Your Conscience Doesn't Hurt?

To be honest, Lan Meng had a gorgeous face and figure, with a full chest and shapely backside. She was every man's dream woman.

Wu Wei wasn't trying to be some chaste gentleman who could sit unmoved beside a beautiful woman. He simply had no interest in wasting time on that sort of thing right now.

The timing was wrong, and he wasn't in the mood. Even the most beautiful woman was just a passing cloud.

"Let's put the engagement aside for now. Lan Meng, from what you're saying, I'll probably have to deal with sudden assassination attempts pretty often from now on?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm going to protect you."

"Wouldn't it be better to have the organization protect me?" Wu Wei didn't have much faith in Lan Meng's combat abilities.

In fact, although Lan Meng had been involved in this whole conspiracy against Wu Wei, she'd been more of a hindrance than a help.

Aside from drawing enemies' ire onto him, she didn't seem to have done much else.

Lan Meng's pretty face flushed.

"There's a reason for that. I've only just gotten used to this body. How could I possibly fight at full strength? Besides, the Heart Demon is working against me in secret. I can't risk revealing too much."

"And yet you said this was a lucid dream." Wu Wei curled his lip.

His mother had told him that the prettier a woman was, the better she was at lying.

She'd also said she was the best liar in the world.

Wu Wei had thought she was pretty conceited.

Now that he'd met Lan Meng, he had to admit his mother had a point.

The highest form of lying was telling nine truths and one lie. Lan Meng probably hadn't lied to him about most things, but she'd still deceived him on certain points.

For instance, this wasn't a lucid dream.

People who died were really dead.

Wu Xie's progress bar proved that.

Yet Lan Meng had gone along with him when he said he was still dreaming. It had only taken a little probing for her to give herself away.

Looking at Wu Wei, Lan Meng felt like dying.

"Wu Wei, couldn't you let me fool you just once? You're not cooperating at all, and I'm really unhappy. I'm going to be mad."

She just wanted to see him mess up once—even if it was only because she'd tricked him. Why was that so hard?

She hadn't managed it in her last life, and now she couldn't even do it in this one.

What was the point of being alive?

Wu Wei couldn't be bothered to respond.

Lan Meng didn't seem to harbor any ill will toward him. And if he really did become powerful in the future, then she must have known he'd come back. Perhaps she'd even had his tacit approval.

So he wasn't particularly worried.

As for the dangers lurking in the shadows?

He'd deal with whatever came, one step at a time.

Wu Wei had never planned to go it alone, anyway.

Wasn't that the point of having powerful allies? They could protect him while he was weak, and once he became strong, he could return the favor.

Mutual benefit and helping each other out. Nothing wrong with that.

"If I remember correctly, Night Emperor Academy should be opening soon."

Wu Wei's words made Lan Meng even more dejected.

"You even know that? Then what was the point of me coming back?"

"There wasn't much point to begin with. Even if you hadn't come back, I would've joined Night Emperor Academy." Wu Wei replied coolly.

Night Emperor was a title Wu Wei had only seen on the Dark Web.

None of the textbooks mentioned him, but Wu Wei had come across information about the Night Emperor and Night Emperor Academy on the Dark Web.

The Night Emperor's story went back more than two thousand years.

Back then, the First Emperor had suddenly died. The Eighteenth Prince forged an imperial edict and usurped the throne, joining forces with the prime minister and the head of the imperial carriage service in an attempt to force the Crown Prince and the empire's leading general to their deaths.

Great Qin was on the brink of collapse. The Crown Prince was kind by nature, and the general had always been loyal and upright. They were already at their enemies' mercy when, at the critical moment, the Night Emperor emerged from nowhere. He persuaded the general to raise troops in defense of the throne, then led them to take Xianyang in one fell swoop. The Crown Prince ascended the throne, and Great Qin continued its line of succession, which had now lasted for more than two thousand two hundred years.

Over those two thousand two hundred years, the Great Qin dynasty had faced many difficult times and made countless momentous decisions. Whenever the empire was in crisis, a hero would "appear in answer to the times," helping Great Qin restore order and withstand the currents of history.

You could read all of this in history books.

During the reign of the Fourth Martial Emperor, the vassal kings rebelled over the central government's efforts to strip them of their power. Doctor Zhou stepped forward, and in less than a year, he restored peace to the realm.

During the Ninth Emperor's reign, tensions between the civil and military factions were on the verge of erupting. At that very moment, Great Qin opened itself to the world. Through astonishing imperial statecraft, the Ninth Emperor turned the tide, united the people, and preserved Great Qin's territory despite being surrounded by rival nations.

During the Twelfth Emperor's reign, the ruler's policies went against the natural order. Prime Minister Deng rallied the people, established a cabinet, and locked imperial power in a cage. That coup plunged the entire dynasty into turmoil, but it was also when the people truly became the masters of Great Qin.

During the Thirteenth Emperor's reign, the whole world turned against Qin. General Huo emerged from nowhere and led Great Qin to victory in the first world war.

During the Fifteenth Emperor's reign, a global economic crisis sent Great Qin's economy into decline. Prime Minister Wu pushed through sweeping reforms with an iron hand, establishing Great Qin as an economic powerhouse. Even today, the people still benefited from his legacy.

What the history books didn't mention was that all these pivotal figures had come from Night Emperor Academy—including the Ninth Emperor.

Founded by the Night Emperor himself, Night Emperor Academy stayed out of the public eye. Yet it gathered more of Great Qin's finest than any other institution, quietly dedicating its strength to the ancient empire.

And that was Wu Wei's goal, too.

If nothing unexpected had happened, his mother must have once been a student at Night Emperor Academy—and perhaps something more than a student.

"Lan Meng, do you think my abilities are enough to get me into Night Emperor Academy?" Wu Wei asked.

As far as he knew, Night Emperor Academy recruited all kinds of talented people, including the awakened and elite professionals from every field.

Even without Wu Xie, Wu Wei believed his own abilities would have met the academy's admission standards.

Lan Meng gave him an unexpected answer.

"With your abilities, of course you could get in. But if I tried to stop you, you'd fail."

"You have that much power?" Wu Wei didn't believe her.

Lan Meng smiled. "I don't, but my family does."

"What does your family have?"

"My family has money. Lots of money." Lan Meng sounded very proud.

Wu Wei said, "Not everything can be solved with money."

"That's because you don't have enough money. Poverty limits your imagination," Lan Meng said bluntly.

Wu Wei: "▄︻┻┳══━一"

That one really hit home.

"Aunt Lin once said that money can solve ninety-nine percent of the world's problems. What Aunt Lin didn't say was that the remaining one percent just takes even more money." Lan Meng calmly lectured him. "Sorry, but when you're rich, you really can do whatever you want."

Wu Wei felt that Lan Meng made a lot of sense. He was at a loss for words.

He hated rich people the most.

What was worse was that he wasn't rich himself.

Wu Tian, you're really wasting that name. Doesn't your conscience hurt, denying your son the chance to be born into a rich family?