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Zhou Chen chuckled, his tone light and easy, as if what he had just asked was nothing more than asking Xu Yuan what they should have for dinner tonight? It was as though, to him, killing a man really was that effortless.
Xu Yuan lowered his eyes to Xue Yong sprawled on the floor and frowned faintly. Ever since transmigrating here, everything he had seen while traveling with Ran Qingmo had pushed his tolerance higher and higher. He had already reached a pretty ridiculous threshold for shock.
And yet the scene in front of him still made him uncomfortable. This was the first time he had seen someone collapse in such a miserable state right before his eyes. One moment ago, the man had still been calm and composed, his gaze full of contempt. The next, pain had twisted his face out of shape, and fear had crept into his eyes.
Terrified, Xue Yong tried his best to stifle his screams, struggling not to disturb the two people beside him. But the pain-bleached pallor on his warped face, along with the arm that had been folded into eight sections by that strange force, was still horribly clear to see.
Xu Yuan steadied himself, then looked across at Zhou Chen and let out a soft laugh. “So you’re actually willing to help me?”
The meaning behind Zhou Chen’s earlier headshake had been obvious. With Xu Yuan’s newly entered ninth rank cultivation, there was no way he could break through the defense of Xue Yong, who stood at peak sixth rank.
If he had kept fighting, he would only have humiliated himself. But Zhou Chen had stepped in. That surprised Xu Yuan. Just like that shadowy little voyeur hiding in the dark, Zhou Chen could have easily chosen to sit back and watch. Even if Xu Yuan had been thoroughly embarrassed here, it would not have affected Zhou Chen in the slightest.
Zhou Chen lifted his wine gourd, took a swig, and said with a grin, “Heh, you’ve been treating me to such a fine time at the Drunken Immortal Tower for so long. I ought to do something in return.”
“Oh, really?” Xu Yuan smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
It was a reason, at least. The Drunken Immortal Tower was the most extravagant pleasure house in Stillwater. Just reserving the top floor for a single day cost 100 taels of silver. That did not include wine or women.
Xu Yuan had been staying here for two full ten-day stretches already, and the silver he had thrown around had to be at least 3,000 taels by now.
This world had not fallen behind in productivity. Its technology tree had simply grown crooked. In some respects, it even surpassed the world Xu Yuan had lived in before. But for ordinary people, making more than 20 taels in a year was already difficult. Even an expert on Zhou Chen’s level probably only earned a few thousand taels a month.
“Third Young Master, so what’s it going to be? Cripple him, or kill him?” Zhou Chen asked again with a grin.
Seeing that, Xu Yuan stopped dwelling on it and glanced at Xue Yong, who lay on the ground like a dead dog.
Back in his previous life, there had been old employees in his father’s company who looked down on him for being young and liked to obey in public while dragging their feet in private. Xu Yuan’s way of dealing with that was usually just making life difficult for them a little and docking their pay. Even if things really turned ugly, at most he would only ruin their prospects in the industry.
The mindset from his previous life made Xu Yuan feel that what had already been done to Xue Yong was punishment enough. But when the words reached his lips, he caught the look in the man’s eyes, swallowed them back down, and let out a faint laugh as he turned toward the door.
Damn it. Now Zhou Chen’s testing me too.
It seemed that after being dragged back by Ran Qingmo and ending up with everything he had now, there were still simply too many suspicious points around him. Given the Third Young Master’s sensitive, violent temperament, there was no way he would have let Xue Yong walk away alive in a situation like this.
One thing on its own might not matter much. But enough small things piled together, and sooner or later they would.
Xu Yuan pushed open the door, paused, then glanced back over his shoulder. “I do not wish to see this man again.”
With that, he stepped out of the private room without another word.
“Heh heh.” Zhou Chen looked at Xu Yuan’s retreating figure and broke into a wide grin, even happier than before.
In sharp contrast to that smile, the terror in Xue Yong’s eyes had already spilled over. He did not want to die. He could not die here because of that useless Third Young Master! He was a genius, a genius who had already reached the peak of the Iron Body Realm at only 22 years old.
As long as he completed this protection assignment and received the cultivation resources issued by the Chancellor’s Manor, he would absolutely be able to break through to the fifth rank.
The Fourth Miss thought highly of him, and he was still so young. If his cultivation advanced another step, then perhaps, just perhaps, he might even have the slightest chance of winning her favor.
The moment Xu Yuan’s words fell, Xue Yong endured the agony in his arm and hurriedly blurted out in a trembling voice, “No, no! Honored Zhou, you can’t kill me. Even if I was disrespectful to the Third Young Master this time, by the rules, crippling one hand is already the harshest punishment possible. I know I was wrong. If you kill me, then according to the rules set by the Chancellor, you’ll be punished too!”
Listening to Xue Yong’s final desperate struggle, Zhou Chen let the smile fade from his face and nodded in firm agreement. “Yes, you’re right.”
Without rules, nothing would hold its shape. The Chancellor’s Manor was a vast web of interests. Naturally, there was no way it could function without rules. If every powerful expert could kill the people beneath them whenever they pleased, that whole structure would have fallen apart long ago.
Xue Yong was a genius. If Zhou Chen killed a peak sixth rank talent without cause, he probably would not have to pay with his life or end up in prison, but losing a year’s worth of cultivation resources and salary would be unavoidable.
Seeing this, Xue Yong let out a breath of relief and forced a smile onto his face.
But in the very next moment, Zhou Chen suddenly flashed him a grin and said cheerfully, “But the one who wants you dead is the Third Young Master. What does that have to do with me?”
Xue Yong’s smile froze.
Looking at the ugly panic on Xue Yong’s face, Zhou Chen slowly crouched down in front of him and gently shook his head. “Xue Yong, just how little do you think of the Third Young Master? I remember the Fourth Miss saying you were clever. And yet you cannot even see through something this simple?”
Xue Yong went still. That was right. Right now, it was the Third Young Master who wanted to kill him, not Zhou Chen.
Would the Third Young Master pay a price for killing him? Yes. A steep one.
By the rules, the Third Young Master would lose ten years of allowance, get whipped, and be locked in confinement. But confinement? Who would dare do that? If they actually locked that little tyrant up, he was the kind of lunatic who, with an ordinary mortal body, would smash his own head against a wall just to see which one was harder.
And his allowance? How could a mere 100 taels a month possibly support his daily life of wine and women here at the Drunken Immortal Tower?
Xue Yong suddenly whipped his head toward the door, only to see the private room’s wooden door shut tight. He was finished. The Drunken Immortal Tower was very well soundproofed. Instinctively, he began circulating his cultivation art, trying to force his voice outward so he could beg the Third Young Master for mercy.
“Thi...”
SMACK! Apparently finding it all boring, Zhou Chen casually slapped his palm against Xue Yong’s forehead.
Watching Xue Yong’s body go limp, Zhou Chen rose, called over the other guards, casually explained what had happened, and then left under the shocked, fearful stares of the group.
After stepping out of the private room, Zhou Chen walked straight to the railing that ringed the tower’s deep central atrium.
Xu Yuan was already standing there, looking down below.
Zhou Chen came to stand beside him, resting both arms on the rail, and said offhandedly, “Third Young Master, it’s taken care of. Though there may be some trouble from the Fourth Miss’s side. She seemed to think quite highly of Xue Yong.”
Xu Yuan glanced sideways at him, amusement in his voice. “Think highly of him? So what if she did? If my mother hadn’t insisted back then on taking that bitch in as an adopted daughter, she’d probably be off in some brothel selling smiles by now. She’s nothing but a picked-up stray.”
