The Atavist families had invited Zhou Yongzi here for one reason only: to provoke Chu Xusheng, rattle him, and warn him to make his choice soon. They had not told her to do anything beyond that.

“If she dares to pull something like this, then she must have come fully prepared. If Chu Xusheng has any sense, he’ll avoid this fight,” Feng Yilian said, folding up his Rubik’s Cube.

“As if anyone could hold back!” Tang Qiaoqiao snapped, arms folded tight across her chest. “I’ve never seen a woman this disgusting. Back when we were kids, I should’ve knocked every tooth out of her mouth.”

Everyone could tell something was off. If someone acted out of character, there was always a reason. Zhou Yongzi had definitely come prepared—maybe even ready to kill Chu Xusheng

And yet no one stopped her.

They only watched.

Chu Xusheng looked as if he had lost the ability to think. He stood on the arena platform, glaring at Zhou Yongzi so hard his dreamlike eyes had gone bloodshot.

Zhou Yongzi kept that same provoking smile on her face as she walked up into the ring under everyone’s gaze.

Jing Pei watched from the stands, the curve of her mouth turning harder to read.

At last, the real show was beginning.

At the same time, a livestream quietly went live on one of the streaming platforms.

“Chu Xusheng, let’s clear up the misunderstanding between us right here.”

“Mis…understanding?”

“Of course it’s a misunderstanding. But then again…” Zhou Yongzi’s eyes gleamed with malice. “Forget it. There’s no point wasting words. What’s right and what’s evil—those are written by the winner.”

She smiled wider.

“So let’s see who wins.”

The moment the words landed, the clash began.

Chu Xusheng vanished from where he stood. The killing intent pouring off him was so thick it almost looked red. He lunged straight at Zhou Yongzi, wanting nothing but to tear her apart and avenge his sister.

Zhou Yongzi didn’t panic in the slightest.

She lifted one hand. A black ring flew from her fingertips, spinning as it expanded. Just as Chu Xusheng closed in, an arm shot out from inside it and nearly clamped around his throat. He jerked aside and sprang back at once, landing a short distance away with his guard up.

That arm was enormous, thick with muscle, tipped with sharp black nails. It looked powerful enough to crush bone. First came the arm, then the head, then the broad body. The black feathers covering him were so dense they looked forged from night itself. With the spread of his wings, he seemed larger than any human.

The spectators were stunned. A wave of shocked voices broke out around the arena.

They had all guessed Zhou Yongzi must have prepared something to kill Chu Xusheng.

What they had not expected was this—

she had brought in a Demon Atavist to fight for her.

And judging by his form, his atavist level had to be above eighty percent.

“Hang on,” Tang Qiaoqiao shouted at once. “Bringing in outside help like this has to be against the rules!”

“How is it against the rules?” Zhou Yongzi shot back. “I came up here alone. I summoned him myself. Why doesn’t that count as my strength? Luck is part of strength. If I can summon powerful help, that’s my ability too.”

“That’s bullshit,” Tang Qiaoqiao snapped. “Since when do you have summoning skills? That black thing came from another Atavist, didn’t it?”

The Snake Atavists had no such ability.

There were all kinds of strange Atavists in this world, and some of them truly did possess bizarre powers that made no sense. Among those powers, summoning was hardly rare.

Just as Wu Ying’s tortoise shell and Jing Pei’s reverse scale could be removed and lent to others, the black object Zhou Yongzi had just used had also been borrowed from another Atavist.

Inside, Zhou Yongzi cursed Tang Qiaoqiao out. Then she looked at Chu Xusheng with a taunting smile.

“If you’re scared, then surrender. I won’t hold your slander against you. We’ll call it even.”

Even?

The moment those shameless words left her mouth, there was no way Chu Xusheng would surrender.

He charged again.

“I’ll leave him to you,” Zhou Yongzi said to the Demon Atavist in front of her.

“I can hardly wait.” The Demon Atavist ran his tongue over his black lips. His scarlet eyes gleamed with a thrill-seeking madness as he met his opponent with lazy confidence and brutal force

The instant they exchanged blows, everyone saw the gap.

This Demon Atavist was far superior to Chu Xusheng in both combat experience and control of his atavist power. In front of him, Chu Xusheng really was only a raw fifteen-year-old boy. Even his illusions had no effect.

Worse than that, every move the Demon Atavist made carried lethal intent.

He was fighting to kill.

“This guy…” Chen Mo said, shaken. “He’s not some mercenary, is he?”

“If he is, then he’s a madman,” Feng Yilian said, his brows furrowed.

Like the Angel Atavists, Demon Atavists were highly sought after in the West. For someone with an atavist level this high to turn his back on wealth, privilege, admiration, and comfort and go become a mercenary instead, there could only be one explanation.

Something was twisted in him.

More than money, more than status, what he loved most was killing.

And the way he fought proved it.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Even a ring built specially for combat was shedding chunks of stone, dust rising with the mist of blood.

Chu Xusheng hit the ground, only to be hauled back up by that huge hand and slammed down again. A tail-stinger lashed in from behind, and the Demon Atavist caught it in one hand, pinned it beneath his foot, and ground down hard, as if he meant to snap it outright.

Chu Xusheng refused to cry out.

But everyone watching could feel the pain in every blow.

…

While Zhou Qian was still busy at home, someone informed him that Zhou Yongzi had run off to Wu Ying’s birthday banquet. He snatched the tablet out of their hands, saw the livestream, and felt his temples begin to pound.

“Who taught her this?” Zhou Qian demanded.

Where had Zhou Yongzi borrowed that summoning medium? Where had she found a mercenary? From the look of things, she had to have contacted the Demon mercenary beforehand and arranged it in advance. Otherwise there was no way she could have summoned him so precisely.

That was when he learned Zhou Yongzi had bought information from the information broker. He logged into her email account and saw the exchange for himself.

Judging from the messages, the broker had merely done business. Nothing seemed wrong on the surface. And the few pieces of information they had provided could be strung together by even an idiot into a tight, effective plan.

If everything went smoothly, it really might kill Chu Xusheng.

And yet—

“Contact the Wu family right now and ask them to stop Yongzi!”

But one of the retainers spoke up. “Young Master, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Don’t make the wrong decision because your heart softens at the wrong moment. If you show mercy to an enemy, that’s cruelty to your own family. Have you forgotten Fifth Master?”

Zhou Qian’s atavist purity was high, and his talent in every area was excellent. His one flaw was that he was too soft-hearted

That made him something of an anomaly in the Zhou family.

Pain flashed across Zhou Qian’s face.

Zhou Yikai. Fifth Uncle. When he was little, that man had sat him on his knee, told him stories, let him ride on his shoulders…

“And besides,” the retainer pressed on, “the people from the other families may not let him die anyway. We’d be better off getting in touch with the streaming platform and shutting down the broadcast.”

“But…”

“Young Master—which side are you on?”

The retainer’s voice struck like a whip.

Zhou Qian had no answer.

He took two steps back.

…

“At this rate, Chu Xusheng’s going to be beaten to death. What a waste. If he belonged to our family, I could step in.”

“Chu Xusheng—just say the word, and I’ll go down there and beat him for you!”

Only now, when Chu Xusheng had been beaten to the edge of collapse, did members of the major Atavist families in the audience finally speak up.

At a moment like this, the meaning behind it felt obvious enough.

Join us, and we’ll help you.

Refuse, and die.

If they couldn’t have him, then destroying him was fine too.

Chu Xusheng clenched his teeth and said nothing.

The smile on Zhou Yongzi’s face kept growing.

Every piece of information had been dead accurate. Every coin she’d spent had been worth it. The information on this mercenary, the undercurrents between Chu Xusheng and the major families—it had all been dead accurate.

Today, at Wu Ying’s birthday banquet, was the only real chance she had to get Chu Xusheng killed.

If she could remove such a major threat to the family, then her father would definitely see her in a new light. Maybe he’d even let her become family head.

Since Chu Xusheng refused to answer, the expressions on those family members darkened. Their faces all seemed to say the same thing:

Fine. We’ll see whether your mouth stays hard, or your bones.

“If I go down there and help him now, do you think there’s any chance he might join my family?” Chen Mo asked.

“You can try,” Feng Yilian said. “But he’s probably come to hate all of us by now. Even if we help, he’ll just think we’re putting on an act.”

“Which family does that brute belong to?” Chen Mo cursed. “Damn it, he’s dragged all of us into the mud. I was just about to save the guy and score some goodwill.”

Jing Pei was standing nearby, watching. Her face was calm. She looked like she had no intention of stepping in.

Then Zhou Yongzi suddenly turned to look at her, a strange smile on her lips.

She had only bought information from the broker on how to deal with Chu Xusheng. Her original plan had been to kill him first and go after Jing Pei afterward. But after contacting the Demon mercenary, she’d had another thought.

Why not kill them both in one move?

Didn’t Jing Pei love sticking her nose into other people’s business?

“Long Jin,” Zhou Yongzi called out, “there’s bad blood between us too. Why don’t you come down here and settle it?”

Jing Pei looked at her, confused. “I don’t remember having any bad blood with you.”

“So you’re not coming down.”

Jing Pei ignored her. Everyone else thought Zhou Yongzi had lost her mind. Jing Pei was the Long family’s young heir—why would she go down there and fight Zhou Yongzi for everyone else’s entertainment? Especially when Zhou Yongzi wasn’t even fighting with her own strength, but using someone else.

That made it even more pointless.

“Fine, then.” Zhou Yongzi’s smile turned vicious. She walked to Chu Xusheng, who was sprawled on the ground and nearly unconscious, and kicked him hard. His body slammed into the wall.

Her atavist purity was only ten percent. Among everyone present, she was at the very bottom.

But she was still an Atavist.

She still had strength an ordinary human did not.

Zhou Yongzi started kicking Chu Xusheng around like a ball. As she kicked him, she spoke to Jing Pei.

“Long Jin, are you really not coming down? Let me tell you this—every time you’ve helped this thing, you’ve made me furious. Everything ended up like this because you kept meddling.”

The Demon Atavist hauled Chu Xusheng up from the ground. A dagger appeared in Zhou Yongzi’s hand.

“Long Jin—everything this boy Chu suffers today, every bit of this torment, is because of you. I’m only refusing to let him die quickly because of you. If you’ve got the guts, then stay right there in the audience.”

She raised the dagger.

“I’ll gouge his eyes out right now.”

Wu Ying shot to her feet, only for a hand beside her to press her back down. She turned and saw her uncle.

“What are you doing?”

“This is a good chance. Wait until the boy asks for help. I don’t believe he can keep acting tough forever.”

“There’s a limit to what anyone can stand.”

“That’s too damn low.”

Chen Mo and Tang Qiaoqiao stood up at the same time.

There were plenty of young people in the audience who had reached the end of their patience too. Zhou Yongzi was being far too arrogant, far too hateful. They couldn’t stand it anymore.

But the moment they shot to their feet, they were all pressed back down by their elders, just like Wu Ying.

“Stop!”

The next instant, Jing Pei spoke, and every eye swung toward her.

Zhou Yongzi turned and, exactly as she had hoped, saw Jing Pei coming down from the stands with a dark expression. She broke into a wicked grin and exchanged a look with the Demon mercenary.

This Demon mercenary was twisted by nature, bloodthirsty to the core, and especially fond of killing rare, high-purity Atavists.

Both Chu Xusheng and Jing Pei fit his idea of perfect prey.

Of course, Jing Pei was not Chu Xusheng. Whether a single Demon mercenary could actually kill her was another matter.

So Zhou Yongzi had prepared thoroughly.

As Jing Pei stepped into the ring, Zhou Yongzi’s summoning circle activated again, and a second Demon mercenary crawled out.

The two were twin brothers.

They were more than happy to share prey and take pleasure in tormenting it together.

She had emptied out her entire vault for this—but if she could kill both Jing Pei and Chu Xusheng in one stroke, it would all be worth it.

…

Night had already fallen, and the mood inside the Tribunal Division had grown even heavier.

The Zhou family head walked out of detention with his wife and several Zhou family members, swaggering straight to Qiu Fa’s office.

“Director Qiu, then we’ll be heading home,” the Zhou family head said with a smiling face. “Come by for tea when you have time. Your family’s old Snowcap Plum Needle tea—the kind you used to serve guests—we have some in our house too.”

Qiu Fa looked at him expressionlessly.

A filthy bunch.

The Zhou family group strutted off with their chins in the air, and everyone in the Tribunal Division looked sick at the sight.

“Hypocrites!” the assistant said, not trying to hide the resentment in his voice, “So all these days of work were for nothing?”

Qiu Fa’s brow furrowed. “Something’s off.”

“What’s off?”

“That little dragon wouldn’t just…” He looked up, saw the assistant staring at him, and his voice turned hard. “Get back to work.”

“At a time like this, what work is left?”

“I don’t think this is over yet,” Mei Yanlan said as she walked in and set a tablet down in front of them. “Things are getting lively over at the Wu family.”

…

The Zhou family head got into the car and leaned back, looking more relaxed than he had all day. Then he spat toward the doors of the Tribunal Division.

“You? Bring down the Zhou family? Dream on.”

“Honey!” The Zhou matriarch had only just turned her phone back on and checked her messages when she saw the livestream of Zhou Yongzi making trouble at the Wu family.

…

The two Demons were enormous, overwhelming in presence. Jing Pei was tall herself, but beside them even she looked small.

People in the audience were already on their feet, couldn’t help worrying for her.

Against one Demon, Jing Pei still had a chance.

Against two, things looked far more dangerous—especially when both were high-purity mercenaries with no idea how many lives on their hands.

The younger spectators struggled against the hands of their elders, trying to break free and rush down to help, only to hear them say:

“The Long family young heir really does meddle too much. A lesson won’t hurt her.”

“Wait a little longer before helping. Better to offer help when it matters than pile it on after the fact.”

“How is this meddling? If Zhou Yongzi pulls this kind of stunt, how can she not step in?”

“The one with something wrong in her head is Zhou Yongzi!”

“I’m so pissed off!”

“I have to admit, Miss Zhou—you really do know how to make people hate you,” Jing Pei said, her face expressionless as she looked at Zhou Yongzi.

“If you’re scared, feel free to run,” Zhou Yongzi said, tapping her dagger against Chu Xusheng’s bloodied face. “So long as you can sleep at night afterward. You’re such a good person, aren’t you?”

Chu Xusheng’s face was covered in blood. With great effort and obvious panic, he forced out, “Don’t… don’t worry… about me…”

These Demons were too strong—professional killers, the kind who existed to murder. He was terrified Jing Pei would get dragged into this because of him.

She was so good.

Every time, she was the one who stepped forward to help him. In this cold world, she was the only warmth he had ever found—like the sun in the sky—far beyond his reach, yet still warm enough to touch him.

He would rather give up revenge.

He would rather die here himself than let her suffer even the slightest harm.

“Go…” Tears welled in his eyes again. He hadn’t shed a single tear when they were beating him half to death, and yet now his eyes were wet. On that filthy, battered face, those dreamlike eyes only looked brighter.

“Don’t worry,” Jing Pei said, then turned to Zhou Yongzi, who was staring at Chu Xusheng’s eyes with such naked envy she looked ready to dig them out with her own hands at any second. “Even if you gouged his eyes out and put them in your own head, you’d never be that beautiful. A face reflects the heart. Yours is ugly through and through. Put gold on you and it would still turn to filth.”

“Long Jin!! Die!”

Zhou Yongzi flew into a rage. “What are you standing there for? Kill her! And don’t you dare run!”

The two Demons were already grinning, their smiles warped with excitement. Their black claws lengthened again as they shifted into attack.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jing Pei said, raising one hand. “Because evil never wins.”

The instant the two Demons lunged, a pendant dropped into her palm. The golden feather inside flooded with Atavist power. Every strand lit up.

Then the whole arena exploded with light.

“What—”

“That’s blinding!”

Everyone in the stands threw up their hands to cover their eyes. In that searing brilliance, no one could keep them open. They could only turn their heads and squint through the gaps in their fingers at vague shadows.

It hurt.

That light hurt when it touched the body.

What was that?

When the glare began to fade enough for them to open their eyes again, they lowered their hands—

and in the next second, their eyes flew wide.

Silver-white hair. Six immaculate wings without a speck of dust on them. Light seemed to pour from his body itself. He opened his eyes, and beneath white lashes, those silver-white irises moved like galaxies, holding worlds inside them. He stood behind Jing Pei, beautiful and terrible all at once, like a god descending to earth in a blaze of holy light.

“L-Lou Ting!!”

“Holy shit!!”

For one stunned instant, the entire audience broke into chaos.

People scrambled backward, fled, stumbled, fell flat on their backs, lost their shoes—every kind of chaos broke loose.

“What the hell is Lou Ting doing here?!”

“Run! Run! We’re all going to be judged!”

“Lianhua, fly me out of here! Fly me out!”

The moment they saw that reaction, the twin Demons seemed to realize what was happening.

They turned to run in terror.

Too late.

All the white brilliance in the arena changed in a heartbeat to blazing gold. The six wings spread wide, and the golden Scales of Judgment appeared before them. Everyone on the opposite side crashed onto one of the weighing pans, like beasts falling into a hunter’s trap.

The golden feather Lou Ting had given Jing Pei was called the Judgment Feather. Like Wu Ying’s tortoise shell and Jing Pei’s reverse scale, it was an atavist relic that could be removed and lent to someone else for a special purpose.

If you used the Judgment Feather, the six-winged angel would hear your call.

And if he accepted it, he would be summoned to your side.

When Jing Pei had gone to the Lou family’s research institute before, she had intended to ask Lou Ting for a Judgment Feather.

She had never gotten the chance.

He had given her one before she could even ask.

“The one brought before judgment,” said that voice, divine as a hymn and grave as a bell, shaking every ear it reached. “Guilty—or not guilty?”

“No! Yongzi!!”

Inside the car, the Zhou family head and the Zhou matriarch had already realized what was about to happen. Their earlier swagger at the Tribunal Division was gone without a trace. What came out now was only a pair of shrill, horrified screams.

Zhou Yongzi had collapsed into tears and snot, screaming for her parents and trying to run, only to slam into an invisible wall. She could do nothing.

She felt something being torn from her mind.

Before every pair of watching eyes, all her crimes began to unfold, one after another, like a drama playing on a screen.

Then she saw herself.

A hideous little girl. One eye. A cleft lip and palate. Half her face covered in dense, revolting red blotches.

“No! That’s not me! Don’t look! That’s not me!”

Zhou Yongzi shrieked as panic tore through her

And what was uglier than her face was her heart.

“Why did you bump into me just now? What, you didn’t see me? If those eyes of yours aren’t any use, then dig them out.”

“What did you just say? Rip his tongue out. That’ll stop him from saying things I don’t want to hear.”

“Hey. That actress’s face annoys me. Go ruin it. Use acid.”

“This one—use a knife.”

“…”

“So beautiful. So beautiful. This is what I’ve been waiting for. Dad, this is what I’ve always wanted. I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. I have to have them!”

“Let me go! Let me out! What are you trying to do? I told my employee before I came—if I don’t call her on time, she’ll go to the police!”

“Do it.”

“Auntie, if you’re apologizing, you should at least show some sincerity…”

“…”

Zhou Yongzi had done too much evil.

The scenes kept playing and playing, with no end in sight.

In the livestream, the comments that had been racing by at first fell abruptly silent, stunned by what they were seeing. Then, after that breathless pause, they erupted like a volcano.

[I’m going to throw up!!!]

[I thought what Zhou Yongzi had already done was bad enough, and now somehow she’s managed to sink even lower!]

[The Zhou family is a pit of filth. Every last one of them is rotten!]

[If the Zhou family doesn’t die for this, then justice means nothing. If Zhou Yongzi lives, I’ll never believe in justice again!]

[Goddess’s Daughter? You think you deserve that title? You think you deserve it?!]

[I’m crying my eyes out—so that’s how my goddess was disfigured!]

[AAAHHH I’m so mad I could die! Zhou Yongzi, go die! Go die!!]

Cheng Feili’s evidence had only been audio. Only words.

How could that compare to this—Zhou Yongzi’s soul laid bare in full view?

There were no blur effects, no distance, no room to look away. The blood was red enough to make people sick. The screams sounded real enough to cut into the chest. The cruelty of Zhou Yongzi. The cruelty of the Zhou family. Everything was right there in front of them, too vivid to deny.

It was more than anyone could bear.

Tears broke out everywhere.

It was as if Zhou Yongzi could hear every voice. She kept screaming, refusing to let the truth of her ugliness be exposed, refusing to let the halo of “Goddess’s Daughter” be ripped away.

Then all at once, her body dropped.

Or rather, her consciousness did.

It plunged straight into someone else’s body.

She saw her own hideous self sneering, “Why did you bump into me just now? What, you didn’t see me? If those eyes of yours aren’t any use, then dig them out.”

The moment the cold dagger drove in, the pain made her scream like she was losing her mind.

“AAAHHHHH—!”

Then she became someone else again.

And saw herself saying, “Rip out her tongue.”

“AAAHHH—!”

Her body lay there motionless, but her mind was wide awake. She heard someone break in, come to her side in the dark, uncap something, and slowly pour it over her face.

The agony of acid eating through flesh, together with the terror in her heart, tore a scream from her throat.

“AAAHHHHH no, no, NO—!”

Again and again.

Every torment she had ever inflicted on someone else, she tasted for herself.

Not one was missed.

One after another, stretched out so long it felt endless, as though she were being carved apart three thousand times over.

And still—

it was not enough.

The angel of judgment spoke again, that voice both sacred and cold, heavy with judgment.

“The guilty shall be purified.”

A white flame colder than ice flared to life.

Zhou Yongzi and the two Demons screamed as the karmic fire burned through their souls. They thrashed and shrieked—and in the middle of those screams, all three of them crumbled into black ash.