Chapter 256: Come Out, My Backup Potential! Help Me Establish Foundation!

President Wang's words were full of goodwill, but Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen felt a chilling cold creeping over them.

"This guy..." Zhang Yu thought to himself, "From start to finish, he never really intended to let us spend this money freely."

"Even if we had pooled money months ago to buy a Heavenly Spirit Root, we'd still have to get past him."

"So... actually, from nine months ago, from the moment he sent us that money, we could only build our foundation with his permission, right under his nose."

"This guy has been messing with us all along."

"No wonder, no wonder he didn't seek a true deity's witness when signing the contract... This guy never planned to fully abide by the contract."

"I thought that would give us more freedom, but in reality, it only minimized constraints on him."

Zhang Yu instantly understood—for the powerful families of Songyang City, signing a contract with a true deity as a witness ensured its execution.

But for someone at the top like Wang Yin, his wealth and influence alone could guarantee the contract's enforcement; having a true deity witness it would only restrict him.

And things like monitoring others' accounts and freezing their funds definitely involved illegal operations, yet Wang Yin obviously had the support of a true deity to pull it off.

At that moment, Zhang Yu felt that all the cultivation resources he had accumulated over the past nine months in his quest to build a foundation with a Heavenly Spirit Root were now being strangled firmly by Wang Yin.

Suppressing his anger, Zhang Yu explained, "Azhen wants to keep the money with me for safekeeping before she swaps her physical body."

President Wang dissuaded him, "Swapping a physical body isn't like dying—why go through all that trouble?"

"I'm keeping an eye on your account's security, no need to worry."

After hanging up, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen felt a suffocating pressure bearing down on them.

Over these nine months, Wang Yin had been constantly influencing and steering them, as if leaving chains on them one by one.

Now those chains were tightening one by one, like layers of stifling pressure, trying to suppress him and Bai Zhenzhen completely, holding them firmly in his palm.

But the more this happened, the more Zhang Yu could feel the residual ox in his mind's visualization stirring to life.

Everything he had experienced today was like a thunderbolt, jolting that residual ox fully awake—it began to struggle, to thrash, to roar.

And within this familiar sensation, Zhang Yu felt his brain, muscles, and blood flow becoming increasingly active.

Floor 1111 of the Oasis Tower.

Wang Yin hung up the phone and thought to himself, "That Zhang Yu kid... what is he trying to do?"

"I thought he had turned obedient before."

"Now it seems he's learned to put on an act in front of me?"

"Suddenly making such a large transfer—does he want to build his foundation early? Or is he trying to pull some tricks behind my back?"

After thinking for a moment, Wang Yin still felt uneasy about Bai Zhenzhen.

After all, Bai Zhenzhen was his promised goods for the higher-ups; she couldn't be compromised.

So he ordered Red River outside, "Go to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's apartment and bring Bai Zhenzhen over."

Red River nodded in acknowledgment and respectfully withdrew.

A short while later, he led a team into the luxury apartment of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

He casually swiped his phone, and the apartment door opened naturally, allowing them to enter without any hindrance.

But after a quick search, Red River's brow furrowed, and he called Wang Yin: "President Wang, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are gone."

Wang Yin's gaze sharpened and he said, "Send people to block all entry and exit routes in Songyang City."

"Go after them yourself. Tell me if you need any support."

On the street.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen watched the surveillance feed on their phones—footage recorded by the hidden cameras they had placed in their apartment.

Seeing Red River leading the team in the footage, Bai Zhenzhen frowned and said, "Wang Yin is indeed suspicious."

"They can't find us now, so they'll probably deploy people to search the entire city."

Zhang Yu pulled Bai Zhenzhen and ran towards the outskirts: "Let's go first! They have the help of a True God, so they must already be tracking us."

Bai Zhenzhen said angrily: "That bastard Wang Yin... not only monitoring and freezing accounts, but also sending people to catch us at the slightest sign of trouble?"

Fuji analyzed: "This guy is different from the Zhou Chechen, Zhou Yang, or even Song Xu you've dealt with before."

"Your previous opponents, to some extent, still had to follow the rules of the First Layer."

"But Wang Yin, when he came down to the First Layer, his intention was to trample it flat."

"Many rules of the First Layer are like paper to him."

"Damn... I'd even say the Evil Gods are more law-abiding than him."

At that moment, Zhang Yu deeply understood why Kunxu strictly controlled upper-layer people from coming down to the lower layers.

Just one young master here was already so lawless—if more came, who knew what chaos they could stir up in this layer.

When the rules of the First Layer have limited effect on such people, using the simplest and most direct method to achieve their goals often becomes their first choice.

In that instant, Zhang Yu felt... as if Wang Yin were a giant beast, following close behind him, step by step, not intending to give him any chance.

But the greater the pressure, the faster Zhang Yu felt his cultivation method cycling, and the crippled ox he visualized in his mind seemed to grow excited.

"I can't just wait to die. If I keep running like this, they'll catch up sooner or later."

As he ran, Zhang Yu dialed Deng Bingding: "About what we discussed earlier... I agree."

"Take action immediately. Send all your people to Songyang City."

Deng Bingding said: "At most, the True Gods can support you on the network level; they can't descend directly to take part in this battle."

"The outsourced personnel who can fight are currently working overtime all over the First Layer. Gathering toward Songyang City, it will take about six hours to form effective combat strength."

Though he knew that gathering from a First Layer spanning over two million square kilometers within six hours wasn't slow, considering his current situation, Zhang Yu couldn't help but think it was too slow.

Zhang Yu said: "I'm in trouble here. I'm being chased by people from Oasis Group."

Deng Bingding frowned and thought: "Has Wang Yin discovered our plan? Did Zhang Yu slip up? Or did someone on our side leak information secretly?"

For a moment, Deng Bingding wasn't sure, but she also knew this wasn't the time to think about that.

She said: "I'll send people from the Inspection Team to cover for you and delay them."

"You have to hold on. Don't act until our people have assembled."

Zhang Yu said: "Then I have a few extra requests."

"I need what we agreed on earlier, right now."

"I also need a secret account, and an interest-free loan of 60 million."

"And I need you to help hide my tracks..."

Hearing Zhang Yu's audacious demands, Deng Bingding calmly said: "I can open a secret account for you, get it done immediately, and I'll have it protected."

"But as for the money... our budget has been running a bit tight recently."

Saying this, Deng Bingding thought of Sparkfire True Person, who had been earning a lot of overtime pay lately, along with the many other outsourced employees.

She continued: "At most, I can still offer an interest-free loan of 25 million. Anything more would require approval, which would take about 5 to 10 working days."

Zhang Yu frowned slightly and thought to himself: Too slow.

"I can't just wait for the True Gods' support—that's waiting for death."

"I need to find a way to build my foundation faster and gain stronger combat power."

"It seems now I have no choice but to fully release my and Zhenzhen's immortal potential to help me break through to a Heavenly Spiritual Root Foundation Establishment."

……

On the other side, Red River was leading more than a dozen Qi Refining peak experts, tracking Zhang Yu's trail. A flood of surveillance screenshots, phone signal data, network data... was constantly presented before him, bringing him closer and closer to Zhang Yu and the other.

Ye Mantian in the team was especially excited. Though he didn't know how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had offended President Wang, thinking about the impending arrest, he felt this was his chance to redeem himself.

Following their movement data, they surrounded the area from all directions, but soon found that the location marked on their phones had no one at all.

Red River frowned: "What's going on?"

A voice of a True God came through his phone: "Other True Gods are covering for them."

"But it doesn't matter. The entire Songyang City is filled with my eyes and ears; the other side can fabricate some of the data, but they can't fabricate all of it."

"They won't escape."

Within the Divine Power Network, as True Gods on both sides made their moves, vast amounts of data containing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen appeared and disappeared intermittently.

Although this data was interwoven with truth and falsehood, shifting unpredictably, after cross-referencing the massive amounts of surveillance data in Songyang City, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's escape route was gradually pinpointed.

But just at that moment, a group of Songyang Patrol Team members blocked their way.

"Routine inspection. Please cooperate."

!

Chi He said, "I know your captain quite well..."

The other replied coldly, "Please cooperate."

Chi He said, "Then let me make a phone call, is that okay?"

"I'm calling Director Wang."

Having said that, he dialed Wang Yin's number without waiting for their consent.

And upon hearing the words "Director Wang," the patrol team members present could not help but pause their actions, silently waiting for Chi He to finish his call.

Inside the sewer.

With the interest-free loan approved by Deng Bingding arriving, the funds in the secret account reached 25 million, but this number was still far from the 58 million price of a Heavenly Spirit Root.

So Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, while moving swiftly through the sewer, kept operating their phones, downloading one loan platform after another.

Bai Zhenzhen's fingertips left a series of afterimages as she worked and said, "Yu, I found another one here that can give us 300,000."

Zhang Yu clicked on the link she shared while saying, "Yeah, I just got 250,000 approved from 'Safe Loan.' You should try it too."

Last year, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's immortal potential had been exhausted, and they had nearly maxed out all their borrowing limits.

But after obtaining the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate, coupled with the Oasis Group's promotion, the two's immortal potential had skyrocketed! Exploded! Surging!

At this moment, with the two pushing forward with all their might, that vast immortal potential was continuously being stimulated and converged into Zhang Yu's body.

Under such operations, the funds in the secret account, which symbolized Zhang Yu's current immortal potential, surged wildly, quickly rising from 25 million to 28 million... 30 million... 40 million... seeming to draw closer and closer to the requirement for a Heavenly Spirit Root Foundation Establishment.

But the number eventually stopped at 43 million.

Bai Zhenzhen stared at the 43 million figure and frowned, "We've borrowed from every platform possible. To buy a Heavenly Spirit Root Foundation Establishment, we're still at least 15 million short."

Zhang Yu, frowning deeply beside her, suddenly brightened after a moment: "No... there's still one more."

"You forgot we still have a reserve of immortal potential."

Inside White Dragon High School.

Yu Xinghan looked at his vibrating phone and saw a message from Zhang Yu: "I am Zhang Yu, the strongest high school student in Kunxu First Layer. I'm currently in an emergency and need to break through to Heavenly Spirit Root Foundation Establishment. I'm a little short on money. If you lend me now, I'll repay you 1.3 times later."

"Psycho," Yu Xinghan cursed inwardly and turned off the phone screen.

But a moment later, he still called back and asked, "Hey? Did your account get hacked?"

After hearing that it was indeed Zhang Yu on the other end and that he really wanted to borrow money, Yu Xinghan hung up.

Then, after thinking it over, he finally picked up his phone again: "You'd better damn well pay me back 1.3 times."

"This over a million is my hard-earned money."

Inside Purple Cloud High School.

Le Mulan looked at the message on her phone, hesitated for a moment, then also made a call to confirm whether it was real.

Then, while transferring the money, she thought to herself, "If Zhang Yu really succeeds in Foundation Establishment..."

"Then the materials on him would be those of a Foundation Establishment elder."

Thinking of this, Le Mulan felt a slight stir of excitement.

……

Qian Shen hung up the phone, looked at his parents, and said, "Dad, Mom, I want to lend some money to Zhang Yu."

"Are you worried he's scamming us for money?"

"How could that be?"

"A student scoring below 550 might exaggerate."

"But a competition champion with a score above 660, a winner of the Foundation Establishment exam, is unlikely to lie."

"Investing in this strongest high school student under the gaokao system—I think it's a sure win."

……

In the spirit realm.

Mo Tianyi sent a group message: "I've confirmed it. Zhang Yu urgently needs a sum of money to break through to Foundation Establishment."

"Everyone got their monthly pay, right? Those who have money, lend him some."

"After all, Zhang Yu is a rare genius from among us poor folk who managed to stand out. It's not easy for him to achieve Foundation Establishment…"

……

Inside the reserve.

Xiong Wenwu, who was leeching off the spirit vein, looked at his phone and said, "An'an, I'll transfer it to him. Keep your money for yourself."

An'an said stubbornly, "I just got my salary of 2500. With the 1.3 times return, that would be 3250!"

……

Inside the temporary rental apartment.

Zhao Tianxing's mother looked at the message from Zhang Yu, her earlier excitement gradually calming down.

Just then, Zhao Tianxing's voice suddenly came from the computer nearby: "Mom, call him to confirm if it's real."

"If it's really a message from Zhang Yu asking to borrow money, then lend him the money you've saved up to redeem me."

"I trust A Yu's character."

"He'll definitely pay back 1.3 times. We need that money."

……

On the corporate battlefield.

Starfire True Man looked at the message emerging from the eye artifact and said with some surprise, "Borrowing money for Foundation Establishment? Has this guy really fallen out with Wang Yin from Oasis?"

After confirming the authenticity of the message, Starfire True Man thought to himself, "This disciple of mine has some backbone."

He was about to transfer the money but then remembered that most of his money was deposited with his daughter.

So he sent a message to Li Xuelian: "Lend some money to Zhang Yu."