A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 128 Sacrificing My Family for the Benefit of the World
It was still that same van, its exterior worn and covered in mud and sand.

Although the exterior looks dilapidated, the interior is quite good. The seats and center console are made of full-grain leather, and the trim panels and armrests are made of walnut wood shavings, giving it a decent feel.

Zhou Minlan stayed behind to be cared for by Zhou Qi due to her injuries, while Zhou Minyan was responsible for driving and leading the way for Xu Lie and Lao Tang to Xiangyang.

It can only be said that he has a very good sense of responsibility. He wanted to ensure the personal safety of Zhou Minlan and Zhou Qi as much as possible, so he chose to be alone with Xu Lie and Lao Tang.

As soon as the car started, the intimidating impression Xu Lie had left on Zhou Minyan was ruined by Old Tang, who was touching the interior everywhere: "Wow, very high-end decorations."

Old Tang kept touching and tapping here and there, unable to settle down, which almost caused Zhou Minyan, who was originally focused on the road ahead, to swerve the car into a ditch on a rural road.

Fortunately, I reacted quickly and managed to straighten the car in time.

Xu Lie'an sat in a more spacious seat at the back, and taking advantage of the free time, he could finally clear up his doubts: "Did your family know about the strange events at the Three Gorges three weeks ago?"

Unlike Lao Tang, when Xu Lie spoke, Zhou Minyan subconsciously straightened her back, looked straight ahead, and tried her best to control the power of the mixed-blood to avoid crushing the steering wheel: "I...I know."

"That was an operation by the Secret Service, and they consulted with us beforehand."

At first, I was a little nervous, but as I spoke, my sentences gradually became more fluent.

Old Tang, who had been groping around aimlessly, snapped out of his daze and began to listen seriously. After the Huang brothers' explanation, Old Tang was no longer a complete novice when it came to mixed-race culture.

They clearly knew that the Secret Party was Kassel, and also the mixed-race force that Old Tang hated the most.

Xu Lie looked at the scenery rushing past the car window: "So, you just let outsiders brazenly exploit the ruins on your own territory?"

"Should we say you're too cowardly, or that you ancient families have become so weak that you dare not risk fighting with others?"

“No!” Zhou Minyan could tolerate mentioning other things, but when it came to this topic, her tone became more resolute: “That’s not how it is.”

"We are simply following the trend and must remain patient."

"With rapid changes happening every day, technology is becoming increasingly important. Relying solely on the strength of hybrid families is not enough."

"We need more and more technological support. We must be patient now and not arouse the vigilance of outsiders so that we can introduce more technology and talent, and have more time to cultivate our own talent and develop our own technology."

This is actually an internal secret of several ancient families, and they would not easily reveal it to their clansmen.

Only outstanding young people like Zhou Minyan, who are being groomed by their families, have the authority to know this.

Zhou Minyan only told the truth because one of Xu Lie or Lao Tang had the ability to read minds, and there was no point in hiding it.

The more she talked, the more Zhou Minyan thought that this might increase Xu Lie and Lao Tang's goodwill towards the Zhou family.

If we could make them understand our predicament and eventually turn enemies into friends, wouldn't that be a wonderful story?
"I see," Xu Lie thought with a hint of understanding. "That makes sense. Indeed, the current context is 09, a time when China is still striving to catch up and developing rapidly."

It has not yet developed to the point where, more than ten years later, it will be able to almost compete with the outside world.

Therefore, it makes sense for local mixed-race families to keep a low profile and deliberately remain restrained.

No wonder Kassel caused such a huge commotion in the Three Gorges area; it was practically throwing a party in front of the Zhou family in Xiangyang.

As local bullies, the Zhou family of Xiangyang remained indifferent to what was happening almost right in front of their house, as if they were blind and couldn't see it at all.

They didn't even send anyone to investigate afterwards; it seems they had to just put up with it.

It wasn't because the local mixed-race families were cowardly or weak that they allowed Kassel to develop White Emperor City at will.

Instead, they had to prioritize the overall situation, endure humiliation without taking any action, and pretend to be harmless.

So it seems that the major local ancient families may not be as useless as people imagine.

Xu Lie pondered the profound depths of the ancient worlds, but Old Tang paid no attention to such matters and began to criticize Kassel: "Brother, Kassel is truly wicked." "Since you are a local aristocratic family, you should step in and do something about it. It's not good to keep showing weakness."

“If this continues, Kassel will only become more and more demanding, and I don’t even want to think about what he might do in the future.”

Having experienced the outsourcing of surveillance and his brother almost being robbed, Old Tang has completely transformed into the leader of the Kassel anti-fans.

No matter who it is, as long as they're willing to go after Cassel, Old Tang will definitely lend a hand.

Xu Lie glanced at Old Tang in surprise, not expecting that this Dragon King actually possessed some talent for prophecy.

In the second part of the original novel, Kassel did indeed go too far, starting to send students to the capital to kill the Dragon King without notifying the locals.

This is the capital city, and the matter involves the Dragon King. Kassel has no scruples whatsoever and doesn't even bother to greet the local mixed-race families.

It is clear that the local mixed-race families' low-key and forbearing behavior over the years has been completely taken for granted by Cassel as a sign of weakness and vulnerability.

Zhou Minyan couldn't possibly know what the future held, so she didn't hate Kassel as much as Old Tang did; she simply held her breath and said, "It's alright."

"Although it may be shameful for us mixed-race families, scientists, or other professions, will benefit greatly."

"Take the Three Gorges Dam incident, for example." Facing someone with mind-reading abilities, Zhou Minyan disregarded secrecy: "Even though it caused such a big fuss, we still didn't get involved in the end."

"Simply stepping in to bail out the people in Kassel may seem weak, but the other side will have to pay the corresponding price."

"For example, some industries urgently need high-end technologies, and some plans urgently need funds. If we suffer losses to benefit the world, it's a huge profit!"

Old Tang nodded thoughtfully, and even developed a good impression of the Zhou family of Xiangyang.

"Brother Huang, are we really going to go and fight them?" Old Tang turned to Xu Lie, not hiding anything from Zhou Minyan, and asked him directly.

It's working! Zhou Minyan is still driving obediently, not showing any signs of trouble, but he has started to frown hard to prevent his eyebrows from dancing.

"We still need it." Xu Lie's expression was calm, unlike Old Tang who was easily fooled by a few words: "Let's not talk about whether it's true or false."

"Assuming it's true..."

Zhou Minyan said anxiously, "I swear I'm telling the truth!"

Xu Lie ignored him and continued looking at Old Tang: "Ignore him. Even if he believes he's telling the whole truth, what if the Zhou family elders didn't tell him the whole story? What if they're just trying to appease him?"

"According to him, it's about sacrificing one family for the benefit of the world, but is it really about sacrificing one family?"

"The Secret Service's influence extends throughout Europe and America. Even if they were to pay the price and provide technology and funding, who would get a slice of such a huge pie?"

Old Tang had already realized what was happening: "The Zhou family?"

Xu Lie nodded readily: "Wouldn't the person dividing the cake give a little more to their own industry?"

"Of course, I will not deny that the Zhou family's approach has indeed greatly benefited local scientific research and talent cultivation."

"But since these aristocratic families have stood for two thousand years, I don't think they would make selfless sacrifices."

"This is human nature and cannot be avoided."

"Furthermore, the actions of several ancient families in showing weakness and allowing outsiders to explore this land are not a good thing."

"Sometimes, there are certain bottom lines that we should uphold."

"Even if you can reap great benefits, once you abandon certain bottom lines and lose your core spirit, it will be very difficult to get it back."

　Thanks to Xuan Dao Fan, 20220630134541837, Wuye Wuguo, 20230806536120, 20220121233457092, Kai Kongji De Jiushizhu, Fei Mengtian, A Xu Hao, 20210725113226370, Xianxiu Mengchen, Molu Fengjun 697, 20250804150409636, and Fengqiao. Xueying'e, Huoyanyan_ab, Yeyudie, X Blank, Yinxinghui, 20221220212750202, Lingdian Qinghui, Lazy Youth, 20230806536120, lycan_bC, 20240213642782, Eating Bamboo Shoots Passerby, 20220930210146883, thank you all for your votes, thank you so much OvO
　　
　
(End of this chapter)