Free Web NovelChapter 228: Are You Serious?
Nobody moved.
That was probably for the best because if one more person broke something in my living room, I was going to become everyone’s problem.
I took a few seconds to look around properly, partly because I needed to understand what happened and partly because moving too quickly felt like an excellent way to black out again.
Chenghai still had one hand twisted in Shen Kaiyang’s shirt near the entrance hall, while Commander Li’s team were spread throughout the room in defensive positions that would have been impressive if they weren’t standing around my broken furniture.
Tao Jun was standing beside a crack in my wall, Lin Cheng was suspiciously close to what used to be my coffee table, and there was a pile of ashes on the floor that could have once been human.
Then there was Lingyun.
I narrowed my eyes at him immediately.
He was smiling at me like a boy who just discovered that Santa was real and he brought him a bunch of presents under the tree.
That was never a good sign.
Experience had taught me that Lingyun only smiled like that when he had either done something reckless, was about to do something reckless, or was proud of something reckless he had already done.
And considering the state of my living room, I wasn’t sure which option worried me most.
The room itself looked like a zombie horde had broken in, thrown a tantrum, and then left halfway through.
Furniture had been shoved out of place, dirt covered part of the floor, and one of the lamps was missing entirely. Worse, there was a crack running across the ceiling that absolutely had not been there before I blacked out.
I stared at the ceiling for several seconds.
Nobody interrupted me.
Smart.
Because somebody was eventually going to explain how they managed to damage a ceiling inside a reinforced mansion.
Unfortunately, the ceiling wasn’t even the biggest problem.
The smell of smoke was.
The second I noticed it, my attention shifted toward the windows. The scent wasn’t strong, but it was there, lingering beneath the dirt, dust, and general aftermath of whatever disaster had occurred while I was unconscious.
My stomach dropped.
The plants.
Somebody had done something to the plants.
I slowly looked around the room again.
"Who started the fire?"
Every single person in the room looked at the pile of ashes.
Well.
That solved that mystery quickly.
I stared at Meilan until she finally decided somebody needed to defend herself. "The vines attacked us," she started, her voice going high pitched.
I blinked.
Then I blinked again.
That wasn’t an answer to the question I had asked.
"The vines are supposed to attack people who show up uninvited," I said. "That is literally their one and only job."
Nobody argued with that.
Meilan opened her mouth again, but I lifted one finger before she could continue. The baby vine curled higher against my shoulder in response, and the movement was enough to make her reconsider whatever excuse she had prepared.
Good.
I wasn’t interested in listening to somebody explain why my security system was rude.
Once I was satisfied that she wasn’t going to speak again, I shifted my attention toward Yuche. He was a lot closer to me, considering that I was still lying on the floor, and I figured he would tell me the truth.
"Why is she here?" I asked him, expecting an answer. But when he simply raised an eyebrow and smoothed my hair back, I knew I wasn’t going to like anything that he was going to say.
And that immediately made my day worse.
Ever so slowly, I turned my head to where the other woman was standing behind her little collection of future mistakes with her chin lifted like she was the victim in all of this. Somehow she had managed to walk into my house, survive a fight, burn part of my jungle, and still look offended by the experience.
That level of confidence should probably be studied.
"Why are you here?" I asked, this time directing my question to Meilan.
"We came to discuss cooperation," she replied with a shrug. Whatever had made her cringe about the plants burning was now gone... she was back to being the bitch I knew her to be.
Commander Li made a noise at her statement and I turned my head toward him next.
He looked exhausted, like a man who had spent several hours listening to nonsense and had finally reached the point where his soul wanted a transfer request.
"That is not what happened," he said.
Of course it wasn’t. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
I looked back at Meilan.
"Try again."
Her expression tightened.
"We came because this house contains resources that should be managed properly."
There it was.
I slowly looked around my living room again. The broken furniture was still broken. The cracked wall was still cracked. The ceiling was still damaged. Smoke still lingered in the air.
Apparently I had almost died, and somehow the biggest problem Meilan found in that entire situation was my management style.
Remarkable.
"Managed properly," I repeated.
"Yes."
"My house."
She didn’t answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Yuche’s fingers tightened slightly around my wrist. He was trying very hard not to interfere.
Luo Xin looked like he agreed with him, which was unfortunate because neither of them seemed to understand that I had just woken up to property damage, arson, attempted theft, and Jiang Meilan speaking confidently.
Reasonable behavior was no longer available. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Commander Li cleared his throat. "From what I caught, she assumed that if you died, the mansion and supplies would fall under her father’s authority."
I stared at him.
Then I stared at her.
Then I stared at the ceiling again because there were only so many stupid things a person could look at before risking permanent damage.
"So while I was unconscious," I said slowly, "she walked into my house, decided I was dead enough to start planning, and tried to take my stuff."
Nobody corrected me.
Good.
I liked summaries when they were accurate.
"That is not what happened," Meilan snapped.
"Did you try to claim my house?"
"I said it needed proper management."
"Did you try to claim my supplies?"
"They are strategic resources."
I nodded slowly.
Then I asked the question that finally made her react.
"And just what supplies are you considering to be a strategic resource? Because I don’t think you are talking about food."
Her face changed slightly, her chin raising defensively. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I did. I’d spent too much time dealing with Meilan not to recognize greed when I saw it.
"Where are the cores?" she demanded out of the blue and I had to blink, trying to figure out what she was talking about. How did she know that I had cores in the house?
I looked toward the empty boxes scattered across the floor.
Right.
They used to be full of cores. Now I was the one that wanted to know where they had gone.
I vaguely remembered hearing something about them before blacking out again, but at the moment I was significantly more concerned about the fact that somebody had damaged my house.
"How would I know?" I asked. "I’ve been unconscious."
"They disappeared."
I looked at the boxes again.
Then I looked around the room.
Nobody looked confused.
Nobody looked surprised.
Interesting.
"So they vanished."
"Yes."
I considered that for a second.
Then I shrugged as much as my injuries allowed.
"Then they’re probably safe."
Meilan’s eyes narrowed immediately.
"So you admit you took them?"
I stared at her.
"From my own living room?"
Commander Li looked away.
Chenghai’s mouth twitched.
Lingyun made a suspicious coughing noise.
Yuche didn’t react at all, but that was probably because he had already decided this conversation was beneath him.
Meilan looked furious.
I was completely fine with that.
"What happened after the cores disappeared?" I asked.
The atmosphere in the room changed immediately.
Chenghai looked toward Lingyun.
Zhenlan looked toward Lingyun.
Commander Li looked toward Lingyun.
Even Yuche glanced toward Lingyun before looking back at me.
I followed the chain of guilt.
Lingyun smiled.
I immediately developed several concerns.
