Family Gathering

No longer considering escape, Li Heng turned his thoughts to how he could maintain his initiative within the Hong Alliance. At the very least, he could not allow himself to be isolated inside a military base cut off from the network.

Only more information could give him greater capabilities. Once he was cut off from the network, his efficient source of information, he would have no choice but to leave his fate to chance until the Hong Alliance had thoroughly studied him.

As an ordinary person who was not a soldier, Li Heng knew the Hong Alliance did not trust him very much. He understood his own value deeply. To avoid being discovered by spies, the Hong Alliance would very likely isolate and monitor him when the time came.

Thinking of the executives he had encountered within Googol Tech and their attitudes, he knew that without an information source to keep making himself stronger, the outcome might not be good. His value now was far more than that of an auxiliary intelligence. Perhaps he could spend his life idling away without worries, but freedom would be out of the question.

"Still, the Hong Alliance is full of internal conflicts. Its departments are not a united front. At least most departments in Googol Tech's Southern Region can't get along with those people from the Eastern Region."

"Over there, they keep installing all kinds of machines onto people. They practically want to turn themselves into intelligent machines that study and work twenty-four hours a day. People here see that kind of thinking as heresy. It's outright madness."

Having made up his mind, Li Heng sent out a message and muttered, "Wang Ziyun, I'll be relying on you this time. I hope you can come through. I don't want to end up unable to even play new games."

Outside a villa in the Central District, Wang Ziyun was walking forward with a smile, speaking softly to a mature woman who looked to be around forty at his right. "You still look as young and beautiful as ever. Father has been waiting in the hall for quite a while. He'll definitely be happy to see you."

"Cut the flattery. You're buttering me up because you want me to help you deal with your father today, aren't you?" The mature woman turned and shot Wang Ziyun a glance. A hint of amusement flickered through her deep black eyes as they swept over him. As she turned, the curled ends of her shoulder-length black hair traced a light arc through the air, and her gentle smile softened her originally somewhat stern face.

Time had left few marks on her. Instead, it had refined a distinctive elegance in her, one as alluring as the fragrance of mellow wine.

"Hehe, I don't have a choice. You know Dad's stubborn temper. I get scared whenever I see him pull a long face. You're the only one who can persuade him." Wang Ziyun abandoned his earlier serious manner and spoke with a grin.

At that moment, he no longer resembled the eternally gentle and refined man he appeared to be in public. Instead, he was like a student complaining to his mother about all the things his father did.

"That's right, that's right! Dad is way too fierce. He always scolds Brother like he's one of his subordinates. Mom, you have to help Brother!" A crisp, lark-like female voice rang out. The young girl beside them clung to Wang Ziyun's arm, looking as though she shared a common enemy as she denounced her father.

"All right, Wang Xiao'er. Your father may be an old-fashioned stubborn man, but you can't entirely blame him. It isn't easy for him to sit in that position. There are so many people and so many matters in the company that need his decisions. He faces plenty of pressure from every direction, so naturally he doesn't have much energy left to deal with things at home." Wang Ziyun's mother instead spoke up to defend her former husband.

"Hehe, I'll listen to you." The girl called Wang Xiao'er responded with a soft laugh. The young girl in a light pink short-sleeved shirt had the same large, bright black eyes as her mother. Her slightly baby-fat cheeks radiated youthful energy, while the ponytail tied behind her head swayed from side to side as she walked.

Wang Ziyun looked helplessly at the girl hopping around while hugging his arm and shook his head. "Wang Ziyi, you're almost an adult now. Even if we're biological siblings, you need to keep some distance. It won't do for you to cling to me like when we were kids. If Dad sees us later, he'll lecture us again."

"Bleh, bleh, bleh!" Wang Ziyi stuck out her tongue and made a face, wrinkling her small nose slightly. "Hmph, with Mom here, that awful Dad won't dare scold me."

"Hehe. Wang Xiao'er hasn't seen you in more than half a year. Since it's a rare reunion, just let her be." Wang Ziyun's mother was quite happy to watch the scene. Her lips curved upward, and the smile on her face never faded.

The mother and her two children chatted and laughed as they headed toward the four-story villa not far away. Roses and honeysuckle surrounded its walls, while ivy covered the tree trunks. Ahead stood the brightly lit villa; outside, dark clouds gathered amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.

A drone above the three of them held up a transparent canopy. Raindrops the size of beans struck its surface overhead, making a rapid pattering sound.

Inside the villa, a man around fifty sat in the middle of the living room sofa. His black hair was cut short, about an inch long. He had a somewhat square face, bronze skin, and faintly furrowed brows.

Unlike many middle-aged men who had put on weight, he did not have a protruding beer belly. His fitted black short-sleeved shirt highlighted the bulging muscles in his arms, while his camouflage work pants made him look more like an officer on leave.

"Ding-dong. Guests have arrived." The villa's intelligent butler spoke in the empty, quiet hall, its voice that of a calm and powerful man.

"Open the door," the man on the sofa said, his voice equally firm and forceful.

"Yes."

The tightly shut solid wood doors slowly slid open, and Wang Ziyun's group of three walked in.

When he saw the woman leading them, the middle-aged man's furrowed brows relaxed somewhat. Yet when he saw Wang Ziyun and his sister walking in close together behind her, his newly softened expression instantly darkened again.

The middle-aged man rose from the sofa. He stood nearly 1.9 meters tall, and his sturdy body cast a broad shadow over the floor beneath the lights. His stern, rigid voice rang out. "Ziyun, Ziyi has grown up. Keep your distance."

Wang Ziyun did not react to those words. He continued to look at his father with his trademark gentle smile. Though he too stood over 1.8 meters tall, he undoubtedly appeared slender compared to his father.

Wang Ziyi, who had been holding onto her brother the whole time, timidly withdrew her hand and hid behind him. Though she had shown no fear of her father outside just moments ago, the instant she saw him standing before her with a grim face, she wilted immediately.

"Wang Fantian, can't you stop bringing that outside routine home every time we meet?" An irritated female voice sounded as the woman stepped between the middle-aged man and Wang Ziyun.

"Ye Wan, this is a matter between father and son," Wang Fantian replied in a low voice, though he lacked the commanding tone he had used with his son.

"He's my son too." Ye Wan refused to yield. "The military is the military, the company is the company, and family is family. You could never tell the difference between inside and outside, and that's why you turned this family into what it is today."

Wang Fantian did not continue speaking. It was the truth, and he would not deny his mistakes.

Thinking of how rarely the siblings got to see each other, he stopped discussing the distance between his son and daughter and changed the subject. "I know you came today to speak for Ziyun. Good. Let's take this opportunity to make everything clear. Sit down first. No. 1003, make us some tea."

"Yes." The intelligent butler called No. 1003 responded. A small robot in the corner of the living room rolled away on two wheels to prepare the tea.

Wang Fantian returned to the sofa and sat upright with his back straight. Ye Wan and her daughter sat opposite him, while Wang Ziyun sat on a single sofa at the side. A transparent glass coffee table stood between them.

Wang Fantian spoke. "All right. Since you invited your mother here, tell us your thoughts properly."

"I only want to study medicine and save people. That's all." Wang Ziyun responded calmly, neither hurried nor slow.

"You can save people by participating in the development of new medicines in a laboratory. You can save people by joining the military. You can also save people by entering Googol Tech and participating in management." Wang Fantian offered several different paths, all of which Wang Ziyun had the ability to pursue.

"With your abilities, no matter which of those three paths you choose, you can go far and gain a greater voice within the Hong Alliance. If you truly want to save more people, all of them are more efficient than performing surgeries for patients on the front lines." Wang Fantian spoke in a low voice. Since he had decided to discuss the matter properly, he would not use his status as a father to pressure his son.

"True. You're right." Wang Ziyun did not deny his father's words. If he truly wanted to save more people, then wielding more power and being able to mobilize more resources would naturally be far more effective than saving people one by one with his own hands.

Wang Ziyun then gave his reason. Staring into his father's eyes, he said, "But people's hearts can change. I cannot guarantee that my thinking would not be corrupted after gaining power. To save more people, I would naturally need a greater voice and greater power."

"Yet when I face a dilemma between saving someone and my future, should I abandon the person before me so that I can save more people later? Or, for the sake of my future, would I need to kill certain people? If I abandon the people before me for the so-called goal of saving more people later, then after I climb step by step to the end, would I still be the person I am now, someone devoted wholeheartedly to saving others?"

People's hearts could change. Wang Ziyun knew he was an ordinary person. So many people had lost their original intentions; he did not have the confidence that he could keep moving forward to the end while remaining true to himself.

Wang Fantian fell silent. In the past, he had rarely communicated with his son. The complicated affairs within Googol Tech had left him with almost no energy to pay attention to what his son thought.

Hearing his son explain his reasons, Wang Fantian instead remembered his former self. More than twenty years ago, he too had been a passionate young man.

At that time, Googol Tech had only just been founded. His father had been a core member of Googol Tech. He had married the woman he loved, and they had a lovely son. Life had been happy and fulfilling.

Yet only a few years later, Wang Fantian's father was assassinated by spies from the Free Business Alliance. The investigation revealed that it had been caused by a leak from one of the internal staff members his father trusted most. From that point on, without his father shielding him from the storm, Wang Fantian no longer trusted others easily. He gradually became pragmatic, rational, and decisive.

He came to understand that the Hong Alliance was also riddled with various interest groups. Beneath the calm sea surged turbulent undercurrents, and as his father's only son, he too had to face all kinds of malice.

In the end, he chose to enter the military. Within the Hong Alliance, the military was an independent and transcendent entity. Those capable of interfering with it would not target him, and that could ensure his family's safety.

Later, as artificial intelligence technology developed at a rapid pace, the Hong Alliance's Army was downsized once again, while the situation between the Hong Alliance and the Free Business Alliance gradually stabilized. After leaving the military, Wang Fantian entered Googol Tech. In the end, relying on his own abilities and the connections his father had left behind, he rose step by step to become president of the Southern Region.

However, the pain brought by his father's death and his experiences in the military changed his personality enormously. The conflicts between husband and wife grew increasingly severe, and when their daughter was five, their marriage finally came to an end.

With a sigh, Wang Fantian said to his son, "You don't want to become like me one day, do you?"

Hearing that, Wang Ziyun straightened his body like his father and spoke seriously. "No. You are the person I respect most, and the example I look up to in life."

Wang Ziyun had been intelligent since childhood. Naturally, he knew the pressures his father had faced in those years, and he knew that some of the decisions his father made had not come entirely from his heart, but were the result of compromise.

"I don't have the confidence to keep moving forward as steadfastly as you did. I only hope to do my part with my own hands and do what I can."