The surrounding crowd, seeing the Bai family patriarch Bai Guanghai spitting blood and falling to the ground, was terrified and rushed forward to rescue him.
The private doctor in the manor had been on standby. After a great deal of effort, he managed to revive Bai Guanghai.
"Ugh... my son, my Haoming..."
Bai Guanghai's youngest son was named Bai Haoming. The name was chosen to signify his hope that his son would inherit his legacy, carrying a very auspicious meaning.
However, the infant, who was barely a month old, had perished in the fire. Bai Guanghai could not endure such a shock.
Although theoretically, Bai Guanghai could still have more sons, the problem was that it wasn't that simple. Even if he had more children, it would take over a year. Considering his current physical condition, how many more years could he afford to wait?
Most importantly, if he had a son only to have him eliminated by such an accident, what was the point of having children at all!
Bai Guanghai knew his son, Bai Haotian, very well. He was certain that this incident was likely orchestrated by his son. Even if he had other sons in the future, he doubted they would escape Bai Haotian's malicious intent!
"Dad, are you alright?" Bai Haotian's face was ashen. He hadn't yet grasped the gravity of the situation.
"The vault, what happened to the vault!" Bai Guanghai demanded.
The security captain approached, trembling.
"Boss, the fire in the vault burned for over half an hour. We finally managed to extinguish it by cutting off the ventilation.
However, the vault door and its main structure have been deformed, and we cannot enter. Furthermore, to extinguish the fire, we injected a large amount of water underground. I estimate the entire vault is now submerged..."
Upon hearing this, Bai Guanghai felt a surge of blood rush to his chest. He opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of blood, his head spinning.
That underground vault contained hundreds of millions in cash, various securities, and tons of jewelry, along with gold. The wealth inside was no less than eight billion! If the value of those securities were added, it would be tens of billions!
These were the fruits of Bai Guanghai's hard work and accumulated fortune. But now, all of it had been consumed by the fire!
"Help me up and take me to my study!
Haotian, you come with me!"
Bai Haotian had never experienced anything like this before; he was stunned.
Even if he had a younger brother now, it would likely take another ten to twenty years for that brother to grow up and be ready to take over. He was confident and had already been planning to ensure his younger brother would die or become incapacitated during this period.
When he discovered the villa was on fire, he was overjoyed. It was like a dream come true. Regardless of who started the fire, his younger brother was likely in grave danger.
But upon hearing about the losses in the vault, he was also somewhat flustered.
The Bai family's influence in Jiangshan City was largely due to the confidence these vast riches provided them.
Now, with a significant portion of their wealth devoured by a fire, the loss to the Bai family was immense.
Moreover, as the security captain had said, the entire underground vault had been subjected to intense heat and then flooded with water. It was likely that everything inside, except for the gold, had been reduced to ashes.
The time and money required to drain the water, reopen the basement, retrieve the gold, and then refine it would be astronomical!
However, Bai Haotian's mind was almost shut down. He numbly followed Bai Guanghai into his study.
Bai Guanghai sat behind a desk and waved his hand at a few confidants.
"You all leave. I have something to say to Haotian!"
The servants agreed and withdrew. Bai Haotian then sat down opposite Bai Guanghai.
"Dad, I will find out who did this and tear them to shreds..."
Before he could finish speaking, he looked up sharply and was startled by a pair of eyes, terrifying eyes!
Bai Guanghai was staring intently at his son. The whites of his eyes had turned red.
This was caused by the rupture of capillaries in the eyes, a condition typically resulting from extreme emotional distress.
Furthermore, Bai Haotian understood the message conveyed by his father's gaze: it was filled with malice and resentment.
"Speak, why did you do this!" Bai Guanghai asked in a chilling tone.
"I... what did I do?" Bai Haotian was still completely bewildered, unsure what his father was getting at.
"Don't play dumb with me. You started this fire, you killed Haoming. How could you do this, how could you treat your brother like this!" Bai Guanghai's voice had become somewhat frenzied, even hysterical.
Upon hearing this, Bai Haotian's eyes widened like saucers.
"Dad, do you know what you're saying! How could I have harmed my brother? I was practicing my cultivation at the time..."
Bai Haotian felt extremely wronged. He had indeed wished for his brother Bai Haoming's death and had even planned to kill him, but the time hadn't been right yet, and he hadn't acted.
He never expected his father to blame him for this!
"Bai Haotian, I know exactly who you are. You're afraid that when your brother grows up, he'll compete with you for the family fortune!
I'm telling you, everything in my Bai family will go to your brother. You won't get a single cent from me!
Also, I need to tell you something. Your lifespan is at most ten more years. Even if you wanted my family fortune, it would be useless. Who knows who will leave this world first!"
"What? What did you say!" Bai Haotian's eyes bulged like copper bells. The fact that he only had about ten years left to live was something Ling Tian had secretly told him. No one else knew about this except Ling Tian and Bai Haotian.
Now, in his extreme anger, Bai Guanghai had revealed this secret.
"Heh, you didn't expect that, you ungrateful wretch. You even dared to cooperate with the Gu King. What's the difference between that and seeking skin from a tiger!
You became very powerful during that period, but do you know that your strength came at the cost of depleting your life?
Although Ling Tian helped you remove the Gu poison from your body, the damage was already done. Your power came from burning your life force!"
"Impossible, impossible! You're scaring me, you're talking nonsense, right!" Bai Haotian was completely panicked. He couldn't accept the reality before him.
"At this point, why would I lie to you?"