Chapter 118
Shen Zhuo nodded affirmatively to Cameron: “You like him very much.”
“Regarding the sequence of events surrounding the global time reversal, my statement ends here. More details have been disclosed in the confidential report submitted earlier.”
At the United Nations’ secret hearing, Shen Zhuo leaned back in the witness seat. He wore a black suit and a black shirt without a tie. His fair, slender hands were relaxed and crossed over his raised leg. His tone was calm and steady.
“Humanity paid a great price to avoid this disaster named evolution. I hope that in the future, when Earth develops into a higher-dimensional civilization, humanity can stand on a more equal footing and once again make contact with extraterrestrial life.”
“My speech is over. Thank you.”
In the specially arranged hearing room, there were no media, no cameras, and recording was not allowed. All the representatives of various governments were hidden in the shadows at the far end of the room, while only a few investigators sat under the lights at the opposite hearing seats, quietly discussing among themselves for a moment before one of them finally spoke:
“Professor Shen, allow us to ask one more question. The cosmic-level weapon, the Sphere of Time, is now supposed to be…”
“Gone.”
The investigator was taken aback: “What?”
“The Sphere of Time is gone.” Shen Zhuo didn’t even change his posture, leaning back in the large armchair and saying lightly, “I don’t know where it went either.”
The representatives of various governments in the seats began to stir, questioning and probing:
“Do you think we will believe such a statement, Professor Shen?”
“That is a crucial human weapon. It must not fall into the wrong hands; it must be officially safeguarded!”
“The power of extraterrestrial civilizations is not to be underestimated; our country demands to take the lead in establishing a secret research base to fully understand the Sphere of Time at all costs!”
…
“Professor Shen,” the investigator’s stern questioning echoed throughout the seats via the microphone, glaring down at Shen Zhuo, “According to our confidential investigation, there have been signs of a high-level evolutionist appearing around you recently. This person has the surname Bai and is closely associated with you. Have you secretly kept the legendary Evolution Radiation Source? Please answer!”
Shen Zhuo did not answer.
He sat in the very center of the circular hall, also in the lowest seat, facing countless scrutinizing eyes from all directions. He was very relaxed, with an unshakeable and imposing calmness in his eyes.
“Gentlemen, there is something you seem to have forgotten,” he said lightly, “This is actually my third time sitting here.”
“……”
“The first time, when evolution had just occurred, I stood here demanding that the governments of the world hand over the meteorites for centralized destruction, but I was met with a global wave of doubt, failed miserably, was stigmatized, and ultimately could only watch as the second and even third waves of global evolution broke out, pushing the global situation to the brink.”
“The second time, five years after evolution, I was brought to the hearing seat again. You gentlemen tried to convict me of first-degree murder and strip me of all the powers of the Chief Inspector, almost ruining me, only to prove later that everything was just a conspiracy by that extraterrestrial war criminal named Rong Qi.”
“This is the third time. You are trying to accuse me of privately hiding the Evolution Source and the Sphere of Time.”
The investigator couldn’t help but ask, “Are you implying that we are once again falsely accusing you, Professor Shen?”
“No,” Shen Zhuo said.
He stood up calmly, his tall and straight figure facing the surrounding seats head-on, and every mocking word that followed echoed through the hall:
“—Even if I did hide them, what could you do about it?”
After a few seconds of silence, the seats exploded.
“Professor Shen, you must clarify!” “You are responsible for every word you say today!” “Our country will not allow this—” “Guards, guards!”
…
Shen Zhuo raised one finger.
It was a silencing gesture that demanded obedience.
The room fell silent, filled with faces of doubt and suspicion in the seats.
“The Evolution Source has already brushed past Earth. You may use all military means to search the depths of the universe for this radioactive material, to possess it as a new-age nuclear weapon, or to use space signals to try to contact higher-dimensional civilizations again; but I am very certain, the outcome will be futile.”
“Therefore, I sincerely suggest that everyone be more polite to the only person on Earth with nuclear deterrence.”
Shen Zhuo glanced around. The corners of his beautifully shaped lips curled slightly, and in an instant, everyone could see the cold mockery on his face:
“After all, no one wants the Sword of Damocles to fall on their own country first, right?”
There was silence from all directions.
The representatives of various countries had different expressions, and no one dared to speak first.
Shen Zhuo politely bowed, his demeanor impeccable. In the unanimous silence, he calmly turned and walked out of the hearing room.
·
“He’s out, he’s out!” “Professor Shen is out!”
The media waiting outside the hearing room surged forward like a tide, flashes going off incessantly, making it hard to keep one’s eyes open. “Professor Shen, what do you think of the explosive spread of public opinion worldwide?” “Is it true that you served as the only Chief Supervisor during the evolution period?” “Will there be further contact between human civilization and extraterrestrial civilizations?”
……
Shen Zhuo walked forward with large strides, a few blond, blue-eyed special agents forcibly separating the crowd, politely yet firmly stopping them: “Professor Shen, please wait. We heard that you are temporarily teaching in our country, and our foreign minister urgently hopes to offer you a better position to fully protect your safety and achieve some academic cooperation…”
Shen Zhuo stopped, seemingly a bit surprised, and asked with a slight smile: “—To protect my safety?”
“Isn’t it your choice not to make public what you have in your possession a well-considered decision? You are undoubtedly the key to the global situation’s balance. Every country is very concerned about your safety. Please trust our sincerity…”
“Oh, that’s not necessary.” Shen Zhuo said regretfully, “If someone else comes to protect me, my partner will be unhappy.”
The agent almost choked: “What did you say?”
“What are you talking about, flirting?”
A lazy, drawling, yet luxuriously intoned voice sounded from behind Shen Zhuo, giving off a bit of a sarcastic vibe.
Immediately, a tall, long-legged, handsome young man appeared in the special agents’ view, familiarly wrapping his arm around Shen Zhuo’s shoulders. He looked all smiles and amicable, yet a chill instantly shot through the bones of all the agents present:
“Mr. B-Bai…”
The public did not recognize him, but these well-trained intelligence personnel had thoroughly investigated Bai Sheng and could recognize him even if he turned to ashes—
Bai Sheng, supposedly the strongest human evolutionist before the timeline reversal, the only SS-class globally. After the timeline reversal, he somehow evolved again, with the evolution cause closely related to Shen Zhuo. It was from him that intelligence agencies of various countries determined that Shen Zhuo must be holding the key to evolution.
More troublesome was the secret investigation revealing that many who retained their memories mentioned the same point:
This evolutionist named Bai Sheng was the most loyal, most formidable, and unrivaled wolf king behind Chief Supervisor Shen Zhuo.
“Tell your government not to worry too much; I’ll protect my partner myself.” Bai Sheng playfully winked at the lead agent and said, “If you really want to contribute to our little family, you can pay me protection fees. I’ll then collect protection taxes from all countries to ensure everyone’s Professor Shen is well protected. Rest assured.”
The agents: “………………”
Bai Sheng, with a smug air, walked away with Shen Zhuo under his arm. Even from afar, their backs radiated arrogance, as if accompanied by an eighteen-gun salute.
·
Outside the building, a black bulletproof car had been waiting for a long time. Bai Sheng, full of pride, was just about to open the door for his partner when a fateful, cold voice called out from behind:
“Professor Shen, please wait.”
The two turned around simultaneously.
A familiar figure descended the high steps, impeccably dressed in a suit, his expression marked by his signature arrogance. He extended his hand with condescension: “Nice to meet you. My name is Cameron.”
Shen Zhuo: “…”
Bai Sheng: “…”
The atmosphere crackled with tension, as if thunder clashed with fire.
Even though both had excellent acting skills, the scene was indescribable and extremely dramatic.
“…” Shen Zhuo shook hands with Cameron, hesitant to speak, “Well…”
Elton Cameron, the man behind the heavy curtain of power, the mysterious weaver at the center of the web of authority. Outsiders have no way to meet him, let alone visit him; they can only wait for him to come to them like a king—this was indeed the case before he was beaten to the ground by his own brother at the Qinghai Explosion Hearing.
“Forgive my presumption, Professor Shen,” Cameron interrupted Shen Zhuo mercilessly, his English accent elegant and dismissive, “but it is absolutely impossible for you to protect the evolution source on your own. Refusing to ally with any power will inevitably result in self-destruction. This person beside you—I mean no offense, just stating facts—who likes to dye his hair, behaves eccentrically, and seems to enjoy being non-mainstream, is not powerful enough to accompany you against the whole world. And if I remember correctly, he is merely a philosophy graduate.”
“…”
Bai Sheng covered his face with one hand, leaning against the car door, unable to respond for a long time.
The car window slowly rolled down, and Chen Miao poked his head out with a look of sympathy, nudging Bai Sheng’s arm and whispering, “Your in-laws’ threshold is really hard to cross, Bai-ge.”
“…Well, Mr. Cameron,” Shen Zhuo said, taking a deep breath, trying to adjust his tone to be more soothing and calming, “to minimize the impact, I didn’t disclose all the details in the report I submitted to the United Nations, so there might be some facts you are unaware of.”
Cameron: “?”
“Back then, I wasn’t the only one fighting against the world. Besides Mr. Bai, there was another person.” Shen Zhuo looked up at those gray-green eyes and said warmly, “It was you, brother.”
Cameron: “………………”
Everyone present witnessed the moment Cameron’s smile disappeared at light speed.
Shen Zhuo held Cameron’s hand tightly, even though the latter reflexively tried to pull back in shock—but how could he possibly overpower his younger brother, who had violently beaten him three times before?
“I thought avenging our mother personally would earn me some praise from you, brother. It seems that the tearful apologies and declarations of love you made to me were not sincere after all.”
Shen Zhuo sighed, patted his brother’s hand, seemingly quite sorrowful and helpless, but also full of familial tolerance, then turned gracefully and got into the car.
“…”
Cameron stood there, petrified, staring at him. On the other side, Bai Sheng seemed to remember something and said, “Oh, right, brother, don’t forget that you insisted on personally officiating our wedding. Your speech should be almost finished by now, right? We’re counting on you!”
If one had to describe Cameron’s expression at this moment, it would be like being struck by lightning. His fingers trembled like leaves in the wind: “You, you… I absolutely will not…”
Shen Zhuo pointed at Bai Sheng, nodded affirmatively to Cameron, and said with satisfaction, “You really like him.”
With two bangs of the car doors, the car roared away before the swarming reporters could catch up, leaving only a trail of exhaust. From the rearview mirror, they could still see Cameron standing frozen in place, his eyes filled with an expression of doomsday-like despair.
·
Bai Sheng: “Hahahahaha—”
Shen Zhuo couldn’t help but laugh, turning around from the back seat to watch his brother’s desperate figure fade away. In the front seat, Chen Miao was driving to the airport, trembling with suppressed laughter: “Is it okay for us to just leave your brother… Mr. Cameron like this? He won’t do anything foolish in a moment of impulse, will he?”
“No,” Shen Zhuo turned back, “at most, he’ll go back, go crazy and scratch the walls, and then pressure his intelligence officers, but they won’t find anything. Within half a month, he’ll come back to us with his usual pomp.”
The ultimate strategy for dealing with Cameron: never go to him proactively; always make him come to you. If the situation progresses unfavorably, pin him down and beat him up until he faints and his brain reboots.
“Where’s the item?” Shen Zhuo patted the driver’s seat.
Chen Miao understood and took out a metal box from the car’s storage compartment, handing it over.
The metal box was pure lead, solid, and heavy in the hand. Shen Zhuo opened the micro-bomb lock with his fingerprint, and a faint blue light emanated from the crack of the lid. Inside, a piece of evolution source, about the size of half a fist, was secured with a delicate bracket.
This was the meteorite that had traveled across mountains and rivers to firmly hit the back of Bai Sheng’s head—if it hadn’t been the evolution source, wild grass would already be growing on Bai Sheng’s grave.
“When do you plan to use it for evolution?” Bai Sheng asked.
Shen Zhuo didn’t answer. He examined it for a moment, then closed the lead box and exhaled.
“At the hearing, it was decided to designate areas retaining evolution memories as special regulatory zones, to continue the evolution timeline system, establish a supervision office, maintain social balance, and appoint a Chief Supervisor.”
Shen Zhuo did not mention who would be appointed to this position—undoubtedly, there was no one else but himself.
“It’s not yet time for me to evolve. At least not until social order and power structures are restored to balance, and the heightened sensitivity of various governments has eased. Once I complete my evolution and fully control the Spear of Time, I will consider allowing Yue Yang, Margot, Amatullah, and Antonio to evolve again. This way, in case of unexpected situations, the strongest force to maintain global order can be formed immediately.”
The Spear of Time, like a causality weapon, could be fully absorbed into an evolutionist’s soul. Shen Zhuo’s first evolution in childhood was interrupted by himself. As an adult, the time for re-evolution was too short, so the Spear of Time remained in its physical state and was stolen by Rong Qi.
Once he completely absorbed the Spear of Time, no one could take away this cosmic-level weapon. Only then would he consider allowing Amatullah and the others to evolve again—undoubtedly the most prudent and balanced approach.
Shen Zhuo’s actions had a very distinctive personal style: he never relied on testing human nature in his strategies. Even when the second-generation HRG researchers lived and died together, their lives, along with those of their families, were in Shen Zhuo’s hands, minimizing the emergence of dilemmas in human nature.
The only time in his life he was forced to bet on human nature was with Bai Sheng.
It was a situation he truly couldn’t control or threaten; he could only bet everything that Bai Sheng wouldn’t betray him, and in the end, Bai Sheng didn’t let him down.
Shen Zhuo glanced at Bai Sheng without saying anything, just smiling slightly, with a shimmering light in his eyes, and a soft shadow cast by his eyelashes.
The kiss-loving Bai Sheng felt an itch, his Adam’s apple moving involuntarily, but since Chen Miao was frequently glancing in the rearview mirror to signal, he could only cough theatrically and ask nonchalantly, “What do you plan to do with the meteorite after that?”
Shen Zhuo said, “I’ll discuss it with Cameron then. He will be responsible for negotiating with the United Nations. Ideally, an absolutely neutral and balanced institution will be established to safeguard the evolution source. After all, humanity can’t completely stop researching it. Perhaps in a few centuries…”
At this point, Chen Miao withdrew his gaze. Bai Sheng, faster than he had ever been in his life, leaned over and gave Shen Zhuo a kiss, their warm lips touching briefly.
Screech—
The tires screeched sharply on the pavement as the bulletproof car swerved into a huge S. Chen Miao was dumbfounded: “You two… you two…”
Bai Sheng immediately adopted a “I’ve kissed, so what?” expression. Shen Zhuo turned his head, pretending to look out the window, his ears red, and said nothing.
“You two really think I’m a hindrance, don’t you?! I’m just the extra person in this car, right?! Why don’t you two sit in the car and let me push from behind?! No wonder Xiaodao would rather stay home and study for the comprehensive exam than go on a trip with you two, and why senior insisted on sending me out alone for two hours of ice cream last night…”
Chen Miao’s aggrieved shouts floated out of the car, interspersed with Bai Sheng’s coaxing voice, “Good boy, don’t be upset. I’ll treat you to ice cream too,” echoing under the blue sky and white clouds.
The car sped along the road.
In the distance at the suburban airport, a brand-new private jet was ready for takeoff, its fuselage painted with a white heart symbol next to “Shen” on one side and “Shen” next to a heart symbol on the other. Shen Zhuo had agreed to let this appalling design remain until Bai Sheng’s birthday this year—the fuselage glinted dazzlingly in the bright sunshine.
So really got the heart shen, shen heart logo on the jet 😭😭😭 I can’t with bai sheng he’s too funny