Big Tiger had failed to stop Ding Meng several times, so he did not dare to act rashly. He knew very well that he was no match for this newcomer.
However, Ding Meng was too lazy to care about him. He ate the meat one spoonful at a time. In less than ten minutes, he had basically finished the entire pot of meat. Su Xia was more refined. After a few mouthfuls, she stopped eating. In total, Ding Meng had eaten about a few hundred kilograms of meat. Looking at his expression, he seemed to be only half full.
At this time, the crowd suddenly separated spontaneously. Three people appeared at the gate of the mansion. It was a group of two men and a woman. The two men's stature and appearance were similar to Big Tiger's. It was obvious that they were Da Long and Da Wei. In the middle of them was a young woman. She looked ordinary, but the way she walked was extraordinary. At a glance, one could tell that she was used to giving orders. She was obviously the widow of the Fifth Lord's faction.
Hua Xiang had previously reminded him that when the Fifth Lord was not around, the widow and the leader would be in charge of the overall situation.
In fact, Ding Meng also knew that these people from outer space forces would not reveal their identities. They had always been referred to by their nicknames.
The widow separated the crowd and walked forward. After looking at Ding Meng, she said lightly, "If you want to enter the headquarters, it's not enough to rely on your ability. You have to gain everyone's approval."
Ding Meng said, "It seems that I still can't gain their approval?"
The widow said, "Do you think someone like you can gain their approval by stealing other people's food?"
Ding Meng suddenly laughed. "It doesn't seem like I'm stealing. This meal was originally prepared for me."
The widow narrowed her eyes. "You seem to be very confident."
Ding Meng laughed. "Do you think I would dare to come up here if I didn't know?"
The widow did not say anything else. She gently waved her hand. Da Long, Da Wei, and Da Hu, who were not far away, moved at the same time. This time, not only did the three of them activate their origin energy, but they also surrounded Ding Meng in a triangle.
Ding Meng suddenly said, "You must be very strange."
The widow frowned. "What's strange?"
Ding Meng smiled. "I've eaten so much meat, and it's been so long. Why hasn't the poison in my body acted up yet?"
As soon as he said this, the widow and the others were all shocked.
Big Tiger's face turned ugly. "How did you know?"
Ding Meng was too lazy to explain. He was not afraid of all kinds of poisons. When he smelled the fragrance outside the manor, Xiao Ai had detected that the source of the smell contained a hidden toxin. Su Xia might not be able to detect it, but it was too difficult to hide it from Ding Meng.
Ding Meng licked his lips and said, "I want to thank you for putting so much effort into setting up this Feast at Hongmen. It wasn't easy to find this pot of meat. For the sake of this pot of meat, I won't argue with you."
With a bang, Dawei's palm ignited with a flame of origin energy. It seemed that he was about to make a move.
Ding Meng smiled disdainfully. Then, he slowly raised the steel ladle in his hand. Everyone's expression changed.
The ladle, which was made of alloy material, slowly turned red as he poured his origin energy into it. Then, it melted into molten steel and dripped to the ground drop by drop.
Even though this group of people was very knowledgeable, they couldn't help but be shocked by Ding Meng. To be able to melt alloy meant that the temperature in his palm was at least tens of thousands of degrees. To be able to cultivate his thermal energy to such a level, he was at least an advanced warlord.
To put it bluntly, if everyone present attacked Ding Meng together, the result would be that everyone would die. It would probably only take a second.
The widow's face turned a little pale. An expert like Ding Meng was really rare in her life. Fortunately, the Fifth Lord had given her an order. She calmed herself down and said in a deep voice, "Please!"
"Please?" Ding Meng was a little surprised.
The widow gestured with her hand. "The Fifth Lord has given the order. Please come in!"
Ding Meng smiled. He knew that things weren't as simple as they seemed. He had a feeling that from the moment he entered the courtyard, everything was targeted at him. The person behind all of this seemed to be very familiar with him.
Ding Meng would never have guessed that the hall on the first floor of the manor was actually a control center with very modern equipment. It was a little similar to the bridge of a starship. The room, which was less than 500 square meters, was densely covered with screens of various sizes. All the major consoles were operating in an orderly manner.
The situation of the Fifth Lord's strongholds could be seen on many of the screens. This headquarters, from the tarmac to the courtyard, was completely under strict surveillance.
However, there was something strange about it. The big screen in the center of the control center and some of the main system screens were all locked. There was only one image displayed on it. It was a magnified image of a green blade of grass. With the blade of grass as the center, it was surrounded by densely packed grass. At first glance, it looked very beautiful, but after looking at it for a long time, it felt very strange.
Ding Meng had seen many control centers before, but no matter what was displayed on the screen, there was no such ordinary static image. It seemed to be some kind of unique symbol.
Under the big screen of the control center, there was a person sitting quietly in the commander's chair. He was staring at the symbol in a daze.
Ding Meng naturally sensed his presence when he came in. "You're the Fifth Lord?"
"Long time no see, Ding Meng!" The voice that answered him was a woman's voice, and the voice sounded very familiar.
The chair turned, and the person in the seat stood up. She was wearing a black business suit and a pair of high heels. Her body was curvaceous, and there was a layer of light makeup on her oval-shaped face. Her black hair was tied up behind her head, and the sunglasses on her nose covered half of her face …
"You …" Ding Meng stared at her. This image was very familiar.
"I died in the Black Gold Base. Is that what they told you?" The woman slowly stood up and took off her sunglasses, revealing a cold face.
"You … you're still alive?" Ding Meng was shocked.
This person was none other than the person that he had killed in the underground mine of the Black Gold Base — Julie!
Julie was still the same as she was ten years ago. She was cold and expressionless. "Back then, I thought I was dead. You didn't expect me to survive, did you?"
"You …" Ding Meng wanted to say something, but he was at a loss for words.
Julie seemed to know what he wanted to ask, so she took the initiative to say, "Actually, you don't have to be surprised. This world is big and full of wonders. Back then, you all thought I was dead, but I survived. Back then, we also thought it was impossible for you to escape from the Dead Silent Planet, but you still managed to escape. Isn't this Murphy's Law?
The more you think it's impossible, the more likely it is to happen. "
Ding Meng was speechless. He took a deep breath and said with a bitter smile, "Yes, you're right. I really didn't expect you to survive that terrible disaster. It's a miracle."
Julie said, "Although my physical body died, my spiritual body was not damaged."
Ding Meng was silent, and then he looked at her body. "But this doesn't seem to be your physical body."
Julie suddenly showed a strange smile. "With the current level of technology, it's not difficult to recreate an identical physical body."
It was indeed not difficult, but the difficult part was genetic cloning. Cloning was a huge controversy in the Federal Empire. It was against human ethics and also related to the future of mankind. However, it was not controversial to the outer space forces. Ding Meng seemed to understand something. Before Julie went to the Black Gold Base, she must have already cloned her body. As long as her spiritual body was not destroyed, it would not be difficult for her to revive.
Xiao Ai suddenly said, "That's right. The possibility of her revival is very high because I hadn't been reactivated at the time. The energy of the K virus carrier underground filled the entire mine. In theory, the place where she died was within the range of the energy magnetic field, and her spiritual body could be preserved for a long time."
Little Rascal said, "If someone went to the Dead Silent Planet during this time and took her spiritual body away, then it would be normal for her to survive."
Ding Meng nodded. After thinking this through, it was not difficult to understand why Julie had come back to life. However, the question was, why did Julie appear in this place?
Julie paced back and forth with her hands behind her back. After a long time, she said, "Ding Meng, actually, I wasn't your enemy from the beginning."
Ding Meng sneered. "Little Four died in the Black Gold Base. I have never forgotten that."
"I know!"
Julie nodded calmly. "That was just an accident. However, the real murderer of Little Four was not me."
Ding Meng gritted his teeth and said, "Whether it was you or not, this debt will be on your head."
Julie said, "I understand. However, you've already killed me once, so any grudges between us can be considered written off. With your current strength, killing me will be as easy as blowing off dust. Of course, if you really want to do it, I have nothing to say. You can do it now."
Ding Meng sensed that Julie had only been an Origin Energy user back then. Now that ten years had passed, her progress had been very weak. Her aura was only that of a high-level warrior. For a high-level warrior to be able to command the loyalty of so many Battle Masters and Warrior-level experts was simply inconceivable.
Ding Meng suddenly sighed. "Indeed, there's no point in me killing you."
Julie said indifferently, "It's not that you don't want to kill me, but that you don't want to. Someone like me poses no threat to you at all."
Ding Meng had to admit that although this woman wasn't all that great in other aspects after ten years, she was quite skilled at guessing the thoughts of others.
"Are you the Fifth Lord?" Ding Meng suddenly asked.
Julie shook her head. "No, I'm not!"
Ding Meng frowned. "Then who is?"
Julie sighed. "You don't ask a single question that you should, but you ask a bunch of questions that you shouldn't."
Ding Meng couldn't help but chuckle. "What questions should I ask?"
Julie raised her head, her gaze sharpening. "Ding Meng, let me ask you. Back then, when you were pursued by Baines Rebeca's Falcon, how did you manage to escape?"
Ding Meng knew that Julie had dug up at least half of what had happened to him over the past ten years.
"You know about that Swordfish spaceship?" Ding Meng's gaze sharpened as well.
Julie said, "Not only do I know that you went to the Norse Empire later, but I also know that you returned to the Black Gold Base. You even went to planet KV303, Cypress Grove, Blue Moon, Starbow Group, Starlight University, Federation military … I basically know everything that you've done. I have to say, after you fused with the K virus, you've become stronger step by step."
Ding Meng sneered. "You've investigated me quite thoroughly."
Julie said, "The government announced that you died in outer space ten years ago."
Ding Meng said, "You don't believe it?"
Julie said, "You're wrong. I've always believed that you were dead. It was only recently that I received news of you."