Life

Da Shang Kingdom.

Guangzhou City.

At that moment, not long after school had let out, Ling Zhi was drinking milk tea at a shop by the street.

With no makeup on, she looked pure and charming, and the customers in the shop kept glancing her way.

"Vroom!"

Just then, the roar of an engine burst through the street.

A streamlined yellow sports car shot past, speeding toward an upscale villa community a few hundred meters away, tucked away amid the bustle.

"Beautiful! The Golden Flash Phantom! Only twenty-two were sold nationwide, and it costs over six million yuan on the road. That's more money than an ordinary person could earn in a lifetime. I can't believe there's a luxury car like that in Guangzhou City."

A customer who knew his luxury cars couldn't help showing off his knowledge.

"That's Jin Haoxuan's car, the young master of Jin Corporation! And it's not even his only luxury car. I hear the Jin Family owns at least ten cars worth over five million each."

Another person at their table said, his face full of envy.

"What's a car compared to a house? That's what really matters! Ordinary people like us work ourselves to the bone for a lifetime just to save one or two million and barely afford a home. Do you know how many properties the Jin Family owns? I'll tell you: no fewer than a thousand! Probably more! And don't even get me started on their storefronts and shops."

Someone nearby chimed in, his voice steeped in jealousy and resentment.

"Jin Corporation is worth tens of billions. You think that's a joke? Money aside, they've got power and influence, too. There's nothing in Guangzhou they can't handle."

Another young man lectured them. "A month ago, that very Jin Haoxuan bullied a girl who worked at a barbecue shop. The public outcry was huge—it shot to number one on the trending list. The whole internet was furious. And what happened? The girl's younger brother, the kid who made the post online, was locked up on a charge of disturbing the peace. As soon as he got out, he was in a car accident. Anyone with half a brain knows how that happened."

He sighed. "Now the Jin family's young master is still living it up, driving luxury cars, going to bars, chasing women. But that family? Nobody knows if they're alive or dead. There's not a trace of them online anymore. Every post was wiped clean."

His words filled the others at his table with a sense of shared misfortune. "The Jin Family isn't even a financial conglomerate, and they're already this powerful. You could say they have the whole sky in their hands. What are ordinary people like us supposed to do if we run into trouble?"

"Does no one care? If he has connections in the city, go to the capital and report him! I refuse to believe they have connections there, too."

Someone flushed red with indignation.

"The capital won't help either."

At that, Ling Zhi couldn't help speaking up, her voice clear and bright. "Jin Zhiya of the Jin Family has a Spirit Root. She was admitted to Red Sun Academy and, I hear, has already passed one evaluation and become a Nominal Disciple of the Red Sun Sword Sect. In front of cultivators, what can those officials do besides help them bully us?"

"A Spirit Root?"

"Someone from the Jin Family joined the Crimson Sun Sect?"

"Th-then doesn't that mean she can become a cultivator!?"

Her words immediately left many people in the shop looking shocked.

Then, all at once, everyone fell silent.

When it came to a local wealthy family like the Jin Family, not even a financial conglomerate, people still dared to comment on the illegal things they did.

But cultivators...

Every one of them was a monster who wielded immeasurable power.

Thirty years ago, cultivators descended from beyond the borders of the world.

When a Primordial Spirit cultivator swept aside the world's dominant powers and effortlessly intercepted more than a thousand nuclear warheads fired at him, the backbones of every country on Earth were broken.

In just half a month, the governments of the remaining countries obediently cooperated with the cultivation sects as they carved up the entire world.

Da Shang, with a population of 160 million, was given to the Red Sun Sword Sect.

From that day on, it became common knowledge that cultivators stood above the law.

The financial conglomerates in Da Shang were just as domineering, but they still didn't dare kill people openly. Cultivators from the sects, however...

If they butchered someone in the street, the victim could only accept his bad luck. No department would dare step forward and say a word against it.

The local authorities even had to help cover up the news to keep things from escalating.

For a while, a dead silence settled over the shop.

Just as the words "cultivator" had plunged the milk tea shop into a suffocating silence, the door opened.

Three students around Ling Zhi's age, wearing Guangzhou High School uniforms, walked in.

"Xiao Bai, Qin Chuan, you're here."

Ling Zhi stood up. "Shall we head over now?"

"We..."

The boy called Xiao Bai hesitated. "We're not going."

"Not going?"

Ling Zhi froze, then looked at the other boy. "Qin Chuan, you're not going either? You only made the top ten in the whole school this time because ChunJun tutored you. You're still not going?"

Qin Chuan turned his head slightly and said nothing.

Xiao Bai spoke in a low voice instead. "I heard Li ChunJun got hurt because he was going to the capital to report the Jin Family. So they sent people to run over his legs."

Then he added, "The hospital didn't even dare treat him. They hurriedly discharged him."

Ling Zhi said nothing, just staring at him with her beautiful, wide eyes.

Only after a long while did she speak. "So none of you are going?"

"When it comes down to it, we're just classmates..."

"Just classmates? Your grades improved so much. Have you forgotten who helped you?"

"But... wasn't teaching us also a way for him to review what he'd learned? Besides, he even said himself that we were NPCs playing this 'Blue Star Online' game with him. It's clear he didn't take us seriously either..."

Xiao Bai's voice grew quieter and quieter.

"You actually believed that joke..."

Ling Zhi was about to argue when he added, "I just heard the school expelled him, too."

He spoke evasively, but his meaning was perfectly clear.

They were afraid.

They didn't dare get involved.

Even if all they had to do was visit a close friend after he'd been injured.

"Expelled!?"

Ling Zhi was angry, but more than that, she felt Li ChunJun had been treated unfairly. "ChunJun has always been first in the school. He's never ranked below the top ten in the citywide exams. The teachers and principal used to treasure him like a precious gem. And now they've expelled him? What did he do wrong? Why would they expel him?"

The boy said nothing.

But his silence was an answer in itself.

The principal of Guangzhou High School fawned on those above him and bullied those below. How could he dare offend the Jin Family?

After a long while, Ling Zhi's anger faded somewhat, giving way to a profound sense of helplessness. "Does this world really have no justice at all?"

"We just didn't want you waiting for us, so we came to let you know. I'm leaving now. You should head home soon, too."

Qin Chuan spoke softly, then left the milk tea shop with Xiao Bai and the others.

Watching her three best friends leave, Ling Zhi bit her lip. She wanted to call after them, but in the end, the words never came.

She sat back down, her mind filled with memories of her deskmate Li ChunJun over the past few years: studying hard, helping others, and respecting his teachers.

Though his divorced parents had both abandoned him when he was young, it had never dimmed his optimism.

He had always shone so brightly.

She truly believed that someone like Li ChunJun, with his excellent grades, easygoing nature, and kind heart, would surely get into Capital University and become the most successful professional in their class someday.

But...

Who could have known that one accident—not even his fault, since he was the victim—would utterly ruin such an outstanding boy, someone who should have had a brilliant future?

There was nowhere to seek justice.

The school had expelled him.

His body was crippled.

This...

Ling Zhi looked toward the upscale villa community a few hundred meters away.

Anger and solidarity flashed in her bright eyes.

But in the end, all her feelings were drowned by deep helplessness and guilt, fading into a sigh.

In the upscale villa community a few hundred meters away.

Inside a villa with a garden spanning a full two thousand square meters, the Golden Flash Phantom rolled in slowly and parked in the spacious garage.

The door opened, and Jin Haoxuan climbed out with a faint drunken haze on his face, strolling leisurely into the house.

But when he entered the living room, he found that besides his father, Jin Guangming, Shen Zhengxian, general manager of Three Stars Property Service Co., Ltd., was also there. The company was in charge of handling the family's dirty work.

Seeing Jin Haoxuan enter, Jin Guangming furrowed his brows. But considering how much his daughter doted on her younger brother, he said nothing and continued speaking to Shen Zhengxian. "It's been a month, and the heat has died down. I'll leave this to you. If you don't pull up the roots, the grass will grow again when the spring wind blows."

"Don't worry, Chairman. My men have already gone over. One cripple and one girl—it won't be any harder to crush them than two ants."

Shen Zhengxian promised confidently. "You were the one who told us to keep a low profile. Otherwise, we'd have beaten him to death in the detention center."

"Make sure it's clean. Even if we're found out, it won't matter much, but we should still show Director Mo of the Garrison Department some respect."

"There won't be a trace left behind. It's not like thirty years ago, when cameras were everywhere. Those esteemed cultivators hate that sort of thing."

Shen Zhengxian smiled, looking completely at ease.

As soon as he finished speaking, his phone rang. Glancing at the number, he said, "It's Black Panther calling."

"Answer it," Jin Guangming said.

Black Panther was Shen Zhengxian's trusted subordinate, a Martial Artist who had developed internal force.

As soon as Shen Zhengxian answered, news that everything had been settled came through. "Boss Shen, we've cornered them. Both of them are here. If you don't have any other instructions, shall we take care of them?"

The half-drunk Jin Haoxuan's eyes lit up. "They're both there? Is that bitch Li Wanqing there, too?"

"Is that you, Young Master Xuan? She's here. Hiding in the bedroom, sobbing. She thinks one wooden door can keep us out. Want us to save her for you to play with? She even says she has to protect her crippled little brother. You'd have a great time using him to blackmail her."

"Leave her for me..."

Jin Haoxuan was about to speak, but Jin Guangming glared him into silence.

"Leave no one alive. Finish it quickly."

He spoke to Shen Zhengxian.

Shen Zhengxian nodded, giving Jin Haoxuan a helpless look before ordering into the phone, "Take care of them both."

"Understood. We'll get right..."

Black Panther was about to say something.

A crash suddenly rang out.

Then came all sorts of shocked shouts.

"You little bastard, you dare fight back!?"

"Wasn't he crippled? How..."

"Ah! Liuzi, watch out!"

A jumble of voices came through the phone.

There were even a few "What the hell!"s mixed in.

Less than ten seconds later...

"Bang!"

The sound of the phone hitting the ground.

"Beep, beep, beep!"

The signal was lost.

Something had gone wrong.

Looking at his phone screen, Shen Zhengxian's face darkened.

Not long ago, he'd confidently promised there wouldn't be any trouble. Now the slap in the face had come faster than he could have imagined.

Meeting Jin Guangming's somewhat displeased gaze, Shen Zhengxian quickly put his phone away. "Chairman, I'll go over and check on it myself."

"What are you waiting for?"

Jin Guangming said coldly. "If you can't handle this, don't bother coming back!"