Saving Unpermitted

Chapter 85: Step by Step

Yi Ning’s program could be described as a stone stirring up a thousand waves.

During the chaos of the Reunion Festival, the residents of the settlements had a relatively clear understanding, while the residents of Y City were mostly confused. All they knew was that the erosion storm had passed, and Y City had started a lockdown, with strange images spreading everywhere. Yi Ning was the first person to bring the crisis to light.

After the public learned that the enemy was synthetic humans, they became much calmer—synthetic humans were a distant concept for the majority of people. The player system had been around for two hundred years and had always been handled by experts, so there was no need to pay excessive attention to it.

However, as the public began to relax, some people became like ants on a hot pan.

“I don’t understand any of this. Yi Ning wants to completely turn against us,” Xia Yufeng said with a worried expression. He knew that Zhu Yanchen was alive, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it, feeling stifled and on the verge of exploding.

Zhu Sheng had a grim face as he fiddled with the head of his cane, remaining silent.

Yi Ning’s request was hard to refuse. At the moment, “Zhu Yanchen” had no urgent tasks to handle. If they declined again, his image would undoubtedly sink to an even lower level. Zhu Sheng had relied on locking down the city to rally the people, but by doing so, he had sacrificed some votes from the peripheral settlements. If Zhu Yanchen’s reputation worsened further, he would be beyond saving.

“We will provide you with dedicated headphones and have researchers feed you lines. The Tang Family’s research capital cannot compare to the command center, so they won’t ask too profound questions.”

However, they all knew that since Yi Ning dared to bring up this matter, he must have countermeasures in place. They could only deal with it as it comes—winning would lead to a turnaround in Zhu Yanchen’s reputation, while losing would undoubtedly make Zhu Yanchen the villain who plundered the hard work of a certain researcher.

In the worst-case scenario, Zhu Yanchen’s knowledge would be proven, and the “fact” of his death would be exposed. In comparison to Zhu Sheng, who had been using his son’s identity as a puppet, Yi Ning, who dared to expose the truth, would undoubtedly be more popular.

What a troublesome situation.

Xia Yufeng returned to his room with his mind still buzzing. But as soon as he opened the door, he bumped into Xia Liang, who was sipping fruit wine.

“…It’s you. There’s dinner on the table, prepared by the housekeeper. I’m here to please Zhu Yanchen.” Xia Liang raised her eyes and waved her hand as if chasing away a fly. “I remember that your tastes are similar to his, so go ahead and eat.”

“Got it.” Xia Yufeng glanced at the exquisite bowl and plate but felt little appetite.

“By the way, help me get a bottle of alcohol, chilled. There are leftover muffins in the fridge if you feel like having those.”

Xia Yufeng understood Xia Liang’s preferences, but he took it as sympathy between two people who had fallen on hard times. He obediently fetched two bottles of alcohol and took out a cold muffin, biting into it slowly. After a few bites, he also opened a bottle of alcohol and downed one-third of it in one gulp.

“Zhu Sheng wants me to go on that program.”

“Mm,” Xia Liang absentmindedly responded.

“You’re not even listening to me,” Xia Yufeng said, downing more than half a bottle of alcohol and exhaling heavily. “If I don’t do well and someone discovers a flaw…”

“If Zhu Yanchen isn’t getting involved, it means it’s unnecessary for him to do so. Just follow Zhu Sheng’s arrangements.” Xia Liang’s voice had a hint of drunkenness. “Anyway, both of us are just following orders. Why think so much?”

“At least you’re safe.” Xia Yufeng’s frustration grew. “All the dirty and tiring work is mine; all the embarrassment is mine. Just follow orders? It’s easy for you to say. Once something goes wrong, do you think Zhu Sheng won’t silence me?”

Xia Liang sneered. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you choose this path when you were ten? Before doing anything, you must ensure your own absolute safety; just look at you now.”

“If I were you, I would just confess on the program—take advantage of Yi Ning praising Zhu Yanchen, hic, and add more bricks to Marshal Zhu’s image as a martyr. Broadcast it to everyone and see if Zhu Sheng dares to touch you. Oh, I forgot, in that case, you would have to sever ties with Zhu Sheng.”

She smiled mischievously at Xia Yufeng for a moment and swirled the ice cubes in her glass. “Ha, you don’t dare. I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t dare, so why complain?”

Xia Yufeng finished the cold muffin slowly, without saying another word. Xia Liang, feeling bored and very drunk, curled up on the sofa and fell asleep.

“Is it wrong to be prudent?”

Xia Yufeng squeezed a piece of the muffin into crumbs, repeatedly kneading it between his fingertips.

“Is it wrong to want to do better? Why do I have to consider right and wrong?”

Xia Liang was asleep, and the room was dim. There was no one to answer him.

Drunk and drowsy, Xia Yufeng sat in Zhu Yanchen’s seat, wanting to throw those maddening documents to the ground but ultimately held back. He slumped weakly in the chair, looking at the only decoration on the table—

A decorative painting embedded in a frame with brilliant fireworks on it.

Unlike Xia Liang, Xia Yufeng spent the whole night awake.

When the program started, the atmosphere in the studio was unusually lively. Recently, Yi Ning and Zhu Yanchen had been absent from many shows, so their joint appearance was rare. With the new election ceremony about to begin, the program team put in a lot of effort, and the studio was prepared to perfection.

Yi Ning wore a neatly pressed uniform. Although he had applied makeup, the dark circles under his eyes were still visible, making him look much more exhausted. Xia Yufeng also played his part as “Zhu Yanchen” with a stern face and a frosty demeanor. The “Marshal Zhu” had bloodshot eyes, clearly having had a sleepless night.

“This kid really resembles you,” Tang Heyu and Zhu Yanchen were resting in the underground factory of the Old Fourth’s place. One old and one young, both covered in grease, with one of them holding a bag of nutritional supplements, and eyes fixed on the holographic screen in the air.

“Xia Yufeng followed me for a while,” Zhu Yanchen said seriously, holding the nutritional supplement in his hands.

They were sitting on various supply boxes, filled with semi-finished products of “Suppression” weapons. With the coordination of the Old Fourth, these supplies were mixed into the allocations for various settlements. Although it wasn’t possible for everyone to have one, it was feasible for a group of ten. Considering that there weren’t many synthetics with strong abilities, this ratio was sufficient in terms of efficiency.

To ensure that the products were in good condition, the old and the young supervised and tested them on-site, going without sleep for nearly three days.

“If you’re tired, you should rest first.”

“Why would I be tired? Don’t look down on your elders. When I was young, during the peak of my research, I only slept for eight hours every five days,” Tang Heyu said, sipping on the extra spicy nutritional supplement and drawing out his words. “But you—ever since you separated from that Shu Jun, have you even slept? Young people are energetic, I understand that, but be careful not to overdo it and harm yourself.”

Zhu Yanchen finished one bag and then took out a pack of fruit-flavored nutritional supplement, opening the packaging. “I’m used to staying up all night for research.”

“Hmph.”

“Don’t you like Shu Jun?”

“Like? Don’t even mention it! Brat, you’re the one who’s done research in that area. Don’t you know what he is? The last time, cough, that guy and I had a brief encounter, my legs turned to jelly. I’ve seen samples of his organization but seeing a living Erosion Swamp that’s evolved to that extent… Tss.”

On the holographic screen, the two Marshals, one real and one fake, exchanged pleasantries. Tang Heyu simply turned his head away and began scolding the younger generation.

“You better think it through. Cooperating with monsters is not a joke—even if Shu Jun appears to be a kind human, once he turns into an Erosion Swamp, he can’t be trusted. Not to mention he was originally a synthetic with animosity towards us… Moreover, the erosion substance has an effect on his brain. He can no longer think with normal human logic.”

Seeing Zhu Yanchen looking peaceful, almost falling asleep, Tang Heyu angrily slapped his thigh.

“I’m not against you cooperating with him, nor am I against you acting on stage. But don’t get too deeply involved. Even someone like me, who thinks the player system is inhumane, finds that thing too dangerous. If something really happens, you’ll be the first to go down! Once this old bone is finished, that’s it for me, so you better hold on.”

“I’ll handle him.” Zhu Yanchen took another sip of the nutritional supplement.

“Love, this damn thing ruins people.” Tang Heyu sighed, pained, and annoyed. “Why can’t you be like your father when you should be?”

“It’s not just that.”

Zhu Yanchen gave a vague answer and then quickly turned his gaze to the screen, unilaterally ending the conversation. Within the holographic screen, the atmosphere gradually grew tense, and the smell of gunpowder seemed to permeate beyond the screen.

Yi Ning first raised several relatively simple questions, asking Xia Yufeng to explain the role of the paper in preventing erosion. Xia Yufeng’s forehead was slightly sweaty, and his speech was slower than usual.

“This level of answer, it must be the researchers from the command center giving him prompts, right?” Tang Lao enthusiastically waved his hand. “Hehe, show me more materials, and I can even guess who’s giving him prompts. This level is almost enough to fool ordinary people.”

Zhu Yanchen made a sound of agreement.

“Too bad you can’t go by yourself. If you could, you would definitely argue circles around him, and your reputation would soar.” After watching for a while, Tang Heyu lost interest. “But if you do that, your old man will definitely recognize you, and it won’t be good for you to continue playing this game.”

With that, Tang Heyu shook his head with regret.

“My survival is tied to Shu Jun. It’s not easy to deceive Zhu Sheng. If we rush things, both the synthetics and the Old Fourth might be exposed. The next plan won’t be able to proceed.”

“I know. I was just saying, don’t take it seriously. We need an external breakthrough, an external breakthrough.”

They discussed for an hour or two, and the situation on the holographic screen entered a state of intense heat.

“Mr. Zhu, I’m curious. Since you have such a comprehensive understanding of erosion and the causes of the synthetic disasters, why did you turn to support the player system?” Yi Ning politely asked.

“In the face of the ongoing disaster, I reconciled with my father in order to help everyone overcome this difficult time. We will provide the new system with a more reasonable design and better protection to ensure that synthetic bodies can’t come into contact with erosion. The changes themselves may cause some pain, but I can guarantee that the new player system will bring greater convenience to everyone.”

“It sounds like you have a quite certain conclusion. I assume you have sufficient evidence. I have a question regarding the recent ‘X City Ruins Phenomenon’ circulating in the city. Did it come from your team?”

Xia Yufeng hesitated for a moment before reluctantly admitting, “Yes.”

“Based on the information we currently have; the leak of that footage was due to the unfortunate death of the device owner.” Yi Ning displayed the wreckage of the recording device on the holographic screen, with the emblem of the command center particularly prominent. “According to the level of erosion around X City, it was undoubtedly a suicide mission. Can you tell us the name of this hero?”

“Yi Ning is quite something. He’s quite skilled. A’Sheng must be having a headache.” Tang Heyu chuckled. “This is not a task that just anyone can handle. The researchers from the command center have records on file, and they are all watching this program now. It won’t end well if you lie.”

This time, Xia Yufeng hesitated even longer.

“That is our secretly developed anti-erosion machinery, which is extremely expensive. It cannot be used for general purification activities, so in order to make the most of it, we dispatched it to the ruins of X City. Everyone, the wreckage belongs to a probe sent to an unknown environment, and it currently has no name.”

“I see. However, we haven’t found any mechanical debris at the scene. Would it be possible to show the image data of this machine?”

“This belongs to the command center’s classified information and cannot be displayed.”

“I see, that’s understandable.” Yi Ning pressed on, step by step. “Then please introduce the designer of the probe. They have contributed a lot to uncovering the truth.”

The audience on-site became restless, as some people noticed something off about this conversation—Yi Ning seemed particularly persistent about the discoverer of that footage.

“After all, having machinery that can penetrate the erosion zone is beneficial for everyone. But when I think about it, Marshal Zhu, this seems contradictory to your paper—more than one of your papers has pointed out that machinery operation is inevitably affected under high erosion concentration. Regarding this groundbreaking invention, could you please explain it?”

Interesting.

Zhu Yanchen raised an eyebrow outside the holographic screen.

…Yi Ning has set a pretty good trap.