Chapter 24: What Right Do You Have to Talk to Me?

Ming Tan's eyes were red at the corners, his fair face full of stubbornness. Mimicking the original owner's tone, he said to Jing Du, word for word: "Then I'll compensate you, is that enough? Don't you dare bully people too much!"

He broke free, stood up, and took two steps back.

"Bully people?"

Jing Du looked at the others: "Heh, the word choice is very accurate."

He crushed his cigarette butt in the ashtray: "It is bullying you, so what can you do about it?"

There was no need for Jing Du to do it himself; someone in the private room taught him a lesson, and that person gave Ming Tan a fierce shove.

"Young Master Jing letting you lick it clean is doing you a favor."

Seeing them about to take action, Ming Tan hurriedly took out his phone, turned on the camera, and aimed it at the people in the private room: "Don't come any closer, I'm recording! If you dare touch a single hair on me, the law will punish you."

Before he transmigrated into the comic, he lived in a beautiful society of prosperity, democracy, civilization, and harmony, a seedling held in the palms of his parents' hands, having not yet had the chance to witness the dangers of society.

Moreover, in this world with its strict hierarchy, the law was as good as nothing to the nobles; the only ones truly bound by rules and regulations were the people at the bottom.

Ming Tan clearly did not understand this point.

He even naively thought he could intimidate them.

He even thought he was special at this moment and would surely attract the attention of the male leads.

Yin Huaiyu watched Ming Tan jumping around like a clown: "So-called law."

"Is nothing more than the only magic weapon you commoners can rely on when you have no way out."

Several people pressed Ming Tan to the floor, forcing him to kneel.

Jing Du stood before him, his fingertips pinching Ming Tan's chin, his eyes a bottomless black: "The law is a good thing, it's just a pity..."

The drawn-out tail of his sentence gave off a sense of oppression.

"The law recognizes me, not you."

Ming Tan gritted his teeth: "The internet is so advanced now. If your evil deeds of bullying others by relying on your status are exposed, once it triggers a public backlash, the Jing Clan Group's stock will definitely plummet."

"The Empire is never short of commoners!"

"As long as the masses join forces, you aren't necessarily able to cover the sky with one hand."

The upward mobility channels for the common masses were almost entirely monopolized by the aristocratic families, thereby further realizing class solidification; there was no fairness to speak of. People of the lower classes were discriminated against and belittled, receiving different education and culture, and the aristocratic families were relying on this to consolidate their power, status, and money.

But under the suppression of strong power, a rebellious heart is bound to be born. With the people's livelihood in mourning, riots had been occurring in the Slums in recent years, organizing the Rebel Army to crusade against the noble class and demanding equality for all.

The people in the private room looked at him with utter disdain.

Ming Tan was completely oblivious: "Don't you just have a bit of money? What's so great about that?"

"Even if you have money, isn't it just money you rely on from your family?"

Jin Shaoyu spoke up abruptly: "What's wrong? Do you not have a family?"

【Amazing, Young Master Jin's mouth is still performing consistently.】

【I feel like the protagonist shou is a bit unintelligent. The Empire is completely in the hands of the Four Great Families; the commoners are just a pile of loose sand.】

【Jin Shaoyu, you're done for. Daring to talk to Baby Ming Tan like that, there's a 'chasing the wife to the crematorium' arc waiting for you later.】

【What a naive protagonist.】

【The side character drinking the oolong peach ice so quietly looks so well-behaved.】

【I want to drink it too...】

Jing Du found him naively cruel: "Do you know why we can easily suppress the riots in the Slums every year?"

"The money and power you despise can buy 99% of things under the sun, and can make countless people like you, with hearts higher than the heavens but lives thinner than paper, serve at my beck and call."

"Money can make people united, and it can also make people turn against each other. Never underestimate the dark side of human nature. You don't even need a million; you can bribe the core personnel within your Rebel Army, and by promising them a chance to enter high society, countless people will break their heads to compete for that spot, thereby causing you to have internal strife and become a pile of loose sand."

"We control the Empire's cutting-edge technology and armed forces, yet you are still stuck in the Stone Age; the distance between us is simply that of an amoeba and a human."

Ming Tan's face gradually turned pale.

The so-called Empire, a country possessing cutting-edge high technology, seemed to only have high technology compared to the man-eating feudal dregs of the old society; it was still a case of those in higher official positions crushing those below them.

"Lick it!"

"Press his head down."

When Qi Yu was delivering drinks to the ninth floor and heard these filthy words, he furrowed his brows, thinking it was just another young master having fun; meddling in others' business was not something he could do.

He moved through the golden, magnificent corridor, and a dying whimper reached his ears: "Let... let me go..."

Qi Yu paused his steps; he recognized this as Ming Tan's voice.

The door to the private room was open, and Qi Yu stood at the entrance. Half of his face was illuminated clearly by the light, while the other side was submerged in dimness, even the faint light in the depths of his pupils cold and eerie.

He watched the debauchery and the flickering lights and shadows inside the room.

Ming Tan was being pressed to the carpet on his knees, with the people around him laughing wantonly, as if teasing a cat or a dog.

Qi Yu's gaze glanced to the side unintentionally and actually saw someone unexpected: Ling Wu was sitting beside Yu Shixue, his white shirt outlining his lean waist, looking like he was draped in cold moonlight, noble and ethereal.

His eyes were half-lowered, looking somewhat compassionate.

Why was Ling Wu here too?

Before Qi Yu could think too much, amidst the flashing lights, Ling Wu inside the room met his gaze, and the youth shook his head gently to warn him to leave quickly.

Qi Yu understood his meaning; he could stay out of trouble if he didn't go in, but he knew Ming Tan's personality well—he would never bow or bend, being too rigid and easily broken. Such a personality was very easy to provoke others.

This group of noble young masters grew up in the filth and bloody struggles of their families and had always viewed human life as mere grass.

If Ming Tan didn't bow his head, he would only be beaten to death.

The two had become friends in their youth, and Ming Tan had helped him quite a bit in the Slums; Qi Yu's heart was not yet hard to that extent.

Ming Tan: "You are all just a bunch of beasts who despise human life!"

Yin Huaiyu's face turned completely cold. To have this kind of trouble happen at his birthday banquet—they were mere commoners, so when was it their turn to point at his nose and curse?

Bad luck!

"It seems this year's birthday banquet is a bit dull; you were specially sent to add some color for me." Yin Huaiyu smiled cruelly: "I really don't like the way you talk."

"Shen Zhaojue, go pull out his tongue."

【This is different from what the synopsis described!】

【He really is going to pull out his tongue, isn't he...】

【I knew it, if an idiot like the protagonist shou didn't have a Protagonist Halo, he would have died the day he entered Sike Academy.】

【The villain is still very kind right now; he is hesitating whether to save the protagonist shou.】

"Please wait a moment!"

Qi Yu pushed the door open and walked in, helping Ming Tan up from the floor; he looked at the few people sitting on the sofa: "I'm sorry, whatever he did wrong, I will apologize to you on his behalf."

【The early-stage villain is too kind.】

【So, besides being a burden, what else can the protagonist shou do?】

【These male leads are more villainous than the villain and more perverted than a pervert; is this a plot that a carbon-based lifeform could write?】

Yin Huaiyu recognized Qi Yu as the Special Student who had been getting very close to Ling Wu recently; he narrowed his peach-blossom eyes, looked at the other person deeply for two seconds, and said with full mockery: "What qualifications do you have to speak to me?"