“What is that? Have I ever had any?” the doctor retorted.
“I was wrong,” Chu Tian admitted.
The two were still joking around when the girl finally lost her patience. She had been talking for ages and had even threatened to cancel the arms deal, but Xiao Ziran hadn’t reacted at all. He simply looked at her with a cold, indifferent expression, making her feel as though she were performing a ridiculous one-woman show.
“Fine! I hereby declare that our deal is terminated! This is how your Dawn Base treats an envoy from the capital!” the girl shouted.
The word envoy struck Chu Tian like a bolt of lightning, leaving a strange expression on his face.
Quan Xiaoyu had already become curious about Chu Tian’s strange expression, but he knew Chu Tian was probably communicating with the doctor, so he had quietly stayed to the side without disturbing him.
Bai Mingxi’s room was right next door, so Chu Tian didn’t bother going through any extra trouble. He simply sent a message through their mental connection.
Xiao Bai, come to my room.
Bai Mingxi had been sitting with his eyes closed, mentally taking inventory of the electronic components and machinery they had acquired this time, when Chu Tian suddenly interrupted him.
The moment Bai Mingxi entered Chu Tian’s room, Chu Tian immediately blurted out, “Do you know the eldest daughter of the An family in the capital?”
At the words eldest daughter of the An family, Bai Mingxi’s expression instantly became indescribable.
Seeing this, Chu Tian knew there was a story to tell.
He knew about the An family. They were one of the five major powers entrenched in the capital. In the current generation of the An family’s direct descendants, there were only two siblings: An Xuexi and An Naixi. However, Chu Tian had never seen either of them in person.
“Come on, tell me about her.” Chu Tian looked extremely interested.
Although Quan Xiaoyu didn’t understand the background of the situation, he was still very curious about their conversation. After all, this concerned Chu Tian’s former world and the life he had lived back then. Thus, he also looked at Bai Mingxi expectantly.
“Is she the one who came to the base?” Bai Mingxi asked.
At times like this, Bai Mingxi was never stupid. He could already sense the ominous answer approaching.
Chu Tian nodded.
Bai Mingxi’s expression became almost unbearable to look at.
“She’s… a very… extraordinary woman.”
He resisted the urge to press a hand to his forehead and searched his mind for the right words to describe her. The nightmare-like sound of her repeatedly calling him Brother Xi once again echoed in his head, making his entire body break out in goosebumps just thinking about it.
“How extraordinary?” Chu Tian pressed him for details.
Bai Mingxi sighed. He knew there was no way out of this without explaining everything today. So he entered the room, found a seat, and began giving them a proper introduction to the eldest daughter of the An family.
An Xuexi and her younger brother, An Naixi, were half-siblings with the same father but different mothers. Her biological mother had died from complications during childbirth, but her father had quickly remarried.
However, the usual situation in which a child gained a stepmother and consequently lost her father’s affection didn’t seem to have happened to her. She remained the apple of the entire family’s eye.
“Have you heard the story of The Princess and the Pea?” Bai Mingxi said. “She grew up just like the princess in that fairy tale. And then, in our social circle, we gained a princess who was gentle and kind, yet not spoiled or willful.”
Although he said this, his tone was anything but pleasant.
The young lady was famous for her kindness and was deeply adored and protected by the boys in their social circle. However, Bai Mingxi couldn’t stand her affected, delicate mannerisms and had always kept his distance from her.
In any case, as far as he was concerned, Chu Tian had always been the only interesting person in that entire circle.
Perhaps it was precisely because he ignored her that the young lady became interested in him instead. For a period of time, she pursued him relentlessly, practically laying siege to him at every turn.
Later, Bai Mingxi had decisively rejected her. The Bai family didn’t seem particularly fond of the young lady either. After several clear refusals, the An family, being an influential household itself, finally stopped allowing her to pester Bai Mingxi.
Only then was Bai Mingxi able to escape from his nightmare.
“Gentle and kind? Those people’s brains must have been eaten by dogs,” Bai Mingxi muttered. “I’d say that when this young lady has one of her episodes, she’s probably even worse than Xie Mingxuan. I mean Xie Mingxuan when he was still alive.”
Xie Mingxuan, who was currently confined to the room by Quan Xiaoyu and unable to go outside, seemed to recognize his own name nowadays. Upon hearing Bai Mingxi call him, he raised his head and stared at Bai Mingxi for a long while with his eyes full of white.
“Don’t let him come over!” Bai Mingxi was startled and immediately hid behind Quan Xiaoyu. He always felt that the fellow was rather unfriendly toward him.
Quan Xiaoyu smiled but didn’t pay him any attention. He knew Xie Mingxuan wouldn’t do anything. Sure enough, after a short while, Xie Mingxuan turned away again and resumed playing with the toys Quan Xiaoyu had dug out of the space for him.
“Take a look. Is this her?” Chu Tian transmitted the image he saw through Xiao Ziran’s eyes to Bai Mingxi.
The moment Bai Mingxi saw it, he let out a loud yelp and waved his hand as if shooing away a fly.
“That’s enough, that’s enough! It’s her. It’s definitely her!”
“Identity confirmed,” Chu Tian transmitted to the doctor.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ziran had already begun speaking with another person.
It was the sharp-looking man who had accompanied the eldest An young lady. His name was Wei Li. Just as the young lady had been speaking without thinking, he had politely knocked on the door and entered, immediately offering a series of sincere apologies.
He explained that their young lady was still young and hoped Xiao Ziran wouldn’t take offense. The deal remained valid, and he had the authority to make decisions on her behalf. As before, Xiao Ziran could draw up a list of what he wanted first, and the two sides could discuss the details.
With the other party’s identity now confirmed, Xiao Ziran also understood that they weren’t making empty promises. His willingness to cooperate consequently increased somewhat.
He immediately stated that he wouldn’t hold such minor incidents against them. If the eldest An young lady insisted on going out, it wasn’t impossible to allow it. He had only two requirements.
First, the young lady had to follow the rules. Certain core areas of the Dawn Base were off-limits, and he hoped she wouldn’t try to force her way in. Otherwise, things would become unpleasant for everyone.
Wei Li was an intelligent man. He understood that Xiao Ziran was warning them not to casually investigate the secrets of the Dawn Base. He readily agreed and promised to keep a close eye on his own young lady.
Second, Xiao Ziran would assign people to “protect” the young lady’s safety until she returned to the residence specially arranged for her.
Wei Li agreed to this as well, but the eldest An young lady was unwilling to accept it. She made a fuss for a while, but in the end, Wei Li had the final say. Ultimately, she was allowed to leave the compound and go out without further trouble.
After thinking it over, Xiao Ziran summoned Pei Qianxing and gave him detailed instructions before sending him off to “protect” the eldest An young lady.
“Oh, you’ve really become better and better at making good use of people, Chief,” Chu Tian remarked lazily, appearing in Xiao Ziran’s office after everyone else had left.
Some things were better discussed face-to-face.
Although Pei Qianxing had joined the Dawn Base later than the others, he now held a fairly high position there. He was cold and powerful enough to command a situation. He was also intelligent and tight-lipped, making it unlikely that he would fall for the tricks of that fox-like Wei Li.
He really was the most suitable candidate.
Xiao Ziran paid no attention to Chu Tian’s teasing praise and went straight to the point.
“You’re in charge of the list and the negotiations. That man named Wei Li is no simple character. He’s nothing like Cai Yuanhan or Lei Shi. We need to be careful. By the way, do you have any information on him?”
Chu Tian shook his head.
“He’s probably someone who works for the eldest An young lady’s father. Before the apocalypse, Xiao Bai and I were still relatively young. We hadn’t formally entered the inner circle yet, so there are many things we don’t know.”
“Do you need me to have someone look into your families’ situations?” Xiao Ziran knew that Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi came from no ordinary backgrounds. And if their families really were that influential, information about them should be easier to obtain.
This was the doctor’s way of showing concern for a friend.
Unexpectedly, Chu Tian shook his head with a smile.
“No need. Originally, I was worried about my family. But after seeing the eldest An young lady show up, I’m not worried at all anymore. There’s no reason the An family’s delicate young lady could be living so comfortably while my family couldn’t even protect themselves.”
Xiao Ziran noticed a rare trace of pride in that smile. It wasn’t the sort of arrogance that looked down on others, but rather the confidence of someone who believed deeply in the strength of his own family.
So Xiao Ziran stopped dwelling on the matter and turned to another topic.
“As for exchanging the secret of crystal cores, we’d already planned to disclose part of the information internally first. Let’s follow that procedure and draw up a document for them.”
Chu Tian nodded, indicating that he had no objections.
“Originally, I couldn’t understand why the capital had sent such a young lady. But now\…” Xiao Ziran slid a document across the desk.
Chu Tian picked it up and glanced at it.
“Level Three healing-type ability user? Looks like they’ll be able to put the secret of crystal cores to use immediately once they obtain it.”
Chu Tian flipped through several more pages before looking at Xiao Ziran in surprise.
“They’ve been very high-profile. As soon as they arrived at Tianze, they treated a large number of people. You should have obtained this intelligence a long time ago. Why are you only finding out about it now?”
Xiao Ziran looked thoroughly ashamed by the question.
Chu Tian’s very existence seemed to serve as a reminder that he still wasn’t a fully competent leader.
“Those people over there are too annoying, so I didn’t pay much attention to them,” he admitted, his voice full of guilt.
“Actually, the intelligence arrived a long time ago. I’ve just been busy with other things and never got around to reading it.”
To him, rapidly establishing and improving the Dawn Base had been far more important than paying attention to Tianze.
However, he now realized that he had been wrong.
Whether someone was an enemy or a friend, he had to take intelligence seriously and pay attention to everything worth monitoring. Only then could he respond in the most appropriate way to any unexpected situation at the earliest possible moment.
He would reflect on his mistakes.