302: Chapter 296 Changes in the Earth

The surrounding law enforcement officers gripped their energy guns tighter, as if they would fire at any second.

There wasn't the slightest change in Song Yang's expression.

"Officer, you can eat whatever you want, but you shouldn't say whatever you want."

He calmly met the captain's piercing gaze.

"I'm just an ordinary person who happened to be passing by. With such a large display of force, are you trying to coerce a confession?"

"An ordinary person?"

The captain let out a sneer, his voice filled with suspicion.

"Would an ordinary person be able to stand in this bloody slaughterhouse without batting an eye?"

He scanned Song Yang from head to toe, as if trying to see right through the young man.

"This planet is not a lawless land."

"I suspect you are involved in this massacre. Now, I need to inspect your storage equipment."

The captain's voice deepened, carrying a commanding tone.

This was an ultimatum.

If Song Yang refused, they had enough reason to kill him on the spot.

"Fine."

To everyone's surprise, Song Yang agreed quite readily, even proactively holding out his left hand, which wore a storage ring.

"Help yourself."

His fearless attitude actually caused the captain to hesitate for a moment.

Could it really have nothing to do with this kid?

A trace of doubt flashed through his mind, but his movements didn't stop.

As a Stellar Rank powerhouse, he had also cultivated mental power.

Although he wasn't proficient, it was more than enough to investigate a storage ring.

Song Yang's brow twitched slightly as he felt an invisible, probing force—like fine needles—trying to pierce into his spatial ring.

He didn't resist, allowing that mental power to intrude overbearingly.

Part of his belongings were kept in this ring.

But his most important secrets—the world ring containing the Star Beast and the Blood Vine Tree—stayed safely within the system space.

The system space was an existence independent of this world; let alone a minor law enforcement captain, even the top powerhouses in the universe couldn't possibly discover its trace.

This was the source of Song Yang's confidence.

The captain's mental power swept through the storage ring over and over again.

A spaceship—seen.

Some miscellaneous items—seen.

And the star coins he had just acquired, which hadn't even warmed up yet—also seen.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

No monster fur, no bloodstains, and nothing related to that mysterious beast.

How could this be?

The captain's brow furrowed deeply.

He didn't believe this young man was innocent.

A guy with unremarkable energy fluctuations carrying hundreds of millions in cash and a spaceship was inherently suspicious.

Yet, he couldn't find any direct evidence.

As his mental power slowly withdrew, the expression on the captain's face turned somewhat unsightly.

He waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to lower their guns.

The atmosphere eased considerably.

"It seems I've misunderstood."

The captain spoke stiffly, without a hint of apology in his voice.

"You can go."

"However, I don't want to hear about anything you saw here today through any channel, understand?"

The last sentence was full of warning.

"Understood."

Song Yang lowered his hand, massaged his slightly aching wrist, and a harmless smile appeared on his face.

"My lips are sealed."

After saying that, he didn't linger and turned to walk toward where his spaceship was parked.

It wasn't until Song Yang's figure had completely disappeared over the distant horizon that one of the team members couldn't help but approach the captain.

"Captain, you're just letting him go like that?"

"What else?"

The captain glanced at him, his tone unfriendly.

"Without evidence, what do you want me to do? Bring him back and torture him for a confession?"

"We are the Enforcement Team, not Star Pirates."

The team member was left speechless by the retort and shrunk back, not daring to speak further.

The captain looked back at the messy battlefield, his expression becoming increasingly grave.

"Seal off this area immediately and collect all samples. I want to know exactly what kind of thing went on a killing spree here."

"Also, pull up the information on that young man named Song Yang. I want the most detailed profile on him."

"Yes, sir!"

...

Earth.

Dajing City.

The once-familiar concrete jungle now radiated a completely different kind of vitality.

On the wide streets, the long lines of congested vehicles were no longer to be seen.

Replacing them were hover-bikes and enclosed flying pods floating half a meter off the ground, weaving through planned invisible flight paths in an orderly, quiet, and efficient manner.

On the ground, round cleaning robots moved slowly, swallowing any tiny bit of trash into their bellies.

On the outer walls of the skyscrapers, massive holographic billboards played the latest city construction promotional videos, the images brilliant and full of sci-fi flair.

All of this had been nothing more than movie fantasies just a few months ago.

In the top-floor conference room of the city center's highest administrative building, a meeting was being held.

At the head of the long conference table sat the grey-haired but energetic Li Zhenguo.

He looked at the scene outside the window; even though he had seen it countless times, a hint of daze still flickered deep in his eyes.

"When the sun first went out and the whole world was plunged into ice and darkness, I thought the sparks of human civilization would be completely extinguished in my generation's hands," Li Zhenguo said, pulling back his gaze with a sigh of emotion.

"Who could have imagined that in less than half a year, we would not only welcome back the light but also leap forward at least five hundred years in development."

His gaze swept across the several people present.

Zhang Yu, Xiao Xue, Liu Dahai, and Mayor.

These individuals were now indispensable members of the new Dajing City management.

All of this stemmed from their inseparable connection to the man who had created these miracles.

"That's right, General Li."

Liu Dahai rubbed his crew-cut hair and grinned. "My daughter has gone back to school now. Even now, it still feels like a dream."

Mayor also sighed with emotion:

"Tell me about it. I was the director of a Shelter back then, but now I've become the Vice Mayor."

Their words were full of disbelief at the current situation and reminiscence of the past.

Zhang Yu, sitting next to Mayor, wore a crisp black uniform today, making her tall figure look even more upright.

On the virtual light screen in front of her, the city's public security data map was displayed.

"The advancement of technology has indeed solved problems we wouldn't have dared to imagine in the past."

"The new Skynet system covers ninety-nine percent of the city, and the crime rate has dropped by ninety-eight percent compared to before the apocalypse."

"I graduated from the Police Academy just as the apocalypse hit. I thought the world was over, but I never expected that one day I'd be able to be a police officer again."

Her ideals were being realized at an unimaginable speed.

And the source of all this pointed to that one name.

Song Yang.

The only one in the conference room who hadn't spoken from beginning to end was Xiao Xue.

She sat quietly in a corner, wearing a well-tailored cream-colored long dress, her long hair draped softly over her shoulders, her face adorned with delicate, light makeup.

She looked somewhat out of place in this conference room, not like a manager.

From the girl in the apocalypse who huddled in a room and could discard all dignity for a bite to eat, to now sitting calmly in the highest-level conference room.

Her transformation was even more immense than the city's.

She just listened quietly; whenever she heard the name "Song Yang," her eyelashes would flutter uncontrollably, and a look of almost pious adoration would appear in her eyes.

She could never forget how, in that dark and desperate home when the food ran out and she thought she was going to starve to death, the man she had once mocked descended like a deity.

It was he who had given her a new life.

Everything she had now—the house, the food, the stable life, and even the respectful looks from others—was all bestowed by him.

Li Zhenguo took in everyone's expressions, picked up his teacup, took a sip of hot tea, and spoke slowly.

"The 'Blue Whale Universal Civilization Development Company' that Song Yang hired has indeed been dedicated. Their engineering teams and technicians took only one month to complete the first phase of Dajing City's transformation."

"According to the contract, they will proceed to upgrade other major cities worldwide and will gradually open up production lines for some civilian technologies to help us establish our own industrial system."

"All of this is happening too fast."

Li Zhenguo put down his teacup, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. "It makes one feel a bit uneasy."

Upon hearing this, the smiles on the faces of Liu Dahai and Mayor faded slightly.

They knew Song Yang's terror best.

But precisely because they knew, they could better appreciate the deeper meaning in Li Zhenguo's words.

A person who could casually hire an interstellar company to remodel his home planet—his strength and his level had already far exceeded the comprehension of Earth's civilization.

"Is the General worried..."

Zhang Yu's brows furrowed slightly. "...that we know too little about the universe?"

"Exactly."

Li Zhenguo admitted frankly, "We are like a group of natives in a primitive tribe. Suddenly one day, a god walks out of the tribe and brings back unheard-of tools and technology, causing the tribe to soar to the heavens in a single bound."

"We enjoy all of this, but we know nothing of the god's world.

We don't know who his friends are, and even less who his enemies are."

The old general's words made everyone present feel an invisible pressure.

It was true; Song Yang had saved Earth and changed the world.

But what if one day, Song Yang provoked an unmatched enemy out there?

Would those enemies follow the vine and find this melon that is Earth?

At that time, would this current scene of prosperity turn into cosmic dust in an instant?

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became heavy.

Xiao Xue's hands on her knees unconsciously gripped the corners of her skirt.

She didn't understand the universe or enemies; she only knew that if something happened to Song Yang, everything she now possessed would vanish like smoke.

She was afraid of returning to that dark, cold, and hungry world.

"Cough, Chief, don't overthink it."

Liu Dahai cleared his throat, trying to ease the atmosphere. "Boss Song never loses out. To be able to do so well in the universe, he must have his own methods."

"Right."

Mayor also chimed in, "We just need to manage Earth well and develop it properly, so we don't hold him back."

Li Zhenguo nodded, a smile appearing on his face.

"You're right. I was just worrying unnecessarily."

He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the futuristic city beneath his feet.

"No matter what the future holds, we must seize the current opportunity so that human civilization can truly have a place to stand among the stars."

"Alright, that's all for today's meeting. Regarding the list for the second batch of city transformations, come up with a plan as soon as possible."

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.