Complaint

Everything that happened with Tu Ran had reached Xie Xu's ears.

He patched into her earpiece. "Agree to him. Through him, you'll have direct access to the Federation's upper echelons."

Tu Ran wanted to ask, aren't you a young master of the Xie family too? Is following you really so dead-end that I can't even reach the Federation's top brass?

Unfortunately, Stephen was right in front of her, so she couldn't ask.

Clearing her throat, Tu Ran feigned reluctance. "I can indeed identify abilities, and your offer is generous, but I'm a Pioneer—under contract. There's no way I can work for you."

Stephen flicked a speck of dust off his sleeve. "I'll take care of that. You just need to say yes."

"Alright, I agree," Tu Ran said.

It wasn't as if she wanted to keep breaking her back in the Pioneer Team anyway. A change of scenery, a fresh outlook—and along the way, she could see what abilities the Federation's higher-ups had. If any caught her fancy... she wouldn't let them slip by.

Tu Ran's agreement was no surprise to Stephen.

In his view, he had been generous.

He had even come personally to negotiate, showing sincere goodwill.

A mere Pioneer with no connections would surely be moved to tears, pledging lifelong loyalty.

...

Watching Stephen's private aircraft lift off and vanish, the smile faded from Tu Ran's face. She contacted Xie Xu.

"Is Stephen genuinely stupid, or just pretending? His thoughts were completely exposed to Zhao Yan earlier, and he still doesn't know. Now he's recruiting me to do what Zhao Yan did. Why doesn't he just find someone to dig out our inner cores?"

There was a pause on Xie Xu's end before he answered seriously. "Compared to the heads of other families, Stephen isn't particularly clever, but he's not stupid either."

"He's arrogant. He has no siblings and is the first heir of the Wells Family. From birth, he was groomed to be family head. With the family's influence, he can accomplish anything, and his innate business acumen has led the Wells Family to new heights."

"The people around him only obey and never contradict him. He doesn't need to scheme against people's hearts to achieve his goals, so he lacks mastery over them."

"He thinks that by giving you so much, you'll serve him with genuine loyalty. Everyone he's met before has been like that," Xie Xu added. "Except Zhao Yan."

After a moment, he added, "Now there's you too."

"Your appearances have taught him a bloody lesson."

"As for why he doesn't eat the inner cores himself—the fact is, not all Federation high-ups are willing to try them. A small minority are still watching from the sidelines. They collect inner cores but don't consume them, because the principle behind them hasn't been studied yet, and whether there are side effects remains unknown. The higher one's status, the less willing they are to take unnecessary risks to their lives."

"Stephen Wells gathers ability users around him—isn't that just placing inner cores before his own eyes? Once the principle of inner cores is fully understood and proven beyond doubt to be harmless, he won't hesitate to dispose of you all. In other words, you're just containers where he's temporarily storing inner cores."

Tu Ran fell silent for a moment. "How far has the research on inner cores progressed?"

"No progress at all. It's just an ordinary stone—its composition is no different from a regular rock. Stephen won't make a move on you for now."

"Did you have me follow Stephen just to broaden my horizons?" Tu Ran had already walked into the Executive Department building.

"Mm. I also want to know how many inner cores the other families have collected." Xie Xu's voice was calm, with no fluctuation at all.

Tu Ran ended the connection and entered the conference room.

The number of people had decreased by one again.

"Senior, Diao Hongzhi came by again earlier. When he saw you weren't here, he said he wanted to file a complaint against you," Le Qin said, indignantly.

Tu Ran pulled out a chair and sat down, then countered, "Since when does our Pioneer Team have a complaint mechanism?"

Le Qin was taken aback. "Uh..." They didn't have one.

"Don't mind him. The frequency of gene monster appearances has clearly dropped recently. We won't be staying here much longer. If I count the days, the Threshold gate should be opening soon." Tu Ran leaned back in her chair, chatting idly with them.

At the mention of the "Threshold," the eyes of the second-generation Pioneers present all lit up.

They lived for the Threshold.

They had never entered it, and at this moment, its allure was fatal to them.

"Senior, tell us about what's inside the Threshold," Le Qin said, dragging her chair closer to Tu Ran, eyes gleaming. "The gate is about to open, and we want to know more in advance."

Tu Ran glanced at the time—it was only noon. With nothing to do, chatting would pass the time.

So the entire afternoon was filled with questions and answers in the conference room.

Besides Tu Ran, the other first-generation Pioneers also joined in, helping to resolve the second-generation Pioneers' doubts.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was very harmonious.

No mission alerts came in all afternoon. After dinner and returning to the conference room, everyone was more or less drowsy, dozing off in their chairs.

Tu Ran didn't sleep. After asking Zero about Diao Hongzhi's current location, she quietly left the conference room and headed straight for Diao Hongzhi's home.

It was only nine o'clock, and the man had already left work and gone home.

Since Zero was on her side, Tu Ran didn't even have to bother dodging surveillance cameras. She practically strolled up to the outer wall of Diao Hongzhi's villa.

The wall was two meters high, and she scaled it with ease.

Over the past few days, Tu Ran had reviewed quite a bit of the surveillance from Diao Hongzhi's home, so she was familiar with the layout. She made her way to his bedroom with practiced ease.

"Yes, yes... I overstepped... Sorry... sorry... Mm-hm... It won't happen again... Absolutely not..."

Near the door, Diao Hongzhi's servile voice could be heard. He was communicating with someone.

Tu Ran stood at the door, waiting for the call to end.

"Crack!"

The sound of something shattering came from inside.

Then came Diao Hongzhi's furious cursing. "She's just a Pioneer, and I can't even report her! A bunch of %￥#@..."

Tu Ran raised an eyebrow. So he was reporting her, but judging by the sound of it, the report hadn't gone through.

She pushed open the door and walked in with a smile on her face.

Startled by someone suddenly entering, Diao Hongzhi flinched. When he saw it was Tu Ran, anger replaced fear. Pointing at her, he spat, "Fine, Tu Ran! You dare to trespass into the Security Department Minister's house! I couldn't get you for dereliction of duty, but let's see if breaking into the Security Department Minister's home can land you in jail!"

With that, he reached for the communicator that had fallen to the floor.

The instant his fingers touched it, Tu Ran's foot landed on the back of his hand, pressing down hard.

The sound of knuckles cracking was crisp and clear.

Diao Hongzhi gritted his teeth, unable to speak from the pain, and punched at Tu Ran's calf with his other hand.