Chapter 367: Chapter 352: Climbing a High Branch

Tang You jumped in fright.

’How did he get here?’

The man swiveled the office chair he was sitting in, turning to face Tang You, who was still standing dazed at the door.

"What’s this? Has Mr. Tang found a higher branch to climb, so now he won’t even acknowledge an old friend?"

Tang You snapped back to his senses and instinctively shut the office door.

Only then did he lean against the back of the door and slowly let out a breath.

He gave a wry smile. "Mr. Liu, what are you talking about? We’ve been friends for so many years..."

Sitting behind Tang You’s desk, Liu Bo cut him off with a smirk. "We’ve been friends for so many years, so whatever Mr. Tang thinks I meant, that’s exactly what I meant."

A flicker crossed Tang You’s eyes, but he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he patted his chest and casually walked over to the water cooler to pour himself a glass, complaining in a half-joking, half-serious tone—

"I’m telling you, Mr. Liu, can’t you find a different way to show up next time?"

’A guy could die of fright from you popping up like that.’

’Most importantly, if someone saw this and went running their mouth to Miss Gu, I wouldn’t be able to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River.’

Tang You gulped down several mouthfuls of water, finally calming his rapidly beating heart.

Liu Bo crossed his legs, swiveling the leather office chair slightly. He leaned back, narrowed his eyes, and remarked as if to himself, "The Base Commander’s chair really is comfortable."

A flicker crossed Tang You’s eyes. He took another sip of water, then raised an eyebrow at Liu Bo. "You must be joking, Mr. Liu. If you like it, the chair is yours."

Liu Bo chuckled, stood up, and patted the chair. "A gentleman does not take what another loves." He tilted his head to look at Tang You. "I wouldn’t dare take Mr. Tang’s chair."

Tang You lowered his head and took another sip of water. ’If you people don’t want it, why bother coming here to intimidate me?’

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The vast office fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The atmosphere suddenly turned strange.

The silence was broken when Liu Bo’s personal terminal beeped a few times. He tapped it open, glanced down, then looked up at Tang You. "Did that person really go to Farm 0101 just to farm?"

Tang You nodded. "As far as I know, yes." ’After all, for the two days he was at the farm, that Miss Gu stayed in the planting area the entire time.’

"But," Tang You paused, hesitating for a moment before frowning. "You sent all of City A’s superpowered individuals to the Land of Death. I’m afraid you won’t be able to hide that from her..."

"So what?" Liu Bo raised an eyebrow, feigning indifference as he said nonchalantly, "They went there on their own. It’s not like we held a gun to their heads..."

Tang You glanced at him and smiled without a word. ’If you’re really so unconcerned,’ he thought, ’why come here and beat around the bush trying to fish for information?’

In truth, Liu Bo was also frustrated. In order to move their main elite forces to the Land of Death to search for the Superpower Seed, they had simply dumped the entire mess in City A on Shen Yue.

But unexpectedly, that kid had used the disaster relief effort as a pretext to rectify military affairs. His flurry of seemingly chaotic moves had, in reality, shaken the very foundation of the Liu Family’s power in City A.

On top of that, he had Ye Junhan assisting him, and Ye Junhan’s prestige among the younger generation of the military was virtually unmatched.

The two of them working together had shaken the morale of the Liu Family’s men in just a few short days. The lower- and mid-level officers, in particular, had almost all sided with them. The Liu Family had nearly had their entire home base wiped out from under them.

His uncle in name was furious.

What made the Liu Family even more anxious and frustrated was that despite pouring massive amounts of manpower and resources into the Death Swamp these past few days, they hadn’t found a single thing!

As for the news being leaked to the superpowered individuals in City A... the Liu Family had well and truly been made the scapegoat for that!

And to make matters worse, the person who had first spread the news in the city really did have a slight connection to the Liu Family. As a result, everyone was now convinced the Liu Family was behind it, and they had no way to even try and explain.

It was infuriating just thinking about it.

Liu Bo took a slow, deep breath. His "dear" cousin was a real talent when it came to causing him trouble.

"Mr. Tang," Liu Bo said, suppressing his frustrations as he looked up at Tang You, "you don’t really think that just because you’ve latched onto that person’s coattails, everything from the past can be wiped clean, do you?"

’Once you’re on a pirate ship, you think you can get off without getting wet? It’s not that easy!’

Tang You knew it wouldn’t be easy.

But compared to all the scheming and plotting behind the scenes, he was far more terrified that Gu Xi would, in a fit of anger, decide to make an example of him!

’...With her Combat Power, who could possibly stop her?’

Besides, he’d been clinging to his powerful new patron for two days, and it felt great.

At the very least, Tang You felt the current situation was quite good.

—Miss Gu might have taken over City A, but someone still had to do the actual work, right?

Although the key people in every department were no longer his, as long as he didn’t get any funny ideas and focused solely on working for Miss Gu and A City Base, the people under him would have no choice but to cooperate!

Tang You thought this was actually a pretty good deal.

’If only...’ Taking the opportunity to take a sip of water, he glanced at the man behind the desk. ’If only these people wouldn’t come and cause trouble, things would be even better.’

’...At least then, Miss Gu might be willing to turn the page on his dark past.’

’After all, would someone as magnanimous and forward-thinking as Miss Gu really care about the past mistakes of a small fry like him?’

Quickly, Tang You made up his mind.

"That Huo Changzhou is one of your people, isn’t he?" he asked abruptly.

Liu Bo froze for a second before saying, "No."

"No?" Tang You was surprised. He had always assumed Huo Changzhou belonged to the Liu Family, which was why he had turned a blind eye to the affairs at Farm 0101 all these years.

But now, Liu Bo was saying he wasn’t.

At this point, he believed Liu Bo wouldn’t lie to him.

Sure enough, Liu Bo walked over to him and said candidly, "Years ago, someone used the Liu Family to plant Huo Changzhou at Farm 0101."

Since the man himself had a doctorate in agronomy and the position of farm manager didn’t seem very important to them, they had simply gone with the flow and helped that party out at the time.

However, this Huo Changzhou proved to be quite tactful. He grew very close to Liu Bo’s cousin over the years and did a few things for the Liu Family behind the scenes.

"Then whose man is he?" Tang You asked with a frown.

Liu Bo just shook his head. "I don’t know whose man he is, specifically. But back then..." He looked up. "...when he came to A City Base, he had a letter of recommendation from Dr. Qi."

’Dr. Qi?’

A flicker crossed Tang You’s eyes. His thoughts drifted to something, and he fell silent.

Liu Bo walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "You should know better than I do what kind of person Dr. Qi is." Dr. Qi was a core figure in the Research Institute, and not a single one of those people... had a clean background.

’The waters here run too deep, too murky!’

It wasn’t something marginal figures like them could afford to get involved in.

Tang You lowered his head, took a sip of water, and said nothing.

Liu Bo suddenly spoke. "Actually, I came here today because there’s a small matter I was hoping Mr. Tang could help with."

"What is it?" Tang You asked, looking up impassively, though his grip on the water glass tightened slightly.