Chapter 30 Wang Zanghai’s Millennium Foreshadowing

How could a person who had been dead for nearly a thousand years be able to cast a net that would make a stable and powerful family fall apart in nearly a thousand years?

Zhang Haike said that no one knew. They could only see the horror of Wang Zanghai’s entire design from some very subtle events.

First, Wang Zanghai must have discovered various traces of the Zhang family’s covert interference. But when he went to Changbai Mountain in the northeast to explore various clues of the Zhang family, he was kidnapped and forced to repair the imperial tomb in Eastern Xia.

Speaking of which, there was a particularly strange thing I should mention: that is, the Zhang family’s power, wealth, and talents were staggering. Although I didn’t know whether Zhang Yi, Zhang Liang, Zhang Jiao, and Dong Fangshuo (whose surname was Zhang) who changed the course of history were related to the Zhang family, or whether Zhang Daoling’s establishment of Taoism was related to the Zhang family’s plan—probably, considering his surname was Zhang—why did such a family choose to live in the dry and cold Changbai Mountain area?

It wasn’t that the area wasn’t good, it was just that there were all sorts of problems (at least compared with the rich Yangzhou region in the south at that time) because the ethnic groups in that region lived in a mixed environment and were constantly at war. Why did they have to live in a place where there was a lot of smoke and mountains?

Were they there for Eastern Xia?

Did the Zhang family know something, so they used all of their accumulated resources to guard the giant bronze door?

So, what was behind the bronze door?

Let’s assume that there were three forces in the world at that time: one was the Eastern Xia people who used the giant bronze door; the other was the Zhang family’s people who occupied Eastern Xia with their families; and the other was Wang Zanghai, who discovered the existence of the Zhang family. Wang Zanghai must have been very curious about the complicated relationship between the giant bronze door, the Eastern Xia civilization, and the Zhang family.

So while exploring the secrets of the Eastern Xia people, Wang Zanghai also discovered that China was under the control of a huge network.

The Zhang family must not have wanted the bronze door’s secret to be revealed, but Wang Zanghai hoped that the secret would be known to all.

The Zhang family’s secret.

I remembered that Poker-face told me that the Zhang family had a huge secret, which had been guarded for countless centuries. After the Zhang family’s power fell apart, Poker-face hoped to replace their power with the Mystic Nine’s, but it was obvious that the Mystic Nine didn’t believe what he said, or declined too fast to fulfill their promise.

This secret must have something to do with the world behind the bronze door, and it was buried somewhere in the Zhang family’s ancient building.

Wang Zanghai did a lot of things to reach his goals but soon found himself unable to cross the Zhang family’s huge net. Any news he spread soon disappeared.

“So, the Wang family must destroy the Zhang family to achieve its goal?” I asked.

“This can’t be done by strategy alone,” Zhang Haike said.

“So the focus of the struggle between the Wang and Zhang families is whether to disclose the Zhang family’s hidden secrets, and the premise is that the Zhang family must be destroyed. Have I understood it right?” I thought about it some more, “That is to say, your aim now is to protect the secret, because your struggle has now reached the final stage.”

Zhang Haike nodded, “The secret is about to be revealed, and our family exists to protect it. Think about it. A family needs to be strong enough to control society in order to keep that secret, so once it’s revealed, how serious will the consequences be?”

“Do you know what this secret is?”

“We don’t know, we only know that this secret represents the Ultimate of the world,” Zhang Haike said. “After all, we are the Zhang family and are responsible for our clan.”

I grinned. Fate may be painful, but it was also an opportunity for many people to come together. Meaning had no meaning by itself, so you couldn’t help but live for fate, but it was better than those who had no fate.

I pointed to Zhang Haike’s face and said, “I believe what you said, but what’s going on with your face? Why did you become like this?”

“Your Mystic Nine’s structure was too complicated. I couldn’t get in and didn’t know what your purpose was, so I had to use your face and replace your impostors to see why they were pretending to be you. Based on our estimates, you’re the least valuable.”

“And then what?” I also wanted to ask this question—is it because I’m handsome?

“I can’t tell you unless you promise one thing.” Zhang Haike smiled. “This answer is our bargaining chip. You need to exchange something for it.”

“Go ahead.”

“We need you to help us bring something out of the snowy mountain. We’ll teach you the specific method. It’s very difficult and certainly dangerous, but it’s not the kind of danger that will lead to death. This thing was left there by our patriarch, and we really need it,” Zhang Haike said. “If you can come out successfully, we’ll tell you the secret.”

“Why don’t you go in yourselves?”

“We can’t get in.”

“Dude, are you serious? You guys are so awesome, and other than being handsome, I really don’t have any abilities. If you can’t get in, how do you expect me to?”

“You come out of the Zhang family’s ancient building alive and you don’t call this a skill? Of course, we won’t send you in alone. We’ll send two people to protect and take care of you.” Zhang Haike pointed to Zhang Haixing. “One is her, and the other one you can choose from among us.”

I looked at the people around me and asked, “Can I bring my own people?”

“Did you bring someone with you?”

I nodded, “I’m not a lamb to be slaughtered. If you give me a few more days, you definitely won’t be doing so well.”

“Haha!” Zhang Haixing started laughing. “It seems the person you brought has good skills. Well, I’ll bite. If he can get through me, we’ll let him go. That way, we don’t have to let others go to die with you.”

I looked at Zhang Haixing and thought about Fatty. Generally speaking, there shouldn’t be any problem, but Zhang Haixing was a little special so I had to lay down a rule, “Yes, but no seduction.”

“He wishes.”

<Chapter 29><Table of Contents><Chapter 31>

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Updated 12/14/2021