Translator: AnubisTL
"Was it you?!"
The elder suddenly realized, turning sharply to glare at the stripped woman thrown aside. His eyes burned with fury as he roared, "You betrayed me!"
"You were the only one who knew I acquired that item three years ago!"
"No one else could have known!"
"Tell me, did you betray me?!"
"No! I didn't! How could I betray you? Are you insane?!"
The bound woman shook her head frantically, her face contorted with terror. The shame of being seen naked by her juniors made her instinctively curl up against the wall, her body trembling as she continued to deny the accusation.
"Alright, quiet down."
Wang Jili squatted on the ground, idly twirling a dagger in his hand. He gently tapped the elder's cheek with the blade. "She didn't betray you. I just guessed."
"I must admit, you're remarkably cunning."
"For three years, I've been observing you, yet I couldn't discern whether you actually acquired that item at the auction three years ago. I couldn't even determine if you attended the auction at all."
"Because when the auction began, you were giving a speech at a charity gala on the subhuman star."
"And for the past three years, you've continued collecting powerful Three-Star Rule Defense Items, making it impossible for me to determine whether you actually attended that auction three years ago."
"Until... recently."
Wang Jili suddenly waved his hand at the man in the black suit standing beside him, then grinned at the elder before him. "Until recently, guess what I discovered?"
"I found out that the charity gala that year wasn't originally scheduled to happen. But thanks to your insistence, it went ahead as planned."
"How strange. Are you really such a charitable person?"
"Unless... you wanted to use the gala to create proof of your public appearance, sending false signals to the outside world."
"Father, you're truly cautious. Even without knowing if anyone was plotting against you, you instinctively created false information to mislead your opponents."
"What a cunning old fox."
"Too bad I'm even more cunning."
At that moment—
A group of men in black suits dragged in a struggling couple, their mouths gagged with socks and their bodies completely naked, and threw them to the floor.
After bowing respectfully to Wang Jili, they strode out of the office, carefully closing the door behind them.
"Do you recognize them?" Wang Jili asked casually, squatting down and gesturing with his dagger at the violently struggling couple. "This is Liu Deping and his wife."
"You know Liu Deping, right? He's my childhood friend. He helped me a lot when I first started my company."
"Oh, you probably wouldn't know him that way."
"Let me introduce him differently. He's the adulterer your daughter Xu Fen cheated with. I saw the whole thing—him and your daughter—in the warehouse right after we got married."
"That sounds like empty accusations."
Wang Jili stood up and walked to the sofa, waving his hand casually. A video projected into the air filled the dimly lit room with a haunting sound. Two white snowflakes collided repeatedly within a grimy, oil-stained warehouse.
Wang Jili sat on the sofa, legs crossed, poured himself a glass of wine, took a small sip, and swirled the glass in his hand. Leaning back, he gazed absently at the video projected in mid-air before him.
"Do you see? This is your daughter."
"I've watched this video at least ten thousand times."
"Whenever I achieved even the smallest success, I would lock myself in my study and replay this video endlessly, telling myself I was worthless, utterly worthless. I couldn't afford to be proud. You're just a worthless piece of trash, a pathetic cuckold."
"It's sustained me, step by step, until now."
"Did you know, Liu Deping even had a child with your daughter? My child, Wang Jili's child, is a bastard. And recently, your daughter actually asked me to buy her property on Mu Zi Star, to make it easier for her to meet with Liu Deping."
"It's truly... absurd."
Wang Jili drained his glass in one gulp before setting it back on the table. He rose and strode over to the elder, looming over him. "Father, do you find this absurd?"
"Hah."
The elder took a deep breath, looked up at the man before him, and paused, his expression shifting between dark and uncertain, before finally speaking. "Regardless, grudges end with death. I urge you to consider how to maximize your gains. Killing me won't grant you control of my company."
"It's not as simple as you think."
"Hmm, naturally."
Wang Jili nodded in agreement. "The aftermath will indeed be complex. But first, I want you to experience what I've endured for the past decade."
He roughly grabbed the old woman huddled in the corner and threw her onto the sofa.
Without pausing, he strode over to Liu Deping, yanked the gag from his mouth, and grinned. "Good buddy, was Xu Fen fun? Did you enjoy playing with her for nearly ten years?"
"Did you ever imagine this day would come?"
"We're all friends here, so reciprocity is only fair, right?"
"I was wrong! I was wrong!"
With the gag removed, Liu Deping shouted frantically, "Brother, don't rush! Let's talk calmly, no need for violence. I was wrong, truly! Can we sit down and discuss this slowly?"
"I'll give you my company, brother! Would that satisfy you?"
"Don't be hasty."
"We can talk about money later. Right now, I'm burning with rage."
Without pausing, Wang Jili grabbed Liu Deping's wife, who was bound and thrown in a corner, and tossed her onto the sofa as well.
He strode to the sofa and stood before them.
Under the moonlight, he gazed at the two women cowering on the sofa, casually tore his shirt off, and tossed it aside. His expression dazed, he murmured, "Watch closely. The humiliation you're suffering today is less than one ten-thousandth of the humiliation I've endured for nearly a decade."
"In this life, everyone pays their debts."
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, yet also pass in an instant.
Wang Jili sat shirtless on the sofa, his bare feet propped on the two women before him. He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a pale blue plume of smoke with a look of blissful satisfaction.
Through the haze of smoke, Wang Jili gazed at the elder nearby, his face contorted in rage as he roared incessantly. He murmured softly, "Quiet down. I understand exactly how you feel. I felt the same way when I was hiding in that warehouse."
"See? Your empathy isn't weak after all, is it?"
"When the truth is laid bare before you, you too feel anger. You too can understand what I went through."
"Finally, a little relief in my heart."
"Do you know how suffocated I've felt all these years? I was in agony, driven to the brink of madness. I even needed medication to sleep."
"But did anyone care about me?"
"No."
"No one. Not a single soul."
He glanced down at the woman cowering at his feet, her face twisted in terror as she begged for mercy. With a flick of his wrist, he flicked the cigarette butt onto her face, then stomped his foot down hard on her face several times before rising.
"Shut up, you noisy bitch."
Bang, bang.
Two gunshots rang out in quick succession. A finger-sized bullet hole appeared on the forehead of each woman. Their breathing gradually ceased, and their bodies stilled.
Wang Jili twirled the silver revolver in his hand before striding toward the elder.
Bang.
The gunshot rang out again. The seasoned businessman, who had navigated the treacherous waters of commerce for decades, died unnoticed in an office building in the heart of the city's most bustling district.
"Your turn," Wang Jili said, striding toward Liu Deping. A smirk played on his lips as he whispered, "If you beg for mercy, I might spare you."
"Really?" A flicker of hope momentarily brightened Liu Deping's fear-stricken face. His voice trembled with desperate urgency as he stammered, "I—"
But he barely managed to utter a word before—
Bang.
The gunshot echoed once more.
"Sorry, I suddenly lost interest in hearing that."
Wang Jili glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on the four corpses lying in pools of blood. He shrugged, pulled another energy rifle from his coat, and raked each body with a full magazine before casually tossing the weapon aside.
He walked to the sofa and poured himself another glass of wine.
Swirling the liquid in his glass, he slowly approached the floor-to-ceiling window.
Staring at the spiderweb-like cracks that crisscrossed the glass, he paused in silence before suddenly chuckling softly. "See? I was right, wasn't I?"
"People don't actually need Three-Star Rule Defense Items."
"Having a Three-Star Rule Defense Item with known weaknesses is far more dangerous than having none at all."
"Conversely, possessing such an item can drastically lower one's guard."
"Just like now, with his blind confidence."
One of the main reasons he had invited his Father-in-Law to a banquet at 2 AM was to make one final test: to determine whether his Father-in-Law truly possessed a Three-Star Rule Defense Item.
If he didn't, his Father-in-Law would never have accepted the invitation.
After all, a banquet at 2 AM could hardly be considered a human affair.
Yet his Father-in-Law had come, a testament to the blind confidence granted by the Three-Star Rule Defense Item he carried.
He had handled many three-star items, but he had only managed to acquire a Three-Star Rule Defense Item once, five years ago, through sheer luck.
After much deliberation, he had decided not to keep the item for himself but instead gift it to his Father-in-Law through an auction.
Just as he had predicted, the item had instilled in his Father-in-Law a dangerous sense of invulnerability.
Of course, he couldn't be entirely certain the item was still in his Father-in-Law's possession. He was merely betting on a high probability of success.
Fortunately, he had won his gamble.
"This feeling of going all-in at the poker table... it's truly intoxicating," Wang Jili murmured, standing before the floor-to-ceiling window. He gazed at the blurred cityscape, its night view obscured by a dense network of cracks, slowly raising his arms, tilting his head back, and inhaling the metallic scent of blood with a look of blissful contentment.
"In the end, I'm the one standing last."
"Let us offer a sincere salute to the birth of the new king of the subhuman star."
He snapped his fingers lightly.
Classical music with a brisk tempo filled the office from the speakers.
Holding a wine glass, Wang Jili began to dance lightly through the office, his feet stepping through the viscous pools of blood, savoring the moment's tranquility.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Shouldn't you be congratulating me?"
"Just a moment," the badge lying on the coffee table replied, its voice slightly breathless. "I'm thinking about something very important."
"What is it?"
"I think if you continue down this path, I'll definitely die soon. I need to figure out how to survive."
"You really seem terrified of death."
"Of course! Haven't I told you countless times how much I fear death?"
"Don't worry."
Wang Jili smiled, picked up the badge from the table, and clasped it in his palm. "You won't die. You're my only friend. Even if I die, you'll survive."
"Bullshit! I'm a one-time-use three-star item. You wouldn't use me before you die? Do you even believe that yourself?"
"I do."
Wang Jili slowly tightened his grip on the badge, whispering, "You're the only friend worth risking my life to protect. I won't let you die."
"Hey, hey, hey! That's a weird thing to say! Why would you risk your life to protect an item?"
"Because you're afraid of dying."
"..."
The badge, clutched in his palm, momentarily fell silent, unsure how to respond.
"Let's go. We have a lot to deal with before dawn, or things will get complicated."
Wang Jili casually picked up his shirt from the sofa, slipped it on, then grabbed his coat from the chair and draped it over his shoulders. He pinned the badge to his chest and strode out of the office.
The four corpses lying in pools of blood and the shattered floor-to-ceiling windows would naturally be taken care of by others.
Tonight had been eventful.
The Ten Thousand Races Arena had spiraled out of control, the Rose Club's Friday Eden Party had commenced, Jiang Cheng Company had burst onto the scene, two terrorist attacks had struck North Creek City on Orange Red Star, Eugenia Star had been carpet-bombed, three miscellaneous goods warehouses had been robbed, and a new king had been crowned on the subhuman star.
Beneath the starry sky, every day brought its own fascinating stories.
As the vibrant nightlife began, signaling the start of unrestrained revelry, it also meant the city's dark underbelly was awakening and going to work.
Each story was merely a tiny fragment of the countless tales unfolding across these planets—a few insignificant threads in the vast tapestry of galactic narratives.
In places unknown,
even more stories were unfolding across these planets, while on countless other worlds beyond, still more tales were unfolding simultaneously.
The beginning of a story often meant the audience's ears perked up, and the passage of life.
Take Chen Jiang, for example, who was currently raising an eyebrow as he gazed at a new story on the galactic forum on his tablet.
(End of the Chapter)
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