CH29.1 If I can’t do it, no one else can.

The local thugs who had decided to rob the plantation base tonight were taken down swiftly and effortlessly. Although the society had begun to fall into chaos due to the heavy rain and rising sea levels, the police still responded immediately to such a serious incident and took the criminals away.

The two cleaning ladies and the three agricultural university researchers who had been hired by Old Master Jin at high salaries, were also taken away. It was these five who had betrayed from within, opened the doors to the plantation base, and planned the robbery.

Old Master Jin looked heartbroken when he saw the lead researcher being taken away. He couldn’t understand why this student, whom he had personally mentored for two years, would do such a thing.

In the end, the young man who had came up with the plan gave a particularly cold reason—one that left people at a loss for words:

“The end of the world is here. If we don’t start thinking for ourselves, are we supposed to just sit here and wait to die?”

Jin Mantang was so furious upon hearing this that he almost laughed: “So your plan is to collude with bandits and steal what doesn’t belong to you?! Do you think you’re the protagonist of some apocalypse novel?!”

The lead researcher let out a cold laugh: “If you all hadn’t shown up at just the right time tonight, wouldn’t my plan have succeeded?”

“And with the rain not stopping, anyone who’s not blind or brain-dead knows the end is coming. Since the end is approaching, do you really think there won’t be people like me in the near future?” After speaking, he looked at Old Master Jin. “Teacher, I’m not a good person, but since the end is near, you’d better open your eyes and stop trusting others so easily.”

This kind of arrogant, self-righteous attitude even after being caught filled Jin Mantang with anger. He was just about to loudly refute the researcher’s words when he saw the hot-tempered Fugui brother suddenly appear beside the researcher and, without warning, landed a punch squarely on the researcher’s jaw.

He dislocated the man’s jaw on the spot.

The two police officers holding the researcher instantly straightened up in shock. The team captain immediately reached out, saying, “Brother, calm down! Don’t act on impulse!”

The team captain tried to grab Badger Fugui’s arm, but a hand even faster than his reached out and took hold of that sharp-nailed, long-fingered hand.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. Our Fugui is just a little hot-headed, can’t stand hearing bad people run their mouths. He’s not usually like this.”

The police captain missed his grab and looked up at the tall man who gave off the strongest sense of threat. He was sure this man had combat training—maybe even all of them combined wouldn’t be a match for him.

The man gave off a strong killing aura.

Thankfully, the people standing around him seemed upright and innocent. If he had run into this man alone, his first instinct would’ve been to check if his gun was properly loaded.

The police captain then left with the researcher and the intruding thugs.

On the other side, the hot-tempered Fugui started kicking Xie Tianlang: “Let go, let go, let go! Don’t touch me, you hear?!”

Xie Tianlang lightly squeezed his smooth, fair wrist before smiling and letting go. “Life’s so good, and yet you’re this angry. That’s not healthy.”

Fugui responded with a dramatic eye-roll and a cold “heh.”

The side effects of the bloodline enhancement weren’t something he could control. You think I’m being irritable? Just wait until I get a sloth’s bloodline—if I don’t make you so anxious you vomit blood, then my surname’s not Gou.

Xie Tianlang narrowed his eyes as he looked at the handsome young man. The mockery in the young man’s gaze, laced with calculation, made him feel something was off.

But when he looked again, the youth’s expression had already returned to normal.

Later, Jin Mantang introduced brother Fugui, who had stood by him through thick and thin, along with the especially formidable Captain Xie and the rest of their four-person team to Old Master Jin.

After listening to his grandson recount their journey from Hainan to Qingchuan, Old Master Jin solemnly expressed his gratitude to the beautiful Fugui and Xie the Werewolf, along with the rest of the group.

Perhaps his grandson could have made it here even without their help, but the journey would have certainly been much harder and more dangerous. These five not only helped his grandson—they also saved him, an old man. In a way, that was no different from saving his grandson. A life-saving debt like that was not something that could be brushed off.

So, Old Master Jin expressed his gratitude in a way passed down through generations of the Jin family—a gesture uniquely characteristic of them.

He personally led Gou Fugui, Xie Tianlang, and the other three on a tour of the Jin family’s private research base, introducing its three major sections: the cultivation area, the experimental area, and the storage area.

Then, he took them to the main residence, a private villa connected to the central storage zone of the cultivation base. In a study on the first floor of the villa, Old Master Jin opened a hidden section of the floor, revealing a futuristic, high-tech underground chamber beneath.

The old master led Gou Fugui and the other four to the most secret and secure place within the cultivation zone.

Naturally, it was also the kind of place most coveted by thieves and robbers.

“Our Jin family has never been ungrateful. A drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring in return. Here lies half of the savings I’ve accumulated over most of my life. You may choose anything you like.”

Yes, the Jin family’s way of showing gratitude was that simple and straightforward.

Gou Fugui looked around the underground chamber which is filled with antiques, jewelry, gold, and boxes upon boxes of property and land certificates—and nearly went blind from the glitter, his “Gou-eyes^[1]” dazzled.

Compared to this extravagant underground vault, the grandson’s earlier gesture of letting them casually pick a few rings off his hands suddenly felt… rather small in scale.

“Exactly! Brother Fugui! Brother Wolf! Take whatever catches your eye! My grandpa has more than enough!”

“And really, these things—can’t take them with you when you die, and in the apocalypse, who knows if we can even keep them, let alone if they’ll hold value. Just treat them as decoration and grab whatever you like!”

Jin Mantang was enthusiastically making grand gestures when the old master smacked him hard on the head. “Shut that crow’s mouth of yours! Don’t go cursing your grandpa!”

After all, these were the results of his hard work over most of his life.

Gou Fugui glanced at Jin Mantang and Old Master Jin, then gave a slight nod.

Yep—judging by the look in their eyes, these two were definitely related.

So, Fugui began to wander around the underground chamber. He accepted Old Master Jin’s generosity without hesitation—after all, he had genuinely put in a lot of effort earlier. And truth be told, the old master bringing them down here wasn’t just about expressing gratitude; it was also likely a way to seek peace of mind and a sense of security.

If the grandson could, in a short time, make the best choice without considering cost or personal gain, then the experienced old man surely could do the same. At this point, both the old master and Jin Mantang were fighting alone. If they could add the five of them to their side, they’d be much stronger no matter what came next.

So this wasn’t just a thank-you—it was also an olive branch, an unspoken offer of alliance from the old master himself.

So, Gou Fugui didn’t refuse the old master’s goodwill at all. Initially, Qin Feng, Lu Hu, and Song Sanchuan had no intention of taking anything from these people, but when Xie Tianlang glanced at them, the three of them quickly seemed to realize something as well, and went down to pick out something.