Chapter 235: Execution Successful

"Stop!"

Jiang Yuan let out a bellow from his throat, and the Shadow at his feet, like boiling tar, spread wildly in all directions.

Several jet‑black chains sprang from the Shadow, emitting a sour‑to‑the‑teeth whoosh, and lunged at the Xu Cheng'an couple hanging in midair.

That is the power of the Shadow Ghost, pure, brutal, and swift.

As long as it can bind their ankles, even if it snaps their leg bones, at least it can snatch their lives back from that suit‑madman.

However, the chains stopped half a meter away from the target.

There was no warning, nor any sound of impact. Those Shadow chains, which usually crush anything and can easily shred concrete, now seemed to have hit an invisible wall.

Chen Shao didn't even turn his head.

He merely lifted a finger and casually drew a line in the void.

A prison drawn on the ground.

"This is his coming‑of‑age rite." Chen Shao's voice was flat, without any inflection, as if he were talking about the weather, "Impolite guests would do well to watch quietly from the side."

"Xiao An! Xiao An, don't listen to him!"

In midair, Xu Cheng'an finally found his voice amid choking terror. He looked at the boy holding the Red Wood Ruler, stepping toward him, his face smeared with tears and snot, none of the usual real‑estate magnate's dignity left.

"I'm your father! I'm your father!" Xu Cheng'an flailed his legs in the air, trying to retreat, even though there was only air behind him, "Back then… back then it was your mother! Your mother insisted on sending you away! She said you were disobedient, said you were ill, I originally opposed it!"

Li Juan, who had just woken up, heard this and her previously pallid face instantly flushed scarlet, and she shrieked sharply: "Xu Cheng'an, you heartless beast! Did your hand shake when you signed the papers? Huh? Was it because you were embarrassed by him at home, fearing it would affect your bragging with those fox‑friends and dog‑friends, now you dump the shit onto my head?"

"Shut up! You shrewd hag! If it weren't for your constant nagging, would I have sent him to that place?"

"It was you who gave Lei Hu money to 'special‑treat' him! You said as long as he could be cured, you'd kill him without question!"

"I did it for his sake! I did it for this family!"

Ugly.

This scene was a hundred‑times uglier than rats fighting in a ditch.

The two people who should have been the closest, with the scythe of death hanging over their throats, tore at each other more viciously than stray dogs. They scrambled to shift the blame onto the other, as if proving the other more deserving of death would let them survive.

Is this what they call "parents"? Is this the "victim" protected by law?

Chen Shao stood aside, a mocking curve at the corner of his mouth, lightly pushing the sunglasses on his nose.

"Did you hear?" he said to Xu An, "These are their last words. No repentance, no love, only dog‑eating‑dog blame."

Xu An stood there like a soulless wax statue.

In his hollow eyes reflected the twisted, snarling faces of his parents.

So noisy.

Really too noisy.

Just like every night in the Correction Place, the hiss of electricity through the body, the Instructor's curses, the hypocritical "for your own good" sermons.

Those sounds drilled into his ears like flies, into his brain‑matter.

Even if his mouth were sewn shut, even if he could no longer speak, the world remained that noisy.

He must… quiet down.

Someone must maintain discipline.

Someone must make them shut up.

Xu An slowly raised his right hand.

The Red Wood Ruler glimmered a dark‑red oily sheen under the dim light. It was a coating formed after countless blows to flesh, soaked in blood‑fat.

In the past, when that ruler struck him, it was "education."

Now, holding that ruler in his hand, it is "judgment."

"No—!! Xiao An! I'm mother! I carried you ten months…" Li Juan saw the raised ruler, her scream instantly rose an octave, stabbing the eardrum.

"Don't kill me! I have money! The trust fund is yours! All of it!" Xu Cheng'an, both urine and feces streaming, dripped murky liquid from his trousers.

Jiang Yuan watched the boy's silhouette, his heart pounding. He knew that once the ruler fell, Xu An would truly have no way back.

"Xu An! Think of your future! If you kill them you'll really ruin it!" Jiang Yuan made a final attempt, however feeble.

Xu An did not look back.

Future?

When that iron door slammed shut, where could he still have a future?

He only had the past and the present.

The boy's pretty yet sutured face showed no expression. He merely tilted his head slightly, as if listening to some sacred decree.

Then.

He waved his hand.

No flamboyant moves, just a pure, full‑power swing.

Snap!

The crisp sound stood out sharply in the living room.

It was not the crack of wood nor the tearing of flesh.

It was the muffled thud of a watermelon smashing from a high building, juice splattering, completely shattered.

Xu Cheng'an's pleas for mercy abruptly stopped.

Half of his head collapsed inward. A red‑white mixture, like spilled tofu pudding, sprayed out in a jet.

Fresh blood splattered all over Xu An.

The warm liquid ran down his pallid cheek, over the rough black sutures, dripping onto his bare foot.

Then came the second sound.

Snap!

Li Juan's scream was hard‑stuck back into her chest. Her neck vertebra formed a Weird ninety‑degree bend, and her whole body, like a rag doll, swayed in the air twice, then fell completely silent.

The world finally fell silent.

That nauseating arguing sound vanished.

That hypocritical wailing disappeared.

Only the drip‑drip of blood falling on the floor remained.

At this moment, Xu An felt an unprecedented tranquility. That feeling made him more at ease than when he faced darkness alone in the Containment Cell.

This is... redemption.

Thud.

Chen Shao snapped his fingers, withdrawing his control over gravity.

The two still‑twitching corpses crashed heavily onto the floor, piled together like two lumps of unwanted rotten meat.

Fresh blood spread across the floor, quickly reaching Chen Shao's feet.

Those expensive handcrafted leather shoes were stained with blood, yet he didn't even furrow a brow, instead seeming to admire a freshly finished masterpiece.

"Great sound," Chen Shao murmured approvingly, "clean, crisp."

He pulled a pristine handkerchief from his pocket, stepped forward, and instead of wiping his shoes, gently dabbed away a droplet of blood that had splashed onto Xu An's eye corner and slid down, saying, "Welcome to the New World."

Jiang Yuan's heart sank completely to the bottom of a valley.

"The ceremony is over."

Chen Shao casually tossed the blood‑stained handkerchief; the white cloth fluttered and draped over Xu Cheng'an's unblinking dead face.

He slowly turned around, facing Jiang Yuan in the corner.

That exposed left eye, its scarlet vortex began to turn slowly, exuding a suffocating pressure.

"Xu An, go rest in the back. As a newcomer, you've already done well enough," Chen Shao said, his tone as gentle as a true elder brother.

Xu An nodded, clutching the blood‑stained ruler, and retreated into the shadows.

In the spacious living room, now a cement cell, only Chen Shao and Jiang Yuan remained facing each other.

"Now, let's deal with this annoying obstacle."

"What a pity, Jiang Yuan. If you hadn't joined the Investigation Bureau, I wouldn't mind sharing my 'Eden Garden' with you."