“Since it was a misunderstanding, of course no one is going to hold it against him.” Chu Tian smiled, deliberately refusing to respond to the implication behind his words.
“Then, may I ask where that expert is now? I can have my subordinate apologize to him in person.”
Cai Yuanhan was still going in circles.
Chu Tian was almost impressed by him. If they kept circling around like this, he’d have to sit here all day.
“You mean the psychic-type ability user on our team, right? It was just a misunderstanding. I happened to notice someone trying to attack my little boyfriend, so I gave them a counterattack while I was at it. But the misunderstanding has already been cleared up, so please don’t be so polite about it.”
Chu Tian said it with a smile.
This was basically a direct admission that he himself was the psychic-type ability user.
Mu Jiu and the others had been present at the time. Judging from Chu Tian’s very first reaction, they should already have been able to figure out that he was the psychic-type ability user. Cai Yuanhan’s repeated probing was merely to confirm it.
So there was no need to deliberately hide it anymore.
It was time to show some strength.
Chu Tian’s words left Cai Yuanhan stunned. He had assumed the other party would regard his ability as something precious and continue dancing around the subject with him. He hadn’t expected Chu Tian to admit it so readily.
For a moment, he wasn’t accustomed to such directness and actually found himself at a loss for words.
Ouyang Jing, however, secretly glanced at Quan Xiaoyu, then at Chu Tian, before sitting up straight and continuing to play the role of a wooden statue.
Inside, though, he couldn’t help sighing.
Young people these days were really uninhibited!
Quan Xiaoyu, meanwhile, had his heart tugged by the words “my little boyfriend.” He inexplicably felt a little happy inside, though he still had to pretend on the surface that nothing had happened.
Bai Mingxi clicked his tongue twice and gave Chu Tian a thumbs-up.
He could flirt even while discussing serious business. Impressive.
Seeing Cai Yuanhan at a loss for words, Mu Jiu immediately picked up the conversation tactfully.
The main point was still to win Chu Tian over, clearly trying to persuade him to lead his team into joining the Defense Team. He even boldly offered extremely generous terms right in front of Cai Yuanhan.
The exact same words, yet the two sides were paying attention to completely different things.
Chu Tian naturally couldn’t agree, but neither did he reject them outright. He only said that their boss was currently unconscious, and something this important was not a decision he could make himself. They would have to wait until their boss woke up before discussing it.
Just like that, he shifted the responsibility onto the completely unsuspecting Xiao Ziran.
The other side obviously wasn’t going to give up so easily.
Mu Jiu stepped in again, hinting that Chu Tian could join personally if he wanted to, with the generous terms remaining unchanged.
Chu Tian once again went around the issue in a few sentences, neither agreeing nor refusing, essentially conveying that he would give it serious consideration.
Cai Yuanhan and Mu Jiu naturally knew that something like this couldn’t be settled in a single conversation. They had already gained something today, so they finally let the matter rest.
Chu Tian and the others could finally leave as well.
The person Mu Jiu had sent out to handle the paperwork had already returned after taking care of everything, so Mu Jiu sent one of his trusted men to personally escort Chu Tian’s group to the residence assigned to them.
After watching them leave, the smile on Cai Yuanhan’s face immediately turned cold.
He slightly furrowed his brows and asked Mu Jiu, “What do you think of these people?”
“These people are quite powerful. There are definitely quite a few ability users among them. They traveled all the way from S City, yet they don’t look the least bit disheveled. Every member of the team is energetic and spirited. Since the apocalypse began, teams like this have been extremely rare. It’s clear that they really are very strong.”
Mu Jiu analyzed the situation carefully.
“If we can win them over, they would definitely be a major asset to you.”
Cai Yuanhan let out a cold laugh and shook his head.
“Precisely because they’re so strong, I’m afraid they won’t willingly submit to someone else. Take that Chu Tian just now. He’s smooth and tactful, and every word he says leaves no opening to exploit. He appears humble and amiable on the surface, but he clearly has a great deal of pride. There’s no way he’d willingly lower himself to become some nobody working under me.”
“Besides, people like that are too difficult to control.”
Mu Jiu was stunned when he heard this.
It sounded reasonable, and worry immediately appeared on his face.
“Then… are we still keeping them here? Should we…”
Cai Yuanhan immediately waved his hand, cutting him off, and even glared at him.
“I’m telling you, Mu Jiu, you’ve been with me for quite a while now. How come you still haven’t learned to use your brain?”
“They won’t willingly submit to someone else, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful to me!”
“That Chu Tian kept pointing out, both openly and subtly, the conflict between them and that Yuan family brat. That’s him showing goodwill toward us!”
His tone was filled with exasperation.
He had plenty of capable people under him, but he was sorely lacking someone with the intelligence and insight of a military strategist. It had always been a source of regret for him.
This Chu Tian today was pretty good.
What a pity…
“All right. You wouldn’t understand even if I said more. Treat those people well and don’t neglect them. They’re smart people. They’ll know what they should do.”
“You just need to remember one thing: even if they can’t help us with anything, we absolutely cannot let them side with Yuan Long. Understand?”
Cai Yuanhan gave his orders.
“Yes!”
Mu Jiu stood at attention and gave an awkward military salute, making it obvious that he hadn’t originally been a soldier.
“And what about that Yuan family brat? He’s in our hands now?” Cai Yuanhan asked again.
“Yes. When we passed by, that idiot saw the base’s vehicle and actually came over himself to announce who he was. He’s practically an idiot.”
Even Mu Jiu looked down on Yuan Shaohua’s intelligence.
Cai Yuanhan let out another cold laugh.
“Yuan Long was brilliant his entire life, only to end up being brought down by his own stupid son. Heh.”
Without waiting for Mu Jiu to respond, he continued, “Keep him imprisoned somewhere secretly. He’ll be very useful.”
“Also, question him carefully. Find out exactly what he went out to do and what S City has that made Yuan Long willing to sacrifice everything he worked so hard to establish in J City just to send people there.”
“Understood. Don’t worry. I hid him away a long time ago. I guarantee no one will find him.”
“That kid looks like a complete coward. I guarantee we can dig up everything about his family going back eighteen generations.”
Mu Jiu answered confidently.
Cai Yuanhan nodded. Only then did he wave Mu Jiu away.
“All right. Go handle it.”
Mu Jiu immediately stood at attention again, then turned and left.
J City, Defense Team, Base Commander’s Office.
The files on the desk were swept onto the floor with an angry whoosh.
The person standing at the door delivering the report trembled inwardly, but didn’t dare move an inch, much less make another sound.
“What are you all good for?! How did the Young Master end up in Cai’s hands?”
“What about the ability users he took with him? Are they all dead?!”
Yuan Long was consumed by fury, his eyes bloodshot.
The greatest weakness in his entire life was his son.
His son was the most precious gift his wife had left him after dying in childbirth.
After his wife passed away, he never remarried and had no interest in doing so. He devoted himself entirely to raising his son.
Although his position as a soldier meant he didn’t have much time to spend with him, his son had always been the apple of his eye, spoiled beyond measure.
He actually knew that his son was useless.
But ever since the boy was little, he had never been able to bring himself to discipline him. He couldn’t bear to hit him or even scold him.
How could that be called raising a child properly?
The apocalypse had given him an enormous opportunity, allowing him to become a powerful warlord controlling an entire region.
That kind of power had only made his already-spoiled son even more arrogant and reckless.
On the surface, Yuan Long appeared helpless about it, but deep down, he also felt that now that he held such tremendous power, what harm was there in letting his son do whatever he wanted?
It wasn’t until the situation had become so serious that even he could no longer clean up the mess that he reluctantly sent his son away.
He gave his son the strongest group of ability users under his command, hoping that the boy would remain safe until Yuan Long could once again pacify J City.
But things had gone terribly wrong.
The Cai family’s counterattack had been far more fierce and extensive than he had anticipated.
After several clashes, the one who had ended up fleeing in defeat was none other than Yuan Long himself.
Cai Yuanhan had conquered territory all along the way, and by now, he had replaced Yuan Long as the head of the J City base.
He had also carried out a series of sweeping reforms, further weakening Yuan Long’s influence while winning over many people.
A starving camel is still bigger than a horse.
The Cai family couldn’t possibly swallow all of Yuan Long’s forces in one bite. After several rounds of stalemate, the relatively balanced situation they had now finally emerged.
But Yuan Shaohua’s sudden capture could very well shatter that balance soon.
How could Yuan Long not be frantic with rage?
He was worried about his son on one hand, while on the other, he was worried about the future situation and the power still in his hands.
“Speak! Tell me exactly what happened again!”
Yuan Long pointed at the guard standing by the door and roared.
“Yes!”
The guard answered nervously before continuing.
“According to the people we sent to gather information, a group of people fled from J City—no, two groups of people. They started fighting not far outside the city.”
“Coincidentally, Mu Jiu from the Cai family’s Defense Team happened to pass by and saw them. The Young Master was hiding among those two groups. When he saw the base vehicle, he got into Mu Jiu’s vehicle himself…”
Yuan Long’s expression grew increasingly grim, frightening the guard into stopping.
“Speak! Keep going!”
“What about the ability users the Young Master took with him? Are they all dead?!”
Yuan Long slammed his hand against the desk again.
The mahogany desk instantly developed a crack from the force.
The guard shuddered violently and hurriedly continued.
“W-We… we didn’t see any of the people the Young Master took with him. The Young Master came back with one of those two groups.”
“But… maybe the people he took with him really… really are all dead!”
“How is that possible?!”
Another tremendous blow landed on the desk.
The guard’s legs went weak, his lower abdomen tightened, and he genuinely felt like he was about to wet himself from fear.
“Twenty of the strongest ability users in the base!”
“All of them were Level Two, and there was even Pei Qianxing, a Level Three plant-type ability user!”
“All dead!”
“How could they all be dead?!”
Yuan Long roared.
His words expressed disbelief, but inwardly, he was already suspicious.
The people he had sent out were either absolutely loyal to him or had family members remaining in the base. The possibility of them betraying him was therefore relatively small.
So if they hadn’t stayed by his son’s side, then either they had been separated from him when danger struck…
Or they really were all dead.
Even if they had been separated, there was no way his son would have ended up with not a single one of them beside him, right?
Yuan Long actually knew his own son quite well.
He also knew exactly how capable the boy was of getting himself into trouble.
The more he thought about it, the more he feared that the latter possibility might actually be the truth.