Unease

When Zhou Wang woke, his ribs and the back of his head hurt like hell. He tried to stand, only to discover that he had been tied to a chair. A closer look at his surroundings revealed that he was in the Train's Interrogation Room!

"Let me go! Who did this? Do you know who I am?" Shocked and furious, Zhou Wang roared.

The door to the Interrogation Room opened, and Luo Shan and the Train Conductor walked in. At the sight of them, Zhou Wang shouted angrily, "What are you doing? Untie me right now!"

He tried to summon the star essence inside him, but it refused to respond. Only then did he notice the collar around his neck.

A Star Essence Interference Device!

This device could disrupt the star essence within an Ascender. Although it only worked on low-ranking Ascenders, it was more than enough to deal with him.

What frightened Zhou Wang even more was that an Interference Device was normally only used on prisoners. What was going on? Were they treating me like a criminal?

Luo Shan stared coldly at him. "You know perfectly well what we're doing. Zhou Wang, you've got some nerve, trying to assault Xun."

Zhou Wang's heart lurched. Images of Xun and Tianyang flashed through his mind, and he remembered what he had done before losing consciousness.

"So what?" Zhou Wang looked like a wounded beast, his eyes bloodshot. "That woman isn't an Upper Citizen yet. What I did was legal! You're the ones illegally detaining an Upper Citizen-and one with a family backing him, at that. Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the Zhou Family?"

Luo Shan sneered. "Xun became an Upper Citizen the moment she became an Ascender. She simply hasn't received her certification from the Fortress yet. Even if she were still a Lower Citizen, she is my student. That means no one gets to assault her. Certainly not you, or the family behind you!"

"Shut up!" Zhou Wang roared. "You're just some woman from the Western Continent who knows a little medicine. What's so special about you? You'd better let me go now, or once I become a high-ranking Ascender, I'll fuck you too!"

Smack!

The Train Conductor slapped Zhou Wang hard across the face. "Shut your mouth! Even the City Lord treats Doctor Luo Shan with courtesy. Who the hell do you think you are, spewing that filth at her?"

Luo Shan shook her head and told the Train Conductor, "I'll leave him to you."

The Train Conductor saluted. "Rest assured, I'll hand him over to the Iron Wall Legion."

Zhou Wang froze, then shouted, "Why are you handing me over to Iron Wall? I'm a member of the Nightwalkers! What does Iron Wall have to do with me?"

Luo Shan walked straight out. The Train Conductor sneered. "Young Master Zhou Wang, the Nightwalkers already know what you did. Chief of Staff Ling personally ordered your immediate expulsion. As for your crimes, Iron Wall will take over the investigation. They are better at handling the Fortress's 'internal affairs,' after all. Oh, right, your family has already been informed. Guess what the Zhou Family said?"

Zhou Wang swallowed despite himself. "What did they say?"

'Deal with him as you see fit, and convey our sincerest apologies to Miss Xun.'" The Train Conductor's answer plunged Zhou Wang into despair.

All strength drained from Zhou Wang. His entire body went cold. His family's reply was as good as a declaration that they had abandoned him. They had probably done it to curry favor with Xun and Luo Shan.

Perhaps Luo Shan alone, or a single Radiance Class Ascender, would not have been enough to make his family back down like this. But with both together, that was another matter.

Only now did Zhou Wang realize that he had been too hasty. He had underestimated the influence of the Radiance Class and Luo Shan.

But if it hadn't been for that white-haired brat, Xun might already have been his woman. Then everything would have turned out differently.

He had been just one step away from heaven. Instead, he had been cast into hell!

I won't accept this! I won't!

Through gritted teeth, Zhou Wang forced out the words, "Tianyang, you bastard. This isn't over!"

It was the following afternoon when they returned to the Fortress.

At three o'clock, the sunshine was just right.

Tianyang picked up his Electromagnetic Motorcycle at the Transfer Platform and headed toward the Lower City. The wind blew against his face as he rode along the road, and he was in high spirits.

After he had subdued Zhou Wang, Doctor Luo Shan had reported what the bastard had done. The Nightwalkers had promptly dismissed him and handed him over to Iron Wall for investigation.

Tianyang did not know whether it had anything to do with Zhou Wang, but he discovered that his ascension progress had increased by another two percentage points. It now stood at 42%.

In addition, Xun had invited him to her home in three days. She said she would cook for him herself to thank him for coming to her aid.

In all his life, Tianyang had never eaten a meal cooked by a woman other than his mother.

As he sped along the road on his motorcycle, he suddenly let out a couple of foolish chuckles, filled with anticipation for that meal in three days.

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully.

After returning to the Lower City, Tianyang did not hurry home. First, he went to a shop and spent fifteen contribution points on bread, eggs, ham, and even a fish.

A fresh fish!

Tianyang was already imagining how his mother might beam when she saw all these ingredients.

As far as he remembered, the last time they had eaten fish had been ten years ago.

Seeing that it was still early, Tianyang did not go straight home. Instead, he rode to the Volcano Bar. At this hour, his mother should still have been cleaning there.

But when he arrived, he found the doors shut tight. Tianyang got off his motorcycle and knocked. "Kaidi, are you there?"

He called several times, but no one answered.

Strange...

Tianyang went over to a window. It was coated in dust, as though it had not been cleaned for several days.

That was impossible. Ever since Nanfei had started working as the bar's cleaner, she had kept every window spotless. Tianyang was certain his mother would never slack off.

He tapped on the window, and a homeless man sitting on the ground nearby called out, "Stop knocking. Kaidi hasn't opened up for days."

Tianyang looked at him. "What happened?"

The homeless man muttered, "How should I know? Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. What's it got to do with me?"

Tianyang thought for a moment, then took out a piece of bread and placed it in front of him. "Now it's got something to do with you, right?"

The homeless man grinned. "Throw in some ham, and we'll talk."

A moment later, after carefully hiding the food, the homeless man said in a low voice, "I heard someone beat Kaidi up a few days ago. Nearly killed him, too, but Cripple over on East Street saved his life. Unless something's changed, Kaidi should still be there. You can go take a look."

Tianyang immediately jumped onto his motorcycle, a bad feeling stirring inside him. Kaidi was something of a local big shot in the Lower City. People generally did not mess with him, much less beat him half to death. More than anything, though, Tianyang was worried about his mother.

If something had happened at the Volcano Bar, could Mother have been caught up in it?

He raced home at breakneck speed. When he saw the layer of dust on his front door, his unease deepened...