Chapter 77

Chapter Forty: The Dark Sea (4K Chapter)

　　Of course, Murong Yi wasn’t dumb enough to let Bai Ling just stroll up to him. Right after leaving the little tea pavilion halfway up the mountain, the ambush troops immediately launched their attack.

　　Bai Ling stopped in her tracks and said to Yuan Xiaoling, “I’ll handle the control, you do the reaping.”

　　”Eh? Why?” The Blonde-haired Maiden had been hoping to slack off.

　　”To make you feel involved.”

　　That was a flimsy excuse. The real reason was that soon enough, things wouldn’t be this easy anymore. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

　　At this point in time, apart from areas controlled by old-established families, ability users elsewhere had no concept of mental invasion—or at least hadn’t encountered super high-level ones.

　　Later on, once everyone’s spiritual awakening occurred, the first thing they’d do was use their energy to protect their own consciousness, rendering time-stops less effective.

　　Now though…

　　Buzz!

　　A wave of psychic disturbance swept through the mountainside like wind. Dozens of ambushers who were charging forward froze mid-step.

　　Bai Ling turned around to look at the Blonde-haired Maiden. “Your turn now.”

　　”Alright, if it’s me, then here goes!”

　　Hundred Birds Illusion! Appear, my animal friends!

　　Chain Explosion! Explode, my… emmm, wait, is this too mean to my friends? Let’s switch moves.

　　True Dragon Manifestation!

　　Dozens of third-tier and second-tier Spiritual Energy Manipulators remained frozen mid-charge. A colossal Water Dragon rampaged through the crowd, its fearsome dragon head swallowing people whole with zero resistance.

　　The Fierce Face rushed onto the scene just in time to witness this bizarre spectacle.

　　”What have you done!”

　　”Counterattack, can’t you see?” Yuan Xiaoling looked at him like he was an idiot. “What’s wrong? You set up an ambush for us, but we’re not allowed to fight back?”

　　Fierce Face didn’t have time to think much further, roaring furiously as he lifted his petrified arms and charged toward the water dragon.

　　”Bai Ling!” Yuan Xiaoling called out urgently. “I don’t think I can beat him!”

　　”Hmm, yeah, you really can’t,” Bai Ling responded instantly.

　　Peak third-tier, fully completed, versus early fourth-tier—it sounded like a small gap, but each tier difference represented a major leap in power. Moreover, tiers three and four weren’t part of the beginner stages anymore. Even a single mid-tier jump could create a significant disparity.

　　Fierce Face could sense it too—the energy within the water dragon hadn’t reached fourth-tier yet, making himself the stronger party.

　　With this rock-solid body, he would unleash absolute force to…

　　Squish! A petrified head fell to the ground.

　　Fierce Face had charged recklessly, eyes only on the water dragon, and slammed straight into an invisible telekinetic blade. Like cutting jade with a glass knife, his head was cleanly severed.

　　If the gap between peak third-tier and early fourth-tier was already enormous, then the gap between early fourth-tier and mid fifth-tier was nothing short of cataclysmic.

　　”Mission accomplished.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling withdrew the water dragon, and thus, all the ambushers on the mountainside were wiped out.

　　It happened so fast, it could even be described as instant slaughter. So when Bai Ling and Yuan Xiaoling arrived at the teahouse atop the mountain, Murong Yi and Yi Jie were still leisurely drinking tea.

　　Seeing them arrive, the teacup in Murong Yi’s hand slipped and shattered on the ground.

　　”How did you two…”

　　”Obviously, we killed our way up here,” Yuan Xiaoling blinked innocently. “What else? Not like we bribed your men or anything.”

　　The latter was far less plausible due to the lack of time, so… Murong Yi’s hands trembled.

　　Compared to his reaction, Yi Jie was even worse off. She never expected Bai Ling to break through the encirclement and reach this place.

　　”It’s impossible, impossible! They had two fourth-tier…”

　　”Yeah, two fourth-tiers, scary stuff,” Yuan Xiaoling patted her chest. “Good thing our Bai Ling is fifth-tier.”

　　Yi Jie froze.

　　She had once attempted to probe Bai Ling with her perception abilities, but her limits only revealed a blur, proving the other was stronger—possibly above third-tier.

　　Thought fourth-tier was the max…

　　”Miss Bai Ling, please forgive me.” Realizing the situation, Yi Jie quickly reacted, lowering herself humbly to beg for mercy. “You know, I was forced into this.”

　　”You know what they say, adaptability defines brilliance.”

　　Both spoke simultaneously, causing Yuan Xiaoling to frown. “Shouldn’t you be saying that line instead?”

　　Why’d she change the wording?

　　Bai Ling didn’t even glance at Yi Jie, merely raising a hand lightly. Telekinesis gripped the traitor by the neck, lifting her into the air before snapping her neck with a crisp crack.

　　Just like how the Zhang family met their end.

　　Yuan Xiaoling noticed Bai Ling liked using this move when killing chickens.

　　Next, the White-haired Maiden sat opposite the sweating Murong Yi, pouring herself a cup of tea.

　　”Alright, now it’s time for us to talk.”

　　She pushed the teacup toward Murong Yi, speaking indifferently. “You know what I want to find out. You’ve got until the tea cools.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling poured herself a cup as well, sipping it thoughtfully. Hmmmmm, pretty fragrant—not bad, definitely something rich folks drink.

　　Murong Yi paused briefly, wiping sweat from his brow. “I don’t know what you’re asking about…”

　　Bai Ling smirked slightly, sighing suddenly.

　　”How could I forget, your level of spiritual awareness is rather weak.”

　　A flash of crimson light passed through her eyes, and Murong Yi instantly felt an excruciating pain as if needles were piercing his brain. His pupils shrank to pinpoints as he curled up and collapsed on the ground.

　　”Aaah! Aaaahhh!”

　　An unpleasant smell wafted through the air—he’d lost control of his bladder.

　　Two minutes later, Murong Yi was seated again—not by his own will, but lifted there by Bai Ling’s telekinesis.

　　”Now, you should feel inclined to speak.”

　　Half a minute passed, and Murong Yi’s vacant eyes flickered.

　　”Your parents… it wasn’t us who acted against them.”

　　”I know, don’t pretend to be innocent,” Bai Ling said impatiently. “Start from the beginning, hurry up, the tea’s getting cold.”

　　”That’s right,” Yuan Xiaoling chimed in from the side. “Speed it up.”

　　”Your parents always disapproved of our methods, thinking we made black-hearted money. Including the dispute over the factory ten years ago, which wasn’t even related to them, yet they insisted on sticking their noses in. We all thought your family was looking for an opportunity to strike against us as competitors.”

　　Murong Yi’s expression remained vacant as he continued haltingly. “Wang Xingsheng tried recruiting your parents, proposing we all work together under Tianhai City’s umbrella, becoming fabulously wealthy together. But the meeting ended in discord, and that’s when we realized your parents were idealists.”

　　”And then you decided to kill them?” Bai Ling asked coldly. “Is this where the dark forest theory began? Against two ordinary people?”

　　”No, not at first. For a long time, we limited ourselves to commercial strikes, until recent years during the Chamber of Commerce preparations.”

　　”Wang Xingsheng kept trying to invite your parents, but not only did they refuse, they believed that once the chamber was formed, Tianhai City’s supply chains would be monopolized, leading the entire market into a downward spiral. Thus, they interfered.”

　　”They were right,” Yuan Xiaoling interjected. “Look at your chamber—they’re all cronies. Locally produced goods are pure garbage.”

　　Murong Yi didn’t argue, remaining silent for half a minute before continuing. “From that moment on, we started considering how to eliminate this threat, but no one came up with a concrete plan. Until one day, a family from another province came to Tianhai City to discuss cooperation with us.”

　　Bai Ling frowned slightly.

　　”He heard about our upcoming chamber establishment and proposed a partnership to jointly develop Tianhai City. After the chamber was formed, the Tianhai City market would be under our sole control, allowing us to set our own rules.”

　　”What exactly does Tianhai City have?” Bai Ling asked.

　　She realized something was off. In her previous life, there had been some doubts about why several families flooded into Tianhai City after the collapse of the Hai Tian Chamber, engaging in a decade-long civil war to seize control of the city—a conflict that continued even before her rebirth.

　　What were they after?

　　”I don’t know,” Murong Yi shook his head and continued. “We mentioned your parents’ names, saying they had consistently obstructed the formation of the chamber. At that point, they suggested taking care of the problem themselves; all we needed to do was provide their whereabouts.”

　　”They acted swiftly. We witnessed firsthand how effortlessly ability users dealt with everything, perfectly disguising the scene as an accident. No one except the parties involved would notice anything unusual. This event left a profound impact and inspiration on us, so after the chamber was established, we used our resources to rapidly recruit ability users within Tianhai City.”

　　Bai Ling closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

　　She had considered many possibilities, including the notion that her parents might have been entangled in some earth-shattering conspiracy. But when the fog cleared and the clues became clear, the truth was simply a result of basic conflicts of interest.

　　She suddenly felt overwhelmed, because it all seemed so unworthy—if the era of spiritual energy had come a few years earlier, if Tianhai City had been impacted sooner, the old market rules would have ceased to exist, and her parents wouldn’t have met their end.

　　But there are no ifs in life. Fate dragged along its last sacrifices right before the culling point.

　　Truly, an ironic mockery.

　　Bai Ling’s shoulders trembled slightly as she sensed her emotions slipping toward madness… but the next second, she felt her head enveloped in something soft and fluffy.

　　Opening her eyes, she saw Yuan Xiaoling hugging her head, burying it into her fragrant, soft bosom, cooing softly in a cute voice:

　　”Yosshi yosshi, yosshi yosshi.”

　　Bai Ling took a deep breath, the floral and milky scent driving away chaos and madness.

　　”Thank you, that’s enough.”

　　Though she said that, she had no intention of moving from the embrace, maintaining the position as she asked Murong Yi, “Which family contacted you in Tianhai City?”

　　”The Yun Family.” Murong Yi said expressionlessly, completely oblivious to everything happening before him.

　　Bai Ling chuckled coldly. “The Yun Family, haha, figured it would be them.”

　　In her previous life, the man who ultimately betrayed Xin Lan and led a three-day siege against her was the then-leader of the Yun Family.

　　Great, there’d be a final reckoning to settle.

　　At that moment, Yuan Xiaoling’s mobile phone buzzed. It was He Shu finally freeing his hands to continue his story.

　　[Locked Love Flame: A few days later, the supervisor from the factory brought people to us, claiming we mishandled the machinery and caused damage, demanding compensation. Already upset, we fought them, injuring quite a few people.

　　Then the nightmare began.

　　The day after the fight, suddenly many journalists showed up. They stormed into the village, into the hospital, surrounding each of us, or anyone who knew us, asking about every negative aspect of our lives, like sharks smelling blood.]

　　Yuan Xiaoling’s eyelids twitched.

　　He Shu sent another message with a picture link. Upon opening it, they saw screenshots of newspaper and online reports from back then—

　　[Tianhai Daily: Factory assembly-line workers caused an accident due to staying up all night at a Killamarth gathering, falling asleep at work.]

　　[Tianhai Evening News: How much influence does bad culture have? Focus on the factory 230 incident, where Killamarth youth caused disaster!]

　　[Tianhai Business News: Beware of thug culture in urban-rural fringe areas—it may destroy you!]

　　[Tianhai Youth Observer: Yesterday, a group of Killamarth youth from the countryside engaged in violent conflict, allegedly due to malicious claims for damages…]

　　”Shit!”

　　Even a beautiful girl like Yuan Xiaoling couldn’t help but curse upon seeing these things.

　　”Hey, Mr. Murong over there, why didn’t you compensate for the workplace injury back then?”

　　Since the war criminal was right there, she asked straightforwardly.

　　Murong Yi raised his blank eyelids slightly. “If we didn’t have to compensate, why should we?”

　　This question left Yuan Xiaoling speechless.

　　So shameless!

　　”You didn’t give compensation, but didn’t you spend a lot anyway?” she still couldn’t understand. “Hiring lawyers, hiring thugs, buying media coverage, hiring internet trolls—all those things cost money, right?”

　　Murong Yi shook his head. “Didn’t spend much. Our Chamber alliance has existed privately for a long time. Everyone helps to maintain common interests. Some provide lawyers, others provide thugs, reporters, newspapers, journalists, and editors.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling’s mouth twitched.

　　Wow, so many people were implicated. Looks like He Shu’s target truly was the entire Chamber.

　　”Besides, if we compensated for workplace injuries, it would mean we admitted there was a quality issue with the machines, leading to forced machine replacements, fines, business suspension, employee resignations, recruitment difficulties, and more.” Murong Yi added with drooping eyelids.

　　”But your machines did have quality issues,” Yuan Xiaoling retorted. “The procurement department took kickbacks and refused to admit fault.”

　　Murong Yi remained silent.

　　At this point, the phone buzzed again—it was another message from He Shu.

　　[Locked Love Flame: After that, wherever we went, people around us would say something. They didn’t understand about internet trolls or propaganda; they believed everything in the newspapers, thinking that if it was printed, it must be true.

　　Every day, we heard all sorts of nasty comments. Village children made rhymes about us for fun. We big men managed to endure, but some girls… weren’t as strong.]

　　Yuan Xiaoling immediately thought of the woman wearing a blonde wig in He Shu’s QQ photo album who had taken a picture with him.

　　[Lemon Lemon: Uncle He, was that girl your…]

　　He Shu didn’t reply. A few minutes later, he sent another message.

　　[Locked Love Flame: That day, standing before her, seeing her forever-closed eyes, I suddenly saw the world clearly for the first time.

　　Do you know? Actually, there’s no such thing as a dark forest. The world we live in is more like a dark ocean, where everyone is a lurking shark.

　　In this world, you don’t need to hide your abilities, strength, or anything else. What you need to hide is only one thing—your wounds.

　　When you’re hurt, the whole world becomes your enemy.]

　　Yuan Xiaoling read these words and felt a chill run down her spine.

　　She remembered what happened when she returned to school after Labor Day. Initially, Zhang Shanshan posted lies about her, resulting in thousands of replies filled with criticism and condemnation. When the truth came out, posts criticizing Zhang Shanshan spanned multiple pages.

　　[Locked Love Flame: But I don’t blame them because people are fair, sharks are fair. Unless silenced, people will equally treat every wound.

　　Do you know? Actually, Hai Tian Chamber, this giant of Tianhai City, isn’t as resilient as it seems.

　　Destroying them isn’t that hard. I don’t need to kill any boss. All I need to do is carve a wound on it, like Zhang Jiao did, and then expose it to the world. The rest can be left to the sharks.

　　Now, I’m going to start.]

　　He Shu finally sent a live-streaming room link.