Retired for A Hundred Years: Re-Employment for the Apocalypse Bigshot!-Chapter 244: Zi Yanran’s Identity

The fishing boats in this area are all assets of a fishing village along the shore.

Because the people in the village all have the surname Ji, it’s also called Ji Family Village.

And the body she is in is named Ji Hong, an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and grew up relying on the food of a hundred families.

The beggar pursed her lips, her eyes glowing with a complex light.

Has she traveled through time?

Traveled into the body of a stranger?

"Ji Hong, it’s time to eat..."

Suddenly, a hoarse female voice came from outside, the beggar stood upright alertly, lifted the blackout cloth on the window, and carefully looked outside.

She saw an elderly woman standing by the shore, holding an iron bucket, shouting in her direction.

Inside the iron bucket, live things were flipping around, splashing a lot of water droplets.

The beggar pursed her lips, slowly walked out of the cabin. She has no memory of this body now, and doesn’t know if the Ji Hong she’s being called is her.

She kept her head slightly down, hiding her gaze with her messy hair, secretly observing the old woman’s demeanor, finding that when she saw her, she let out a quiet sigh of relief, her smile becoming even more kind.

Continuing to reach out to her.

"Xiao Hong, come on..."

Only then did the beggar confirm that the Ji Hong she was being called was indeed her.

Since that’s the case, she will continue living with Ji Hong’s identity for now.

Ji Hong thought as such.

The memories in her mind were pressed to the deepest part by her.

The old woman’s leg seemed to have been injured, and she walked with a wobble. The shrimp and crabs in the iron bucket fell out one or two as they shook.

Ji Hong noticed and casually picked up the fallen shrimp and crabs, throwing them back into the iron bucket.

The old woman gave her a loving glance and continued walking forward.

The two of them, one in front of the other, arrived at the slum area not far from the harbor.

The old houses looked quite aged, the narrow paths between them were only a meter wide, laid with wet stone bricks, and various sundries piled up on both sides.

Mostly dried fish, with a strong seafood smell pervading the area.

Ji Hong carefully avoided the strings of dried fish overhead, following the old woman with her head down to a small bungalow.

The house looked old from the outside, but inside, it was tidy and clean.

Ji Hong glanced at her own dirty clothes and didn’t enter the house immediately.

The old woman put the small iron bucket on the ground, turned around, and looked at her very puzzled, "Why not come in?"

Afraid she might notice something strange, Ji Hong hurriedly entered the house.

It’s really troublesome having no other memory of this body.

Ji Hong thought as such.

The meal made by the old lady was simple, seafood boiled in plain water, with a few pieces of scallion and ginger added to remove the fishy smell.

A small stove held a small iron basin, in which fresh sea shrimp and crabs were bubbling.

To avoid letting her see anything amiss, Ji Hong pretended to be shy and sat farther away from the old woman.

The old woman looked at the seafood in the pot, murmuring things that Ji Hong couldn’t fully understand, as she tried her best to memorize every word she said, planning to learn the language here later.

After the meal, when the old woman wanted to bathe Ji Hong, it was refused by her.

Ji Hong carried the hot water the old woman had heated for her back to her small broken boat.

During the bath, she discovered that her skin was very fair, as if it hadn’t been exposed to sunlight for a long time.

The only wounds were a few tiny pinpricks on her limbs, though they had healed, bruises beneath the skin hadn’t completely vanished.

What exactly has this body been through?

Ji Hong was shocked.

At the same time, she quickly threw on a slightly oversized piece of clothing over her wet body.

The boat still swayed with the sea.

A few sleazy figures sneaked onto the boat.

"Boss, has the mute returned?"

"Nonsense, if she hadn’t, would I have had you come?"

"Did you bring the drugs?"

"Brought them, once it’s injected into her, we can... hehe..."

Ji Hong’s expression changed, her eyes instantly filled with endless killing intent.

The shabby towel in her hand became a weapon, patiently waiting for those people’s arrival.

***

The endless cold made one’s heart shiver.

Lin Chengsheng stood before the secret space unique to the Lin Family’s Old Mansion, looking at the person inside who stood with their back turned, unable to speak for a long time.

After a long while, he hoarsely asked, "Who... who exactly are you? Why do you know about this place?"

Ji Ning didn’t answer but asked back, tapping a finger on the round table: "Where are the things here?"

Lin Chengsheng’s pupils shrank slightly, his fingers trembling gently.

Only the Commander was supposed to know about that object!

"You... you are..."

"Mm."

Lin Chengsheng’s eyes widened, the blood vessels in the whites of his eyes gradually darkening. He breathed heavily and inaudibly for a long time before coming to his senses. "I don’t know what you’re talking about?"

"In times of chaos, the Twelve Round Table Powers, you should know what I’m referring to."

Lin Chengsheng slowly clenched his fists, glaring at Ji Ning for a moment before he said, "The item is not with the Lin Family; it was buried with those three."

Lin Chengsheng tried hard to calm himself down.

Ji Ning turned around to look at Lin Chengsheng, "They don’t know about this, nor could they have taken it."

Lin Chengsheng clenched his fists tighter, he gazed deeply at her, the shock on his face gradually settling into calmness, "The Commander is not dead?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I don’t know." Ji Ning’s expression turned cold, and with a sudden shift in her pupils, she forcefully expelled a spiritual power that had intruded.

She sneered, "Lin Chengsheng, if you delay any longer, I will show no mercy."

Lin Chengsheng felt a sharp pain in his chest, and he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You..."

"For Lin Yuanyang’s sake, I can overlook your identity as a member of the Ji Family Army, but you must hand over the item!"

Lin Chengsheng’s face turned pale, his eyes filled with shock, "How... do you know?"

Ji Ning slowly walked up to Lin Chengsheng and said blandly, "To be precise, your first wife Zi Yanran was a member of the Ji Family Army. The person who assassinated her was not an enemy of the Lin Family, but her enemy."

Lin Chengsheng’s face turned ashen, with a look of shock and helplessness, "Are you also a member of the Ji Family Army?"

"No."

"Then how do you know all this?"

Ji Ning smiled, "I deduced it."

"Zi Yanran survived two assassination attempts; she evaded the first but was poisoned, and failed to escape the second, dying unexpectedly. As her widower, you married your second wife Li Meifang less than a year after her death. The outside world suspects you of infidelity during your marriage, but you wouldn’t let Li Meifang approach the old mansion, nor let her conceive and give birth."

Ji Ning paused here and gave him a deep, meaningful glance before continuing, "Because you suspected Li Meifang who frequently contacted you during that time, you suspected she was related to Zi Yanran’s death, so you married her to investigate who killed Zi Yanran. You feared those behind Li Meifang would doubt you and target your only son, so you expelled Lin Yuanyang from the house, a form of protection for him."

Lin Chengsheng’s body quivered slightly, seemingly not expecting Ji Ning to deduce so accurately, though Ji Ning’s smile turned mocking at this moment.

"You guarded against Li Meifang for years, seeing that she truly did not contact the outside world and was devoted to living with you, so you relaxed your vigilance towards her, even feeling guilty for suspecting the wrong person..."

Lin Chengsheng’s body swayed dejectedly, sitting backward on the ground, "Yes... I thought I had wasted her youth, and I owed her compensation, but I didn’t expect she was still..."

His eyes gradually reddened, his voice choked with sobs.

Ji Ning looked at his lonely face and sighed inwardly, continuing, "Because your attitude towards Lin Yuanyang and Li Meifang was so strange, I had some suspicions and had the events of that year investigated in detail, especially about Zi Yanran..."

Before she could finish, Lin Chengsheng already held his head in both hands, lowering his tearful eyes.

"It was my fault for not protecting her well... It’s all my fault, I exposed her identity... I harmed her and my son..."

He was truly regretful and guilty.

Ji Ning saw his guilt for Zi Yanran and swallowed back the words she was about to say.

When Zi Yanran approached Lin Chengsheng back then, she had ulterior motives.

Not only did she know Lin Chengsheng’s ancestors were one of the Twelve Round Table Powers, but she also knew the Lin family had a piece she was interested in.

Ji Ning’s eyes showed a hint of sympathy and when his sobs subsided, she said, "Zi Yanran’s death is not largely your fault."

Lin Chengsheng’s body froze, suddenly raising his head to look at Ji Ning.

His eyes were bloodshot, the tears not yet dried.

Ji Ning coughed lightly and slowly revealed what she knew as the truth.

"Besides being a member of the Ji Family Army, Zi Yanran was also a high-level superpower user of the Huazhou Alliance’s Special Ability Team."

"What?"

Lin Chengsheng was so startled that even his tears retracted.

Special Ability Team?

High-level superpower user?

How could that be?

Ji Ning’s expression turned more serious, her voice colder than before, "Zi Yanran’s identity back then was not simple. I investigated the two assassination attempts she encountered; the first time it was a hostile force to the Ji Family Army who made the move. The second was several powers, which indicates that Zi Yanran used her identity to uncover some important secret, hence being silenced..."

Lin Chengsheng’s expression changed drastically.

Ji Ning said lightly, "She should have known the secret in her possession would get her silenced, so she told you about her being a member of the Ji Family Army after the first accident."

Lin Chengsheng was taken aback, his brows furrowed, his gaze carried a hint of vigilance.

Ji Ning’s lips curled slightly, indifferent, "Because of her identity, you used the Lin family’s covert force to protect her, allowing her to live a few more years."

"You..." Lin Chengsheng was angry.

But it was undeniable that Ji Ning’s deductions were mostly correct.

Ji Ning glanced at him, turned around, and stopped in front of the round table inside the house, "She must have also told you, not to give the thing hidden by the Lin family to anyone, including the Ji Family Army members and those three families, right?"

Lin Chengsheng’s face froze, looking at Ji Ning as though he was looking at a monster, a mix of astonishment, reverence, and fear.

"I am not a member of the Ji Family Army, nor do I represent those three families. I want the item you’ve hidden, only to return it to its rightful owner!"

The cool voice carried an unyielding firmness.

Lin Chengsheng only felt his blood flow in reverse, his whole body felt like it fell into an icy cave, losing all sensation.

Return to its rightful owner?

Is it what he thinks it is?

Is she... is she the rightful owner?