Eat a Loss, Gain a Lesson

"You little brat! How dare you?!"

A furious roar came from the stairwell.

Chen Jue looked up, only to discover in disappointment that it was not Zhang Wei, but Zhang Wei's cousin, Zhang Yaozu.

"What is there for me to not dare? You caused trouble at the station, and I fought back. Isn't that perfectly justified?"

Chen Jue gave a cold snort, standing at the stairway entrance and staring straight at Zhang Yaozu on the steps.

"Heh heh, looks like you still haven't learned your lesson..."

"Let me ask you this: who here can testify for you? Your accomplice, Lin Shoucheng?"

Zhang Yaozu looked at Chen Jue with greed filling his eyes.

Last time, he had thought his cousin had asked for too little money.

This time, it was his turn to set the trap. Since blood had been spilled, unless he squeezed three or five hundred thousand out of Chen Jue and He Yuanshan, he would not let this go!

"I really don't know whether you're truly stupid or just too full of yourself, thinking you can pin me down for good."

"You actually used the same trick twice on the same person?"

Without even looking at the damaged surveillance cameras in the hallway, Chen Jue dusted off the lapel Zhang Qi had wrinkled and revealed the conspicuous body camera on his chest.

Zhang Yaozu's pupils contracted. Throwing caution to the wind, he lunged at Chen Jue, trying to snatch the body camera.

Chen Jue instantly backed away several steps. Taking out his phone, he said with a look of surprise, "Oh dear! Sorry! My body camera is connected to my phone, and I accidentally sent what just happened to the station's main group chat."

With an innocent expression, he retreated to Lin Shoucheng's side.

"Let go of him!"

Seeing Zhang Lin still gripping Uncle Lin's arm, Chen Jue's gaze turned sharp, and he let out a cold snort.

Zhang Lin was at the third level of True Qi, and in theory, his strength far surpassed Chen Jue's.

Yet under Chen Jue's glare, he instinctively released his hold, allowing Lin Shoucheng to smoothly draw the long saber at his waist, sheath and all.

Zhang Lin could only retreat toward Zhang Yaozu, opening up the distance between himself and the pair of Chen Jue and Lin Shoucheng.

"What the fuck did you do?! Hurry up and retract that message!"

"We're official inspectors. At worst, we'll get our pay docked and a public reprimand. You're just an intern—do you not want your job anymore?!"

Zhang Yaozu was so enraged that smoke seemed to rise from all seven orifices. His steps had clearly been identical to his cousin's, and he had even driven away the bystanders in advance. How had things ended up this ugly?!

Where had it gone wrong?

"I remember you were there that day too, weren't you?"

"Did you bully so many people that you've already forgotten why you targeted me?"

Chen Jue sneered and took out the official inspector's clerk badge from his pocket, pinning it above the body camera.

At the sight of it, Zhang Yaozu's eyes flew wide open. His mind swam, and he nearly toppled backward.

"You fucking dared to play me?! I'll kill you!" Overcome by rage, Zhang Yaozu drew his saber.

"Hey, hey, hey~~~ It's recording. If you don't compensate me today, I'll keep sending the rest of this video to the group chat."

Not only was Chen Jue unafraid, he pointed at the body camera on his chest with a roguish look, wearing an expression that begged to be punched.

By now, the station's main group chat had exploded. Many people had watched the video. Unable to comment because of Zhang Wei's status, they instead flooded the chat with little yellow bean eating-melon emojis.

Very soon, one of the station's leaders saw the video: the station secretary, Zhao Wei.

"Zhang Wei! Get the hell over here and see me!"

The secretary's message was like a tyrant blade cleaving through a river of stars, instantly cutting off all further comments.

Zhang Yaozu's lungs were about to burst from fury. He wanted to disregard everything and slash Chen Jue, but Zhang Lin wisely stopped him.

"Don't act rashly. The boss has been summoned by the secretary. If we hurt him now, none of us will have a good outcome."

"Well, well, there are still smart people in Group Four! Let me see how I should edit this video to make it hit even better in the group chat."

Chen Jue was no longer merely taunting them. He was practically shitting on the heads of the two Zhangs.

"You!"

Zhang Yaozu remained violently enraged. To keep him from falling for Chen Jue's tricks again, Zhang Lin could only chop his hand out, seize the saber from him, and forcibly drag him behind himself.

"We've taken the loss this time. How much do you want before you'll delete the rest of the video?" Zhang Lin asked.

Chen Jue grinned. "I'm not asking for much. Return my thirty thousand, then give me another thirty thousand!"

"You're dreaming!" Zhang Yaozu roared.

"Then I'll send it. Let the leaders have a good look at what kind of goddamn state Group Four is in now."

As he spoke, Chen Jue worked his phone and placed the latter half of the video—ending with Zhang Yaozu drawing his saber—into the send box.

"Wait! It's only sixty thousand. We'll give it to you!"

Zhang Lin forcefully suppressed the unwilling Zhang Yaozu and transferred sixty thousand to Chen Jue.

It was not that Zhang Lin was timid. Rather, the video of Zhang Yaozu drawing his saber in anger gravely violated the Patrol Inspectorate's regulations and taboos. It absolutely could not be sent to the group chat.

If the higher-ups held them accountable, not only would Zhang Yaozu be severely punished, even their boss Zhang Wei would be implicated.

Favoring relatives and failing to maintain discipline under his command—either charge alone was enough to ruin the boss's future. It was even uncertain whether he could keep his position as group leader.

Therefore, compared to the unknown risks that might arise, paying some money was the wisest choice.

"Chen Jue usually looked mild, gentle, respectful, frugal, and yielding. Who would have thought his schemes and methods were so meticulous and sharp?"

"He Yuanshan must have smoke rising from his ancestors' graves. His family actually produced such a formidable nephew..."

Seeing Chen Jue recover twice the money he had paid out the day before yesterday, Lin Shoucheng could not help feeling deeply impressed.

"You deal with these people yourselves. Uncle Lin and I are heading out to patrol the streets."

After taking the money, Chen Jue directly transferred forty thousand to his uncle, He Yuanshan.

This was returning a peach for a plum, repaying his uncle's long-standing, heartfelt care for him.

As for whether today's events had thoroughly offended Zhang Wei and the others...

Chen Jue simply did not care.

With people like Zhang Yaozu, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, the more weakly you retreated, the more they would press their advantage. If you kept retreating, they might even toy with you until your family was destroyed and your life ruined.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Chen Jue had never intended to settle things peacefully.

That was also why Lin Shoucheng had tried to pull him away, only for Chen Jue to shake free of his hand instead.

After all, if he did not let them bump into him, how would Zhang Yaozu and the others have the "opportunity" to make trouble?

"Still... I obviously held back when I flicked my wrist and drew my saber just now. How was the force still this great?"

Before leaving, Chen Jue lowered his eyes to look at Zhang Qi, who lay on the ground with blood seeping from his waist and kept groaning. His expression turned somewhat strange.

He reviewed the previous Diligence Rewards Log with his thoughts and finally found the entry from the night of "Foundation Establishment in Martial Arts": [Comprehended an advanced force application technique—"Whole-Body Force"].

So-called "Whole-Body Force" was also known as "the united strength of the entire body."

It referred to a martial artist's muscles, bones, joints, and fascia moving in synchronized coordination, allowing strength to travel intact from the soles of the feet to every extremity, with no breaks in localized force and no internal loss of power.

It was an advanced force application technique that allowed a martial artist's body to achieve "when one part moved, nothing failed to move; when one part stilled, nothing failed to still."

It could also broadly be understood as a vastly enhanced version of the "Outer Three Harmonies" technique.

"Now that really was an unexpected delight."

A pleased smile curled at the corner of Chen Jue's lips.

Watching the backs of Chen Jue and Lin Shoucheng as they went downstairs and departed, Zhang Yaozu's eyes blazed with fury. He nearly crushed an entire row of his back teeth.

"This isn't over!" he said bitterly.

"Of course it isn't over."

Zhang Lin slung the unlucky man on the ground onto his back, his expression grave.

"That kid had only just reached 'Foundation Establishment in Martial Arts,' yet he knocked down Qi at the same level with a single move..."

"That means the kid's martial arts talent is extraordinary. Perhaps those rumors about his 'above-average martial arts aptitude' aren't false."

There was an order to those who heard the Way.

Both were at the first level of True Qi, but Zhang Qi was nearly thirty and had spent more than a year immersed in this minor realm, accumulating over eighty threads of True Qi within his body.

Logically speaking, if Zhang Qi erupted with all his True Qi, it should have been enough to crush Chen Jue.

But what Zhang Lin had seen was Chen Jue barely using any True Qi at all. Relying solely on brute strength, he had knocked the unprepared Zhang Qi flat.

It was fortunate Chen Jue had used a scabbard. Had it been a life-and-death fight, Zhang Qi would already be dead.

"Zhang Lin, are you joking?! Do you know what above-average martial arts aptitude means?"

Hearing Zhang Lin's guess, Zhang Yaozu reacted like an old man huffing in alarm. "How could someone with that kind of aptitude attend a junior college? And how could he only now be reaching 'Foundation Establishment in Martial Arts'?!"

"..." Zhang Lin fell silent at those words.

Zhang Yaozu was actually right. If Chen Jue truly possessed outstanding talent, how could he only now be reaching "Foundation Establishment in Martial Arts"?

It seemed to form a paradox.

Chen Jue, who could instantly defeat someone at the same level, might possess exceptional talent.

But Chen Jue, who only reached "Foundation Establishment in Martial Arts" at twenty, probably could not possess exceptional talent.

"Once the boss returns from the secretary, I'll speak with him about this privately."

"There's something strange about that kid. We need to strangle him in the cradle as soon as possible."

"Just so happens, we have people in the Rat Gang. Let the boss go stir the fire a little. Today, we'll make sure those two leave their corpses on the street!"

As a martial artist at the third level of True Qi, Zhang Lin had seen his share of the world.

He had heard that some genius martial artists rose incredibly quickly—so quickly that in the blink of an enemy's eye, they had already grown strong enough to wipe out an entire family by themselves.

Thus, he felt that killing Chen Jue could not be delayed. The sooner it was resolved, the better.