Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies-Chapter 1072: Qin Qigong
Chapter 1072: Qin Qigong
Zhang Yi wasn't swayed by Zhu Zheng's attempt to play the victim in his heart.
Because all of this was exactly what Zhu Zheng deserved.
However, for now, he still needed someone like Zhu Zheng to serve his purposes.
So he wouldn't rip the mask off and openly break with Zhu Zheng.
But, Zhang Yi also had a slight concern at the moment.
That was Yuan Kongye's clone, Zhu Yu.
He crossed his fingers and stared at Zhu Zheng as he asked, "How is that precious Zhu Yu of yours doing now? I'm quite curious about her, after all, she was the one I killed back then."
Even now, Zhang Yi still felt an extremely strong sense of wariness towards Yuan Kongye in his heart.
Yuan Kongye's ability was too terrifying, capable of almost limitless growth.
That method of directly plundering others' abilities to strengthen oneself was excessively horrifying.
Moreover, the people around Zhang Yi, Zhou Ke'er and Yang Siya, had both awakened their powers through the Ice Soul.
He wasn't clear whether Zhu Yu's abilities might affect them.
Mentioning Zhu Yu caused Zhu Zheng's gaze to falter slightly.
"Don't worry, the clone and the original are completely different people now. She is my goddaughter now, no matter what enmity existed between you in the past, it has nothing to do with her."
Zhang Yi stared at Zhu Zheng, "So, is she an Epsilon-level now?"
Zhang Yi felt that wasn't the case.
If Zhu Zheng truly had an Epsilon-level in his hands, his attitude towards Zhang Yi wouldn't be this deferential.
Sure enough, Zhu Zheng let out a light sigh.
"A clone is, after all, just a clone, unable to achieve the original's full effect. We've tried many methods, but we couldn't make her break through to the Epsilon level."
He offered Zhang Yi an explanation.
The Ice Soul was, in fact, Yuan Kongye's reproductive cells.
Precisely because of this, Yuan Kongye, as the Parent Organism, could control the superhumans who fused with the Ice Soul and absorb their power.
Zhu Yu was cloned using the Ice Soul, and she only possessed half of Yuan Kongye's genes within her body.
Her power naturally couldn't be identical to Yuan Kongye's.
Therefore, rather than calling it a clone, it would be more accurate to say Zhu Yu is Yuan Kongye's child.
Hearing this, Zhang Yi suddenly asked with curiosity:
"Then who is her father?"
Since they wanted to create the strongest superhuman, the selection of the paternal genetic material surely couldn't be taken lightly either!
Zhu Zheng laughed, "That's something I'll have to keep a secret. After all, this kind of matter isn't something to be casually spoken about for the person involved."
Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow, images of several male squad captains like Deng Shentong and Lu Huang flashing through his mind.
He even wondered if that old geezer Zhu Zheng had used his own genes for the experiment.
But upon careful thought, Zhu Zheng wouldn't be foolish enough to joke around with something like this.
Who Zhu Yu's father actually was ultimately didn't matter.
After all, she was merely the military's experimental subject, a human weapon.
Zhu Zheng expressed his sincerity: "Zhang Yi, you have always been the superhuman I hold in the highest regard! I hope we can continue to cooperate in good faith in the future, working together to maintain the stability and peace of the Jiangnan Region."
Zhang Yi gave Zhu Zheng a deep look, then said with a smile:
"That is indeed something we can discuss."
"However, I would like to meet Zhu Yu." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
He still wasn't entirely at ease about that girl, stemming from the immense pressure Yuan Kongye had once exerted on him.
He wasn't someone who would just believe whatever Zhu Zheng said.
Zhu Zheng thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement to Zhang Yi's request.
"Very well, when will you come over then?"
"The day after tomorrow. I'll come over the day after tomorrow."
"Alright then."
The two ended the call.
Zhu Zheng leaned back in his chair, forcefully rubbing the space between his eyebrows.
This time he had bet wrong, never expecting Zhang Yi to suddenly rise as a dark horse, fighting his way out from under immense pressure.
But this was also an opportunity for him.
His relationship with Zhang Yi was delicate, but at least the Jiangnan Region now had its own Epsilon-level.
In the future, other forces would likely feel some degree of wariness because of this.
And forces like the Erosion Moon or the Tianlong Pirate Crew wouldn't dare to infringe upon the Jiangnan Region's territory anymore.
However, next, he would need to pay a heavy price.
At the very least, he would have to hand over half of Blizzard City's resources.
One part to win over Zhang Yi, and another part to compensate the East Sea Region to obtain their forgiveness.
Before Zhu Zheng even had time to think about how to arrange things for Zhang Yi's visit tomorrow.
Another message came through on the communicator; a call from Li Guangxiao, the supreme commander of the East Sea Region.
Zhu Zheng gave a bitter smile, quickly composed his expression, and prepared to face Li Guangxiao's storm of fury.
In recent days, his calls with Li Guangxiao had numbered over a dozen.
Li Guangxiao was genuinely furious. Being so thoroughly played, resulting in the loss of troops and generals, and having his operations chief publicly executed.
This hot-tempered supreme commander of the East Sea Region absolutely could not tolerate it!
If it weren't for Xuanwu and the others being severely weakened and Zhang Yi having already become an Epsilon-level, he would have wanted to mobilize forces to attack Tianhai City.
Zhu Zheng could only try to placate him with gentle words, then promise sufficient compensation.
Between the two of them, there was another round of back-and-forth tug-of-war over this matter.
Li Guangxiao, who appeared enraged, was actually aiming to obtain more compensation; the emotion was just seasoning, the real goal was benefit.
He also couldn't really do anything to Zhang Yi, who was now Epsilon-level, so he could only extract some compensation from Zhu Zheng.
Furthermore, judging by the battle situation on Star Island back then, the involvement of the joint forces had already made their chances of victory slim from the start.
Plus, the losses suffered by the Columbus Ocean's Hell's Lock were even more severe. Relatively speaking, the maritime pressure on the East Sea Region had actually lessened considerably.
In short, the power plays among the higher-ups couldn't be judged by surface appearances.
No matter how much they tugged back and forth, in the end, it still came down to how much money could be offered, and then past grievances could be wiped clean.
However, after dealing with the East Sea Region, an even bigger problem arrived.
Zhu Zheng received a call from Qin Qigong, the supreme commander of the distant northern Shengjing Region.
Facing Qin Qigong, Zhu Zheng's heart was actually much calmer.
Nominally, the Shengjing Region was the overall command for the Six Major Regions.
But this operation was a joint action between the Jiangnan and East Sea Regions; it hadn't damaged the Shengjing Region's interests.
At most, Qin Qigong could only say they hadn't informed Shengjing.
But what Zhu Zheng didn't expect was that the purpose of Qin Qigong's call wasn't to reprimand the two regions for their concealment.
He just spoke to Zhu Zheng in a grave tone: "This time, you've stirred up huge trouble."
Zhu Zheng was taken aback.
"What trouble?"
Qin Qigong fell silent for a moment, then said slowly, "I told you before, the Divine Source, while powerful, also contains immense danger and secrets. If you discovered it, you absolutely had to notify Shengjing."
"You didn't listen to the advice, acting on your own. I think you've already released a truly terrifying existence!"
Hearing this, Zhu Zheng's mind immediately went to the black-armored, bizarre humanoid creature that emerged from the depths of the Mist Valley, as reported by Jingwei.
He swallowed hard, "What exactly is that?"
Author's Note
