Chapter 75 (1/2)

Huang Xuan had learned his previous lesson. He invited his mother to sign on Furnas' acquisition contract, before signing his name below hers. Zhang Xinyi did not probe too much. To her, if anyone - regardless of whether this person was her son - could double their a.s.sets in a matter of months, this person was worth investing in. Whether this person had help was not cause for concern. In other words, under normal circ.u.mstances, one had no business interfering with another's investment behavior.

If Huang Xuan knew that his own mother thought so highly of him, he would have been over the moon. However, the Huangs had too much on their minds at that moment, and Huang Xuan had even more on his.

Even Huang Qunsheng had rushed back to the country to visit Huang Jindi together with Huang Xuan. His condition did not seem to be improving. Many of the Huangs had gone down to the hospital. Although not all of them were as devastated as Huang Xuan, there were hardly any who gloated.

Huang Jindi had been the leader of the Huang Family for over 20 years. He had his fair share of criticism, especially from his first and second wives, for resorting to underhanded means and despicable methods. However, it was undeniable that the Huangs prospered under his leaders.h.i.+p.

Huang Xuan's grandfather was hardly seen laughing. He was always fair when resolving issues in the family. He might have been biased toward his third wife, but he never abused his authority as the leader of the family to take advantage of anyone. He remained pa.s.sive as much as he could. Apart from partic.i.p.ating in the anniversary, he hardly meddled with the management of the family foundation. If there was one thing that Huang Xuan learned from him, it was to leave professional problems to the professionals. All these qualities had always been buried by jealousy and greed. It was only when Huang Jindi finally collapsed that everybody began to appreciate him.

The Huang family's business ran smoothly only because Huang Jindi's career was smooth. The four branches of the Huang family managed to live in prosperity only because Huang Jindi was impartial. The Huang family's a.s.sets were flouris.h.i.+ng only because Huang Jindi remained pa.s.sive.

Huang Jindi was the family's protective umbrella. Even the eldest, Huang Sugui, and the second eldest, Huang Peichi, understood. Although they always fought for control over the umbrella, they wanted nothing more than to gain possession of a larger sheltered area. They both knew that their efforts would be futile if the umbrella broke.

In fact, Huang Sugui had already backed down. He had spent the last two days shuttling between the family foundation and the hospital, trying to minimize conflicts within the family. At that moment, everybody in the Huang family was most concerned about Huang Jindi's health.

In the hospital, Huang Xuan felt a warm familial bond that had been absent for a long time. This was compa.s.sion for one another in a big family, different from the familial bond between parent and child or brother and sister. This was unity with a touch of estrangement.

Even those from the third generation, like Huang Liming and Huang Jianxuan, were filled with sorrow. After all, the man who lay in the sickbed was their third grandfather. He was the one who taught them the family rules and checked on their academic grades when they were younger.

Huang Xuan muttered a silent prayer to the G.o.ds. He prayed for his grandfather's speedy recovery. He did not genuinely believe that these ”G.o.ds” were more powerful than Rolin, but he could only hope that they would lend a hand by miraculously healing his grandfather.

Most of the people in the room observed Huang Jindi's condition in complete silence. n.o.body wanted the protective umbrella over their heads to collapse. Yet, they knew that if it did, many smaller umbrellas would have to take its place. Regardless of whether they could afford to erect those smaller umbrellas, they knew that gaining something from the fall of the main umbrella was going to benefit them. In fact, it would probably benefit them significantly.

At that moment, Huang Xuan only wanted to capture the wretched time traveler. Of course, if he was willing to hand over a recipe for an anti-aging panacea, Huang Xuan could consider letting him off.

As he lay comfortably on his bed at home, Huang Xuan attempted to stare directly at the sun. He continued to do so until the sun's rays gradually became weaker. The view from his room was remarkable. There were no tall buildings nearby, and his floor-to-ceiling windows allowed him an un.o.bstructed view of the sunset from his bed. As he thought deeply about the time travelers, he stared at the setting sun, which had become a red ball by then. Rolin had spent the previous night invading all the necessary systems. His advanced technology and familiarity with the current technology helped him significantly in uncovering the time traveler's ident.i.ty.

Many foreigners entered and left China each day. However, as long as he focused on Brazilians who came in and out of Nanjing in a certain time period, and who had no clear reason for doing so, he only had approximately a hundred people to observe.

The time traveler seemed to have noticed that the energy in the buffer zone had increased tremendously. There had not been much energy fluctuation over the past two days. It was almost as if they had evaporated into thin air.

Still staring at the red sun, Huang Xuan asked, ”Rolin, what do you think the time traveler is doing now?”

”I'm not able to see him.”

”It's now much more difficult to access the plane pa.s.sage, yet his energy is depleting. What advice would you give me if I were in his shoes?”

”Try to take possession of the base.”

Huang Xuan paused, stunned. Suddenly, he jumped up and asked, ”Can he access or take control of the base without using energy?

”Of course not. He doesn't have superpowers. Even if he undergoes the system's spatial and temporal training, he will not be able to take control of the base without using energy.”

”But if he uses energy, you will be able to detect him, right?”