Kill

Xue Jin left in the end. Whether or not he had harbored murderous intentions toward Lu Yan, nothing showed on his face. And perhaps because Xue Jin had spoken, Manager Chen did not give Lu Yan any more trouble either. He shot him a vicious glare before leaving.

Lu Yan remained in his seat. Instead of feeling relieved to have escaped disaster, he lowered his head and sank into thought.

Oh, no. Was he going to die at Xue Jin's hands in his second round of the game?

The man had money and influence, knives and needles, and Lu Yan could not even call the police. What the hell kind of game was this?

Jiang Kangkang had no idea what was going through Lu Yan's mind. He dragged his chair over, discreetly nudged Lu Yan's arm, and said with palpable relief, "Good thing there's a board meeting this morning. Manager Chen was afraid of making a bigger mess. Otherwise, this wouldn't have blown over so easily."

Lu Yan asked instinctively, "What board meeting?"

Jiang Kangkang gave him an odd look. "The island tourism development project. They've been preparing it for more than half a year. Mr. Jiang wants to expand into tourism, but the shareholders think the investment is too big and have refused to agree. Today's board meeting is to vote on it. That's why Skinflint Chen wouldn't dare go looking for trouble right now."

As if to prove his point, a commotion suddenly arose in the hallway outside. The elevator doors opened with a ding, and several men in suits filed out. At their head was none other than Jiang Boyun. He was speaking quietly with a gray-haired middle-aged man, a smile on his face and every inch the deferential junior.

Jiang Kangkang had picked up plenty of gossip over the past few days and could not wait to share it with Lu Yan. "Hey, see that old guy? That's Lin Hongjing from Dingyou Group. In this city's tourism industry, he's the biggest name there is."

He raised a thumb, but his attention was on the woman obediently following at Lin Hongjing's side. "His precious daughter has been getting pretty cozy with Chairman Jiang lately. If it weren't for that, Lin Hongjing would never have agreed to split off the island project for a partnership. With him showing Chairman Jiang the ropes and opening doors, Chairman Jiang has saved himself a lot of trouble."

There was something pointed in the latter part of that statement. It did not sound like praise at all.

Lu Yan looked out through the window and saw Xue Jin quietly following behind Jiang Boyun. Everyone in the company knew that he was not only the chairman's right-hand man, but also his mouthpiece. Whenever Jiang Boyun had something inconvenient to say or do, he handled it through Xue Jin. His future was as bright as could be.

Yet a man like that was playing the fugitive alongside Yu Zechuan.

Lu Yan thought of his side quest again.

Investigate Xue Jin's identity.

Who exactly was Xue Jin? What was his relationship with Yu Zechuan? And why would he give up such a promising future to help him get revenge?

Questions surfaced one after another, but none could be answered.

Lu Yan worked distractedly all day. Near quitting time, lightning suddenly flashed beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, splitting the gray clouds apart. Countless raindrops pattered against the glass, blurring the cold office towers outside.

The once-quiet office immediately stirred up, complaints rising one after another.

"What the hell? It's raining..."

"I didn't even bring an umbrella..."

"Whatever. We're definitely working late again today anyway. Maybe it'll stop in a little while..."

Hearing that, Lu Yan checked the time on his phone and realized it was already quitting time. He picked up his laptop bag, ready to leave. Jiang Kangkang's eyes widened in shock, and he hurriedly grabbed him. "Hey, Lu Yan, we're working late today!"

Lu Yan patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck!"

Jiang Kangkang: "???"

Working overtime was impossible. He would never work overtime in this lifetime.

Before Manager Chen noticed, Lu Yan clocked out and left. Xue Jin and Jiang Boyun were both in the conference room for a meeting. If he did not run now, when would he? If he stayed late and ran into them, he would be dead whether he deserved it or not.

It was pouring outside, so he could not ride his bike. Lu Yan felt the two hundred yuan Jiang Kangkang had lent him in his pocket, then decided to splurge and hailed a taxi home.

Because of the overcast sky, it was already dark by six o'clock. The driver would not turn into the maze of alleys farther in, so Lu Yan could only get out at the intersection.

"Rumble-"

Thunder suddenly exploded overhead, making his heart jump.

Lu Yan hurried home, his shoes splashing through puddles. As though he had remembered something, he glanced back. The street behind him was empty. Only then did he look away and keep walking, turning into the alley on the right.

After Lu Yan left, a black-clad figure appeared at the mouth of the alley at some unknown moment. The person's face was completely obscured by a mask and baseball cap, and in that blurred, rainy night, they were inexplicably chilling.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps...

Lu Yan finally reached the bottom of his apartment building. He took the elevator upstairs and pulled out his keys as he prepared to go inside. But the moment he opened the door, a powerful force suddenly came from behind and shoved him violently into the apartment.

Bang!

He lost his balance and slammed into the table, knocking it askew. A gust of wind cut past his ear.

But Lu Yan seemed to have been prepared. He rolled across the floor, sprang up, and seized the blade that had been aimed at his back. The dagger sliced open his palm, sending a sharp burst of pain through him.

Lu Yan's gaze was fierce as he stared down the man in black who had broken into his home. Through gritted teeth, he spat out two words. "Xue Jin!"

The man in black froze. Recovering, he immediately pulled out his dagger and stabbed at Lu Yan, every strike meant to kill. Their bodies tangled in the cramped rental apartment, objects clattering and crashing all around them. During the fight, Lu Yan's phone slipped from his pocket and hit the floor. Its screen cracked into a web, and a faint red light flashed in its upper-right corner.

Xue Jin was not as skilled as Yu Zechuan. Fighting Lu Yan, he could not gain even the slightest advantage. Seeing that too much time had passed, he took advantage of a moment of separation to pull a syringe from his pocket and jab it toward Lu Yan's neck. Lu Yan kicked his wrist, and the syringe flew away.

"You already used that move last time!"

Lu Yan spoke coldly, then lunged forward and pinned Xue Jin hard against the window. Rain poured down outside, and half of Xue Jin's body was hanging out the window. His black baseball cap fell from the high-rise, revealing eyes that were refined yet full of killing intent.

Lu Yan's palm had been cut by the dagger. Blood streamed through his fingers, vivid and glaring. He tightened his grip around Xue Jin's neck as cold rain lashed his face, washing away the thickening scent of blood in the air.

"What is your relationship with Yu Zechuan?!"

Xue Jin froze at the question. He panted harshly, both hands forced to grip the window ledge to keep from falling. "Shouldn't you be asking why I want to kill you?"

Lu Yan had already prepared for the worst-case scenario of restarting the game. But before he died, he had to get some useful information: Xue Jin's identity, the answer to his side quest, and the fifty-point reward.

"You're trying to kill me because you're afraid I'll call the police and expose Yu Zechuan. Right now, I only want to know what your relationship with him is."

Xue Jin asked with hostility, "Why should I tell you?"

Half seriously and half in jest, Lu Yan said, "I like Yu Zechuan. I want to know whether you like him too. Otherwise, why would you give up such a promising future to get revenge with him?"

Xue Jin apparently thought Lu Yan was a love-addled fool. His expression became extraordinarily strange for an instant. "What if I don't tell you?"

Rain blew in from outside, soaking Lu Yan through. His jaw was tight, and in the darkness, his handsome face bore a hint of indifference toward human life. "This is the eighth floor. You can try me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he deliberately loosened his hold a little. Pulled by gravity, Xue Jin's body began to drop uncontrollably. The world spun before his eyes. The howling wind eight floors above ground lashed painfully at his cheeks, and he cried out in panic, "I'll tell you! Pull me up!"

Xue Jin was a shrewd businessman. He was not as resolute and unyielding as Yu Zechuan. Of course he would not throw away his life over a piece of information that was "important, but not that important."

Lu Yan grabbed his collar and hauled Xue Jin up a little, though most of his body was still hanging outside. "You first."

Xue Jin knew he had been too hasty and underestimated his enemy this time. He silently gritted his teeth, then finally forced out, unwillingly and with difficulty, "My mother..."

Xue Jin paused before finishing the sentence, his face especially ugly. "My mother was Yu Zechuan's father's mistress."

Lu Yan frowned slightly. "You're an illegitimate son of the Yu family?"

Xue Jin gave a self-mocking laugh. "An illegitimate son? If I really were one, that would be better. But sorry to disappoint you. I'm just a bastard who doesn't even know who his biological father is."

Xue Jin's mother had been a socialite. Back then, besides Yu Zechuan's father, who supported her, she had many other lovers in the nightlife scene. She did not know which of them she had gotten tangled up with when she accidentally became pregnant. Unable to bear an abortion, she could only carry the child to term.

Yu Zechuan's father happened to die in a car accident less than a month earlier, leaving no proof either way. For some reason, Xue Jin's mother brought the child to the Yu family and falsely claimed he was one of them, hoping to claim a share of the inheritance.

But the Yu family patriarch was no fool. He immediately arranged for a paternity test. The result was predictable. Xue Jin's mother fled in terror. She did not even take the child with her, abandoning him at the hospital.

Xue Jin's eyes went unfocused for a moment, as though he had remembered something from long ago. "I was supposed to be sent to an orphanage. But the Yu family patriarch found an old employee at Yinchuan Group to adopt me. He knew I was a good student and spent a great deal of money supporting my studies abroad. He even had me call him Grandpa, just like Zechuan did."

"My adoptive father was good to me. Grandpa was good to me too..."

"But do you know what I saw when I came back after finishing my studies abroad? My grandpa died from a heart attack! My father was falsely accused of embezzling more than a billion yuan in company funds, and he was driven to jump straight off a rooftop! Jiang Boyun did all of it!!"

For an instant, Xue Jin's refined face twisted. No matter how beautiful someone was, once hatred stained them, they became unrecognizable. He glared at Lu Yan with bitter hatred. "And you. You're his accomplice!"

"Lu Yan, you deserve to die just as much as Jiang Boyun!"

Xue Jin was an orphan, which made this family bond, unbound by blood, all the more precious to him. A kind grandfather. A diligent, grounded adoptive father. He had spent more than twenty years studying hard and making something of himself, yet before he could repay them, everything had vanished like smoke.

Jiang Boyun had destroyed not only Yu Zechuan's life, but Xue Jin's as well.

Two young men who had once had boundless futures had been driven by him onto a road of no return.

After Xue Jin finished speaking, silence fell completely. At the same time, the System's cold notification sounded in Lu Yan's ear.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have completed the side quest!]

[Xue Jin's identity has been successfully investigated. The reward of 50 points has been credited. You may exchange them for needed items in the Shop at any time!]

Lu Yan was about to pull Xue Jin up from the window ledge when heavy, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded in the hallway outside. They came closer and closer, as though someone were rushing this way.

This building was about to be demolished, and Lu Yan was the only person living on the eighth floor. No one would ordinarily come here. Remembering something, Lu Yan instinctively looked at the phone with its shattered screen on the floor, his pupils contracting slightly.

Oh, no! It was Yu Zechuan!