At Any Cost

The dust settled.

Students streamed out of the cafeteria one after another, stunned by the bloodbath before them.

The Mirrors had carried away the bodies of their own, leaving behind only the bodies of the Academy teachers and guards who had died in the brutal fight.

The medical staff wept as they tried to save the survivors lying in pools of blood.

Cheng Queyi sat dazed on the ground, cradling Wang Wen.

Yu Zhi approached, wanting to say something but not knowing how. Seeing Cheng Queyi in tears, she hesitated, then sat beside her and clasped Wang Wen's cold hand.

Teacher Gu, the head of the guards, carried several cases of drinking water out of the cafeteria. After tossing a few bottles to his companions, he opened one and poured it over his head. The blood of both sides ran to the ground with the water, making for a heartbreaking sight.

The Department Chair and the teachers who could still move helped treat the wounded.

The old Dean stood ankle-deep in a pool of blood, surveying the devastation with eyes nearly bursting from rage.

"This isn't the World Tower," he murmured. "This is the Academy."

Hearing the Dean's grief-stricken voice, the teachers and students around him choked back sobs and wept.

"This is the Academy!"

The Dean's aged voice seemed to carry the bloodshed and the souls of the innocent dead, echoing through the Academy without end.

At last, the long night passed.

Light began to spread across the horizon.

Wang Wen's injuries had improved, and his vision had returned.

But when he opened his eyes, he didn't see the golden morning sun.

He saw the Academy, drenched in blood.

Parents came to the Academy to take their children home.

To show that the Academy had cared for its students and none had been injured, they didn't ask for their tuition back.

They simply withdrew their children in silence.

As if!

Their opponent was Tiansheng Group.

The world's second-largest consortium!

What could a tiny academy possibly use to stand against them? Its head?

In this world, there was no right or wrong, only strength and weakness.

With a team of top Tower Climbers, Tiansheng Group had every right to disregard reason.

Besides, this time they had an excuse.

The students were gone.

After the injured were taken away in ambulances, some teachers left as well.

The families of the dead clung to the bodies in the hospital, which had not yet been processed and were covered with white sheets for the time being, and wept.

The collapsed Dean's Office lay in ruins in the distance.

Wang Wen got to his feet. Behind Yu Zhi and Cheng Queyi stood their parents, their faces full of helplessness.

He apologized to the parents.

He told Yu Zhi and Cheng Queyi to go home.

Neither girl was willing, of course.

But he ignored them and walked silently to the Dean, who was busy making call after call. He bowed.

Then he bowed to Teacher Gu and the other guards who had done their best to protect everyone.

Finally, under everyone's gaze, he bent deeply before the many bodies covered in white sheets.

After a long while,

he straightened and walked silently toward the Academy's gate.

"Where are you going?" Cheng Queyi shouted after him.

Wang Wen didn't look back or answer. He left the Academy and walked straight into the World Tower's teleportation portal.

For the first time in his life, he truly felt the power of the great consortiums of this age.

He felt pain.

Unprecedented pain.

This was a broken world that knew no reason.

The people he had provoked and offended hadn't come after him. Instead, they'd dragged a whole crowd of innocent people into it.

He deeply regretted ducking into the Academy gates to escape their pursuit as quickly as possible.

Even after living two lives, he'd never imagined they would be so ruthless and decisive.

They'd hunted him down without regard for the Academy, killing its people without hesitation.

By that logic, he was the root cause of all this wrongdoing.

Wang Wen believed that he had to resolve the mess he'd made himself.

Even if it meant becoming a dog, he would do it.

"Department Head, Wang Wen entered the World Tower," Tong Xiaolei reported.

The old man paused while flipping through his documents, then sighed softly. "What a pity."

Tong Xiaolei glanced back at the office door and asked in a low voice, "Are we really going to stand by and watch Tiansheng kill the Academy's teachers? The Mirrors went way too far, didn't they?"

"Shen Rushuang has always been overshadowed by Mo Ran, and it's been eating at him for a long time. This time, he deliberately targeted Wang Wen after seeing him work with us, just to spite us." The old man picked up his teacup and blew across it. "If we step in for Wang Wen, we'll fall for his ploy. Judging by how far the Mirrors are willing to go, the moment we intervene, this will turn into a clash between two major groups. As I've said before, our group needs time to establish itself right now. We shouldn't go to war—not over an outsider with no ties to us, at least."

"But are we just going to keep putting up with this?" For the first time, Tong Xiaolei's voice carried unmistakable emotion. "Counting this time, Tiansheng has tested us again and again!"

The old man looked at her. "And that's why we're the First Consortium, while they rank second."

Tong Xiaolei still didn't understand. "If we have to keep swallowing our pride like this, what good is being number one?"

"Being number one comes from strength, not temper. They lose something every time they test us, while we lose nothing." The old man replaced the lid on his teacup, his tone calm. "They're weakening while we grow stronger. That's a good sign."

Tong Xiaolei rarely talked back, but this time she did. "Personally, I think when a mouse keeps testing and scratching at a tiger, patience isn't strength. Swatting it dead is."

"Haha." The old man suddenly laughed. His patience was unusually deep today, perhaps because he had plenty on his mind that he wanted to get off his chest. "My original plan was to use Tiansheng's pressure to recruit Wang Wen. He has my number. If he'd called, I would've sent people without a second thought. But apart from that one time he needed medicine to save someone, he'd rather enter the Tower himself than ask me for help. I didn't expect that."

"Even setting Wang Wen aside, the Academy's situation is pitiful." Tong Xiaolei frowned. "We investigated. Some of the dead were just ordinary teachers. The Regional Security Department doesn't dare get involved. If we don't step in, the world will descend into chaos."

"The Academy..." The old man sighed.

He turned his chair to face the floor-to-ceiling windows, his voice growing somber. "They were unlucky. If even one student worked for the First Consortium, we'd have a reason to step in."

Tong Xiaolei pressed her lips together. "But one of the members of my team did graduate from the Academy. They all received personal calls from the Dean!"

"This is a battle between the two great groups of our age. They don't carry enough weight." The old man shook his head and looked out toward the distant sky. "At the very least, it would take someone at a team leader's level."

The office fell silent.

Tong Xiaolei didn't argue further. She just felt stifled and took several deep breaths to compose herself.

The old man, gazing out the window, didn't turn around, but he could sense his trusted aide's frustration.

After all, she was one of his own. He couldn't leave her hanging.

As if to comfort Tong Xiaolei, he smiled and said, "When all is said and done, the Academy's students just aren't capable enough. Try not to dwell on it."

"Wang Wen is an Academy student too," Tong Xiaolei pouted.

The old man replied helplessly, "If not for him, the Academy wouldn't have suffered this disaster."

"Now even someone who never entered the Tower has been forced to go in!" Tong Xiaolei complained, full of resentment. Then she asked curiously, "How high do you think he'll climb?"

"I don't know how high he can get. But I do know that if he wants to avenge the Academy, he'll need to reach at least level five hundred."

Wang Wen had entered the Tower.

The news surprised many people.

Shen Rushuang, for instance, was reporting to the young master of Tiansheng.

When he heard, his heart nearly skipped a beat.

That monster had already become this powerful without ever entering the Tower. What would happen now that he had?

Shen Rushuang didn't dare imagine it. He could only dutifully report the results of his work and hope Tiansheng Group's power would be enough to crush the Academy's avengers.