Gao Wu: I inherited the evil organization in the game

Chapter 655 We're All Good People

A barely perceptible hint of pity flickered in Hou Wendong's eyes as he glanced at Feng Mu.

But he didn't say it aloud; he simply subtly changed the subject:

"So... do you still harbor resentment towards your father?"

Feng Mu habitually raised his hand and pushed up the frame of his glasses on the bridge of his nose with his knuckles, making him appear even more refined and approachable.

He said sincerely:

"Resentment... I used to have it. But over time, it faded."

"For insignificant people like us, just struggling to survive is enough to exhaust all our strength. Where would we find the energy to harbor resentment towards anyone for long?"

He paused, his tone devoid of any emotion, carrying a detached calmness as if he had seen through the world.
"Moreover, I've gradually come to understand him. I understand that reality has worn down many things in him, and that he only sees 'value' as a measure of worth."

Although we're still not exactly close, when I think about it, he did give me something after all.

So, deep down, I have forgiven him.

Hou Wendong listened to Feng Mu's calm and almost detached remarks and naturally misunderstood—he thought that what Feng Mu called "what his father gave him" was nothing more than the opportunity to give him life and bring him into this world.

But he would never have imagined that what Feng Mu was really referring to was the pair of ordinary eyes that his father, Feng Ju, had "gifted" to him... now hidden behind his glasses.

Hou Wendong stared into Feng Mu's eyes. As the saying goes, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Through those spotless lenses, he gazed into a pair of eyes that were strikingly clear and black and white. And deeper still, he saw a soul that was dark on the outside but bright on the inside.

Hou Wendong remained silent for a long time, and the air seemed to freeze.

Finally, he let out a heavy sigh, his voice hoarse with an indescribable complexity:

“Feng Mu, you are actually a good person at heart.”

He paused, as if making a decision, and then advised,

"I know you probably won't listen to what I'm about to say, but I still have to advise you—be careful in everything you do from now on, and be wary of everyone."

The "playing house" game that Li Hanyu and her son Qian Huan are playing with the councilors is extremely dangerous.

This game is full of lies and deception; it's not for you. You might get completely swindled out of everything.

Hou Wendong didn't know if Feng Mu would listen to him, so he decided to repay "half a life-saving grace" one last time.

In this way, if the councilor were to assign him any tasks later, he would have already laid the groundwork, and Feng Mu wouldn't be able to blame him.

At least, Hou Wendong can live with himself.

Yes, as an official of the ruling government, Hou Wendong was indeed corrupt, but he still had a little conscience left, though not much, but there was indeed a tiny bit.

He stared at Feng Mu and continued:
"Loyalty is certainly a rare and precious quality, but sometimes it can become the strongest shackles, locking you onto a path from which there is no turning back."

If things truly come to a point where all hope seems lost and the building is on the verge of collapse, remember, the most important thing... is to find a way to survive first.

Feng Mu's eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses, forming two long, deep slits.

He gave Hou Wendong a deep look, as if trying to imprint his expression on his face.

He then responded with a sigh of complex meaning, his tone unusually solemn:
"Secretary Hou, thank you... You are actually a good person too."

Two "good people" greetings, one from you and one from me, and everyone will have a "good" future.

Hou Wendong didn't continue this heavy topic; he gently patted Feng Mu on the shoulder:

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Come on, take me to your house."

"See if Feng Ju is home? The councilor might need him to do something."

What else could Feng Mu say? He simply nodded obediently.
"Yes, Secretary Hou."

This was destined to be a futile and pointless journey, but unfortunately, Feng Mu couldn't advise Hou Wendong and could only accompany him for a while.

....
run.

Keep running.

My lungs felt like a broken bellows, each breath carrying the metallic taste of blood and a burning pain. My legs had long since lost all feeling, and I was only moving forward mechanically and frantically, relying on my remaining instincts and willpower.

The night was like solidified ink, tightly enveloping Xiao Jiuzi. He had long since lost his sense of direction, and had no idea how far or how long he had run.

I felt like I could finally run out of steam, that I had escaped, or that I was going to die.

I thought this night trip down the city would be a simple errand, and the road should have been smooth and easy. Who would have thought that this night road would be so dangerous, full of "ghosts" and eventually become a one-way trip with no return.

They came as two, but when they left... neither of them could return.

The two soul-burning incidents nearly consumed all of his vital energy and spirit.

At this moment, he was like a lamp that had completely run out of oil, its flame flickering weakly. He no longer had the time or strength to return to the upper city.

He looked up at the dark sky, where the huge metal rear end was already showing scattered glimmers of dawn light.

That wasn't sunrise; it was the morning star, an artificial celestial canopy that switched between day and night modes.

Looking in the direction of "home" above her head, Xiao Jiuzi's cracked and bleeding lips moved slightly, a mixture of immense sorrow and faint comfort welling up in her heart.

"Fortunately, we finally got our hands on the young master's parchment scroll, so we can say that we have accomplished our mission."

He stopped abruptly, gripping the cold, damp wall for support, breathing heavily, while cautiously peering into the darkness behind him.

As far as the eye could see, there were only distorted and swaying tree shadows and bits of trash blown by the wind.

Fortunately, I didn't see the ghost of the Mask, nor did I see any of the Night Watchmen.

This time, they should have really shaken them off.

But this brief period of safety brought no relief; the footsteps of death were already ringing in his ears, and he had to make the most of this last moment.

He staggered and turned into a narrow alleyway next to him, where the stench and dampness were almost suffocating.

Deep in the alley, at the foot of a wall, a homeless man wrapped in tattered felt was curled up asleep, snoring, his body emitting a strong, rancid stench of rotting food and bodily grime.

Xiao Jiuzi's intrusion startled the homeless man, who groggily opened his sleepy eyes and his cloudy gaze fell on the intruder.

The homeless man's sleepiness vanished instantly in the next moment.

What came into his view was a body as withered as a dried-up skeleton, its face covered with spiderweb-like cracks of blood, so deep that the bone was visible.

The once decent clothes were now soaked and hardened by dark red blood, clinging tightly to the body that seemed on the verge of falling apart.

"Ghost... ghost!"

The homeless man was terrified. He screamed and scrambled backward, his teeth chattering, pointing incoherently at Xiao Jiuzi.
"Blood, you're covered in blood..."

Xiao Jiuzi stared at him, letting out a hoarse, guttural laugh.

"You're right, our life force is almost gone, so... could you lend us a bit of your life?"

"No! Don't come any closer!"

The homeless man, driven by his survival instincts, screamed and turned to run away. The next second, Xiao Jiuzi caught up from behind, her withered hand gripping his neck like an iron clamp.

"Well--!"

The homeless man's scream was cut short after only half a sound, and his body began to convulse violently.

In the darkness, only a faint and eerie sucking sound could be heard, as if something was being forcibly drawn out of the body.

In no time, the homeless man seemed to have all his energy drained away, and his body slumped to the ground.

Xiao Jiuzi coughed violently, as if she wanted to vomit up everything that had been forcibly taken into her mouth.

He wiped his mouth violently with the back of his hand, his face showing extreme disgust and revulsion.

"Pah! You lowly creatures! Just as the young master said... the people of this lower city have no vitality whatsoever, only a rotten and gloomy aura!"

Xiao Jiuzi spat a few times. Absorbing this bit of life force could not stop him from reaching his end, but it could slightly reduce the excruciating pain of his soul being torn apart. The effect was equivalent to taking a whole pack of ibuprofen.

He hunched over, as if carrying a heavy burden, each step incredibly difficult, as he moved deeper into the alley until he found a rusty manhole cover.

"This is it," Xiao Jiuzi thought to herself.

He pulled open the manhole cover and jumped in without hesitation.

thump!
The filthy, icy water instantly rose above their knees, and the pungent stench was enough to make any healthy person vomit and faint on the spot, but Xiao Jiuzi only frowned very slightly.

All his senses had long been overwhelmed and numbed by the boundless, intense pain deep within his soul.

He waded through the sewage, walking slowly and deliberately towards the depths of the pipe.

He walked with difficulty for about several dozen meters before stopping.

The pipes here are relatively dry, and the cracks in one side of the wall are covered with slippery moss.

He stretched out his hand, which was almost skin and bones, with cracked and bleeding nails, and with the last bit of strength he had left, he stabbed it into the crack in the wall.

Thud—

The loose gravel and moss fell to the ground with a thud.

His vital energy had long been depleted and could not circulate at all. At this moment, he relied entirely on a terrifying will to use his finger bones to dig into the hard wall bit by bit.

Finally, a shallow pit, barely big enough to hold the parchment scroll, was carved out.

He carefully took out the parchment scroll, which was more important than his own life, from his bosom and stuffed it tightly into the deepest part of the pit.

He then carefully repacked the excavated rubble and moss residue back in, pressing it firmly with his palms, doing everything he could to erase any trace of human intervention.

He couldn't do anything more perfectly, but fortunately, no one usually comes to this stinking sewer.

This is what he learned from [Masked]—underground shafts are the best place to hide things.

After doing all this, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, then suddenly raised his hand and used two fingers to gouge out one of his eyeballs.

There were no screams, only the slight thud of muscles tearing.

He shoved his still-warm eyeballs deep into the cracks in the freshly filled rubble.

He has a locator installed in his eye.

Finally, he took a deep breath of the icy, putrid air, and plunged the fingers of his other hand into the wound in his abdomen, churning them through the bloody mess until he quickly pulled out a special communicator.

The communicator is about the size of a thumb and its surface is covered with a film.

His fingers trembled slightly from exhaustion and cold, but his movements were unusually steady as he slowly and firmly typed in a long string of incredibly complex encrypted numbers.

When the last character has been entered.

Click.

He pressed the confirm button.

The communicator screen glowed with a faint blue light, indicating that it was connecting.

After a while, the call seemed to be connected.

But on the other end... there was utter silence.

There were no human voices, no breathing, and not even the faint crackling of electrical current inherent in communication equipment; it was as if connected to an absolute vacuum.

However, Xiao Jiuzi knew that someone was listening over there, they must be listening.

He hurriedly held the communicator in his palm and raised it high above his head, as if performing some kind of final, devout ritual.

Immediately afterwards, his knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily into the cold, sticky sewage.

He bent down, pressing his burning forehead hard against the dirty stone, banging it down forcefully; the hoarse, broken sound echoed through the pipes.
"I have obtained the young master's things, but I am incompetent and afraid I cannot return them to the young master."

"We've hidden the things well. Please send someone to retrieve them for Xiao Jiuzi. Xiao Jiuzi thanks you."

He kowtowed as he reported, his voice broken and intermittent due to physical pain and emotional agitation:
"Also... the person that Young Master was worried about... walked ahead of Xiao Jiuzi."

Young Master, do not worry... Even if Xiao Jiuzi goes down below... she will definitely keep a close watch on him... and never let him... disturb your peace again..."

"..."

He explained the aftermath in fragments, but as clearly as possible, squeezing out the last bit of value in his life to dedicate to the silent presence on the other end of the phone.

Throughout the entire call, there was no response, no questions, no instructions; the person on the other end simply listened silently.

Xiao Jiuzi, however, didn't care at all, as if it were a matter of course.

Finally, with all his remaining strength, he slammed his forehead heavily against the cold ground once more, his voice choked with emotion, filled with endless longing and farewell:
"Please...please help me...tell the young master!!"

"Little Jiuzi... I wish Young Master... a thousand blessings and peace... Little Jiuzi... I'm going now..."

After saying that, Xiao Jiuzi prepared to crush the communicator.

Just then, a voice came from over.

The voice was clearly synthesized using a voice changer; it was neither male nor female, neither old nor young, lacked any intonation, and conveyed no emotion whatsoever.

"Who killed you?"

Just four words.

It was like a powerful stimulant, causing Xiao Jiuzi's body to shudder violently, and her face to flush with an extremely abnormal, almost desperate, redness.

He suddenly rammed his head into the ground, his entire body almost completely prostrate on the filthy ground, and exclaimed excitedly in a suddenly high-pitched voice:

"The ones who killed us were... the Night's Watch, but the ones who plotted against us and drove us to our deaths... were [Masked] and Zuo Bai!!"

Xiao Jiuzi was so excited that her breathing became smooth and her voice stopped stuttering.

The person on the other end of the phone didn't say anything more, only calmly stating:
"understood."

(End of this chapter)