Tang Fei understood the old man’s intent; he hoped Tang Fei would unite all the forces he could and make useful alliances.
Such as with Zhong Daolong, Zhong Tianque, and Xuanyuan Mingjing.
For revenge, he had dragged even his own family into the mire; what then was sacred enough not to be sacrificed?
But the whole world could call him that, except for Tang Fei himself.
Because everything he did was for Tang Fei, for Tang Fei’s deceased parents and relatives, for those brothers who drank and battled side by side with him.
His heart was long dead, leaving only an empty shell gasping for breath in the world.
It was an obsession and also an ambition.
Tang Fei looked at the old man and said aloud, "I will do what I can, and what I cannot do, I will find a way to do."
"But, we have different ways of doing things... Just as you cannot become me, you cannot force me to become you. If we did that, we would both lose ourselves. Instead of making things easier, it would only make success harder."
"Do I still have a self?" the old man retorted.
"Then what else do I have to lose?"
"But your words do hold some truth. Act in the way you excel, as long as our goals align, that’s enough. If I were to force you to do things you don’t want to or are not skilled at, we would only give ourselves away," the old man said aloud.
Tang Fei looked at the old man and seriously said, "I will strive with all my might."
"Hmm," the old man nodded.
"Why have you been looking so gloomy every day since you arrived at New Star? Life isn’t as joyful as it was in Old Land... What’s the matter? Without Aunt Cheng, is there much less to enjoy in life?" Tang Fei teased.
"One could escape everything there, but here, nothing can be escaped," the old man said in a muffled voice.
Tang Fei agreed deeply and said aloud, "Sometimes I think, I reflect, whether our struggles to reach New Star were the right choice... Although in Old Land the environment was harsh and we didn’t have much to eat or wear, at least we were facing enemies and opponents we could defeat..."
"After arriving at New Star, we found that our enemies are invincible, countless... Bending over backward, cautious as can be. Living day to day in fear is even worse than the carefree joy of Old Land."
Tang Fei observed the old man’s gaunt and somewhat sinister cheeks and said with a chuckle, "I even suspect the Phoenix crash incident was your arrangement?"
"Otherwise, with Old Land being so vast, how did Phoenix just happen to crash in an escape pod right onto Mount Hate? How did she happen to fall right before me? And how was it that I picked her up? Where are such coincidences in the world?"
The old man scoffed repeatedly and said looking at Tang Fei, "Did I tell you to pick her up? If you weren’t coveting her beauty, would you have brought her home? If you hadn’t picked her up, she would’ve been eaten by wolves, gnawed on by dogs, torn to shreds by man-eating ants... with not even a bone left... How then would all that have followed happened?"
"Such a complex scheme would be impossible even for Zhong Daolong himself... And me, a decrepit old man living in Old Land, how could I possibly do such a thing? How could I have the capability to deliver a fair and beautiful Little Princess right to your doorstep?"
"Really not you?" Tang Fei asked with a skeptical look.
Ever since he found out the old man was of the direct bloodline of the Mechanical Clan of the Lu Family, he’d begun to doubt the authenticity of the event.
Because they were engaged in mechanical research, and no one in artificial intelligence could match them.
They could set up a chaotic assassination around Phoenix, and had the power to control the direction of her escape pod’s crash, and the old man even knew he would be hunting at Mount Hate at that time...
Wasn’t this precision feeding?
Pie falling from the sky, he could accept.
But a Little Princess falling from the sky, wasn’t that a bit too much? Wasn’t the script a tad too extravagant?
"Of course it’s not me. If it were, I would rather Phoenix fall into Little Fatty’s hands than yours..."
"That’s no use," Tang Fei shook his head and said. "Even if you sent her to Little Fatty, he’d carry her back to me to deal with."
The old man was left speechless.
"Forget it, if it’s not you, it’s not you," Tang Fei said. "I was just asking casually... If you really had that ability, our chances of revenge would be much higher."
"What tone is that? It really wasn’t me..." the old man said irritably, detecting Tang Fei’s feigned indifference and suspicion. "If I had that ability, I would have solved each member of the Zhong Family myself, do I need to use you?"
"In that case, my meeting with Phoenix is a stroke of divine fate..."
Tang Fei sighed lightly and said, "The heavens sent her to me, as if intending for me to seek revenge on her family... Tell me, isn’t heaven wicked? It just likes to watch the trouble grow."
"In the unseen world, there is Tian Yi."
"I don’t believe in Tian Yi, I believe in technology."
"By the way, there’s something I want to tell you," Tang Fei said with a smile. "Because of my excellent performance in the mechanical competition, Zhong Daolong has appointed me as a deputy commander of the Imperial Guard..."
"Imperial Guard?" the old man’s eyes lit up and he asked aloud, "Is there a way to get close to Zhong Daolong? If we can get close to him, we have the chance to monitor his movements at any time... With proper planning, we might even resolve the issue at its source..."