Wielding the Thunders Across Two Worlds

That night, as soon as Erin got home, she couldn’t resist calling her cousin.

"GLUG GLUG GLUG—" The sound of Lawrence gargling came from the other end of the line. "I’m brushing my teeth, my dear cousin. What’s up, calling so early?"

"I just had a late-night snack with Xiao Ya and the others," Erin said, feigning calmness. "I saw them off with their boyfriend and just got home."

At the mention of the boyfriend, Lawrence got a little angry. He spit out his mouthwash. "That old geezer Frank, always talking tough, but when there’s a real opportunity, he’s faster than anyone to grab it!

Aaron Frank, that playboy, certainly looks the part. Didn’t he go put some pressure on Xiao Ya’s boyfriend? That kid’s a real pro at that sort of thing."

A cryptic smile played on Erin’s lips. "They met tonight. Aaron pulled Xiao Ya’s boyfriend aside for a private chat. I’m guessing it was the usual ’throw money at the problem’ routine."

Thinking about what Erin had just said, Lawrence chuckled with schadenfreude. "So he failed?"

Erin said flatly, "He was flown away by Xiao Ya’s boyfriend."

Lawrence blinked, wondering if he’d misheard or simply misunderstood what Erin meant. "What did you say?"

Erin repeated herself. "I said, he was flown away by Xiao Ya’s boyfriend."

"What do you mean?" Lawrence asked, confused.

"Literally," Erin said coolly. "Xiao Ya’s boyfriend—or rather, Xiao Ya and Jiang Shishi’s shared boyfriend—is a Superpower User who can fly."

"What?" Lawrence’s eyes went wide.

"You should be glad. As the primary heir of the Lawrence Clan, it wasn’t convenient for you to come to Celestial Xia and try your ’handsome man’ gambit, and you wouldn’t want other clan members succeeding and threatening your position. Otherwise, the consequences could have been... rather unpleasant."

Erin was also gloating. "But the problem now is, you need to explain to the Frank Clan whether you passing along the intel that Xiao Ya had a boyfriend was a case of ’killing with a borrowed knife.’"

"WTF!" Lawrence swore. "How was I supposed to know Xiao Ya’s boyfriend was an Extraordinary Being? Isn’t she connected to Taoist Yi Hong? Are there so many Extraordinary Beings in Celestial Xia now that a single girl has two of them around her?"

"Wait! ’Killing with a borrowed knife’?"

As a pragmatist, and since the Lawrence Clan had a considerable understanding of Celestial Xia’s culture, Lawrence at least knew the idiom. "He killed Aaron?"

"I don’t know." Erin shrugged. "I only know that he took Aaron away and came back alone half an hour later. I didn’t see any blood on him, though, so you can hope for the best."

"Hope for the best my ass! If anyone dared to make a move on my girlfriend, I’d tie a rock to him and throw him into the Hudson River!" Lawrence retorted.

"Well, that’s not my problem," Erin said before hanging up. "Good morning. I hope you have a wonderful day."

Lawrence was speechless.

...

Inside the Taoist Office, the recording of the conversation between Aaron and Gu Zhao in the corner from the previous day had just finished playing. The presenter continued, "Then Mr. Gu flew away with Aaron, and the listening device went out of range and stopped working."

"Over forty minutes later, Mr. Gu returned alone, but Aaron had vanished."

"Where on earth did Mr. Gu take Aaron?" someone asked, extremely curious.

"No idea," someone else said with a cold laugh. "But I’m sure Aaron didn’t come back alive. Or, even if Mr. Gu took him somewhere with a sliver of a chance for survival, it’s not a chance someone like Aaron could ever seize."

Everyone present believed his assessment.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in."

"We’ve received new intelligence from the West, possibly related to Mr. Gu’s movements yesterday."

"What is it?" Zheng Hongsheng said. "Send it to the presenter."

"Yes, sir!"

A moment later, a video began to play on the large screen.

It appeared to be filmed from a long distance. The camera was a bit shaky, showing a relatively wide open area surrounded by dust, smoke, and piles of rubble. It looked like a battlefield.

Some food and supplies were piled in one part of the clearing. A number of soldiers in camouflage stood around them, shouting either coldly or angrily at a group of people delivering the aid.

Not far away, a disorganized crowd of men, women, and even children in ragged clothes appeared. They walked toward the clearing with a mix of excitement and fear, apparently to collect some of the food and supplies.

At the edge of the frame, some soldiers raised their guns.

Just then, a deep rumble of thunder sounded in the video, and the entire frame seemed to flash.

From the camera’s angle alone, two thunderbolts could be seen descending from the sky, striking two of the soldiers who were raising their guns.

A series of gasps could be heard in the video, then the camera shook violently before the screen went black.

"According to intel from that region, during an operation to monitor the distribution of humanitarian aid, eight soldiers from that ’squid’ country were struck by lightning and burned to a crisp."

The presenter looked at the information on their tablet, a cold smile touching their lips. "Of course, Western experts are calling this a coincidental extreme weather event typical of the Mediterranean climate. They claim the soldiers were struck by lightning because of the metal guns in their hands."

Someone caught on. "Mr. Gu dumped Aaron there?"

"Well, that place is definitely one of the most dangerous zones in the world, but he’s a Huaqi national and a high-status ’squid’ to boot. It shouldn’t be too hard for him to find his own people and get out, right?"

"No, he’s already dead."

"Huh?"

Several photos flashed onto the large screen, showing Aaron’s body.

"This is information our Cyber Information Department pulled from their internal network. According to the soldiers’ debriefings, this man walked towards them with his hands up. But no matter what they asked, he wouldn’t answer."

"They could vaguely see many refugees following behind him. Fearing he might be carrying a bomb, and after getting no response, they opened fire and killed him."

"Did Mr. Gu hit his mute acupoint?" Chen Yao asked with great interest.

"That’s the speculation," the presenter said.

Everyone nodded. "He was a dead man for sure."

Zheng Hongsheng looked at the presenter. "Analyze the Frank Clan’s likely reaction and assist Mr. Gu in handling the aftermath. Nip any potential danger in the bud."

"Understood!" the presenter nodded.

Just then, the presenter picked up their phone to look at it and couldn’t help but grin.

"What is it?"

"A message from the research center’s head of security. He says Mr. Gu wants us to collect information on the life and deeds of Aaron’s immediate family. He wants to see if he needs to ’help the Huaqi people eliminate evil and promote good.’"

The room fell silent.

A middle-aged man with a straight back and perfect posture chuckled. "Exactly. That’s the way it should be. Eradicate the evil completely, leaving no future troubles behind."