jdhmnovel Chapter 238 Identity Card
Chapter 238 Identity Card
Peng Si closed the office door and led Miao Yin deeper into the corridor, where an escape route was now locked by an iron gate and guarded by soldiers.
Peng Si handed the stamped document to the other party: "Open the door."
The soldier opened the gate only after confirming that the documents were correct.
"Captain Peng, please come in."
Behind the door is a staircase leading upwards, which is also the upper floor that cannot be reached after the last few elevator buttons are sealed off. The dim yellow light flickers, like the keyhole to open Pandora's box.
She climbed the steps one by one, and no one spoke. The only sound was the dull thud of shoes on the marble steps. Miao Yin thought to herself that if she had to walk through such a passage every day to get to work, she would definitely blow up this building.
After walking through two floors, the last sensor light went out, and Peng Si stopped.
The soldier in the green uniform nodded when he saw Peng Si, then turned around and opened the door for him.
The office behind the door was in the same simple style as Peng Si's. An old man sat in a chair, calmly reviewing the documents in his hands. Even when someone came, it did not affect him in the slightest.
"Elder Lu," Peng Si greeted respectfully.
The old man put down his pen, raised his head, and revealed a pair of sharp eyes, piercing through the soul, hidden beneath the wrinkles etched by time. No one could ignore him; his extraordinary aura even made the cane beside him disappear without a trace.
He responded, and his calm yet authoritative gaze fell upon Miao Yin.
Miao Yin stepped out from behind Peng Si and met his gaze.
Perhaps it was because the incandescent light flickered, or perhaps it was a blink of an eye; the sudden, dancing light reminded Miao Yin of that night when the base's walls were shattered. Under the eerily pale moonlight, they had exchanged a similar glance.
In that instant, ten years passed like a white horse galloping across a torrent, disappearing into the black vortex, leaving only silver star marks to prove that it had once run here.
He became younger...
The thought flashed through Miao Yin's mind, but what followed was a secret sense of pleasure, as if she had seen a wealthy man she once looked down on suddenly have his gold mine blown up and be forced to live on the streets.
Now she's behind the starting line.
No one knew that Miao Yin had disliked this highly respected old man for a long time.
Even though they had only met once, his attitude of having everything under control and as if everything was within his expectations still left a deep impression on her.
He neither kept her nor stopped her, as if he had long anticipated that he would not stay in Dream City, and also foresaw that even if he provided more experimental materials, Ling would not survive.
He personally trained a disciple who went mad, and then personally killed him, maintaining the balance of Dream City. He seemed kind enough to build a warm haven for people with superpowers and ordinary people, yet he remained silent when he learned what was happening in Ye City.
If there's anything this old woman couldn't do, it's that she failed to get her blood into the lab.
To this day, Miao Yin still believes that the old man was involved in the fact that Tu Hao was able to obtain the medicine back then.
A newly developed drug from a base can suppress mutants and even eliminate the abilities of those with superpowers. How could such a thing be transported across mountains and rivers to the base of the Divine Decree without Elder Lu's approval?
However, it was precisely because of this immediate aversion that she deliberately led some mutants to the Dream City base on several occasions, hoping to keep him awake at night.
As people get older, it's not uncommon for them to die suddenly from overwork, right?
Even with sunglasses on, she couldn't hide her malicious gaze. Old Lu raised his hand to close the documents on the table, and stood up with his cane.
Peng Si was about to step forward, but he waved his hand and said, "I'm not that old yet."
He sat on the sofa next to the coffee table, pointing his cane at the sofa opposite him: "Come sit down, don't stand, it's tiring for me to look up."
Peng Si lowered his head, about to take Miao Yin over, when Old Lu waved his hand again: "I'm talking about her, not you."
Miao Yin chuckled softly: "Captain, are you being looked down upon?"
Peng Si had already understood his meaning. After hesitating for a while, seeing that Old Master Lu's expression was irrefutable, he reluctantly gave in: "I'll go outside. Old Master Lu, call me if you need anything."
"Go ahead." The old man poured himself a cup of hot tea and then pushed another cup across the table.
Miao Yin sat down gracefully, picked up her teacup, swirled it, didn't drink it, and put it back. With the sound of the door closing, only the two of them remained in the room.
"Your name is Qingxi? That's a very nice name. Your parents must have put a lot of thought into it," the old man said calmly after taking a sip of tea.
This was a fake name that Peng Si had given her at random. Miao Yin tapped her fingers on the soft cushions of the sofa and said, "She died young, I can't remember."
The barbed words did not anger the other party. The old man simply nodded: "The world is tough, and it's hard to say. Since you've come to Dream City, just stay here for a while. The base isn't very big, but it's quite friendly to people with superpowers... I asked Peng Si to call you here because I wanted to see you. I heard that you contributed a lot to the rescue mission in Dong Ai Community. As the manager, I haven't had a chance to properly thank you yet. So many lives were lost. Without you, they wouldn't have been able to make it to Dream City alive."
"If it's just a thank you, wouldn't it be better to give me a house? There are too many people in Dream City. Hot water and a mattress are more important than verbal gratitude. Aren't all these people coming to the base for this kind of stability?"
"Young people are so straightforward, just like I was when I was young. No formalities, just direct and to the point," Old Lu said with a smile, shaking his head.
"Don't rush. If you need a house, I can arrange it. But today, we need to talk about something more serious."
"Oh?"
The old man put down his teacup, opened the drawer of the coffee table, took out a file bag and an ID card from underneath, and placed them on the table.
He looked at the file folder, then suddenly sighed, a glimmer of reminiscence in his eyes: "I once had an apprentice, whom I trained for many years. He was young and arrogant, and he said he would take care of me in my old age, haha... just kidding, I didn't take it to heart. But now that I'm ready to retire, he's gone against me. He wouldn't even wait two or three years, and he insists on arguing about something."
At this point, the old man's white hair at his temples seemed to become more noticeable: "Everyone gets old. There's no way anyone can live forever. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the rules of this world. Once you're old, you have to bear the burden. My apprentice was good in every way, but he was just stubborn. He always thought about things that didn't exist in the world. He couldn't understand it even when he died."
Behind her sunglasses, Miao Yin's gaze remained fixed on the old man, her expression unchanged.
The other person's pain seemed genuine, but it was strange that he suddenly recalled Li Kangping, who had been dead for a long time.
"And then?" she asked, intrigued.
The old man's hoarse voice, carrying the weight of years, spoke of the wisdom he had come to understand: "Young girl, listen to the same principle. Listen to whether you understand it or not. A person's life is short, a hundred years, not even as long as a tree. Don't be too attached to things, or you will hurt yourself and others."
"..."
"..."
Miao Yin suddenly leaned forward and took the identity token.
The sign was turned upside down, and the name on the front was clearly written in black characters—Leng Qingxi.
"If you don't like your old name, then don't use it. A new identity is a new beginning. While you're young and promising, don't go astray."
That's what the old man said.