Retired for A Hundred Years: Re-Employment for the Apocalypse Bigshot!-Chapter 226: The Twelve Powers?

Lin Yuanyang was taken aback and shook his head, "I’m not sure."

"When did the Lin Family buy this villa?"

"I remember grandma saying that it was bought by my great-grandfather through connections, about fifty or sixty years ago."

Ji Ning nodded slightly, walked to the round table, and pulled out a chair to sit down. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

As Lin Yuanyang watched her sit down, he suddenly felt that the seat belonged to her.

"You sit on the opposite side." Ji Ning pointed to the seat across from her.

Lin Yuanyang quickly walked over and sat down. The seat was a bit hard, not comfortable to sit on.

He curiously touched the armrest of the chair and asked, "Sister Ning, is this an abandoned restaurant?"

"It’s a meeting place. During the troubled times, there were many forces on the Hua Continent, over a hundred in total. After years of annexation, in the late period of those chaotic times, the Hua Continent was mainly dominated by twelve forces. This is their meeting place, also called the Round Table Meeting."

Ji Ning clasped her hands and placed them by her mouth, elbows resting on the round table, her gaze fixed on Lin Yuanyang opposite her.

"Twelve forces?"

Lin Yuanyang tried hard to recall the historical contents in his memory, but there was no record of any Round Table Meeting.

However, the representative at Huazhou Alliance’s meeting did consist of 12 people, likely adopting the customs of this Round Table Meeting.

Ji Ning thought of some information she found after coming here. She had to admit that those three underlings of hers were indeed quite capable, having firmly controlled the forces of Hua Continent for over 120 years.

"For peaceful development, there can’t be too many voices. Twelve forces are indeed too many." Ji Ning replied lightly, then said, "Check if there’s a button on the right armrest. Press it."

Lin Yuanyang touched the right armrest and indeed found a protrusion on the inside, which he pressed.

A familiar sound occurred again, and Lin Yuanyang was surprised to see his seat dropping, and then looked at Ji Ning opposite him, noticing that she was also descending.

How does Sister Ning know so much?

It’s as if she had already been here before.

Lin Yuanyang became more and more shocked, trying hard to shake off the impossible thought in his mind.

The surrounding darkness obscured his view, preventing him from seeing Ji Ning’s figure across from him.

A cold wind inexplicably blew by, causing him to shiver and softly call out, "Sister Ning..."

"Hmm."

The familiar voice eased his heart, making the cold air around him feel significantly warmer.

The chair continued to descend, and he felt it must have dropped at least several dozen meters before stopping.

It was very dark around, and he couldn’t see anything, so he didn’t dare to move until a light appeared from the opposite side.

Ji Ning had turned on the flashlight of her Smart Brain.

"Sister Ning, what is this place?"

"An air raid shelter."

Ji Ning explained briefly, glancing at the emergency power source but did not walk over to turn it on.

Lin Yuanyang, now with his flashlight on, walked over quickly, curiously observing his surroundings.

The space here was vast, and the flashlight couldn’t illuminate what lay opposite.

The air was filled with many dust particles, suggesting that no one had been here for a long time.

As Ji Ning examined the vicinity, he followed, noticing many disordered footprints on the ground, likely made recently.

"Sister Ning, are those footprints from those people?"

"Yes, after failing to find something, they escaped from that villa over there to this side."

Ji Ning continued to move as she observed and occasionally crouched to inspect closely, without any disturbance from Lin Yuanyang.

After quietly passing ten or so minutes, Ji Ning stood up and told Lin Yuanyang: "Let’s go, we’re heading back."

In this silent, pitch-black place, it was easy to get lost, but Ji Ning seemed to have a radar, accurately finding the spot where they had come down.

"Sit here."

Ji Ning pointed to the chair at her side.

She maneuvered around the many chairs to sit opposite Lin Yuanyang.

Not only their seats had descended, but also the chairs around them, except for the table encircled by the chairs, which had not descended.

When both were seated, the circle of chairs began to ascend.

Until they returned to the concealed space.

Lin Yuanyang glanced at his watch, realizing they had been down for half an hour. If they didn’t return to the study soon, his father Lin Chengsheng would start to get suspicious.

Sure enough, by the time the two of them found their way back to the study on the second floor through the secret passage, the doorknob appeared to be shaking vigorously.

Ji Ning restored the secret passage door and dragged Aunt Pan to the chairs where they had their conversation, instructing Lin Yuanyang to open the door.

"What’s going on? Why didn’t you open the door?" Lin Chengsheng ignored Lin Yuanyang and quickly walked in with Li Meifang, followed by several bodyguards of the Lin Family.

Li Meifang screamed as she saw Aunt Pan lying on the floor, "Aunt Pan, what happened to you? Wake up... Family Head, they used private punishment on Aunt Pan, it must be reported to the Security Bureau!"

Ji Ning looked at the crowd that burst in with an indifferent expression, as if watching a bunch of clowns.

Having interacted with Ji Ning twice, without any advantages, Lin Chengsheng cautiously restrained from accusing Ji Ning based on Li Meifang’s line of thought. Instead, he frowned and asked, "Detective Ji, what happened to her?"

Ji Ning’s lips curled up as she signaled Lin Yuanyang, "Lin Yuanyang, tell him."

Finally noticed by the group entering the room, Lin Yuanyang spoke.

With a surprised expression, Li Meifang felt an ominous foreboding, and yelled to interrupt, "What’s the point of asking? Aunt Pan has always been in good health with no issues found during her physical exams. Why would she collapse just from questioning? What did you do to her? Family Head, you can’t play favorites just because your eldest son is involved. Aunt Pan watched over me since childhood, and I will not allow anyone to harm her."

"Did she really watch over you since you were a child?" Ji Ning suddenly interrupted.

"Of course, Aunt Pan took care of me growing up and is like a mother to me. You have abused her with private punishment, and I will definitely report this."

"You may." Ji Ning nodded, then pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her pocket and said, "Lin Yuanyang, cuff her. We’ll have someone take her to the bureau later."

"Okay." Lin Yuanyang walked over, eyes filled with satisfaction.

Li Meifang was stunned, unable to believe what she had just heard, "What did you say?"

Lin Chengsheng, frowning, stopped her from shrieking and asked Ji Ning with a stern face, "Detective Ji, I need to know your reason for arresting my wife."

"Pan Min is suspected of colluding with forces from the Outer Continent, threatening the safety of the Huazhou Safety Zone. She’s being arrested now. Li Meifang needs to be brought back to the bureau for questioning as her caregiver since childhood..."

"Impossible!" Li Meifang blanched, clutching her stomach and shaking her head repeatedly.

Unable to believe the news, she was hearing that Aunt Pan, who had always cared for her, was a spy from the Outer Continent?

Ji Ning smiled, glanced at Aunt Pan on the ground, and continued, "She has already confessed. Would you like to see the records?"

This statement was like the dead of winter, causing Li Meifang to tremble with cold. She looked anxiously to Lin Chengsheng for help: "Family Head, it’s impossible. How could Aunt Pan be a spy? It has to be a forced confession! They’re trying to pin this charge on Aunt Pan to target me! Family Head, you must not believe them..."

"It seems they haven’t told you your true identity yet? Remarkable!" Ji Ning remarked, gesturing to Lin Yuanyang, who then played the interrogation video.