Chapter 183: Irreconcilable with Xue Yang

He Xu and his men were nothing more than a pawn Li Ye had casually placed on the board, an extra piece to supplement the conspiracy surrounding Chu Wei and the base.

If they proved useful, great. If not, it didn’t matter.

The storm he was about to unleash was far beyond what He Xu and his men were qualified to handle.

「That day.」

Li Ye used the identification of He Xu’s younger cousin, He Fei, to enter the Ruins.

The identification papers provided by the Shadow Guild and Chu Wei both carried risks that could expose his whereabouts. By comparison, He Fei’s identification was much safer.

The exposure would be slower. By the time they traced the ID back to him, Li Ye’s scheme would likely already be complete.

「…」

After entering the Ruins, Li Ye made for Anyue City as quickly as possible.

This was the headquarters of the Nanye Group.

It was two days later when Li Ye arrived in Anyue City.

Li Ye first slipped into an unoccupied home, used the computer to check for recent news online, and only then did he head for the Nanye Group.

「Afterward.」

An audio file appeared in the email inbox of the Nanye Group chairman’s secretary. It contained the conversation between Li Ye and Chu Wei.

Li Ye had already looked into Nan Shuyi’s case.

Nan Shuyi was the second son of Nanye Group’s chairman, Nan Wenbin. He had died during an exploration of the Ruins, where his team encountered a Black-winged Bat Swarm and was wiped out.

Anything could happen in the Ruins. It was just an accident, much like what He Xu and his men had encountered.

But with the conversation between Li Ye and Chu Wei exposed, the accident was no longer just an accident.

「That night.」

All of the Nanye Group’s top executives held an emergency meeting. They discussed the accident involving Nan Shuyi and the so-called Genetic Transformation Liquid from the Ruins Base. Of course, their main focus was the possible existence of the Ruins Base itself.

The result?

「The next day.」

The minutes from the Nanye Group’s meeting were leaked online.

Although the leak was quickly suppressed, the news spread like wildfire through various forums and gossip channels.

Everywhere, people were discussing how the Genetic Transformation Liquid could mass-produce Level 9 powerhouses with the Lunar Star as their Main Life Star…

The Shiyao Group, known for its research into nutrient solutions, bore the brunt of the fallout.

Rumors swirled that the Shiyao Group was using live human subjects for experiments, had already produced the Genetic Transformation Liquid, and was secretly plotting to create an army of super-warriors to overthrow the Federation.

The Nanye Group chairman’s phone was ringing off the hook.

「Immediately after.」

A Federation investigation team was dispatched to the Shiyao Group.

The Star Map Group immediately placed Chu Wei under their protection.

The major corporations sprang into action, launching internal investigations to root out spies from the base…

On the internet black market, the price for a sample of the Genetic Transformation Liquid had been driven up to ten billion Star Coins.

「…」

「A few days later.」

Nan Shuyun, the third “princess” of the Nanye Group, disappeared.

Qin Xiuwen, the eldest son of the Qin Group’s second branch, disappeared.

Pang Baisheng, the General Manager of the Shiyao Group’s Great Eastern District, disappeared.

Chu Zhongyue, the third brother of Star Map Group Chairman Chu Zhongtian, mysteriously disappeared.

Bi Zhiheng, the eldest son of the Governor of the Federation Mountain and River Province, disappeared.

「…」

At this critical juncture, the disappearances of these individuals served as further proof of the Ruins Base laboratory’s existence.

Moreover, it implicated nearly every major corporation and Federation official of note. To outsiders, their disappearances could only mean one thing: they had been recalled by the base. It was almost certain that something big was about to go down.

「For a time.」

The Federation sounded the highest alert.

Group after group of people entered the Ruins, searching for the so-called laboratory…

The Genetic Transformation Liquid was an epoch-making product. Everyone wanted to be the first to get their hands on it.

「Among them.」

The Star Map Group was the most active.

Because they had already confirmed Li Ye’s existence from Chu Wei.

For days, Chu Wei had been sending message after message to the contact information associated with the ID he’d given out. His offers grew increasingly generous, all in an effort to contact Li Ye.

「…」

“They really are looking for Wilds.”

“A while ago, Chu Wei suddenly came to West River City and left the same day. He must have met someone from the base then.”

“Good thing Wilds left. Otherwise, with a search of this scale, he would have been found sooner or later!”

“The people from the base are terrifying. I originally thought it was just the Flat Pan Group, but I never expected the Pot God was really just a pawn they pushed forward.”

“Xu, they won’t trace it back to us, will they?”

“Probably not. Right now, the major corporations are focused on investigating the missing people…” He Xu said hesitantly. “They won’t come looking for small fries like us. Everyone lay low for a while. Nobody touches the Star Beads that Wilds left behind. We’ll talk again after this blows over. With the base behind Wilds exposed, the Federation is probably in for some serious trouble.”

As the only ones who knew the truth, He Xu and the others were extremely tense.

But under He Xu’s leadership, they all decided to grit their teeth and wait and see for a while longer.

If they got swept up in a storm this big, there wouldn’t even be scraps of them left to find.

「…」

「Ruins.」

Nan Shuyun glared at Li Ye. “Who the hell are you? Why did you kidnap us?”

“I’m with the base,” Li Ye said with a smile, glancing around at the group of young masters and ladies he had abducted. “I kidnapped you, naturally, to divert the public’s attention and provide cover for our real members.”

“Despicable! I suggest you let us go,” said Bi Zhiheng, the eldest son of the governor of Mountain and River Province. “A bunch of filthy rats who can’t see the light of day! When my dad finds you, you’re dead!”

Li Ye glanced at him and sent him flying seven or eight meters with a single kick.

Bi Zhiheng rolled on the ground in agony, clutching his stomach and groaning incessantly.

“You…” The group glared at Li Ye furiously.

“Young man, I’m afraid there are no ‘real members’ of the base, are there?” Chu Zhongyue said suddenly, looking at Li Ye.

He was the oldest among them and the only Level 9 master. He saw things far more clearly than the others.

“Mr. Chu, how do you know there aren’t any?” Li Ye asked with a smile.

“From start to finish, you’re the only one who brought us here. No matter how short-staffed an organization is, they wouldn’t kidnap us and not even leave a single person on guard,” Chu Zhongyue chuckled. “If your Martial Force wasn’t so high, I’d doubt whether the Ruins Base even existed at all.”

“Alright, you’re right. There is no base,” Li Ye said with a smile, looking around at everyone.

“There isn’t?” Qin Xiuwen was stunned. “How can there not be? Then why did you capture us?”

“What do you want?” Nan Shuyun asked.

“Revenge,” Li Ye said.

“For revenge, you stirred up such a massive storm in the Federation?” Pang Baisheng frowned.

“Who is your enemy?” Chu Zhongyue asked.

“Xue Yang,” Li Ye said.

“Xue Yang?” Everyone was stunned.

“If you want revenge on Xue Yang, just go after him directly. Why kidnap us?” Qin Xiuwen asked. “He’s just a chef.”

“I can’t beat him,” Li Ye said flatly.

“And kidnapping us will help you beat him?” Pang Baisheng snorted.

“I made moves against people from all the corporations, but I left the Flat Pan Group untouched,” Li Ye said. “When your backers find out you have no connection to the Ruins Base, sooner or later they’ll turn their attention to the Flat Pan Group.”

“Impossible. You invented a Ruins Base. Everyone will focus their attention on the Ruins, so how could they possibly go looking for trouble with the Flat Pan Group?” Nan Shuyun said. “What on earth are you thinking?”

“Yeah, you brought us into the Ruins, so they’ll only come to the Ruins to find us,” Qin Xiuwen said. “Who’s going to care about some ‘Flat Pan’? Why don’t you let us go, and we’ll go back and help you deal with Xue Yang…”

“Young man, can you tell us what kind of grudge you have with Xue Yang?” Chu Zhongyue asked.

“A life-and-death grudge,” Li Ye said calmly. “Five years ago, he captured me and destroyed my original Life Star. Then, he conducted all sorts of experiments on me. Ultimately, he helped me draw down the Star Power of the Lunar Star, awakening three hundred and sixty-five Life Stars in five days…”

Everyone sucked in a sharp, cold breath.

Even Bi Zhiheng stopped groaning.

“That’s a good thing!” Nan Shuyun said. “A Main Life Star of the Lunar Star, a Level 9 master at such a young age… anyone else would kill for that!”

“For five years, I teetered on the edge of life and death every day. He cut open and stitched up every inch of my bones and muscles. He would slice open my skin to observe how liquids flowed through my blood vessels. He would cut open my skull to directly stimulate the gray matter in my brain…”

Li Ye looked at Nan Shuyun coldly. “Right now, my kidneys belong to someone else. My lungs belong to someone else. My stomach belongs to someone else…

“I lived like that, neither human nor ghost, for five years, watching helplessly as my companions died one by one, just so their higher-quality organs could be transplanted into me.

“All for the sake of a single experiment.

“No, to be precise, I was a spare body for him.

“Nan Shuyun, if it were you, would you be happy to live such a life?”

“…” Nan Shuyun was speechless.

A deathly silence fell over the group.

“That’s… monstrous,” Pang Baisheng murmured. “Are you sure it was Xue Yang? Isn’t he a chef?”

“A chef?” Li Ye’s eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty hatred. “He’s a demon in human skin. I want to flay him, eat his flesh, and pull out his tendons to use as a belt! I want him to taste every last bit of the suffering he inflicted on me…”

“But what’s the point of doing all this?” Nan Shuyun asked. “Capturing us only draws everyone’s attention to you. No one will know what Xue Yang did.”

“Yeah, if you let us go, we can help you deal with Xue Yang together,” Pang Baisheng said.

“No one is a match for Xue Yang. You have no idea how powerful he is.” Li Ye shook his head. “He obtained technology from an Ancient Era civilization in the Ruins. His Combat Power surpassed Level 9 long ago. The entire world combined wouldn’t be his opponent.

“After all, even a test subject like me, created by him, can crush you all with ease and move freely within your corporations. What hope would you have against him?

“Attacking him directly would only provoke him into destroying everything and taking direct control of the Federation…”

“If Xue Yang is that powerful, then what you’re doing is even more pointless!” Nan Shuyun argued. “You should be trying to unite the entire Federation against him.”

“Xue Yang has a fatal weakness.” Li Ye glanced at Nan Shuyun. “After I escaped from him, I found the Ruins of the Ancient Civilization he plundered. I’ve also mastered some of its technology, which can be used against him…”