Invisibility? Then I Won't Hold Back!

The dark room was deathly silent, with only the faint sound of wind coming through the vent.

The air was thick with the smell of moldy paper and stale blood, making Jian Ning's nose itch.

He turned on the dim light from his phone screen and used that little bit of brightness to take in the entire room.

This was no ordinary storage room. It was a pervert's "trophy exhibition hall."

The walls were plastered with photographs.

There were gruesome pictures of the Jian parents' car accident twenty years ago, candid shots of Jian Xiu studying abroad as a child, and even photos of Jian Ning being bullied at the orphanage.

Beneath every photograph, dates and notes had been written in red ink.

Jian Ning stared at those photos, his fists slowly clenching.

[Pervert! That old bastard is a complete voyeur!]

[So my brother and I have been living under his surveillance for the past twenty years?]

[The Jian parents' deaths really were planned by him!]

On a rosewood table, he found a locked iron box.

The system notification frantically flashed in his mind:

[Ding! Key evidence discovered!]

[Item: Old-fashioned voice recorder.]

[Contents: A recording of Huo Zhen bribing a truck driver to cause the car accident.]

[Suggestion: Take it immediately! System upgrade progress: 99%...]

Without another word, Jian Ning pulled out that "universal lockpick" and fiddled with the iron box twice.

"Click."

The lock opened.

Jian Ning grabbed the voice recorder and slipped it into the pocket against his chest.

Just then—

"Rumble—"

The door to the dark room, that enormous bookcase, slowly slid aside again.

Light flooded in.

Huo Zhen's gloomy voice approached along with his footsteps.

"Since you caught him, bring him here directly. The soundproofing here is the best. No one will hear him no matter how loudly he screams."

Jian Ning went completely rigid.

[Holy shit! He's back!]

[And it sounds like he wants to interrogate me in here?]

[Hide? This crappy little room is completely exposed. There's nowhere to hide!]

Huo Zhen had already appeared in the doorway. He held a steaming purple clay teapot in his hand, clearly intending to drink tea while enjoying the "torture."

Just as Huo Zhen was about to step into the dark room, Jian Ning's heartbeat nearly exploded.

[System! Save me! Is your upgrade done yet?! If it isn't, I'm dead!]

[System: Ding! System upgrade complete!]

[Version: 4.0 (Premium Gossip Edition).]

[New skill unlocked: [Time-Limited Invisibility]. Duration: 10 minutes. Side effect: Extreme hunger after invisibility ends.]

[Activate?]

Without even thinking, Jian Ning roared in his mind:

[YES!!!]

"Whoosh—"

A strange current surged through his body.

Jian Ning looked down and saw that his hands, body, and even his clothes had turned transparent in an instant, as though they had merged with the air.

Huo Zhen entered the dark room.

His cloudy yet sharp eyes swept over the cramped space.

His gaze passed directly through Jian Ning, who stood in the corner, and landed on the opened iron box.

"Hm?"

Huo Zhen's expression changed drastically.

"How was the box opened?!"

He rushed over in a few strides and discovered that the voice recorder inside had vanished.

"Who?! Who came in here?!"

Huo Zhen abruptly turned around, suspiciously scanning his surroundings. In the empty dark room, only his heavy breathing could be heard.

Jian Ning stood less than half a meter away from him. He could even smell the nauseating scent of old age and sandalwood clinging to Huo Zhen.

He held his breath, his heart hammering wildly, but an indescribably thrilling rush also rose within him.

[Hehe, you can't see me. You can't see me.]

[That's what you get for scaring me! For killing my parents!]

Jian Ning glanced at the teapot Huo Zhen had casually placed on the table.

A bold idea surfaced in his mind.

He opened the system store and found the item he had previously exchanged to mess with Lin Yu but had never gotten the chance to use—

[High-Powered Spray Laxative (colorless, odorless, takes effect in three seconds, lasts thirty minutes)].

Jian Ning gave a wicked grin.

He silently moved closer. While Huo Zhen was checking whether any photographs on the wall were missing, he unscrewed the laxative bottle and poured half of it into the teapot.

[Drink up, old man! May your blessings flow as endlessly as the Eastern Sea! Meaning diarrhea!]

After doing all that, Jian Ning did not dare linger. While Huo Zhen was still frantically searching for the missing item, he crouched down and slipped past him like a gust of wind, leaving the dark room and sneaking out of the study.

Downstairs, in the banquet hall.

The atmosphere had become unbearably tense.

Huo Si glanced at his watch.

Five minutes had passed.

Five minutes and thirty seconds.

Jian Ning still had not returned.

"Something happened." Huo Si abruptly rose to his feet and slammed the wineglass in his hand onto the table, splashing wine everywhere.

Jian Xiu stood as well, his face dark with fury. "I knew that old bastard Huo Zhen was up to no good! I saw his butler sneak upstairs just now!"

"Search."

Huo Si coldly spat out a single word before giving orders through his earpiece.

"Seal every exit. Don't let even a fly leave. Bring all the bodyguards inside and search!"

The guests in the banquet hall were terrified.

"What happened? What's going on?"

"What is President Huo doing? This is Second Great-Uncle's birthday banquet!"

Huo Si ignored them entirely. His eyes were terrifyingly murderous. If Jian Ning lost even a single hair, he would not mind turning this birthday banquet into a funeral.

Just as Huo Si and Jian Xiu were about to lead their men upstairs—

"Hubby? Brother?"

A clear voice came from the corridor by the side entrance.

Huo Si whipped around.

Jian Ning was walking toward them with a rose picked from the garden in his hand, looking utterly "confused." He appeared completely unharmed and even rather leisurely.

"What's wrong with you two? Why do you look so awful?" Jian Ning blinked his large eyes.

Huo Si rushed over in several strides and pulled him into a crushing embrace, holding him so tightly it nearly felt as though Jian Ning's bones would break.

"Where did you go?"

Huo Si's voice trembled. "Didn't you say you were going to the restroom? Why wasn't anyone there?"

Jian Ning could barely breathe from the tight embrace, but his heart melted completely.

He patted Huo Si's back and began making things up with a perfectly serious expression.

"Well... there were too many people in the restroom, so I took a walk around the back garden and, while I was at it... picked a flower for Second Great-Uncle."

He raised the rose in his hand, which he had actually casually plucked from the roadside after his invisibility wore off.

Jian Xiu rushed over as well, pulling Jian Ning around to inspect him from head to toe. "You're not hurt, are you? No one bullied you, right?"

Jian Ning shook his head. He leaned between them and lowered his voice, unable to hide the excitement in his tone.

"Don't worry. I'm perfectly fine."

"Not only did no one bully me, I got my hands on a huge treasure."

He patted the hard voice recorder against his chest.

Huo Si and Jian Xiu exchanged a glance and instantly understood.

This kid had really done it.

At that moment, movement came from the staircase on the second floor.

Huo Zhen came downstairs.

He looked somewhat disheveled, his expression so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water. After discovering the missing item in the study, his first thought had been that there was a traitor—or that the "little mouse" had escaped.

But he could not make a scene. That was the evidence that could kill him. If this blew up, he would be finished.

Huo Zhen forced a smile as he descended the stairs. "Ah, I had some business to handle just now and neglected everyone. Ah Si, President Jian, why are you both so angry? Are you planning to tear down my useless old house?"

Huo Si released Jian Ning and returned to his usual cold demeanor. "Second Great-Uncle misunderstands. The child in my family got lost while playing. I was merely worried."

Huo Zhen's gaze hooked onto Jian Ning like a claw.

But Jian Ning gave him a sweet smile. "Second Great-Uncle, I picked a flower for you in the garden just now. I hope you'll be as... prosperous as this flower!"

[Hehe, I hope your ass turns as red as this flower later.]

Though Huo Zhen was suspicious, he had no proof.

Besides, the birthday banquet still had to continue. The grandest event, the cake-cutting ceremony, was about to begin.

"Good, good." Huo Zhen's smile did not reach his eyes. "Since everyone is here, let's cut the cake. I'm feeling a little thirsty too."

He waved a hand, and his butler immediately brought over the purple clay teapot he always carried with him.

It was the very pot of tea Jian Ning had tampered with in the study.

Huo Zhen accepted the teapot. To calm himself after the fright he had gotten in the study, and to wet his throat before giving his birthday speech, he tilted his head back and gulped down a large mouthful.

Jian Ning hid behind Huo Si, biting his lips hard to keep from laughing out loud.

The countdown began:

Three.

Two.

One.

Just as Huo Zhen was about to put down the teapot, his expression suddenly changed.

An indescribable, earth-shaking sensation surged from his abdomen straight toward... his lower half.

It was an urgent sensation like a collapsing dam.

"Everyone..." Huo Zhen had barely spoken two words when his face turned deathly pale. He clamped his legs together, and the teapot in his hand dropped with a crash, shattering into pieces.

"Pfffft—"

An incredibly loud, incredibly prolonged sound rang out through the microphone still clipped to his collar, clearly reaching every corner of the banquet hall.

The entire room fell silent.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at the highly respected birthday elder.

But this was only the beginning.

The high-powered laxative was merciless.

Huo Zhen could not control himself at all. With one hand over his ass, he moved as though powered by a motor, shoving through the crowd in a horribly twisted posture and charging madly toward the restroom.

"Move! All of you, move!"

"Pfffft—pfffft—"

Accompanied by a thoroughly indecent soundtrack, Huo Zhen vanished down the end of the corridor.

Leaving the entire hall of guests standing there in stunned disarray.

"This... Second Great-Uncle is... this..."

"This birthday banquet... certainly has quite a smell."

Jian Ning buried his face in Huo Si's chest, his shoulders shaking wildly.

[Hahahaha! I can't! I'm dying of laughter!]

[That was way too loud, wasn't it? The microphone's amplification is amazing!]

[Second Great-Uncle, are you satisfied with this blessing of diarrhea without end?]

Huo Si looked at the trembling figure laughing in his arms, and the corner of his lips could not help curving upward.

He put an arm around Jian Ning, turned to Jian Xiu, and said:

"Looks like this birthday banquet can't go on."

"Let's go home. We can listen to the... story your brother brought back."

Huo Household Villa, study.

The contents of the voice recorder began to play.

It was Huo Zhen's vicious voice from twenty years ago:

"That Jian couple is too much of an obstacle... That project has to be mine... Make it look like an accident. Leave no traces..."

Jian Xiu slammed a fist onto the table, his eyes bloodshot and his entire body radiating murderous intent.

"Huo Zhen... I'm going to carve him into a thousand pieces!"

Jian Ning gripped his brother's hand and said calmly:

"Brother, don't rush. This recording may be enough to convict him, but that old fox Huo Zhen definitely has scapegoats ready."

"We need to ruin his reputation and make every last one of his forces crumble."

Huo Si lit a cigarette, his gaze unreadable through the smoke.

"Huo Zhen's backing isn't just the Huo Household's collateral branch. There's also... that faction within KM Group that opposes you."

Huo Si looked at Jian Xiu.

"President Jian, shall we work together?"

"You clean house. I'll clean up my family traitors."

Jian Xiu took a deep breath, and the hostility in his eyes toward Huo Si finally lessened.

"Deal."

"However... once this is over, Jian Ning has to stay at my house for a month."

Huo Si sneered. "One day."

Jian Xiu said, "Half a month!"

Huo Si said, "Two days."

Just as the two of them were haggling over Jian Ning's "custody"...

Jian Ning's system suddenly issued another alert.

[Ding! A new threat has been detected!]

[Huo Zhen, who was in the hospital after being dehydrated by diarrhea, made an overseas call.]

[The person on the other end of the line... was King, the true mastermind behind Lin Yu, the original novel's protagonist.]

[King's true identity: Jian Xiu's sworn enemy at KM Group, and also... his insane, possessive younger sworn brother who had secretly been in love with Jian Xiu.]

Jian Ning's mouth twitched as he looked at this new piece of gossip.

Good lord!

Brother, why are your romantic debts even more terrifying than Huo Si's?

An insane, possessive younger sworn brother? Now this was going to be lively!