Chapter 644 - 659: Retribution

An Ning placed the organized evidence into her space, found the exit, changed her clothes, and went out.

As she left, she sent a message to Jiang Xia, letting him know she had gotten out safely and that he shouldn’t worry.

When An Ning came up from the underground, the elevator doors opened to pitch darkness.

"Where is this?"

An Ning walked out, pushed open a door, and stopped in her tracks.

"A memorial hall?"

The room was filled with memorial tablets. An Ning stepped forward to take a look and let out a cold laugh.

"Running into me is just your bad luck."

"No, it’s your honor."

A match appeared in her palm. She struck it against the wall, and a small flame ignited one of the memorial banners.

An Ning walked through the flames and departed with a flourish.

Outside, there were people from R Country everywhere, dressed in traditional attire. There was also a group of elementary school students on a tour, their teacher leading them and explaining the history.

They were being taught from altered textbooks, explaining how their country had acted with noble righteousness, how they had sought to save others from dire straits, and had never done anything wrong—not at all like the slanderous claims from certain other nations.

An Ning walked past without the slightest inclination to correct them.

’Some people will never learn they’re wrong until you make them hurt.’

Not three minutes after An Ning left, chaos erupted.

The flames surged, and the famous Jing Country memorial hall burned with an eerie green fire.

The fire was strangely inextinguishable. Water, sand, fire extinguishers—nothing worked. The flames shot toward the sky, their color bizarre, and could not be put out.

An Ning left safely and found a small roadside shop to wait for Jiang Xia, who had already landed.

Fortunately, the country wasn’t very large, so Jiang Xia’s arrival met with no resistance.

The moment they met at the shop’s entrance, Jiang Xia sat down beside An Ning and took her hand.

"Next time, can you take me with you?"

"Okay."

An Ning agreed. Jiang Xia didn’t scold her; he just sat with her quietly, sharing a cup of sake.

An Ning set down her cup and glanced at the police cars rushing back and forth outside.

"I think I’ve made a bit of a mess again."

"They brought it on themselves."

An Ning leaned against Jiang Xia and smiled, a vision of stunning beauty, laughing happily.

"Are you planning to just keep spoiling me unconditionally like this?"

"Of course. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?"

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Jiang Xia and An Ning departed discreetly.

However, flying back was out of the question. Because of the major incident, all air routes were restricted.

Luckily, the two of them didn’t need to.

Of course, Jiang Xia hadn’t come alone. The follow-up arrangements had been made the moment he arrived.

After several transfers, they finally boarded a ship, where they were treated with the utmost respect.

For this fire, anyone from Huaxia would have one word: good.

Even on the news back home, the anchors couldn’t help but crack a smile while reporting on it.

Some media outlets were even more blunt, calling it heavenly justice and karmic retribution.

An Ning returned home smoothly. She handed over all the materials she had collected; the battle between nations would be fought by others.

When Director Zhao received the file, he didn’t know what to say other than "thank you."

"An Ning, please don’t put yourself in such danger again."

"Okay."

An Ning agreed readily, but who knew if she could be trusted?

After all, she never kept that promise.

An Ning was back. Her simple five-day trip was over.

The first thing An Ning did after returning was comfort An Guoping.

The moment he saw An Ning was safe and sound, the young man burst into tears like a baby.

He hugged An Ning, crying and shouting, "Sis, I’m never falling in love again!"

’Great, the kid’s been traumatized by all this.’

An Ning didn’t press the issue for now. When he met someone he truly liked, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.

After comforting An Guoping, she went into seclusion again.

Her routine of going to the research institute every morning and returning at night began once more.

A month later, An Ning emerged with a new research breakthrough and made a call to Jiang Xia and Yang Jianguo.

When the two of them rushed over, An Ning simply handed them a file.

"This contains my latest microchip design. It blows everything else on the market out of the water. As long as we replace existing systems with the automated system integrated into this chip, we’ll be invincible in the electronics sector."

"Oh, and I’ve kept the cost to a minimum. So... do you want it?"

Do you want it?

When Yang Jianguo recalled this event later, he remembered that he had practically knelt before An Ning. It was the very definition of latching onto a powerful backer.

Jiang Xia invested in Yang Jianguo’s electronics company. With the chip provided by An Ning and no shortage of financial backing, Yang Jianguo’s company leaped to become the biggest leader in the electronics industry.

Afterward, An Ning continued her routine of going to work every day to conduct research in fields like medicine, technology, and artificial intelligence.

All of these technologies had one thing in common: they were not for sale to R Country.

Or rather, R Country could only import semi-finished products from Huaxia. As for anything else, it was completely off the table.

This move was tantamount to grabbing R Country by the throat.

At the same time, many of R Country’s famous traditional Chinese medicine products were crushed by Huaxia’s competition until they had nowhere to hide.

Luo’s Pharmaceutical was constantly innovating, and its production and sales of traditional Chinese medicine were already making a name for themselves internationally.

There were even professional shoppers from other countries who came to Huaxia specifically to buy drugs from Luo’s Pharmaceutical.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

In that year, An Ning’s policy of never letting a grudge last overnight left a deep impression on the international community.

The things R Country had done were also exposed by Jiang Xia through mainstream media. At first, they scrambled to claim it was all fake, that it wasn’t true.

But after more than a year of these targeted actions, some of them couldn’t take it anymore.

They began to seek a reconciliation.

An Ning’s formidable strength sent a clear message to the outside world: if you want to provoke us, you’d better have the power to surpass us.

No power?

Then suck it up!

「One year later」

One year later, An Ning was in the An family’s newly built house, sitting on the warm kang bed-stove, eating a mung bean popsicle, and playing ’Fight the Landlord’ with a few kids.

"Auntie, you’re cheating!"

"You can’t just say I’m cheating because I’m winning. This is pure, unadulterated genius."

Hei Dan’er was so taken aback by An Ning’s shameless self-praise that he wanted to stick his tongue out, but recalling the last time she’d actually grabbed his tongue, he didn’t dare.

"An Ning—what do you think of this?"

Lin Cuihua ran in from outside holding a piece of fabric, unfolding it for An Ning to see.

"Isn’t this pattern pretty? For the lining of your Hundred Blessings Quilt, what do you think?"

"It’s perfect. I love everything you make, Mom."

"Get out of here. Who’s the one getting married, anyway?"

Lin Cuihua held the fabric, suddenly feeling a bit emotional. "It’s all happening so fast. You’re already getting married."

An Ning tossed down her playing cards and hugged Lin Cuihua’s arm. "Mom, I’m just getting married, not leaving forever."

"If you keep crying, I’ll just have to tell Jiang Xia the wedding’s off."