Why Was Park Gukchang Taking the Blame Again?
The large LCD screen flickered twice, and the image switched to the express live broadcast room of the Global Finance Channel.
On the anchor desk, the host's forehead was beaded with sweat, and the press release in his hand was crumpled.
The background behind him was scrolling with large red text:
A century-old pharmaceutical giant Silver Peak Biotechnology, is facing a sudden crisis, with all its senior executives missing and its assets frozen.
"This station has just received a report from Lianhe Zaobao..."
"Starting at 8 PM Eastern Time, six major research bases of Silver Peak Biotechnology located in North America and overseas were completely destroyed, suspectedly due to a rare deep geological fracture and a chain of industrial accidents..."
Chan Ka-kui, who was eating a banana in his hospital bed, almost choked to death upon hearing this.
"Geological fracture?"
"We've crossed oceans, endured bullets and bone spurs, and all they see us as is a demolition crew?"
Ma Jun draped his bandaged arms over the blanket and chuckled.
"What else can we do? Are we going to let foreign reporters say on TV that their big radars are all useless, and that people have turned their backyard into a marketplace?"
Ma Jun glanced sideways at the screen. "To be honest, those guys at the Pentagon, covered in medals, will have to line up at the street corner to collect their welfare benefits before dawn tomorrow."
The television camera panned to the outside of the Wall Street Stock Exchange.
The place is in complete chaos.
Several fund managers in suits slumped down on the edge of the flowerbed, burying their faces in their hands and sobbing uncontrollably.
The kraft paper documents scattered all over the floor were blown about by the strong wind, and on the giant circular screen in the hall, the stock chart of Silver Peak Technology showed a straight line pointing vertically downwards.
"Current statistics... are as of 4:00 AM Eastern Time."
"The total market capitalization of Silver Peak Biotechnology and its parent company's seventeen core subsidiaries, including the Ivy League Student Aid Fund and Blackwater Special Security, evaporated by more than $235 billion in a single day!"
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol have officially entered Roswell and New Orleans, discovering numerous traces of inhumane genetic removal. Global Interpol Red Notices have been issued..."
"The ringleader of this criminal operation is none other than Park Gukchang, the Korea caused trouble in Japan last year..."
Sing Sing was speechless.
How come the bandit leader is using a fake identity again?
Can't they just find someone else?!
There was nothing he could do now that things had come to this.
"Two hundred and thirty billion."
Sing Sing leaned against the pillow, his hands behind his head, and crossed his legs, swinging them back and forth.
"These unlucky bastards used to extract bone marrow from young people, lend money at exorbitant interest rates, and kill people. They amassed such a huge fortune for their funerals, but in the end, it wasn't even enough to buy a block of tofu to bang their heads against."
Meanwhile, in the single dormitory area, separated by two buildings.
The dormitory door was kicked open.
Marcus burst into the room, his dark face glowing red, and yanked the blanket off Leo's head.
"Leo! Wake up! Get up and look at the sky!"
The red-haired boy on the bed was startled, almost jumping off the bed frame, and groggily clutched his chest.
"Wha... what's going on? The debt collectors have come in again? Wasn't the collar removed a long time ago?!"
"Screw taking off that collar! Look at this thing!"
Marcus shoved his phone, which was playing a live stream, right up to Leo's nose.
"Silver Peak's entire stronghold has been wiped out!"
Marcus grabbed Leo by the neck and slapped the boy's back hard.
"Director Zhou wasn't lying to us! This mountain has really been overturned! From now on, no one can lock us up with bomb collars anymore!"
Leo burst into tears, then joined Marcus in laughter.
The third floor of the government office building houses the unusual archives room.
Anton was wearing gloves and carefully organizing the newly filed documents.
The door hinges clicked softly, Riptide came in.
"Take a break, aren't you bored spending all day here?"
Anton smiled, turned to look at the television in the corner, and gently touched the circular, shallow scar on his chest that had long since scabbed over and healed.
"Elder brother."
"Um?"
"Silver Peak... that's it?"
Anton turned his head, his eyes glazed over. "So it's all history now?"
Riptide reached out and ruffled his younger brother's short hair.
"Gone, not even a trace left. Director Zhou and his team uprooted it completely."
"Brother, what about the future?"
"From now on? From now on, you should work here honestly, and it would be best if you got married. I think Xiao Ruan is quite nice. Gentle and considerate..."
"Brother! I didn't mean that!"
Riptide chuckled and didn't continue the topic, "I'm off today, come on, I'll take you to climb the Badaling Great Wall!"
"Are you really going?"
"Nonsense, hurry up!"
I object to this marriage!
Thousands of miles away, in the construction area of Qiongzhou Strait cross-sea channel.
The Polaris, with its long, emerald-green hair fluttering in the wind, floats several meters in the air, its fingertips swirling with emerald-green magnetic field ripples.
On the ground, Amy, the Soft Serve, jogged over, cupping her hands to her mouth and jumping and waving frantically.
"Sister Lorna! Sister Lorna, come down quickly!"
Polaris glided down lightly, then ripped off the hair tie on her wrist and tied her long hair into a high ponytail.
"What's wrong with you, so restless? Did Da Vinci send you to deliver some weird Tiger Balm again?"
"No! It's a major announcement on the bureau's internal network!"
Xiao Ruan handed over her phone, her face flushed.
"Director Zhou and his team... wiped out Silver Peak's underground headquarters! The conglomerate was completely wiped out!"
A sea breeze swept by, ruffling the stray hairs on my forehead.
That name that had been looming over her ever since the day she awakened her Mutant Genes.
The corporation that captured her, dissected her fellow Mutants, and treated everyone as expendable resources and genetic batteries once loomed over the lives of all the fugitives.
But now, a single announcement, a few lines of bold text, has declared its complete disappearance.
Stryker...
Only you are left...
"Sister Lorna?" Amy gently tugged at her sleeve.
The pent-up frustration that had been building up in Polaris's chest for years dissipated with that breath.
Let's go.
Where to go?
"Let's go to the cafeteria." Polaris said cheerfully, "I heard the kitchen made sauerkraut and pork belly today, and if we went late, those guys from Group Two would have it all."
Under the same clear sky.
Lao Mo, wearing a yellow safety helmet and covered in mud, was squatting down playing on his phone.
A sudden, urgent call came through the walkie-talkie, and my hand trembled, almost dropping the phone.
Grabbing the walkie-talkie hanging around his neck, he blurted out in his thick local dialect, "What the hell are you yelling about!"
On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Sand Rat Miguel shouted at the top of his lungs, "Check the group messages! Silver Peak has collapsed!"
"What did you say? Which one collapsed?"
"Silver Peak! That damned Silver Peak Consortium! They've been completely wiped out!"
Old Mi laughed wildly through the loudspeaker, "Uproot them all! Capture the dead, and the world will be at peace!"
"My dear uncle! Well done! You've really screwed up!"
Heading north, we crossed the towering Qinling Mountains.
Ankang Ecological Agriculture Demonstration Base, located at the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces.
Beside the reservoir halfway up the mountain, Geggebu was dredging the irrigation ditch with his trousers rolled up, while his mobile phone in his pocket was broadcasting news commentary.
Geggebu stopped shoveling and turned to shout into the distance:
"Bailey! Bailey, listen to this!"
In the distance, Baobao, who was squatting in the furrow, looked up and wiped the mud off his nose. "Listen up!"
"Director Zhou's business trip was truly inspiring!"
"We can't just sit idly by! Let's pick out a few of the fattest free-range chickens and give Director Zhou and the others a good boost!"
"Then I'll go catch a chicken right now!"
He grinned Baobao, his gaze fixed on the lush, gentle slope behind the mountain.
Under the sunlight, a red-skinned Devil Dinosaur lay on the grass, snorting, while the Moon-Boy rode on its nose, laughing as he tossed a bunch of wild berries into the air.
Baobao chuckled softly.
"Let's go catch chickens!"