The First Order

Luo Lan came over to Zhou Xilong at the bench and sat down happily while the rest of his subordinates scattered to keep watch.

Just as Zhou Xilong thought that Zhou Qi, who was following Luo Lan, would stand behind Luo Lan like his bodyguard had, Zhou Qi actually nudged Luo Lan to the middle of the bench so he could sit down as well.

Zhou Xilong was even more surprised that Luo Lan was actually willing to make some room for Zhou Qi.

All of a sudden, the three of them were huddled together on the bench, looking as odd as they could be. Luo Lan’s large figure nearly even squeezed Zhou Xilong onto the ground!

Zhou Qi closed his eyes to catch up on sleep. “You guys go ahead and chat.”

Luo Lan laughed out loud. “This is the chief secretary of our Qing Consortium, Zhou Qi.”

Zhou Xilong smiled and said, “Oh, so it’s a brother of our clan. May I know what business brought Boss Luo here to the Central Plains?”

“It’s nothing much.” Luo Lan smiled and said, “It’s mainly because some of us in this world were born to be friends, so here I am to make a friend!”

“Although the Zhou Consortium and the Qing Consortium are very close, we’re still separated by a mountain range and won’t get to see each other. Why would the elder brother of the Qing Consortium come to be friends with our Zhou Consortium?” Zhou Xilong said noncommittally.

Luo Lan smiled and replied, “I’m not here to be friends with the Zhou Consortium. I’m here to be friends with you, Zhou Xilong.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve always been a blunt person.” Luo Lan said with a smile, “I heard Brother Zhou’s group is supportive of the research and development of nuclear weapons within the Zhou Consortium but has never been able to convince the conservative Zhou Shiji to do so. That’s why I’m here to help you.”

“How so?”

“Let’s not talk about that yet. I’d like to know why Brother Zhou supports the research and development of nuclear weapons?” Luo Lan said, “From what I know, there haven’t been any wars in the Central Plains for over a decade now. The Wang Consortium to the north has always been on good terms with everyone, the Qinghe Group is content with that little area they occupy, and the Kong Consortium is very far away from you guys. Brother Zhou, who is it that you want to attack by developing nuclear weapons?”

Zhou Xilong said calmly, “Must I use it to attack others? Building a nuclear power plant is also a good thing.”

“Hehe.” Luo Lan smiled and said, “Actually, I know what you’re thinking and who your enemy is. In this aspect, we have a common goal.”

Zhou Xilong did not answer. Instead, he asked, “Does the Qing Consortium really have a nuclear base? I heard that even the Saboteurs have not found it yet?”

“Yes.” Luo Lan smiled and said, “Of course!”

“Then why didn’t you all use it against the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium?” Zhou Xilong asked.

“Um…” Luo Lan was hesitant.

“Even if you had some reservations against those two, why didn’t you use it when you battled the Experimentals?”

Luo Lan stopped talking.

Zhou Xilong laughed hard. “So do you really have one?”

The consortiums in the Central Plains had always been wondering if the Qing Consortium had successfully developed a nuclear weapon. Had it really been developed already? Or was it a lie to make others stay away from them?

There were two reasons for suspecting this. On the one hand, the Saboteurs had yet to find the Qing Consortium’s nuclear base.

In recent years, the Saboteurs had already destroyed five nuclear test sites in the Central Plains and assassinated around ten extremist scientists. Suddenly, everyone was deterred by the danger they were put in and no one dared to publicly declare they wanted to develop nuclear weapons anymore. But even so, Zhou Xilong still went about his life with a group of bodyguards protecting him every day and even spent large sums to hire supernatural beings as his bodyguards too.

Therefore, since the Saboteurs could not find it, did that mean the Qing Consortium was trying to mislead everyone?

On the other hand, the Qing Consortium’s war efforts in the Southwest were well-known. But in this war, the Qing Consortium did not even use any heavy payload tactical ballistic missiles. If they really had any, why did they not use them?

Luo Lan said seriously, “In the Southwest, I once used a particle beam produced by nuclear fusion shot through an astronomical distance to wipe out hundreds of millions of bugs.”

Zhou Xilong didn’t understand but thought it was amazing. “Was it during the previous bug infestation?”

Next to them, Zhou Qi finally opened his eyes. “Weren’t you just drying your blanket in the sun? That’s an old joke from before the Cataclysm. How many more times do you want to repeat it….”

Zhou Xilong was confused.

…

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu, who was 1.8 kilometers away, was leading Zhou Yingxue up a tall building.

Before entering the building, Ren Xiaosu tok a look at the pedestrians outside. Then he stopped in his tracks for a moment. However, he did not say anything.

When they arrived on the rooftop, Ren Xiaosu chose the best observation spot and silently overlooked the park through his spotting scope.

Zhou Xilong’s subordinates did not have this area under surveillance as the high ground here was too far away.

It seemed they also believed there were very few snipers in the world who could hit a target from such a long distance. The snipers who could do this would not want to attack Zhou Xilong rashly either. After all, Zhou Xilong was not the leader of the Zhou Consortium.

Zhou Yingxue was munching on melon seeds as she asked, “What do you see? Let me take a look too.”

As she spoke, she carefully discarded the melon seed shells into a small bag to prevent anyone from using them to get her DNA samples and input it into a database.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly put down the spotting scope. Although it was very far away, and others might not be able to recognize that person, how could he not recognize that large figure of Luo Lan?

He wondered why this fatty had suddenly come to the Central Plains. And he was even with the mission target, Zhou Xilong? So when Wu Tong said that Zhou Xilong was going to meet a VIP today, he was actually referring to Luo Lan!

Wait! The mission text message said Zhou Xilong was an advocate of nuclear weapons development. That did seem related to Luo Lan.

At this moment, Wu Tong and the others were loitering in the vicinity of Liberation Park. However, they did not enter the park according to their plan even after a long time. Ren Xiaosu put down his spotting scope and picked up his sniper rifle again.

Zhou Xilong was right in his sights. If he took the shot at this moment, Ren Xiaosu was confident he could hit Zhou Xilong.

This was the reason why the various organizations were always very annoyed with snipers from opposing forces. It was simply too difficult to guard against them.

The role of a sniper on the battlefield at the front lines was not that of stealth. But in a decapitation strike, even supernatural beings would have to be wary of the presence of a sniper. After all, not even they could not withstand a shot from a sniper when they were defenseless.

But if he took the shot, what would happen to Luo Lan? He would probably get arrested by the Zhou Consortium immediately, right?

However, Luo Lan would definitely not get into any big trouble. After all, the Qing Consortium was not to be trifled with due to their influence in the Southwest. Without any warning, the Qing Consortium had become the largest force in the entire Alliance of Strongholds.

However, Luo Lan would certainly get locked up.

Zhou Yingxue continued munching on melon seeds and asked, “Are the conditions not right for shooting?”

“They’re fine.” Ren Xiaosu said, “But the person next to Zhou Xilong is my friend.”

Zhou Yingxue was stunned. “So you’re gonna give up on the mission…”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Ren Xiaosu look into the scope. He was starting to seriously calculate the ballistic trajectory.

The melon seeds in Zhou Yingxue’s mouth dropped to the ground. Was that really his friend?

So, was a friend or the mission more important?

Ren Xiaosu had already made his decision. Money was the most important.

Besides, he still had his follow-up plans.