was still playing normally but didn’t show the additional call screen, and hurriedly followed.
The two of them hastily boarded the hover car and headed towards the military headquarters. Upon arrival, Chu Rong, utilizing his authority, unlocked the prison blockade along with Qiao Zhiya and made their way to the highest security cell in the advanced containment area. They stood outside the observation screen and looked in.
Inside, Ning Tianxing lay with his eyes closed, seemingly lifeless. To prevent his spiritual power from destroying his brain once he regained consciousness, the military had been trying to keep him in this comatose state. Even though he was currently undergoing interrogation and awaiting death, the military had not allowed him to wake up.
Perhaps he was conscious at the moment and could sense external events, but his thoughts were extremely disjointed, unable to control his brain. He was essentially a living dead with his eyes closed.
The monitoring data on the screen confirmed that the figure lying inside was definitely a living person, and definitely Ning Tianxing. It couldn’t be a puppet.
Frowning, Chu Rong turned off the external screen, gesturing for Qiao Zhiya to stay outside, then entered the cell alone and closed the door, blocking Qiao Zhiya’s view.
Qiao Zhiya had a vague sense of what Chu Rong was about to do, and his heart tightened anxiously as he obediently waited outside. Ten minutes later, Chu Rong emerged from the cell, his spiritual power unstable, his expression cold and filled with killing intent. Qiao Zhiya stole a glance inside as Chu Rong exited and caught sight of Ning Tianxing lying on the bed, blood flowing from his seven orifices. His heart pounded heavily, and he was left stunned.
Chu Rong quickly covered Qiao Zhiya’s eyes and pulled him into his arms, then turned to the guards who were alerted by Ning Tianxing’s death alarm. He said solemnly, “The one inside is just a replica of Ning Tianxing. After breaking the mental lock, his brain only holds a few fragmented memories, and his spiritual sea is damaged. The real Ning Tianxing is still out there. Starting today, lock down the entire Capital Planet and conduct a thorough search!”
The soldiers were shocked by his words, nearly scared out of their wits.
The high-ranking officials of the Federation, who had just enjoyed a brief respite, were thrown into disarray by the news Chu Rong had revealed. Political and military officials abandoned their current tasks and gathered urgently at the military headquarters for an emergency meeting. Meanwhile, the Capital Planet was locked down, and the operation to investigate the Federation’s population and clean up all the planets under its control, proposed by Chu Rong on the day of the Presidential Palace collapse, was accelerated.
That night, Chu Rong secretly boarded the Chu family flagship with Qiao Zhiya and set course for the garbage planet.
“First An Xei, then Ning Tianxing. The mastermind found a way to protect his two most important tools. I should have realized it earlier. Ning Tianxing, that old fox, how could he be easily caught and be without any resistance? The mastermind deliberately threatened and frequently made small moves harmful to the Chu family’s safety, forcing us to not dare to act rashly, only able to stay in the safe area of the Capital Planet. They are delaying our time to go to the garbage planet!”
Chu Rong explained, his spiritual power in turmoil due to breaking the mental lock, showing how bad his emotions were at the moment.
Fan Xiangnan finally straightened out his thoughts and hastened the flagship’s speed once more. He glanced at Chu Rong’s distressed expression and Qiao Zhiya’s worried face beside him, furrowing his brow.
If everything was as the commander said, then the Ning family laboratory on the garbage planet was likely destroyed by Ning Tianxing during the time he delayed them. Ning Tianxing would definitely target key points, knowing that Qiao Zhiya was Chu Rong’s weak spot, and would burst upon touch.
The enemy was much more cunning than they had imagined.
Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family's current heir. Xiang Kun's older brother.Ning Tianxing: Ning Kongran's father, Ning Tianya's older brother.Long Ruifeng: the ex-President.Long Baorou: the ex-President's daughter.Elder: the mastermind of the conspiracy.An Xei: The former Emperor's younger brother. A Prince and a scholar. Ten minutes later, the hover car stopped in front of a general hospital.Fan Xiangnan was already waiting for them at the entrance. Upon their arrival, he immediately, along with the hospital director who had rushed over, escorted them through a special passageway to the already secured emergency floor. While walking, he quickly explained, The attack on Ling Yingxu was extremely bold. The assailant attacked him right at his residence, located above his own mecha combat training center. By the time we arrived, only Ling Yingxu was there. He had a deep wound on his left chest, nearly hitting his heart. If we had been a little later, he might have been in real danger.Qiao Zhiya's expression grew increasingly tense upon hearing this, and he immediately asked, Did you catch the assailant?No, Fan Xiangnan shook his head, then dismissed the hospital director. He took an isolation shield from his spatial button and handed it to them, frowning as he said, We found this at the scene.Chu Rong looked over and frowned deeply.Black background, red patterns, oval-shaped it was a mini version of a black hole generator. He had just seen something similar today at the military department; it had been extracted from Long Baorou's body. However, the one inside Long Baorou was much larger than this one.Qiao Zhiya also frowned. He had secretly researched this thing before, but unfortunately, he had never been able to figure it out. Now, seeing this object, it would remind him of the night of the Presidential Palace collapse, almost like a shadow.Moreover, if the perpetrator used a black hole to escape, it would be extremely difficult to catch them.The final exams of the Federal Military Academy are fixed, so the other party must have planned this in advance, Fan Xiangnan continued with his speculation when he saw them remain silent. They were able to find out about the relationship between Ling Yingxu and Ling Yi, knew that Ling Yi had interactions with Qiao, and even knew the location of the fourth-year mecha manufacturing major exam. The person planning this should have had access to the military academy's student records system.However, Chu Rong shook his head and replied, No, the other party doesn't have that much power. Using the tactic of kidnapping parents to threaten their children seems more like something a brainless young person would do recklessly. The other party is likely someone Ling Yi knows and had a good relationship with Long Baorou. They obtained this teleportation device from her, considering these two conditions together.Initially, Long Baorou couldn't have hidden in the Presidential Palace without help, aside from Xiang Hui. After the collapse of the Presidential Palace, his attention had been entirely focused on Qiao Zhiya, and he hadn't had the chance to thoroughly clear Long Baorou's network of connections. He hadn't expected that before he could make a move, the other party would show up first.Upon hearing this, Fan Xiangnan realized that he had overcomplicated things again and quickly complied with his orders before turning to arrange them.Qiao Zhiya, however, was puzzled and asked, Why Long Baorou?Chu Rong glanced at him, lifted his hand to touch his face, and replied, Because her memories betrayed her. Among the fragmented memories extracted, there was a scene of Long Baorou providing this device.Over an hour later, Ling Yi, who had regained consciousness, arrived at the hospital under Lin Zhen's protection. Just as Ling Yingxu was being pushed out of the operating room after the rescue operation, father and son, both out of danger, were arranged by Chu Rong to stay in the same hospital room.I received a communication from my father in the morning, Ling Yi recalled, glancing at his father lying on the other side. He paused for a moment before continuing, A person wearing a black robe was holding my father hostage, forbidding me to call the police or inform anyone else. They instructed me to go to locker B in the school cafeteria to retrieve a bottle of medicine and drink it, then put on the mental induction device inside, and then ordered me to harm Qiao Zhiya.I tried to seek help from a passing teacher, but that person immediately fed my father a strange drug. I had no choice but to make up an excuse to fool the teacher. Later, I followed the commands of the person in the black robe and approached the fourth year exam room. Then my consciousness suddenly became blurry. I regained consciousness briefly when I saw Qiao Zhiya, and then I tried to knock myself out by hitting the wall to avoid being manipulated further, but I failed. You know the rest.Chu Rong frowned and pondered for a few seconds before asking, You mentioned the Ning family before you passed out. Why?I was in a hurry, and I saw the person in the black robe feeding my father a drug. The drug they made me drink before was also strange, so Ling Yi explained apologetically. Having seen the public trial, he immediately associated the situation with the Ning family after realizing that the person in the black robe was targeting Qiao Zhiya and using drugs to threaten people. It was just an instinctual response.Qiao Zhiya felt extremely guilty and apologized, saying, I'm sorry, I've implicated you and your father.No need to apologize. It's the bad guys' fault, Ling Yi turned to look at him, his expression gentle with gratitude. He continued, I never had the chance to thank you in person for saving my father during the finals on that planet. Thank you.Qiao Zhiya hurriedly waved his hand to indicate there was no need for thanks. Seeing him like this, his low spirits lifted slightly.Later in the evening, Ling Yingxu also regained consciousness. He recalled the events before he passed out, only remembering a black hole suddenly appearing at home, followed by something rushing out of the black hole and attacking him.During the brief moment of clarity, he saw a knife swinging down in a daze and instinctively exerted all his strength to dodge aside before passing out in pain.It's likely that the problematic drug fed to you by the person in the black robe stimulated your mental consciousness, causing you to briefly regain consciousness, Fan Xiangnan speculated. Suddenly, the communicator rang. It was a message from the investigation team left at the school, stating that after reviewing the surveillance footage from locker B of the cafeteria, they found that the person who placed the drug was a freshman. He didn't know what he was doing, and delivering items to the cafeteria was just part of his part-time job as a campus runner.Continue the investigation. The perpetrator's actions weren't very careful, so there should be clues left behind, Chu Rong ordered. Seeing that it was already late, he nodded at Ling Yingxu and his son, then took Qiao Zhiya home directly.The next day at noon, the mastermind behind the incident was caught. It turned out to be a former admirer of Long Baorou, now an assistant instructor at the military academy. Long Baorou had contacted him after secretly returning to the Federation, using him to contact Xiang Hui, and then seizing the opportunity to control Xiang Hui. This admirer was just a member of a small family. Unable to rescue Long Baorou upon hearing the news of her capture, he was furious and sought revenge, using some toys left by Long Baorou.He was an advisor to a club that Ling Yi participated in, and had seen Ling Yingxu come to pick Ling Yi up and had also seen Ling Yi and Jian making contact. Knowing that Ling Yi had connections with Qiao Zhiya, he focused his attention on him.This incident seemed to have no major conspiracy, just a minor aftermath of the Long Baorou incident.But Chu Rong felt that something was amiss.While Long Baorou and Long Ruifeng were father and daughter, they occupied drastically different positions within the entire conspiracy chain.Long Ruifeng was merely a tool of the lowest rank, unaware that behind An Xei stood the real mastermind. Meanwhile, Long Baorou was deeply entrenched in the center of the conspiracy. Not only was she personally mentally locked by the mastermind's spiritual power, but she could also freely manipulate those black hole devices. This was all very strange.Moreover, the mastermind had just mentioned through Long Baorou that this was only the beginning, and then trouble ensued on Qiao Zhiya's side.Chu Rong sat on the sofa, lost in thought, playing with the black hole teleportation device taken from Ling Yingxu's home. Suddenly, his hand stopped, and he sat up.Sometimes, the human subconscious remembers things that the brain ignores. The word Ning family that Ling Yi mentioned at the critical moment may not be just an association caused by the drug used, but a genuine discovery of something.And those intermittent memories in Long Baorou's mind, contacting someoneNo, besides Long Baorou, there were others manipulating events targeting the Chu family.He took out his communicator and dialed Fan Xiangnan's number, instructing him as soon as the call connected, Communicate with Ling Yi, calm his mental state, and ask him to try to vividly recall the scene when he contacted the person in the black robe.Fan Xiangnan was taken aback but quickly agreed.That afternoon, Chu Rong received a projection video. Ling Yi couldn't remember the details of the incident, so at Ling Yingxu's suggestion, he voluntarily agreed on using spiritual power for a mental search.Qiao Zhiya slipped into the study and sat next to Chu Rong, grabbing his arm. Chu Rong glanced at him and silently consented to his company, then clicked play.The video began from Ling Yi's perspective, starting with the scene of Ling Yingxu being kidnapped in a video call. The first half of the video matched Ling Yi's account, up until he drank the drug. However, as Ling Yi's consciousness began to blur, another video call screen faintly appeared behind the person in the black robe facing him. And the person on the screenNing Tianxing?Qiao Zhiya's vision was much better than Chu Rong's, and he immediately recognized the vague figure. His eyes widened in shock if he wasn't mistaken, Ning Tianxing should be undergoing interrogation, awaiting death in the most tightly guarded prison in the military headquarters! But what was this video about?Chu Rong's expression also changed, and he stood up, ready to rush to the military headquarters. Qiao Zhiya glanced at the video, which was still playing normally but didn't show the additional call screen, and hurriedly followed.The two of them hastily boarded the hover car and headed towards the military headquarters. Upon arrival, Chu Rong, utilizing his authority, unlocked the prison blockade along with Qiao Zhiya and made their way to the highest security cell in the advanced containment area. They stood outside the observation screen and looked in.Inside, Ning Tianxing lay with his eyes closed, seemingly lifeless. To prevent his spiritual power from destroying his brain once he regained consciousness, the military had been trying to keep him in this comatose state. Even though he was currently undergoing interrogation and awaiting death, the military had not allowed him to wake up.Perhaps he was conscious at the moment and could sense external events, but his thoughts were extremely disjointed, unable to control his brain. He was essentially a living dead with his eyes closed.The monitoring data on the screen confirmed that the figure lying inside was definitely a living person, and definitely Ning Tianxing. It couldn't be a puppet.Frowning, Chu Rong turned off the external screen, gesturing for Qiao Zhiya to stay outside, then entered the cell alone and closed the door, blocking Qiao Zhiya's view.Qiao Zhiya had a vague sense of what Chu Rong was about to do, and his heart tightened anxiously as he obediently waited outside. Ten minutes later, Chu Rong emerged from the cell, his spiritual power unstable, his expression cold and filled with killing intent. Qiao Zhiya stole a glance inside as Chu Rong exited and caught sight of Ning Tianxing lying on the bed, blood flowing from his seven orifices. His heart pounded heavily, and he was left stunned.Chu Rong quickly covered Qiao Zhiya's eyes and pulled him into his arms, then turned to the guards who were alerted by Ning Tianxing's death alarm. He said solemnly, The one inside is just a replica of Ning Tianxing. After breaking the mental lock, his brain only holds a few fragmented memories, and his spiritual sea is damaged. The real Ning Tianxing is still out there. Starting today, lock down the entire Capital Planet and conduct a thorough search!The soldiers were shocked by his words, nearly scared out of their wits.The high-ranking officials of the Federation, who had just enjoyed a brief respite, were thrown into disarray by the news Chu Rong had revealed. Political and military officials abandoned their current tasks and gathered urgently at the military headquarters for an emergency meeting. Meanwhile, the Capital Planet was locked down, and the operation to investigate the Federation's population and clean up all the planets under its control, proposed by Chu Rong on the day of the Presidential Palace collapse, was accelerated.That night, Chu Rong secretly boarded the Chu family flagship with Qiao Zhiya and set course for the garbage planet.First An Xei, then Ning Tianxing. The mastermind found a way to protect his two most important tools. I should have realized it earlier. Ning Tianxing, that old fox, how could he be easily caught and be without any resistance? The mastermind deliberately threatened and frequently made small moves harmful to the Chu family's safety, forcing us to not dare to act rashly, only able to stay in the safe area of the Capital Planet. They are delaying our time to go to the garbage planet!Chu Rong explained, his spiritual power in turmoil due to breaking the mental lock, showing how bad his emotions were at the moment.Fan Xiangnan finally straightened out his thoughts and hastened the flagship's speed once more. He glanced at Chu Rong's distressed expression and Qiao Zhiya's worried face beside him, furrowing his brow.If everything was as the commander said, then the Ning family laboratory on the garbage planet was likely destroyed by Ning Tianxing during the time he delayed them. Ning Tianxing would definitely target key points, knowing that Qiao Zhiya was Chu Rong's weak spot, and would burst upon touch.The enemy was much more cunning than they had imagined.
