190: Chapter 189 Master's Wine, Late-Night Fusion, Three Girls Terrified (2)
When he got home and opened the door, the living room lights were on.
Xiao Guang was sitting on the coffee table, clutching that new tablet. The screen's light flickered against its golden face.
Holding the sides of the tablet with its tiny hands, its eyes were wide and its mouth slightly agape. On the screen, a beautiful woman in ancient costume was dancing gracefully—a Chinese-style dance influencer, her flowing sleeves creating screen-filling special effects with every flick.
Xiao Guang's eyes followed the sleeves from left to right, then right to left, as if it were glued to the coffee table.
Xiao Jin was sprawled on the sofa, its six golden legs clutching half a purple Spirit Stone, munching away happily with a crunch.
Spirit Stone fragments fell onto the sofa cushions. It glanced up at Lin Feng, its compound eyes showing no emotion, before lowering its head to continue eating.
For this dung beetle, the allure of a Spirit Stone far outweighed anything else—in the Secret Realm, it had seen the Taotie blown apart by Lin Feng's Rainbow Explosive Candy, and it had witnessed the fight with Zhou Tiannan firsthand. Its worldview had been forcibly expanded countless times by these grand spectacles.
Even if the sky were to fall now, it only wanted to finish the Spirit Stone in its mouth first.
Lin Feng sat cross-legged in the open space of the living room, opened his wanxiang ring, and began taking things out.
He poured everything out onto the floor: the low-to-mid-grade Materials he'd hoarded in the Secret Realm, equipment fragments scavenged from Explorers of various nations, and several pieces of standard-issue equipment from the Zhou Family warehouse that hadn't been processed yet.
Multicolored and varying in size, they piled up into a small mountain of Materials.
He picked up a purple longsword brought back from the Secret Realm and a red-quality Taotie bone spur, then activated his Talent.
A faint golden light surged from his palm, enveloping the two Materials.
The bone spur melted in the golden light, turning into a crimson liquid that seeped into the sword's blade.
The blade began to tremble, emitting a low hum as bone spur patterns emerged on its surface.
A few minutes later, the golden light dissipated, and a brand-new longsword landed in Lin Feng's hand.
The blade was dark red and sharp, with a ring of bone-like patterns at the hilt. The entire sword emitted a faint scent of blood.
Next, he processed the Taotie scales.
He stacked dozens of scales together, added the remaining void bone armor fragments, and activated his Talent.
The scales and void bone armor fragments collided, fused, and reshaped within the golden light, finally transforming into a half-person-high shield. The shield's surface was dark, with faint Taotie scale patterns, and it produced a dull thud when tapped.
Then came the accessories—a necklace made by fusing Taotie teeth with void fragments, a bracelet made from Sandman bone spurs and frost crystals, and a belt made from snakeskin and shadow fabric.
Piece after piece appeared—blue, purple, and occasionally a red one.
Lin Feng sorted the equipment into categories and stood up to stretch.
His spiritual energy was mostly depleted, and his Meridians felt a faint, protesting ache.
The living room floor was covered with various types of equipment—scale-mail daggers, bone-spur staves, and tooth-darts—all gleaming coldly under the moonlight.
Xiao Guang was lying on the coffee table watching a second video on the tablet—the screen still showed the same white-clad fairy as before, just with a different song, her water sleeves swaying even longer and softer than before.
Xiao Jin jumped onto the back of the sofa, waved a front leg at Lin Feng while holding a golden Spirit Stone in its mouth, then flipped onto its back to continue crushing the stone bit by bit with its small teeth.
Lin Feng ignored them.
After tidying up the last few pieces of equipment and putting them into his wanxiang ring, he turned off the lights and went to his room to sleep.
The next morning, Lin Feng was woken up by his phone alarm.
He opened his eyes, stared at the crack in the ceiling for a few seconds, and rolled out of bed.
After washing up and changing, he sorted the equipment fused last night and the low-to-mid-grade goods from the Secret Realm into his wanxiang ring. He also checked the snack stock in Xiao Guang's Storage Ring—five cans of cola and seven or eight bags of chips left, enough to last it a while.
At exactly seven o'clock, he appeared punctually at the entrance of the Fusion Workshop.
A black business van was already parked at the shop entrance, sent by the Ministry of State Security. The windows were covered with dark privacy film, and the license plate was a military one with red characters on a white background.
Pan Jingjing, Li Xiaoyu, and Li Xiaoyu had already arrived, all wearing the navy blue combat suits Lin Feng had bought for them yesterday. Each stood straighter than the last, their faces wearing identical expressions of solemnity and nervousness.
Li Xiaoyu's fingers turned slightly white as she gripped her backpack straps.
Li Xiaoyu kept tiptoeing to look down the street. She breathed a sigh of relief the moment she saw Lin Feng, muttering, "The boss is here, the boss is here."
Pan Jingjing stood at the front, clutching a folder. Her expression was relatively calm, but she had pinched a slight crease into the edge of the folder.
"Boss!"
Li Xiaoyu's eyes lit up when she saw him.
"We're ready! We've had breakfast! All our equipment is with us! And we're in our combat suits! I tested the soles of these boots several times last night; the grip is really good, so we won't be afraid even if it rains today!"
Li Xiaoyu poked her head out from behind her and asked in a low voice, "Boss, where exactly are we going? Are we entering a Dungeon or hunting monsters? I dreamed all night about the four of us being chased by a pack of monsters in a Dungeon. You were in front killing them, and we were in the back picking up Materials..."
Before she could finish, Li Xiaoyu poked her in the waist, and she quickly shut up.
"You'll know when we get there."
Lin Feng pulled open the side door of the van and let the three of them get in first.
He sat in the passenger seat and said "To West Mountain" to the driver.
The driver was a young man in plain clothes. He nodded and started the car without saying a word the entire time.
The van drove out of the city and onto the highway leading to West Mountain.
Lin Feng had just traveled this road yesterday, though then he was in the back of a taxi with two little ones to collect a debt. Today, he was in a business van, bringing three girls to sign documents.
The scenery outside the window changed from bustling commercial streets to quiet suburbs, then to the plane tree-lined avenue at the foot of the mountain.
Passing the section of the road where the battle had occurred yesterday, one could still see the charred stumps of plane trees by the roadside. Although the road surface had been repaired, the asphalt colors were uneven, looking like a series of dark patches.
The car stopped in front of the manor gates at the mountain top.
The gates of the Zhou Family Manor had been replaced with a new iron fence. A temporary sign hung on it, reading: "Asset Liquidation Site, No Unauthorized Entry."
Two staff members in black uniforms stood at the gate. After verifying Lin Feng's ID, they respectfully stepped aside.
"Mr. Lin, please come in. The comrades from the Ministry of State Security are already waiting for you in the main building."
Lin Feng led the three girls inside.
They walked past the asphalt road he'd cratered yesterday, the open ground that had been covered by Xiao Guang's Formation, and the rockery that had been half-melted by Zhou Tiannan's flames—the rockery hadn't been repaired yet, with rubble still piled there, and the gazebo was reduced to a few charred, tilting pillars.
As the three girls followed him, their eyes grew wider and their mouths rounder, their expressions shifting like a fast-forwarded videotape.
"This... this is the Zhou Family?"
Li Xiaoyu's voice was trembling.
Looking out, the entire architectural complex spanned at least a hundred acres. The main building alone was several times larger than the apartment building they lived in.
Although there were several freshly repaired cracks in the main building's exterior walls and piles of uncleared rubble in the corners of the yard, the original grandeur of the place was still evident.
"It's the Zhou Family," Lin Feng said.
Li Xiaoyu grabbed Li Xiaoyu's arm, and the two of them followed closely behind Pan Jingjing, not daring to take an extra step.
The tension hadn't stopped since the car entered the West Mountain gates—first, soldiers at the checkpoints saluted the car, then the roadside security guards proactively made way, and now even the gardeners working in the flowerbeds bowed their heads and stepped aside.
They were usually quite nimble when attending to customers in the shop, but standing in a place like this, their legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with cold water.
"Did the boss buy the Zhou Family?... Was that a Boss in a Dungeon?"
Li Xiaoyu whispered.
No one could answer her.
No one could answer her.
At the main building's entrance, a middle-aged man in a dark gray Zhongshan suit was already waiting there.
He was in his early fifties, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and meticulously combed hair, wearing a circular badge on his chest—it was the Adjudication Division Medical Team Leader who had stepped in to save Lin Feng yesterday.
He saw Lin Feng and nodded slightly, his gaze scanning Lin Feng's body as if to confirm how his injuries were healing.
"Comrade Lin Feng, the documents are ready. Please follow me."
He led the four of them into the main building.
In the drawing room, a long table was set with a dark green tablecloth, upon which over a dozen documents were neatly stacked.
Each document's cover was stamped with a bright red seal, and several pens lay beside them.
A short-haired woman sat on the sofa; she was the Space-type expert from the Adjudication Division from yesterday.
She was looking through a folder, but looked up when she heard footsteps. She pushed up her reading glasses and nodded to Lin Feng.
Beside her was a Bald hunk who had changed into a clean Zhongshan suit today. The old scar on his neck was mostly hidden by his collar as he leaned back against the sofa with his eyes closed, resting.
"Sit."
The square-faced middle-aged man pointed to the chairs across the long table.
"There are quite a few documents; we'll sign them one by one."
Lin Feng sat down and picked up the first document.
It was the real estate transfer agreement for the Zhou Family Manor, detailing the land area, building area, auxiliary facilities, and the ownership status after the transfer.
He gave it a cursory glance and signed his name on the last page.
Then came the second—the equity transfer agreement for three equipment processing factories under the Zhou Family.
The third—the property transfer deeds for five shops in Donghai City owned by the Zhou Family.
The fourth—the confirmation slip for the transfer of the Zhou Family's bank account balances.
He signed them one after another, his movements swift and almost without pause.
After each one was signed, the short-haired woman beside him would take it, verify it, and check it off in her folder.
Pan Jingjing stood nearby, watching Lin Feng sign name after name. Her eyes nearly popped out from behind her lenses. All her usual calm and composure was gone; she looked like a puppet with its supports removed.
Coming from a luxury sales background, she had seen her share of wealthy people's displays, but those displays were like child's play compared to this—what wealthy person could sit in the Zhou Family drawing room and sign a stack of equity transfers worth millions as if they were signing for a delivery?
Li Xiaoyu gripped Li Xiaoyu's arm, her fingers pinching until they were white.
"The Zhou Family... the Zhou Family is gone? The boss bought the Zhou Family? Not equipment, not a shop, but the entire Zhou Family? That Zhou Family that walked tall in Donghai City just became the boss's?"
Her voice was squeezed in her throat, high and thin like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on.
Li Xiaoyu winced from the pinching, but she was trembling too much to have the strength to pull away.
"It's not that he bought the Zhou Family, but that he took over all their assets—factories, shops, the manor, and even the money in the bank?"
"My god..."
Lin Feng signed the last document and put down the pen.
The short-haired woman verified all the documents once more, nodded, and closed the folder.
"All documents have been signed. The property transfer will be completed within three working days. Comrade Lin Feng, you are the sole legal owner of these assets, and the right of disposal belongs entirely to you. If you need any assistance, contact the Ministry of State Security's Asset Liquidation Office at any time."
She took a business card from her briefcase and placed it on the table.
The card was simple—black text on a white background, with only a name and a string of numbers.
The three girls stood by the long table, looking at the stack of signed documents, then at Lin Feng, then at the documents, then back at Lin Feng. Their expressions shifted from shock to daze, and from daze to utter bewilderment.
They had just come to work; how did they end up as the recipients of a manor, three factories, and five shops?
Lin Feng leaned back and looked at their bewildered faces, suddenly feeling a bit like laughing.
He pushed the documents toward them and said to Pan Jingjing, "Jingjing, you're the store manager. You'll be in charge of these fixed assets from now on. You understand accounts, so I don't need to teach you."
Pan Jingjing's mouth hung open, her beautiful eyes wide behind her glasses.
She looked down at the stack of documents, then up at Lin Feng, her voice dry as if she'd swallowed sandpaper.
"Boss... these are the Zhou Family's assets. I'm not afraid of managing accounts, but I'm afraid I'll run these factories into the ground."
Lin Feng picked up a pen and twirled it twice between his fingers before placing it beside the documents and looking up at her.
His gaze was calm—not the expectant "I'm sure you can do it" look, but more of a "it doesn't matter if you can't" kind of frankness.
"The Zhou Family's assets were hollow from start to finish. The equipment in the factories is old, and I've looked through the shops' ledgers—they're full of holes. Use them for practice; it doesn't matter if you mess up. What you'll be managing for me in the future will be far more than this."
Pan Jingjing was silent for a few seconds, then she nodded gently without saying anything more.
She opened the first document, pushed up her glasses, and placed her finger on the first line of the terms, beginning to read sentence by sentence as if she had instantly switched into work mode.
Seeing Pan Jingjing start to look through the documents, Li Xiaoyu and Li Xiaoyu also broke free from their tension and huddled around the documents to read the terms.
Although they didn't quite understand the legal jargon, they could tell from Pan's expression that the boss was serious—and not just serious, he truly didn't care about these assets.
"Boss, aren't you afraid we'll ruin the Zhou Family's businesses?" Li Xiaoyu finally couldn't help but ask.
Lin Feng stood up and pushed his chair back.
"If you ruin them, consider it practice. If you do well, I'll have someone to manage my assets while I go to more important places."
He turned and walked toward the door.
"Let's go. We're done here."
Clutching the stack of documents, the three women followed him out of the Zhou Family gates.
As they walked down the steps, Lin Feng suddenly paused and looked back at the main building.
All the windows of this villa had been shattered in yesterday's battle. Although the cracks in the walls had just been repaired and still smelled of fresh paint, the rubble and glazed tile fragments had been cleared away. Several workers were reinstalling glass in the French windows.
However, the old locust trees in the yard still bore scorch marks. Their tips had been curled black by the flames, reaching crookedly toward the sky like half-burned incense sticks.
A stone pillar at the entrance had been cracked by yesterday's shockwave and hadn't been repaired yet. The crack ran from the base to the capital like a dry scar.
Three months ago, when he first stood here, he had been beaten nearly to death.
Three months later, the owner of this villa was no longer here.
And his name was signed on the document that stripped away the Zhou Family's entire Foundation.
He didn't dwell on it further and turned toward the business van parked at the gate.
Clutching the documents, the three women followed him and climbed into the car one by one.
As the car door closed, Pan Jingjing watched through the window as the manor grew smaller in the morning light until it was hidden by the branches of the plane trees and could no longer be seen.
She looked down at the documents in her arms and gently stroked the bright red seal on the cover with her thumb.
She finally understood that when the boss said "seeing the world," he didn't mean entering Dungeons or fighting monsters. He meant letting them witness with their own eyes as the Zhou Family—a colossus that had stood in Donghai City for who knows how many years—collapsed at their feet, and then telling them: "Go practice; it doesn't matter if you mess up."
She hadn't met many people who could do this.
And a boss like this was someone worth following forever.
And a boss like this was someone worth following forever.