Chapter 663 - Chapter 663: Chapter 663 Afterword (1/2)

Chapter 663: Chapter 663 Afterword

When Xiang Kun closed his eyes, and the iron sphere covered by the tungsten steel ball was the size of a volleyball, though no sound was made physically, everyone on the rooftop seemed to hear a cry of despair.

Yang Zhen’er, excitedly at the stairwell door, enthusiastically grabbed Tang Baona’s arm and proclaimed, “The ‘Exotic Pig’ was done away with, right? It was, wasn’t it Nana? He he, I told you, why was it being so smug, couldn’t kill it! It thought it was important! There’s no dish in this world Brother Xiang can’t handle!”

As her voice faded, Xiang Kun had already opened his eyes and smiled at them.

Although Xiang Kun and Alice finished the preliminary cognitive model test in the “Hetero World,” and fully took over the high-dimensional factors of “Hetero-dimension One” in the “Hetero World”. In the real world, the time between Xiang Kun closing and opening his eyes was only as long as Yang Zhen’er’s exclamation.

“Uncle Xiang, you have hair!” Xiao Pingguo said in surprise.

“Xiang Kun, you have been asleep for so long!” Tang Baona cheerfully greeted.

“Chef Xiang! Well done!” Yang Zhen’er cheered.

“Mr. Xiang, safe and sound.” Mr. Liang, floating above the rooftop, his face shield smiled.

“Brother Xiang! You’re fantastic!” Yang Zhuo couldn’t help shouting.

Liu Zhengyi wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, his nose started to run, so he had to give up.

Xiang Kun greeted everyone and eventually looked at Xia Libing, who just nodded, “Mission accomplished?”

“Accomplished.” Xiang Kun also nodded.

He then leapt off from the roof. Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling, who had slimmed down since flying back had already been shouting “Bald Uncle” in the parking lot below for a while.

The hailstorm of Xiang Kun scared Liu Shiling, who had been waving her arms around in the parking lot, and Old He who was standing next to the car. Other researchers in the parking lot were also speechless in astonishment after seeing Kun’s descent – instead of free-falling, he plummeted, like a missile. But when he landed, he floated gently. This unnatural scene gave them a strong sense of power and impact.

“What the f…” Korowin murmured: “Who is this? This is more terrifying than Mr. Liang in his suit…”

Old Qian whispered, “Could it be… the legendary Mr. Xiang?”

Their team leader said decisively, “Impossible! This man has hair!”

Liu Shiling, who was standing on that side watching Xiang Kun’s descent, paused for a moment. When she confirmed it was Xiang Kun, she could not contain her joy and ran over shouting, “Bald Uncle!” and gave him a big hug.

But after embracing Xiang Kun, Liu Shiling seemed to think of something and looked up at his head: “Ah! It’s not Bald Uncle!”

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “Which looks better, bald or with hair?” He knew that when Liu Shiling said it was “not the Bald Uncle”, it meant “not being bald” was now the uncle’s defining characteristic.

Liu Shiling smiled brilliantly, “Hair looks better, but bald seems more familiar!”

The black clouds dispersed, and sunlight shone down.

…

Tongshi Town, Youlong Restaurant.

The Youlong Restaurant is now globally renowned as a chain restaurant brand with branches all over the world. Its main specialty is rabbit meat cuisine, and Tongshi rabbit meat has become a universally recognized delicacy.

However, to many who have been to the Youlong Restaurant in Tongshi town, the franchise restaurants in other places are not authentic. Only the food from the head office on the commercial pedestrian street in Tongshi Town has “that taste”—and it must be eaten in the restaurant.

This is the consensus of all those who have been to the Youlong restaurant, which is why despite having three branches in Tongshi Town alone, the main store on the pedestrian street is always bustling with people during meal times.

Of course, for the owner’s “old friends,” there is always a private room for them on the second floor. Even if the restaurant is full, this room is always reserved for them.

At this time, it was lunchtime. Besides Xia Tianhuo, Liu Caifu, and Chu Xiuwen, who had already collaborated on over a dozen projects in Tongshi Town, there were also Liu Feibao, Qi Haoguo, He Haomin and others.

Today, they had gathered to welcome Qi Haoguo, the former boss of the “Haoguo Group,” who had been sentenced to eight years in prison for multiple offences but had his sentence reduced for his excellent behavior and was released early.

Frankly, many of his offenses wouldn’t have been known had he not confessed, as there was no evidence or victims. However, he confessed everything voluntarily and even helped the police collect evidence and assisted the prosecution. As a result, his sentence wasn’t as harsh as expected.

After serving several years in prison, Qi Haoguo’s demeanor had become more refined and reserved, and he even looked younger and healthier than when he first went to prison.

His family did not leave him when he was imprisoned. During his time in jail, he regularly corresponded with his children, discussing various issues related to life and studies. He also asked his children to recommend books on philosophy, literature, and various fields to him. His wife frequently brought their children to visit him in prison. When he was released from jail, his relationship with his family was much closer and more intimate than during the peak of his business career.

After lunch, everyone parted ways. Qi Haoguo still had an house in Tongshi Town, which Xiao Liu had been taking care of, so Xia Tianhuo and Old He sent him home.

After seeing off Qi Haoguo, Xia Tianhuo drove Old He back to Chongyun Village. Most of Old He’s time was spent in Peng City, and he mainly went to Chongyun Village’s Research Base when in the West Sea. He had missed the taste of rabbit meat from Youlong restaurant this time, so he flew here and went straight to Tongshi Town for meal. He happened to witness them welcoming Qi Haoguo and was pulled by Xia Tianhuo to join them in the private room for the meal.

“Old He, Qi Haoguo told me in confidence at the restaurant just now, that he wants to make a donation to our research base.” Xia Tianhuo said.

Strictly speaking, he and Old He were now colleagues. Old He was the leader of the “Non-Research Center,” and Xia Tianhuo belonged to the Research Base’s Field Investigation Department.

A few years ago, when Old Xia started proposing the “Spirit Control Theory,” Xia Tianhuo accepted the first “spiritual test” along with Yang Zhuo, Li Shibao and others. Although he easily passed the “spiritual test,” his performance was dismal in the subsequent learning and missed several practice opportunities. He was still left at the research base for “make-up classes”.

After listening to Xia Tianhuo, Old He smiled and said, “He doesn’t need to donate anything. Tell him that the research base is not short of money.”

Xia Tianhuo nodded, “I thought so too, but he has another request. He wants to join the research base as well.”

“Join the research base? He’s not a researcher…” Old He frowned, then quickly realized what Qi Haoguo wanted to join and asked, “Did you tell him about the Field Investigation Department?”

“Not at all!” Xia Tianhuo hurriedly said, “I didn’t say anything. I remembered the confidentiality clause. If I leaked any information, Old Xia would skin me. It’s Qi who guessed it. As you know, Qi is not less informed than us. But he doesn’t know the details, he just guessed that we must have a department like that, and that I am in it.”

“Oh, in that case, you should ask Dr. Xia, shouldn’t you?” Old He said.

“Old Xia would certainly ask me to go through the formal application process. I don’t know how to fiddle with that so of course I’d ask you. I heard that you need political review to join the research base, and Qi just got out of prison. Could he pass?” Xia Tianhuo said.

“I know about Qi’s situation. Hmm…,” Old He thought about Qi Haoguo’s previous encounter with the “Barbie Warrior” and said, “Shouldn’t be a problem. I can help you with the basic procedures here and let him be assigned to the ‘Non-Research Centre’ first. But to join your Field Investigation Department is still up to Dr. Xia.”

“That’s natural. Thanks, Old He.”

“What’s there to be polite about, it’s all for the sake of work.”

A little while later, Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but ask again, “Is Xiang Kun back?”

“Hmm, why do you ask?”

“Was it when you were on a mission in Yangcheng at the end of August?” Xia Tianhuo added.

Old He looked a bit surprised, but he didn’t say anything. After that mission, Dr. Xia had explicitly instructed that Xiang Kun’s return was to be kept confidential. Yet, Xia Tianhuo, who is not only a relative of Dr. Xia and Miss Yang but also got along well with Li Shibao and Yang Zhuo, might have got the news from somewhere.

Xia Tianhuo spoke up, “Since coming back from that mission, Yang Zhuo and Liu Zhengyi have been acting strangely. Yang Zhuo was like a fan who just met an idol, all excited, and walking as if he was on springs. Liu Zhengyi seemed like a believer who witnessed a miracle, murmuring to himself. And our Yang Lao San, for over a week, did not share any food exploration posts on social media. But I know during that time, she was in Peng City with Old Xia, Nana, and Xiao Lingdang. Most importantly, a European Union investigation team in Antarctica reported spotting a person flying out of the ground, riding the lightning and disappearing into the clouds. It was the day you were on the mission in Yangcheng, and there were also abnormal weather changes in Yangcheng that day.”

Hearing his “deductive” process, Old He laughed and said, “You should ask Dr. Xia about this.”

Xia Tianhuo immediately got the answer and appeared excited, “I see.” Old He’s reply was obviously acknowledging his speculation.

“It seems that Xiang Kun still has other tasks…” Xia Tianhuo looked as if he was deep in thought, “Old He, how powerful do you think Xiang Kun is now? He must be the undisputed number one, right? Basically, no ‘mutants’ can beat him, right?”

“You should still ask Dr. Xia about this question,” Old He laughed.

“You’re no fun, Old He, no fun at all~!”, Xia Tianhuo shook his head.

Old He just smiled and didn’t say anything, but he thought about the conversation he had on a similar topic with Mr. Liang a month ago after that mission.

How strong is Xiang Kun?

He was also curious about this question.

Mr. Liang said he didn’t know, it was hard to measure.

Then Old He asked: How many of you do you think it would take to beat Mr. Xiang?

Mr. Liang laughed heartily: Hundred, ten thousand of me couldn’t beat Xiang Kun. It’s not a comparable issue. How many whales do you think it would take to beat the ocean? The powers of me, Dr. Xia, Miss Tang, and Jiang Chun, all of us come from the power system established by Xiang Kun.”

Old He was somewhat surprised at that time: So isn’t Xiang Kun invincible?

Mr. Liang had a sense of emotion in his tone: You should be glad that the invincible one is Mr. Xiang.

Now, as Old He looked at the scenery of Chongyun village out of the car window, he thought of Mr. Liang’s words again.

While he was thinking in the car, he saw two people fishing by the artificial lake in Chongyun village. One of them should be Mr. Liang judging from the back.

When did Mr. Liang start fishing?

And he was fishing with someone else. Usually, unless he was on a mission, he didn’t like face-to-face communication with others.

Old He shifted his gaze to the other person, and quickly recognized who it was.

…

By the lakeside, Mr. Liang, who looked like someone in his twenties, was sitting steadily with his fishing rod, motionless. Not far away, a majestically-looking old man in his sixties or seventies, his dyed black hair neatly combed, also had a fishing rod in his hand.

Both men seemed to be engrossed in their fishing and hadn’t said a word to one another.

Soon after, Mr. Liang caught a fish first.

Seeing him holding the six-seven pound fish, the old man also beamed at him, “Good job, Ah Liang. I’ve heard that the fish here are decent, and I’ll use the kitchen at the restaurant on the other side to cook you up a masterpiece at noon. I remember when you were little, you loved fish. Every time your mother…”

The old man suddenly stopped speaking, his face becoming somewhat helpless and anxious.