Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

The swindler had perfected the art of manipulation, knowing just how to prey on people’s emotions.

After they hung up on her, An Ning muttered to herself, ”With a brain like that, they could do anything.”

She slung her backpack on and was about to head out, but before she even reached the door, it dawned on her.

”The rate of return.”

High intelligence could certainly lead to profitable success, but the timeline was never fixed, and the returns were even less certain.

Con artistry has been a shady trade since ancient times. The allure of getting something for nothing and an extremely high rate of return was always tempting.

An Ning closed the door and went to see Director Hu first. After their discussion, she left the auto factory alone and headed for the bank.

Her every move was being watched by the swindlers.

One of the swindlers’ accomplices watched as An Ning entered the bank with her backpack. When she came out, the bag was bulging and looked heavy.

Outside the bank, her face covered in sweat, An Ning rushed to the post office and made another phone call.

As she made the call, An Ning unconsciously raised her voice, her tone urgent. On the other end of the line, Director Hu, who was playing along with her act, couldn’t help but sigh to himself. ’Smart people really are smart about everything.’

The watcher saw An Ning finish her call and sit down, anxiously waiting for a response. Seeing that she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, one of them went back to report.

An Ning did everything according to their instructions: she told no one, didn’t call the police, and withdrew the money alone.

After all, they had said that if An Ning disobeyed a single instruction, Lin Cuihua would not be released.

The swindler, thinking he had succeeded, went back to report, failing to notice that a seasoned police officer was now tailing him.

An Ning remained seated on the steps outside the post office, fiddling with three Copper Coins in her palm.

To any observer, An Ning looked like a nervous wreck. Only she knew that she was performing a divination to check on Lin Cuihua’s well-being.

Each divination consumed a great deal of her energy, but she could only feel at ease if she constantly knew Lin Cuihua was safe.

About an hour later, the phone rang.

An Ning answered the phone, hung up quickly, and rushed back to the bank.

This time, An Ning was carrying a bulging parcel.

With the parcel in her hand and the backpack on her shoulders, An Ning went to make another call. This time, she dialed the swindlers’ number.

After two rings, the call connected.

”I have it all. Where do I go?”

They gave her an address. An Ning compared it with the location she had divined—they were nowhere near each other.

Shielding her hand with her body, she wrote down a note. The person on the other side of the counter was no longer the original clerk; they exchanged a knowing glance. Feigning anxiety, An Ning hurried out and headed for the given address.

The note she left was discreetly taken. Elsewhere, out of sight, many people sprang into action.

After coming out, An Ning started running down the street. The Copper Coins that had been in her hand were now nowhere to be seen.

The few swindlers following her desperately tried to keep up, inadvertently exposing all their positions.

A curious scene played out on the street. The swindler at the very back of the pack was suddenly surrounded by four people. One clamped a hand over his mouth from behind, two grabbed his arms, and a fourth grabbed his legs. Then, he was carried away.

He was carried off silently and abruptly.

One by one, it was always the person at the back of the group who was surrounded by four or five people and spirited away in silence.

When An Ning reached the designated address, she pulled a Compass straight from her backpack.

The older people passing by all took one look at An Ning and chose to give her a wide berth.

’There’s something wrong with that girl.’

’Who uses a Compass to find their way in broad daylight?’

An Ning paid no mind to the others. She channeled her spiritual power, letting it spread out bit by bit in the direction the Compass pointed.

After a few minutes of searching, one courtyard stood out from the rest.

”Found it.”

An Ning charged straight for the courtyard. She had to be the first one in.

Ignoring the warnings from the police officer behind her, An Ning kicked the main gate open. She tossed the parcel from her hand into the air, and a number of sharpened wooden stakes appeared, arranging themselves into a bizarre line in midair.

”SWISH—SWISH—”

With a series of swishes, the stakes shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, flying straight toward the people inside.

”Hey—who are—AUGH—”

”What are you doing?!”

An Ning was like a goddess of slaughter. If she met a demon, she’d slay the demon; if she met a god, she’d strike down the god.

A person always has motivations for their struggles. While her grand goal was the interstellar, her family was a line that could not be crossed.

These people had used Lin Cuihua to set a trap and possessed the means to harm her at any moment. An Ning was enraged.

By the time the police outside finally entered, the courtyard was strewn with bodies, the ground slick with blood.

Some had stakes pierced through their legs, others through their arms or shoulders. In every case, the wounds had perfectly avoided any major arteries.

A chill ran down the spine of the officer who knelt to inspect a wound. ’If she had wanted to...’

He cut the thought short.

”Miss An Ning, is that right? We’ve found Miss Lin Cuihua. Just as you said, she was at the hospital. She’s unharmed, just worried about you.”

A police officer stepped forward to speak with her. Earlier, An Ning had used Director Hu’s connections to call the police directly from his office. By combining the location she had divined with a map, she had calculated that Lin Cuihua must be at a hospital.

This, combined with the gatekeeper’s statement—he had seen Lin Cuihua run out in a panic to meet two people waiting for her—had allowed them to confirm her location.

”Thank you. They were trying to hurt me, so I acted in self-defense. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?”

”Not at all.”

An Ning nodded, her gaze locking onto a target. The click-clack of her footsteps was exceptionally clear as she approached.

She crouched in front of a woman with an injured palm, an eerie light glinting in her eyes.

”Fancy meeting you here.”

”I seem to recall saying that someone as brazen as you should have come to speak with me face-to-face, didn’t I?”

”Feeling a little less secure now that there isn’t a phone line between us?”

Every word from An Ning sent a bone-deep terror through the woman. From the moment the scam began to the moment she found them, this girl hadn’t revealed a single flaw.

Not only had she wiped them all out in one fell swoop, but she had also left every last one of them bloodied and wounded.

”I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

The woman began kowtowing, her forehead thudding against the ground. A wicked smile played on An Ning’s lips as she leaned in and whispered in the woman’s ear, ”I forgot to mention, I’m a Feng Shui Master.”

”Your karmic retribution begins now.”

An Ning slowly stood up. The woman’s eyes were wide with terror, and her body trembled as she continued to kowtow frantically.

”I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I deserve to die! I was wrong, I was so wrong!”

The skin of her forehead broke, but she paid it no mind, continuing to slam her head against the ground as she begged for An Ning’s forgiveness.

An Ning stood tall, clasping one hand behind her back.

”All things have a cause. The karma of your words has been created. It is like water spilled from a basin—it cannot be reclaimed.”

An Ning turned to leave, looking like a grandmaster departing a blood-soaked battlefield after a great victory. Aloof and resolute, she was declaring to the world that nothing could stand in her way.

”Ning’er—”

”Mom—”

One word—”Mom”—and the grandmaster’s image shattered completely.