Late at night, the brightly lit Beishan Branch of the Security Bureau was bustling with noise.
After finishing their late-night snack, no one dispersed. Tong Hua suggested heading back to play poker to help digest their food. Everyone had their own room at the branch anyway, so if they got tired, they could just crash. It wouldn't be the first time.
Just as Wen Wen was secretly fuming over a hand of terrible cards and wondering if Tong Hua was cheating behind her back, she heard her phone ring in her pocket.
The screen lit up, displaying a familiar name.
For some reason, every time she saw this name lately, her heart jumped into her throat.
It felt as though nothing good ever came of him calling her on his own initiative.
Don't tell me... he stirred up trouble again?
"Hello? Ji Jue?"
Only after mentally preparing herself did she answer. "It's so late. What's up?"
"Sister Wen, there really is something..."
On the other end of the line, Ji Jue hesitated. "It's kind of complicated... How about you come over to my place? Er, preferably sneak over quietly. Don't let anyone notice..."
In an instant, the corner of Wen Wen's eye twitched violently.
Wait, asking an older sister to sneak over to your place in the dead of night?
Has this kid grown dog guts, or what?
What the hell is going through his head?!
Tong Hua, who had been eavesdropping with an ear cocked, immediately had her eyes light up with the gleam of juicy gossip. Even Lao Zhang seemed to subtly prick up his ears.
There was definitely a story here!
Progressing this fast? Wait, no one had sensed anything between them!
When did it start?
Wen Wen, did you make a move that quickly?
Seeing the admiration dawning in Tong Hua's eyes, Wen Wen couldn't resist delivering a punch straight to the girl's head.
"That little brat."
She hung up and made no effort to hide it, instead beckoning to the others. "Let's go, everyone. We'll give him a surprise and see what kind of medicine that little punk is selling in his gourd."
If he really had any improper thoughts in the middle of the night, he couldn't blame his older sister for teaching him how to behave with an iron fist.
"Holy shit—"
Fifteen minutes later, in Ji Jue's living room.
Wen Wen pushed the door open, took one look at the person sitting on the sofa, and nearly blacked out.
She hadn't given him a surprise; instead, she had gotten frightened out of her wits.
The medicine in this gourd was way too potent—she couldn't handle it!
*
After a brief wave of chaos, everything quickly settled back into silence.
Beneath the aged, dim yellow light, everyone stood around the sofa with their arms crossed, watching the guest seated in the center. Chen Yubo hung his head, shivering all over, instinctively clutching the bag in his arms tightly.
"Meow~"
At the opening of the bag, a black-and-white cat stepped on a British blue cat beneath it and poked its head out curiously, looking left and right before tilting its head at him.
It truly was adorable.
"This one's Jingzhang, and this one's A'fu," Ji Jue introduced, pointing at them. "And this one's Chen Yubo."
"Yeah, that's Chen Yubo," Lao Zhang was the first to nod, delivering his verdict.
"Chen Yubo, huh..." Wen Wen massaged her temple with a headache. "He does look a bit like his brother, just a lot fairer."
"It's definitely Chen Yubo, no doubt about it," Tong Hua said expressionlessly. "I'd recognize that face even if it turned to ash."
Chen Yubo gave a bitter smile. "Miss Tong, please don't mock me."
"You know each other?" Ji Jue was baffled.
"We've crossed paths before." Tong Hua's expression turned even more solemn and grave. "The grudge of stealing my wife is irreconcilable!"
"What?" Ji Jue blurted out in shock, instinctively glancing toward Chen Yubo. Chen Yubo shrank his head back in a guilty conscience, leaving Ji Jue all the more stunned.
Only then did Tong Hua continue, "The year before last, JC over in the Empire released a limited-edition diamond-studded maiden-pink bag. I lined up overnight at their flagship store in the Empire to place an order, only for someone to splash cash and cut in line ahead of me..."
She glanced at the bag in Chen Yubo's hands, looking utterly exasperated. "He bought it just to carry his cats."
"Well, I didn't know you ordered it," Chen Yubo defended himself weakly. "As the saying goes, first come, first served. If I'd known..."
"If you knew I wanted it, would you have given it up?"
Chen Yubo fell silent at once, clutching the bag tighter to his chest.
If I gave the bag to you, what would I carry my cats in?
Hearing the two cats meowing inside the bag, he flusteredly busied himself opening cans of food for them.
"What's JC?" Lao Zhang asked in a low voice.
"A luxury brand," Ji Jue replied.
"Anyway, Yacheng isn't that big. Spend enough time in social circles and most people are familiar faces. Didn't Xiao Chun introduce him to you too?" Tong Hua shook her head with a sigh. Looking at him bent over feeding the cats, she remarked, "He truly does love those two cats."
Unfortunately, the cats remained cool and aloof, scrambling over the canned food with no regard for their owner's plight, not even bothering to act cute.
Letting this silence drag on wasn't an option.
Ji Jue coughed twice and asked in a low voice, "Is Chen Xingzhou really..."
"Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes. They're still trying to resuscitate him." Chen Yubo hesitated, but ultimately sighed and said, "This time, he probably won't make it."
Right after getting shot, Chen Xingzhou had been rushed to the hospital by Uncle Lin, but the outlook wasn't optimistic—the bullet was cursed. Relying on the alchemical items on his person, he was barely clinging to a breath of life. He couldn't be called alive, but to say he was dead, he was just that one breath away.
Right now, he was still in the emergency room at the charity hospital run by the Church of Chongguang.
After being brought to the hospital and learning the specifics, Chen Yubo's first reaction had been to run.
Taking advantage of the chaos when no one was paying attention, he slipped away directly.
It wasn't that he was heartless or cold; it was that Chen Xingzhou had instructed him long ago: if anything ever happened to him, ignore everything, leave Yacheng decisively, and go live incognito somewhere else.
Seizing his last chance, he rushed back to his residence. He didn't pack gold or silver, nor did he take any valuables. He even abandoned his collection of sports cars accumulated over more than a decade.
He brought only a gold watch for emergencies and his two most important cats.
Then, once he calmed down, he discovered...
He couldn't run at all!
In this era, natural disasters ran rampant in the wilderness, with storms and earthquakes occurring constantly. Transportation between cities could only rely on airships or off-road convoys muscling through the rough terrain.
Without proper channels, he couldn't even leave Yacheng secretly.
It wasn't as though Chen Xingzhou had never engaged in smuggling—he had plenty of contacts—but with his older brother's fate hanging in the balance, Chen Yubo didn't dare trust a single one of them.
Trust the wrong person, and his life would be forfeit.
When he looked back over his life, searching for a trustworthy friend, he sorrowfully discovered that there was practically no one.
The only person who hadn't kicked him aside to save their own skin in a life-or-death situation was the single unlucky youth sitting directly across from him right now.
Ji Jue.
That was the origin of all this.
After understanding the situation, Ji Jue hadn't pulled a gun, nor had he coldly shut him out.
Even knowing how immense of a disaster walked with him, Ji Jue had still sighed and let him into his home.
He had even contacted Beishan District for him.
For that alone, Chen Yubo had already hugged him and wept in gratitude countless times before they arrived.
Unfortunately, Ji Jue held little hope for this.
Even the Beishan Branch might not be able to help with something like this.
After stubbing out her cigarette, Wen Wen sighed and said, "Boss Chen, we understand your situation. Regrettably, our hands are tied."
Chen Yubo's face grew pale. "Even Supervisor Wen, you..."
"This afternoon, on a momentary impulse, I went to cause trouble for Lei Yaoxing and almost got severely played. When I got back, I had to stare at Tong Shan's deadpan face as he nagged me until now... To be honest, my head aches just looking at people from the Wild Gathering right now."
Wen Wen said bluntly, "No matter how much I despise those scumbags from the Wild Gathering flaunting their power, I have to consider the Security Bureau's stance. At a critical juncture like this, if we force our way in, things might spiral further out of control and become the spark that ignites a conflict between the White Stag and Tianyuan."
"I... I..." Chen Yubo summoned his courage. "I can give up all my assets..."
"Useless," Tong Hua interrupted him. "If the Security Bureau wanted your assets, they'd have plenty of ways. If Sister Wen wanted to make that kind of money, with my connections in the Tong family, wouldn't I be able to handle you?"
Chen Yubo had nothing left to say.
"Then... let's just run," Ji Jue said, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Sister Wen, can you arrange a boat? A speedboat would do, or get a fast smuggler boat. I'll take him out of Yacheng right now. If we move fast, he can still eat breakfast in Chuancheng or Chaocheng tomorrow morning."
Wen Wen was about to speak when Tong Hua pressed a hand down on hers.
"He can't leave, Ji Jue." The young woman's expression held none of its usual flippancy or playfulness; it was compassionate yet cruel. "He can't run anymore."
She passed her phone in front of Ji Jue.
The screen was lit, displaying the latest news.
"Just now, Chen Xingzhou's lawyer fell to his death. His safe was pried open, and Chen Xingzhou's will was discovered."
Tong Hua sighed and said, "If Chen Xingzhou dies, all his assets in the Everlasting Bank—over four billion in trust funds, plus shares in eleven publicly traded companies—will be handed over entirely to his sole relative, Chen Yubo.
"The will has been notarized by the Everlasting Bank. Even if the heavens fall and the earth shatters, that money will undoubtedly be delivered into his hands."
Ji Jue froze, his scalp prickling with numbness.
He turned his head stiffly to look at Chen Yubo.
"In other words..."
The person sitting right next to him right now was the number-one piece of prized meat in all of Yacheng—no, in all of Haizhou!
A person with zero ability to protect himself, abruptly inheriting such immense wealth—no, even if Chen Xingzhou wasn't dead yet, merely having the qualification was enough to put him in the crosshairs of everyone, at the very eye of the storm.
If he stayed in Yacheng, the organization and remnants his brother left behind might still protect him out of regard for Chen Xingzhou's past deeds. But the moment he left Yacheng, outside would be ravenous, gaping jaws waiting to tear him apart, desperate to chew his flesh and blood...
Forget other people.
Even Ji Jue felt a flare of wicked impulse just hearing about it—he almost wanted to pull off a heist of his own!
Wasn't it just kidnapping? It wasn't as if he hadn't done it before!
He had nearly killed the hostage back then!
Unfortunately, a sliver of his remaining conscience held him back; he really couldn't bring himself to do it...
Ji Jue sighed. "Can't he renounce the inheritance?"
"Those people at the Everlasting Bank recognize contracts, not people. Even if Chen Xingzhou suddenly opened his eyes and changed his mind, saying 'no, I won't give it to him,' they wouldn't care until the contract was revoked.
"No matter how much trouble this money stirs up, they will definitely shove it into Chen Yubo's hands. Otherwise, the Everlasting Bank's credibility would be ruined.
"Right now, they've probably already dispatched their managers, waiting for the death certificate to be stamped and take effect before showing up at his door to execute the terms."
"We're old acquaintances, Old Chen," Tong Hua sighed. "Right now, your only option is to go kowtow to Lei Yaoxing, sign the paperwork to waive resuscitation, and after your brother passes away, hand this money over to him, begging him to spare your life and sever all ties with the Wild Gathering from then on.
"Only then can Sister Wen protect you under the Security Bureau's authority and save your life."
Chen Yubo didn't speak.
He only hung his head. Several times he tried to open his mouth, but tears streamed down uncontrollably.
"My dad... my dad was a gambler. While I was still in my mother's belly, he abandoned us. My mom died early too, when I was only two years old.
"If not for my brother, I would've been thrown into a ditch like garbage to rot to death long ago. Even the first time he picked up a blade to hack someone, it was for my tuition and food money.
"I know he did a lot of dirty things, but without my brother, there would be no me. Half the sins he committed belong to me too.
"If you live in this world, debts must be repaid. If I die, so be it, but if I have to kowtow to the man who murdered him, if I have to harm my brother, I'd rather just die..."
He messily wiped away his tears and snot, stood up, and bowed. "Thank you all for your kindness. It's my own fault for being useless and ungrateful. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
With that, he bowed to take his leave, only to be pushed back down onto the sofa by Ji Jue.
"Hold on a second," Ji Jue said. "Things might not be that bad."
Just like that, he forcibly pushed Chen Yubo, whose legs were trembling quietly, back onto the sofa.
Ji Jue pondered for a moment, then sighed.
"There's at least one other way."
Chen Yubo swallowed hard, anxious enough to burst into tears. If you have a way, just spit it out already!
Then he heard Ji Jue's words.
"In any case, the worst that can happen is death, right?" Ji Jue studied him, then suddenly asked out of nowhere, "Do you mind never getting married for the rest of your life?"
"Huh?" Chen Yubo froze in disbelief.
"First, let's understand one thing—" Ji Jue raised a finger. "As long as Chen Xingzhou doesn't die, you don't stand a chance of getting this money. But if he dies, you definitely won't be able to keep it either.
"However, you can at least decide where this money goes, right?
"Since it has to be surrendered either way, why let a wicked gang boss like Lei Yaoxing benefit from such an astronomical sum? Even if he claims he'll spare your life, would you dare believe him?"
Chen Yubo fell silent for a moment, finding it impossible to refute.
To be honest, even if Lei Yaoxing smiled and told him, 'I was merely joking earlier,' would he dare breathe a sigh of relief?
"If you give it to the Security Bureau, the people there will only find ways to pocket it or funnel it through three or four channels into some department's slush fund. I'm not wrong about that, am I, Sister Wen?"
Wen Wen waved a hand nonchalantly, admitting it without shame.
"So—" Ji Jue asked solemnly, "have you considered the Church of Chongguang?"
The sudden suggestion left everyone stunned.
In the silence, only the meows of the two cats in Chen Yubo's arms echoed through the room.
The Church of Chongguang was a religious organization spread throughout the mortal realm. They worshipped the Creed of Radiance, whose doctrine dictated that the souls and spirits of all living beings came from the light and would return to the light.
If one looked only at that, it didn't seem any different from ordinary religions. The key, however, was that the light they worshipped had actually been manifested by their prayers...
The compassion and virtue rising from countless souls, practiced and realized by generations of believers, had miraculously constructed an incorporeal Saint.
In pursuit of spiritual ascension and personal metamorphosis, Celestial Chosen of the Ascension path often dedicated themselves to walking the path they had chosen. Those who resonated with the Light of Mercy and received the Holy Covenant were required to abandon all worldly possessions and fame, spending their entire lives practicing the Creed of Radiance—healing the sick, saving the wounded, and consoling souls.
The moment they violated the Holy Covenant or took the initiative to harm others, they would immediately lose the Saint's protection and blessing, reverting to their original state.
Although those capable of receiving the Holy Covenant were very few, wherever these individuals appeared, they were welcomed by all. After all, who wouldn't like someone who did pure good and whose integrity and character were absolutely guaranteed?
Even though the registered formal members numbered merely a little over a hundred thousand—with only a few thousand Celestial Chosen among them—the charitable institutions of the Church of Chongguang were spread across the entire world, including Yacheng.
Unlike superficial fronts meant to fool people out of money or purely used for tax evasion, their charity funds were ten thousand percent dedicated to genuinely doing good and relieving distress.
No amount of money was ever enough.
If one only put on a show, any foundation could turn a surplus each year; but once genuine work began, even the principal couldn't be preserved.
Education in impoverished regions, water sources in drought-stricken areas, medicine in epidemic zones, hospitals in war-torn regions... Even though Ji Jue wasn't a believer, had any poor person in Yacheng not received the care and protection of the charity hospital?
"You donate all of this money to the charity fund of the Church of Chongguang, then seek out the Bishop of Haizhou to take your vows and convert, from then on holding no personal property and seeking no worldly gain.
"With this money, the Church of Chongguang will stand as your guarantor. Even if there's a blood feud as massive as the heavens, a solution can be worked out. Besides, you've never committed any heinous crimes; no one will relentlessly chase you down.
"After a few years, once the storm blows over, no one will remember Chen Xingzhou, and no one will remember you. If you truly can't endure the austere life, you can also leave the church. Out of regard for this money, the Church of Chongguang will definitely arrange a place for you. How about that?"
"Is... is that for real?" Chen Yubo was dazed, instinctively looking toward the others.
Yet after the initial astonishment, the others, amid the silence, could not help but nod.
After all, this was over four billion, plus company shares and other real estate whose value was temporarily hard to estimate but definitely exorbitant... When wealth reached such a scale, it became difficult to measure by anything other than raw numbers. It was enough for ten thousand Ji Jues to live in sheer luxury from birth until death, with plenty left over.
Proposing to donate it all in a single breath—even if it wasn't his own money—was undeniably lavish beyond measure.
Yet it had to be said that, at present, this was the best possible way out for Chen Yubo.
There was none better.
"I... I have no problem with that."
Chen Yubo hesitated only for a moment before nodding solemnly upon hearing the two cats meow in his arms.
He wasn't married. Though he had a long list of girlfriends, the monetary relationship between them was clear and mutually agreed upon; they might call each other honey and baby, but deep down, everyone knew where the feelings truly lay.
Because of his connection to his brother, Chen Xingzhou, he had to remain constantly on guard, never establishing any relationship of trust beyond the ordinary with strangers.
Only the two cats in his arms were living beings he could love with an easy mind, without ever worrying about being betrayed.
A person's attachments to this world could be numerous, or at times, limited to a mere tiny speck.
If he died, the two of them would truly become stray cats... from then on starving one meal and stuffed the next, bullied by anyone, with no one sparing them a second glance.
"Only... can I keep a little money to buy cat food?" he asked tentatively.
"If you donate this money, the Church of Chongguang will buy them canned cat food for the rest of their lives, you idiot!"
Tong Hua rolled her eyes in exasperation, her fingers tapping against her crossed arms, her expression severe. "The plan is beautiful, but we still have to face reality—the prerequisite for this is that you must survive until your brother takes his last breath, right up until the new leader emerges.
"Otherwise, before your ties with the Wild Gathering are completely severed, no matter how compassionate the Church of Chongguang may be, they will never meddle in such filthy affairs.
"Have you thought about that part?" She looked toward Ji Jue.
In the silence, Ji Jue slowly nodded.
In the end, he let out a helpless sigh.
"We're friends after all." He glanced at the cowering Young Master Chen, his headache growing worse. "He came looking for me at a critical juncture like this; I can't just kick him out the door, can I?"
If you do a good deed, see it through to the end.
At worst, he would act like a turtle hiding in its shell for a few days, taking him into hiding.
When his life was hanging by a thread, the man had squatted outside Ji Jue's door clutching his cats and shedding tears. Ji Jue couldn't just watch him walk out and die on the street.
Getting saddled with this kind of mess could only be chalked up to his own bad luck.
He couldn't help but feel that every gift bestowed by fate came with a damn exorbitant markup!
Why on earth was it so hard to earn a little cash from you two brothers?!
"Brother Ji, Brother Ji, I..."
Moved to tears once more, Chen Yubo couldn't resist lunging forward, wanting to wail his heart out, only for Ji Jue to shove him back by the face, completely exasperated.
"Don't! I'm already starting to regret it. Calm down."
"Actually, if we do it that way, there isn't really that much danger."
From the sofa, Wen Wen, who had been watching for a long time, suddenly spoke up. "It might just be worth a shot."
Chapter 123