“This operation at Long Jin’s birthday banquet is our final chance to defend our power and status,” a voice boomed in the hall. “It must succeed! Otherwise, our atavist families will one day be stripped clean by the government—stripped of our dignity and reduced to their personal thugs!”
“Hear, hear!”
The atmosphere inside the atavist family assembly was electric. Excitement flashed across every face, eager to turn the world upside down. Even the members of the Tao family wore expressions of fierce satisfaction.
They felt suppressed by Liu Yin for far too long. His very existence restricted their abilities. Back in their school days, bullying a classmate brought his swift discipline. Despite being members of prestigious atavist families, they had been forced to live like ordinary wealthy youths, stifled and humiliated.
Now, those chains were about to shatter. Freedom was finally within reach.
Only a few family heads looked uneasy. Among them was Head Feng, who hesitated before speaking. “I still feel this is unwise. This is a massive operation, and taking place right on Long family turf. Moving forward without informing the Long or Wu families…”
“Long Jin is an unpredictable maniac who stays far too close to Qiu Fa,” another elder interjected coldly. “If we inform the Long family beforehand, there’s no telling whether our plan can succeed. The same goes for the Wu family. Head Wu spoils his daughter rotten, and she’s practically attached to Long Jin’s hip. We must guard against them.”
“Exactly,” another elder added with a sneer. “To me, the Long and Wu families are already on the verge of betraying us.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway. Once the trap is sprung tonight, both the Long and Wu families will have no choice but to stand with us.”
After all, if the government exploded with fury over an operation of this scale, would they believe the Long or Wu families if they claimed complete ignorance? Even if they pretended to believe them, trust between people was fragile. Once broken, it could never be restored. Bound by circumstance, the Long and Wu families would have to join them or risk being abandoned by both the government and the atavist community.
With the crowd worked up into a frenzy, the plan was locked. Head Feng sighed and held his tongue.
When the Feng family members returned home, Feng Yilian was sitting in the courtyard playing with a Rubik’s cube. He turned his head to watch them walk in. His kin either ignored him completely or huffed with annoyance as they brushed past.
“Father,” Feng Yilian said, standing up. Sharpness gleamed in his lazy eyes as he looked at Head Feng. “You’ve been leaving early and returning late every day. What are you plotting this time?”
“Nonsense!” Head Feng snapped. “We work day and night to feed you ungrateful kids!”
“Right,” Feng Yilian replied, pulling out an elegant invitation. “I got an invite to Long Jin’s birthday banquet. I can go, right? Long Jin invited me.”
Head Feng hesitated. Long Jin was just about to take over as family head. Turning down her invitation would shame the Long family.
“Since she invited you, go,” Head Feng instructed softly. “Mind your words and actions. After reflecting behind closed doors for months, it’s time you grew up. Don’t make me worry again.”
“Understood,” Feng Yilian said, lowering his eyelids to mask the sharp glint in his gaze.
December 26th—the day of the birthday banquet.
In the original web novel, Long Jin was merely a minor cannon fodder, and the author had never specified her birthday. Yet, whether by coincidence or through the subtle influence of her presence, the world had filled in the detail: Long Jin’s birthday fell on the exact same date as Jing Pei’s birthday from her past life.
In her previous life, she would have been celebrating her twenty-eighth birthday today, rather than her eighteenth.
The Long family treated the occasion with utmost gravity. The ancestral residence was a massive traditional Chinese estate with eight courtyards, spanning a vast area. Bright red lanterns and festive decorations adorned every corner. They had even replaced the fish in the artificial streams and ponds, while family members studying abroad or away on business returned a day early. The estate bustled with lively energy.
The only ones absent were Long Ankang, An Yao, and Long Ling.
“They wouldn’t dare show their faces. That would just be asking for embarrassment.”
“Didn’t Long Ling drop out of Twelve Zodiac Academy? Where did she go?”
“Who knows? Good riddance. Having someone that terrifying around was nerve-wracking anyway…”
“Look, that’s Chu Xusheng—the Long family’s very first vassal! I heard plenty of others offered themselves up, but the young master rejected them all…”
“Re-rejected them? Well, makes sense. Not just any random nobody can climb onto our Long family’s tree.”
A group of Long family relatives gathered, whispering among themselves. Times had changed. The Long family was no longer a powerless gathering of squibs. They now possessed a true backbone, allowing them to stand tall and proud among other atavist clans. The days when relatives tried to unite, ostracize, and manipulate Long Jin out of fear for their own interests felt as distant as a past life.
“Second Uncle,” Jing Pei called out to Long Yiming before the guests began to arrive. “Gather all the clan members. I have something to say.”
By five in the afternoon, the main entrance of the Long estate grew lively.
A few familiar faces from the Tribunal Division had received invitations. However, given their heavy workloads, Mei Yanlan merely stopped by to hand over a gift before preparing to leave.
Jing Pei walked her to the door. “Xiao Cheng is due soon, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, next week,” Mei Yanlan replied, knitting her brows. Her relationship with Xiao Cheng was still a mess. To make it worse, her recent flings with a few guys felt hollow, maybe because being pregnant weighed on her. She decided to try a few more—a young, attractive model had been flirting with her, and he seemed charming.
After seeing Mei Yanlan off, Wen Yuxian arrived, carrying a gift prepared by Zhang Simiao. Like Mei Yanlan, he offered his blessings and left shortly after.
Soon after, An Yan arrived with a gift from Qiu Fa.
“Director Qiu asked me to bring this to you,” An Yan explained. “Work has been very busy, so he couldn’t make it in person.”
An Yan thought the whole thing was absurd. For two days, Director Qiu had worked like a man possessed, clearing out a week’s worth of paperwork. His schedule for tonight was wide open. Yet, instead of heading over to give a birthday gift to the young dragon girl he clearly favored, he had rushed back to his dorm, eager to get ready for a secret meeting.
Who would have guessed that the formidable Director Qiu was such a tsundere?
Still, the gift had been selected with genuine care, so An Yan couldn’t complain too much. After handing it over, he politely took his leave. Atavist clans despised the Tribunal Division, viewing them as government lapdogs. Staying inside the Long estate meant being surrounded by hostile stares, an experience An Yan had no desire to endure.
“Quite a crowd,” a voice murmured.
On the roof of a high-rise building five miles from the Long estate, a man rested one foot against the terrace ledge, peering through a pair of binoculars.
The Long family residence was located in the heart of Yunjin City within Yunjin Prefecture. The surrounding land within a five-mile radius belonged entirely to the Long family. Although financial strain over the past two centuries had forced them to sell the outermost ring of land a few years ago, the estate remained a tranquil, luxurious haven in the middle of the bustling city.
Currently, developers were constructing high-end apartments on the sold plot. The unfinished building was covered in green construction netting as the icy December wind howled between the structures.
Under the darkening sky, several figures stood on the roof, their cigarette embers glowing faintly in the twilight.
“Captain, you’re still using binoculars? Let me have a look,” a voice echoed directly inside Black Iron’s mind.
Black Iron glanced at him and tossed the binoculars over. A subtle click sounded around Black Iron’s eye as a mechanical seam opened. His eyeball retracted like a camera lens, shifting internally before extending outward into a built-in mechanical telescope embedded in his skull.
“It really is lively. I’m almost jealous of these prestigious atavist clans,” the squad member remarked through their mental link. Though his tone dripped with envy, his lips curled downward in bitter resentment. “Why weren’t my ancestors smart enough to build something like this? Useless, really useless…”
Black Iron warned coldly, “Shut up. Speak another word and I’ll crush your skull.”
The voice in his head cut off instantly.
“When are we moving? I want to crash the feast,” another voice piped up. A girl with dyed pink hair sat chewing gum, staring at Black Iron without parting her lips.
“Idiot. We should pray we don’t have to move at all,” a third voice chimed in, trembling with terror. The speaker was a painfully thin middle-aged man swallowed in a huge, cheap black suit. He hugged himself hard, shaking like a leaf. “Otherwise, we’ll end up just like Shi Gang, Qiao Ming, and Jiang Chaoyu. They’ll be serving at our funerals instead.”
He muttered, “It’s terrifying. The new generation is ruthless. We’re going to be tossed out like trash. It’s so scary.”
“Enough. All of you, shut your mouths,” Black Iron’s voice commanded across their mental network.
Not a single sound escaped into the winter wind. Their conversation occurred entirely in silence. Anyone spying from a distance would see only a group of motionless figures standing in the cold.
Black Iron kept his gaze fixed on the Long family estate. Before the majestic vermilion gates, luxury cars arrived in a steady stream, dropping off high-society guests. Yet the person he was waiting for had not yet appeared.
As night fell completely, the grand hall filled with guests. Feng Yilian, Tang Qiaoqiao, and the other young heirs who had been grounded for a full semester following the 8.20 Conference finally made their public reappearance, thanks to Jing Pei’s personal invitations.
Whether from the heavy discipline or recent realizations, they all seemed subtly changed. Even the usually lively Tang Qiaoqiao had grown more quiet, her bright smile subdued as she stood beside Chen Mo without their usual bickering.
“What have you guys been doing at home all this time?” Wu Ying asked.
“What else? Copying family rules,” Chen Mo sighed, raising a glass of champagne. “Every few days, elders came to lecture us from morning till night—calling us bad children, enemies of the country, and a disgrace to our ancestors. It felt like they wouldn’t stop until they brainwashed us. Luckily, Ah Jin invited us out to get some air. Otherwise, I’d be losing feathers from the stress. Thanks a lot, Ah Jin.”
“Don’t mention it,” Jing Pei replied, raising her glass in return while quietly stepping a little further away. Beaked creatures were bad enough, but a shedding bird atavist was a nightmare she preferred to avoid.
Feng Yilian glanced around the hall before turning his gaze toward Jing Pei, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something, but he hesitated. Beside Wu Ying, Jiang Qing also quietly observed the surrounding crowd.
The younger generation gathered in one area while the adults mingled across the room, clinking glasses. Every invited guest belonged to an atavist family. In the eyes of the Long family elders, only atavist clans were worthy of attending the young master’s coming-of-age ceremony; government officials, no matter how high-ranking, had no place here.
As a result, the room was filled with familiar faces. Warm smiles masked the room, but Long Yiming’s sharp eyes caught subtle anomalies. Though not an atavist, his reputation in the business world as the “Crocodile” was well-earned. Beneath the polite smiles, he noticed fleeting glances passing between family heads—silent exchanges that signaled a brewing undercurrent.
Long Yiming felt a sudden knot in his stomach, recalling Jing Pei’s cryptic words before the banquet began.
Shortly after, the final group of guests arrived.
A delicate fragrance of peach blossoms seemed to drift into the hall as members of the Tao family stepped inside, guided by servants. Walking hand in hand at the center were a young boy and girl, their gentle features and pure, refreshing aura reminiscent of a sweet spring breeze.
Behind them stood several non-atavist members of the Tao family, trying to stay calm despite their obvious nerves.
“Ah Jin, happy birthday!” Tao Ying chirped, clinging to Jing Pei’s arm.
“Thank you,” Jing Pei smiled warmly. “Did you just wake up? There’s still a crease on your cheek.”
Tao Ying blushed softly. “Eheh, yeah… that’s why we’re late. I’m sorry, Ah Jin.”
“It’s fine. Go grab something to eat,” Jing Pei said, handing her a small plate of pastries.
Tao Ying happily nibbled on a piece before feeding one to Liu Yin. Seeing how much she enjoyed it, Liu Yin slowly chewed as well.
At that moment, a waiter carrying a tray with a glass of champagne and a glass of orange juice navigated through the crowded hall, heading straight toward them.
Dozens of concealed eyes watched intently. Since Jing Pei and those around her already held drinks, the tray was clearly intended for Liu Yin and Tao Ying. Because of Tao Ying’s alcohol allergy, the orange juice was naturally meant for her, leaving the champagne for Liu Yin.
Laced inside that glass of champagne was the organization’s newest colorless, odorless virus, specifically engineered to attack an atavist’s brain cells. A single sip was guaranteed to knock any atavist unconscious within half an hour. The developers swore that even someone as formidable as Qiu Fa would collapse.
Sure enough, Liu Yin handed the orange juice to Tao Ying and picked up the champagne glass for himself.
Hearts pounded in chest cavities throughout the room. Blood rushed through veins as subtle, eager glances focused on Liu Yin as he raised the glass to his lips.
Perfect. Everything was proceeding smoothly. Once Liu Yin drank the champagne, members of the Tao family would lure him away under the guise of business or personal matters—something Liu Yin would never refuse. Once the virus took effect and he lost consciousness, they would whisk him away directly to the research facility, avoiding any messy confrontation inside the Long estate.
Far away, a soft knock sounded at the door of the President’s office. The door swung open, revealing Qiu Fa’s tall, imposing figure.
Madam President sat behind her heavy desk, backed by the bright red flag of Hualan—a symbol forged from the blood of their forebears.
“You’re here?” she asked, taking off her glasses with a light chuckle. “Why the long face? Did I interrupt your plans to attend Long Jin’s coming-of-age ceremony?”
“I’m not going to the Long estate,” Qiu Fa replied coldly, not wanting to spoil the mood.
“Then I must have interrupted a date with your sweetheart.”
Qiu Fa remained stoic, though his long fingers twitched and curled against his leg.
Madam President raised an eyebrow, interlocking her fingers on the desk. “I heard you’ve been in a surprisingly good mood these past two days. You haven’t broken anyone’s limbs—at most, just a pair of legs.”
Qiu Fa: “…”
“State your business,” Qiu Fa said flatly.
“There is something,” the President said, her gaze fixing on him. “Two days ago, I received a phone call. Do you know what the caller said first?”
Qiu Fa frowned slightly, looking at her in confusion.
“She said: ’Hello, I am the owner of the Puzzle Intelligence Agency.’”
Qiu Fa’s eyes widened slightly. “She…”
The President was just as shocked as Qiu Fa. The owner of the Puzzle Intelligence Agency was a mysterious and powerful information broker. Everyone wanted to find her, but they were also afraid another group would get to her first. Because of this, major forces ended up protecting her without meaning to, making her the safest player around while she skillfully controlled them all.
The government wanted to find her, but the President had harbored little hope, even with the subtle connection between Qiu Fa and the broker.
This broker was unpredictable. It didn’t feel right to call her good since she kept huge amounts of criminal intelligence that could stop many disasters with just a word. But calling her evil was wrong too, because she had saved many lives.
The President viewed her as a force operating in the gray zone, driven by hidden motives that were far from easy to decipher. She had never expected a direct confrontation, let alone an unannounced phone call.
What a audacious broker—selling intelligence directly to the head of state.
“What intelligence?” the President had asked.
“A piece of intelligence about to expire, but I can offer a ten percent discount. Interested?”
“I’ll buy it,” the President had answered without hesitation.
After transferring the funds, she received a report that left her momentarily dizzy with rage.
“What was the intelligence?” Qiu Fa asked immediately.
“She told me that the major atavist families are joining forces to move against Liu Yin tonight, right at Long Jin’s birthday banquet,” the President said, taking a deep breath to suppress her fury. “Liu Yin fought shoulder to shoulder with their ancestors. The very flag behind me was raised through unimaginable sacrifice, yet for their own selfish desires… they have disappointed me deeply.”
Qiu Fa sneered. “In their twisted logic, Liu Yin is the real traitor for failing to champion their descendants while turning a blind eye to the government trimming their privileges.”
Qiu Fa understood their mindset all too well. To those stubborn traditionalists, Liu Yin’s revealed identity brought no joy—only anger.
Seeing the President’s serious face, Qiu Fa said something comforting, which was rare for him. “This kind of pain comes with reform.”
“Yes, that pain is part of it,” the President nodded. You can’t just take away a thousand years of privilege without a fight. Locking up those young voters for a whole semester proved that. Still, she never thought they would actually go after Liu Yin!
“What do you plan to do now? Time is running short,” Qiu Fa noted, checking his watch.
“The information broker sold me a second piece of intelligence,” the President said, her eyes shining with resolve. “I’m going to gamble one more time. If I win this bet, we will see flowers bloom through the pain, and tomorrow’s sun will rise from this very night.”
