Who Is the Real Boss

"Sorry, Captain Xing, we overslept our afternoon nap. I'm always drowsy as I'm old."

A man in his 50s among a group of people gave Yun Che a glance and then looked straight at Xing Feng. He wore a big smile and although he said sorry, his expression didn't look apologetic at all. And he even justified themselves using their age.

Yun Che didn't feel humiliated despite being ignored. He scanned every one of them. Yun Che wondered when he skimmed over the woman next to the man because he seemed to see her somewhere before. After searching through his memory, he remembered. She was the lady who shrieked when they were with Xing Feng. So she was the family of the old guy, who appeared to be an important figure. No wonder Xing Feng went to pick them up in person.

"You shouldn't have come if you had problems getting out of your bed, Mr. Wang. I mean, you could've saved all the trouble."

Xing Feng meanly squinted at the man. He might not know everyone but this old man was familiar to him. Xing Feng even went to pick up his family in person when he met Yun Che in Huai City. He wouldn't have been injured and surrounded by zombies if it weren't for his wife and daughter.

"You called everyone to this meeting, how could I not come?"

Wang Fujian still wore his smile as if he didn't capture the deeper meaning of Xing Feng's words. Mrs. Wang in a gray embroidered cheongsam held an umbrella next to her husband. "No seats here?" Asked Mrs. Wang with a disdainful look on the face, "Where's the staff? Get us some chairs. I want soft ones. My husband is in poor health, he can't sit in a hard chair."

Well, they saw themselves as nobles as always. Wang Fujian naturally approved of his wife. Yun Che put on a bigger smile on the face, Chaoyang and Peak people were amused by them. "Do they really think this is a party? Even if it was, without the host's permission, they wouldn't get to boss the staff around. It seems they think they're the hosts here."

"Sorry, Mrs. Wang, no chairs. You either stand or go home."

Gu Mingxuan's rigid, cold voice came from the speaker boxes. He would be more polite if it was some other day. After what Chen Family did this morning, he was still in a bad mood. Also, he didn't forget that his captain was injured because of this Mrs. Wang.

"What? What do you mean?"

Apparently, Mrs. Wang had never been treated like this before. She was furious and glared at Xing Feng. "Captain Xing, is this how you manage your people?" She questioned him with a sullen look on the face, "You know, someday, they'll even defy your order."

"That's my problem. But at the moment, I think you, Mrs. Wang, are defying me."

Xing Feng's eyes darkened. He wasn't polite to Mrs. Wang either. Xing Feng knew that they were trying to start off with a tough attitude. With the large crowd here, if Xing Feng even slightly softened, they would see him as a pushover. These people didn't deserve Xing Feng's flattering. Even if they did, Xing Feng wouldn't take a soft stance.

"You!"

"If I'm not mistaken, this is Chaoyang's territory, right? And the laboratory is an affiliated institute of Chaoyang. Xing Feng's your boss whether we follow pre or post-doomsday rules. His words are the absolute authority. Why do you make it look like you're the boss here? Since when does Chaoyang have a new boss?"

Yun Che preemptively taunted Mrs. Wang. The Wang Family was embarrassed and annoyed, especially the man of the family, Wang Fujian, who initially ignored Yun Che. When he glared at Yun Che with his blazing eyes, a man over 30 scowled and challenged Yun Che, "Who the hell are you? You don't get to make a sound!"

"Whoa, Che, I've never seen someone challenge you like he just did. If you don't have a say in Chaoyang, who does? Him? You won't allow that to happen, right, Captain Xing? Otherwise, Che will whop your ass when you're home!"

"Open up your eyes and look! He's the captain of Peak, Captain Yun Che, the love of our captain. Who the hell are you? How dare you talk to him like that?"

After the brief silence, Zhou Zeyu and Chu Haoling stood up one after another. One defended his own captain, another announced the status of Yun Che. None of them was polite, though. They were already in a grouch when they came back knowing that someone tried to harm Chenchen. Now, they took it all out on the condescending Wang Family.

"You-You are Yun Che?!"

The man opened up his eyes in shock. He didn't expect this feminine, fragile man who looked like a toyboy to be Yun Che, the callous murderer that everyone talked about. Because of what happened to Chen Family, Yun Che's image had been demonized. His name alone would intimidate most people.

"Is there another Yun Che in Chaoyang Community that I don't know of? I think I'm qualified to make a sound here, right?"

Yun Che wasn't interested in figuring out why he was shocked. He just scrutinized the man, who most likely was Wang Fujian's son or son-in-law, or else, how did he get the nerve to stand out? "If he has to take the consequences for what he said, will Wang Fujian have a heart attack due to the outburst of anger?"

"Uh…"

Like Zhou Zeyu said, if Yun Che didn't have a say, who else would have?

The man cringed even though he was unresigned. Before Wang Fujian tried to say something, Mrs. Wang held her head high again. "You're Captain Xing's lover, huh? So? This is the meeting that Chaoyang holds, does it have anything to do with you, Captain Yun of Peak?"

Not just Mrs. Wang, all the women with them scoffed at Yun Che. One of them was a 20-odd-year-old tall, beautiful girl.

"Are you joking, Mrs. Wang? You can attend the meeting as a family whereas we can't?"

Yun Che chuckled. He clearly felt the aggressive challenge. But he wasn't sure why she made it so personal? All of a sudden, Yun Che sensed something. To verify his conjecture, Yun Che abruptly held Xing Feng in front of the crowd. "My dear, what do you say?"

"Cheeky!"

"Behave yourself, bitch!"

Before Xing Feng spoke anything, Mrs. Wang and the pretty girl both verbally attacked Yun Che. Xing Feng's face darkened at once, the atmosphere was intense. Even an idiot could tell what was going on. Homosexuality might be unconventional but it already existed before the doomsday and nowadays, it was more common. It would be too dramatic if they were just homophobic. Things had become clear as the eyes of the pretty girls were filled with anger.

"Mingxuan, arrest them all. Kick them out of the laboratory when the meeting is over!"

Before Yun Che got angry, Xing Feng stood up impatiently. His authoritative voice reached every corner through the loudspeakers. Xing Feng could put up with his arrogance and the fact that Wang Fujian ignored Che on purpose but he wouldn't let them get away with insulting Yun Che.

"Yes, captain!"

"You! How dare you?!"

Gu Ming picked up the walkie-talkie. Wang Family panicked. Wang Fujian pointed his shivering finger at Xing Feng. His old face was contorted because of anger. "Xing Feng, don't forget who I am! Without me, most of the research will be terminated! By then, you'll crawl back and beg me!"

Wang Fujian wasn't being self-important, he did have made notable achievements in fields of biology, genetics and virology before the doomsday. He was the vice director of the laboratory before Xing Feng took it over. As the pillar of the laboratory, he had been the leader of a series of research. He never set foot in the research on crystal nucleus though. Even the former director of the laboratory, Kong Yanjun had to show respect for him.

"Oh, I would have forgotten that if you didn't remind me. Tie them up and erase their memories before kicking them out."

Xing Feng wouldn't be easily threatened. The tougher Wang Fujian was, the more merciless Xing Feng would be. Yun Che kept his sly smile from beginning to end, showing no intention to intervene. After all, Xing Feng had to deal with Chaoyang household chores on his own, right?

"How dare you, Xing Feng! What are you doing? Let-Let me go! Xing Feng, screw you! Xing Feng!"

"Captain Xing, no! Captain Xing!"

"Dad, mom! Aaaaahh! What are you doing?"

"Let me go. Captain Xing, please don't do this."

A group of muscular men barged into the location and dragged every Wang Family member out regardless of Wang Fujian's yelling and cries. Their curses and cries reverberated through the place. All the other latecomers cringed in a shudder. Xing Feng even treated Mr. Wang like he was nothing, how about them? No one here could compete with Mr. Wang's seniority.

"Starting from this second, all the latecomers aren't allowed to enter the meeting. Seize them and kick them all out later."

Xing Feng grabbed and spoke to the microphone with a faceful of authoritativeness. The registers out there couldn't see his expression but they turned off the computers and stopped scanning the entry passes as soon as they heard the order. The latecomers outside the meeting area kept shaking in fear and had no idea what to do. Who would have thought that Xing Feng would be so dictatorial all of a sudden?

These people and Chen Family had the same thought. They all figured that Xing Feng must value them a lot, or else, he wouldn't have spared no efforts seizing control of the laboratory. They were self-conceited because they thought the future of mankind would rely on them. In addition, the vice-captain Gu Mingxuan didn't really interfere with their business in the last 20 days, so they got more carried away. The researchers had become so overconfident that they forgot who was feeding them.

"We called you here because we have some announcements to make. But before that, I think I should listen to your opinions. You're free to leave if you don't want to stick around but because you have participated in research on crystal nucleus, this piece of your memory must be erased. I don't and won't care where you go afterward. You can take away all of your stuff after examinations."

The punishment on Wang Family was enough to scare all these researchers and Xing Feng was sick of the bullshit that came out of their mouths, so he just cut to the chase. Many must have thought about leaving after witnessing what happened to Chen and Wang Family, they could leave if they wanted, Xing Feng wouldn't keep anyone in confinement. Because if he did, those people would only hold a grudge against Xing Feng. However, it wouldn't be possible for them to steal and sell the research findings to someone else. Needless to say, Xing Feng wasn't that foolish.