Chapter 123: Coming and Going in a Hurry

Under the bright moonlight, the stars twinkled.

Waves, tides, the sea, mountains.

A modernist manor villa stood on the cliff, as gorgeous as a palace.

Outside the gate, the grass was like a carpet, giant trees spread their branches, and flowers bloomed brilliantly, like a fairyland.

If it were daytime, one couldn't imagine how beautiful it would be; even in the middle of the night, it was brightly lit, solemn and deep.

At the main entrance, the flawless marble surface was as clear as a mirror, easily reflecting a poor guy named Ji Jue.

"Don't be like that, Brother Ji, you know me, right? I'm the most low-key, the most low-key person ever! This is all my brother’s private property! I’ve never even been here!"

Seeing Ji Jue getting cold feet, Chen Yubo was suddenly in tears.

He held his cat in one hand and grabbed Ji Jue tightly with the other: "Besides, at this point, what’s the difference between mine and yours? Mine is yours, and yours... is still yours! For the sake of our brotherhood, please pull me through this, otherwise why would I come back?"

If he didn't have a reliable helper, what difference would the most gorgeous palace or villa make to him compared to a death row prisoner’s cage?

It would be better to keep hiding in the sewer under the bridge.

Since it was a hideous death either way, it was better to find a cleaner way to die.

At least it would be quick.

Looking at the golden, palace-level villa before him, Ji Jue couldn't help but feel his back molars itch with hatred, his heart of hating the rich thumping uncontrollably.

So much money, damn it, so much money.

"If we can really get through this, everything is negotiable!" Chen Yubo had already let go: "Anyway, I can't get my hands on it, so I'll split half with you, brother!"

"No, absolutely not!"

Ji Jue felt his heart being judged; that conscience, which had already been standing on the cliff edge like the villa, couldn't help but start itching to commit a crime.

"Don't mention money, just do it for yourself. Otherwise, if I make even the slightest mistake, you're gone, okay?" Ji Jue advised: "Let’s just consider ourselves unlucky, survive these few days, and the days ahead will be vast and open, okay?"

Chen Yubo hugged his cat, his eyes misty, and said nothing.

Perhaps he was thinking of his brother, whose life and death were unknown.

Of course, it was also possible he was thinking of that money he was destined not to keep.

Better to benefit a brother than a stranger, damn it!

Ji Jue’s thoughts began to slide again, feeling that the Young Master Chen beside him was even more tempting than Xiao An. The latter was just good-looking, while the former was truly rich... Money was gradually making him blind.

Especially since as long as he tied him up and squeezed him gently, he could flow out juicy Federal Dollars.

Ji Jue’s hand had already reached for his gun several times.

The entire villa was empty, even the original servants had been dismissed; there were only a few of Chen Xingzhou’s confidant Chosen Ones and a dozen armed bodyguards.

It looked just like a facade on the surface.

If it really didn't work, living in the city would actually be the same; at least the flies coming for the money wouldn't dare use bombs or large-scale weapons of mass destruction in the city.

If Ji Jue were coming for the money, he might have gotten hundreds of pounds of explosives to make a missile, or at the very least, a suicide truck, right?

Once his thoughts began to slide, the inspiration for crime became unstoppable.

Like a gushing spring.

If I were to bribe an inside man here, the fun would be huge.

Yet, after seeing Chen Yubo, most of Chen Xingzhou’s confidants were indifferent. Even if they knew they had to protect the boss’s last relative, they didn't seem to care much. Even those who were thumping their chests and shouting 'loyalty' couldn't be relied upon.

The boss was lying in the emergency room, and there was a meat ticket worth at least four billion lying beside him; who could not have some crooked thoughts?

Internal and external troubles.

Ji Jue’s heart was about to break.

Damn it, why was he working for free? He didn't get any benefits, but had a mountain of trouble... Ji Jue felt a surge of anger and wanted to kick this grandson Chen Yubo twice.

There are so many people in the world, why did your brother have to be Chen Xingzhou?

Couldn't you have changed to someone else who was less troublesome?

And what was even more deadly...

Was Ji Jue’s coursework.

He checked the time; it was past one in the morning, and he figured Professor Ye hadn't slept yet. He made the call and stammered for a long time, "Teacher, I..."

"Asking for leave?" The professor understood instantly.

"Yes."

"That mess with Chen Xingzhou?"

The professor asked again, and Ji Jue was speechless. Then, he heard her voice: "That's fine, since you're involved, I don't have to bother... This time, consider it an official business trip."

Ji Jue’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

The master has work, the disciple serves; so by rounding it up, he was doing the work for Professor Ye? Even if she wanted to wash her hands of it, she didn't have to do it so quickly, right?

Couldn't she at least give him Qiu Ge?

Unfortunately, the professor didn't mention it at all, only asking: "How long is the leave?"

"About a week?" Ji Jue wasn't sure.

No matter how big the mess was, after a week, it should be over.

You guys in the Wild Market aren't going to fight for two or three years, are you? Is everyone not going to live their lives?

Whether the Wild Market fights or not isn't important, but other people’s lives are very important. If you guys can't stop, others wouldn't mind helping you stop.

So according to Ji Jue’s estimation, since it had already been a week, another week should be about enough.

"Good."

After the professor hung up, Ji Jue’s phone kept dinging. On the messaging app, several megabytes of PDF scans were thrown over one after another, all of them, damn it, photocopies of materials from the library.

Many were unique copies, and he didn't know when they had been scanned.

All of them were dumped into Ji Jue’s phone.

If converted to text, there would probably be millions of words. Unfortunately, these weren't mindless, easy-to-read novels, but professional literature that would drain his brain with every word.

Finally, there was Professor Ye’s notification.

[Write a reflection after reading, and I'll check it when you return.]

Ji Jue felt his vision go black.

A perfectly good alchemy course, turned into a correspondence course, right?

How could she not even let him catch his breath while asking for leave...

But Professor Ye’s assignments were always like this: do it if you can, get out if you can't. There was no possibility of barely giving you a passing grade for doing half, and there was no room for negotiation.

He could only accept it with tears in his eyes.

Having to study while being a bodyguard—is this bodyguard job a bit too fulfilling?

He sighed, turned off his phone, and stopped looking.

He looked out the window at the bay.

Following Ji Jue’s suggestion, Chen Yubo gave up the best master bedroom in the entire villa to Ji Jue and moved into the nanny room himself.

Although there was a bit of taking advantage, at least he didn't have to worry about a big ship drifting in from the sea and a sniper taking Chen Yubo’s head off.

Ji Jue looked at the bay outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the Yacheng city across the bay, brightly lit, with countless neon lights flickering, unable to see the life-and-death struggle and the irreconcilable blood feud.

Between the flickering neon lights, it seemed like a flash of explosion rose and quickly disappeared, like fireworks.

The darkness buried everything equally, and only the sound of the tide echoed in the silence.

"So lively."

Ji Jue whispered, and no one responded.

On the sofa in the corner, Xiao An was sleeping soundly with his eyes closed.

But in this long silence, Ji Jue had an inexplicable sense of realization and understanding.

If it were before, he would certainly be extremely confused and unable to understand—why, when everyone already had more money than they could spend in a lifetime, had beauty that came at a beck and call, and had everything that the poor Ji Jue had dreamed of, were they still unsatisfied?

Even willing to bet their lives to participate in this no-way-out gamble, fighting to the death?

In this vortex stirred up by the Wild Market, some people, like Chen Yubo, never had a choice and were thrown into the storm helplessly.

But some people actively jumped into the pit, not hesitating to sink deep into the mud.

Just like Ji Jue himself.

Even though he was no longer penniless and could live very well, he had new ambitions and wishes—he wanted to become a craftsman, wanted to have his own workshop, and wanted to accomplish something.

Even, wanted to do whatever he wanted.

Just like now, wanting to intervene in those troubles that didn't belong to him in the first place.

The same overestimating one’s own capabilities, the same courting death—is anyone really nobler than anyone else?

The underlings want to get ahead, the poor want to strike it rich, the big brothers crave to go further, and even a hegemon will covet the noble power above the snakes when looking up... Even if they are high and mighty like a leader, they will fight and struggle for their own purposes.

The chaotic wilderness of Bai Lu exists in everyone’s heart. When all the high-sounding excuses and disguises are stripped away, all that is revealed is the most straightforward ambition and the desire that needs no cover.

It is not Bai Lu that caused all this, but the beasts belonging to the wilderness chasing the traces left by Bai Lu. But in looking down, does Bai Lu feel joy for the slaughter offered to it?

Supreme good is ignorant, supreme good is unaware.

From beginning to end, supreme good witnesses everything.

For a moment, in the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling windows, amidst the blurring of neon and lights, he seemed to see the vague outline again.

The blood-stained Bai Lu in the wilderness looked back indifferently, casting a glance here.

As if scrutinizing the newcomer to this blood feast.

But soon, as if disappointed, it withdrew its gaze and disappeared. And behind Bai Lu, something invisible seemed to rise, but Ji Jue couldn't see it clearly.

Everything dissipated in the hazy scene that gradually rose in his mind before sleep.

Ji Jue fell into a deep sleep.

Only Xiao An on the sofa stood up without a sound, looking back at Ji Jue, whose sleeping posture was gradually becoming terrible, full of doubt and curiosity.

That fleeting wilderness aura just now...

Is it a call of supreme good?

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand.

Why did it come in such a hurry?

And why did it leave in such a hurry?

The next day, early morning, Ji Jue didn't wake up until seven o'clock.

If it were according to the routine in the workshop, he would already be in the warehouse, seizing the time to clear a wave of physical strength with the Dissociation Technique before breakfast.

But now, he was slowly washing up and brushing his teeth, yawning as he went to the kitchen to make breakfast for himself and Xiao An, and was casually scrolling through his phone while sitting at the table eating.

Ignoring Chen Yubo’s resentful gaze after a sleepless night, there was a kind of beauty in not caring about the boss’s life or death.

Free service is like this; the boss just has to wait for death, but as a bodyguard, Ji Jue had a lot more to consider.

Thank God, last night was Christmas Eve.

There were no werewolves in the villa suddenly transforming and swallowing Young Master Chen whole.

Most people hadn't received the news yet, or hadn't had time to confirm Young Master Chen’s location and condition. Amidst watching and calculating, the slaughter and struggle of this night stretched on.

As soon as Ji Jue opened the chat app, he saw the chat record collection forwarded by Ye Chun. Clicking on it, it was a bunch of videos and photos uploaded by local netizens.

On the messy long street, a cleaner was driving a water truck, the water gun washing away patches of dark red filth on the ground, and the clear water also stained with scarlet.

Like a small river, dirty water surged, flowing down both sides of the street and disappearing into the darkness of the sewer.

On the fishing boat, the bloated corpses sliding from the fish in the net onto the deck, the chaos spreading in the noisy night market, the life-and-death firefight under the street neon, and even... the high-rise building sealed by the police cordon, cracks appearing on the outer wall, teetering.

At the end of the chat record was a photo.

In the South Foothill District, at the high-speed bridge at the mouth of the North River, that tragic corpse hung from the railing to the bridge hole, swaying in the wind.

That ferocious face, dead with eyes wide open, was none other than the boss of the largest building materials company in Yacheng, the one most favored by Old Seven before Lei Wuye was admitted to the ICU!

Overnight, the situation changed, and the violent storm had swept through. Right in the sleep of most people, death and blood had stretched into a river.

On the first floor of the villa, in that restaurant as spacious as a hotel, everyone who sat down was worried and heavy-hearted. But at the same time, there was a sense of relief that the second shoe upstairs had finally hit the floor.

They started fighting; they finally started fighting.

If before this, the collisions of all parties still hoped to determine a winner and gain an advantage in negotiations, then now, when the path to negotiation was cut by invisible scissors, all that remained was pure survival of the fittest, life and death.

And what was chilling and terrifying was this determination from Lei Yaoxing.

In just one night, after cleaning all the internal traitors and allies who wanted to jump ship into the sewer, he started a full-scale war with all his opponents.

Before this, I still wanted to talk to you as the successor of Lei Wuye, but you didn't take it seriously, so sorry.

Fuck it, I’m not pretending, I’m showing my cards!

I’m going to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!!!

Traitors were stuffed into meat grinders, opponents were thrown into sewers, and those who dared to resist were hung on the bridge hole one by one, becoming Yacheng’s characteristic sunny dolls.

Jin Ya Bao, who had overestimated his own strength and wanted to wrestle with him, had already died on his mistress’s bed this morning, his death look unbearable to look at.

It could be said that with only one part of his strength, he stunned everyone overnight.

When he cast aside all scruples and laid out his horses to start re-enacting the old events of Lei Wuye, forcibly integrating the dark side of Yacheng, everyone finally felt this terrifying strength hidden under the water.

Now, without the big bosses, the small-time nobodies in the South Foothill District had knelt down and kowtowed with lightning speed, changing their allegiance, with only one sun in their hearts: Lei Yaoxing.

The map coloring game had begun.

Who is next? Lihua? North Mountain? Or Longhai?

Or, will that monster lurking in the quagmire turn back and swallow them, the ants hiding on the side, first?

Everyone is in danger.

Near noon, Uncle Lin, who had been missing for a long time, finally returned.

Obviously, he hadn't slept all night, his eyes full of bloodshot veins. Even a Chosen One couldn't hide his fatigue under such heavy pressure. After asking about Chen Yubo’s condition, he took a crystal ball out of a box.

"Alchemical item?"

Ji Jue pinched his chin, looking curiously: "Ether?"

Uncle Lin nodded: "As expected of Master Ye’s high disciple, Mr. Ji has a sharp eye."

"Where is that? This kind of thing can be seen clearly at a glance." Ji Jue waved his hand. After his spiritual essence read the structure within, he only felt his horizons broadened:

"The rules are rigorous, the format is clear, and it is flexible. The maker’s understanding of the Ether Path is dozens or hundreds of times better than mine; it is indeed powerful."

After inputting enough spiritual essence, he put it into the hands of the still-bewildered Chen Yubo. Suddenly, one light spot after another appeared on the crystal ball.

Uncle Lin and Ji Jue’s expressions gradually stiffened.

"What is this?"

He held the ball in confusion, unable to understand, but then became excited again: "Is it a qualification test for Chosen Ones? There are so many light spots, am I the legendary one-in-a-million genius?"

"Sorry, it has nothing to do with that."

Ji Jue couldn't bear to poke his beautiful fantasy: "This is a counter."

"Counting what?" Chen Yubo was bewildered.

"Recording the touches and interference from the Ether Path on you, then displaying the data to judge how many 'radars' of the Ether Path are shining on you right now."

Ji Jue reached out, counting the light spots on it: "In other words, um, from last night until now, there are about eleven Ether Chosen Ones looking for where you, Young Master Chen, are sitting, who is around you, and where you plan to go next."

"In other words, whether there will be bullets or whether they will fire is another matter..."

Ji Jue sighed lightly, revealing the cruel reality: "Right now, you have 'at least' been locked onto by eleven gun scopes."

For a moment, Chen Yubo’s smile collapsed.

Tears finally flowed out.