Chapter 125 - 117: The Most Crucial Person of This Life

Chapter 125: Chapter 117: The Most Crucial Person of This Life

Sun Shan pulled Yu Dong into a corner.

"Dude, are you for real? Taobao customer service is making house calls to delete bad reviews now? All I did was comment that the Tifa mold from your shop didn’t have enough suction. Was it really necessary to call me and then show up at my door?"

Yu Dong: "???"

"I’m not from Taobao customer service. I’m a hacker. Not only do I know you bought three molds this year, I also know you use the ’Advanced Study’ folder in your browser’s bookmarks to commit your deeds every day, and that you target the Hu Tao one most frequently..."

Sun Shan’s legs went weak. ’He even knows which mold I use the most... Holy shit, this guy must have hacked my computer’s webcam!’

’And he wasn’t just watching for a day or two. Which means... he’s seen everything! All those times I was muttering to myself while vigorously going at it with the Tifa, Hu Tao, and Rem molds!’

"Bro, hacker, please, say no more... What do you really want? I’m just a regular single guy, why are you messing with me like this? You didn’t... record all of it, did you?"

"Don’t worry. I can post it online anytime."

Yu Dong bared his teeth in a grin, scaring the soul right out of Sun Shan.

THUD!

Sun Shan dropped to his knees right in front of Yu Dong.

"Hacker bro, why? I know my online manners aren’t great and I flame people a lot, but I don’t deserve this, do I? What is it you want?"

Yu Dong looked at Sun Shan’s state and nodded in satisfaction.

’Now *that’s* more like a key!’

’See? The moment he ’inserted the key,’ the once-disgusted Sun Shan was properly tuned up.’

The Sun Shan from his past life had been ruthless, especially to himself. He would do anything to survive.

"Good. I have something I need your help with. If you do a good, honest job, then I won’t post your ’heroic and valiant’ performance online..."

"What is it? It’s not anything illegal, is it?"

"Don’t worry, Master Sun. It’s just some simple carpentry work. Should be done in a week."

"Then... okay."

Teammate +1.

After getting Sun Shan’s contact information, Yu Dong let him go for now.

’Yu Dong definitely wanted Sun Shan on his team.’

’Not just for his carpentry skills, but because the man... knew the score and didn’t hold grudges.’

’When faced with Yang Yi’s petty tricks, he hadn’t hesitated at all to sell her out.’

’He might be a ’cowardly lizard,’ but he would never be an unstable element in the team.’

’As long as he had a stable and comfortable environment, he could put in eight hours of work every day.’

’A very simple person.’

’Yu Dong liked that.’

Just then, Yu Dong glanced toward Building One and saw Xufeng emerging with a worried-looking Zhou Jian Country.

He had originally planned to go find the two of them.

Suddenly, he spotted Qiao Ping hurrying out of the residential district with her daughter.

"Hurry up, Nuonuo. We’re late, and Uncle Zheng has been waiting for ages."

"But Mommy, I want Daddy to take me to kindergarten..."

"Another day. When Daddy isn’t busy."

"Okay..."

Outside the district, a black Hongqi was waiting quietly at the gate.

Although the little girl was pouting, she obediently got into the car.

After seeing them off, Qiao Ping held her pregnant belly and walked back home.

Her child had woken up late today, so she decided not to go to work. After all, no one would be hard on a pregnant woman.

Yu Dong, who had been about to go find Zhou, couldn’t help but smile when he saw Qiao Ping.

’So many familiar faces this early in the morning.’

’Since he’d run into her, he might as well ’activate’ Qiao Ping, too. Zhou could wait.’

’But Qiao Ping’s ’activation’ couldn’t be done out in the open. He’d have to do it privately, in her home.’

In this life, Yu Dong’s tracking skills were much improved... he wasn’t discovered until he reached Qiao Ping’s floor.

After getting out of the elevator, Qiao Ping noticed the young man had followed her out, and her heart skipped a beat.

She turned to get back into the elevator.

Yu Dong reached out an arm and blocked her.

"Sister Qiao, don’t be afraid. I’m not a bad person. Ms. Qiao Shuhua sent me to find you about a matter involving some money..."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Ping subconsciously glanced around. Then, looking into Yu Dong’s calm, kind eyes and recalling the secret only she and her mother knew, she instantly believed him.

"Come in with me..."

After leading Yu Dong into the apartment, Qiao Ping poured him a glass of water.

"What did my mother say? Did she tell you to take it?"

Yu Dong glanced at the door, saw that it was locked, and noted that Qiao Ping seemed relatively calm. He chose his words carefully and began to speak:

"Sister Qiao, what I’m about to say will sound incredibly unbelievable. Please don’t get agitated, just listen to me slowly. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, I’ll stop..."

Qiao Ping looked at the earnest Yu Dong in confusion, clutching a cup of hot water.

"What is it?"

"First, I’m sorry, I lied to you just now. It wasn’t your mother who sent me, but the future you... In six and a half days, a virus will break out across the country, infecting ninety percent of the population..."

"And then..."

"And finally..."

"So, just before we died, you told me a secret. You said that if I were reborn, I should come to you and reveal it. Then you would believe me."

"Behind the headboard of your bed, there is a bag of cash. Your mother, Qiao Shuhua, received it from the Shuangyang Group and gave it to you. Only the two of you know about this—not even your husband or your uncle."

At first, Qiao Ping thought Yu Dong was some lunatic who’d watched too many sci-fi movies. But when he revealed the secret buried in the deepest corner of her heart, she lost her composure.

"You... Impossible, that’s completely impossible! This is ridiculous! How could something like this happen? You must have found out our secret through some other means... Where’s my mother? Did you kidnap my mother?"

Qiao Ping was in complete disbelief.

"Sister Qiao, don’t get excited. I know this sounds completely unscientific, but... it’s the truth. You can call your mother. We can discuss the details slowly."

Convincing Qiao Ping obviously wouldn’t be this easy, but Yu Dong had to win her over completely.

After the apocalypse, Qiao Ping was just a pregnant woman who needed the team’s protection. Other than cooking for everyone, she had no other skills.

But *before* the apocalypse... Qiao Ping’s influence was greater than that of the rest of the team combined.

An ordinary person could pretty much only ever see Qiao Ping’s mother and uncle on television...

Stumbling into the Celestial Family’s affairs was no joke.

The Qiao Family held considerable weight in the military and political circles of Yanhai City. Convincing Qiao Ping in advance would be a huge advantage and give him more confidence in dealing with the Shuangyang Group.

Furthermore, by connecting with Qiao Yunliang early in this life, Yu Dong might even be able to help Qiao out before the apocalypse!

This could change the entire landscape of Yanhai City after the apocalypse.

Of course, there was another extremely important person... Qiao Ping’s husband, the director of the epidemic prevention station. If Yu Dong could gain his support, he might be able to get this information to high-level officials.

Qiao Ping was the single most important person he needed to persuade in this life. No one else came close.

He could trick the others into joining him right before the apocalypse, but Qiao Ping had to be won over today!

Qiao Ping immediately called Qiao Shuhua. Naturally, everything was normal, and her mother confirmed she hadn’t told anyone about the money.

But Qiao Ping still couldn’t believe Yu Dong’s absurd story.

"So? You want the money, right? Fine. The money’s yours. Take it and leave."

Clearly, even though Qiao Ping suspected something was seriously wrong with Yu Dong, she wasn’t about to get into a conflict with a strong young man.

"I’m definitely taking the money; we’re going to need a lot of it later... But Sister Qiao, you have to believe me. Think about it. Where else could I have possibly learned such a closely guarded secret, if not from you yourself?"

Yu Dong’s words left Qiao Ping speechless.

Her thirty years of life experience and logic screamed at her not to believe Yu Dong’s story about rebirth. Yet, the secret and everything else he described... it was too real. Every choice that version of her made was exactly what she would have done.

Including finding a college student to be a father for her child!

’If the world really ended up like that... she would do anything for her child.’

While Qiao Ping’s mind was in turmoil, Yu Dong had already pulled her bed away from the wall and retrieved a large leather suitcase from the gap behind it.

It was quite heavy.

He opened it to reveal stacks of bright red cash, neatly arranged.

"How much is this?"

"One million."

"Damn, that’s generous... One million in a single payment. What did they ask your mom to do?"

"Three years ago, they reclaimed land from the sea to build the Bihai Building District to the south... Compared to what he earned from that, this one million is chump change."

Since Yu Dong knew the money was from the Shuangyang Group, Qiao Ping didn’t hide anything from him.

’This Yin Shuangyang really knows how to make money... No wonder he’s the richest man in Yanhai City. If this is the kind of money he just gives away, how much could we squeeze out of him?’

Yu Dong was now very curious. If Officer Wang were to join them, just how much would be an appropriate amount to extort from Yin Shuangyang?

"You know Yin Shuangyang?"

"Not yet, but I will soon..."

"Whether what you said about rebirth is true or not... you’d better not provoke this man. Do you know why this money has been sitting in my house all this time?"

"Yeah, why is that? Logically, your mother should have either been a good citizen and turned it all in, or just accepted it and spent it. Why has it been sitting here with you for three years?"

"Because... my mother didn’t want to accept the money he gave her, but she didn’t dare refuse it. And she didn’t dare turn it in, either. All she could do was let it sit here. It’s been here for three years."

"Huh??? Wait, there’s someone your family doesn’t dare refuse? Yin Shuangyang is just a businessman at best, isn’t he? How could he stand up to you guys?"

Yu Dong felt Qiao Ping was exaggerating a bit.

"There’s always a bigger fish in the sea. Yin Shuangyang doesn’t just have powerful people up top backing him; he also keeps a large number of men on his payroll. He has plenty of ways to make his competitors suffer... ’little accidents’."

"And your uncle doesn’t just take him down?"

"You’re thinking too simplistically. This isn’t something that can be explained in a sentence or two. I know you don’t mean me any harm, so I’m advising you: take the one million and let that be the end of it. Don’t provoke Yin Shuangyang. In his eyes... you’re less than an ant."

"Is that so..."

If anyone else had said it, Yu Dong might not have cared. But coming from Qiao Ping, her words carried a lot of weight that he had to consider.

The information he could find online was only what Yin Shuangyang made public. Even the notebook only detailed his collusion with people in high places; it had nothing on his truly dirty secrets.