CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153: THAT IS THE STATUE OF AN IDOL

A daughter from the Sun Family in Beijing married into the top Ye Family, leveraging the Ye Family’s power, their influence has expanded rapidly over the years, inevitably leading to somewhat domineering actions.

Anyone the Sun Family sets their eyes on, whether willing or not, they will find ways to pull into their fold. If they fail, they’d rather destroy than let outsiders have them.

Several years ago, a powerful superpower user was unsuccessfully courted by the Sun Family and ended up being injured and wanted, forcing them to live under an alias.

Thus, Ji Ning must never let the Sun Family people think she is someone without a backing.

One Lin Family might not scare the Sun Family, but if you add the Bai Family, the Sun Family must weigh their actions, especially since the Bai Family has the Fu Family behind them.

Lin Yuanyang’s return to Beijing this time is precisely to connect Ji Ning with the Bai Family.

Bai Yusen’s eyes flashed with a glimmer, he looked at Lin Yuanyang, "Save you? Is it your..."

He left the sentence unfinished.

Lin Yuanyang nodded slightly.

A hint of surprise appeared on Bai Yusen’s face, he couldn’t help but feel happy for him, after all, he had watched him grow up; their relationship was naturally extraordinary. He knew the issues Lin Yuanyang had for a long time, but as it was a Lin Family matter, he couldn’t intervene directly, and could only help secretly.

"The herbs you previously asked me to buy were for this?"

Lin Yuanyang nodded again.

Bai Yusen’s joy spread to the corners of his eyes, he patted his shoulder, "Congratulations."

"Hmm." Lin Yuanyang’s face also showed a faint smile.

"What’s the background of this Ji Ning? She’s really hard to see through." Bai Yusen asked.

Lin Yuanyang, although close to Bai Yusen, wouldn’t divulge Ji Ning’s details to him, shook his head, "Regardless of her background, she means us no harm."

Bai Yusen smiled and didn’t say much in front of him, his gaze shifted to the car window, remembering what Ji Ning had previously told him.

Inside the car ahead, Bai Xiaotang was like a chirping bird, introducing Beijing to Ji Ning.

The current Beijing is constructed with inner and outer cities, although there isn’t a wall separating the two regions, people from the outer city need a special pass to enter the inner city.

Moreover, the architecture between the two regions is distinctly different, the deeper you go into the inner city, the more urbanized it becomes, with towering buildings, bright glass, wide streets, clean roads, and each building brightly lit even at night.

However, the outer city’s buildings are generally lower than those in the inner city, without any landmark structures. From above, the outer city appears like a ring, tightly enclosing the inner city, radiating outward circle by circle, with farms even at the outer edges.

The two places are only a hundred miles apart, yet they seem like separate worlds, separated by the latent hierarchy within Beijing.

The airport’s construction site is not at the periphery of Beijing, but still towards the outer city area.

With vast land and sparse population, there are no towering buildings around, only highways and subways.

Alongside the highway, some farmland can still be seen.

"There’s a farm near my home, planted with a lot of fruit, but we only took one day off. Otherwise, we could go picking." Bai Xiaotang pointed to the pitch-black area outside, somewhat regretfully.

Ji Ning let out a sound of agreement.

Remembering Li Jingjing’s unwilling expression when taking leave during the day.

Taking leave might be harder in the future.

The car drove for over two hours before entering the city, witnessing the prosperity of Huazhou City 120 years later.

She felt a bit surreal, as if the scenes of those days were like a dream.

Is this now the power center of Huazhou?

"Sister Ning, look, that’s the statue of the idol."

Bai Xiaotang pointed to the car window beside her, exclaiming excitedly.

Ji Ning turned to look, and saw a more than two-meter high female statue standing in front of a dignified building.

The statue stands in a posture holding a gun with one hand, pointing the muzzle to the ground, while the other hand rests near the leg, slightly clenched into a fist.

Expression severe, gaze fixed straight ahead, as if there were thousands of troops and horses ahead, and she was a goddess standing in the forefront, protecting the masses.

Ji Ning glanced at it, then withdrew her gaze.

She felt more at peace now. If she had seen such a statue when she first arrived, she would surely have been agitated enough to want to dig up the coffins of her three subordinates overnight.

But now...

Heh...

"The building behind the idol is the Alliance Meeting Center, symbolizing the highest authority of Huazhou."

Ji Ning nodded slightly, her thoughts had already drifted far.

The war-torn era.

Everywhere was shabby and broken, having a safe place to settle was already a blessing.

To establish the Huazhou Safety Zone, aside from her and her three subordinates’ forces, there were other forces in Huazhou as well.

They needed to unite, stand together externally, to preserve Huazhou’s land and its people.

For in that chaotic era, the enemies included not only mutant beasts and mutant corpses but also forces from other continents.

The chaotic era breeds heroes, everyone wanted to be the boss, everyone wanted to be the overlord, but as for internal conflicts, those were Huazhou’s own matters.

Letting other continents seize Huazhou’s land at such times was absolutely not acceptable.

Every Huazhou person’s regard for their homeland ran deep in their bones; they’d rather give up power than lose the ancestral land handed down.

It was precisely this belief and obsession that gradually transformed her from Anhe Safety Zone’s leader to Huazhou Safety Zone’s spokesperson, becoming a powerhouse making other continents wary.

Even though she didn’t wish to hold such a high-standing position, her capabilities meant she had to assume that responsibility.

"Sister Ning... Sister Ning..."

Ji Ning slowly withdrew from her musings, beside her was Bai Xiaotang, excitement on her face, shaking her arm with one hand.

"Sister Ning, we’re almost at my home."

Bai Xiaotang pointed ahead at a villa area situated at a higher altitude.

The villa’s appearance seemed old, as if it had over a 100-year history.

Ji Ning paused, "This is your home?"

"Yes." Bai Xiaotang nodded emphatically, "Sister Ning, my room is on the second floor, where you can see stars at night. I’ll take you to see it later."

Bai Xiaotang’s full attention was drawn by coming home, not noticing the peculiar expression on Ji Ning’s face.

The Bai Family’s villa area appeared modest and unassuming compared to the inner city’s towering buildings, even the shape possessed a certain sense of age.

Yet upon closer inspection, one could see the lavishness of this villa area.

Whether the bricks laid for paving or the materials used for villa construction, none were ordinary bricks and tiles, but high-end bricks mixed with Dragon Rock Powder.

This material even possesses some defense against bullet attacks.

Moreover, beneath the villa area is a very solid air-raid shelter, providing a place for people to hide, even facilitating transfers out of Beijing.

These were built during the initial alliance of Huazhou by several forces.

To prepare against cannon attacks from other continents, they mixed the building materials at the time with Dragon Rock Powder.

This villa area was one of the constructions from back then.

Ji Ning used to stay here when she came to Beijing for meetings.

However, the place where the Bai Family resided now wasn’t where she once stayed.

"Whose house is that?" Ji Ning got off the car, pointing at an independent villa several dozen meters away from the Bai Family.

Though that villa was identical to neighboring ones, a pine tree as thick as two people was planted inside, its branches towering, leaves reaching the second-floor windows.

Bai Xiaotang lowered her voice: "That’s Xiao Yang’s family’s."

Ji Ning raised her eyebrow, saying no more.

Lin Family?

What a coincidence indeed...