Chapter 341: Father and Daughter Reunited
Su Tao didn’t notice his reaction. After explaining a few more details, she gestured to the left and said:
“Just walk a short distance this way, and you’ll reach the small ranch—the one surrounded by high walls.”
Xu Chang’s attention was pulled back, and his steps quickened.
By the time he reached the ranch gate, Su Tao and the assistant had to jog to keep up with him.
Tang Huan had already received word of their arrival. As soon as they reached the gate, she opened it warmly and welcomed the three of them inside.
At this moment, Xu Chang could neither see nor hear anything else. His eyes were locked on a figure sitting atop a treehouse in the distance—Alice.
She looked exactly the same as she did four years ago. Her golden hair, clearly well-maintained, fell softly behind her shoulders. She wore a clean little dress and swung her legs while tilting her head to gaze at the sky. She looked carefree, as if she had never experienced any hardship.
“He He—” Xu Chang’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
The moment Alice heard his voice, she perked up like a cat and immediately leaped down from the treehouse. Without any hesitation, she ran toward him.
When she reached him, she threw her arms around his neck and smiled as she called out, “Dada!”
She couldn’t speak properly, and the only sound she consistently made was “Dada”—her word for “Dad.”
In her simple world, she probably never realized she had gone missing. To her, this moment felt like any other ordinary afternoon when her father came home from work, and she would go downstairs to greet him.
Xu Chang held her tightly, tears streaming down his face. His body trembled uncontrollably as he ran his hands over his daughter’s hair again and again. The overwhelming joy of regaining her after so long washed over him like a flood, unstoppable and all-consuming.
The assistant beside him was sobbing loudly.
Tang Huan, feeling the emotional weight of the moment, hugged her own daughter, tears brimming in her eyes.
Su Tao blinked rapidly to hold back her own tears as she looked up at the sky. She felt deeply moved but also quietly envious.
She gave the father and daughter space for their emotional reunion. After exchanging a brief nod with Tang Huan, Su Tao quietly left for Dongyang.
Today was the crucial day to take over the detention of Bone Wings, and she wanted to oversee the process personally.
The night before, she had used five crystal cores to expand the outer edge of Taoyang by 500 square meters and constructed a protective shield around the area.
The large expansion was meant to create a safe distance between Taoyang and the restricted zone while providing ample space in case Bone Wings attempted an escape.
Instead of keeping Bone Wings on the surface, Su Tao planned to detain it in an underground prison.
Thanks to unlocking the Level 2 Public Facility Store, she could now build underground levels, with each floor costing 500,000 Federal Credits.
The newly constructed basement was completely dark. Su Tao left only a small entrance on the surface, which allowed just one person to pass through at a time.
A ladder led down to the first basement level, where the walls gleamed with cold, unyielding metal.
Five heavily secured doors stood between the entrance and Bone Wings’ containment area, and Su Tao held the sole authority to open them.
This underground prison had been built according to a design given to her by the old commander before she left—it was a true “death cell,” impossible to escape.
Back in Taoyang, Su Tao picked up Lin Fangzhi to help transport Bone Wings. His spatial abilities made the job easier and safer.
With Jiang Yu unavailable, she also enlisted Mist to act as a temporary driver and bodyguard before heading straight to the Dongyang Research Center.
As soon as she arrived, she spotted Cen Tianjiao trying to maintain his composure.
He still didn’t know that Pei Dong had betrayed him and revealed everything.
Su Tao glanced at him indifferently and asked, “Where are the photos and videos?”
Cen Tianjiao quickly sent them to her.
When the message notification popped up on her communicator, Su Tao’s fingers trembled slightly before she opened the files.
The images and videos showed Shi Zijin—his face pale but otherwise appearing to be asleep. Only upon closer inspection could faint scars be seen.
She wasn’t sure if Cen Tianjiao had edited the images to deceive her or if Shi Zijin’s injuries simply weren’t as severe as she feared.
As she scrutinized the content, Cen Tianjiao grew increasingly nervous.
It had taken him a long time to find an angle where Shi Zijin still looked “human.” From any other angle, the horrifying damage to his internal organs and body would have been visible.
When Su Tao turned off the screen and looked at him, she said something that sent chills down Cen Tianjiao’s spine:
“This is the only angle you dared to show me, isn’t it? Thank you.”
His blood ran cold. He didn’t dare to guess what she meant and stood frozen in place as she walked away.
In Dongyang’s secret laboratory, Su Tao once again came face to face with Bone Wings.
It floated in a massive, sealed containment tank filled with blue-green liquid, its eyes tightly shut.
Its blood-red wings had been forcibly severed and stored in a separate chamber.
The exposed bones on its back gleamed white, surrounded by deep knife wounds.
A large, bloody hole marred its forehead near its left eye, causing the eye to bulge grotesquely. Its entire body bore dozens of terrifying wounds, a testament to the life-or-death struggle it had endured.
Cen Tianjiao, part of the escort team, had no choice but to step forward and explain:
“Actually, our boss had a chance to kill it, but he knew the research value of Bone Wings was too high. So, he held back during the fight. Bone Wings took advantage of that. Otherwise, the outcome could have been very different.”
Su Tao gave him a long, hard look.
Realizing he had said too much, Cen Tianjiao mentally cursed himself. Why mention anything about death?
“I was just giving an example… no one’s dead,” he added quickly.
Ignoring his babbling, Su Tao turned to Lin Fangzhi and instructed, “Collect it. Let’s get back as soon as possible.”
Joining them on the return trip to Taoyang were three of Dongyang’s top researchers. Among them was the eldest, a silver-haired academic known as Professor Qiao.
As soon as they got into the vehicle, Professor Qiao couldn’t hide his eagerness and asked:
“Boss Su, is Mr. Shen Wencheng from He Kang and his team currently in Taoyang?”
Su Tao nearly forgot about Shen Wencheng and his group.
Ever since the Bone Wings wiped out He Kang’s team, she had sent “Po Zhu” to rescue them. Since then, they had been staying quietly in Taoyang.
“Yes, they arrived not long ago. Do you need to meet them?”
Professor Qiao’s eyes sparkled with hope:
“Taoyang truly is a gathering place for talent. Mr. Shen is a genius in zombie research. If he and his team could join us in studying Bone Wings, I believe we could decode its DNA mutation and possibly find a breakthrough in vaccine development.”
