Chapter 90 (o^^o)
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Xiao Nan was indeed an impatient guy.
Combined with various online rumors, different versions of events were woven. However, regardless of the version, everyone both openly and secretly believed that the evidence theft incident at the Alpha Management Committee was the handiwork of ‘Eden.’
Police cars continued to be parked near the Management Committee, and on-site protection and investigation were still ongoing.
Before dinner, Xu Xingran’s phone rang again, displaying an unknown number on the screen. Xu Xingran and An Lan exchanged a glance.
This time, Xu Xingran still didn’t answer the call immediately but waited until the third ring.
“Hello.”
“What exactly is in the USB drive?”
An angry voice accompanied the interrogation.
Xu Xingran sneered, “The USB drive is in your hands, isn’t it? Is it your computer that’s not working, or do you simply not know how to use one?”
“I’ll ask you again, what’s inside the USB drive?”
Xu Xingran didn’t answer him but hung up the phone directly.
An Lan was startled.
“You just hung up like that. Aren’t you afraid he’ll retaliate?”
Xu Xingran pursed his lips and smiled, “He will call again.”
Indeed, one minute later, the caller called again.
“You dare to hang up on me? Aren’t you afraid I…”
An Lan was listening intently, but Xu Xingran hung up the phone again.
“You…” An Lan knew this was Xu Xingran’s strategy, gradually taking control of the initiative in this exchange. However, if they angered the opponent, the consequences could be unimaginable.
“Don’t worry, Xiao Chen is definitely not under Xiao Nan’s control,” Xu Xingran tapped his finger on the phone.
An Lan immediately understood. Now, Xiao Chen was the most crucial card in the hands of “Eden,” used to exchange passwords with Gu Yunli and Xu Zhongshuang. So, Xiao Chen’s life and death were definitely not something Xiao Nan or any errand runner for “Eden” could control.
The phone rang again.
Xu Xingran answered calmly, and the other party started shouting.
“If you dare to hang up on me again, I’ll send Xiao Nan’s head directly to you!”
After listening, Xu Xingran lightly laughed, “Between you and Xiao Chen, it’s hard to say who will lose their head first. You took our USB drive but didn’t deliver it to ‘Eden.’ Are you planning to sell the information inside, or do you want to use it to threaten ‘Eden’? Regardless of the reason, we can be partners.”
Xu Xingran continued to shift blame onto the other party.
“You are plotting against me.”
The other person finally calmed down.
“We are plotting against each other, tit for tat. Moreover, you can’t even be considered a core member of ‘Eden.’ Do you think you have any value to be plotted against? I advise you to think carefully. Where do you want to stand now? The further you go, the less ‘Eden’ will trust you. Do you know what awaits you?”
Xu Xingran’s voice was calm, as if discussing something unrelated to him.
But the person on the other end fell silent.
“What do you want?”
After hearing this, An Lan’s eyes lit up, looking at Xu Xingran in surprise.
Xu Xingran closed his eyes and shook his head, indicating that although the other party had softened, it wasn’t time for them to be optimistic yet.
“I want to know how you select the members of the ‘control group.'”
“Do you want to arrange your people to enter the ‘control group’?” The other party had some experience.
“Otherwise? Can you release Xiao Chen? Xiao Chen is not even in your hands,” Xu Xingran directly pierced through the other party’s self-confidence, “I only propose requests within your capabilities.”
It was necessary to cut off ‘Eden’s’ selection of the control group. If these control group members performed well, they would be absorbed into ‘Eden,’ becoming an asset to ‘Eden.’
And if they could arrange people to enter the control group, they could contact the unknown ‘Eden’.
“You’re playing with fire.” The other party’s voice turned cold.
“I can promise you witness protection. Once the police successfully infiltrate, they will take you to a safe place. Anyway, you can’t stay in the Xiao family, and as for ‘Eden’… at this point, they’ll be after your life sooner or later.”
Xu Xingran was implying to the other party: brother, we all know who you are. Stop pretending; it’s not interesting anymore.
Even if “Eden” doesn’t kill him and discards him like trash, the police can still issue a wanted order against him. He would spend the rest of his life like a rat in the sewer, unable to see the light of day.
The other party fell silent for a while. Actually, Xu Xingran didn’t need to say much; the choice was already obvious.
“Alright, even though I think… your actions are like a lamb entering a tiger’s mouth. Wait for my message, and you’ll be surprised.”
Not long after, the other party sent a dark web address to Xu Xingran. Inside, there was a team competition held on a small island outside the city, and the requirement for participating team members was that they must all be alphas.
More importantly, this “competition” wasn’t about winning or losing but about life and death. The number of teams on the island varied each time. Before the competition started, each team would land from the south of the island, and the first team to reach the northern port each day would pass the selection. They not only received a huge prize but also had the opportunity to be hired by ‘Eden.’
On the webpage, there was also a video showing how a team was annihilated on the island.
The entire process took less than half an hour.
Watching this video made An Lan’s back feel cold. He had lived in a comfortable and stable environment, and the education he received had shaped his current moral and world views.
But he didn’t expect that, in some corner, even in broad daylight, such a terrifying “survival game” was taking place.
In addition to the webpage address, there was also an invitation code. As long as this invitation code was entered, one obtained the qualification for the journey to h*ll.
Xu Xingran sent all this information to Captain Hong, and Captain Hong would apply for a special team to go to the island for the “competition.”
That evening, when Xu Zhongshuang returned home, Xu Xingran and An Lan went to Xu Zhongshuang’s study.
Seeing the two of them, Xu Zhongshuang smiled helplessly, pressing his eye corners.
“Why are you two here again? Captain Hong has told me that you’ve already extracted the way ‘Eden’ selects the control group from Xiao Nan. The rest is up to the police to send someone in—don’t tell me you still want to go?” Xu Zhongshuang’s expression suddenly turned cold, “That’s not a shooting competition, not a game with rifles. It’s not your world.”
“Uncle, please don’t misunderstand. We are aware of our own capabilities. We want to know… what exactly are the passwords on your and Uncle Gu’s hands protecting? Why is ‘Eden’ so interested?” Xu Xingran pulled out a chair and sat down in front of his father.
“And also, why did the once well-established ‘Yunshuang Foundation’ turn into the current ‘Eden’?” Xu Xingran asked.
“It seems that today I won’t be able to get rid of you without answering your ‘ten thousand whys’.” Xu Zhongshuang sighed.
“Just these two questions, not ‘ten thousand whys.'” Xu Xingran replied.
“Alright. Yunli and I established the ‘Yunshuang Foundation’ partly to resist the old alpha system. Although this system is not written in any of your textbooks, and no teacher will teach you, it still exists. For example, the family system of alphas, our Xu family, Gu family, Ye family—the more powerful the family, the more strict this system is. Xiao Chen is Xiao Hongwen’s son, and also a high-quality alpha. Even if he is born to Xiao Hongwen and an outside female star, he still has more rights to inherit and control the Xiao family than Xiao Nan.” Xu Zhongshuang said.
“And for you, because the person you like is not an omega, so in the end, you two couldn’t be together?” Xu Xingran asked.
“That’s one aspect of it. There’s also Ye Yun, as a high-quality omega, with good luck, he could choose between you and Xiao Chen. If he had bad luck…” Xu Zhongshuang helplessly smiled, “Gu Liyu’s mother is not from a prestigious family. To marry her, Gu Yunli offended almost everyone in the Gu family.”
At this point, An Lan understood why Gu Yunli trusted Xu Zhongshuang more and why Gu Liyu trusted Xu Xingran more.
“At that time, Yunli thought about how to break the alpha class hierarchy. The simplest way was to optimize all alphas, breaking the monopoly of native genes. Does this sound naive and foolish? And I… I wanted to save someone.” Xu Zhongshuang said.
“Who?” Xu Xingran suddenly thought of something, “That… the female classmate you used to like?”
Xu Zhongshuang shook his head, “I wanted to save your mother. Your mother was diagnosed with omega gland cancer. Even if she underwent gland removal surgery, the cancer cells had already spread. I accompanied her to see many experts, but they were helpless. However, I remember one expert making a hypothesis—omega gland cancer is targeted at omegas. Even if a beta has omega gland cancer cells, it won’t have any impact.”
“So… you wanted to…” Xu Xingran was stunned.
“Yes, I wanted to convert your mother into a beta.” Xu Zhongshuang looked up, perhaps thinking of his younger self, feeling naive and ridiculous, “You see, fundamentally speaking, what Yunli and I wanted to do is no different from ‘Eden.'”
“It’s different… Uncle Gu aims for equality in the alpha class, while you wanted to save your wife. It’s just…” An Lan said.
“Just that a gun in different hands will have different effects. But who can guarantee that every person holding the gun is not a bad person?” Xu Zhongshuang said.
“But you suffered a backlash,” Xu Xingran furrowed his brow, “and the cost was significant.”
“Yes. Scientific research itself is very pure, but if the people involved in scientific research are not pure, everything is in vain. Just when we young people thought we could change the world, we forgot that human nature is inherently profit-driven. The Gu family does not allow this revolution, and does not allow Yunli to challenge the authority of the alpha family. They bribed… or rather, I should say, they seduced many people under the ‘Yunshuang Foundation.’ They believe that their research results should not be used to ‘change the world’ but to ‘control the world.’ That’s how ‘Eden’ came into being.”
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