CH 97

Chapter 97: Central City

Qinghe Taverns were found in every city, and Yangtze City had the most taverns of all. At the same time, the first Qinghe Tavern had also been founded there. The reason for this was naturally inseparable from Cheng Xuze’s support.

Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran went to the largest Qinghe Tavern in Yangtze City. Of course, although it was large, it was still located underground–the rent in the city underground was much cheaper than that above ground.

The Qinghe Tavern occupied a large area. The two characters “Qinghe” were written in ancient calligraphy at the door. It looked very grand. After entering, the light was unexpectedly bright.

“Boss, Master Cheng!” As soon as Shi Qingyang entered, he saw Fu Xiaoyang standing in front of the bar. He was talking to a bartender at the bar.

The bartender, who was not young and looked nothing out of the ordinary, once fought in the wild for 20 years when he was young. He might not know anything about the field of romance, but he could speak freely about things related to mutant beasts. Therefore, he had things he could talk about with all the rad-warriors.

“Fu Xiaoyang, you’re here too?” Shi Qingyang asked.

“Yes, I’m here to drink…” Fu Xiaoyang seemed embarrassed and lowered his head.

“Are you here to find Shang Mufeng?” When Shi Qingyang saw his expression, he immediately understood.

Fu Xiaoyang moved his mouth and said nothing, but his face turned red. Shi Qingyang knew that he was shy and didn’t push. Instead, he looked at the bartender: “Old Sun, is Shang Mufeng there?”

As soon as Shi Qingyang asked this, Fu Xiaoyang’s ears pricked up. However, the man Shi Qingyang called Old Sun smiled: “Little boss, Xiao Shang is waiting in box 1 upstairs.”

“I’ll go up and have a look.” Shi Qingyang smiled, and then looked at Fu Xiaoyang, who was snooping beside him. “If you want to go, follow me.” The several people he took away from Yangtze City had a very good relationship with him in his previous life, but they were all very talented. Therefore, in the past six years, they all left his team one after another and chose to develop in his or the Cheng’s other industries. Most of them had already married and had children, and Fu Xiaoyang was the only one who followed him.

In his last life, he lived by picking up leftover prey behind the crazy Ye Houan. Later, his life gradually improved after he followed Shi Qingyang. Now, he had been cultivated by Shi Qingyang from the beginning and his life had become much smoother. But who knew whether it was because of this reason that he was more shy than Shi Qingyang remembered in the past. Even his emotional experience had become different.

Fu Xiaoyang hadn’t gotten married even when Shi Qingyang died in his last life. In this life, he had a crush on one person, Shang Mufeng, who now helped Shi Qingyang manage all the Qinghe Taverns.

The tavern was divided into upper and lower floors. The lower floor is the lobby, and the upper floor was the patio in the center with a circle of private rooms around it. Box 1 was one of them.

When Shi Qingyang passed by, Shang Mufeng had opened the door of box 1 and waited. He was as tall as Shi Qingyang, but thinner. Under the light of the tavern, the handsome man turned too pale.

“If you hide underground all day long, you might be no different from a vampire in the future.” Shi Qingyang saw the other side’s appearance and said.

“I’ve been called that for a long time, the underground vampire.” Shang Mufeng invited him in and put out his left hand to close the door, but his right hand was still hanging by his side.

“How is your right hand adjusting?” Shi Qingyang glanced at it and asked. Most of the employees of Qinghe Tavern had lost their fighting capacity, and Shang Mufeng naturally had the same issue–his right arm was completely gone past his elbow.

“Well-adapted.” Shang Mufeng moved his right hand. Now his right hand was made of metal. Every finger was a blade, becoming a murder weapon.

His pale face and this hand made him look terrible.

“That’s good.” Shi Qingyang sat down. Although Shang Mufeng was cold and distant now, he was much more normal than before. When he first saw this man in the pub, his face looked even paler than now. Moreover, Shang Mufeng without his right arm had also installed an iron pole and a tray on his right hand to facilitate the delivery of wine. His whole person looked like a robot.

At that time, Shi Qingyang could hardly control his expression, for nothing else, than because Shang Mufeng had been very famous in his memory.

When he was young, he had been injured by a mutant beast and lost his arm. After ten years of struggle, he trained a great number of combat skills that used only one left hand, then shoved a prosthetic limb onto his right hand. His combat strength was no less than that of a man with a complete body. He even served wine in his tavern!

The use of combat skills depended on the movements of the fingers and arms. If only one arm was left, the combat effectiveness should be reduced by half. It could be imagined how much it cost Shang Mufeng to become the God of War later.

Shang Mufeng was more or less similar to the former one, so Shi Qingyang offered him a lot of assistance when he saw Shang Mufeng in distress.

Shang Mufeng, who was originally a waiter, joined his team after signing an agreement to “sell himself” to him for 15 years. He also found someone to order a costly arm for him.

At that time, Shi Qingyang thought that Shang Mufeng would be a powerhouse who would kill enemies on all four sides, so he wanted to cultivate Shang Mufeng’s fighting talent. Unexpectedly, Shang Mufeng rejected his proposal and instead proposed to do business

It was also at that time that Shi Qingyang discovered that although Shang Mufeng was the God of War with one arm in his previous life, his talent in business was obviously higher than that in fighting.

At present, Qinghe Taverns all over the country were under the command of Shang Mufeng, who had made the Qinghe Taverns that had been losing Shi Qingyang money in the beginning gradually start to turn profits.

“Shang Mufeng, I’m going to Central City,” Shi Qingyang said.

“So?” Shang Mufeng was puzzled.

“Central City is a super city above a tier-1 city, but there are few Qinghe Taverns there… I hope you can go with me to expand the intelligence system of Central City,” Shi Qingyang said. Qinghe Tavern was actually an intelligence system. In the past, he was afraid of being closed down or targeted by other big families in Central City. He did not dare to develop too much in Central City, and only opened a few small ones. Now it was almost time.

He had been outside the cities for six years, often observing mutant beasts, and he wanted to discover the reason behind the beast tide in the previous life. But he had not found out anything. This time, he was going to Central City. If he could, he also wanted to find more information about this. Of course, more importantly, he wanted to destroy the Feng Family’s research institute.

A place where people were used for research should not exist at all!

Hearing Shi Qingyang’s words, Shang Mufeng was silent for a moment and nodded quickly: “Fine.”

“If you have an assistant you want to take, you can take them to go with us,” Shi Qingyang said again. Seeing Shang Mufeng nod, he immediately changed the topic: “Is it time to go over some combat skills?”

“Yes,” Shang Mufeng opened his mouth. He pressed the switch next to him. The wall of the box facing the central patio became transparent. In the middle of the whole pub, a square projector with screens on all sides played today’s content.

Today, they weren’t talking about war skills, but about a kind of mutant beast and the methods to deal with it. During this period, not only did some people come up to explain, but also there were videos of hunting that kind of mutant beast in the wild, and even mentioned how to escape when encountering this kind of beast, which was very practical.

At the same time, there were pictures, text, and video explanations, which would keep viewers from feeling bored.

Although Shi Qingyang didn’t need any skills to deal with such mutant beasts, he had reviewed them carefully.

“These days, we will find someone to shoot the content of each episode, and then find a director to edit it to ensure that it is good-looking. Although the cost will be relatively high, we will only make a lot of money after sorting it out and selling it online. Now many radiation schools will recommend children to watch our documentaries,” Shang Mufeng explained nearby.

“It’s really good.” Cheng Ran nodded. He and Shi Qingyang were very busy. The last time they came to Qinghe Tavern was one year ago. After one year, the place had changed a lot.

Seeing Cheng Ran’s concentration, Shi Qingyang kissed Cheng Ran on his forehead: “This was my idea. How about it?”

“Very powerful!” Cheng Ran praised with respect.

The Qinghe Tavern in Yangtze City had long been on the right track and did not need Shi Qingyang to be in charge, so he quickly left Yangtze City with Shang Mufeng in a mobile fortress.

Before leaving, Cheng Ran also left all the potions he made these days to Ran Xue. Those potions could last for over a month. By then, they should have already arrived in Central City and could send a batch of potions to Ran Xue.

Central City was to the north. Starting from Yangtze City to Central City, it took five days for the mobile fortress to advance along the roads between the cities. But Shi Qingyang and the others did not go along the roads. They also dealt with some mutant beasts on the way, which took more time. It took half a month before they entered the safe area of Central City.

In the vicinity of Central City, everything was in good order. They passed mutant beast farms and herbal medicine plantations one after another. Because Central City was too large and the surrounding land was also useful, it was basically impossible for people to hunt near the city. In the vicinity of Central City, eight satellite cities had been established to allow people to go further.

All the satellite cities were outside the safety zone of Central City and connected to Central City by underground cable cars. They were basically as large as small tier-3 cities, and finally formed a huge residential area.

“It’s so big here.” This was Cheng Ran’s first time going to Central City. Seeing everything around him, he could not help exclaiming.

“In the beginning, this was the first city established by survivors, and housed the largest number of people. Now it’s the economic and cultural center of China. How can it be otherwise?” Shi Qingyang smiled.

“I’m looking forward to the library of Central Academy more and more.” Cheng Ran took a deep breath. Although a lot of information was shared nowadays, not everyone could have access to the most profound knowledge. For example, in Central Academy one must be a student or teacher in the school to enter the online library through scanning the identity chip.

“I hope you can make a breakthrough in your research.” Shi Qingyang rubbed Cheng Ran’s head: “It’s a pity that I haven’t found a mutant beast like the queen ant in the past six years.”

The queen ant had obviously mutated. Over the past six years, Shi Qingyang had been trying to find another one, but unfortunately he hadn’t.

Cheng Ran also knew this: “It’s fine. It would be strange if such mutant beasts were everywhere.”

While they were talking, their mobile fortress was already close to Central City. If in other cities  people wanted to park mobile fortresses outside, they just needed to find a place. But here, they needed to rent a place. Of course, since people who could afford to drive mobile fortresses are very rich, no one would think it inappropriate.

“Master, I’ll take you to dinner! I used to like to eat the fish and rice at Yumixiang the most. The food there is very delicious!” When they got there, Shi Qingyang got into the driver’s seat of the armored vehicle attached to the mobile fortress, and Zheng Gaoyuan immediately spoke up.

“Then let’s go to Yumixiang,” Cheng Xuze said. When he was young, he lived in Central City for a long time, but he had been busy exercising himself and improving his strength. He didn’t know where the food was delicious.

After setting up the automatic navigation, the car quickly drove towards Yumixiang. Along the way, everyone, having not been in a city for a long time, naturally used their contact terminals to notify others.

Shi Qingyang’s contact terminal was a good quality one that Cheng Xuze helped him to get. He could have several contact numbers. Not long after he entered the city, he found that one of the contact numbers received a communication from Cheng Xuze, telling ‘I don’t want to starve’ that he had come to Central City and asking if Not Starving was also here.

Looking at this, his intentions were obvious… Shi Qingyang resolutely ignored it and went to see Cheng Xuze. Only then did he find that Cheng Xuze, sitting in the co pilot’s seat in front of him, had begun to contact his two granddaughters.

Cheng Hui’s son was 18 years old and was still studying in Yangtze City. However, his two daughters had come to Central City. The older Cheng Shanshan had gotten married last year to one of her classmates. Now the husband and wife ran a medicinal plant in Central City. The younger Cheng Sisi was still studying in the Central Rad-Energy Academy and was said to have joined a hunting team.

In fact, in addition to the two of them, Cheng Hong’s family had moved to Anhang City six years ago after Cheng Hong’s accident, but Cheng Xuze did not inform them.

Of course, even if he did, Cheng Hong would not come.Rad-energy was originally a kind of domineering energy. When he was forced to advance to level 7, he was hurt secretly. Later, he was seriously injured and broke a leg. Now, he faced the pain of a rad-energy riot every day. His whole person had almost been left to rot. It was said that he could hardly bear to see anyone except Qin Liu.

As for Cheng Hong’s children, under the influence of Cheng Hong, they were not close to the Cheng family at all and naturally wouldn’t ask for favors from Cheng Xuze, the grandfather.

Yumixiang covered a large area, and its decorations were brilliant. As soon as Zheng Gaoyuan got off the bus, he came to the door with familiarity: “Prepare a large room for us!”

“Sir, one has to reserve a room here. There is no room available now,” the waiter at the door spoke respectfully.

“I’ve been here so many times before. When did I ever have to make a reservation?” Zheng Gaoyuan was stunned.

“I’m sorry, sir. One really needs to reserve a box here.” The waiter bowed again.

Zheng Gaoyuan’s face was embarrassed as this was his first time encountering such a thing. He was originally someone who wanted to save face, but now he felt he couldn’t step down. His old mantra blurted out: “Don’t you know who I am?”

“If you’d like, sir, you can eat in the lobby.” The waiter had a good temper, but it was also clear that he did not know Zheng Gaoyuan.

Yumixiang was also a well-known restaurant in Central City. Many of the rooms here had been reserved for a long time, and the free ones had been taken up long ago. Zheng Gaoyuan, a person they did not know at all, naturally could not get one.

Zheng Gaoyuan couldn’t remember whether he had ever made a reservation when he came to eat. At that time, he was a fat man who didn’t care about anything except eating and sleeping. How could he care so much? But now…

“I’ll contact my grandparents right away.” Zheng Gaoyuan was annoyed. Because he had been afraid of being reminded too much of his hometown, and because he understood a lot of things after he was sober, he didn’t inform his family at the start, but now he had to contact them.

“Grandpa!” At that moment, a voice sounded. Soon, a young girl came running, and the young man behind the girl went to the waiter: “Is the Feng family’s private room still there? Grandfather Cheng is someone that even my grandpa respects very much. I’ll invite him to dinner today.”

“Feng Linqiu?” Zheng Gaoyuan looked at the young man in front of him in surprise, but Shi Qingyang’s pupils shrank.

In his last life, Feng Linqiu and Liang Liang had hurt him. He thought about revenge more than once. He wanted them to taste what he had tasted, but he didn’t expect to meet them so soon.

“Grandpa, our team was originally buying supplies for hunting outside the city. After receiving your contact, Captain Feng sent me here,” Cheng Sisi said later, blushing, and glanced at Feng Linqiu.

Shi Qingyang saw this. How could he not understand? Feng Linqiu was the most outstanding young man in Central City with good birth and talent. No one could match him, and naturally he had attracted the admiration of many people. Even if he got married early in his last life, many people still liked him, not to mention now he wasn’t married yet.

Although Cheng Sisi was one year older than him, she could also be said to be the same age. The Cheng family was not the same now, and even the family background was the same. So it seemed there was some ambiguity between them.

However, Cheng Sisi might take these ambiguities seriously, but Feng Linqiu was mostly playing with her. This person had always been indifferent. When he could use a person, he treated them very well. When he couldn’t use them, he kicked them away. In the beginning, he seemed to be very tender to him, but he was contemptuous behind his back. He once argued with this “good friend” over this matter…

“Grandfather Cheng, I’m good friends with Cheng Sisi. Today let me be the host and invite Grandfather Cheng to dinner,” Feng Linqiu said with a smile: “Grandfather Cheng, don’t refuse. My grandpa asked me to send a message to Grandfather Cheng. I’m afraid I must trouble you.”

Feng Linqiu’s grandfather was Feng Yunhong, one of the two level-9 masters in the country. Feng Linqiu said what he wanted, so Cheng Xuze would not refuse. He followed Feng Linqiu into the box.

It was not until this time that Zheng Gaoyuan suddenly remembered something: “Our Zheng family also has a private room here. I just need to brush my contact terminal!”

“Go in.” Shi Qingyang glanced at him with a calm tone.

However, Cheng Ran quickly grasped Shi Qingyang’s hand: “Qingyang, you don’t like that person?”

“That’s right.” Shi Qingyang smiled.

“Then I don’t like him either,” Cheng Ran immediately said, the familiar feeling that had arisen when he saw the other man thrown into the back of his head, leaving only his displeasure for Feng Linqiu.