Deception from the Family

After leaving the office, Xu Qingya lightly patted her chest. Everyone inside, without exception, had looked like bad news.

She knew that aside from delivering the documents, there had been another purpose behind sending her here. To the Xu Family, she was merely a somewhat pretty member of a collateral branch.

She kept her head lowered as she walked, staying close to the walls as much as possible to avoid drawing attention.

Only after leaving the building did Xu Qingya's steps gradually become lighter.

She had no choice but to come here. If she had refused, the Xu Family would have cut off the living expenses for her younger brother and sister.

Without the Xu Family's monthly allowance, the money she earned from part-time jobs alone would never have been enough to support herself and her siblings.

Her parents had once been researchers at a private research institute somewhere in Great Abyss. During one experiment, everyone in the institute had died in an accident, including her parents.

The only relic they had left behind was a pitch-black sphere the size of a fingernail, which they had brought back on one occasion.

Xu Qingya carried it with her at all times, treating it as a keepsake of her parents.

She slipped her fingers into her pocket and gently squeezed the black sphere, a faint smile unconsciously appearing on her face.

The Xu Family head had promised that as long as she delivered the documents, he would give her an additional reward in Abyss Coins and sponsor her younger brother and sister to attend excellent schools.

Once she returned to the Xu Family and collected her reward, she would go to the market to buy some meat and give her siblings some extra nutrition that evening.

She quickened her pace and got into the sedan waiting by the roadside.

"Did you deliver the documents?" the driver asked from the front seat.

"Yes," Xu Qingya replied softly.

The sedan started and headed toward the Xu Family.

Xu Family estate.

Xu Qingya leaned against the car window. The entire mountain belonged to the Xu Family, and she could hardly imagine what kind of wealth that represented.

"Family Head, Xu Qingya has returned," the butler's voice came from outside the door.

"She's back?" Xu Ming put down his brush. "Bring her in."

Suppressing her curiosity, Xu Qingya followed closely behind the butler.

"The Family Head's study is just ahead. Without his permission, none of us may enter," the butler said, gesturing for Xu Qingya to go in alone.

As she made her way here, Xu Qingya had felt as if she had somehow returned to ancient times.

The current Yuanming Emperor had practically abolished a whole range of ceremonial etiquette. Even when meeting royalty, no one needed to kneel.

She greatly liked something the Yuanming Emperor had said in a public speech: "I do not wish for the royal family to be respected and revered because of their status, but because of their contributions to Great Abyss."

"Xu Qingya?" Xu Ming stood at the edge of the desk with his hands behind his back.

"Yes." Xu Qingya felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze. She always felt as though she were naked before those eyes, as if she had no privacy at all.

"You've worked hard on this assignment." Xu Ming slowly stepped forward and lightly patted her shoulder, as though encouraging her.

Xu Qingya had not expected the legendary Family Head to be so approachable. When the butler had said that no one could enter the study without permission, she had assumed he would be a stern, rigid man.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Xu Ming beside her. He was a middle-aged man whose smile was very gentle.

The glasses on the bridge of his nose added a touch of scholarly refinement to him.

If she had encountered him on the street, she never would have imagined that he was the man who ruled an entire family.

"When you delivered the documents, did Young Master He say anything?"

"Young Master He?" Xu Qingya froze for a moment, then immediately recalled the young man who had looked like an aristocrat.

"Young Master He was very grateful to you, Family Head," Xu Qingya said carefully. "He also said that once you become a Martial Artist, he would definitely come to congratulate you."

"Oh? Young Master He truly thinks highly of me. Xu is deeply grateful." The gaze behind Xu Ming's lenses darkened slightly.

"Can you tell me in detail what happened over there?"

"Of course. First..."

Xu Qingya recounted the entire process truthfully, yet failed to notice that Xu Ming had somehow appeared behind her.

"I never expected them to be willing to let you return. This Family Head heard that some people were especially fond of beautiful women. I originally thought I wouldn't have to dispose of you myself." Xu Ming's voice was low, but Xu Qingya heard every word clearly.

In an instant, Xu Qingya realized what was happening. She tried to run, but Xu Ming seized her neck with one hand and lifted her into the air.

"Your parents were members of the Xu Family, yet they joined a private research institute. They never handed over any of the research data they produced to the Xu Family. Tell me, did they deserve to die?"

Xu Qingya's legs thrashed wildly. Her consciousness gradually began to fade from lack of oxygen.

The moment she heard news about her parents, she struggled even more fiercely.

"I originally planned to have you attend social gatherings for the Xu Family in the future and make some contribution. But this happened to come up, so I might as well use you instead.

"I thought they would dispose of you after they got tired of playing with you. Yet they didn't. They even made this Family Head handle it personally."

Xu Ming leaned close to Xu Qingya's ear and whispered, "Don't worry. I already sent your younger brother and sister ahead. Walking the road to the underworld alone would be lonely, wouldn't it?"

"Scum..." Xu Qingya barely forced out the words before exhausting all her strength and falling motionless.

The pitch-black sphere in her pocket began to emit a faint glow.

Xu Ming casually tossed aside Xu Qingya's corpse, her eyes rolled white, then took out a handkerchief and gently wiped his palm.

He walked over to the bookshelf and pressed one of the books on the shelf.

The bookshelf split apart, revealing a brightly lit secret passage.

Less than ten seconds after the passage opened, a man dressed in black emerged and knelt on one knee before Xu Ming.

"Dispose of her body. Don't leave the slightest trace." Xu Ming picked up his brush again, as though nothing had happened.

From the moment Xu Qingya had been sent to deliver the documents, he had never intended to let her live.

If the driver had not been one of the Xu Family's disguised dead soldiers, he would not have spared him either.

The Xu Family had secretly joined forces with the Martial Alliance. Aside from him, the Family Head, no one else should know about this—not even Xu Qingya, who knew nothing and merely thought she was running an errand.

Peace Prefecture City.

"Cough... cough... cough..." Xu Qingya felt as if her entire body were submerged in water. Before she could react, she swallowed several more mouthfuls of river water.

Wasn't I in the Xu Family's study? How did I end up here? The moment that thought flashed through her mind, her survival instinct drove her to thrash desperately, struggling to rise to the surface.

Setting aside her muddled thoughts for the moment, Xu Qingya had only one simple thought left—survive.

"Hold on. You have to hold on."

Her mind grew increasingly hazy. Only when she felt herself being grasped by a powerful hand did she finally lose consciousness completely.

"You're so young. What could possibly be so unbearable that you had to kill yourself? Once you're dead, you really have nothing left." The middle-aged man held Xu Qingya with one arm, kicking furiously beneath the water as he desperately swam toward the shore.

As they neared the riverbank, the crowd immediately pulled them both ashore and anxiously waited for help to arrive.

Once back on land, the middle-aged man ignored everything else and immediately began rescuing her with artificial respiration, chest compressions, and other methods.

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