Back to the Peak

Chapter 63: Reactions from All Sides

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Although they had no way to connect to the Internet and communicate outside the city bounds, Spark City wasn’t far from Anhang City, the time it took to travel between the two was a definite number of hours.
If the mobile town arrived an hour late or so, it would be considered a bit of an accident.
Yet if its arrival was four or five hours late, anyone would know that something had gone wrong.

The teacher of Anhang Academy was waiting at the city gate for themobile town from Spark City to arrive at the gate of the city, but even though he waited and waited without end, it never showed up.
He then had to go up the chain and inform Cheng Hong, the person in charge of the competition.

“What trouble!” Cheng Hong already knew that Cheng Ran would also come to the competition, but he just thought that it was the people of Spark City who wanted to curry favor with him stuffing Cheng Ran into the team.
He wasn’t happy about this, and only felt indifference.
Now he knew found out something had happened to the team from Spark City, and after he discovered the whole story, he was even angrier.

Obviously, it was safe to take a ride on the mobile towns that traveled between the two cities all the year round.
Cheng Ran had to find another mobile town, which was fine.
Who knew what happened.

A person who was pleasing to oneself tended to make one like them the more one looked at them, but a person who was displeasing made one more disgusted the more they saw them.
In this way, he always felt that no matter what had gone wrong, the other person had deserved it.

Cheng Hong didn’t like Cheng Ran very much.
It would have been fine if it was only that he didn’t have radiation energy.
But because of his existence, the research institute often came to find Cheng Hong… Although he had been confused in the past and decided to participate in that experiment, he didn’t want others to know about that matter at all.

However, although Cheng Hong hated Cheng Ran, the current situation did not allow him to neglect investigating thoroughly.
He immediately mobilized the patrol team near Anhang City and the two mobile towns with troops stationed by Anhang City to investigate.

The speed of finding the mobile town that had broken down on the way was faster than expected, and the people found stuck in the mobile town weren’t in as bad a shape as expected.

Those who hunted Cheng Ran had only targeted him, and hadn’t hurt others.
At that time, after Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang fled, they sent people into the mobile town to check, but after they determined that Cheng Ran was not inside, they completely ignored the rest.
Even the people of the inspection team who had escaped from the city with Cheng Ran weren’t chased after their car had crashed.
It seemed that they were completely focused on Cheng Ran.

All the students were fine, and the staff in the broken down mobile town were fine.
After Gu Changjin later exposed himself to draw away the pursuers, the people who were not injured had also brought other injured people back to the mobile town.

Chang Jiashi was the most injured of all.
In addition, only one person died and three people were missing in the mobile town.
The dead one was killed by Gu Changjin.

This situation made the person in charge of the rescue breathe a sigh of relief.
If all the people here died, it would definitely not be just a small matter, and it might cause an uproar throughout the entire country.
But if it was only Cheng Ran and the others, then even if something happened, it was just the business of the Cheng family.

No… the person in charge just breathed a sigh of relief when he immediately became anxious again.
The Cheng family was now a behemoth in Yangtze City, and Cheng Hong was also the deputy mayor of Anhang City.
At this moment, Cheng Ran had an accident, and who knew what had happened to him in the end…

The Cheng Family, wouldn’t they be making a big move?

The person in charge searched for Cheng Hong uneasily.
Seeing that although Cheng Hong didn’t look well, he didn’t get angry, the man had breathed a sigh of relief only to get the news that Cheng Xuze was coming to Anhang City.

Unlike Cheng Hong, who wanted to keep things quiet and try to deal with it in a low-key way, Cheng Xuze caused a big stir.
He not only asked Anhang City and Spark City to cooperate in going out of the city to look for them, but also paid a lot of people to help find Cheng Ran.

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At first, the people searching were full of hope.
After all, according to the group of attackers, they wanted to kidnap Cheng Ran in exchange for the prescription of the Almighty Elixir, meaning they didn’t intend to hurt Cheng Ran.
But as time passed, the kidnappers didn’t appear at all, which no doubt caused people to worry.

Cheng Ran was in poor health.
For ordinary people, even if their anti-radiation suits had problems and they were exposed to radiation outside the city, they could last a little longer by smearing radiation protection medicine on themselves, but Cheng Ran was different…

Two days, three days, four days… By the seventh day, many people had no hope at all, and they thought that Cheng Ran and the two people accompanying him were mostly likely killed in an accident, so the kidnappers didn’t show up.

“Dad, it’s probable that Cheng Ran had an accident.
It’s time to call back the people we’ve sent out to look for them,” Cheng Hong said.
Recently, Cheng Xuze sent many people out of the city to look for him, causing a big stir.
Someone in Anhang City accused him of wasting human and material resources for his own purposes.
In the pas, when people went missing outside the city, it wouldn’t cause this kind of commotion.

“What are you talking about? This is your son, so you don’t feel any urgency?” Cheng Xuze glared at Cheng Hong angrily.
Since he found out that Cheng Ran had an accident outside the city, he had been very anxious, yet Cheng Hong only reacted like this.

“Dad, sending so many people out on a manhunt every day consumes too much manpower and material resources…” Cheng Hong said.
To search for the missing people, they needed to hire radiant warriors and prepare all kinds of tanks and mobile towns.
These days, one could say that Cheng Xuze had been pouring out money like water.

It was fine enough if he spent it, but after not finding anything at all, this matter even ended up implicating him.

“The army and the patrol team have already retreated.
I’m spending my own money looking for someone.
What does it have to do with you? Get out of here!” Cheng Xuze finally couldn’t help driving people away.

Cheng Hong left.
Cheng Xuze covered his chest and took a few breaths.
He turned on the computer again and tried to contact “I don’t want to starve”, but  he didn’t get a response at all.

In the past, Not Starving often disappeared for a few days.
During those times, although he was anxious, he didn’t feel anything.
But now Shi Qingyang was missing, and he still can’t reach the other person!

Cheng Xuze originally wanted to ask the other party if he had a way to search for them.
Who would have thought that things would turn out this way in the end, making him become more and more anxious.

“Old sir, take a rest.” Wang Qing brought a glass of water and some medicine.
Seeing Cheng Xuze’s anxious appearance, he gave this suggestion.

“Now, how can I rest? Did Xing Ou reveal anything?” Cheng Xuze asked.

“Xing Ou kept insisting he didn’t know anything,” Wang Qing said.

Cheng Xuze sighed.
After the accident, he immediately went to Xing Ou for interrogation.
According to Xing Ou, he had checked everyone in the mobile town.
The mobile town was also rented from legal channels and had been tested.
It should have been safe, but it happened that the mobile town was compromised and spies infiltrated into it.
Even the people who rented the  mobile town to Xing Ou used false identities.

Xing Ou did this stupid thing, so even if everyone knew that it had nothing to do with him, he still had to plead guilty.

“Tell me, who would do something like this?” Cheng Xuze asked.

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“Many people could be suspects,” Wang Qing said.
There were really too many people who wanted the Almighty Elixir.

“That guy Cheng Hong always used to say he was worried that the Cheng family would implicate Xiao Ran.
What he said was right.
How could I forget that Xiao Ran was kidnapped when he was a child? If I had taken precautions earlier…” Cheng Xuze was extremely guilty.
This time, wasn’t it that the Cheng family had caused this to happen to Cheng Ran?

“Gu Changjin is with them, they will be fine.” Wang Qing’s face was expressionless.

“You comforting people with this expression makes me even more flustered…” Cheng Xuze helplessly opened his mouth.

“Old sir, I’ll go first.”

“No, you go and prepare, and we’ll search for them together.” Cheng Xuze stopped Wang Qing: “The two mobile towns I ordered have been sent.
We can take enough things and look for them slowly!” He had been in the wild for so many years, he knew everything about the wilds very well and was considered to be rich in experience.

Cheng Xuze was going out of the city to search for them himself.
After a while, everyone in Anhang City knew this.

Cheng Hong had just returned home at this time, and when he heard about it, he frowned tightly: “Doesn’t father know that now is the critical juncture for the election?”

Now was the time for the leadership of Anhang City to change, and he would lose popularity from causing this big of a fuss and wasting money to search for people! He had always been perfectly impartial this entire time.
How could something like this happen now?

Seeing this, Qin Liu stared at her husband: “If Father wants to go look for his grandson, can you stop him?”

“We all know Cheng Ran’s situation.
There’s no way he can still be alive.
Why should he look for him?” Cheng Hong said.
In the wild, Cheng Ran didn’t even have food to eat.
How long could he live? “And you know what the media is saying about me now.”

In the eyes of ordinary people, this incident was caused by a rich second generation who insisted on taking a private mobile town in order to joyride, and finally implicated others.

In the past, many people disappeared outside the city, and they didn’t see anyone working so hard to find them.
This time, the missing person was a rich man, and all kinds of rewards were offered.
It seemed that the City Lord of Spark City would be punished… Few people knew about this at first, but after the accident, anger brewed on the internet.

“What I’m saying is, what are you worried about? This time Father took the Cheng family’s money to find someone, and didn’t let the Finance Department of Spark City allocate funds.
Why should he be afraid of others? I think now is a good opportunity,” Qin Liu said.

Cheng Hong always knew that his wife had great ideas, and asked, “What opportunity?”

“Aren’t many people attacking you now? You can hold a press conference, take out the money spent by the Cheng family to find someone, and state that according to the regulations, we didn’t ask the army to find someone.
Then play the family card, causing those who misunderstood you to feel deeply guilty,” Qin Liu said.

Cheng Hong thought it over carefully and found that this was indeed a good idea: “What you have in mind is good.
I’ll hold a press conference right away.
Should I look a little miserable?”

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“You can find someone to discuss about this yourself.” Qin Liu hardly cared as she felt it was beneath her.

Cheng Hong did what he said and soon held a press conference.
He talked sadly about his son, saying that all the money came from the Cheng family.
He was a father, and it was impossible not to worry about his children…

Cheng Hong molded himself into a good father, and also reversed the views of others on him.
Li Rong knew this, but he didn’t take it seriously at all.
He just held a tea cup and tasted the green tea in it carefully.

Although there was an accident and a level-5 radiant warrior died, things were still developing according to his plans.

What’s more, the people who died would be found somewhere else, so he didn’t need to feel any distress.
He could take over the other party’s people and make a small profit.

As for Cheng Hong’s performance now? Many people knew about his indifference to Cheng Ran.
The harder the family card was played, the heavier the blowback would be.
Moreover, as far as he knew, Cheng Ran was probably not Qin Liu’s child…

Cheng Hong’s father had gone out of town to conduct the search, while he himself still dealt with the media all day… How could he be worried about his son?

Cheng Hong always behaved perfectly in front of the public eye.
If these issues came to light, the people would be very disappointed with him.

Of course, this was nothing.
More importantly, in the future, Spark City would all be under the Yin Family’s control, and it would be much more convenient for him to do things.

Thinking of this, Li Rong contacted Yin Hao again, to remind him to not act rashly at this time and avoid attracting attention.

“City Lord Li, I will not act without authorization,” Yin Hao immediately said.
He had become more obedient since he saw that Li Rong had the courage to hunt down Cheng Ran.

“As long as you know.” Li Rong smiled.

Yin Hao didn’t dare to look at Li Rong’s face at all: “City Lord Li, there are two other things…”

“What is it?”

“City Lord, do you want to continue to send people to watch the ant nest where Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang disappeared? There are people in the city who go hunting nearby occasionally, and our people being there will make it easy to find their whereabouts.
Also, our Yin family was a little hostile to Shi Qingyang before, so now in Spark City, some people suspect that we did it,” Yin Hao said.

“Don’t worry about that ant nest.
Gu Changjin drank the potential potion at that time, and the other two are just minors, they probably can’t survive,” Li Rong said directly, and frowned slightly, “Shi Qingyang? The boy who was trying to fawn over Cheng Ran?”

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“Yes,” Yin Hao said.

“Don’t worry, no one believes that you would kill a teenager because you dislike him,” Li Rong said.
It was likely that no one would doubt Cheng Ran’s death, and he not only secretly gained a lot of benefits, but after the people in Yangtze City fought, he could profit from this and gain the trust of others.

He was only the Lord of Anhang City now, but he would definitely go to Yangtze City in the future.

After hanging up the communicator, someone found Li Rong again and told him about Cheng Xuze leaving the city with two mobile towns to conduct a manhunt.

Cheng Xuze’s attention to Cheng Ran was beyond Li Rong’s expectation, but in this case, they had no chance to find Cheng Ran when he was buried in an ant’s belly.
At most, they might find traces.

Li Rong was right.
Cheng Xuze asked his men to find anything for over ten days, but he still couldn’t find anything.
At this time, more than half a month had passed since the three people of Cheng Ran’s group disappeared.

After more than half a month, could Cheng Ran still be alive? Cheng Xuze was so anxious that he basically had no hope, but at this moment, they found a clue–in a certain forest, they found a damaged beehive, near which there were some fragments of combat clothing and armored vehicles.

The traces on the road had been dealt with, but this beehive likely remained because no one dared to approach, finally leaving behind evidence.

On the verge of having a chance to find Cheng Ran, Cheng Xuze didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad, just like he didn’t know if what he could find would just be fragmented combat suits and contact terminals.

While Cheng Xuze was following the clues to find them, Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran were in a good mood.

Since Cheng Ran’s problem was solved, Shi Qingyang relaxed his mind, and then after a rest, he quickly went to the surrounding caves and brought back all the ant eggs he could get–if he was too late, then maybe next time there wouldn’t be any more.

Sure enough, although he succeeded several times at the beginning, these ant beasts soon learned to move all the ant eggs to another place.
Fortunately, at that time, he had collected a lot of ant eggs.

There was no doubt that Cheng Ran had suddenly lost his fear of radiation energy.
It was entirely because of these ant eggs, and he was not the only one who finally benefited from them.

After that, Shi Qingyang had been trying to eat ant eggs.
Almost all the fast hatching ant eggs had entered his stomach.
At the same time, he kept killing ant beasts and practicing his combat skills.
After seven or eight days, he suddenly found that he could use level-3 radiation energy combat skills!

Before he knew it, he was promoted a level!

Not only him, Gu Changjin also got some benefits.
Ten days later, although Gu Changjin was still weak and his whole body was riddled with holes, the radiation energy in his body, which had been in a mess due to taking the potential potion, slowly stabilized.

Such changes were slow.
If it weren’t for Cheng Ran’s situation allowing them to discover  the difference from the ant eggs, it was likely they wouldn’t have discovered those ant eggs’ wonderful use.

Unfortunately, their ant eggs had run out once more.