LWGP - Chapter 197
Chapter 197: 78 Days
In the second row, Yan Guanqi instinctively put a hand to his forehead, as if recalling the deviant behavior of a certain troublemaker who feigned obedience while secretly causing endless problems.
Was this considered excessive of her?
Not at all. Not in the slightest.
Try having her dump a few tons of mercury on you during a chaotic battle.
She was already being exceptionally virtuous and well-behaved now.
See, after Liu Wuren shot her a gloomy look, Wang Jiu propped her chin on one hand and smiled faintly. "Just a joke. See, isn't the tense atmosphere much better now?"
It was not!
But she had reminded them of something.
As for whether the major territories would resort to dirty tricks… Liu Wuren closed the roster he had prepared. His gaze swept over the crowd, and a severe expression formed on his long-impassive face.
"Everyone, the arrangements have been made. At this critical moment of life and death for our people, the bigger picture is paramount. If you harbor selfish intentions, I urge you to reconsider. If there are any black sheep who act against the collective interests of the people, no matter how much strength you gain or how many ambitions you fulfill with your resources, my Bashu Territory, along with all the forces of the nation dedicated to protecting the Chinese people, will punish you without fail. We would rather cut off an arm and broaden the scope of our investigation than fail to eliminate a hidden threat."
These words were directed at everyone. It wasn't a threat, but a warning. Only then did Liu Wuren switch to a standard, official smile.
"Now, I ask all territory lords to submit a combat report for your respective assigned areas before ten o'clock tonight. This will be for our records and to establish communication channels for mutual support once the battle begins."
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Liu Wuren concluded the meeting without taking too much time. Aside from the interlude involving the veiled history between Wang Jiu and the Lin and Song families, there was little fluff. He didn't even waste time trying to resolve the squabbles between the major territories.
System: "Actually, his style is quite similar to yours."
Under Wang Jiu's command, even with Liao Luo killing and plundering resources everywhere, earning a notorious reputation; Qiao Xuejing's fame for patricide; Lin Guiwan's trouble with Lin Jun; Xie Lu, who seemed like a government-planted mole; people of unclear origins like Zhao Si and Liu Guang; or even defeated leaders like Fang Cun, who surely harbored resentment from being crushed and fleeced—she could use them all. She didn't care about the minor details, focusing only on the greater strategic interests.
Despite the System's assessment, Wang Jiu couldn't agree. "He has the entire country behind him. Forget dealing with a few internal territories, he could take on other countries without issue. I wouldn't dare compare myself to him."
System: "You seem to hold it in high reverence. Is it purely because of your old lady's patriotic education?"
The meeting ended, and everyone rose to their feet. Wang Jiu stood up as well and replied to the System's comment, "Before the apocalypse, the world wasn't exactly peaceful. Although the old lady never mentioned it to me, I could guess that the project she was involved in was in its final stages. Even if it wasn't finished, they had made significant discoveries. I think… those discoveries may have already been put to use."
Most likely, production had begun even before the game loaded, because the country surely knew some things about what was coming, just as she had anticipated.
So, it was probably an incomplete experimental result, but the effects were clearly astonishing.
For example, the Lin family's vegetative brother, or Liu Wuren, whom she had never heard much about before but who had now suddenly risen to prominence, even surpassing Xie Lu.
They were both beneficiaries of this research.
And Liu Wuren had a connection with that vegetative brother, which was why he didn't care about Lin Jun's actions today. He knew, even earlier than Wang Jiu, that Lin Jun was a dead man walking.
But Wang Jiu wasn't concerned with that. She was privately chatting with the Goblin Trader.
The Goblin Trader was thrilled that she had finally accepted his friend request, but before he could even speak, Wang Jiu stumped him with a question.
She asked something rather difficult.
"Are there any items that can overlay one formation on the surface, but through flexible control, can be triggered at any time to become a different, higher-level formation with immense destructive power?"
The Goblin Trader hesitated, as if trying to evade the question, but Wang Jiu followed up with another sentence: "If you can't even provide this small convenience, what use are you to me? You're just an online shop that can be summoned with a card and can never resist me. Don't you find it tiring, running around everywhere every day? Don't you want to own a permanent shop?"
The Goblin Trader latched onto her key word. "A shop?"
"There are many large territories, but you can't gain affinity with all the major territory lord players. If I'm not mistaken, I'm the only player you've encountered so far whose qualifications meet the system's default for high-level interactive trading with NPCs, right?"
She had sensed the difference from the way the System treated her versus how it treated Xie Lu and Lin Guiwan.
That gap had become obvious ever since her class talent was tested, and it had been widening ever since.
The Goblin Trader was just making it more apparent.
The Goblin Trader chuckled sheepishly. "You really are cunning. You saw right through it. I do indeed want to sign a shop contract with you. With stable transaction volumes and high sales performance, I can get promoted. However, your question is a bit beyond my authority…"
Wang Jiu directly signed a large shop contract over to it. "Now you have the sales performance. Is it still beyond your authority?"
I just love big shots like you who throw money around without a second thought!
The Goblin Trader decisively gave an answer. "Yes, there are some items like that. They're rare, but they do exist. I'll list them for you. As for which one it is, you can choose for yourself."
It turned out that as long as enough money was thrown around, impossible permissions could turn into the most attentive service.
Wang Jiu scrolled through the list and quickly locked onto a treasure.
「Seven Star Day Array (Top-Tier Rare Formation)」
「Attribute: Upon activation, can cause a large-scale group explosion with the critical effect of 1,000,000 Strength attribute points. The seven stars are fixed points, and each star point has an explosion radius of three kilometers.」
「Usage: Activation requires 50,000 spirit power.」
Its destructive power surpassed any damage she had ever encountered. Unable to judge its exact scale, she asked the System.
System: "Each star can probably flatten a mountain."
Wang Jiu: "A valley like Butterfly Valley?"
System: "In principle, yes."
Wang Jiu: "The Goblin Trader doesn't sell it, so it must be from other high-level channels. In comparison, how many Goblin Trader resource points would it be worth?"
System: "800,000."
Currently, all the resource points Wang Jiu had earned combined didn't amount to that much.
She didn't have it, and neither did people like Zhou Yan of the Nine Palaces, not even with the Guan Ze brothers included.
So there was someone else behind them, a larger and more powerful group that had pooled their resources. 800,000 points was indeed feasible.
The Black Witch Organization? Or someone else?
Her stumbling upon it was pure coincidence, but their scheme was clearly aimed at the entire Sichuan region alliance fighting against the undead.
What a grand move.
And Zhou Yan and the others, as the executors, had targeted her. They probably wanted to expand their spoils and had a personal motive to eliminate her for their future safety. In that case, was Emei Mountain, where she was headed, also one of the seven star points?
How did the other party predict Liu Wuren's deployment results?
There were only two possibilities.
1. The other party was a Great Prophet, and considering their class abilities, they were stronger than Liu Wuren and had successfully used their prophetic arts to break through and make a prediction.
2. The other party was someone Liu Wuren trusted, or a highly respected figure within the official circles who could gain access to such top-secret operational plans.
Lin Jun was outside. As Wang Jiu walked out, lost in thought, Song Yin came to her side and said softly, "Emei Mountain is nice. Congratulations."
Wang Jiu's thoughts returned to the present. She asked coolly, "I'm a bit curious why the place you wanted to go ended up being the place I'm going. So, you and Liu Wuren are on good terms?"
Hearing this, the System glanced at Song Yin.
She trusted no one; anyone could be a suspect in her eyes.
Reaching out, Song Yin brushed aside a vine that was tickling her forehead. He moved to shield her side and gave her a faint glance. "If it were really nice, I would have let you be in the same area as me. To use your words, proximity makes the heart grow fonder, saves the neck from craning, and keeps one from pining."
Wang Jiu: "Is that so? How come I heard your family picked out a new fiancée for you? A swallow from a noble house, a flower of worldly riches. Will I have a chance to meet her? Although every proper ex should be as good as dead, an occasional resurrection isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Song Yin: "You randomly picked a man to marry back then, and you didn't let me meet him either, did you?"
Wang Jiu: "A man's dignity is paramount. I have to respect your character. But I won't lay a hand on your fiancée, you know that."
Song Yin: "Of course I know that. But I also know that having my ex-fiancée sleep with my current fiancée, or vice versa, wouldn't do much to enhance this man's dignity."
The two walked with a light and easy gait, their banter familiar and casual. The pace of their words was brisk, the content packed with information. They subtly sparred, challenging onlookers' perceptions. It was sweet with a hint of spice, spicy with a touch of sour, and that sourness was somehow both cloyingly sweet and salty.
They were already a defunct engaged couple, so they should stop flaunting their affection on this short walk.
What kind of people were they?
But after Song Yin said that, bystanders saw Wang Jiu seem to break into a smile. As she crossed the threshold, she folded her arms, tilted her head with a slight smile, her red dress enchanting. Like water, she was fluid and graceful, her every move filled with a romantic charm. Just as she was now, with a clear, bewitching smile, she sent a few words on the wind to her ex-fiancé beside her.
"You needn't overstate my promiscuity in my private life. It was a game that began with conquest, and neither of us ended up in a state where we couldn't live without the other. Call it a draw. If you're truly unreconciled, I've already consoled myself with the fact that I successfully seduced you, the pampered phoenix of the Song family, into depravity, as revenge for your blood relatives who, behind the old lady's back, openly and secretly humiliated me as a backwoods child prostitute. Why don't you console yourself as well? At least back then, and even now, everything between us was consensual. No regrets after the fact. You were curious about me, and I satisfied your curiosity. Why bother holding it against me now?"
Song Yin lowered his eyes and said, "You think I'm holding it against you?"
And Song Yin's next words seemed to be on the verge of revealing something.
Wang Jiu glanced at him, then turned her face to look outside.
"Is that so? Was it you who deliberately sent Lin Jun—who has been at odds with me since childhood and is now trying to cause trouble for Gobi—to me for the killing, just to please me? Or did you reach an agreement with that vegetative person from the Lin family, so that to spare him the bad reputation of killing his own brother, you had him say things to displease me and borrow my hand to kill him?"
Wang Jiu gathered her skirt and descended the last step. She looked at Lin Jun, who was in a standoff with Xie Lu and the others not far away, then glanced back at Song Yin.
"Whichever it is, you probably wouldn't deign to hide it."
Song Yin indeed did not deny it. "A bit of both. In any case, you wouldn't deign to care."
Wang Jiu smiled. She truly didn't care.
When you don't hold someone in your heart, you don't care about their loyalty to you.
"If I refuse to be your borrowed knife, then will you do it? Find a reasonable official excuse." As she said this, Lin Jun, who had been looking at Lin Guiwan, suddenly turned his head and stared at Wang Jiu and Song Yin.
At that moment, in the square outside the meeting hall, many people watched this scene with cold eyes, unwilling to interfere, their gazes shifting between Liu Wuren and Song Yin.
They had all realized that today's meeting was also a small death trap for Lin Jun. If the officials tacitly approved, there would surely be an official reason.
If Liu Wuren didn't step forward, then Song Yin would.
As expected.
Song Yin walked down the steps and said slowly, "For privately colluding with the Black Witch Organization, trading intelligence, and repeatedly selling sensitive information on the personal safety of key research personnel over several years, resulting in the deaths of undercover national defense members—after investigation, the evidence is conclusive. The sentence is execution by death."
Behind him, Liu Wuren said nothing, while several experts from the Bashu Territory flickered into existence around the square, sealing off the area.
No wonder. Lin Jun hadn't fled; he had been waiting here obediently, likely because he knew he was trapped.
So, just as Wang Jiu had said, he had come out to have a good, long look at the woman he desired.
Lin Guiwan hadn't known the specific details before, but seeing his strange behavior after he came out, and Xie Lu's somewhat odd actions, she had a faint guess in her heart.
The officials wanted to kill Lin Jun.
It naturally had nothing to do with her, Lin Guiwan; she didn't have that much influence.
It must be related to national interests.
A public execution, was it to intimidate the powerful individuals who had come to the meeting and had let their ambitions run wild recently?
Lin Guiwan didn't know that organizations like the Black Witch Organization, and even Nevernight, had been popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain, flexing their muscles across the land. The nation needed to display its power and authority to deter those who had been swayed.
Lin Jun was the chicken being killed to warn the monkeys.
When Song Yin mentioned the evidence, Xiao Jue subconsciously looked at Wang Jiu. Was it related to Professor Lin Zi?
It probably wasn't, otherwise Wang Jiu wouldn't have given up the chance to kill Lin Jun. Since she already knew the officials' intentions, why didn't she act?
The condemned Lin Jun had long known his fate was sealed. He didn't refute the charges against him, but he sneered, "I did it. I never deny what I've done. But my original intention wasn't to harm those people, but to kill that good aunt of mine. Speaking of which, this is your fault, cousin Ah Jiu."
It was related to Lin Zi again?!!
But Lin Zi hadn't been harmed all these years, likely because she was protected by the officials. Others, however, hadn't been able to escape the Black Witch Organization's schemes.
Lin Jun had been narrow-minded since childhood, with early anti-social tendencies. After being disciplined by Lin Zi, he developed a personal desire for revenge, and the Black Witch Organization naturally magnified the results infinitely.
Xie Lu had received information from his superior, Minister Qin, but he hadn't known the full details. Now, hearing Lin Jun's voluntary confession, he was shocked and instinctively looked at Wang Jiu.
Wang Jiu showed no ripple of emotion. Since she had publicly declared she wouldn't kill him, it meant she was leaving the stage to the officials. But Lin Jun insisted on calling her out. She glanced at him twice. "I hear that weaklings who can't get satisfaction and can't control their desires crave attention the most. If I turn and walk away right now, would you be in terrible agony?"
Lin Jun's face darkened.
She was always vicious, expertly striking at people's sore spots, each blow fatal.
"You are not of Lin or Song blood, yet you monopolized all of the old lady's affection. I am clearly her biological nephew, yet she never showed me any mercy. This in itself wouldn't be worth criticizing, but everything needs comparison. Whenever I made a mistake, she should have treated us equally, but she was always tolerant of you and exceptionally cold to me. Why? Is it because I'm a postnatal pervert, while you're a congenital one, and therefore more pitiful?"
As a pervert, he certainly knew how to shift blame.
And he did it with a certain flair.
He even took a jab at Wang Jiu.
A congenital pervert?
That was a nice title, sounded even more dangerous.
Wang Jiu smiled but said nothing, merely leaning against a nearby tree.
Seeing Wang Jiu being repeatedly called out, the people from Gobi were clearly displeased, especially Bai Bai. It was about to start chirping when it saw Wang Shu, who had been lost in his tragic past, shake off his gloomy expression and stand up. "Stop trying to gain clout by dragging my master into this. Have you ever shaken hands and chatted with a corpse at a funeral home? If you really want to run your mouth, I'll take you on. Let's not talk about anything else, just your romantic entanglements that challenge the criminal code. Do you think you're the domineering, devilishly charming CEO from a novel? Still pulling that threatening and imprisoning crap?"
So vicious.
Lin Guiwan, who had actually been threatened and nearly imprisoned, put a hand to her forehead in inexplicable embarrassment.
Had she been cast as the "female lead"?
Wang Shu was a bit aggressive today, not considerate at all.
But he was very considerate of his own master. His earnest explanation would probably have convinced Wang Jiu herself.
"But my master isn't like that. At most, it's a moral issue. If you really dig into it, in terms of time and body, it can never be considered a matter of principle like cheating. Spiritually, she treats everyone equally, without bias or favoritism, and never drags things out. On what grounds do you say that about her!"
Wang Shu questioned him sharply.
Everyone: "…"
It proved that as long as you played your cards right and managed your time scientifically, even your disciple would become your die-hard fan.
Wang Shu's completely unreasonable yet somehow logical defense was practically brainwashing. Wang Jiu was amused again.
When she smiled, Wang Shu's face turned red. He sheepishly slumped back to his seat to once again torment his lifelong nemesis, but not before tearing out Gao Qu's tongue to stop his incessant screaming from disturbing the proceedings here.
Lin Jun probably also knew that harping on these petty matters was beneath him, so he said, "Well then, Wang Jiu, are you going to let Song Yin kill me?"
Wang Jiu's gaze was calm as it swept over his face. Her tone was light. "I originally thought your hatred for me was quite extreme, but now it seems you're dying to die at my hands. It looks like there's someone you hate and resent even more. So, the one you fear dying by the most is your vegetative brother, isn't it? Now even the ability to commit suicide has been stripped from you, and you can't even get within three feet of our Sister Lin. That's a cross-boundary influence ability, truly impressive. I just don't know when your vegetative brother will deign to descend."
Her words were like a prophecy.
Even if she hadn't said it, major territory lords like Cai Wujun and many other top experts had noticed Lin Jun's strange condition.
He had left the meeting hall twice, but his movements were always confined within a certain circle.
They had guessed it was Song Yin or even Wang Jiu's doing, but they never thought it was someone else.
That vegetative brother?
Liu Wuren glanced at Wang Jiu. With such a clear and sharp mind, it was no wonder Song Yin couldn't hold onto her.
But would that person come today?
Wang Jiu refused to be the borrowed knife, and so did Song Yin. That person must have guessed as much, so…
He came.
The defensive armor on Lin Jun's body shattered at a speed visible to the naked eye. His equipment disintegrated, turning into fine fragments that surrounded him. A person appeared like a phantom of light, materializing in the faint glow of a teleportation array.
A young man with regular features appeared. How to describe him? At first glance, he seemed very simple and unadorned, but you also felt a sense of contradiction, as if a transformed soul was stuffed inside, a soul whose spirit and energy had yet to catch up.
But he was undeniably powerful. The aura he exuded upon arrival seemed to freeze the very air, suppressing almost everyone present. Even Wang Jiu and Liu Wuren were under his pressure.
A few people frowned; a few remained unmoved.
Wang Jiu, a person of such strong will, showed no great resistance at this moment, submitting to his suppression.
Fortunately, the person quickly retracted his aura and even apologized.
"My apologies." Although Lin Yong had been mediocre in the past, he was still a child raised by a prominent family. His etiquette was not lacking, so his words were spoken with grace.
Cai Wujun was as composed as ever. "There's no need to be so polite. Mr. Lin didn't retract his aura for our sake, after all."
The Cai Market was able to cooperate with the officials; their standing wouldn't be diminished too much just because of the apocalypse. No matter how much this Lin Yong had risen, it would be difficult to make Boss Cai bow his head.
In fact, his mindset was very stable. He didn't care about the momentary suppression, but he also wouldn't submit to the etiquette that followed.
He saw the trick.
His gaze shifted, landing on Lin Guiwan.
In fact, Lin Guiwan herself was utterly astonished, but she was also reserved and didn't cry out. Instead, she remained silent, merely looking at Lin Jun, seemingly pondering something.
The reason he retracted his aura was rooted in Lin Jun.
His body was completely imprisoned, his life and death hanging in the balance, dependent on the suspended fragments that seemed both still and in motion.
Knowing his end had come, he saw the killing intent in Lin Yong's eyes. He spoke the last two sentences of his life.
"Mediocrity is the original sin, and so is jealousy."
"Little cousin Ah Jiu, I bet Auntie never knew, even to her death, that the time between when you were adopted by Zhou Shanren of Miao Village and the day you escaped from his residence… wasn't just one day like you lied about, was it? It was 78 days."
A mere number, yet it exposed a hidden secret, a secret that caught everyone who vaguely knew of Wang Jiu's past completely off guard.
78.
A number that perhaps even the old lady didn't know.
What did it mean?
The fragments pierced through his body. The attack was bloodthirsty, draining all of Lin Jun's HP in that single instant.
Lin Yong showed no mercy. Lin Jun finished his last words as he died. He grinned at Wang Jiu, a bloody and cruel smile, but as he fell, his corpse's gaze was fixed on Lin Guiwan.
Lin Guiwan met those eyes and recalled a memory from many years ago.
She was in high school then. Her deskmate had introduced her to his younger brother. At the time, she was on good terms with this deskmate. Seeing that his brother was relatively well-behaved and sensible, she had reached out and patted the little boy's head, smiling as she praised him for being so good. The little boy grinned, and she felt a strange sense of unease but couldn't put her finger on it. The older brother was dull and shy and couldn't say much, so she bid them farewell. But she always felt the two brothers watching her from behind.
In another flash of memory, a stranger, an arrogant young master from a prominent family whom she was sure she had never provoked, was forcing himself on her, pinning her to the bed.
The memories seemed to overlap. Finally, she looked at Lin Yong.
A regular high school far from the great clans, the so-called eldest young master of the main branch of the Lin family—it all felt like a dream.
But she didn't mention it, only averting her gaze. And Lin Yong, in front of so many people, didn't bring up the secret of their shared past as deskmates, because Lin Jun had exposed a piece of information far more important than any personal history.
Lin Jun had colluded with the Black Witch Organization. Therefore, the secret he mentioned about Miao Village and Wang Jiu… must have been revealed to him by the Black Witch Organization, and they had him leak it today.
Anyone affiliated with the officials sensed the chilling malice contained in Lin Jun's words.
If it was 78 days, then her chances of survival were infinitely close to zero.
But in the end, she had survived and successfully escaped.
In all the official intelligence reports on the Black Witch Organization, countless data points confirmed one fact: those who were held captive by members of the Black Witch Organization for an extended period and survived were all successfully tamed and converted into members themselves.
Like heretics such as Zhou Shanren, or repurposed killing puppets.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wang Jiu remained as calm as ever. She neither explained nor retaliated, merely looking at Lin Yong with a placid expression.
Lin Yong lowered his eyes and said, "As someone who was once infinitely mediocre, yet benefited from my aunt's dedicated research and was transformed, I have no right to meddle in your affairs. However, my main purpose in coming here this time was not to kill Lin Jun."
Wang Jiu raised an eyebrow but didn't reply, as if she felt this matter had nothing to do with her. She simply turned to leave.
But Lin Yong's words from behind made her stop. She then changed direction and walked towards a secluded lakeside. Lin Yong followed.
Liu Wuren stayed behind to handle the aftermath.
By the lake, a cool breeze was blowing. With a thought from Lin Yong, the surrounding air naturally formed a blurry barrier. Then he spoke, "After losing you, little cousin, Auntie's will was left to the country. Her contributions deserve honor. Because the experiment was dangerous, in the will she signed with the country, she later added a clause that if she died unexpectedly, everything she had would go to you. This is the fantasy the Lin and Song families have schemed for years to obtain through blood ties and emotional manipulation, but could never succeed in inheriting."
Wang Jiu turned around to face him, her gaze endless, as if looking through him to see another person.
There was only ever one person who could make her turn back.
Lin Yong extended his hand, and a simple yet elegant jade box floated above his palm.
"This is also Auntie's life's work."
"It was always meant to be yours."
In that instant, Lin Yong finally saw a change in Wang Jiu's expression, as if a stone had been dropped into a still pond.
Ripples formed.
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