Chapter 455: Chapter 455

Li Yuetian was holding a teacup, wanting to smash it out of frustration, but he restrained himself since it was the last set he had. His face showed an unmistakable sense of grievance. When Jing Shu arrived, she had been welcomed by his nephew, Li Bailong, also known as Xiao Liz.

"What would you like to drink?" Xiao Liz whispered softly.

"The usual, chrysanthemum tea," Jing Shu said with a wave of her hand, nonchalantly.

Li Yuetian, however, felt a wave of oppressive aura assaulting him. This girl had secretly made a trip to the United States and returned with a dramatically changed demeanor, still not completely free from the aura of slaughter.

"Sit, sit," Li Yuetian gestured for Jing Shu to take a seat. He couldn’t help but slam the teacup down on the table with a POP. After a long pause, he said guiltily, "Jing Shu, I’ve wronged you. I failed to keep your belongings safe."

"Captain Li, what exactly happened? And items from your warehouse have been taken too. What does this mean?"

Li Yuetian sighed and started to explain:

"You know we’ve been relying on auctioning the arsenal’s weapons at high prices. This brings in sponsorship of food worth a million Virtual Coins every month. The food is then distributed by designated personnel. Food that can be stored long-term goes to Wu City’s food reserves, while food that can’t be stored is distributed as wages, layer by layer."

Jing Shu frowned and nodded in understanding. It was true. While the best items went to the official staff, leaders, and the major canteens, very little might be left by the time it reached the common people. Still, it was something. Moreover, during this period, most of the food, mixed with various edible items, had been given to the public. Yet, the sponsorship was barely making a dent.

However, the excellent benefits for the official staff motivated others. They supported and pledged allegiance to official work because they were paid properly—this was a real lifeline.

"Just yesterday, I was out leading a team to help with road excavation. Halfway through, Xiao Liz phoned me to report an incident. By the time I got back, the supplies distributor and another individual had already left. They took all the materials from last month, as well as everything I had prepared for this month, cleaning out the entire warehouse! Of course, that included your belongings as well," Li Yuetian said through gritted teeth. His loss amounted to food worth millions of Virtual Coins!

Jing Shu’s frown deepened. This didn’t make sense. Under normal circumstances, no one would dare to target the Wu City Government’s supplies. The administrators of Wu City were quite decent. Besides, employees at the distributor level wouldn’t have high ranks. So how could they put Li Yuetian in such a bind that he didn’t even dare to report the theft?

"Who was that person?"

Li Yuetian pointed upwards. "The son of the person in power in Wu City, Gold Dominator."

Oh, so it was indeed his own family’s doing.

Jing Shu knit her brows. In her previous life, she wasn’t familiar with the person in charge of Wu City. She only remembered that the Tyrant came into power after this person’s death, though she had forgotten the exact timing.

To be honest, in her previous life, someone of Jing Shu’s level couldn’t have interacted with such a high-ranking individual. She had no particular memory of him, except that in the fourth year, when there was truly nothing left, he finally opened the Wu City food reserve and distributed rations to everyone.

He must have been a good person, then.

The impression the Tyrant left after taking office, however, was too profound—his actions and decisions were extreme.

"Even if it is that man’s son, he shouldn’t be taking our things, right? Is this with his tacit approval?" Jing Shu asked. If it really was sanctioned by the person in power, then the supplies she had gathered this time might as well have been thrown to the wind—a total waste. After all, an arm can’t out-twist a thigh. Reporting it to the Imperial Capital would also require carefully weighing the consequences.

Li Yuetian let out a long sigh and then shook his head. "You probably don’t know yet, but the person in power is about to die. Now he’s just hanging on by a thread with medication. His son is likely going all out to grab what he can at the last moment. Whoever steps up now is asking for death. A few days ago, they even extorted a lot of oil from Qian Duoduo, and they took away a lot of natural gas as well. Everyone is hoping he finishes up and leaves quickly."

Jing Shu looked confused. If Gold Dominator’s father was dying, wouldn’t their family’s influence be about to collapse? Why was everyone so scared of him then? Something was off. Timing-wise, that man shouldn’t be dying so soon.

"The wife of the man in power is from the Imperial Capital; she married down," Li Yuetian revealed. "This means Gold Dominator’s maternal family has an even higher status than his father. His maternal uncle is the third-in-command here, also appointed by the Imperial Capital."

"Gold Dominator is a typical pampered son of a wealthy family. He was manageable while his father was in control. But now that his father is dying, and before the Imperial Capital sends a new administrator, Gold Dominator definitely plans to grab as much as he can before heading back to the Imperial Capital. Who would dare to stop him? Sigh... His father, the man from Qingshui, has made many contributions to Wu City over the years. How did he end up raising such a son? Now his reputation is about to be ruined because of him."

Yes, connections in Wu City, connections in the Imperial Capital... It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say their power was immense. Gold Dominator even dared to swallow all of Captain Li’s government supplies; what wouldn’t he dare to do? And the network of relationships in the Imperial Capital was so tangled and complex, it was impossible to know who was related to whom—who was someone’s sister-in-law, or someone else’s cousin.

Jing Shu was silent, pondering. Often, successful and famous people have children who end up committing crimes and going to jail. Perhaps they devoted all their time to their careers, their organizations, and the public, leaving no time to educate their own children.

But Jing Shu hadn’t expected the person who stole her supplies to have such a significant background. Both his father and mother were formidable, and even his uncle was an important figure.

Nevertheless, there were many ways to deal with a spoiled brat like him, even if it was somewhat troublesome. Were the supplies she had painstakingly risked her life to obtain in the United States really that easy to steal?

"What are you going to do now?" Jing Shu leaned back on the sofa, picked up her phone, and sent a few messages to Su Malie and Zhou Bapi. If she remembered correctly, she had once asked Su Malie and Zhou Bapi why they both wanted her Honeysuckle. Zhou Bapi had even gone to Guangdong specifically looking for it.

"It’s for my Uncle Jin. He’s a good person, so I don’t want him to get sick," Su Malie had said at the time.

"It’s for that old man suffering from illness for so many years. Now with the apocalypse, medicine is even harder to find," Zhou Bapi had said at the time.

So, the key person was still this man in power.

CRASH! With a crisp sound, Li Yuetian finally smashed his teacup on the ground. Hot tea splashed everywhere.

"They can take my things—Li Yuetian’s things—I don’t care! But I must get back what you entrusted to me. This time, I’m prepared to give up my position if I have to, to fight for its return. If necessary, we’ll go directly to the man in power. Let Gold Dominator retaliate if he dares!" Li Yuetian gritted his teeth.

Since he had decided to do this, he would, of course, have to face the consequences. Perhaps they could get the supplies back temporarily, but terrible retribution was likely once the man in power died. Maybe the replacement official would even be one of Gold Dominator’s relatives.

Jing Shu smiled. "Alright, then let’s go. I refuse to believe there’s no justice left in the world. If all else fails, we can take our grievances to the emperor!"

Li Yuetian swallowed hard, slightly taken aback. Was Jing Shu really that rash? Thıs content belongs to 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵

"Just, don’t you have a plan?"