Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 75: The Little Fox Comes to Repay the Favor

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The Little Fox Comes to Repay the Favor

This was destined to be an extraordinary long night.

Every television channel was preempted by the same explosive news—Mr. Bai Kou, head of the Life Evaluation Department at Universe Company, had left us forever.

The vicious criminal organization Wangxu tampered with a flying vehicle, causing a tragedy beyond humanity’s tolerance.

Some channels began broadcasting the life of Bai Kou, a man who had been fascinated by life science projects since childhood and had accumulated over fifty patents in the field during his decades of service; the news channel Fu Ling paid a poignant tribute on behalf of Universe Company to Mr. Bai Kou and strongly condemned the terrorists who had orchestrated this disaster; all clues pointed to the Night Disaster and a reporter named Liu from a newspaper agency.

Following the incident, the bounties on both of them skyrocketed to over a billion Bei, making them unprecedented fugitives in the Star Zone, with any citizen who provided information to the company being promised a reward of no less than 100,000 Bei.

Under normal circumstances, Jiuyue would have been ecstatic to see the news on television, but at this moment, she was sitting at her desk, aimlessly staring at a blank sheet of paper.

More than two hours had passed since she got home, yet she hadn’t managed to squeeze out a single word of the self-criticism she intended to write.

Just minutes ago, Tang Qianqian and Yang Ping had each sent her a message to report they were safe. Under the influence of memory reconstruction, they didn’t remember the identity of Night Disaster; they only remembered arriving at the factory to find the bodies of guards everywhere.

The events of the day had also had a significant impact on them, and they needed to stay at home to recuperate for a while.

Jiuyue slapped her cheeks and sighed. Even if she stayed here for a few more hours, there would be no further progress. Letters and words were, after all, a means to escape reality. She made up her mind, stood up, and walked to Duan Mingyuan’s room.

She knocked gently at the door, but there was no response from the bedroom.

Jiuyue pushed the door open a crack, the room was dark with the curtains drawn and engulfed in pitch-black darkness.

"What is it?"

A familiar voice came from the bed.

"It’s me."

Jiuyue clenched her fists, having completely dismissed the idea of running away. She groped her way to the computer desk in the dark, moved the chair beside the bed, and Duan Mingyuan sat up and turned on the bedside lamp, straightening his body.

Summoning her courage, she said, "Mr. Mingyuan, I must admit I was wrong. I shouldn’t have kept it from you."

"That’s only human nature, and even without Night Disaster and Wangxu’s involvement, the company would have found me," Duan Mingyuan said calmly. "It’s just that if you had told me about this earlier, I could have made arrangements sooner and had a better chance of finding out about your parents’ whereabouts. Plus, there was no need for you to pretend to like me."

Yunlong City was Duan Mingyuan’s home, where everything he knew was familiar.

So when he learned that massive human trafficking was taking place there, he naturally could not stand idly by.

When leaving the factory, he made sure to destroy all the facilities. Although it wasn’t a long-term solution, for a considerable period into the future, the company’s human trafficking network in Yunlong City would be completely paralyzed.

Following Bai Kou’s death, the position of head of the Life Evaluation Department would be vacant, and the company’s internal strife over this would be fierce, temporarily diverting attention away from Yunlong City’s issues.

Despite Fu Ling attributing the plane disaster to Wangxu at the press conference, anyone clear-sighted could see that it was an inside job by the company, based on the available evidence. They were likely to spend a lot of time conducting internal investigations, looking for the missing Western Wind and the company insider who caused the flying vehicle disaster.

The thorough investigation was doomed from the start because it was founded on a false premise.

"Even if you hadn’t said that, I would have helped you."

Yet, for some reason, Duan Mingyuan felt a tinge of melancholy.

People may get named wrongly, but nicknames are not bestowed by mistake; being voted for four consecutive years as the least suitable person for romance in the department was not without reason.

Thinking back to how he had believed it to be true and even seriously considered future plans, he found himself so embarrassed he wanted to bury his head in the covers—it could make it into the top three most embarrassing moments of his life.

"It’s true,"

Jiuyue interjected hastily, "I’ve told many lies, but what I said that day was all true! I had intended to come clean to you after Bai Kou’s matter was settled."

It’s just that she and Wangxu had severely overestimated themselves, thinking that with their strength, they could easily abduct a corporate executive. If Mr. Mingyuan hadn’t been there, she might now be forced to agree to the other party’s demands as a price for her freedom, leaving this city to be sent off to an unknown place in the sky.

"And, I remember now!"

She had thought her fondness for Mr. Mingyuan was love at first sight, but it wasn’t until Mr. Mingyuan activated the barrier and reconstructed everyone’s memories that Jiuyue finally understood where that inexplicable fondness came from. "You’ve done this before! You activated a barrier, reconstructed everyone’s memories, and made them believe that it was a malfunctioning Hover Car that crashed into the company building!"

Duan Mingyuan neither confirmed nor denied it.

He had already realized that he was not compatible with the company. Even though they promised him a bright future, some things just couldn’t be done by turning a blind eye.

"That’s why I could never remember it!"

Jiuyue always felt that she had met Duan Mingyuan before, but whenever she tried to think carefully, her past memories became a fog, like a lost wanderer in the thick mist, unable to find a definite answer.

Although she still couldn’t remember anything now, she was sure that the vague figure in her memories was Mr. Mingyuan.

"You rescued me from the company’s clutches, and you even treated me to fried chicken legs."

From that moment on, chicken became her favorite food; she could always feel warmth from it.

When Jiuyue mentioned the fried chicken legs, Duan Mingyuan also recalled the situation that night.

One afternoon, he walked into the hamburger shop near the school as usual when a Hover Car with uninvited guests suddenly stopped at the door of the shop.

Even in his adolescent years, the company’s human trafficking business had already started to take shape. Back then, the company valued his ability and recruited him to join the security department, responsible for ensuring the safe transport of the "goods."

He had thought the goods were gold, silver, jewels, or rare resources, but when they took over the shipment, he realized the boxes contained monsters and even comatose humans.

When he raised objections, the head of security simply advised him that some things could be overlooked just as Bai Kou’s promises were identical.

Twenty to thirty years later, he would be able to enjoy the company’s benefits, leave this planet to live "up in heaven," and by then, the sins and guilt of this place would have nothing to do with him any longer.

The hot-blooded young Duan Mingyuan decided to follow the voice of his heart.

Human traffickers deserve death.

He vaguely remembered that among the goods, there was a little fox, who didn’t run away with the other monsters but instead cautiously approached him.

Looking up, it gazed at him with those watery eyes.

He thought at that time that the little fox must have been starving, and coincidentally, there was an uneaten fried chicken leg in his backpack.

"Those people said they knew where my parents were and tricked me into being sold to the company," Jiuyue said.

At that time, she hadn’t yet mastered the arts of a disaster fox, and could only be locked up along with the other "goods."

At her most helpless and confused moment, a real hero appeared.

"Mr. Mingyuan, you asked me the reason that day."

Jiuyue looked at the person before her earnestly, "The little fox has come to repay the debt of gratitude."

Repaying a debt of gratitude, huh.

Duan Mingyuan suddenly relaxed, leaning against the pillow, staring at the ceiling.

It was a relief that the puzzle in his heart had finally been solved.

The unfinished business of his youth had now finally come to a close.

Senior executives of the company were dead, and Yunlong City’s largest human trafficking ring was heading towards downfall.

At least for today, the people and monsters of this city could have a good night’s sleep.