I only heard in the morning that the Lord of the Ants had been assassinated by the Facelings, and in the afternoon I heard the news that my grandfather had been attacked the day before yesterday. At this moment, a magical thought inevitably popped into my mind: my grandfather couldn't be the Lord of the Ants, would he?

Xu Shengxing asked while driving, "Have I talked to you about our family's background before?" ”

"Nope." I said, "You never talk about that. ”

I never asked, though. But I've done some research, and I know a little bit about it.

"Our family has been roaming Beaver City since your great-grandfather's generation, and now controls a second- or third-rate underground organization. In the end, it's just a ragtag that can be found everywhere. This underground organization passed from your great-grandfather to your grandfather. And your grandfather intends to pass it into my hands. "I was young, younger than you, just a junior high school student." The academic performance is average.,Eat, drink and have fun with fox friends and dog friends.,Thinking about the good-looking girls in the class all day long.。 It was about the second year of junior high school when your grandfather suddenly told me that he wanted me to succeed him as the boss of the boring underground organization. ”

"You refused."

"Nature is a refusal. Otherwise, there would be no current Xu Shengxing now, and some are just Xu Shengxing, the boss of the underground organization. ”

Xu Shengxing, the boss of the underground organization. I tried to sketch that image in my mind, and then for no reason I remembered Xu Shengxing, who frequently exploded into problematic remarks in front of me and the woman during the Facelings incident.

"What kind of eyes are you?" Xu Shengxing said vigilantly, "Is there anything on my face?" ”

"Nothing." I couldn't help but say, "What about later?" ”

"That old man was going to fight me for a long time. It's like parents who try to convince young people who don't want to get married to go on a blind date, and they want to spend it until I nod my head and agree. He said, "I couldn't take it anymore and ran away from home." ”

"You were still a junior high school student at the time, how are you going to live after you run away from home?" I asked.

"What else? I can only watch it. Besides, I've been awakened since I was in elementary school. As long as a psyker like me is willing to use his brains, even a junior high school student can get money. Of course, I didn't break the law, and I didn't hurt innocent people. Unlike your grandfather and great-grandfather. "Their underground organization is really going to kill innocent people and has destroyed a lot of families in all sorts of ways." I admired them when I was in elementary school, but I hated them when I was in junior high school. The more I grow, the more I hate. After running away from home, I earned money to go to high school on my own. When they contacted me, I just didn't know them. ”

Speaking of this, he showed a nostalgic expression, "I also met your mother Lin Xiaoran in high school. I hid my family background, and I hid my psyker identity, just falling in love with her as an ordinary high school student. I went to the same family in college, and I got married not long after graduation. ”

"Grandfather just watched?" I asked.

"Of course not. He tried to get me back to the family, but I didn't give him a chance. He said, "When I was in my third year of high school, a relative with a brain in the water kidnapped Xiao Ran in order to curry favor with the old man and forced me to return to the family. Later, I killed this relative, but the family background was also exposed to Xiao Ran. Luckily, she didn't care about that and accepted me. ”

His adolescence was almost like that of the hero of an urban paranormal story. I thought to myself.

"If I could, I would like to put that old man in prison. Maybe you think I'm not filial, but that guy is so sinful that way. He said, "There's nothing romantic about the underground. And don't be under the illusion that he's your grandfather and transplant some of the romantic ideas that were shown in film noir to them. They take advantage of others with impunity for their own benefit. If necessary, not to mention the old and young, women and children, even the closest people can be killed. Filthy and disgusting to the extreme. ”

"But you didn't make a move."

"I didn't make it. Although he ran an organization that didn't get on the table, ......he didn't say anything about it, it seemed that there were some reasons for it to be inconvenient, and then he turned back to his topic, "After graduating from college, I managed to work in the bureau. Even if it's a relative, as long as it's in my jurisdiction, it's okay to catch it. In fact, there are quite a few arrests. In this way, I became more and more distant from my family. ”

I asked from the standpoint of ordinary people, "If you want to do this kind of work, you must be able to review your family background." ”

"Other cities may be stricter, but Beaver City is a city of strength. Even Inoue Renta's son can do it, so naturally I'm not a problem. He said.

I nodded, and then asked, "Who is Inoue Renta?" ”

He looked at me for three seconds before he replied, "Someone who used to be my friend." ”

*

Twenty minutes later, Xu Shengxing drove into the underground parking lot of the Puffer Fish Hotel. We got out of the car and took the hotel elevator to the top floor where my grandfather's birthday party was held.

"If you hate those relatives so much, why do you want to come to this banquet now?" I turned to him and asked.

"There are two points." He paused slightly, touched his right trouser pocket, and then continued, "First, he is also my father, and I estimate that he will not live to be eighty years old, so I came to take a look at him on his seventieth birthday." ”

He continued, "Second, I want to show you a face. ”

"Let me recognize their faces?" I asked.

"No, let them recognize your face." He said, "lest those things that do not know whether they live or die will offend you somewhere, and then I will burn them to ashes." ”

With a ding, the elevator came to the top floor.

On the top floor of the Fugu Hotel is an entire venue, with dozens of round tables lined up in the room, where a diverse group of people gather to talk about a variety of topics, and the air is filled with celebratory music and refreshing scents. As soon as we entered, a well-dressed waiter came over, Xu Shengxing handed over the invitation, and then took me and strode deeper into the depths.

I don't know who noticed our arrival first, but the few people who were laughing and talking suddenly fell silent, looking at Xu Shengxing's face, revealing a look of surprise. Then, like a contagious disease, silence quickly spread to every mouth in the room.

"What's wrong?" Xu Shengxing sneered. "Keep talking?"

In the distance, a young man stood up suddenly, "You are—" and then he was forced back into his seat by a few people around him by the shoulders. Someone whispered in his ear, and he quickly changed his face and looked at Xu Shengxing in horror.

Xu Shengxing took me to the deep round table, where an old man was sitting. This old man must be my grandfather. His face was withered, his body was emaciated, his skin was flabby as if it was about to melt, his hair had fallen out, and he was in a wheelchair sitting underneath him. Even though it was his seventieth birthday, he looked like he was in his nineties. He looked at me first, then at Xu Shengxing, and then coughed heavily. It's the kind of cough that seems to have thick phlegm stuck in the throat. Then, he said his first words, "It's okay, keep talking." ”

The atmosphere of laughter and laughter gradually returned to the surroundings, but I don't know if it was a hallucination, and there was a sense of stiffness compared to just now.

The old man looked at me with a smile, "This is my grandson?" ”

"It's my son." Xu Shengxing said, "It's not your grandson. ”

He pointed to the old man and said to me, "This is Xu Quanan." ”

"Call Grandfather." Xu Quanan emphasized.

"You deserve it too?" Xu Shengxing asked rhetorically.

"I'm your father." Xu Quanan said.

Xu Shengxing sneered.

Xu Quanan looked at my hands and feet, and then at my blindfold, and spoke in a very kind tone, "This is the first time our ancestors and grandchildren have met, and it is worth remembering." I've heard about what happened to you and wanted to come and meet you, but he keeps stopping me. Don't you think he's useless? Neither did he protect you, but he also failed to catch the murderer who hurt you with his own hands. I don't think it's better to stop being his son and be my grandson. ”

"Which side do you choose?" Xu Shengxing asked me.

Without thinking, I took half a step closer to Xu Shengxing's side.

Xu Shengxing snorted and looked at Xu Quanan.

Xu Quanan sighed.

"I'm going to talk to him alone." Xu Quanan said to his relatives who were at the same table as him and had been silent since just now, "You guys go to other tables to eat first." ”

As if pardoned, the relatives immediately withdrew to a round table in the distance.

Xu Shengxing motioned to me with his eyes, and I also retreated into the distance and found a place to stand. Although the air was filled with background music and the sounds of other people's chatting, with my hearing ability, even if it was not as good as those psionic people who could enhance their hearing with psionic energy, it was enough to eavesdrop on the conversation between Xu Shengxing and Xu Quanan in the distance.

Xu Quanan said: "Although I also sent you an invitation, I didn't expect you to really come, and I brought my grandson with me." What about my other grandson? Why don't you bring him with you? ”

"Today is not an important day, why ask him to come all the way back?" Xu Shengxing said unceremoniously.

"And what are you doing here?" Xu Quanan said coldly, "You don't think that my life is short, come to see me for the last time, right?" ”

"Of course not." Xu Shengxing looked at him, and changed his words, "I got a piece of news from the secret channel in the bureau today, saying that the Lord of Ants was assassinated by the Facelings the day before yesterday. ”

"This is the first time I've heard of it."

"Of course. You are just the controller of a second- or third-rate underground organization, how could you have heard of the news of the 'big man' whose whereabouts of the Lord of Ants are a mystery? Xu Shengxing said sarcastically, "But by coincidence, weren't you also attacked the day before yesterday?" And the injury is quite serious, relying on the power of the elixir to be able to recover quickly, and it seems to be sitting here unscathed. ”

"Say whatever you want." Xu Quanan said.

"Then I'll be blunt." Xu Shengxing got straight to the point, "Are you the master of ants?" ”

"If I answered 'yes,' what are you going to do?" Xu Quanan asked rhetorically.

Xu Shengxing said coldly: "Then, today is your death day." ”