Chapter 141: The Cold-Blooded Confession of the Pretender, the Perfect Finale of the Traitor

Ren Zhong had always liked to plan everything meticulously and keep the entire situation under his control.

And for the most part, he had achieved this.

Whenever he applied his mind to analysis, he could even see right through people's hearts.

Yet this time, the situation was far too complex, with an overwhelming number of variable impact factors. Even he could not predict how the Ma family father and daughter would react to his betrayal.

Three days ago, in the dead of night, he had already had an initial "showdown" with Ma Dafu, giving him advance notice of his "betrayal."

For three whole days, Ma Dafu had not contacted him once.

Instead, the carefree Ma Xiaoling remained as warm and chummy with him as ever.

It was obvious that Ma Dafu had once again kept certain matters from his foolish daughter, terrified of acting rashly.

However, a paper wall cannot contain a fire; there always comes a time when the dust settles.

By now, Ma Dafu only needed to take one look at Ren Zhong’s expression to know that his worst speculation from the past few days had become reality.

Ren Zhong genuinely intended to break his word, act perfidiously, and walk away.

This was completely different from what the two parties had agreed upon all along!

Ma Dafu gritted his back teeth tightly, his eyes blazing with fury, staring so hard it seemed his eye sockets would split.

His round, chubby face, which usually looked as benign as a Maitreya Buddha, now bore a striking resemblance to a wrathful Vajra deity.

He was struggling hard to restrain himself, and likewise trying to keep Ma Xiaoling in check.

At this moment, the father and daughter had a way to make Ren Zhong instantly lose Yang Bingzhong's trust: by exposing Ren Zhong's true strength and the real cause of death of Lin Wang and the others.

This was a handle that Ren Zhong had voluntarily placed into the hands of the father and daughter.

Ma Dafu understood this point, yet he was filled with puzzlement over it.

Ren Zhong had no need to tell them this in person; he could easily have fobbed them off and acted as if nothing had happened, yet he did it anyway.

This did not align with the sinister persona Ren Zhong had displayed up to this point.

Ma Dafu did not know what Ren Zhong's purpose was, but his intuition told him that every single move Ren Zhong made must carry a profound meaning.

Ma Dafu desperately wanted to directly question Ren Zhong.

Sun Miao had been taken away by the Mengdu Group. Spark Resources was about to relocate as well.

What happened to the people you promised? Where are your people?

Nothing, absolutely nothing!

What happened to our agreement that you were going to betray Yang Bingzhong?

Then who is this loyal dog and lackey posture meant for?

How have I ever wronged you?

I trusted you so much, treating you as a kindred spirit, so why was the one you betrayed none other than me?

Yet, in the end, he did not choose mutual destruction. He merely looked at Ren Zhong with wrathful eyes. "Step aside; I want to see Yang Bingzhong. You ought to know what will happen to Spark Town if it loses the Resource Recycling Company. I hope President Yang will reconsider."

Ren Zhong sighed. "Mayor Ma, President Yang has delegated all communication work entirely to me; just negotiate with me. Didn't you already know the outcome long ago? What is the point of seeing him now? Is it to showcase that Mayor Ma is a benevolent man who loves the people like his own children?"

"You..." Ma Dafu's expression froze, and he finally roared out, "Ren Zhong! Why did you lie to me? You need to take responsibility for the lives of the twenty thousand scavengers in Spark Town!"

Ren Zhong remained silent.

Meanwhile, a message came through his wristwatch from Yang Bingzhong, who was quietly watching the drama unfold: "Is this the script you two agreed on beforehand? Making a huge scene in front of me to further boost my trust in you?"

Ren Zhong quietly replied: "Yes, President Yang."

Yang Bingzhong joked, "The acting skills of this Ma father and daughter are actually quite on point. Their anger looks so convincing; if I didn't know the inside story beforehand, I'd probably be fooled by them. I really want to see what expression this father and daughter pair will have when I pull back the curtain later."

On his end, Ren Zhong finally gave Ma Dafu an answer. "I am merely an outsider; what responsibility do I bear? What wrong have I done? Supposing I had never come, could you, Mayor Ma, have turned the tides of heaven and earth? When all is said and done, isn't Spark Town ending up like this the fault of a mayor who is merely kind, thinks himself smart, but is actually completely useless?"

In Ren Zhong's ears rang the loud laughter of Yang Bingzhong.

"Not bad! The script you two designed is quite good. But why did he say you lied to him? I haven't even revealed the secret yet."

On the other side, upon hearing this, Ma Dafu trembled violently, almost collapsing to the ground.

By this point, Ma Xiaoling, whose brain always reacted a beat slower, finally fully grasped the situation.

Ren Zhong had agreed with her father to utilize the scavenger system controlled by Yang Bingzhong to continuously elevate his own prestige within the town.

When Spark Resources relocated, Ren Zhong would summon his external team to temporarily replace the functions of Spark Resources, and begin using the wealth earned from stock trading—under the guise of hiring people for external labor—to gradually transfer as many scavengers out of the town as possible.

To help him get closer to Yang Bingzhong, on the day the scavengers first surrounded Spark Resources, she had racked her brains and exerted great effort to meticulously orchestrate a scene.

To help this spy-within-a-spy obtain citizenship and secure the opportunity to build a legitimate town, she had even cooperated over the past few days, striving to play the role of a young girl experiencing romantic awakening for the first time.

Yet now, it seemed Ren Zhong had no team at all, and the scavengers had no new home whatsoever.

It was all a lie.

The entire affair had been a complete deception from beginning to end.

Ren Zhong's true goal was to obtain citizenship while simultaneously clinging to the towering tree of Yang Bingzhong, and then abandon all empty promises and walk away.

All along, I thought I was acting alongside him to deceive Yang Bingzhong, but who could have known that I was the one being played!

All along, Father had pinned high hopes on him.

Yet Ren Zhong had constantly exploited the goodwill of both me and my father.

I thought I was a character in the play, but as it turned out, I was merely a self-delivered spectator.

Both my father and I have been so miserably deceived.

"You damned liar! I'll butcher you!"

The next instant, with a ringing clash, the heavy spear strapped to Ma Xiaoling's back leapt fiercely into her grasp.

Putting strength into both feet, she kicked off the ground with a violent stomp, flames erupting from the back of her silver armor as she whipped up a howling gale.

Wielding her great spear, she soared upward from the ground like a comet, the tip of her spear pointing directly at Ren Zhong's throat.

Ren Zhong did not dodge or evade; he merely spread his arms wide, looking at her with a gaze brimming with a thousand unspoken words.

The tip of Ma Xiaoling's spear stopped three centimeters away from Ren Zhong's throat.

Sizzling and crackling sounds of high-voltage plasma intersecting and detonating emanated from the spear tip.

Ma Xiaoling's teeth were clenched tight, her large eyes—laden with a mix of anger and incomprehension—staring fixedly at Ren Zhong.

She felt profoundly aggrieved.

The tip of her spear only needed to push forward one more centimeter, and the ultra-high-voltage plasma running at a staggering 9,000 kilowatts of power would instantly incinerate Ren Zhong's neck into charcoal.

Yet at this very moment, her body felt as heavy as a mountain, unable to advance a single inch.

Subconsciously, she recalled every single detail since she first met Ren Zhong.

She refused to believe that her judgment of character could be this abysmal.

Clearly, Ren Zhong's kindness was genuine.

Clearly, they had spent such happy times together.

They had traded stocks, trained, and acted together.

For the past two months, everything Ren Zhong had done within a ten-kilometer radius of Spark Town had not escaped the watchful eye of the central surveillance.

Killing the surname-Huang stout man, helping Yu Jin and his mother, possessing formidable power yet tolerating those mischievous brats scribbling graffiti on his walls without holding it against them, committing acts of banditry under the guise of procurement, and even the very act of killing Xing Ming to eliminate Lin Wang's team—all of these were, in essence, righteous deeds.

Every single aspect of Ren Zhong told everyone that he was a good man.

Ma Dafu knew all of this.

After Ma Xiaoling also became an insider, Ma Dafu had told her everything as well.

She gritted her teeth hard, staring straight at Ren Zhong. "You must give me an explanation, or I will really kill you!"

In Ren Zhong's ear, Yang Bingzhong was cheering wildly: "Brilliant! This acting is simply superb! All right, it's my turn to make an entrance."

The moment Yang Bingzhong's words fell, a small hovercraft flew out from the top of the submersible building.

Yang Bingzhong's entrance drew everyone's attention toward him.

His voice was broadcasted through the loudspeaker: "The relocation of this company is already unalterable. But you need not panic; under my mediation, as long as Spark Town passes the census, at most a month from now, a startup resource recycling company will come to take over the market in Spark Town. Although the scale and production line standards of that new company are not as good as mine, they are prepared to implement a maximum commission rate of 20%, which is even more favorable than what I offered. Therefore, my departure is good news for you. You only need to hold on for a month."

Another beautiful lie.

Yet Ma Dafu did not expose it, because while Yang Bingzhong was saying these words publicly, he also conveyed another matter to Ma Dafu via private message.

To smoothly take over the twenty thousand "white mice" in Spark Town, the Mengdu Group had already dispatched externalized scavengers—with scavengers as their hunting targets—who were currently patrolling outside the town.

To cope with the potential massive demand for brain harvesting, the commercial association had also increased the density of hunter deployments around Spark Town.

This was an inescapable, inescapable net of destruction.

The scavengers' path of escape had been completely blocked.

The only thing Ma Dafu could do now was help Yang Bingzhong solidify this untenable lie, which at least would grant the scavengers a final moment of peace.

In the very last sentence of his private message, Yang Bingzhong had even stated: "Isn't this what Mayor Ma has been pursuing? This is your bottom line, right?"

Sure enough, a scavenger immediately asked Ma Dafu with excitement, "Mayor Ma, is what President Yang said true?"

With his mind in absolute turmoil, Ma Dafu nodded heavily. "Yes."

The scavengers instantly descended into revelry, with some even shouting "Long live President Yang."

"All right, official business aside, I still have to handle one personal matter."

Yang Bingzhong cracked a slight grin, a ferocious smile spreading across his face.

The next instant, on the 61st day, the three-dimensional projected footage of the conspiracy meeting between Ren Zhong and him in the office appeared in the sky above the town in the form of a giant stereoscopic movie, enhanced by the high-power projector and sound system mounted on the aircraft.

"Ma Xiaoling is indeed pretty, that figure, that face..."

...

"A licking dog ends up with everything in the end..."

...

"Naturally, I'm going with President Yang! You are the one who truly recognizes my talent."

...

"I still have Ju Qingmeng and two other girls in my own squad; she wants me to sever ties with them. I... I can't do it..."

...

"How far have you gone with Ma Xiaoling?"

"Adults are all adults."

...

"I have a plan to make her not dare to easily kill you."

...

"Not only can you be my inside man spying on his news by my side, but you also promised to marry Ma Xiaoling..."

...

The video finally came to an end.

The sprawling Spark Town fell into a dead silence, not a single sound to be heard.

Then, a surging wave of whispered murmurs arose one after another.

Quite a few people cast looks of astonishment and surprise toward Ma Xiaoling's back, tinged with a hint of schadenfreude that they would never dare express under normal circumstances.

What was this supposed to be?

A public execution?

"Bastard!" Ma Dafu, his face bruised with rage, roared out, clutching his forehead as if about to topple over.

The secretary, his expression shifting uncertainly, hurriedly stepped forward to steady him.

As for Ma Xiaoling, consumed by shame and fury, hot blood surged and swept straight up to the crown of her head with an overwhelming wave of rage.

She let out a shrill scream. "Nonsense!"

Instantly, she raised her spear once more.

Arcs of electricity blazed blindingly on the spear tip, and she moved to thrust it straight ahead.

Ren Zhong wore a look of terror.

While Yang Bingzhong shouted at the top of his lungs: "Ma Xiaoling, have you lost your mind! He is a citizen now! A genuine Tier-One citizen! Even if it's only Tier One, he is still a citizen! As a law-enforcement captain within the system, do you dare to openly kill him right in front of me? Do you know what kind of price you'll have to pay for this?"

"I couldn't care less if I die! At worst, I'll just become a scavenger!"

"Ma Xiaoling! Stop!"

Ma Dafu shook off the secretary's support and roared from below.

The raging fire in Ma Xiaoling, who was confronting Ren Zhong atop the wall, came to an abrupt halt, her mind turning almost completely blank.

Yang Bingzhong laughed triumphantly. "Ma Dafu, how does it taste? A piece of trash like you has no qualifications to fight me. You couldn't even protect your own daughter; a little lackey of mine managed to sleep with your precious daughter for free, hahaha!"

"You Ma family father and daughter are even stupider than I imagined, a sheer disgrace to the Ma family. The daughter you gave birth to actually believed in love. Look at her heartbroken expression, I'm dying of laughter. Hahaha, I haven't been this happy in years."

Seeing the utter loss of face of the Ma father and daughter, an indescribable sense of gratification washed over Yang Bingzhong's heart.

On the wall, Ma Xiaoling drew her spear back behind her with agonizing slowness. "Ren Zhong! I'll give you one last chance. Tell me why on earth you did this? Otherwise I..."

"Enough!"

Ma Dafu bellowed from below once again.

Ma Xiaoling turned back in a daze. "Dad?"

Ma Dafu pointed furiously at Ren Zhong. "Ren Zhong, you scum! From this day forth, we are irreconcilable enemies. Let me tell you, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. At worst, I'll swallow my pride, admit my mistake, and return to the Ma family. Don't think that just because you've become a citizen I truly can't do anything to you, you just wait! Daughter, get down here, let's go!"

Ma Xiaoling turned back to look at Ren Zhong, lingering in contemplation for two seconds.

Suddenly, the great spear in her hand swept horizontally, striking the side of Ren Zhong's helmet like lightning.

With a deafening boom, Ren Zhong was sent flying sideways over a hundred meters from the top of the wall, crashing through several white-walled villas in succession.

The next instant, the thoroughly disgraced Ma Dafu and his daughter turned around and walked away without the slightest hesitation.

Ren Zhong staggered back to his feet from the rubble of the villa ruins, shaking his head as he watched the fleeing figures of the father and daughter, a storm of thoughts churning in his heart.

In the end, he only silently uttered one sentence in the depths of his mind.

Thank you.

Thank you, Old Ma, for your final trust in me.

Thank you, Old Ma, for your final restraint.

I know there are ten thousand incomprehensions in your heart, but you still cooperated with me to pull off this perfect curtain call.

Believe me, I will come back.

I am a person wandering through the cracks of time.

Time will surely heal the rift between us.

Starting today, I must learn to face this feeling of being misunderstood and resented by those who were once kindred spirits.

I must learn empathy.

I must understand other people's hatred toward me, and never let it breed resentment toward my own true comrades.

This time, I'm sorry, but I really will return.

To become a revolutionary in a world like this, the hardships I must face are far greater than those of the past, and I must possess a much higher level of awareness.

He knew it very well.

This was likely not going to be the last time he betrayed his own people.

...

"President Yang, the Ma family..."

Returning to Yang Bingzhong's side, Ren Zhong asked cautiously.

Yang Bingzhong waved a hand. "It's fine. Ma Dafu, his father, and his daughter all have screws loose in their heads; they broke away from the Ma family many years ago, and it's not that easy to just walk back in. Besides, even if they really did return, I'm not made of clay. As long as you stick closely by me, I will naturally protect you, so don't worry."

Ren Zhong said with a mixture of anxiety and joy, "Understood, many thanks, President Yang."

"Ren Zhong, regarding today's relocation, I have other arrangements for you."

"Please speak, President Yang."

...

A long while later, Yang Bingzhong patted Ren Zhong's shoulder. "Although you only possess Tier-Three strength, I am extremely optimistic about your intellect. Once this matter is successfully handled, when we reach Chromium-Carbon Town, I will entrust you with heavy responsibilities and provide you with massive resource support to help you advance to a Tier-Four professional at an even faster pace."

Ren Zhong nodded with intense excitement. "Even if it kills me, I'll get this job done right!"

This was precisely the other dual purpose behind the drama Yang Bingzhong had orchestrated today.

A so-called peaceful breakup was not enough to make him completely let his guard down regarding Ren Zhong.

The best method, naturally, was to make Ren Zhong completely break with the Ma father and daughter and push them to opposing sides.

Only in this way could he truly acquire a trustworthy new confidant.

This turned out exceptionally well.

Look at the resentful, scorned-lover expression Ma Xiaoling wore just before leaving, her heart toyed with.

Tsk tsk.

If she were an ordinary scavenger woman, she wouldn't care a whit about such petty reputation, and if she let loose, there's no telling who would be playing whom.

Yet without a doubt, this chick Ma Xiaoling had a simple mind and had genuinely been infatuated with Ren Zhong to the point of losing her soul.

She truly believed in love.

Thus, when a pure-hearted woman was told right to her face in public that her mind and body had been played with by a scumbag, she would naturally feel extreme shame and anger, harboring an indelible, deeply rooted hatred in her heart.

Good, exceptionally good.

Dealing with scavengers had one set of methods, but dealing with citizens required an entirely different approach.

I, Yang Bingzhong, really am a master at manipulating human hearts; those exorbitantly expensive management training tuition fees were truly not paid in vain.

...

The second-floor reception room of the town hall.

Clack, clack, clack...

Wearing battle armor, Ma Xiaoling paced back and forth, her face a mask of rage.

Ma Dafu rubbed his temples. "Stop pacing back and forth, you're making me dizzy."

"Dad, I just can't accept this. Even if I couldn't bring myself to kill him easily, and didn't really want to kill him either, letting him off that easily? Isn't that inappropriate?"

Ma Dafu: "Well, since he caused our father-daughter pair to lose such a huge face, go kill him right now. I'll figure out a way to protect you, at worst they'll just lower your citizenship tier."

"Uh... actually, it's fine. He and I didn't really have anything happen between us anyway; what angered me wasn't that video Yang Bingzhong played. I'm angry at how he dared to twist us around his finger like fools."

Ma Dafu waved a hand. "Forget it, no matter what we do, it can't change the outcome. What's the point of mutual destruction?"

Ma Xiaoling: "I'm still furious. How can a person be so despicable? What I understand even less is this—I must get an explanation, otherwise I won't even be able to sleep, and I'll literally be ticked to death."

Ma Dafu pondered for a long time before asking, "Do you think Ren Zhong is really that kind of person? Is my judgment of character really that terrible?"

Ma Xiaoling was shocked. "No way, we've reached this point and you're still able to comfort yourself and whitewash him, Dad? You think he really had some other arrangement?"

Ma Dafu: "Yet he did indeed help me gather intelligence. Although that intelligence was useless every single time. For instance, he didn't strictly need to tell me about the tripartite conspiracy between Crystal Mining, the Mengdu Group, and Yang Bingzhong, but he gave me a heads-up in advance anyway. His words and actions have never matched up."

Ma Xiaoling: "Uh..."

"Think back carefully to his exchange with Yang Bingzhong. He told Yang Bingzhong that you wanted him to cut ties with the three women: Ju Qingmeng, Zheng Tian, and Chen Hanyu."

Ma Xiaoling spat out a mock sound of disgust. "Shameless. Had I known he would orchestrate such a script using me, who the hell would have played along with his act."

"Yet just as Yang Bingzhong was playing the video, Ju Qingmeng sent me a message. She told me that Ren Zhong shared a room with her for so many days, and the two of them were completely innocent."

Ma Xiaoling: "Oh?! Meaning Ren Zhong isn't lustful at all! This was also part of his act? What was the purpose?"

Ma Dafu: "Two intentions. First, to expose a non-existent weakness to Yang Bingzhong, making Yang Bingzhong trust him more. Second, long before his conversation with Yang Bingzhong, he already knew this video would be made public. He was throwing out suspicious points that could lead us to make connections."

Ma Xiaoling: "But that still doesn't make sense, right? The census still failed, and Dad, your ultimate objective still didn't materialize. From the end result, he's still the only one who benefited. Even if he wanted us to cooperate with him, he could have told us in advance."

Ma Dafu shook his head. "Because he lacked a reasonable motive to make us cooperate with his act, and it remains an objective fact that he fabricated his background, approached us with unclear motives, and ultimately abandoned Spark Town. At the same time, he wasn't entirely confident in your acting skills, so he needed to see your genuine anger."

Ma Xiaoling: "Wait, my head is spinning. Tell me, Dad, you guys live such exhausting lives. You old schemers... uh, I mean."

Ma Dafu continued his analysis, seemingly trying to persuade his daughter, or perhaps convincing himself: "It was precisely this suspicious point that made me decide to trust him one last time."

Ma Xiaoling scratched her head frantically. "Then what on earth is he trying to do! Where is the meaning in this? I can't figure it out!"

Ma Dafu was much the same, for he too could not figure out the meaning behind Ren Zhong's series of operations; it was clear nothing could be changed.

"So annoying, whatever, I still want to give him a good thrashing to let off steam."

With a fierce slap on the table, Ma Xiaoling shattered Ma Dafu's solid wood tea table and stormed off on her own.

Yet she did not actually go to Spark Resources to block anyone; instead, she simply returned to her own room.

...

Accompanied by a rumbling roar echoing across the wilderness, the submersible building of Spark Resources slowly lifted into the air.

This building had been a large aircraft right from the very beginning.

Having led the vehicle convoy out of Spark Town by nearly ten kilometers in advance, Ren Zhong looked back at the submersible aircraft, turned around, and said to Tang Shuying and Jiang Kai beside him, "Sister Tang, Brother Jiang, President Yang has set off; let's get moving as well."

Tang Shuying smiled. "Ren Zhong, you are the commander of our ground forces. Until the mission concludes, just call us by our names. Our mission is exceptionally crucial, and we must obey the boss's instructions, strictly executing clear-cut, militarized chain of command."

Ren Zhong nodded. "Then pardon my offense."