No wall in the world was truly airtight, let alone one as riddled with holes as the city hall's. There was no point in even hoping it would hold.
In less than half an hour, everyone in Yacheng knew about it!
Some said Xu Chaoxian had ignored a red light and stepped right into a truck. Others said he hadn't cut the circuit breaker while taking a shower and was electrocuted by high-voltage current. Others claimed he had stepped out his front door with his left foot first and was crushed to death by a falling flowerpot, or that his karma had caught up with him and he had stuffed himself to death eating shit, or that his brain had exploded because he couldn't stomach the latest scientific theories, or that he had been reincarnated into an alternate world...
In short, there were a hundred thousand ways he might have died, each one more colorful than the last, and each bearing a strange ring of authenticity.
Pity was, there was only one flaw in all the rumors...
He hadn't actually died.
He was currently in the hospital being resuscitated!
When Ji Jue received the message from Tong Shan, his feelings were tangled. For a moment, he didn't even know whether he wanted the illness to hurry up and claim Xu Chaoxian or hold off a little longer...
At the very least, couldn't it wait until this storm blew over?!
"What happened, exactly?"
Ji Jue was thoroughly baffled. "He was fine before. Food poisoning? A distinguished governor wouldn't be eating expired pork knuckle rice, would he?"
"Pork knuckle rice would be a stretch, but plenty of other delicacies would fit the bill. After all... he's always had a weakness for such tastes."
Tong Shan sighed. "The cook made a pot of banded sea krait. He didn't clear out the venom sacs properly during prep, and the heat wasn't high enough during cooking. The governor ate it at noon, and by the time of the afternoon meeting, he started coughing up blood. Thank goodness Ji Xue was on duty, or they might not have even reacted in time."
Ji Jue fell silent for a long moment. "The cook?"
"He's an old chef Xu Chaoxian brought from Midtown. He's followed him for decades. His parents and brothers all rely on Xu Chaoxian to eat. If he couldn't be trusted, Xu Chaoxian would have died decades ago."
"So it's purely a coincidence?" Ji Jue was almost amused. "I suddenly have a suspect in mind."
Now it was Tong Shan's turn to be rendered speechless.
Indeed, no matter how one looked at it, the whole affair seemed entirely like a coincidence.
By coincidence, an old sea krait of more than a decade had been caught; by coincidence, the venom sacs weren't completely cleaned out; by coincidence, the chemical plant explosion caused natural gas supply issues, leaving the stove without enough heat; by coincidence, the largest piece was served onto Xu Chaoxian's plate; and by coincidence, he ate it...
There were few coincidences so neat in the world.
And when it came to orchestrating coincidences, who else could it be... but Aether?!
All things were as a book, and the mortal dust was its parchment. Celestial Chosen of the Path of Aether, who hid behind the curtain and played the long game, loved nothing more than faint clues stretching over thousands of miles and twists revealed by deep foreshadowing. To some extent, claiming they manipulated destiny wasn't an exaggeration at all.
The gulf between high and low on the Path of Embers was like clouds and mud—there were preposterous old monsters like Tianlu, and there were apprentices who couldn't pass an artisan exam no matter how many times they sat for it.
The Path of Aether was the same. Without obvious, overt standards visible on the surface, the hidden disparity was only far more immense.
A minor minion like Hanhan, who could only be used to scout maps and place wards, was light-years away from a true Aether powerhouse.
"I support you becoming governor, Shan-ge. You know that." Ji Jue kept a straight face, doing his best to spike Tong Shan's blood pressure by picking on the honest man.
"Grandfather has his hands full with all kinds of business lately. As a Celestial-Human, he can't neglect everything else just to keep his eyes glued to Xu Chaoxian, can he?" Tong Shan's ears automatically tuned out the teasing, and he gave a tired sigh. "In this world, we aren't the only ones skilled in Aether."
That cut straight to the core.
Ordinarily, a decorative figurehead like Xu Chaoxian was useless for anything besides wasting grain. Yet calling him utterly useless wasn't quite right either, especially at a critical juncture like this.
Lyu Yingyue, Xu Chaoxian, and the Tong family—none of the three could be missing. Without Xu Chaoxian acting as the bridge, not even promises could be forged between the two parties in Midtown. And without the governor's post, the Tong family couldn't speak for Yacheng.
"What about the resuscitation?" Ji Jue asked. "Since he didn't die on the spot, he shouldn't be beyond saving, right? If he's truly brought down heaven's wrath and human resentment, I could at least chip in a membership card to Hope Hospital."
This time, Tong Shan remained silent for a long while.
The line between them even upgraded as Tong Shan adjusted the settings, raising the encryption level. Only after confirming no one was near Ji Jue did Tong Shan say vaguely, "Xu Chaoxian's condition isn't like that of normal people, nor is it like a Celestial Chosen's. Certain methods don't work on him... I can't explain the specifics to you, but for now, we can only rely on emergency procedures.
"The results aren't great. He's out of the operating room, but he hasn't woken up yet.
"Be careful in everything. If trouble comes, don't try to tough it out to the death. As long as we can endure, things will turn around. Understood?"
"I don't completely understand, but I get the idea for now."
Ji Jue sighed. "Go attend to your business, Shan-ge."
After hanging up, Ji Jue sat in the empty workshop and sighed silently.
Soon, a call from Ye Chun came through.
Just as he expected, every distributor they had struck deals with ran into problems.
Whether due to weather conditions, financial problems, a wife giving birth, or all sorts of bizarre pretexts, none of them could sell the Huanggua for the time being.
They offered to pay the breach-of-contract penalties as agreed, and if he wasn't happy, they would bow to him—truly sorry to have caused you so much trouble.
It wasn't just Yulou Trading that had come under attack. Every distribution channel, both inside and outside the city, had suffered accidents or received warnings, overt or veiled.
And under the cloud of chemical pollution, Haian Auto Works had ground to a complete halt.
Even with Tong Shan summoning wind and rain to strip away 99.9 percent of the toxins, leaving behind less than a tenth of a percent in residue, it was still a looming risk of cancer and severe illness for ordinary mortals.
Ever since the afternoon, news reports about the chemical spill hadn't stopped. Confronted with countless bloody case studies and sobering warnings from the past, many terrified workers were already considering handing in their resignations.
Less than two hours after the leak occurred, Dongcheng's Echo Tech-Industry, Beijing Group, Yucheng's Tiancheng Industry, and Midtown's Xinyuan Power—four enterprises participating in the Haizhou arms procurement bidding—jointly lodged a formal protest, challenging Haian's military industry qualifications and operational status.
Just as the dying Haian finally gathered enough strength to prop itself up on one arm, the behemoths that had once carved up all its market share struck again with ruthless precision.
Echo, Beijing, Tiancheng, and Xinyuan—the four defense enterprises allied under Huanyu represented far more than their company names suggested. Behind them lay intertwined family factions, the interests of their respective cities, and even ties reaching into the upper echelons of both political parties and the military command. It extended to countless people across Haizhou who had grown fat on Haian's carcass after its fall.
Just as when Ji Jue had turned things around with the Huanggua, riding a seamless momentum where heaven and earth seemed to conspire to aid him, making him feel all-powerful—a single reversal of fortune was enough to cast him into the abyss.
The earlier skirmishes and cold observation had merely been them waiting for their prey to fully emerge from the murky waters.
Once they moved, they pulled no punches.
Even Xu Chaoxian had been put into the hospital!
Ji Jue even suspected that the chemical leak had been nothing more than a diversion cooked up to draw attention away.
Facing such an intricate web of circumstances and a struggle fought on planes far above his head, Ji Jue finally felt the helplessness and weariness known only to a pawn crossing the river or the nail that stuck out.
No matter how bravely one charged forward, victory or defeat in the grand scheme had never had anything to do with oneself.
"We're truly insignificant, Isis."
Ji Jue leaned back in his chair, letting out a self-deprecating sigh.
"You have merely joined an excessively protracted game of rot,"
the workshop spirit replied coolly. "If you require comfort, I shall endeavor to offer it, though by my assessment, you do not seem to need such meaningless encouragement.
"If you have grown weary of all this, you are entirely free to withdraw."
"What if I refuse to mend my ways and insist on overreaching?" Ji Jue asked.
"As your tool and slave, do I have any other choice?" Isis answered without hesitation. "I shall serve you, sir, until I witness your miserable end."
"Then let's carry on."
Ji Jue chuckled, staring at the information on his screen. The complex structures behind the four military enterprises, the countless threads tangled beneath the surface, and the figures standing in the limelight before the curtain: Shang Tongwen, Lyu Tianhao, Li Yu'an, Gao Yue...
The screen went dark, reflecting an expressionless face against the black glass.
After suffocating for so many years, he had finally fought his way to a breath of fresh air. No one was going to make Ji Jue spit it back out!
He picked up the phone again.
"Hello, Senior Sister. Yeah, the equipment is fine for now. The residual contamination is pretty heavy, so don't come back yet.
"Production of the light tricycles has been shifted to the secondary plant, and construction on the new facility in Quancheng is already underway. We just need to focus on restoring production of the Huanggua.
"As for the workers, well, treat it as a paid company retreat. The budget can handle it anyway. Until the plant's issues are sorted out, book a few farm stays or resort spots so they can relax for a few days. I'll need your help with that.
"Regarding the new production schedule, I still need to discuss it with Engineer Yan—"
"That's why I'm calling you."
On the other end of the line, Ye Chun sighed. "At noon, Yan Jian took some people to pick up a batch of components that just arrived at the harbor. We haven't been able to reach him since.
"Just now, two of the workers who went with him were dumped in front of the hospital. They're in bad shape—both had their arms broken."
Ji Jue instinctively sat up straight.
"Where's Yan Jian?"
"He's still being held."
Ye Chun looked down, flipping through the information she had just gathered. "The shipping company delivering this batch is from the Thousand Islands. They're flying the banner of the Wild Gathering, and they didn't come with good intentions.
"Their leader is named Ling Zhou, a Federation national. He's the top enforcer for Gray Port, the hub in the northern Thousand Islands. He's holding a debt acquired from who knows where, claiming that paying back debts is only natural and right.
"If you want the goods and the man, you have to go explain yourself to him in person."
Ji Jue fell silent.
After a long while, he let out a soft sigh.
"They really took me for a soft target, didn't they..."
"They're probably aiming for Haian," Ye Chun said. "Should we call the Security Bureau?"
"No need."
Ji Jue gave a resolute shake of his head. "If an explanation is owed to the Wild Gathering, I'll have the Wild Gathering provide it."
"It's your call. But if anything goes wrong, don't forget to tell Auntie," Ye Chun said. "Whatever else may be said of Chaosheng, we're not someone the Wild Gathering can casually push around."
"There's no need to trouble Teacher over a trivial matter like this."
After hanging up, Ji Jue found Chen Xingzhou's number.
"Hello? Mr. Ji, please hold on for just a moment."
When the call connected, the voice on the other end remained gentle and composed, steady as ever.
"I'll be done here very shortly."
Chapter 334