Chapter 231: Heartbeat Rule

After a while.

Xu An seemed to have had his fill.

He no longer inflicted torment on the two.

Instead, he stepped forward and flung the ruler straight at their bodies.

The Red Wood Ruler tore through the air.

Xu Cheng'an collapsed onto the floor.

He stared, watching the ruler dripping black blood magnify at lightning speed within his pupils, even seeing the darkened veins on its shaft.

Li Juan's scream was sewn shut, leaving only a clucking sound like a hen whose throat is being strangled, her eyeballs bulging out of their sockets.

She was about to die.

This respectable middle‑class couple had only three words left in their minds.

The good son they had personally sent into "reformation," who was specifically told to "step up the pressure," had now truly stepped up the pressure on his return.

Huh—

The wind howled sharply.

The ruler was less than a hand's breadth from Xu Cheng'an's forehead.

At that moment,

Whoosh!

The floor‑to‑ceiling window on the side that overlooked the whole scenery of Shui'an Flower City shattered without warning.

Countless shards of tempered glass rained in like a storm, and amid the crystal‑clear rain of fragments, a pitch‑black Shadow moved faster than light, forcefully stabbing into the execution scene of this family drama.

Clang!

A metallic clang that made teeth tingle rang out.

Xu Cheng'an felt a chill on his scalp; the expected brain‑matter explosion never occurred.

He trembled as he opened his eyes and saw a strangely shaped, entirely black long sword firmly holding the Red Wood Ruler.

The blade was pure black, its edge constantly flowing like a viscous liquid, exuding a chill even colder than that on Xu An.

Xu An's hollow eyes shifted slightly, his gaze following the black sword.

A young man in a Black Combat Suit stood on a floor of broken glass, a huge hole ripped open behind him, the cold morning wind pouring in and rattling his coat's hem.

Jiang Yuan.

He held no sword in his hand; the black blade seemed to sprout from his Shadow, hovering mid‑air, firmly blocking Xu An's lethal strike.

"Huh… just in time,"

Jiang Yuan exhaled.

Had he been half a second later, this place would have become an actual murder scene.

He glanced at the disheveled couple on the ground, then looked at the teen standing in the living‑room center like a ghost.

"Xu An."

Jiang Yuan spoke softly, trying not to provoke him, and slowly raised both hands to show he meant no harm.

"I'm an agent of the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau, Jiang Yuan."

"I'm here to help you."

Hearing the word "help," Xu An's stiff neck twitched.

He tilted his head, his dead‑gray eyes fixed on Jiang Yuan's combat suit.

The black uniform.

The Instructor Lei who had electrocuted him into losing control of his bladder also wore a uniform.

The principal who locked him in a dark room for three days and nights without water also wore a uniform.

The thugs who pinned him to the ground and beat him with belts also wore uniforms.

Uniforms represent Regulation.

They represent power.

They represent… persecution.

A hoarse sound came from Xu An's throat.

He slowly retracted the ruler; on his otherwise expressionless face, a row of crude black sutures began to tremble violently.

It was his smile.

But the smile tugged at the wound, dark‑red blood beads oozing along the black line, making him look even more feral, like an Evil Ghost that had just crawled out of hell.

Jiang Yuan felt a sudden thump in his chest.

It's broken.

That was not the gaze of seeing a savior; it was the gaze of seeing a mortal enemy that must be eliminated, the utmost hatred a victim feels when confronting the perpetrator's protective shield.

"Listen to me!"

Jiang Yuan grew urgent, stepped forward, his tone hurried, "I know what you went through in there! I know what those two scumbags did to you!"

He pointed at the Xu Cheng'an couple on the ground.

"They sold you, they don't deserve to be parents! That kind of reformation center is a man‑eating den!"

"But that doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands!"

"If you kill them, you'll never be able to go back! You'll become a true monster, be wanted, be hunted, and your whole life will be ruined!"

"Come with me; the Investigation Bureau will give you justice, the reformation center will be shut down, and those bastards behind it will face legal punishment!"

Those words were spoken by Jiang Yuan with sincere conviction.

He had reviewed the file on the plane coming here; the child's ordeal chilled the heart.

But what he didn't see was that when he mentioned the words "law" and "justice", Xu An's mockery in his eyes was almost about to overflow.

Justice?

When he screamed miserably on the Electric Shock Chair, where was justice?

When he knelt on the ground begging his parents to take him home, only to receive "undergo proper reform", where was the law?

Now he has power, can reclaim justice himself, and these uniformed men just jump out?

Indeed.

The world is as black as a crow.

You are all in the same camp.

All obstruct my judgment.

All are… shielding sin!

Xu An no longer looked at Jiang Yuan; he slowly raised the Red Wood Ruler in his hand, this time not at the parents but pointing straight at Jiang Yuan.

In that instant, Jiang Yuan felt himself locked onto by some terrifying thing.

Not the sense of danger from a gun barrel pointing at him, but a feeling of… being minuscule, subject to punishment at any moment.

Buzz—

The whole living room space suddenly twisted a bit.

The once bright morning light quickly dimmed, and the surrounding walls began to peel and rot, revealing gray‑black cement and dark‑red bricks beneath.

Xu Cheng'an's two‑million‑yuan renovated mansion vanished.

In its place was a huge classroom, gloomy, oppressive, filled with mildew and the smell of blood.

All the furniture turned into shabby iron‑frame beds and blood‑stained desks; the windows were welded shut with thick iron bars, and the walls were lined with chilling instruments of torture: whips, electric batons, handcuffs, tiger stools...

This is the Hongzhi Xingwei Jiaozheng Zhongxin.

Or perhaps the hell in Xu An's memory.

Jiang Yuan only felt his body grow heavy, as if several hundred jin of weight had suddenly been added to his back—that was the weight of the "rule".

Is this the ability of other schemers?

Directly rewriting reality with resentment, constructing a domain?

Before he could react, the long‑broken broadcast speaker suddenly emitted a harsh electric crackle, followed by a mechanical, cold, emotionless female voice echoing through the empty classroom.

【Correction Place new school rule announced.】

The voice paused briefly, as if waiting for the judge's final verdict.

Xu An stood on the podium—actually the spot where the coffee table had been—and gently tapped his palm with the Red Wood Ruler.

Snap.

Snap.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like striking a person's Heavenly Spirit Cover.

With the knocking, the female voice in the broadcast suddenly became sharp and mad, carrying a chilling delight:

【To maintain classroom discipline, within the Correction Place, no one may have a heartbeat】

【Offenders......】

【Deemed inner restlessness, must undergo correction!】

What?!

Jiang Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

No heartbeat allowed?

Thud!

The moment the thought arose, Jiang Yuan's heart jerked violently, as if seized by an invisible ghost hand.

That feeling was as if someone had shoved a high‑pressure pump into your chest; the blood no longer flowed but was forced out, and the vessel walls screamed.

"Ugh!"

Jiang Yuan let out a muffled hum.

He could hear his heart's protest clearly; each beat came with intense cramping, the force pressing his heart hard, trying to slow it, even… stop it.

And opposite him.

Xu An still barefoot, stared at him expressionlessly.

That stitched mouth seemed to have split wider.

He was waiting.

Waiting for this sanctimonious intruder to have his heart explode from a "violation", becoming another teaching specimen in the Correction Place.

This is his rule.

This is his holy judgment.

Since your hearts are too filthy, too chaotic, too noisy.

Then let me help you… become completely silent.