By the time Gao Peng finished everything and reached home, it was already nine o'clock in the evening. His phone suddenly rang. Gao Peng grabbed his phone and answered a call from the construction company.
"Hello, Mr. Gao?"
There was a change in tone compared to a few days ago.
Gao Peng answered and asked, "What's up?"
"Mr. Gao, do you have a minute? We've encountered some problems in cleaning the villa and we need you to personally come to take a look," said the voice from the other side.
"What's the problem?" It was already kind of late, and Gao Peng did not want to go out. "Just tell me."
A pause came from the other side. After a while the voice continued and said, "We found some variant plants inside the villa that impede our development work. If we do not get rid of these variant plants, it will be impossible for us to continue with our repair work; however, for us to remove the plants we would need to remove parts of the building, which is why we hope that you can come and take a look. That way, we can move on to the next step of our work. If you're not here we won't dare to dismantle or demolish any fixtures in the villa."
Gao Peng did not reply and frowned. It was already dark outside and he still had classes the following morning, but it would already be six or seven o'clock by the time classes ended. "Alright, I'll be there later."
Before he left, Gao Peng froze in his tracks. He felt weird somehow.
Why would the construction company call him so late? Gao Peng continued thinking deeply as he prepared to leave and as he reached downstairs, Gao Peng suddenly stopped.
What construction company would work at nine o'clock at night? Wasn't it a odd little to work so far overtime? They sure were giving him a lot of face…
More importantly, Gao Peng's villa was located in a rural area, and not a lot of people gathered there. By the time Gao Peng reached the place, it would be around ten o'clock. Gao Peng couldn't help but be cautious.
After thinking about it for a while, Gao Peng grabbed his phone and dialed the number. The phone rang over ten times before someone picked it up. "Mr. Gao," said someone with a polite voice from the other side.
A smile appeared on Gao Peng's face. "Manager Li, it's a bit late tonight, why not wait until tomorrow? You can let your fellow workers rest a bit. If there's any penalty for work delay, I'll cover it."
After that the other side went silent for a moment before a voice said, "Alright, it is quite late after all. We will not disturb you anymore."
As soon as they finished, they hung up. Gao Peng listened to the beeping sound of the hung up phone and silently returned his phone to its original place.
At the same time in the villa at the outskirts of town, a few shadowy figures stood. One of them had both his hands tied up. He looked anxious and sweat covered his forehead. He said helplessly, "Brothers, I've really tried. I have no choice if he doesn't want to come. After all, I can't force him, right?"
A youngster in a white suit stood beside him. The youngster's hair was neatly combed and parted three to seven, and his eyebrows were his most prominent feature. It seemed as if parts of one eyebrow it had been bitten off, as a small portion of it was missing.
"I never would have thought that the kid would be so smart. It seems he already noticed that something is wrong," said the youngster in the white suit, smiling. "Looks like he won't be coming tonight."
At that moment, the phone in the hands of a bald and burly man started to vibrate and ring.
The burly bald man looked at the screen of the phone. On the display was the photograph of an approximately 30-year-old woman. The word "wife" was written on the screen.
"Dr. Jiang, someone from this guy's family is calling him," the burly bald man told the youngster in the white suit.
When the man heard that his wife was calling him, his expression became complex. He said anxiously, "Brother, I'm usually home by this time. If I don't pick up the phone, she will be suspicious."
Dr. Jiang glanced at the man. "Pick it up. But you know what you should and shouldn't say. If you dare talk about anything like going to visit your great uncle who passed away, I'll let your entire family meet with your great uncle," Dr. Jiang said. His tone was calm but what he said sent a chill down the man's spine.
His great uncle had passed away the year before last. These people actually investigated him.
Since he did not know how much these people knew about him, he did not dare play any tricks. He made up some lie to get past his wife.
"Looks like we are running out of time. If we could have completed our task earlier... I really didn't want to use such violent methods. After all, we are civilized people." As he finished speaking, Dr. Jiang covered his mouth and coughed softly.
"To tell you the truth, no one in the group would have thought that Ji Hanwu still had a living grandson. If someone hadn't relayed this information to me secretly, perhaps all of us would have thought that he no longer had any relatives left.
"If news about Ji Hanwu's grandson being alive spreads, it is a given that a lot of people will move in the dark to attempt to get rid of this threat," Dr. Jiang said profoundly. "After all, Ji Hanwu doesn't have any family. He will certainly grow old. But his grandson, on the other hand, is still very young."
As the saying goes, "Wealth moveth the heart of man." The Southern Sky Group was now a gigantic organization, and different forces populated the higher-ups, everyone with their own motives and ideas.
"Ugh, brother, you mean to kill… Gao Peng? Why don't we just do it?" a man in casual wear with a buzzcut asked as he frowned. If they only wanted to kill Gao Peng, why would they waste time on a superfluous action? They should just go up there and get things done.
"Ji Hanwu spent so much effort protecting and hiding his grandson, he must pay a lot of attention into ensuring his safety. There are surely people protecting him in secret, and if we move in right away, an accident is very likely. It would be extremely problematic if we alerted Ji Hanwu," Dr. Jiang said. As he finished his sentence there was fear in his eyes.
"Of course, the most important thing is, who said I wanted to kill his grandson?" Dr. Jiang was speechless.
"I only wanted to meet with this boy I don't know. What good would it do if we killed him? Do you think that we actually have the prerequisites to fight for control over the Southern Sky Group?" Dr. Jiang laughed. "I'm just a researcher!"
"To kill his only grandson! We'd face the wrath of Ji Hanwu. We'd be the first to die, and the ultimate benefactors would be those who really have the prerequisites and capabilities to compete for the spot," said Dr. Jiang as he put both his hands behind his back.
"Brother, I still don't really understand," said the buzzcut man, shaking his head.
Dr. Jiang sighed. It was exhausting talking to these idiots.
"You don't have to know the actual reasons. You only need to know that Gao Peng's identity is our leverage. It is our leverage over Ji Hanwu in negotiation. Moreover, I really am interested in that kid. I heard that he is a monster breeding genius. It's too bad we won't be able to meet him."
There was a more profound reason that Dr. Jiang omitted. The research unit Dr. Jiang was in was not among the top in the Southern Sky Group. Moreover, apart from research units, there were security units, etc. Even if the only heir of the Southern Sky Group were to pass away, the position would be too far away from him. So his coming forward was to gather information.
After all, it wouldn't be wrong to consider Gao Peng as the prince who would one day inherit the throne.
If he indeed possessed amazing talents, perhaps he would place his bets earlier.
Dr. Jiang seemed to smile without smiling. He looked up into the sky and said, "It's about time. Ji Hanwu's people should be here."
The man tied up on the side looked extremely pale. He had heard way too much information that he should not know. Would he die? Would he die…
The words "murder" and "silence" kept floating around in his mind.
Dr. Jiang glanced at him and snapped his fingers.
A black and white butterfly flew out from his white suit. Previously, the butterfly had rested on his white suit around the chest area, looking like a lifelike embroidery.
The butterfly flickered above the man's head and sprinkled down white phosphorus powder. The powder fell slowly and seeped into the man's body on contact. After absorbing the powder, the man fainted.
Thunder rumbled. A frightening shadow flashed through the sky as it generated a sonic boom in the sky.
Dr. Jiang's face lost its color immediately and his confident smile suddenly froze. He seemed to be in agony as he said, "He… He came in person."
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