Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1521: Chapter 571: Celebration and Farewell_2

From the rear, everyone stepped forward one after another, all pulling long faces as they transferred money to the shameless old bastard Ou Youning. Clearly, they’d lost quite a bit.

Ren Zhong was genuinely impressed.

This guy even managed to turn himself into the betting pot.

Beside him, Xiao Xingyue stepped forward. "The clan celebration day was actually my idea. I think taking one day each year to give everyone a break, and holding some memorial events at the same time, helps cohesion, and lets people balance work and rest."

Ren Zhong shook his head. "But treating my return to Red Blade Star as a memorial day is a bit too casual, isn’t it?"

Xiao Xingyue said, "You’ve forgotten yourself—today is the day we left Source Star."

Ren Zhong stayed silent for a moment, then gave a bitter little smile and shook his head. "I see. You did well."

Xiao Xingyue looked at the two people behind Ren Zhong, Ju Ma, and said, "But I only came up with the idea. These two are the ones who really prepared a gift for you."

"A gift?" Ren Zhong turned to look at the two of them.

Ju Qingmeng lightly bit her lip and nodded. "A celebration."

Now that he knew today really was special, Ren Zhong didn’t keep spoiling the mood. He went with the flow and led everyone in hosting a celebration.

The celebration included a parade, combat competitions, a sports meet, and several other segments.

After spending the whole day busy like this, Ren Zhong finally went back to the newly built Earl Mansion with Ma Xiaoling and Ju Qingmeng.

Ma Xiaoling checked her watch first, then said, "By eight tomorrow morning we’ll be going back to sleep again. We all know no one can outrun time, but every time we wake up, we hear someone-or-other has already died, then see someone like Ou Youning aged like that, and you just can’t help feeling a bit heavy. I don’t know when you’ll actually need me on the battlefield, but I have to make sure I stay alive properly if I’m going to have any chance of lasting until that day."

Ju Qingmeng added, "Right. The situation is changing now, and the help we can offer you in terms of business is getting smaller and smaller. Compared to others, our greatest use is that we can be your spiritual support. So keeping ourselves alive has become our primary mission. We originally wanted to leave you a child, but that doesn’t look very realistic anymore. You don’t need to explain; we more or less understand."

Ma Xiaoling sighed as well. "We actually wanted to suggest you at least give it a try, even a little, maybe it would work out. But then we thought about your personality—if there was even a one-in-ten-thousand or one-in-a-hundred-million chance, you’d still find a way to turn it into reality. The fact that you’re not doing it means you have your reasons. We shouldn’t interfere."

Ren Zhong was silent for a moment. "Thank you for understanding."

Ju Qingmeng said, "No matter what, we don’t want to cause you any trouble. Earlier when Ou Youning was clowning around, he was just trying to give you a bit of entertainment in your busy life. Two days ago he told me he felt his time was almost up. I suggested he do what Zheng Tian did, save his last breath to enter a frozen hibernation chamber, but he refused. He felt that instead of clinging to meaningless mementos, he’d rather go cleanly. Anyway, he’s left behind a pile of descendants; if even one of them turns out to be talented, they can surpass what he did. He only asked me to bring you one sentence."

Ren Zhong: "What?"

"Ou Youning said his greatest achievement in this life was back then, when he dragged you back to Starfire Town from the forest outside the dense woods. From that day on, he had no more regrets in his life."

Hearing this, the first thing that surfaced in Ren Zhong’s mind was the time he first rushed out of the dense forest and was "corpse-picked" by Zheng Tian’s squad for the first time. That foul-mouthed bastard Ou Youning had suggested abandoning him, and in the end he really was dumped out in the wild.

That son of a bitch really has no shame.

If my life hadn’t been tough enough, if I hadn’t used multiple rounds of resurrection to see through the bunch of you and your bullshit, would you have saved me?

Forget it. He’s about to die anyway; no need to expose him.

The next morning, after Ren Zhong sent Ju Qingmeng and Ma Xiaoling back into the frozen hibernation chamber, he received word of Ou Youning’s death from the internal affairs office.

The guy had slipped away in the night, without a sound, without even letting anyone see him off.

Ren Zhong rushed to Ou Youning’s estate, personally presided over a simple funeral, then dismissed everyone.

Once the people had gone and only Ren Zhong was left in the cemetery,

he jumped up, pointed at Ou Youning’s tombstone, and cursed, "No wonder you were so damn cocky yesterday. You were hanging on to your last breath waiting for me to get back, pulling tricks in front of me—both to deepen my impression and to help me gather people’s hearts on the sly. Fuck you. You lot have it easy—kick your legs out and you’re done, nothing left to worry about. But me... I... damn it."

When he counted it carefully, of his earliest old crew, besides Yujin, Wen Lei, and Chen Hanyu who were still frozen on Source Star most of the time and basically out of reach, Zheng Tian was down to her last breath, and Bai Feng and Ou Youning had already parted from him forever.

He’d long known there’s no banquet that doesn’t eventually disperse, but when the moment arrived, you still couldn’t help feeling sad.

"Fine. As long as I’m alive and remember you, you won’t be completely dead. I need to give myself a deeper impression."

Hetui!

Ren Zhong suddenly spat, his saliva smacking into the corner of Ou Youning’s tombstone with a crack, actually hammering a pit an inch deep and half an inch long into the stone.

Then he walked away.