Chapter 48

48 Massive Blood Loss

The royal family is the heart, the nobility the organs, the parliament the mind, the factories the muscles, the merchants the bones, and the rest are merely skin and hair?

“My view differs from yours.”

Ignoring the editor’s accusation, after pondering his metaphor, Li Ang stared at the soul before him, bloated with arrogance and reeking of decay, and replied without expression:

“Merchants aren’t bones—they’re bacteria in the intestines. When growing normally, they’re beneficial, but if left to multiply unchecked, they could rot the entire gut.”

As for the royal family and the nobility… they’re not organs whose loss means death—they’re lice growing in the crotch. The moment they suck blood too hard and cause pain, they should be plucked out and crushed!”

Crush the royal family and the nobility?!

After hearing Li Ang’s reply, the editor of The Daily shuddered violently; his once-arrogant eyes widened to their absolute limit in an instant!

How could this man… ah!! No wonder he dared expose this! He must be a rebel! One of those agitators inciting revolt!!

“Guards!!”

Stepping back several paces in panic, he retreated until his back hit the partition of the booth, then screamed in a shrill, desperate voice:

“Arrest him! He’s the rebel who assassinated the Princess! He’s trying to… ah!!”

Swinging his file folder with full force, he slammed it hard against the editor’s face. Seeing this trash still trying to frame him, Li Ang, who had held back too long, felt a surge of violent rage ignite within him.

Wearing the black veil that concealed his face, he had no fear of exposure endangering his family; though layered in multiple coats, he had never felt so “light” in his body, his blood burning hot in his veins.

“Rebel? You called me a hair, didn’t you?”

With a triumphant cry, his knuckles, white from clenching, shot forward and smashed into the editor’s face. A sharp crack echoed—the punch shattered the wooden slat and drove the man’s skull straight into the booth partition.

“You wanted me to shut up, didn’t you?”

Blood streamed from two deep gashes on Li Ang’s knuckles, sliced open by the editor’s broken teeth, yet he acted as if he felt no pain. He swung his bloody fist again, smashing into the editor’s nose, snapping it sideways and wrenching him back to consciousness with a scream.

“Then pull me out, you bastard!”

Grabbing the edges of the table, Li Ang delivered a crushing kick to the editor’s chest, leaving a muddy footprint on the pristine silk handkerchief, then kicked him clean through the partition. Gasping for breath, he reached behind him and seized the cold horn from his shopping bag before the guards could pounce.

“Your turn.”

Fully activating the true power of [Demon’s Horn], he stirred the dark impulses of over a dozen guards, binding them all together into a single knot of hatred and twisting it tight around the editor. Then, raising his still-bleeding right hand, Li Ang shoved aside the guard whose pupils were rapidly filling with blood, and walked out of the restaurant without looking back.

“Beat him to death!”

…

“Kid! You’ve finally taken this step!”

Licking a hole in the shopping bag, Black Goat watched the restaurant behind him descend into chaos, listening to the screams echoing all the way to the street, and couldn’t contain his delight:

“Forget the Clean-up Bureau’s stupid rules—this trash deserves to be killed outright! I’m growing to admire you more and more!”

But your work’s still too crude. Linking all their rage together at once feels good, but after a while they’ll start beating each other, and in the end, they might not kill him.”

Listen to me! Next time you want someone dead, separate the malice—bind each one individually. Let ten men beat one. Even without weapons, they’ll crush him to death!”

“Hey! Kid! I’m teaching you how to use me—don’t you owe me thanks for my generosity? Speak up! Why are you silent?”

Ignoring the overexcited Black Goat, Li Ang tore off a relatively clean scrap of cloth and wrapped his wounded right hand haphazardly. Then, gripping the blood-smeared file folder, he stared with complex eyes at the trash bin by the street.

Originally, he had come to collect a stack of old newspapers, studied all their recent news topics, and finally narrowed it down to three: The Daily Chronicle, The Royal Gazette, and The Capital Evening News.

The staff of The Royal Gazette didn’t even bother to look at him; they sneered at his handwritten summaries, glanced at the headlines, didn’t flip a single page, and ordered him thrown out.

As for the junior editor at The Capital Evening News, after being summoned, he only read the name of the involved family, then trembled like a leaf, fled without paying for his coffee.

This editor of The Daily Chronicle—instead of publishing the news, even tried to trick him into returning the evidence to destroy it! And he accused Li Ang of being a thief, a rebel who assassinated the Princess!

If even these three newspapers—the only ones that dared speak—refuse to accept this evidence and publish the story, then what’s the difference between these documents I stole from Charle’s Waterworks and trash in a bin?

Hmm… wait! Charle’s Waterworks! Charle!

At the mention of that name, Li Ang suddenly realized he’d been trapped in a narrow mindset. He’d been obsessing over how to solve this problem, but only thought of acting alone—forgetting Charle Department Store existed!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Handing these documents around myself, I only hit walls. But if I give them to Charle Department Store, that billionaire who shares the name with the coffee stall old man will seize the chance and unleash his power to strike back hard!

I’m such an idiot!

Frustrated, Li Ang punched his left hand, tore his gaze from the trash bin, and decided to try once more at Charle Department Store.

After glancing at the sky and realizing he was running out of time, he gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and sprinted toward the platform several hundred meters away, waving at the steam carriage waiting for passengers.

“Ride! One passenger!”

“Got it!”

Seeing a customer approach, the driver, who had been idly chewing a cigarette, perked up, crushed the cigarette between his fingers, tucked it behind his ear, and hurried over cheerfully.

But as he pulled up close and saw Li Ang’s attire, his smile vanished. He reached for the cigarette behind his ear, slumped back against his seat, and muttered sullenly:

“Four-seat sightseeing carriage: one copper wheel for two kilometers, two copper wheels for five kilometers, one copper wheel per kilometer beyond five. Less than two kilometers counts as two. You in or not?”

“I’m in.”

After calculating the approximate distance, Li Ang, heart aching at the cost, nodded, clenched his teeth, stepped onto the passenger step, and ducked into the carriage.

“Charle Department Store headquarters! As fast as you can!”