Qin Siyang thought for a moment and asked, "Principal Zhao, what do you think of the name Qin Longfei?"
Without looking at him, Zhao Longfei took a calm drag from his cigarette, "Are you in that much of a hurry to be reincarnated? Is there really nothing left in this world worth staying for?"
"Uh! Not that bad, not that bad. Just kidding."
"Oh."
Qin Siyang asked curiously, "This is the first time I've seen you be so generous. Sounds like this guy has a blood feud with you?"
Zhao Longfei was long used to Qin Siyang's insight, which far exceeded his age, so he admitted it bluntly, "More or less."
"If he's your enemy, then you can have the body. What I'm short on is Sequence potions and money, but the Zhao family isn't exactly well-off right now either. We can talk about compensation another time."
"Little Qin, thank you for understanding the Zhao family. But this time is different. Whether it's me, my eldest brother, or my little sister, we'll all insist that you ask for something. Otherwise, we won't be able to live with ourselves."
Zhao Longfei spoke with seriousness that Qin Siyang has never seen on his face. It was the first time Qin Siyang had ever seen him act this generously, and it almost felt strange.
Normally, Zhao Longfei always carried himself with a carefree confidence, as if nothing in the world was worth taking too seriously.
But now, there was something heavy in his voice, as though he had been carrying a deep obsession for years.
"Can I ask who this person was?"
Zhao Longfei fell silent for a moment. His gaze rested on the road ahead, as if passing through the years and returning to a long-buried past.
"Our parents died early. We grew up poor, so my eldest brother and I quit school when we were young. By the time I was in my teens, I'd become a street thug. My brother and I scraped out a living on the streets to save money so our little sister could stay in school."
"Hold on, Principal Zhao. You barely went to school, so how come you're so good with words?"
Zhao Longfei shot him a disdainful glance, "So what if I didn't read many books as a kid? Can't I read more after I grew up?"
"Oh. Fair point."
"If you want to hear the story, then stop interrupting."
Qin Siyang held his breath and listened quietly.
"Even among thugs, there are different ranks. But no matter what, it's not a life with much of a future. My brother and I were tough enough and ruthless enough that we built up our own little force with our bare hands. Then, by chance, we caught the eye of an important man and ended up working under him as his lackeys."
"And this important man was?"
"Mr. Lin Jiancheng, president of the Lin Corporation. Of course, when my brother and I first started working for him, the Lin Corporation only owned a single shopping street. It gradually expanded before becoming the Lin Corporation everyone knew."
He took another deep drag from his cigarette, "Mr. Lin treated the three of us incredibly well. My brother and I were entrusted with important responsibilities. He personally arranged my brother's wedding, and when my little sister graduated and went abroad for further study, he gave her his full support."
"Lin Jiancheng... the Lin Corporation... Why haven't I ever heard of them?"
"Of course you haven't. Mr. Lin was murdered by his adopted son, Lin Cheng, one year before Sequence Awakening. The Lin Corporation fell apart within six months and ceased to exist. After the apocalypse, everything changed so quickly that people's memories became short as well. Aside from a handful of people involved, no one cares about the Lin Corporation's former glory anymore."
"When the Lin Corporation collapsed, my brother and I took over part of its assets. That became the foundation of the Zhao family. We spent the next few years slowly building it into what it is today."
As he spoke of the family's beginnings, there was no pride in Zhao Longfei's voice, only a trace of grief and anger.
"To the three of us, Mr. Lin was the man who recognized our worth, our mentor, an elder even closer to us than our own uncles. Avenging him has been our greatest wish for many years."
As they talked, the car arrived outside the principal's office building at Nanyong University.
Zhao Longfei disabled the conversation jammer and said to the driver, "Stop here. I probably won't be going out again today. You can take a break."
"Yes, Principal Zhao."
Qin Siyang and Zhao Longfei got out of the car and headed toward the office.
Qin Siyang pondered for a moment, "So the tall Samsara Church leader I killed... was Lin Cheng?"
"Yeah. That ungrateful bastard. He murdered Mr. Lin and tried to frame me for it. When the truth came out, he ran off with the money and disappeared without a trace. I figured he'd probably never even manage to awaken a Sequence ability and had likely died in some filthy ditch. I never imagined he'd already reached Sequence Level Six."
He shook his head slightly, "Our whole family thought we'd probably never get our revenge in this lifetime. Who would've thought that you'd be the one to kill Lin Cheng. It's a shame I didn't get to chop him up myself. If I'd known it was him, I would've left you in the car and killed him myself."
Clang!
While the two were talking, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor echoed down the hallway.
Qin Siyang looked toward the noise and saw Lin Yaman standing not far away, frozen in place, her face deathly pale. Her hands still held the posture of carrying documents, but the papers had slipped from her fingers and lay scattered across the floor.
"Zhao Longfei, what did you just say? Lin Cheng... is dead?", Her voice suddenly rose, trembling with disbelief, surprising Qin Siyang.
He had never seen the calm, refined Secretary Lin like this before.
"That's right. Lin Cheng is dead. Little Qin killed him."
Lin Yaman's chest heaved violently. She could no longer stand steadily and had to brace herself against the wall with one hand.
Zhao Longfei hurried over, caught her before she fell, and helped her back into the office.
"Don't worry. Mr. Lin's vengeance has finally been fulfilled..."
Qin Siyang gave a slight nod.
Judging by how emotional Lin Yaman became after hearing of Lin Cheng's death, Lin Jiancheng must have been very close to her. Perhaps they had been father and daughter?
Qin Siyang had always felt that Zhao Longfei treated his secretary, Lin Yaman, with an unusual degree of respect. It wasn't respect born of status or position, but something rooted in a deeper emotional bond.
Now that he thought about it, it was probably because she was a member of the Lin family.
As for the complicated feelings between the two of them... he didn't think any further about it.
After glancing toward the principal's office, Qin Siyang turned and left.
It wasn't appropriate for him to be there now. It was better to let Zhao Longfei comfort Lin Yaman himself.
Qin Siyang took out his phone and called Li Tianming.
"Hello, Old Li. Where are you?"
["Miracle Building. What's up?"]
"You're still doing research at school on a Saturday? Not spending time with Dean Chen and Brother Fei?"
["We can't go out every weekend. Fenghe took Little Fei to the library today, so I'm doing some research on my own. What do you actually want?"]
"Nothing major. Just calling to share some good news... and some bad news. Let's talk when we meet."
["Good news and bad news?"]
———
A few minutes later...
Li Tianming stared at Zou Yuan's corpse with eyes as wide as eggs.
"Zou Yuan was still alive?"
"Still alive? Isn't he dead now?"
"That's not what I mean," Li Tianming rubbed the top of his head, where only a few sparse hairs remained, "My god... Zou Yuan was actually alive? Then does that mean those missing old geezers aren't dead either? Holy shit! I have to tell Old Zhang!"
With that, Li Tianming dragged Zou Yuan's corpse down the hallway and started pounding furiously on Zhang Kuang's laboratory door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Old Zhang! Old Zhang! Stop staring at the damn stars and get out here! This is huge!"
[🎉 Shoutout to Someone's_Nobody, MahSty and Shinto for joining p@treon. Your support will help me bring better stories to you. Thank you very much.🤗]