LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 219 - The Meeting Gift
The cousins passively accepted the “apology” gifts, their faces showing hints of bewilderment.
Zhuang Huaiya, being young and naturally curious, couldn’t resist “checking” the contents of the spatial buckle after Wu Bo left.
He gasped sharply and exclaimed to Mai Dongzi, “This is so extravagant! They actually gave me the latest model of a flying car as compensation. That kind of car costs at least four or five million credits! Cousin, what about your gift?”
Hearing Zhuang Huaiya say his gift was worth four or five million credits, Mai Dongzi used her psychic abilities to “probe” into the spatial buckle to see what the Wu family had given her as compensation.
What she saw made her feel like gasping as well.
Inside the spatial buckle was a fully equipped interstellar warship.
Although it was a small starship capable of carrying only ten passengers and manufactured by the Wu family’s own factories—meaning its price wouldn’t be exorbitant—it was still worth at least forty to fifty million credits.
However, the most expensive item wasn’t the starship itself, but the spatial device containing it. A spatial device of this size would cost at least one to two hundred million credits.
“Wait, no, Sis, this spatial buckle is even more valuable. It’s worth over a hundred million credits. Do rich people always give such extravagant compensation gifts?” Zhuang Huaiya asked in astonishment.
After recovering from his initial shock over the flying car, he realized that the spatial device itself was likely much pricier. He quickly searched online to confirm, only to be stunned again.
Mai Dongzi didn’t know how to explain to him that this likely wasn’t a compensation gift but a meeting gift instead.
Even for a noble family, such a meeting gift was outrageously expensive. Unless the entirety of the Wu family’s assets belonged solely to Wu Youqi, it was impossible for him to casually give away something worth two hundred million credits.
“This gift is so valuable, Sis. Do you think there’s something wrong with it? Should we even accept it?” Zhuang Huaiya asked, clearly concerned.
Mai Dongzi was pleased that Zhuang Huaiya wasn’t being overly shallow—forgetting himself in excitement over such an unexpected windfall—but instead was thoughtful enough to question if there might be underlying issues.
Ever since recognizing Mai Dongzi as his leader, Zhuang Huaiya, who was determined to follow her path, also resolutely chose a future in the military.
In her past life, Mai Dongzi had been a soldier. Although she had fused with the original host’s memories and worked hard to emulate them, her demeanor in public only slightly hinted at a soldier’s style.
However, during private training sessions with the Phantom Squad, especially when training Zhuang Huaiya, her actions were firm and decisive, embodying the traits of a seasoned soldier.
Over the past six months, Zhuang Huaiya had been deeply influenced by Mai Dongzi. Compared to when he first started school, he had changed significantly. It wouldn’t be surprising if people mistook him for a military academy student when they saw him.
As the Wu family father and son interrogated the captured mercenaries about their intentions toward the military academy students, they quickly realized the situation was far from simple. They dug deeper, questioning why the Dark Gold Mercenary Group was targeting the students and what they planned to do.
However, at this crucial point, the interrogation hit a deadlock.
The mercenaries who were unaware of the deeper plot could provide no answers, no matter how much torture they endured.
Meanwhile, those who did know the truth remained silent, biting down hard and refusing to speak, their eyes filled with deep fear.
The Wu family father and son were ruthless, ordering a rotation of all possible torture methods on the two mercenaries suspected of knowing the secret.
Finally, after three grueling hours, a Level 5 mercenary could no longer endure the torment and attempted to reveal the truth.
Yet, just as he managed to utter the word “parasite,” his brain appeared to suffer a severe attack, and he immediately fell unconscious.
Witnessing this, the other mercenary became even more resolute, refusing to say a single word, even under the most extreme duress.
After the Wu family father and son discovered that the mercenary team was deliberately targeting military academy students, their expressions darkened considerably.
When they realized that the mercenaries with insider knowledge had been controlled by some unknown method—one that destroyed their brains as soon as they attempted to reveal forbidden information—their expressions shifted from mere displeasure to outright grimness.
Although they were unable to uncover the mercenaries’ ultimate objective, the information they gathered, coupled with the fate of the mercenaries who knew too much, led them to conclude that the Dark Gold Mercenary Group was orchestrating a vast conspiracy to entrap a group of military academy students.
By chance, the Wu family father and son had uncovered a fragment of this sinister plot.
“Father, it seems the Dark Gold Mercenary Group isn’t acting solely on our Wu family’s starship. Their agents are also active on flights operated by the other two spaceflight companies. What should we do next? Should we inform them of this?” Wu Yiding asked.
“We certainly cannot pretend we know nothing,” Wu Youqi replied gravely. “However, this matter appears to involve a significant conspiracy, and it wouldn’t be wise for us to take the lead.”
“What do you suggest, Father?” Wu Yiding asked, agreeing with his father’s assessment.
“Mai Dongzi is a Level 6 psychic ability user. It’s highly likely that she sensed something was amiss, which is why she intervened in time to save those two military academy students and reported the matter to Prince Arthur’s people. She didn’t know the mercenaries were from the Dark Gold Mercenary Group until we informed her.”
“So…”
“We will compile everything we learned during the interrogation and hand over both the information and the captured mercenaries to Prince Arthur’s people. Let them decide how to handle the situation, and we’ll cooperate as needed,” Wu Youqi said.
Hearing the Wu family father and son’s decision, Mai Dongzi felt a wave of relief. Their willingness to take this course of action meant that when the Third Army arrived to temporarily take control of the ship, the two would be better prepared to accept the situation.