Chapter 43 – A Way to Establish Authority

Su Lifeng naturally had his reasons for asking. The F-class Doctor Xenospecies had said that recruitment was not their only method. Combined with what Gouzi had told him, it was not hard to imagine that the Xenospecies must have established other strongholds outside the Nest. They had only been in Ningnan for a few days, so there could not be too many of those strongholds, and the number of Xenospecies there would be far lower than inside the Nest. To Su Lifeng, they were ideal hunting targets.

And if he took out one stronghold, he could slow the spread of the Xenospecies by a little. Compared to the spread of the Xenospecies across the entire world, it might not make much difference, but at least for Su Lifeng, who was in Ningnan, it would make his surroundings, and his family and friends just that tiny bit safer.

At the thought of family, Su Lifeng immediately thought of Su Lian, who still had not replied to his text. His head throbbed.

“You don’t need to worry about that. This place you watch over, where is it?” Su Lifeng shot Gouzi an irritated look and asked.

“It’s at…” The address was already on the tip of Gouzi’s tongue when a sudden idea struck him. He fished around in his pants pocket, then handed over a business card. “Bro, call me. I’ll take you there. If you want to see the exact places where the bodies were found, I can take you to those too.”

Su Lifeng was taken aback. Gouzi was staring at him with a face full of ingratiation and expectation. Su Lifeng had never dealt with a seasoned bottom-feeder like him before, but from the man’s completely undisguised expression, he quickly understood. This thug was scared. He had seized the opportunity in front of him and thought of the survival skill he was best at: attaching himself to someone stronger.

Under the threat of those Xenospecies, Gouzi saw Su Lifeng as the stronger person. He believed that if he wanted to survive in this city, a place riddled with danger and liable to collapse at any moment, he could only rely on Su Lifeng.

It was, in truth, a very animalistic way to survive. Once Su Lifeng understood that, he considered it briefly, then took the business card. Gouzi might be timid, but at the very least, he understood that if he wanted to rely on the strong, he first had to do things for the strong. After what had happened today, Su Lifeng did feel that he was short on manpower. He could not exactly go to Jiang Yushi for everything from now on, could he?

He needed people of his own, especially people who could help him handle certain “things that couldn’t see the light of day.”

“Fine.”

Seeing Su Lifeng nod, Gouzi, who had been incredibly nervous, instantly broke into a delighted smile. He bowed again and again. “Thank you, bro, thank you! Since you’re willing to give me this chance, from now on, no matter what you need done, just say the word and I’ll make sure it’s handled!”

Su Lifeng merely listened to that kind of empty declaration of loyalty and let it pass. But after thinking it over, he felt that for a thug who only respected fists, he still had to establish a bit of authority.

But how?

Whoosh!

A cold gleam suddenly flashed from Su Lifeng’s hand, then stopped right in front of Gouzi’s eyes.

Gouzi’s eyes went wide. His entire body had gone completely stiff, and cold sweat dripped from the tip of his nose.

Su Lifeng then withdrew the scalpel from in front of Gouzi’s eyeball. Secretly satisfied, he said, “Just now, a fly flew past your eyes.” Saying such a classic line really did feel a little awkward. Su Lifeng paused, then reached out and patted Gouzi on the shoulder to ease the embarrassment. “Do a good job. I’ll call you.”

Even after Su Lifeng walked away, Gouzi remained standing there in a daze.

Inside, he was completely falling apart. “We were talking just fine… Why did he suddenly pull a knife on me?! And what fly… There wasn’t any fly!”

But then his legs went weak, and he felt a little fortunate. Good thing this young new boss had a steady hand, or his eye would have been ruined. Also, how had he drawn the knife so fast? Gouzi felt as though he had not even seen it clearly before the tip of the blade was right in front of him. That was not something an ordinary person could do…

Woooo-!

Police sirens soon rang out. Su Lifeng ran along the greenbelt to a small street garden. First, he hid in a corner and wiped the blood from his face. Only then did he stroll out as if nothing had happened.

It was not too late yet, and couples sitting together and pedestrians out for a walk could be seen in the garden from time to time. Su Lifeng walked past them without arousing the slightest suspicion.

Even the sound of the sirens only drew the attention of a few middle-aged women. “Did something happen?”

“Maybe someone lost money in the stock market and jumped off a building again. Society is just like this now.”

“People who play the stock market are still pitiful. Last time, I heard someone jumped off a building because of a celebrity they were obsessed with. Now that was really… What’s that word young people use? Oh, right. Speechless!”

Listening to their idle chatter, Su Lifeng’s steps gradually slowed.

That was right. For most ordinary people, life was still peaceful-at least for now.

“Enjoy it while you can,” Su Lifeng thought to himself.

Yet at that very moment, he suddenly felt every hair on his body stand on end, as if a blast of cold air had shot up from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Something was closing in on him!

Almost by instinct, the slits at Su Lifeng’s shoulder blades began to writhe. At the same time, he gripped his scalpel and spun around.

“Who is it?!”

In front of him stood a little girl with big eyes, one hand still raised as if she had been about to tug on his clothes. She stared blankly at the blade Su Lifeng had thrust in front of her.

“Ye Nannan?”

Su Lifeng was a little stunned. Then he noticed quite a few people around them had turned to look after his angry shout. He quickly flicked his wrist, put the knife away, and looked at Ye Nannan. “Was it just you a moment ago?”

That feeling of something approaching had reminded Su Lifeng of the Precognitive Vision he had seen at the hospital. He had always assumed the Nurse Xenospecies was the hand he had seen in the vision, but what had just happened overturned that judgment.

But Ye Nannan… It wasn’t that Su Lifeng had never suspected her, but she showed no traits of a Xenospecies. During those three days adrift at sea after escaping the island, she had never made any unusual moves, nor had her body shown any signs of decay. If she were a Xenospecies, then faced with a Mutant like him, she should have made her move back then.

“I…” Ye Nannan had just opened her mouth when two more people caught up from behind.

“Ye Long?” Su Lifeng glanced at the burly man.

The young man walking beside Ye Long gave an unhappy cough. “Su Lifeng, I’m Shen Fei.”

“I saw you.” The moment Su Lifeng saw Shen Fei, he immediately thought of that Junior Sister, Qiu Yuming. Who knew if Shen Fei had annoyed her to death yet? But right now, his mind was still on that life-or-death sense of Crisis, so he had no time to think about that in detail, and naturally no interest in greeting him either.

Shen Fei choked on his words, then said indignantly, “Rude much?”

“We saw you from the car. I said it was Brother Lifeng, but Brother Shen Fei refused to believe me, so I told them to stop the car and come after you,” Ye Nannan said.

Su Lifeng looked at Ye Long and felt the burly man’s reaction was somewhat cold. Logically speaking, after going through hardship together, he should have shown at least a little pleasant surprise at seeing him. But Ye Long looked as if he really didn’t want to talk to him. In fact, he seemed eager to leave.

“Su… Little Brother Su.” Ye Long forced himself to greet him, then said to Ye Nannan in a pleading tone, “Daughter, shall we go?”

Ye Nannan gave Su Lifeng a sweet smile. “Brother Lifeng, I’ll come play with you next time.”

“Let’s go…” Ye Long urged again.

Ye Nannan waved lightly, then walked over and took Ye Long’s hand.

Watching Ye Long leave with his daughter without even looking back, Su Lifeng suddenly remembered something.

Why would they be here at this time?

“Hey, Shen Fei.” Su Lifeng called out to Shen Fei, who was still looking furious and glaring hard at him, clearly hoping Su Lifeng would notice.

Shen Fei had nearly given up, only to find that what Su Lifeng noticed wasn’t his anger at all. Instead, he called him in the most ordinary tone possible.

Was this guy really just ignoring him like that?!

“What?!”

“What’s your relationship with Ye Long and the others?” Su Lifeng asked.

“Why should I tell you? Distant relatives, that’s all! Are you done? If you are, I’m leaving.” Shen Fei continued to look thoroughly displeased.

“Wait. I just set up a lab…” Su Lifeng’s mind turned quickly. Judging by Ye Long’s attitude, trying to learn more about Ye Nannan from him definitely wouldn’t be easy. But what if he took a roundabout approach through Shen Fei?

Besides, his lab really did need people. Zhang Hai was dead, and the most capable graduate student in the School of Life Sciences now was probably Shen Fei. There was one more thing: this guy was pretty straightforward and didn’t have much of a scheming mind.

“Ha! You? A lab? Where would you get the funding…” Shen Fei didn’t even let Su Lifeng finish before he burst out laughing. Finally, he’d found a chance to mock him!

“…” See? Definitely straightforward.

“Jiangnan Biomedical Group is funding it. They put me in charge,” Su Lifeng said helplessly.

Shen Fei’s smile froze at once. “Jiangnan…”

A big company. An independent lab! He was so jealous!

But it had nothing to do with him. Su Lifeng had to be showing off!

“I’m short an assistant. Want to come?” Su Lifeng asked again.

Shen Fei’s expression instantly became rather complicated. He really wanted to straighten his back, loudly declare, “In your dreams! A man of integrity doesn’t accept scraps thrown at him!” and then leave with style. But in the School of Life Sciences, he was only an errand boy. You could say he was the assistant’s assistant. If he agreed to Su Lifeng’s offer, he would become the assistant to the person in charge of a lab…

But Su Lifeng was his love rival. Junior Sister Qiu Yuming had been avoiding him because of Su Lifeng.

“Fine, I’ll go!” Shen Fei couldn’t suppress the delight in his voice. After agreeing, he couldn’t help slapping himself inwardly.

Shen Fei, oh Shen Fei, could you be any more pathetic?!