Chapter 35

Trevor was so angry that he fainted on the spot, and the surrounding soldiers naturally fell into a panic. Even Daniel noticed something was amiss. After a few days of interaction, the envoy from the capital to the Lances Province knew that this lord was not a deceitful person; his words could be trusted. Bringing him here was indeed to show him the treasure vault, but unexpectedly, the treasure vault, which should have been filled with treasures, was now empty. Putting himself in Trevor's shoes, Daniel couldn't help but feel a surge of sympathy for him.

Regardless of the chaos in the Lances family, He Ping was almost laughing out loud. Every time he thought of Trevor's expression when he saw the empty treasure vault, he couldn't help but smile. If the environment weren't so tense and he didn't have to escape, he would have been rolling on the ground laughing. Even now, suppressing his laughter made his stomach cramp. He forced himself to stop laughing and came to an inconspicuous corner of the treasure vault, where he took out the broken mirror.

With a light touch, the mirror, which had been reflecting He Ping's face, rippled, and then a vast wilderness appeared, which was the area outside Lances City where He Ping had stayed before entering. It turned out that before infiltrating, He Ping had already anticipated that it would be easy to get in but hard to get out, and the duration of his ability might expire. Therefore, he had left a mark outside Lances City using the broken mirror he initially obtained.

Seeing that the environment in the mirror showed no abnormalities and no one was around, He Ping set the mirror upright and transmitted a force from the portable armory system. The mirror quickly grew into a two-meter-wide circle, with a glowing circumference and a black vortex inside. This was the main function of the mirror: a bidirectional spatial gate. In fact, a similar spatial gate also appeared at the marked location outside Lances City.

Without hesitation, He Ping stepped into the spatial gate. The next moment, he emerged from the spatial gate at the marked location outside Lances City. Looking around, He Ping felt delighted. This was his first time using the mirror's spatial gate ability, and it seemed to be quite useful!

He Ping turned and saw that the spatial gate was still active. According to the system's description, the spatial gate could remain open for a period of time, during which it was bidirectional, meaning he could return. He Ping extended his hand and placed it on the edge of the spatial gate. Another force from the system made the spatial gate disappear instantly, returning to its previous state as a broken mirror. At the same time, the spatial gate in the Lances family's treasure vault also vanished, and no one noticed any abnormalities.

He Ping's mood was better than ever. In his previous life, he had been plagued by bad luck, and there were few times in his decades of life when things went well. He had thought this time would be the same, but unexpectedly, his bad luck had hit rock bottom and rebounded. He had obtained the power and the treasures, and the hope of returning home was within reach. The next step was to quickly gather enough war points to upgrade the system and then return home immediately!

Thinking of home, He Ping remembered his parents. His father, He Xiangdong, and his mother, Yin Xiulan, were originally employees of a state-owned enterprise where they met, fell in love, and eventually got married. When He Ping was in elementary school, they felt that the state-owned enterprise had no potential for development, and the restructuring of state-owned enterprises across the country was spreading like a tide. Therefore, they both resigned, borrowed money, and bought a production line from the state-owned enterprise. They brought in technical experts from the state-owned enterprise and founded the Oriental Hardware Processing Plant.

Hardware processing had a large market in He Ping's hometown, Hedong Province, and the demand was greater than the supply. As a result, Oriental Hardware did not take long to expand and became a star enterprise in Qingshan City, Hedong Province. He Xiangdong also became a well-known young entrepreneur in Qingshan City. There were even rumors that the Qingshan City Political Consultative Conference would give He Xiangdong a position as a member, though it was a nominal title with no real power, it still demonstrated the status of Oriental Hardware in Qingshan City.

By the time He Ping was in the sixth grade of elementary school, He Xiangdong's net worth had already reached tens of millions. If the value of the factory and equipment were included, this figure would double. It was the year 2000, and Hedong Province was not considered a developed province, nor was Qingshan City the capital of Hedong. In such a small place, He Xiangdong, at such a young age, had such assets and status, making him the envy of the entire city. At that time, He Ping was a typical rich second-generation.

However, good times did not last long. Just as He Ping was about to graduate from elementary school, an inspection team suddenly found a large number of controlled knives and even a handgun at Oriental Hardware. This was irrefutable evidence, and in an instant, He Xiangdong, once the envied young entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest people in Qingshan City, became a despised prisoner. To avoid implicating his wife, Yin Xiulan, He Xiangdong took all the blame.

Everything in the factory was seized, and the family's funds, after paying the employees' salaries and severance pay, settling various debts, paying fines, and bribing officials, were almost depleted. They even lost their house. Unable to support life in Qingshan City, Yin Xiulan and He Ping were forced to leave and move to her hometown, a small county in the northwest.

He Ping remembered very clearly that his father, who was serving time in prison, was in extremely poor physical and mental condition. He looked at least ten years older than his actual age, and his hair was already gray by the time he was in his forties. After his release, he remained in a daze and showed early signs of dementia at the age of sixty. Before He Ping's rebirth, He Xiangdong was on his deathbed, barely hanging on.

His mother, Yin Xiulan, was no different. Although the cost of living in the small county was low, it was difficult for a woman to raise a child alone. She worked almost from morning till night, with very few days off throughout the year. She rarely attended He Ping's parent-teacher meetings. The once young and beautiful Yin Xiulan aged rapidly, and by the time she was in her fifties, she had accumulated a host of health problems from overwork.

That experience made He Ping mature early in his junior high school years. He was a poor student in elementary school, but by junior high and high school, he had become an excellent student. In college, he became a top student who relied on scholarships and part-time jobs to support himself, never needing financial support from his family. That experience also made him see the world clearly, but at that time, he lacked the courage and ability to be a bad person.

Thinking of this, He Ping's anger intensified. As soon as he found out who had framed his father, no matter who it was, he would make that person's life a living hell, and their entire family would suffer!

[PS: Second update of the day!]

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