Chapter 248: Come Forth, My Backup Potential! Aid My Foundation Establishment!
Mr. Wang’s words were filled with kindness, but Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen felt a bone-chilling cold creep over them.
This guy… Zhang Yu thought. From the very beginning, he never intended for us to spend this money freely.
Even if we had tried to pool our money to buy a Heavenly Spiritual Root months ago, we would have had to get past him.
So… in fact, starting nine months ago, from the moment he transferred the money to us, we could only achieve Foundation Establishment with his permission, right under his nose.
This guy has been toying with us all along.
No wonder, no wonder he didn’t have a righteous god witness the contract signing… this guy never intended to fully abide by it.
We thought it meant more freedom for us, but in reality, it meant the fewest restrictions for him.
Zhang Yu instantly understood. For the prominent families of Songyang City, they had righteous gods witness their contracts to ensure their execution.
But for a superior being like Wang Yin, his wealth and power alone were enough to guarantee the execution of a contract on the first layer; having a righteous god witness it would only create constraints for him.
Furthermore, things like monitoring others’ accounts and freezing their funds certainly involved illicit operations, but Wang Yin clearly had the assistance of a righteous god behind the scenes to be able to do this.
In that moment, Zhang Yu felt as if the cultivation resources he had accumulated over the past nine months to attempt Foundation Establishment with a Heavenly Spiritual Root were being choked in Wang Yin’s iron grip.
Zhang Yu suppressed the rage in his heart and explained, “Zhen wanted to leave her money with me for safekeeping before she changes her body.”
Mr. Wang dissuaded him, “It’s just changing a body, not dying. Why go through so much trouble?”
“I’m helping you watch over the account security, so there’s no need to worry.”
After hanging up, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen felt an overwhelming pressure bearing down on them.
Wang Yin had been constantly influencing and guiding them over the past nine months, as if placing chains upon them.
Now, those chains were beginning to tighten one by one, like suffocating layers of pressure, intending to crush him and Bai Zhenzhen, to hold them firmly in the palm of his hand.
But the more this happened, the more Zhang Yu could feel the Crippled Ox he visualized in his mind growing active.
Everything he had experienced today was like a thunderclap that had completely jolted the Crippled Ox awake. It began to struggle, to tumble, to roar.
And amidst this familiar sensation, Zhang Yu felt his brain, his muscles, and his blood flow begin to grow more and more active.
Oasis Building, 1111th floor.
Wang Yin hung up the phone, thinking to himself, This kid Zhang Yu… what is he trying to do?
I thought he had become obedient.
Now it seems he’s learned to act in front of me?
Such a large transfer all of a sudden. Is he trying for an early Foundation Establishment? Is he planning some little trick behind my back?
After a moment of thought, Wang Yin still felt uneasy about Bai Zhenzhen.
After all, Bai Zhenzhen was the merchandise he had promised to someone from above, so there could be no mistakes.
Thus, he instructed Chi He outside, “Make a trip to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s apartment and bring Bai Zhenzhen here.”
Chi He nodded in acknowledgment and then respectfully withdrew.
A short while later, he arrived at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s luxury apartment with a team of men.
He casually swiped his phone, and the apartment door opened on its own, allowing them to enter unopposed.
But after a thorough search, Chi He’s brow immediately furrowed. He called Wang Yin, “Mr. Wang, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are gone.”
Wang Yin’s eyes narrowed. He said, “Have men guard all entry and exit points of Songyang City.”
“You go after them personally. Tell me whatever support you need.”
On the street.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen watched the surveillance footage streaming to their phone; it was recorded by the camera they had placed in their apartment.
Seeing Chi He leading the team in the footage, Bai Zhenzhen frowned. “Wang Yin really did get suspicious.”
“They can’t find us now, so their next move will probably be to mobilize their forces and search the entire city.”
Zhang Yu pulled Bai Zhenzhen and started running toward the outskirts. “Let’s go, now! They have a righteous god helping them, so they must already be tracking us.”
Bai Zhenzhen said angrily, “That guy Wang Yin… not only does he monitor and freeze our accounts, but at the slightest hint of trouble, he sends people to capture us?”
Fu Ji analyzed, “This guy is different from the Zhou Chechen, Zhou Yang, or Song Xu you’ve encountered before.”
“Your past opponents more or less had to abide by the rules of the first layer.”
“But this Wang Yin, after coming down to the first layer, his goal is to stomp it flat.”
“Many of the first layer’s rules are like paper to him.”
“Damn it all… I think even evil gods are more law-abiding than him.”
At this moment, Zhang Yu also understood deeply why Kunxu so strictly controlled the descent of people from the upper layers to the lower ones.
Just one young master had come down and was already so lawless. If a few more came… who knew what kind of chaos they could stir up on this layer.
When the rules of the first layer had limited effect on these people, using the simplest, most direct methods to achieve their goals often became their preferred choice.
In that instant, Zhang Yu felt… as if Wang Yin was a giant beast, closing in on him step by step from behind, not intending to give him any chance at all.
But the greater the pressure, the faster Zhang Yu felt his heart art circulating, and the Crippled Ox he visualized in his mind seemed to grow excited.
I can’t just wait to be captured. If we keep running like this, they’ll catch up sooner or later.
While running, Zhang Yu dialed Deng Bingding’s contact number. “The matter we discussed earlier… I agree.”
“Let’s move immediately. Send all your people to Songyang City.”
Deng Bingding said, “Righteous gods can at most provide support at the network level; they cannot directly descend to participate in this battle.”
“The outsourced personnel who can participate are currently working overtime in various parts of the first layer. To gather them in Songyang City, it will take about six hours to form an effective fighting force.”
Although he knew that gathering forces from across the 20-million-square-kilometer first layer in under six hours was not slow, thinking of his current situation, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but curse inwardly that it was too slow.
Zhang Yu couldn’t help but say, “I’ve run into trouble on my end. I’m currently being pursued by people from Oasis Group.”
Deng Bingding frowned, thinking, Did Wang Yin discover our plan? Did Zhang Yu reveal something? Or did someone on our side secretly pass information?
Deng Bingding was uncertain for a moment, but she knew now was not the time to be thinking about these things.
She said, “I will send a patrol team to cover you and delay them.”
“You must hold on. Wait until our forces are assembled before you make a move.”
Zhang Yu said, “Then I have a few extra demands.”
“The things we agreed on earlier, I need them now.”
“I also want a secret account, and I want an interest-free loan of 60 million.”
“I also need your help hiding my tracks…”
Listening to Zhang Yu’s outrageous demands, Deng Bingding calmly said, “I can open a secret account for you, it will be done right away, and I will have people protect this account.”
“But as for the money… our budget has been a bit tight lately.”
Speaking of this, Deng Bingding thought of True Person Starfire, who had been raking in overtime pay recently, as well as the large number of other outsourced employees.
She continued, “I can provide at most another 25 million in interest-free loan funds. Any more would require approval, which would take about five to ten business days.”
Zhang Yu frowned slightly, thinking it was too slow.
I can’t just wait for the righteous gods’ support. That’s just waiting to be killed.
I have to find a way to reach Foundation Establishment quickly and grasp stronger combat power.
It seems that at this point, the only way is to completely unleash Zhen’s and my Immortal Dao potential to help me attempt Foundation Establishment with a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
Meanwhile, Chi He was leading more than ten experts at the peak of Qi Refinement, tracking Zhang Yu’s trail.
A large number of surveillance screenshots, cell phone signal data, network data… were continuously transmitted to him, bringing Chi He ever closer to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
Ye Mantian, who was in the team, was particularly excited. Although he didn’t know how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had offended Mr. Wang, the thought of the impending capture made him feel that his chance to redeem himself had come.
Following the tracking data, their group surrounded the area from all sides, but they soon discovered that the location marked on their phones was completely empty.
Chi He frowned. “What’s going on?”
A righteous god’s voice came from his phone, “Another righteous god is shielding them.”
“But it doesn’t matter. The entire city of Songyang is filled with my eyes and ears. The other party can create some false data, but they can’t fake all of it.”
“They can’t hide.”
In the divine power network, as the righteous gods on both sides made their moves, large amounts of data containing traces of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen flickered in and out of existence.
Although this data was a mix of true and false, ever-changing, after cross-referencing it with the vast amount of surveillance data within Songyang City, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s escape route was eventually pieced together bit by bit.
But just then, a group of Songyang patrol officers blocked their path.
“Routine inspection. Please cooperate.”
Chi He said, “I’m very familiar with your captain…”
The officer said coldly, “We need you to cooperate.”
Chi He said, “Then can I at least make a call?”
“It’s to Mr. Wang.”
After saying this, without waiting for the other party’s consent, he had already dialed Wang Yin’s number.
And upon hearing the words “Mr. Wang,” the patrol officers present couldn’t help but pause their actions, silently waiting for Chi He to finish his call.
In the sewer.
As the interest-free loan approved by Deng Bingding arrived, the funds in the secret account reached 25 million, but this number was still far from the 58 million price of a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
So, while moving quickly through the sewer, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen continuously operated their phones, downloading one loan application after another.
Bai Zhenzhen’s fingertips were a blur of motion. While operating her phone, she said, “Yu-boy, I found another one here that can lend 300,000.”
Zhang Yu, while clicking the link she shared, said, “Mm, I just got approval for 250,000 from ‘SafeLoan.’ You should try it too.”
Last year, Zhang Yu’s and Bai Zhenzhen’s Immortal Dao potential had been exhausted, and they had nearly maxed out all their borrowing limits.
But with the acquisition of the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate, coupled with the publicity from Oasis Group, the two’s Immortal Dao potential had skyrocketed—exploding, surging, and soaring!
At this moment, under the full-throttle efforts of the two, their immense Immortal Dao potential was continuously being unleashed and channeled into Zhang Yu’s body.
With this operation, the funds in the secret account, symbolizing Zhang Yu’s current Immortal Dao potential, shot up, quickly rising from 25 million to 28 million… 30 million… 40 million… seemingly getting closer and closer to the requirement for Foundation Establishment with a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
But the number finally stalled at 43 million.
Bai Zhenzhen looked at the 43 million figure and frowned. “We’ve both borrowed from every platform we can. We’re still at least 15 million short of buying a Heavenly Spiritual Root for Foundation Establishment.”
Zhang Yu, beside her, had his brows tightly locked. A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up. “No… there’s more.”
“You forgot we have a backup source of Immortal Dao potential.”
Inside White Dragon High School.
Yu Xinghan looked at his vibrating phone. On it was a message from Zhang Yu: I am Zhang Yu, the strongest high school student on the first layer of Kunxu. I have encountered an emergency and need to attempt Foundation Establishment with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, but I’m a little short on funds. Lend me money now, and I will repay you 1.3 times the amount in the future.
“Crazy bastard,” Yu Xinghan cursed inwardly and turned off his phone screen.
However, a moment later, he still called. “Hello? Has your account been hacked?”
Hearing that it was indeed Zhang Yu on the other end of the line, and that he was indeed the one asking to borrow money, Yu Xinghan finally hung up.
Then he thought for a moment and finally picked up his phone again. “You’d damn well better pay it back at 1.3 times.”
“This is over a million of my hard-earned money.”
Inside Purple Cloud High School.
Le Mulan was slightly taken aback by the message on her phone. She also made a call to confirm its authenticity.
Then, as she transferred the money, she thought, If Zhang Yu really succeeds in his Foundation Establishment…
Then the materials from his body will be the materials of a Foundation Establishment ancestor.
At this thought, Le Mulan felt a slight thrill of excitement.
Qian Shen hung up the phone and looked at his parents. “Dad, Mom, I want to lend some money to Zhang Yu.”
“You’re worried he’s scamming me?”
“How is that possible?”
“A slacker with a score below 550 might exaggerate.”
“But a competition champion with a score above 660, the winner of the Foundation Establishment exam, is unlikely to lie.”
“Investing in the strongest high school student in the college entrance examination system, I think it’s a sure win.”
In the Spirit Realm.
Mo Tianyi sent a group message: “I’ve confirmed it. Zhang Yu urgently needs a sum of money to break through to Foundation Establishment.”
“Everyone’s gotten their monthly salary, right? Those who have money, lend him some.”
“After all, Zhang Yu is a genius who has finally emerged from among us poor people. It’s not easy for him to reach Foundation Establishment…”
In the reserve.
Xiong Wenwu, who was currently leeching off a spirit vein, looked at his phone and said, “An’an, I’ll just transfer it to him. You should save your own money.”
An’an said indignantly, “I just got my salary of 2,500. 1.3 times that is 3,250!”
In a temporary rental room.
Zhao Tianxing’s mother looked at the message from Zhang Yu, her initially agitated expression gradually calming.
Just then, Zhao Tianxing’s voice suddenly came from a nearby computer, “Mom, call him to confirm if it’s real.”
“If it really is a message from Zhang Yu asking to borrow money, then lend him the money you saved up to ransom me.”
“I believe in A’Yu’s character.”
“He will definitely pay back 1.3 times the amount, and we need that money.”
On the corporate battlefield.
True Person Starfire looked at the message that appeared in his eye bionic and was somewhat surprised. “Borrowing money for Foundation Establishment? Did this kid really have a falling out with that Wang Yin from Oasis?”
After confirming the authenticity of the message, True Person Starfire thought to himself, This disciple of mine has some backbone.
He was about to transfer the money but then remembered that most of his money was currently with his daughter.
So, he sent a message to Li Xuelian: “Lend a sum of money to Zhang Yu.”