Chapter 26: Thirty Like a Wolf, Forty Like a Tiger

As the Alliance Leader, Lin Ran needed to stay rational at all times; countless forces feared her power, yet they also eyed the Alliance's huge chunk of fat.

But when a person who looked exactly like Zhang Jie appeared before her eyes, Lin Ran could no longer stay calm.

From the slightly trembling gun tip pressed against Zhang Jie's neck, one could see what she was going through inside.

"You..."

"Answer me!!!"

Zhang Jie pressed his lips together; this sudden encounter caught him off guard, and he never imagined he would one day actually meet Lin Ran.

"If the person you're talking about... was once the leader of the Lofty State..."

"Then that's me."

After speaking, Zhang Jie raised his head again to look at Lin Ran; the slightly trembling gun tip remained pressed against his throat, but Lin Ran's eyes were already brimming with tears.

"Empty... empty words won't do; bring out proof that you're him!"

Lin Ran still had a shred of rationality, but that remaining rationality kept telling her, he is Zhang Jie, he is! He must be!

"How to prove it?"

Zhang Jie thought for a moment.

"Is it proving with the incident where you used a specially concocted poison to harm me as a child, or with the incident where I urinated and you played with mud as a child?"

Zhang Jie chuckled lightly, extended his finger, and lightly touched the red gun tip.

"Or like this?"

The moment his finger lightly touched the spear, Disaster Breath seemed to sense something; a cute little eye instantly widened, and then the entire red spear instantly turned into a mass of red fluid that was sucked into Zhang Jie's body.

"Enough?"

With each word Zhang Jie spoke, the dam of accumulated emotion in Lin Ran's heart cracked a little more, until the surging emotion could no longer be contained and gushed out like a flood.

Upon confirming that the person before her was the one she had longed for day and night, Lin Ran finally stopped restraining herself; the former coldness and sharpness vanished completely, and she, shedding her disguise, rushed toward Zhang Jie and clung to him tightly.

"Big liar... obviously it was you who urinated and played with mud..."

"But... still welcome you back..."

Soft jade in his arms, Zhang Jie gently buried his head in her hair, and a faint jasmine fragrance came.

"Lin Ran, don't cry, I'm back..."

"Over two thousand years?"

"Turns out it's already been this long..."

"So many years... you've worked hard."

Feeling the soft, fluffy, fragrant pillow in his arms, Zhang Jie couldn't help but bury his face in her hair.

"Not hard... because you came back."

Lin Ran lifted another smile toward Zhang Jie, with clear mucus still hanging from the left side of her nose.

"Zhang Jie, we really met again in the next life..."

"Hmm."

Who would have thought that the Alliance Leader, brave and stern, cold and ruthless on the outside, would be so wronged and pitiful in front of this person?

But what they don't know is that Lin Ran herself is exactly that kind of person.

At the same time, Zhang Jie felt fortunate that after over two thousand years, when Lin Ran faced him again she was still the simple-minded figure he remembered, not an old woman with white hair and a withered face.

"Zhang Jie~"

"Hmm?"

Zhang Jie looked at the person in his arms, seeing only that they were fidgeting and looking at him, as if they had something hard to say.

"If we count precisely... I am already over two thousand eight hundred years old this year..."

"Will you despise me for being old?"

Seeing her pitiful appearance, Zhang Jie amusedly rubbed her head.

"What are you saying? When I died I was twenty‑eight, just the right age to be approaching thirty; you are now two thousand eight, which is also the age of approaching thirty."

"Moreover, as the saying goes, a woman at thirty embraces gold bricks, at three hundred she sends immortality pills, at three thousand she ranks among the immortals—you are exactly at the best age for a woman."

Watching Zhang Jie talk nonsense with his eyes closed, Lin Ran felt amused.

The him in her memory was just like this now, spouting all sorts of strange theories to cheer himself up; the person before her, whether in appearance, memory, or demeanor, was exactly the same as the him in her memory.

Lin Ran could now be absolutely certain that the person before her was the true Zhang Jie.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jie beside her kept spouting nonsense, the topic drifting from 'woman at thirty' to who knows where.

"They say a woman at thirty is like a wolf, at forty like a tiger, and at fifty she can sit on the ground and suck up the earth..."

"Stop stop stop!"

"Say something serious!"

Lin Ran hurriedly stopped Zhang Jie's wolf‑tiger remarks.

"You... you're obviously dead, right?"

"Then what... is going on?"

Zhang Jie pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke.

"Actually, I lean more toward the awakening of memories after reincarnation."

He actually isn't sure whether this explanation works, after all, the simulator thing is hard to explain.

"Past‑life memory awakening... is that it?"

Lin Ran thought for a moment, then threw a deadly question at Zhang Jie.

"Does that mean there will be more girls like me coming to find you later?"

"Zhang Jie：?"

Bad!

This really let Lin Ran hit the nail on the head!

Zhang Jie was momentarily speechless; if what she said is true, then it's indeed quite possible.

So Zhang Jie decided to bluff his way through for now.

"It's hard to say, but at least I only have the memories from your lifetime now."

"Oh, like that..."

Outside the meeting room, Zhang Jie's father was getting anxious waiting.

They've been in there for over an hour; still no agreement?

Just then, Lin Ran and Zhang Jie walked out of the meeting room side by side; Lin Ran regained her usual aloof leader bearing, but a hint of red appeared at the corner of her eyes.

"Ahem, how did your discussion go, you two?"

Zhang Jie's father stepped forward, eager to know the outcome of their private talk.

"The result is very good."

Zhang Jie smiled, glanced at the pretended aloof Lin Ran out of the corner of his eye, and said with a smile.

The Alliance will establish a long-term, in-depth cooperation with the Cold Mountain Group.

"Yes."

Zhang Jie replied.

From now on, the Alliance will prioritize purchasing all its energy supplies from the Cold Mountain Group, and the Group will offer a 10% discount on energy.

Zhang Jie's father grew more alarmed the more he heard; the Alliance would never mention priority purchasing, you know—the Alliance now hunts natural disasters across the universe, and they simply buy energy wherever they go.

A long-term cooperation with the Alliance is something many companies dare not even imagine.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jie's father's complexion shifted, his gaze darting over Lin Ran and Zhang Jie; then he suddenly realized and hurriedly pulled Zhang Jie aside to whisper.

"I say, kid, you wouldn't have gone in there that long just to sacrifice yourself, would you?"

Zhang Jie's face darkened; what nonsense!

Obviously it's the Alliance Leader who is offering themselves to me!

"What are you thinking, old man?"

"Tsk, you brat!"

Zhang Jie's father fiercely patted Zhang Jie's shoulder, speaking urgently.

"If you can connect with the Alliance Empress, you've got it made for life!"

"Don't judge by her age; the saying goes, 'Women at thirty are like wolves, at forty like tigers, at fifty they can suck the earth...'"

Zhang Jie hastily covered his old man's mouth, knowing that Lin Ran herself doesn't even know how strong she is now; the two of them whispering here—could she not notice?

In his peripheral vision he caught sight of Lin Ran's cheek; seeing him look over, she flushed shyly and rolled her eyes at him.

"Hiss... Actually, whispering might not be impossible?"