Attack

Redemption in suffering can foster 'loyalty,' of course, and it also easily creates a huge emotional debt.

But it's still one path.

Only Zhong Shan can trade, so he won't play the good guy. He doesn't even mind giving a push, letting the girl fall into a deeper pit of fire, a more difficult situation.

"There are only four days left before it's overdue."

He muttered to himself:

"I do have the authority to postpone this time, but why should I help you? What do you have that's worth my help?"

"Hmm, if this one is overdue, you'll be completely thrown into purgatory. Then your mother won't be saved either, right?"

Zhang Fusheng calmly stared at the girl's delicate face.

Chen Nuanyu was silent for a moment, seeming to understand his meaning. Humiliation appeared on her face, but in the end.

She tremblingly lowered her head, then with difficulty and clumsiness, stuck out her tongue and gently licked his palm.

The corner of Zhang Fusheng's mouth twitched. He didn't make any further moves.

Although this wasn't what he meant, he did need to completely tear down and shred the girl's pride and self-esteem.

He needed a desperate person, like Zhong Shan lying in a morgue, quietly waiting to die.

"Is that all?"

The young man looked indifferently at the girl kneeling before him.

She trembled slightly, head bowed, lost in thought.

After a long while.

As she hesitated and struggled, Zhang Fusheng stood up and said lightly:

"I'll consider postponing it. It depends on your performance."

He knew that tearing down a proud person's self-esteem couldn't be done in an instant, unless extreme methods were used.

But that would also harvest deep, indelible hatred.

That wasn't what he wanted.

"A pseudo-genius, a pseudo-genius built up by potions. Do you know how long it took me from starting a meditation technique to achieving great success and reaching the level of [I Observe as I Should Be]?"

The girl shook her head blankly. She saw a faint, precious light emanating from beneath the man's skin.

"Half a day."

Zhang Fusheng said indifferently:

"Besides an unquenchable heart and a beautiful face, you have nothing else worth mentioning. Your greatest value, perhaps, is the interest generated daily after you incurred a huge debt."

"I need to see your other value, not just this skin, understand?"

He reached out and condescendingly stroked the girl's head.

"...I understand." Chen Nuanyu said in a low voice.

"Good girl."

Zhang Fusheng turned and left, without any lingering attachment, as if she truly was not worth mentioning or cherishing.

The door opened, and the bright lights in the corridor spilled in, falling on the young man.

In the light, shadows like iron mountains piled up above his head, then collapsed with a roar, enveloping Chen Nuanyu.

After the person left and the shadows dispersed, she remained kneeling on the ground, blankly looking up at the light outside the door, speechless for a long time.

After borrowing the restroom and pumping hand sanitizer five times in a row, meticulously washing the palm that had been licked.

"This is how it should be done, right?"

Walking out of Bar No. 19, Zhang Fusheng muttered to himself. He hadn't learned this before, and he didn't know if his act was good enough?

It didn't feel very convincing, but he really couldn't go any further.

He sighed softly.

'Jingle jingle!'

He picked up his phone, and Zhu Xiaoming's boisterous voice came from the other end.

"Old Zhang, we found a treasure of a restaurant and are eating now. What's the situation with you and Genius Chen?"

"Nothing much, we just finished eating and parted ways."

"Oh, I see. Are you coming to join us for a meal now?"

"I'll pass. I have some things to do tonight. Before the Jiang University Banquet in the middle of the month, isn't there a farewell banquet for our class? We can get together then."

As he spoke, Zhang Fusheng frowned slightly. He felt a strange stinging sensation on his body, but it wasn't strong.

"Alright."

Zhu Xiaoming smacked his lips.

"Lu Yao and I actually don't really want to go to the Teacher Appreciation Banquet. There will definitely be a bunch of people fawning over us, and it'll feel weird. I'm hanging up now. We'll talk about whether to go or not later?"

"Okay, see you later."

After hanging up the phone, he looked around for a moment, but couldn't find the source of the discomfort. He didn't think much of it and walked along the tree-lined path, making another video call.

"Hello, Dad, is East Ridge Snow Mountain fun?"

"It's fun, and there's even a hot spring in the snow mountain..."

On the video, Doctor Zhang, who was clearly in a locker room or similar place, glanced around and then frowned:

"I was just about to call you. I contacted my old friend just now, and he said things are getting a bit unstable in the Lower-Level District."

Zhang Fusheng's expression turned serious:

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Wentao shook his head:

"I'm not sure of the specifics. Because of his position, he can only get bits and pieces of information. He said it's best not to go to the Lower-Level District for the next five to fifteen days, especially the Eighth District and the Ninth District."

He paused and continued:

"Why don't you also stop staying at the Martial Arts Academy? Buy a train ticket and come to East Ridge Snow Mountain. I've already told your mom that we'll be staying here for another half a month, or you could go to your uncle's place. Didn't you want to see your cousin Xixi before?"

His uncle's family lived in another city.

Zhang Fusheng shook his head:

"There's no need. I stay at the Martial Arts Academy every day. Even if I go out, it's within District Three. There won't be any problems."

As he spoke, he turned the camera to show his dad the spacious villas, almost like small manors, that occupied large plots of land around them.

"You're quite enjoying yourself."

His dad, who clearly thought the Martial Arts Academy was located within this unattainable villa district, chuckled and cursed, then said:

"Alright, be careful. It's best not to even leave the Martial Arts Academy. Oh, right, I'll give you Old Yu's number. He's my friend. If you really run into trouble and need to go back to the Lower-Level District, contact him. He was my comrade-in-arms when I was serving. He's absolutely reliable."

"Got it, Dad."

"Okay, I won't talk much longer. Your mom must be getting impatient."

After hanging up the phone again, Zhang Fusheng frowned. Evil cults, Daoism...

He still couldn't connect these two terms.

"Regardless of whether it's truly that Daoist sect or not, to be able to remain safe and sound under The Federation's pursuit and interception, it must be an incredibly powerful behemoth."

His gaze flickered slightly. Chen Nuanyu was a good way to get in touch with Daoism.

Precisely because of this, Zhang Fusheng didn't intend to discard the girl after their transaction was complete. Wasn't Daoism trying to recruit her?

Perhaps, she could be developed into a connection. Zhong Shan's identity should be truly activated now.

This was also why he wanted to drag Chen Nuanyu deeper into the mire.

Zhang Fusheng had received feedback from the Pact before. Loyalty couldn't be directly bought. However, it could turn someone into an absolutely obedient puppet, completely controlled.

But he didn't want a puppet.

Therefore, to gain loyalty, a guiding light in despair and hardship, a helping hand, was probably the fastest method.

"What should I call it?"

"Secret Society? Fusheng Club?"

He recalled organizations from novels and movies in his past life and muttered:

"There are no Tarot cards in this world. I can't just make twenty-two Major Arcana cards myself, can I?"

"Playing cards feel too low-level."

"What about the High Table?"

Zhang Fusheng was talking to himself, thinking of the 'High Table' from a certain movie series.

He suddenly stopped moving.

That strange stinging sensation suddenly intensified—no, it wasn't physical.

It was mental.

It was... a warning?

His brow suddenly felt an intense pain, as if it were about to split open again.

He abruptly turned his head. The next moment, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound through the air, a crater appeared in the tree trunk behind him.

Zhang Fusheng's hair stood on end. He quickly darted into the shade of the trees and began counting silently.

One second, two seconds.

At the count of two seconds, a faint muffled sound, absolutely inaudible to a normal person, rang out in the distance. However, with Zhang Fusheng's current hearing, he could perfectly capture it. It was a sniper rifle with a silencer.

Although he couldn't hear a fly's wings flapping a hundred meters away, when he was completely focused and his mind was active, he could detect a fly passing by twenty meters away.

Two seconds. The gunman was over six hundred meters away, to the west.

There happened to be a villa there.

Hiding behind a tree trunk, Zhang Fusheng's scalp tingled again. He rolled to the side violently. The next instant, a small hole was blasted through the tree trunk.

Two more seconds later, a massive boom echoed!

He switched guns!

Damn it, what kind of gun could blast through a tree trunk nearly half a meter thick??

Brushing past death twice, the sense of terror and inexplicable excitement enveloped him, making his breathing difficult.

A third prickling sensation all over his body.

He rolled.

A crater was left where he had been, followed by the reverberation of a huge gunshot.

"Are you serious??"

Zhang Fusheng abruptly raised his head, stomped his foot hard, and punched, unleashing a gust of wind that stirred up the dead branches and leaves in the woods, forming a giant tiger's head!

It perfectly obscured all sight in that area.

Six hundred and fifty meters away, on the roof of the villa.

The gunman's brow furrowed:

"This wasn't in the intel."

He looked through the scope. The moment the dead branches and leaves scattered, he immediately locked onto his target and pulled the trigger.

But the instant before he pulled the trigger, the target had already rolled away to evade.

"Damn it, how did he do that??"

The gunman's pupils contracted. He saw the young man in the distance once again stir up dead branches and leaves, shrouding that patch of woods.

This time, the dead branches and leaves swirled for an unusually long time. The young man seemed to be practicing martial arts in the woods?

The sound of fist winds whistled incessantly, and the dust and leaves swirled along with it.

He tried firing a few blind shots.

"Mission failed." He shook his head. If he stayed any longer, the Public Security Bureau would arrive. This wasn't the Lower-Level District.

Just as he was about to put away his sniper rifle.

Through the scope, the gunman saw the smoke and dust shrouding the woods over six hundred meters away suddenly tear apart. A figure was rapidly approaching at an incredible speed.

Each time his foot pushed off the ground, it cracked like a spiderweb, and then he would cover dozens of meters!

"First Refinement can achieve this speed??"

He pulled the trigger, and again!

By the time the third shot rang out, the figure had crossed six hundred meters and reached the ground below.