The Viper's Thanks and an Icy Gaze

The iron door of cell 107 no longer meant sheer oppression to Lin Feng. It was more like a barrier separating two battlefields. Inside, the order he had established through rumors and ruthlessness was already secure; outside, his network of deathsworn was silently weaving a net of revenge. He enjoyed this twisted "peace," sensing information from the outside world through his links each day and obtaining material comforts through hidden channels. His body and energy were slowly recovering.

Yet the gears of fate always seemed fond of casting stones onto a seemingly tranquil lake.

That afternoon, not long after exercise time ended, someone knocked on the viewing hatch in the iron door. A prison guard's voice came from outside, a little different from usual, with an odd note to it. "1078, Lin Feng. You have a visitor."

A visitor?

Lin Feng froze for a moment. He had hardly any relatives in this city who would come to see him. Li Jing had visited not long ago and come away frustrated; she was unlikely to return anytime soon. Then... who could it be?

A flicker of foreboding crossed his mind. But his face betrayed nothing as he rose silently.

The other inmates in the cell cast curious glances his way. In their eyes, Lin Feng now had powerful backing, so it was only natural for a "big shot" to visit him.

Following the guard through the familiar, frigid corridor, he once again came to the visitation room, filled with the smell of disinfectant and divided by thick bulletproof glass.

The guard motioned for him to sit in front of the glass.

Lin Feng sat down and picked up the cold telephone receiver.

Soon, the door on the other side of the glass opened, and a figure walked in.

The instant Lin Feng saw who it was, his eyes narrowed sharply. His fingers tightened instinctively around the receiver, his knuckles turning faintly white.

It was Sun Tingting!

She had clearly dressed up with care today. She wore an expensive pink designer suit, tailored to flatter her attractive figure. Her hair had been freshly permed into fashionable curls, and her face bore exquisite makeup, her lips so red they looked ready to drip. She also carried a luxury handbag of the latest model. She looked radiant and triumphant, entirely out of place in the oppressive visitation room, more as though she were attending some kind of victory banquet.

An undisguised air of condescending superiority and a mocking smile on her face, she stepped lightly up to the glass, sat down gracefully, and crossed her legs. Then she looked Lin Feng up and down as though he were garbage, taking in his blue prison uniform, the scar at his temple, and his pale face on the other side of the glass.

She picked up the receiver but did not speak at once. Instead, she first gave an extremely affected little laugh, tinged with pity and mockery.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." She shook her head, her bright red lips moving as her voice came through the receiver, accompanied by electronic static yet gratingly clear. "Lin Feng, it's only been a few days since I saw you. How did you... end up looking like this? It seems this place really isn't fit for people."

Lin Feng said nothing. He merely looked at her coldly through the glass, as though watching a poor performance.

Sun Tingting did not care about his silence. If anything, she seemed even more excited. She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret, though her tone was full of malicious boasting.

"But thanks to you, good things have been happening to me one after another lately."

She paused to admire Lin Feng's expressionless face before continuing at a leisurely pace. "The list of students recommended for graduate admission was officially posted today~ No surprise, it's mine. And there was only one spot!"

She placed special emphasis on "one," the smugness on her face growing stronger.

"Speaking of which, I really do have to 'thank' you properly, Lin Feng." Her smile turned utterly false and mean. "If you hadn't been so 'cooperative' back then and written that confession of repentance so 'readily,' I'm afraid getting the spot would have taken me quite a bit more trouble. How else could it have gone so smoothly? Don't you agree?"

Every word was like a poisoned needle, precisely piercing Lin Feng's most painful nerve. She was tearing open his scars in the cruelest way, then sprinkling salt on them and dancing atop them.

The familiar, icy rage began churning again in Lin Feng's chest, nearly bursting through the dam of his reason. But he suppressed it with all his might, merely tightening his grip on the receiver as the veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly.

Seeing that Lin Feng remained silent, his gaze only growing colder, Sun Tingting thought she might not have provoked him enough and redoubled her efforts. She curled her lip and spoke in a tone of utter contempt and condescension.

"Don't be too upset. Actually, even if you hadn't written that confession, with my qualifications, getting recommended for graduate admission was only a matter of time. You just 'helped' me save a little time and effort, that's all. Of course, the price... is that you'll have to put up with spending a few years in here."

She sighed in feigned sympathy, but her eyes were full of gloating. "Oh, but it's all right. After you get out, even though you'll have a stain on your record and probably have trouble finding a decent job, I don't think you'll have any problem working in a factory or carrying bricks. Hehehe..."

"Working in a factory," "carrying bricks"... She deliberately used those words to belittle Lin Feng and elevate herself, savoring the thrill of trampling someone else's fate underfoot.

When she finished, she let out a laugh like silver bells, yet piercingly grating, hoping to see anger, despair, or a breakdown on Lin Feng's face.

But there was nothing.

Lin Feng remained silent.

But he was no longer silent with his head lowered. He slowly raised it. His eyes were like two ancient, bottomless wells, utterly still, holding only an extreme coldness that seemed capable of piercing the soul. Through the thick glass, they fixed firmly on Sun Tingting's face.

It was not anger, not hatred, not even disgust.

It was a... nearly inhuman calm. A gaze like one directed at a lifeless object, or something about to be destroyed.

Sun Tingting's smile froze on her face.

Her laughter stopped abruptly too, as though someone had seized her by the throat.

None of the reactions she had anticipated appeared. No bitter tears, no angry roars, no desperate arguments. There was only this deathly silence and those eyes, so cold they made her shiver to her core.

A sudden, inexplicable chill and pang of dread gripped her. That gaze involuntarily reminded her of a cold-blooded creature, a venomous snake, perhaps, staring before it struck.

The glass between them seemed to have lost its power to separate them. That icy killing intent seemed able to penetrate anything, leaving her feeling as though she were sitting on pins and needles.

All the further taunts and insults she had prepared stuck in her throat at once. She could not get them out.

The air in the visitation room seemed to congeal.

She instinctively looked away, no longer daring to meet Lin Feng's eyes, her fingers twisting the strap of her handbag somewhat awkwardly.

"Wh-what are you staring at?!" she muttered, putting on a fierce front to hide her fear. Her voice had lost its earlier swagger and even carried a trace of panic she herself had not noticed.

Lin Feng still said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on her, as though he meant to brand every trace of expression, every inch of her ugliness at this moment, deep into his mind.

Sun Tingting felt a powerful sense of suffocation and unease. This was completely different from what she had imagined! She had come to enjoy her victory and humiliate this defeated opponent to her heart's content, so how had it turned out like this? How did Lin Feng seem... like a completely different person?

This feeling of losing control made her deeply uncomfortable.

She abruptly stood up, her movements hurried enough that she even knocked over her chair with a piercing clatter. Speaking into the receiver, she forced herself to sound calm as she threw out a few final words, though her tone was noticeably lacking in confidence.

"Anyway... anyway, that's how things are! You just stay here and 'reform' yourself! I... I'm leaving!"

With that, she hurriedly put down the receiver, almost as though fleeing. Not even daring to look at Lin Feng again, she grabbed her handbag and quickly left the visitation room, her steps somewhat unsteady.

On this side of the glass, Lin Feng slowly put down the receiver.

He remained seated, his face expressionless.

Only when the guard came over and signaled for him to leave did he slowly stand.

On the way back to the cell, his steps were steady and his back straight.

Only the hands clenched into fists at his sides and the fingertips trembling slightly from the force betrayed the surging, overwhelming hatred beneath that frozen face, enough to burn everything to ashes.

Sun Tingting...

Graduate admission...

Thanks...

Working in a factory...

Each word was like a cold brick, building an altar in his heart called revenge.

The sacrifice had already been chosen.

All that remained was to wait for the blade to fall.

He returned to cell 107, sat down once more on the bunk that symbolized power, and closed his eyes.

All the anger and humiliation were compressed and settled once again, turning into colder, firmer resolve.

For the next summoning, he needed a sharper blade.