Part 4
After Ning Er moved out, Ning Yunyi let Hao Yan and his group go home first.
They were from District A originally, not far from here. Later, Ning Yunyi and his group would return to District F by themselves.
Hao Yan and the others left with the bodyguards. On the way, they casually opened the gift boxes and froze. In their hands were a 3S-level energy crystal each.
Together, the value exceeded ten million Star Coins.
Joe held the gift, feeling it burn his hand. “What do we do?”
Hao Yan sighed. “Mr. Bai really doesn’t want to owe us anything. Let’s keep it for now.”
On the other side, Ning Yunyi gazed at this place, familiar from his memories, with complex emotions.
The original owner had been driven out of here, then tricked into going to the Garbage Star. His obsession before death was his family. Now, the first step was temporarily accomplished.
First the house, next was finding Big Brother Ning.
Ning Yunyi looked at Elias, who hadn’t spoken since arriving. “In a hurry to go back?”
Elias shook his head. He felt uneasy. He had come here to confirm something, and when he saw the butler, his heart truly sank.
Back then, after delivering the note, he had hidden and watched with his own eyes as the butler took the note away.
That meant the note that person asked him to deliver as a last resort had indeed fallen into Ning Er’s hands.
He didn’t know what was written on the note, and right now, he was anxious, regretful, and guilty.
Elias then made a decision. He looked cautiously at Ning Yunyi. “Mr. Bai, I’m not feeling well. Can I go back to District F first?”
Ning Yunyi gave him a deep look, as if he didn’t notice his restless state of mind. “You can, but can you manage alone? We still have to stay here for a while.”
This was exactly what Elias wanted. He said repeatedly, “I can, I can take the suspension vehicle back.”
Ning Yunyi hummed an assent and let him go.
Young Master Bai circled back and saw Elias just leaving. “Eh, why did he go back early? He’s not planning to run, is he?”
Ning Yunyi glanced at him. “Probably not.”
Run? Probably not, seeing as Elias clearly needed money and the West City was a good place for him right now.
Choosing to leave early at this time was likely because he didn’t fully trust Ning Yunyi and Young Master Bai yet, worried they had ulterior motives and would follow him.
But since they were staying at the Ning family home, Elias figured they wouldn’t have time to follow him, so he planned to make a trip home?
Ning Yunyi guessed there should be someone else in his home, possibly even a half-beast.
That was why he hadn’t dared to go back, fearing he would lead danger home.
Ning Yunyi waited until only Young Master Bai was left beside him, then expanded his spiritual power to confirm that only the two of them remained in the entire Ning residence.
Ning Yunyi then walked straight toward the main house.
The Ning residence was laid out in a square orientation. There were four separate residences in the four corners, and the central main house was where Ning’s parents usually lived.
Now that it had become Ning Er’s residence, they had left in a hurry, leaving behind most of the things they couldn’t move.
These were all things that originally belonged to the Ning family.
Ning Yunyi didn’t linger. He walked straight upstairs to the attic of the three-story building. It was empty; Ning Er must have ransacked it long ago, but unfortunately found nothing.
He walked into the attic, glanced at the layout, closed the attic door, then probed again with his spiritual power. After confirming no one was around, he enveloped the entire attic with his spiritual power.
Having done all this, Ning Yunyi walked under the attic’s only window. He felt along the edge of the window, closed his eyes, and suddenly tapped his fingers rapidly on the blank wall.
A long string of numbers was tapped out with precision. As the last number fell, the previously empty attic suddenly flashed, and a transparent grid appeared out of thin air.
Palm-sized. Ning Yunyi pressed it in mid-air, and the grid immediately expanded, revealing a password mechanism.
Ning Yunyi inputted another string of numbers without error. With the correct password, a mechanical click sounded.
Ning Yunyi stood still.
Soon, apart from the square inch where he stood, the layout of the entire attic began to shift automatically. Everywhere moved fast; walls shifted, floorboards rose rapidly and rotated. Finally, everything changed, presenting a passable secret passage before Ning Yunyi.
The floor at the entrance was only solid beneath Ning Yunyi’s feet.
All the other floorboards were now suspended over emptiness.
As a high-tech talent, Ning’s father naturally wouldn’t leave his assets lying around in the open.
Even if Ning Er turned the entire Ning house upside down, he probably wouldn’t have guessed that the attic, which seemed transparent at a glance, had such ingenious internal mechanisms.
In fact, if the dual passwords were entered incorrectly, it would self-destruct rather than benefit an outsider.
One of Ning Yunyi’s reasons for reclaiming the Ning house first, besides it being where the Ning family had always lived and not wanting Ning Er to have it, was this very place.
The original body had returned too late. He knew about this secret passage but couldn’t enter, so even though he knew there might be a letter left by Ning’s father, he couldn’t get it.
Ning Yunyi also wanted to know what letter Ning’s father had left for him before being taken away, and if it contained news about Big Brother Ning.
He followed the secret passage down and straight ahead. The layout was a completely transparent pavilion suspended in mid-air.
Inside were completely transparent boxes made of special materials. Only by entering the boxes could one see the difference inside. Ning Yunyi collected everything inside into his space.
Finally, in the topmost small box, he opened it and saw a letter.
He collected it into his space along with everything else, then closed the mechanism, restoring it to its original state, and left the attic.
When he went down, Young Master Bai had just returned from a tour. “Uncle, that Ning Er really is shameless. He took all the valuable stuff.”
It looked like it had been robbed; it was poor, and what was left was worthless.
Ning Yunyi had obtained what he wanted and didn’t fuss. Anything left outside wasn’t worth much to begin with.
It was getting dark. Worried about the cub at home, Ning Yunyi soon took the spaceship back to District F with Young Master Bai.
On the other side, Elias had been wearing a hat to cover his silver hair since leaving the Ning family.
He circled District A several times, confirming no one was following him. In an alley, he used a disposable water-soluble dye from his pocket to dye his silver hair a messy color.
Then he smeared his face black and turned his clothes inside out, revealing a tattered look.
After doing all this, he kept his head down and chose a very long suspension vehicle route back to District F.
He didn’t get off until he reached a very remote suburb in the south of District F.
Walking back, he was both anxious and nervous, afraid that his perceived safety was actually someone still following him, and anxious calculating the time, fearing that by the time he returned, that person’s spiritual sea would be withered, beyond saving.
despite his anxiety, Elias still took a huge detour. Confirming there was truly no one, he walked toward the underground of a ruin deep in the debris.
At a ruin, he first transformed into a palm-sized red-eyed rabbit. He wrapped his clothes and the sealed food he brought back in a cloth and carried it on his back, then hopped and twisted his way inside.
After walking through countless bends, he finally reached a spot.
Seeing the earthen door of the cave still intact, the heart that Elias had been holding in his throat finally relaxed.
Little brother and that person were safe.
Otherwise, given that person’s size, this cave couldn’t have been preserved.
The red-eyed rabbit hopped to the earthen door and called out softly, “Ji ji.”
The familiar sound made the little boy, who had been pressing against the crack of the door peeking out, instantly tear up. He immediately opened the earthen door, saw the familiar red-eyed rabbit, and hugged him. He was scared and anxious but dared not make too much noise, afraid of collapsing the cave.
Big tears rolled down his face. “Brother…”
The red-eyed rabbit’s eyes grew even redder. Pretending to be carefree, he waved his paw and hopped into the cave, which suddenly widened. As the earthen door closed, he went to the side to transform back.
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