106: Chapter 106: Interview Reveals Blood Feud, Ultimate Boss Revealed

Gun barrels were raised one by one under the halo of the searchlights, their cold, dark, and heavy metal reflecting the remaining white light cast from the overhead rigs.

The shouting stopped.

Some instinctively raised their hands over their heads,

others tried to stuff their phones into their companions' backpacks before dropping to the ground,

and some planted their picket signs in front of them and slowly knelt.

Soldiers filed out from behind the armored vehicles with swift and rough movements. They restrained and searched the rally crowd one by one, binding their hands behind their backs with tactical zip ties, and orderly escorted them into the back of the transport trucks following the armored vehicles.

Prant stood on the podium, watching it all unfold.

He had spent four years in the White House and served as president for four years; no one had ever dared to surround him directly with armored vehicles and tanks at a campaign rally.

Biden dared to.

Or rather, that ruthless Cold War figure who had been resurrected today dared to.

Prant didn't struggle. He simply withdrew his hands slowly from the edge of the podium and calmly adjusted his cuffs,

before being grabbed by the shoulders by two Ranger captains who rushed onto the stage, and handcuffed.

...

Zhang Yi leaned back on the sofa, the system interface floating before his eyes.

He had just been figuring out in his mind how to use this presidential election to harvest the next wave of emotion points even more ruthlessly,

when suddenly, a news broadcast cut in on the giant-screen TV on the living room wall—which he had bought just a few days ago—instantly pulling all his attention.

On the screen was a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, his hair meticulously combed, with a warm and confident smile, talking eloquently in front of a news station's exclusive interview camera.

The banner at the bottom of the screen labeled his identity:

"Brian Osborn, CEO of UnitedHealth Group."

"United Health has always been committed to providing the most reliable health coverage for every American family," Osborn said, crossing his hands over his knees. His tone was steady and warm, as if he were having a personal chat with every viewer in front of the screen.

"In the past year alone, we have helped over three million families get through medical crises."

"From cancer screening to post-operative rehabilitation, from chronic disease management to emergency relief, every claim at United Health is a promise."

"We believe that healthcare coverage should not be a luxury, but something within reach..."

Zhang Yi's coffee cup froze in mid-air.

He stared at the smiling face on the screen. A corner deep in his mind that had been locked away for a long time was suddenly pierced by an extremely thin, cold needle.

That wasn't his memory; it belonged to his predecessor.

When his predecessor's mother was diagnosed with cancer, it was this very UnitedHealth Group that denied coverage on the grounds of "incomplete disclosure of pre-existing conditions."

From then on, his mother's medical expenses snowballed, leading them to sell their house first, then their car, and then everything else they could possibly sell.

His mother died in a rented room.

Three months later, his father also suffered a sudden heart attack due to overwork and depression, dying on the very same sofa.

Yet, while UnitedHealth Group helped three million families last year, they failed to help that poor student who studied his heart out at an Ivy League University, trying to turn his life around with student loans, along with his mother and father.

Zhang Yi slowly placed his coffee cup on the coffee table, the bottom of the cup making a soft, dull thud against the walnut wood surface.

He lowered his head, feeling something that did not belong to him churning violently deep inside his chest.

It was the residual resentment of his predecessor left in this body. It had been dormant in the deepest depths since the day he transmigrated, never dissipating, and never truly faced by him.

But today, it was completely ignited by that smiling face.

Since he had accepted his predecessor's body, he accepted all of his predecessor's karma.

United Health Insurance had caused the deaths of his predecessor's parents, which meant they had caused the deaths of his parents.

A blood debt must be paid in blood; it was only natural!

At the exact moment his resolve hardened, that resentment suddenly let go.

It didn't dissipate; it was liberated.

Like a departed soul that had waited in the dark for far too long, finally finding someone to take the broken sword from its hands, it gently loosened its clenched knuckles at the last moment and sank into a quiet depth, struggling no more.

Zhang Yi closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he could feel that every fiber of this body, from his soul to his fingertips, completely belonged to him.

"System."

He opened the system interface, his voice cold.

"Find out who is the mastermind behind UnitedHealth Group."

"Penetrate all shareholding structures, all shell companies, and all offshore accounts. I want to see the ultimate controlling shareholder."

[Querying the ultimate controlling entity of an enterprise requires a payment of 1,000 emotion points.]

[Do you wish to confirm?]

Zhang Yi swiped his hand to confirm without even blinking.

A thousand emotion points might have made him hesitate for a few seconds in the past, but now it wasn't even a fraction of a fraction of his remaining balance.

Payment complete.

The system quickly penetrated the layered mist of UnitedHealth Group's shareholdings,

from the publicly listed company's largest shareholder, to a three-tier holding company registered in Delaware, to two offshore funds in the Cayman Islands, and finally to an invisible chain spanning half a century, thousands of offshore accounts, and hundreds of shell companies.

At the end of the chain, there was only one name.

Solomon Crane.

The founder of Crane Capital, the major financial backer behind Lighthouse Country President Biden, and the Jewish tycoon who had actually obtained the Roswell alien corpse!

Zhang Yi leaned back against the sofa, read the results on the system interface twice, and then suddenly chuckled.

There was no pleasure in that laugh, only self-deprecation.

It was the laugh of someone who had been writing scripts for months, only to suddenly discover that a part of the story he had made up was actually a reality someone else had written long ago.

He had made up the Deep State, yet in this world, there really was someone pulling the strings behind the Lighthouse Country.

That person was Solomon Crane.

He had made up the existence of Aliens, yet in this world, someone really had obtained an alien corpse.

And that person was still Solomon Crane.

If Solomon Crane was the real deal, then he, Zhang Yi, was the fake.

If Solomon Crane was the real Li Kui, then he, Zhang Yi, was the imposter Li Gui.

If all of this was like the story of the True and False Monkey King, then he, Zhang Yi, was the Six-Eared Macaque who got pinned down and beaten.

He stopped smiling, picked up his coffee to take a sip, and spoke in a cold and certain tone as he set the cup down, as if stating a formula whose variables had all been calculated:

"In any case, the scripts I write have always been conspiracy theories."

"According to some conspiracy theories, the one beaten to death with a staff on Mount Lingshan was the real Monkey King, while the one who later wore the cassock and became the Victorious Fighting Buddha was actually the imposter Six-Eared Macaque."

"When the real is taken for false, the false becomes real. In the end, everything in this world is decided by whoever has the bigger fist."

He stood up and walked to the French window, looking out at the Los Angeles Basin below the Hollywood Hills, bleached white by the afternoon sun. Slipping his hands into his pockets, his tone grew softer, yet colder:

"Moreover, the blood feud of my predecessor's parents is right there."

"Even if Solomon Crane is the real deal, I will grind him to dust."

He returned to the sofa and opened the script creation function on the system interface.

Beneath Script One, [Extraterrestrial Visitor], he swiped to open a brand-new blank area and began writing the second script setting.

The name of the new script was [Alien Invasion].

The setting he fabricated was not complicated: