"Xia Qing Tian, you are indeed as clever as your mother, but that's as far as it goes," Xiang Xue Yuan said with a sneer. "I had people plant explosives earlier, and there are people and fleets waiting outside to receive me. If I don't show up for a while, they'll know what to do."
The explosion here would absolutely prevent anyone else from discovering the secret of the energy.
When Xiang Xue Yuan went mad, he didn't even spare himself.
Everyone had to die!
Then, the shaking ground quieted down again.
"Wh-what's going on?" Xiang Xue Yuan looked around. This shouldn't be happening!
"The Wen family dismantled most of your explosives. Only a little bit was left, and it blew up half of a small hill not far behind. It's really inconvenient not having a reliable signal; information transmission is too slow," Wen Jiu said, looking at the message from his subordinate.
This military equipment really needed an upgrade.
"H-how could this be!" Xiang Xue Yuan felt a sense of daze. How could this happen?
"You cooperate a bit, and I can go back to the ship and get some more sleep," Wen Jiu said, yawning. "I've been waiting here for you all this time, and I'm very tired. I didn't rest well last night."
"Wen family, don't get cocky! I still have my ships and my people in place!" Xiang Xue Yuan clenched his fists and said coldly, "Even if you catch me today, within three days, you'll have to respectfully let me out!"
He had planted so many informants over the years, not just for passing messages. He wasn't someone who could be easily controlled!
"All your informants have been rounded up too," Wen Jiu said. "And we have you to thank for that. If you hadn't suddenly sent some strange signal to gather all your global informants, our cooperation with Madam Camille wouldn't have gone so smoothly."
After saying this, Wen Jiu glanced at Lu Yao Yang.
From the very beginning of the Lu family's troubles, the Wen family had already united with the heads of major domestic families to set up a grand plan. They just hadn't expected Lu Yao Yang to be so reliable in connecting their foreign contacts.
With Madam Camille's help in lobbying various families abroad, and joining forces with the Wen family, the entire scheme proceeded exceptionally smoothly.
This time, it was a complete sweep!
It was incredibly satisfying!
Wen Jiu could already imagine how excited and animated his grandfather would be in the Wen family.
Hmph.
"No! Impossible!" Xiang Xue Yuan finally had to admit that all of this was a deliberate trap, a "luring the tiger into its lair," set specifically for him.
Lost?
He had completely lost!
A pain shot through his chest, and Xiang Xue Yuan actually vomited blood. His face was grim, and he looked years older in an instant.
"Oh dear, this makes it difficult for me!" Wen Jiu said, picking at his ear as he stepped forward. "I told you to cooperate earlier, why didn't you listen? You're so old, and yet so stubborn!"
"Don't come any closer!" Xiang Xue Yuan clutched his chest, forcing himself upright despite the pain.
Even if he lost, he would not lose to the Wen family, nor to these people in front of him.
In his life, he, Xiang Xue Yuan, would never allow himself to lose like this.
The only person who could decide his victory or defeat was himself!
"What other tricks do you have?" Wen Jiu asked, crossing his arms and looking at Xiang Xue Yuan with a speechless expression.
"No one can make me lose!" Xiang Xue Yuan had abandoned the woman he loved, his family, and his conscience. He hadn't done it to lose.
Xiang Xue Yuan cast one last glance in Xia Qing Yu's direction, gazing into those eyes that were most familiar to him.
Nie Qing Kong stepped forward and shielded Xia Qing Yu.
Seeing this, Xiang Xue Yuan curled his lips, a hint of relief appearing unexpectedly.
Xia Qing Yu's life would be much better than his own as a father.
Without further hesitation, Xiang Xue Yuan directly activated the countdown stop device for his pacemaker and then, in front of everyone, began to calmly tidy his clothes and hair.
"What is he doing?" Bai Yu Qi couldn't quite understand. "Has he really gone mad?"
"He's committing suicide," Wen Jiu said, understanding Xiang Xue Yuan's actions. "How much time is left? I need to take him back, even if he's just a corpse."
"Ten minutes," Xiang Xue Yuan said nonchalantly as he tidied himself. "Even in death, there's no reason to make a spectacle for others."
When Xiang Xue Yuan said this, the others didn't know how to respond.
Xiang Xue Yuan finished tidying himself in three to five minutes, and the waiting time that followed became awkward and long.
This was the first time everyone had waited for someone to die, and for each of them, it was exceptionally agonizing and strange.
As if a sliver of lingering compassion remained, Xia Qing Yu reached out and handed Xiang Xue Yuan a bright red fruit.
She had picked it yesterday, and after hearing Er Ya and Di San Ge explain its effects, she found it amazing. She hadn't thrown it away and had kept it.
She had originally wanted to take it back to slice and study, but now it had found a use.
Xiang Xue Yuan had already learned about the fruit's effects. He glanced at the fruit, then at Xia Qing Yu's eyes, which he found incredibly familiar. Without hesitation, he took the fruit and ate it.
At the end of his life, it seemed not bad to have one last beautiful dream.
After the fruit entered his stomach, it quickly took effect.
It was as if a door he had seen before appeared before him, and upon opening it, a familiar floral fragrance bloomed.
Immediately, a woman's voice came from the kitchen, smiling as she spoke to him, "Was your work at the research institute smooth today? I encountered something very interesting while translating today, would you like to hear about it?"
Xiang Xue Yuan stood frozen on the spot. After a long while, he suppressed the urge to cry and replied with a single word: "Yes."
It turned out that, after a lifetime, he had cruelly strangled and buried his most beautiful and cherished desires with his own hands.
…
Xiang Xue Yuan died.
He died with a faint smile. It was a different smile from his usual elegant and amiable demeanor, the kind that made people feel comfortable but never reached his eyes. It was merely a faint curve of his lips.
Xia Qing Yu turned her face away, not looking any further.
This was the last, and only, thing she could do for her biological father. Henceforth, she would have a clear conscience for the rest of her life.
After resolving this matter, Lu Yao Yang wanted to open the temporarily closed gate, only to discover that the mechanism, whether due to aging from prolonged disuse or Xiang Xue Yuan's earlier violent destruction of the door, had malfunctioned at this moment.
No matter what he did, the stone wall remained unyieldingly solid.
"Damn it! Are we going to starve to death here together, and be buried with this lunatic?" Bai Yu Qi panicked.
He was still young, and he hadn't yet confessed his feelings to Yin Yin!
He couldn't die here!
"Is it stuck?" Xia Qing Tian looked at the mechanism on the wall. "Let me see."
"Here, it should push in, but..." Lu Yao Yang's words were cut short as he saw Xia Qing Tian place her hand over it.
Energizing herself with adrenaline, Xia Qing Tian applied force and pushed the stuck mechanism directly. The stone wall that had risen abruptly sank back into the ground.
"That's great!" Bai Yu Qi was overjoyed, and even wanted to grab the Pavilion Master Shi and dance, but was thoroughly rejected by the Pavilion Master Shi.