Family Foundations
Everett has served as the Gates Family's butler for millions of years, practically watching many members of the Gates Family grow up, including Fa Te's father and Fa Te himself. He has a special affection for the Fa Te family.
He still vividly remembered that more than 1.8 million years ago, a boy about the same age as Fa Te bought him from slave owners and said to him, "From today onwards, you will follow me. Cultivate diligently, and when you are strong enough that you will no longer be captured by these slave traders, you can leave at any time."
But he never left. Even hundreds of years later, when the boy died after his lifespan was exhausted, he still did not leave, and he protected the boy's descendants generation after generation.
It wasn't until one day that he finally made up his mind to become a true god before leaving.
However, he hadn't anticipated that he possessed a remarkable talent for martial arts cultivation, easily reaching the divine level. Divine barriers that seemed insurmountable to others were broken through layer by layer, albeit with great difficulty. Now, he was only one True God Tribulation away from the legendary True God realm.
"Is this how fate is telling me I'm not a member of the Gates Family after all?" He asked himself this question after successfully breaking through the Ninth Layer God Barrier. Now, hearing Gu Ding others mention the antidote, and knowing that the flames would damage the soul, he resolutely stepped forward. He knew his time was running out; the True God Tribulation could descend at any moment. This might be the last thing he could do for the Gates Family. If it truly damaged his soul, causing him to perish under the True God Tribulation, it would only prove that even in death, he was a member of the Gates Family.
Fa Te, of course, had no idea that Everett had thought so much. But he knew. A wounded soul is extremely difficult to heal, and Everett's True God Tribulation was imminent. The chances of successfully surviving the True God Tribulation were already incredibly slim; if he were injured at this time, the True God Tribulation would become even more bleak. Therefore, he was reluctant to let Everett take such a risk, but in the family, the only person he could truly trust was this old butler.
Upon hearing Everett offer his help, Fa Te paused for a moment. "Ever, if you intervene, your soul may be damaged, which could affect your journey through the True God Tribulation."
"I've already thought about this, it doesn't matter," Everett said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned.
Fa Te frowned, and after a long pause, finally nodded. "Alright then. Soul-type potions are rare, but with our family's wealth, obtaining one isn't impossible. Only you can handle this; I don't trust anyone else." Everett then turned to Gu Ding. "What do you need me to do?"
"Lily, Robert, you two come with me. Sir, please take us to the ward again," Gu Ding said.
"I'll go take a look too," Fa Te, still somewhat worried.
The five walked towards the ward, but Fa Te looked at Robert with some surprise. "Isn't she your new member? Where's Robert?"
"That's Robert," Liliath explained from the side, "She's just changed her appearance."
"Why do I have to look like a woman?" Fa Te still hadn't fully grasped the situation.
"Because I am female," Robert had to explain again.
The group quickly entered the ward. Gu Ding had Robert activate his domain, and he carried one of the poisoned individuals into it. "Everyone, come in. Robert's domain accelerates time thirty times, so eliminating the toxins this way will take a long time. It's estimated that it will take about fifteen hours to heal one person. If all twelve are healed, it will take at least a week. While being treated in Robert's domain, at most half a day will pass outside."...
After everyone entered the realm, Gu Ding relayed the detailed steps that the Sea Emperor had told him to Liliath and Everett.
In essence, Liliath's task was quite simple: to activate the Purgatory Fire with her soul power and then inject them into Everett's body. She only needed to adjust the amount of flame input according to Everett's instructions.
Everett's workload was much greater; he had to resist the damage the Purgatory Fire caused to his soul while simultaneously guiding it in the right direction.
After more than an hour of getting to know each other, the two began their first attempt at detoxification.
Liliath steadily channeled the Purgatory Fire into Everett's body. Everett guarded his soul, then used his divine source to guide and block the flame, directing it into the body of the poisoned victim. The flame was already extremely unruly within his own body; now, detached and entering another, it became even more frenzied. Everett struggled greatly to finally control the Purgatory Fire, but fortunately, the Purgatory Fire seemed quite interested in the poison, making his subsequent work easier.
The dark, black toxin had almost completely infected the poisoned person's soul, and the flames devoured it inch by inch. Everett steadily protected the soul's physical body. Time passed second by second, and just as the Sea Emperor had predicted, after about fifteen hours, the toxin was finally cleared away.
After fifteen consecutive hours of channeling his soul power, Liliath also fell into a deep sleep.
After finally forcing the flames out of the poisoned person's body, Everett was also covered in sweat.
The poisoned person, who was frozen in ice, gradually regained his breathing.
Because Liliath's Devouring Flame is fueled by soul power, healing a patient almost exhausted her soul power, causing her to sleep for three days before waking up.
Left with no other option, everyone could only wait.
After Liliath woke up, the two worked together to treat the second person. This time, Liliath slept for two and a half days.
Then, the two spent about twenty-five days expelling all the toxins from their bodies.
Meanwhile, only one day had passed in the outside world.
Seeing his parents wake up safe and sound, Fa Te's eyes welled up with tears.
"You're so pathetic, your friend is watching!" Fa Te's mother wiped away his tears and laughed.
"Thank you so much this time," said Stephen, Fa Te's father, who also knew that it was Gu Ding and his family who had saved him and his loved ones. He was very polite to Gu Ding and his family.
"How did you all get poisoned?" Liliath was still somewhat interested in this kind of gossip.
"It was the Koch Family that poisoned us, and I suspect the Filler Family was also involved." Stephen, worthy of being the second richest man in the Universe Sea, connected the dots in a flash. "Although we've been cured of the poison, the family crisis is only partially resolved."
"Is it about those three projects?" Fa Te couldn't help but ask. "Old Dad, now that you're awake, if you go and negotiate in person, there's still a chance you can get them done, right?"
"Those three projects are minor matters; money can be earned back," Stephen shook his head. "I'm talking about something else. Over three years ago, one of our lead designers was suspected of embezzlement and secretly selling our data to the Koch Family. I discovered this, fired him, reported him, and sent him to prison. Recently, the Koch Family managed to get him out. Unexpectedly, that guy left a backdoor in our main system three years ago, and after his release, he stole all the data from our mainframe. Detailed data and information about our family's various projects over tens of thousands of years were all stored on this mainframe."...
"These documents aren't encrypted?" This was a question that Sea Emperor had Gu Ding ask.
"Each document is individually encrypted using an extremely complex, irregularly changing cipher. The passwords for eight smaller projects have already been forcibly cracked. My watch is linked to these documents, and it sends a warning message every time a password is broken. Judging from the current situation, they will eventually crack all the passwords. At that point, the family's core projects will be exposed, and the family's foundation will be shaken." Stephen said this with a hint of helplessness.
"Old Dad, don't say such discouraging things. No matter what happens, we can always find a solution." Fa Te noticed that his father seemed to be thinking of giving up.
"Uncle, is that mainframe you were talking about still there?" Gu Ding asked the Sea Emperor.
"It is there, but it's not in use anymore. I had it moved to the underground warehouse." Stephen didn't know what Gu Ding was planning, but he answered the question truthfully to Gu Ding Team, who had saved his life.
"I think I can help you, but I need to use your family's internal network and that mainframe." Gu Ding looked at Stephen; the Sea Emperor was quite confident about this kind of thing.
Stephen stared at Gu Ding for a long time before finally nodding. "Alright, there's no other way anyway."
After retrieving the mainframe from the warehouse, Sea Emperor used the machine to reconnect to the Gates Family's internal office network. Sea Emperor quickly found the backdoor left by the designer and, through it, located the culprit.
He scanned the designer's smart device, located the data, and destroyed it. Then, he created a fake copy and placed it in the original location, increasing the password difficulty of the fake copy by hundreds of times. After doing all this, he developed a surveillance virus and hid it in the designer's smart device, allowing him to track the designer's movements at any time.
"The question now is whether the Koch Family has obtained this information." Having resolved the designer's problem, Sea Emperor began to ponder how to deal with the Koch Family.