The Warmth of the Human World, Wall-Breaking Spear!

Eastsea City's snack street was lined with scattered neon signs, and the air was thick with the charred aroma of grilled squid and the strange stench of stinky tofu.

Xie Xie walked in front, clutching a communicator that had not even warmed up in his hand. Looking at the spending notifications on it, the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

"That's the fifth starch sausage, the third serving of grilled cold noodles, and two loaded milk teas..."

He turned back to glance at Tang Wulin behind him.

The kid held a handful of lamb skewers in his left hand and a freshly baked egg waffle in his right. His mouth was stuffed full, his cheeks puffed up like a squirrel hoarding food.

Even while eating so frantically, Tang Wulin's large eyes could still precisely lock onto every steaming pot at the roadside stalls.

"Are you the reincarnation of a starving ghost?" Xie Xie could not help complaining. "We haven't even gotten to dinner yet. Is your stomach made from a spatial Soul Tool?"

"Mmm... delicious..." Tang Wulin answered indistinctly, then casually handed Gu Yue a skewer of fish balls. "Gu Yue, this is for you."

Gu Yue already had two candied hawthorn skewers in her hands. Looking at the greasy fish balls being offered to her, she frowned slightly, but still accepted them.

Tang Linyuan walked at the very back, holding only a bottle of mineral water.

Watching the three figures ahead of him laugh and roughhouse, his nerves, which had been tense all this time, finally relaxed a little.

This kind of everyday warmth felt more reassuring than the emptiness of a training room.

After passing through the bustling main street, the noise around them gradually faded.

Xie Xie led the three of them into an old, somewhat run-down alley.

Two of the streetlights here were broken, leaving the alley dimly lit. Only an inconspicuous little shop at the far end still glowed with warm yellow light.

Its wooden sign had been blackened by cooking fumes, but the words "Li's Braised Beef Pot" could barely still be made out.

"We're here."

Xie Xie stopped. The young master's arrogance vanished completely from his face, replaced by a gentler look in his eyes.

When they pushed open the creaking wooden door, a rich, mellow scent of meat washed over them.

The shop was small, with only four or five tables and yellowed menus pasted to the walls.

"Uncle Li! The usual, four extra-large portions!" Xie Xie sat down at a table by the window and called out familiarly.

The curtain to the kitchen was lifted, and a slightly hunched middle-aged man in an apron walked out.

The moment he saw Xie Xie, the man's wrinkled face broke into a broad smile. "Oh, Xie Xie's here! You brought friends today?"

"Yeah, they're all my brothers." Xie Xie patted the table.

"All right, just wait. The meat's already stewed until tender!"

Before long, four dark-brown clay pots were brought to the table.

The moment the lids were lifted, steam billowed out. Large chunks of beef brisket rolled in the reddish-brown broth, and the aroma went straight to their heads.

"Let's eat!" Tang Wulin had long since run out of patience. He scooped up a huge piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, hissing from the heat but unwilling to spit it out.

The beef had been stewed until it practically melted in the mouth, and the broth was rich without being greasy.

Xie Xie did not start eating right away.

He gently stirred the soup in his pot with a spoon. Watching the others feast across from him, his gaze drifted.

"My mom used to bring me here all the time."

Xie Xie lowered his head, his voice blending into the steam rising from the beef soup and sounding somewhat muffled.

"She was a commoner. After marrying into the Xie Family, she always felt that the food in that big estate had no flavor. Only here could she eat happily."

The clatter of chopsticks at the table stopped.

Tang Wulin still had half a piece of beef in his mouth as he stared blankly at Xie Xie.

"Later, she passed away. Illness took her." Xie Xie tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile uglier than crying.

"My father was busy with the family business, busy entertaining all those important people. He did not even see her one last time."

"My name is Xie Xie. The Xie from thanks, and the Xie from chance encounter."

"My mom said she was grateful for that encounter because it gave her me. But sometimes, I think this name is pretty ironic. If she was grateful, then why did she have to leave so alone?"

Gu Yue put down her spoon. A ripple appeared in her usually cool eyes.

Looking at this normally arrogant rich kid, she suddenly felt that he was a little like her.

They were both outsiders unable to find a place to belong in this prosperous world.

"Eat."

A slender hand reached over and placed the largest piece of beef tendon into Xie Xie's pot.

Tang Linyuan's expression was calm. He did not offer any pointless words of consolation.

"Memories aren't fuel for sadness."

Tang Linyuan looked at Xie Xie, his eyes sharp as torches.

"They are whetstones. If you feel wronged, if you feel angry, then grind all those emotions into your dagger."

"When you're strong enough to make the entire family shut up and listen to you, your mother's name will ring louder than that of any head of the Xie Family."

Xie Xie froze.

He looked at Tang Linyuan, his eyes reddening. Then he took a deep breath and nodded forcefully.

"The boss is right! Eat!"

He shoveled food into his mouth as though he wanted to swallow every grievance he had ever suffered.

The meal was heavy, yet fragrant.

The four youths sat around the table. Even without speaking, the bond called "companions" quietly tightened in the steam of the beef soup.

Bang!

A deafening crash shattered the warmth.

The shop door was kicked open. Both wooden doors slammed into the walls with a teeth-grating crack.

Cold wind poured in, scattering the warmth that filled the room.

Three thuggish men walked in.

The leader was burly and bald, with a gold chain as thick as a finger around his neck. Despite the cold weather, his arms were bare, covered in dragon tattoos.

The local bully, Light Dragon.

"Old Li! Time to pay this month's protection fee, isn't it?"

Light Dragon swaggered up to the counter and slammed his right arm heavily onto it, making everything on the tabletop jump. "What? Do I have to come collect it myself?"

Uncle Li's face turned deathly pale. Still holding freshly washed plates, he walked out trembling. "L-Light Dragon... didn't I just pay? It's not even the end of the month yet..."

"Cut the crap! I'm short on cash lately, so the price went up!"

Light Dragon kicked over a stool beside him. The force shattered the solid wooden stool outright. "If you can't pay the Federation Credits today, you can forget about keeping this shop open!"

"Five thousand?!" Uncle Li's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees. "How could a small business like mine have that much money..."

"No money?"

Light Dragon sneered viciously and grabbed Uncle Li by the collar, lifting him entirely off the ground. "Then use these old bones as payment!"

"Stop!"

A furious shout rang out.

Xie Xie shot to his feet, his eyes bloodshot.

This place was the last memory his mother had left him. It was sacred ground to him.

"Oh? A little brat trying to play hero?" Light Dragon glanced at Xie Xie with a face full of disdain. "Get lost. Don't force me to cripple you too."

As he spoke, he raised his right arm and prepared to smash it into Uncle Li's wrinkled face.

If that punch landed, an ordinary person would be crippled or dead.

"Bastard!"

The Light Dragon Dagger appeared in Xie Xie's hand, and he was about to rush forward to fight for his life.

But though he was fast, someone else was faster.

Just as Light Dragon's fist had descended halfway.

There was no roar, no warning.

A black cloud of sonic-boom vapor suddenly burst through the air.

A streak of pitch-black light shot out from the dining table, carrying a terrifying shriek that seemed to tear through space.

It was too fast.

So fast that Light Dragon did not even have time to turn his head. So fast that Xie Xie's foot had not even touched the ground after taking his first step.

Squelch!

A horrifying sound of flesh being pierced rang out.

Light Dragon's raised right arm froze in midair. It was as though he had been struck by a speeding Soul Guidance Train, and he was sent flying backward.

Thud!

A dull impact sounded.

Uncle Li collapsed onto the floor, staring ahead in terror.

Light Dragon had been nailed to the gray-white wall opposite them.

A pitch-black spear wrapped in savage dragon patterns had pierced precisely through his left chest. The spearhead had sunk a full foot into the wall, while the shaft still trembled violently, emitting a buzzing hum.

Blood dripped down the spear shaft, staining the wall red.

Tang Linyuan remained seated in his chair. As the force of his throw faded, his eyes were as cold as if he were looking at a fly nailed to a wall.

"When I eat, I don't like flies buzzing around."

The youth slowly withdrew his hand, picked up a napkin from the table, and leisurely wiped the corner of his mouth.