Final Civilization

Chapter 20: Contemplating the Universe

The private room at Li Garden, today's theme was soup.

"You're saying Yan Jing suspects you might be connected to that car accident targeting her daughter, yet she still signed a contract with your law firm, and even asked you to visit her daughter regularly?"

Lin Xiaoyi took a sip of his Monkey Head Mushroom and Conch Soup, frowning.

"No way, is this woman crazy?"

Han Ming said nonchalantly, "Actually, her caution isn't without reason. Today, while organizing Tianzhou's legal cases from the past few years, which involved equity reforms, judicial targeting, and shareholder lawsuits, more than half of the targets were Yan Jing. This indicates many people within Tianzhou's power circles are eyeing her covetously. If it's like this internally, the external situation goes without saying."

"If this car accident truly involves attempted murder, in the eyes of someone like Yan Jing who loves her daughter as her own life, it would undoubtedly be touching her reverse scale. So, her goodwill towards me and her investigation of me aren't contradictory."

"That woman really isn't simple." Lin Xiaoyi shrugged. "I just don't like dealing with this kind of person."

Han Ming smiled. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Yan Jing is indeed a suspicious person."

"Then why did you agree to visit her daughter regularly?" Lin Xiaoyi looked at Han Ming with a baffled expression. "My advice is to push back on this Tianzhou matter if you can. It's all muddy water, not a drop of clear broth."

"Why push back? I'm a lawyer, not an assassin."Han Ming drank his soup with a composed expression. "In this matter, I'm the person who saved her daughter, not her enemy. Our law firm has already signed a contract with Tianzhou. We just need to handle Tianzhou's surface-level legal issues according to the rules. The rest has nothing to do with me."

"And," Han Ming said with a smile, "Her daughter is quite cute. We get along well."

Lin Xiaoyi was speechless. "Hey, bro, have you considered that you're Tianzhou's lawyer, and you also accepted 30 million from Yan Jing. Is this situation simple?"

Han Ming looked up, a half-smile on his face. "Are you going to educate me on the law?"

Lin Xiaoyi was momentarily tongue-tied, then realized. "Right."

He looked at Han Ming, his expression suddenly turning strange. "Yan Jing thinks you get along well with her daughter... she wouldn't be thinking of finding a stepfather for her girl, would she?"

Han Ming was drinking his soup and choked upon hearing this.

Lin Xiaoyi laughed heartily. "Seriously, I know this buddy who's really into single moms. His approach is to build a good relationship with the kid first, then..."

Han Ming looked up and pointed helplessly at the soup in front of Lin Xiaoyi. "Was the Conch Soup served wrong? Did they give you Pig Brain Soup instead?"

"Tsk~"

Lin Xiaoyi made a clicking sound with his tongue and said with an air of seriousness, "Jokes aside, I have to remind you, the White Widow of Jinghai, that nickname didn't come out of thin air. The more careful you are when dealing with such people, the better."

Han Ming nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Lin Xiaoyi then changed the subject, took out his phone, lit up the screen, and forwarded a file to Han Ming.

"Here, the information you wanted about that Greenpeace and the Nebula Assassins club. I asked a friend in the UK to get it for me. There's some stuff related to Tao Jie in there."

"Thanks." Han Ming picked up his chopsticks and began browsing through it.

Lin Xiaoyi scrutinized him with a questioning look. "Shouldn't you explain to me why you're suddenly investigating this? You don't still have feelings for Tao Jie, do you? She's married."

"According to the provisions of our country's Civil Code, when one spouse dies, the marital relationship naturally terminates." Han Ming said without looking up.

"Damn, are you serious?"

"Just correcting your statement." Han Ming said earnestly. "We were friends to begin with. After hearing about her situation from you that day, I arranged to meet her. I did notice her mood wasn't great, so I wanted to learn about some of her past interpersonal relationships."

"Then you're still interested in her." Lin Xiaoyi judged solemnly.

Han Ming put down his phone, looked at Lin Xiaoyi, and said in a serious tone, "Actually, in social relationships, the relationships between men and women aren't limited to romantic ones. They include many others, like friendship. Of course, you definitely wouldn't understand. After all, in your eyes, women are only categorized as 'like' or 'don't like.'"

"Oho, you think I believe that?"

Lin Xiaoyi took out his phone and started browsing, saying as he looked, "But there's one thing you're right about. The change in her personality really is related to her past experiences. Look at this Nebula Assassins club. It's all about these very metaphysical sci-fi topics, like contemplating the universe, insights into civilization."

"The most interesting ones are things involving the destruction of the world, like 'If you knew the world was about to end, and you possessed infinite wealth and eternal life, how would you save the world?'... Thinking too much about these things is no wonder it leads to depression."

Han Ming's heart tightened slightly. This was exactly what he was looking for, but he didn't show anything, replying calmly.

"Some people drink all the beer, some people dine on the wind and drink the dew."

"This world always needs some people to contemplate the universe."

...

"The Municipal Meteorological Observatory issued a Red Rainstorm Warning + Orange Thunderstorm and Gale Warning at 17:05. Strong precipitation is expected in the area from Jinghai to Fengcheng Songshan in the next three hours..."

Boom.

The sky rumbled with muffled thunder. Heavy rain swept through the sweltering city. Under the night sky, the congested traffic flow, gathered by red taillights, resembled a long dragon slowly moving through the city's arteries.

The windshield wipers swept back and forth continuously. Han Ming turned off the car radio and played some music, trying to calm his thoughts a little.

"If the world were to be destroyed three hundred years from now, and you possessed eternal life and the ability of infinite wealth, how would you save the world?"

This was a sci-fi creative writing topic initiated by the 'Nebula Assassins' club, soliciting works from members who love science fiction literature.

On the surface, this didn't seem like a topic worth paying attention to. Countless literary forums and sci-fi literary circles worldwide have a plethora of brainstorming themes for discussion every year, some even with prize competitions.

But this information was completely different in Han Ming's eyes.

He wasn't sure if he was immortal, but he truly did possess infinite wealth.

This topic was almost identical to the voice in his dream.

The only difference was that this topic had a clear number: the world would be destroyed in three hundred years.

The sky thundered incessantly. Han Ming's mood grew somewhat heavy.

Perhaps by coincidence, Yoga Lin's song "Let the World Be Destroyed" was playing in the car at that moment.

"Time is getting slower and slower, refusing to carry me to the future. The rain is getting more and more sour, the paths I walked have all rotted. The light is getting dimmer and dimmer, who has closed off all hope."

"Just let the world be destroyed, let everything turn to ashes. End all absurdities today. Just let me be destroyed, being a useless person doesn't matter. It's just returning to the starting point again..."

Boom!

A loud thunderclap exploded.

Han Ming looked out the car window at the boiling curtain of rain. Countless neon lights flashed towards the firmament, but their radiance was all swallowed by the black canopy of the sky, as if something was stirring restlessly up there in the heavens.

Returning to the parking lot, turning off the engine, getting out of the car, going upstairs.

Han Ming turned on his computer and began browsing through the materials Lin Xiaoyi gave him.

Most of it consisted of some club records and photos of events. He saw Tao Jie in quite a few of them.

What struck Han Ming as somewhat strange was that while this club appeared to be a sci-fi literature club, it had many young men and women who clearly came from extraordinary backgrounds, as the club often held gatherings of very high caliber.

For example, cocktail parties, skiing trips, yacht outings. The only things related to sci-fi were visits to aerospace centers, weightlessness simulations, and so on.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed that one of the photos looked somewhat familiar.

The photo was from a cocktail party scene. Tao Jie, wearing a beautiful little cocktail dress, was toasting with a group of people. Standing beside Tao Jie was a middle-aged white woman with a warm, enthusiastic smile.

"This person... I feel like I've seen her somewhere before."