XG 44 - Aren't you supposed to worship your own father?
“No, but your father is.” Suzie Yap passed a white hard disk onto Wong Xue Guo's hands. "Your father needs this hard disk urgently. Remember, don't let anyone have this."
Gulping at her suddenly dry throat, the pain not as intense as before, Wong Xue Guo nodded as she clutched the hard disk that suddenly weighed a ton. It must contain a big secret to be so protective over it and have the urgency to hand it over to her father.
“Destroy it if I could not keep it?” Wong Xue Guo probe.
“No, bargain it with the right person if you face danger other than zombies.”
“... Huh?”
"If Interpol stops you and your father is useless to help you, remember to check their badge first for their authenticity. I will send a copy of what their badge should look like. Use this hard disk to bargain for your freedom. Get more benefits during the negotiation. The hard disk is worth plenty."
The hard disk suddenly felt even heavier and her palm was already sweating. Was she holding this properly? How should she keep it safe?
Suzie Yap smiled at her nervous-looking daughter. Even afraid, she still did not ask her about the hard disk. How could she be so obedient? Her cute daughter must have gotten it from her silly father.
"This hard disk contains a communication app. It will connect straight to your father's godson, Chin Chun."
Wong Xue Guo felt even more worried. Her mother’s tone as she mentioned Chin Chun was not pleasant. This was also the first time she heard her father had a godson. Does that mean her mother does not accept this godson?
… Please let this Chin Chun not be her father’s illegitimate son or anything.
There were already plenty of stories where cheating husbands would adopt their illegitimate son without their wives knowing his real identity.
Let's hope Papa Wolf won't contribute a number to it.
Even Chen Yibo noticed Suzie Yap’s sour tone at the mention of the godson, as he glanced at her in a puzzled manner.
“Your father adopted Chin Chun to inherit Wong’s family business.” As a daughter with zero self-defense techniques, it was only normal for her not to inherit her father’s gang business.
Suzie Yap was afraid her daughter would feel sad hearing the first sentence, so she quickly added the next sentence. “As for our baby, we intend to leave Winter Fruit Pharmacy to you. The company has already hired professional employees, so Guo Guo can just leave it to them to help you work and just wait for them to earn money for you.”
“Thank you for thinking about my future.” Wong Xue Guo was truly sincere when she said those words, even if her mother made her sound like a useless owner.
Before high school graduation, her friends already have plans on what to do afterwards, except for her. The only time she had seriously thought of her future occupation was when the school required the students to fill up an occupation sheet during primary school.
But it was once thought by a child and should not be taken seriously.
As she grew older, she discovered the world was not as small or simple as she thought, with more consideration needed to think of. With her ambiguous identity with the real family background concealed from her, she had thought of many scenarios of what would happen to her in the future. The most depressing scenario was being wed off to an old and violent tycoon to secure a big business transaction like a typical TV drama.
Most people would think that with this indifferent parent that was satisfied as long as she passed her exams, they would be reluctant to hand over their company that had been built from scratch to such an average-performing child. The most she thought she could get was some company shares, but to leave the entire company to her?
Wong Xue Guo felt a heart-twisting sense of loss over her future company thanks to the arrival of the apocalypse.
Suzie Yap’s face fell. Her daughter’s lack of expectation and even feeling gratitude for getting that small company hurt her heart. Although time gave her another chance to shower love on her daughter, she still needs to fix the zombies and kill the mastermind so that her daughter could live in luxury again.
"Chin Chun is an orphan your father picked up and trained. He proved that he's a good seedling and is chosen to be the next successor. It's because the family business had to be passed down-"
"Mother, I know father's family are gangsters and mother's family are mafias," Wong Xue Guo cut in. Her mother's attempt to make excuses might make the situation worse. It was better to have everything put under the light. "I'm unsuited to the family business, so it's good that there is a reliable brother to help out my father."
Crackle… "This is Smoker. The police are coming right behind. Over."
Hearing that from the walkie-talkie, the children turned their heads back to look. A distant sound of sirens gradually got louder, along with the distinctive red and blue lights flashing.
"Is there any accident?"
Kang Xunsu grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Got anything from it? Over."
Before they got a reply, they could already hear a policeman's voice on the loudspeaker. "Go back home!"
Searching for the latest news on the internet, Wong Xue Guo found the reason. "The government has passed an order to have everyone stay at home and don't go anywhere. This will last for one week. The rule is in effect immediately."
"Not everyone will have enough food supplies to last a week without preparation." Chen Yibo frowned. His grandfather and the rest planned to flee the country within twenty-four hours. It was unknown if they had left or not.
"They could not risk postponing the lockdown for another day." Wong Xue Guo scrolled down the page and noted there were alarming rises of infected areas. "It's odd that the spreading areas were not linked to each other."
"It was done on purpose," Suzie Yap said.
Wong Xue Guo finally remembered that her mother did mention the mastermind behind the infection has unclear intentions. But it was clear they were the ones that started the infection. "What would they get from killing all humans?"
"A bunch of psychos that either want to monopolize the antidote or world domination," Kang Xunsu sneered, his eyes on the rear mirror. The police were getting nearer after telling the cars' owners to return home.
Some police on motorbikes already drove to the front to stop the cars from moving forward.
"No travelling… we won't be able to go to Korea." Chen Yibo looked disappointed.
Suzie Yap smiled grimly. "We will make it. Stay in the car, Guo Guo."
After rubbing her daughter's soft cheek, she stepped out of the car when the police from the back finally reached Nana's car. With confidence in her strut, she approached the officer.
"Your mother dislikes Chin Chun because he's unravelling what your father tried to do," Kang Xunsu suddenly spoke up.
Wong Xue Guo turned away from the window. "... What is my father trying to do?"
"Your father worked hard to whitewash his family name and reputation, just to get the government's help in establishing the Winter Fruit company. He could do it without them, but trouble will always come knocking on the door and delay things. It's better to just play nice with them to get benefits from them. So far, the government keeps their word, and even extended protection to your mother and you."
Of course, Charles Wong had to give them a lot of benefits in return. But his actions had also rattled a lot of underground people and offended quite a few hotshots. The Wong clan quickly formed into two factions, one to follow Charles and another to Chin Chun.
Not many were willing to be 'good citizens' that abided by the law after enjoying years of easy wealth.
"Mr Wong is good at acquiring materials for research," Chen Yibo complimented. His elder brother had said many times that without Charles Wong's help, their experiments would never go that smoothly.
"And funding," Kang Xunsu added with a laugh.
"So Chin Chun does not want the family name to be whitewashed? He wants to continue the previous ways?"
"Yup."
