Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 151 The Mother of the Lu Family
"Please help me! I just want to swipe my elevator card, I won't bother you with anything else!" The woman grabbed the security guard's arm, repeating the same sentence over and over. Her clothes were clean, but the style was old-fashioned, seemingly from twenty or thirty years ago, which seemed out of place in the bustling city center.

"Ma'am, begging me won't help. They booked the whole floor. You can't go up without an invitation." The security guard shook off her hand and said, "If I take you up, and the boss fires me, who am I supposed to complain to? If you keep acting like this, I'm calling the police!"

"This guy really doesn't know anything. He thinks he's just visiting someone in the neighborhood," a bystander scoffed.

"It would be more effective to just kneel down and cry for justice while holding up a sign at the door, and get yourself trending on social media."

"What happened?" Honglian stepped forward and asked.

Upon seeing the employee badge hanging around her neck, the security guard couldn't help but beam with delight. "Oh, you're an employee of the security agency? Perfect timing! This person is making a fuss about seeing you, but doesn't have an invitation card and can't get on the elevator, so she's causing a scene here!"

Hearing this, the woman perked up and reached out to grab Honglian again, "Great! I've finally found you! I'm Lu Sisi's mother, and I have something to say to you!"

Lu Sisi… Honglian thought for a moment before realizing that she was referring to Lu Lixin.

“Let’s talk over there,” she said, pointing to a green landscaped area at the edge of the park.

"Excuse me," Honglian mouthed to her two partners behind her, "I'll have to wait a bit for lunch."

"It's alright, there's no rush." ​​Wang Baihu stood at the gate. "Xiao Jiu and I will wait for you here."

Upon reaching the thicket of bushes, Honglian spoke, "Speak, what do you want with this mechanism?"

"I saw the news on TV... my daughter... she died?" Mrs. Lu asked timidly, rubbing her hands together.

"..." This was the kind of question Honglian least wanted to answer, but she had no choice but to make the other person face reality. "Yes, he's dead."

"I see..." she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Then what about the money she earned? I'm her mother, I should at least get half of it!"

Honglian was stunned. She thought this answer would break the other person's heart, but the other person immediately jumped to another topic.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't she make a lot of money? That brat... even called to brag to me, saying it's karma for abandoning her." Aunt Lu continued her tirade. "What abandonment? I sent her a lot of money every year, supporting her until she was an adult! Now that she's successful and has the ability, she's blaming me instead!"

Honglian suddenly felt a nameless anger rise within her.

"What do you mean by 'successful'? She became a murderer! Three people died in the mall bombing, and now another one has been killed at the TV station, and the number of deaths has almost increased several hundred times. You call that 'successful'?!"

"Uh... young lady, please don't be angry. I'm not good with words and don't know any logic; I just said it offhand. Please don't take it to heart." Seeing her face darken, Aunt Lu quickly apologized. "I just wanted to ask when the money under her name will be dealt with? I asked the police station, and they said this matter is handled by the relevant authorities, which is why I came to you—"

“It’s all been dealt with,” Honglian interrupted rudely. “That was all her illegal income, and it should have been confiscated. Even if it was legitimate income, it should be used to compensate the victims! You won’t get a single penny!”

"What?" The woman's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's several million! You didn't pocket it, did you?"

“I’ll say it again, she’s a murderer. Even if people are dead, it doesn’t exempt her from the associated civil damages. Sixteen people were injured because of her, many of whom are still in the hospital! Even if all that money were used to compensate them, it wouldn’t be nearly enough!”

"Why?!" Lu Niang couldn't help but shout, "Why should only my daughter pay? Doesn't she work for that boss too? If we're talking about assigning responsibility, she's not even the main culprit. If you're so capable, why don't you arrest the boss as well?!"

Honglian's ears tingled from the shout, and she couldn't help but take a step back, saying, "We definitely have to arrest them, but the money was transferred from overseas, so it will take time to trace it."

"You're talking nonsense! The boss is clearly in China, and she's even met with him."

Honglian frowned. "What exactly did she tell you?"

Lu Niang rattled off everything she knew. The two had severed ties long ago, barely contacting each other, until a little over a month ago when Lu Lixin suddenly drove up to her, showing off his new clothes and jewelry. This wasn't out of filial piety, of course; it was purely to provoke her.

The two ended up having a huge argument and parting on bad terms. During the argument, Lu Lixin mentioned that she had been noticed by a big boss and would not only become a legendary ability user but also earn a lot of money. She added that once she became famous, even if her parents knelt down and begged for forgiveness, she wouldn't look at them again.

More than a month ago? Honglian was somewhat surprised. "Are you sure she only gained her abilities then?" "Otherwise, she came to my house to ask me for money back in August because she was short of cash." Lu Niang exclaimed, "If she already had her abilities then, how could she have spoken to me so humbly? She would probably be swaggering around like a peacock!"

August...that is, two months after Lu Lixin was released from prison?

After accounting for the time difference, what the other party said was indeed correct.

Honglian originally thought that Lu Lixin's ability was due to the botanical garden erosion incident half a year ago, but she didn't expect that he had only recently awakened it.

Of course, awakening is inherently highly random, and the effects of erosion are long-term, so even if the timing doesn't match, it's not a big problem. But judging from the footage, Lu Lixin's control over his abilities is quite proficient, unlike someone who has only recently awakened.

It's important to know that most people with abilities are unable to master their abilities in the early stages, and some don't even know what abilities they possess in their entire lives after awakening them. The Limitless Organization organizes ability tests to see how many hidden ability users there are in Jiangcheng.

Ability is not an innate instinct; it requires diligent practice and repeated use to become proficient.

In other words, Lu Lixin may have been instructed by someone.

Could this "mentor" be the boss that Lu's mother was talking about?

If this inference is true, wouldn't it mean that the Gospel Church not only gave her money, but also sent people here to supervise and assist in the sabotage activities?
That would be a much more serious problem.

"Have you met her boss?" Honglian asked.

"How could that be? If I'd seen him, I'd go straight to him for the money," said Aunt Lu indignantly. "I absolutely have to get a share of that money, or I'll come looking for you every day!"

"Do as you please! Haven't I ever seen such a cold-blooded mother? Your daughter died and all you think about is money!" Honglian retorted, "Go ahead and make a scene at the door, let's see if anyone will support your demands!"

Seeing that she wouldn't agree, the other person actually sat down on the ground and started wailing, "What did I do wrong? It was her father who abandoned this family first, what could I do? I supported her education, paid her rent, and raised her for more than ten years, is it wrong to want some compensation!?"

Honglian ignored her and walked towards the park gate, leaving her howling behind.

“My daughter was just an accomplice; her boss is the real culprit. You have no conscience! You leave the real culprit unpunished and bully poor people like me! You will be punished…”

"What happened?" Wang Baihu stepped forward, glancing suspiciously in the direction of the landscaped area. "Even you couldn't convince her?"

"Persuade what?"

“We’re betting on why she came to the agency,” Little Dove said crisply. “Brother Bird said it must be because someone in her family awakened an ability and thought they could come to the agency to ask for a job…”

Honglian let out a cold laugh and briefly explained the other party's purpose.

The two were greatly shocked.

"Luckily, my mom wouldn't treat me like that..." Wang Baihu sighed, "Otherwise, I'm afraid I would have become even more insane than Lu Lixin."

“No wonder she changed her name to this.” Xiaojiu’s tone was somewhat sad. “After breaking off the relationship, seeing each other again was not to mend the rift, but to hurt each other further. Both of them are… so pitiful.”

After his two colleagues sighed for a while, Wang Baihu asked again, "Do you think she really received any guidance?"

“Most likely. Don’t forget she also knows the art of plundering, which she must have obtained from others.” Honglian pondered, “In just one month, she not only mastered her awakened ability but also used plundering so skillfully. If she really had this kind of learning ability, she wouldn’t have failed to get into university.”

There must be someone helping her behind the scenes.

"After dinner, I'll go report the situation to Captain Xiao," Honglian said finally. "Perhaps this case is far from over."

(End of this chapter)