Genius Playground

”Jiang Ran...”

Cheng Mengxue’s breath was a gossamer thread, her voice choked with sobs.

Her unwilling, yet slowly dilating pupils seemed to stare straight into Jiang Ran’s soul.

”...Save me.”

THUMP.

Her fingers lost their strength, sliding from his chin and leaving a streak of blood. Cheng Mengxue’s arm slammed heavily onto the ground, her body going limp as if her bones had been removed.

The blood no longer gushed from her chest.

The tears no longer flowed.

And... she was no longer breathing.

...

...

”Useless!”

On the other side of East Sea City, in a luxurious conference room, a middle-aged man angrily ripped off his headset and slammed it on the table.

”Utterly useless! How could they screw up in the final stage like this!”

He looked up at the old man in the Tang suit on the other side of the conference table.

”There were plainclothes officers at Jingshan Bamboo Public Cemetery. The East Sea City Public Security Bureau must have found something after all.”

”This is bad, Old Wu. They’ll find the listening device on the girl soon. If Fang Yang gets caught too, we’ll be completely exposed.”

The old man in the Tang suit remained calm in the face of the crisis. He took a phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear.

”Lilith,”

he called softly.

”Priest, I’m here. What are your orders?” Though the phone call hadn’t connected, a pleasant female voice—elegant and ethereal—came through.

”Help Fang Yang escape. Get him to Los Angeles safely.”

The old man’s tone left no room for argument.

”And arrange a flight route to the Caymans for me. Departure is immediate.”

”Understood.”

The woman called Lilith replied instantly.

Two seconds later, the light and lively female voice sounded again:

”A safe route has been arranged for Fang Yang. The flight route to the Caymans has been secured. A total of 3.7 million [Points] have been deducted.”

”I wish you a pleasant journey, Priest. Please, continue to uphold your noble ideals and build a better future for the world.”

The old man in the Tang suit put away his phone and stood up.

”Let’s go.”

The middle-aged man nodded, pulled open the double doors of the conference room, and followed the old man out.

A vehicle shot out of the underground garage, its engine roaring violently as it sped toward the airport.

「One hour later.」

At Pudong International Airport, on a private jet tarmac, a Gulfstream business jet had been waiting for some time.

A luxurious Rolls-Royce drove directly onto the tarmac and stopped beside the plane.

”Don’t move!”

”Hands up!”

”Police!”

Police officers, who had been lying in wait, leaped out from all directions, aiming their guns at the Rolls-Royce, on high alert.

”Get out of the car!”

An officer shouted through a loudspeaker.

Finally...

The front door of the Rolls-Royce opened. The driver, dressed in a black suit and white gloves, got out with his head down and his hands raised high.

”On the ground!”

The driver obediently complied, getting down on the ground.

Officers with shields advanced from both sides and yanked open the rear doors—

Only to see...

No one.

The back seat was empty.

”Search it!”

Several officers moved in, checking the front, back, top, and bottom of the car. They opened the hood and trunk, but they couldn’t find a second person.

Everyone stared at each other, stunned.

’This is...’

’What’s going on?’

This was clearly Wu Yuanzheng’s private jet, and he had just requested this emergency flight route under the pretext of a medical procedure.

But...

where was he?

...

「Meanwhile, at Jiaxing Nanhu Airport.」

An Alphard minivan drove quietly onto the tarmac, stopping beside a private jet.

The middle-aged man got out of the car, opened the rear door, and helped the old man in the Tang suit out.

”Why not just have Lilith deal with the East Sea City Public Security Bureau? She should be able to handle it.”

”The point consumption would exceed ten million,”

the old man in the Tang suit explained.

”Once point consumption surpasses ten million, the event is reported to all members. Our identities would naturally be exposed.”

”In truth, we haven’t been pushed to that point, have we? We’re just heading to the Caymans for a bit to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

”Once this is all dealt with safely, we can come back openly. I’m not worried about dealing with the police. I’m concerned that others with ulterior motives might take advantage of the situation... and disrupt our plans.”

The middle-aged man sighed and walked toward the boarding stairs.

He was incredibly frustrated. He’d spent two years forging a key, only for the lock to finally appear.

But now? Not only had he failed to open the lock, he’d lost the key in the process. It was a true double loss that had dragged them both into this mess.

”What about Jiang Ran?”

The middle-aged man turned his head.

”We can’t just leave him be.”

”We’ll just find someone else to kill him,”

the old man in the Tang suit said dismissively.

”We have so many followers. Every one of them can become the most loyal of assassins.”

”This time, we only went through the trouble of that ’divine punishment’ because we wanted to avoid escalating the situation, alerting the enemy, and letting anyone see our connection to it.”

”If we wanted to keep it simple, we could have killed Jiang Ran directly at East Sea University. We don’t lack for people like Old Tian. We have plenty of followers willing to give their lives to make up for their regrets.”

The middle-aged man shook his head and ducked to enter the cabin door.

”This time, our loss was rather embarrassing.”

BANG!

A deep gunshot.

A blossom of blood bloomed on the middle-aged man’s forehead. His eyes went vacant as he fell backward, tumbling onto the boarding stairs. His body twitched twice and then went still.

The old man in the Tang suit froze.

He never would have imagined that someone would be lying in wait inside the private jet!

CLICK.

A young man stepped out of the cabin, kicked the middle-aged man’s body aside, and pressed the muzzle of his gun to the old man’s forehead.

”Wu Yuanzheng.”

He chuckled lightly.

”I never thought... that you were the Priest. I even read your biography when I was a kid. I used to admire you.”

Wu Yuanzheng stared down the barrel of the gun, his breathing steady.