Sundering Nature

Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don't read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.

Fang Yuanpeng had barely recovered from the shock of seeing that much cash and looked at Guo Xiang eagerly to see his response. ‘Wow, four million! The profit will be… That’s probably as much as I can make in one year!’

“Alright, you win with four million, I’ll see if it’s real money.” Guo Xiang spat out between his clenched teeth, suppressing a boiling rage. He had attained the goal of making Li Yiming waste more money than he should, but he could feel nothing but anger, especially when he saw Li Yiming’s impassiveness.  

“Count it.” Li Yiming urged Fang Yuanpeng with a glacial voice. He looked at him in a way that suggested at bad consequences if his order was not obeyed immediately.

“Fast, fast, get everyone to come out with the counting machines. Quick!” The intent to kill buried within Li Yiming’s gaze made Fang Yuanpeng shiver, and he remembered the conjecture he had formulated just a moment earlier. ‘He bought this car for an amount way above the original price. It was a fight with someone else, but what if he decides it’s my fault and takes it out on me?’

Lu Yiyi felt a mixture of shock and excitement. ‘Wow, four million! Look at that! How much would the commission be?’ Due to her youth and inexperience, she did not think as much about the ramifications as her boss. She quickly brought over her colleagues along with chairs, tables, and the counting machines. All eyes within the dealership were closely riveted in Li Yiming’s direction: it was not every day that one could see a fight like that.

The clinking sounds of the cash counting machines reverberated within the hall as the staff rushed to count the cash. Every single time a beeping sound was heard due to a bill being stuck, Guo Xiang’s eyes would light up at the prospect of a fake bill being found. However, when it was determined to be nothing more than a mechanical issue, Guo Xiang would resume his expression of disgust and displeasure, as if he had just swallowed a fly. He had thought about continuing to raise his bid, but when he saw the second suitcase that Li Yiming had brought with him, he knew that the latter was not at his limits yet. Buying a car worth a million and six hundred thousand yuan for four million one hundred thousand yuan was already a bad deal. Being born into a family that obtained affluence through business, he understood that bidding any higher could potentially forever taint his life.

Fang Yuanpeng hesitated about bringing the price down for his own well-being, but with Guo Xiang around, this was a difficult task to achieve as well. “Go fill up the tank.” Li Yiming was trying his best to remain calm. If it was not for the rules of the domain that prevented him from destroying order, he would have killed to get the car quicker a long time ago.

Fang Yuanpeng was relieved to hear Li Yiming’s command. He quickly pulled one of the security guards that came to assist him and ordered, “Quick, get the gasoline from the garage!” Coincidentally, the security guard happened to be the one who stopped Li Yiming’s car at the gate earlier. ‘So I almost barred these people from entering the shop? Look at the amount of cash! If the boss knew about that, would I be fired?’

The security guard quickly came back with two full tanks of gasoline, running at a respectable pace despite the heavy burden and trying his best to show off his physical aptitude so that his boss could forgive him for his mistake. Fang Yuanpeng put the oil into the car himself, and the exertion from the task almost brought him to the ground. Lu Yiyi signaled Fang Yuanpeng to indicate to him that they had already reached four million, and judging by the looks of the stack of bills that remained, there was about three hundred thousand. “Mr. Li, we’re done counting the money. The rest…” Fang Yuanpeng wiped away the sweat on his forehead and came to Li Yiming deferentially.

“Give her the rest.” Li Yiming pointed at Lu Yiyi, who became dumbstruck by what she heard. To the surprise of the shop staff, he immediately hopped onto the car and called for his friends to do the same.

“We didn’t give you the receipt yet.” Fang Yuanpeng yelled while chasing the car that was already rolling toward the exit.

“No need for that.” The doors were sealed shut with a few thuds and with the low roar of the V8 engine, the massive car headed for the road.

‘No need for the receipt? But how are you going to get a license without it? Why the hurry… Could this be some kind of money laundering scheme?’ Fang Yuanpeng looked at the neatly stacked pile of cash and started to become nervous.

Lu Yiyi had still yet to recover from the shock of hearing Li Yiming’s last words. She laughed idiotically, showered by envious stares from her co-workers. Bai Kaini was especially jealous of her good fortune and pursed her full lips to show discontentment. Guo Xiang’s eyes trailed the vehicle and took out his cellphone with a sullen expression.

* * *

“Is it about Liu Meng?” As soon as the car went past the dealership’s gate, Li Yiming asked Zeng Qian.

“It’s… Big Beard.” Zeng Qian answered hesitantly and glanced at Fang Shui’er.

“You found them?” Fang Shui’er was still trusting the person she had initially chosen to team up with for this domain somewhat and refused to believe that he would betray her.

“Yes, they’re under Hengjiang Bridge.” Zeng Qian looked at Li Yiming; this sudden discovery was quite a deviation from their original plans.

“Big Beard? You mean the guy who was with you at the start of the domain?” Li Yiming was disappointed when he heard that it was not a breakthrough about Liu Meng’s situation.

“Our previous team disbanded after what happened in Ning Village. Qianqian and I… we had to look for someone else. He’s the person we went sought to form an interim team for this domain, and they tried to trail the beast that attacked you at the restaurant. We haven’t received any news from them ever since we split up,” Fang Shui’er explained.

“You mean that fox you were talking about?” Li Yiming remembered his knife injury back at the restaurant.

“What now?” Qing Linglong, who was at the wheel, asked Li Yiming. At the intersection ahead, she would need to turn right to go to Hengjiang bridge, so a choice was required to be made.  

“What about you guys?” Li Yiming dithered. He himself thought it better to not be distracted by such matters, since finding Liu Meng should be the first and foremost priority, but the Fang sisters evinced their concern at the fate of their former squadmates.

“What’s the situation with them?” Qing Linglong slowed the speed down and mulled the matter over.

“It seems like they’re in a difficult situation.” Zeng Qian closed her eyes and tried her best to assess the situation through her bugs.

“We should go take a look at least. If there’s nothing we can do, then we’ll leave,” Qing Linglong proposed. It was important to take into consideration the needs of each member of the newly formed team, otherwise it would inevitably lead to grudges and future issues.

“Go then.” Li Yiming understood the motives behind Qing Linglong’s proposal.

“Thank you,” Fang Shui’er

Qing Linglong stepped on the gas pedal and the imposing all-terrain vehicle darted into the right lane of the street. At that precise instant, a patrol car with flashing lights appeared in the rear-view mirror. “The vehicle ahead, please stop on the side of the road. I repeat, the vehicle ahead, please stop on the side of the road.” A warning came out of the megaphone attached to the roof of the patrol car.

“Traffic police? I didn’t exceed the limit, did I?” Qing Linglong slowed down with a frown and parked the car onto the shoulder. The patrol car overtook them and stopped in front of them. Three police officers descended from the car. [1]

“Please show us your driver’s license and vehicle permit.” One of the officers came to the window and asked Qing Linglong after a salute.

“We just bought the car. There’s no vehicle permit yet.” Qing Linglong handed her license to the officer. She abided to the command as it was the usual procedure for traffic control.

“What about the temporary permit?” The officer looked at the driver’s license and at Qing Linglong’s face, a little surprised by the inscribed age of almost forty years old.

“We forgot about it. We’re about to go back to the dealership to retrieve it,” Qing Linglong explained patiently. Usually traffic police would ignore such trivial problems, especially when no laws were broken.

“A new car?”

“Yes, we’ve just taken it onto the road, actually.”

“What about the receipt then?”

“We’ve forgotten about that as well.”

“No receipt?” The officer seemed stunned, but something about his expression suggested that he had actually expected the answer. Li Yiming caught the detail and realized that the officer could have ulterior motives.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you to disembark from your vehicle.” The officer pushed a button on his radio and shut it down.

“What is it? I’m not aware that we broke any law.” Qing Linglong was growing impatient.

“We’ve received a report that a vehicle of the same model was just stolen nearby. Please cooperate in helping us investigate.” The officer’s two colleagues also came forward.

Qing Linglong was somewhat surprised by such a turn of events. She exchanged a glance with Li Yiming and they both stepped out of the car. “Everyone, disembark.” The leader officer’s phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the caller’s display, gave an order to his two subordinates and retreated to the side.

Li Yiming’s eyes lit up with anger when he saw what was displayed on the screen. ‘Master Guo?’ He signaled to his friends to remain seated in the car and strode toward the police who was on the phone. The latter’s two underlings did nothing to stop him, and even they seemed to find the whole affair very disagreeable. By the time the officer had realized that Li Yiming was behind him, stopped his conversation and turned around to look at him, Li Yiming had already reached out for his wrist and snatched his phone with his other hand.

“What are you doing?” The traffic police officer seemed shocked by the fact that he was being assaulted in broad daylight.

“Guo Xiang?” Li Yiming ignored the scream from the officer. He pinched the officer’s wrist so he could not pull his arm back and brought the phone to his ears.  

“Li Yiming?” As expected, Guo Xiang’s surprised voice came out of the device.

‘Well, that’s already proof enough.’ Li Yiming threw the phone into the green belt and stared at the officer coldly. “This is what you’re wearing that uniform for?”

“What are you doing? You’re crazy! You’re attacking an officer in uniform, you…” The officer seemed to be frightened. His features were distorted by the excruciating pain that came from his wrist. Only now did his two fellow officers react to the situation and come forward to try to help him.

“You don’t deserve to be wearing that uniform.” Li Yiming did not give the officer the time to finish his statement. He increased the force he put into his grip. A light crack and a roar of pain from the officer suggested that his bone was broken. However, his screech of pain was cut short by Li Yiming, who punched him in the stomach with the other hand. Although Li Yiming did not use all of his strength, it was enough to make officer’s entire body arch forward. The officer’s eyes remained gaping wide while a yellow liquid seeped out of the corners of his mouth. Li Yiming pulled the officer back up and threw him into the air both arms. The officer’s body spun a whole revolution in the air before landing on the hood of the patrol car with a loud bang.

Li Yiming’s movements were so fluid that by the time the cry of pain was heard after the loud bang produced against the car hood, the two other police officers had barely taken two steps forward. What they saw made them stop in their tracks; they knew from the telephone conversation in the patrol car earlier that this was no ordinary mission, and that their captain was simply helping someone cause trouble. As such, there was no need to be that eager to risk their own well-being for the cause.

Li Yiming looked at the two officers who were still standing and pulled out an ID booklet. He threw the object toward one of the officers: this was the piece forged by Eyeglasses. “Report to your superiors with this, and someone will come to take your testimonies.” Li Yiming imitated Grandma Wang’s demeanor back at the police station in Hangzhou and walked past the two officers coldly.

The car’s engine was started and the vehicle quickly left the scene after skirting around the patrol car, leaving behind two dumbstruck officers staring at each other and the third one moaning on the car hood.

Things Li Yiming will do before saving Liu Meng:

[x] Have a long distance urination contest with Guo Xiang to buy a car

[  ] Help out Fang Shui'er's temporary teammates

[  ] Eradicate world hunger and poverty

[  ] Achieve world peace

[  ] Answer the question "why are we alive?"