Apocalypse Forecast

In the morning, the basement storage of the City Library once again welcomed its guest.

The Professor looked as hefty as usual. When Ai Qing arrived, he appeared to be reading something interesting, occasionally emitting a laugh.

"You're quite early," he said, closing his book upon seeing Ai Qing. "Did you not sleep? It seems last night's incident in the warehouse was indeed troublesome. I thought you would come in the afternoon."

"Too many trifles."

Ai Qing, who had not slept all night, looked even paler, but her expression remained calm. "It's better to solve it sooner rather than later."

"Coffee? Tea?"

"Coffee, double sugar, no milk."

"What a coincidence, I just got some good beans yesterday." The Professor happily took out his apparatus, and soon the aroma of coffee began to waft from the drip pot.

Shortly, a cup of coffee was placed in front of Ai Qing.

"Please enjoy."

After Ai Qing finished her coffee, her complexion seemed to improve. She took a deep breath and set down the sugar-stained mug, attempting to revive her spirits.

She waited for the investigation results.

Soon, a thick stack of documents was placed on the table.

"The things you asked me to investigate are all here," the Professor said, clapping his hands and neatly arranging the copies of contracts and property transaction documents in front of her. "Qi Wen has been involved with the Savior Association to some extent starting twelve years ago. They've had a certain degree of collaboration, but always maintained some boundaries."

"Unfortunately, there is no direct, decisive evidence."

"However… as far as I know, over the years, the main party that has collaborated with—no, I should say supported—Qi Wen, should be the Yin's family, right?"

As he spoke, he placed a thick file in front of Ai Qing with a curious tone. "Are you preparing for a righteous move against your own kin this time?"

"Which country's joke are you referring to?"

Ai Qing rubbed her temples irritably. "Qi Wen amassed his initial capital by acting as the Yin's family's agent. He's been nothing but a dog from the beginning, and now he's just an old dog with ambitions that can't be leashed. Even if he dies, the Yin's family won't lose a single hair. Besides, would a guy like Qi Wen leave any trail behind?"

As if he had profound experience in this matter, the Professor shrugged and said nothing more.

In the silence, only the sound of pages flipping could be heard.

Having abandoned the aimless search for the Savior Association's activities over the years and instead focused on the connection between Qi Wen and the Savior Association—a more concrete target—the Professor's efficiency increased manifold.

Within just a day, he had obtained a multitude of clues through various channels. After compiling these with all the paper records from Xinhai City accumulated in this underground library over the years, they turned into this thick stack of documents.

Putting aside the significant number of property transactions, the transformations and changes in the industries under Qi Wen's name in the past two years, and the special channels of Tomorrow News, even the various projects Qi Wen had been running secretly were thoroughly unearthed.

However, even Ai Qing found the results of the investigation hard to believe.

"He wants to monopolize the trading routes and material supplies of Penghu Border?"

Ai Qing couldn't help but chuckle at the investigation results. "He's planning to control a maritime border's passage and material transport by himself? Who does he think he is?"

"As it stands, he spent a lot of money on lobbying and guarantees, and he has secured the qualification for bidding," the Professor said, popping a macaroon into his mouth and chewing heartily. "If someone's backing him, it's not impossible."

Ai Qing understood. "You mean the Yin's family?"

The Professor shrugged slightly. "All I know is that he's been frequently visiting Jinling these days."

She had to admit the Professor's speculation was quite reasonable.

The benefits of monopolizing a border trade route went far beyond just money; the underlying interests were astonishingly huge. Just imagine all the Sublimators in an isolated overseas borderland having to rely on his controlled routes for travel and exploration…

If the Qi Family could indeed bring such immense benefits to the Yin Family, then the old patriarch might overlook Qi Wen's years of estrangement. In fact, after reconciling their past differences, their cooperation would likely become even closer.

And Qi Wen had secured a position of initiative in the process, no longer a mere agent or puppet, but an essential collaborator who transformed from a chess piece to a chess player.

Times had changed.

The more critical the juncture, the less chaos was permissible. If she were to investigate Qi Wen using the Savior Association, that old dog might do something unpredictable.

Nevertheless, the content that followed in the dossier made her frown.

Smuggling.

Smuggling isn't usually a big deal; or rather, to some extent, this gray industry is prevalent worldwide. Otherwise, where would all the domestic grey-market goods and low-priced genuine products come from?

However, the implication in the following record caused her expression to become serious at once.

"Can it be confirmed?"

"Of course not," the Professor shrugged. "No one with knowledge would disclose such information. No, everyone who knew the details is already six feet under, so how could there be any solid evidence?"

But the report the Professor compiled explicitly linked the numerous missing persons in neighboring countries over the years with the smuggling routes of the Qi Family.

In other words, Qi Wen may have been secretly smuggling a considerable number of people into Xinhai all along.

After all, people are alive; even a fool needs to eat, drink, and relieve themselves daily. The appearance of one person in a city might not be noticeable, but thousands, even tens of thousands, appearing in a small place like Xinhai? Even a ghost would know there was a problem. But the question was, where were the people? Where had they all gone? Had they simply vanished from the face of the earth after arriving in Xinhai? No, if that were the case…

Thinking of The Purified People connected to the Savior Association, and those Border Variants they bred, Ai Qing had a guess about the fate of those people.

Anyway, the place they ended up couldn't have been some blissful Heaven… This was probably the basis of Qi Wen's cooperation with the Savior Association, then.

Qi Wen provided a steady stream of victims for their living sacrifices, and The Purified People, in turn, secretly supported him under the guise of the Savior Association. This support wasn't just financial; they even handled inconvenient matters that Qi Wen couldn't address openly.

This was just a replica of Qi Wen's role with the Yin's Family back in the day; he was merely one of the "cleaner" puppets among many. He really had learned quite a lot.

Lost in thought, Ai Qing's expression changed subtly. After a long time, she closed the file.

"Is there anything else?"

"Hmm?" The Professor seemed puzzled.

"If that's the case, you must have something else up your sleeve, waiting for the right price," Ai Qing said calmly, looking at the Professor. "You have something else you haven't brought out."

The Professor smiled awkwardly.

"It seems nothing can be hidden from you."

He pulled out a thin file from under the table, placed it on the table, but did not hand it over. "Although this intelligence isn't of high importance, I think it should be of interest to you. I guarantee, it's well worth it."

Ai Qing still appeared aloof and was in no hurry to promise a reward, just silently watching him.

After a long while, the Professor sighed helplessly and pushed the folder over. "You win. But this will be charged individually—triple the usual rate."

Ai Qing shook her head. "I will only give you double."

"Deal."

The Professor nodded, his expression turning woeful.

「Eight years ago, in Xinhai.」

Six managers, eleven corporate executives, and dozens of clerks had all been hospitalized for unexplained high fevers, ostensibly linked to various accidents. This even led to widespread rumors about a plague at the time. Many years later, people still remembered the panic that had gripped the city.

But ultimately, these were all trivial matters. These people were nothing more than ordinary individuals with nothing noteworthy about them.

The only commonality was that they had all once worked to varying degrees for the Huai Group and Qi Wen's industries.

And the timing? Exactly the year the Huai Family officially declared bankruptcy.

After quietly reading through the records, Ai Qing closed her eyes and took a long breath.

"Let me guess."

She spoke softly, "Those people either ended up as vegetables or got reduced to imbeciles, right?"

The Professor nodded.

"[Lost Soul draw]"

Ai Qing slowly opened her eyes, her expression dark.

Without a doubt, this was a malicious incident caused by a virus mutated by Hell. A virus that parasitized and infected human Source Substance definitely couldn't be treated with ordinary antibiotics. With more than ten people exhibiting unusual symptoms, the local Inspector should have immediately reported it to the Astronomical Society. However, the *way* a report was submitted surely mattered, didn't it? Reporting this incident seriously as a malicious event versus casually mentioning abnormalities in some obscure corner of a record would lead to entirely different outcomes.

"To be able to cover up this incident, that trash predecessor must have received a lot of money," Ai Qing sneered, tapping the armrest. "Seems like sending him to the Border was too kind..."

He cleaned house of all witnesses using a malignant virus, leaving no traces. And Qi Wen had formally swallowed the last of the Huai Family's foundations, acquiring vast industries at nearly predatory prices. He completed his bloody capital accumulation, successfully establishing his own shipping conglomerate on the corpse of the Huai clan. From a penniless foreign merchant, he became a prominent magnate of Xinhai. Quite the masterstroke. If the Yin's Family hadn't been directing him from behind, where would he have found the courage to act so recklessly?

Suddenly the Professor said, "But this leaves one thing that doesn't add up."

"I know what you're going to ask."

Ai Qing could hardly suppress a cold laugh.

It was simply about why, after completely swallowing their assets, Qi Wen had spared Huai Shi's life. Isn't this just where Qi Wen, that loyal dog, showed his "consideration"?