Long Yiming only saw Qiu Fa’s extreme brutality and lack of mercy; he couldn’t see anything “cute” about it. And the fact that Jing Pei could find someone like that cute—and not feel any empathy for the Zhou family’s fate—was, in its own way, a bit frightening. Good thing she was on their side.

In the end, the dragged the Zhou family head and the others back with them, pinching their noses as if in disgust. The Zhou family wailed like ghosts, mourning the outcome they could already foresee. A great Atavist family needed a large number of young and able Atavists to sustain itself; people like Jing Pei, who could carry a whole house alone, were very rare. But now most of the capable young members had been taken away by the for investigation, leaving behind only the old, the weak, women, and children.

How many would come back in the end? Compared with the Long family before Jing Pei’s return… no, they feared the Zhou family would fall even lower than that.

Only Zhou Qian followed the in calm silence, with the almost invisible trace of relief—as if the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head had finally dropped.

So when Tang Qiaoqiao and the others rushed over to see him, he said, “Good and evil both meet their end. It’s a good thing. Otherwise, the world would fall into chaos.”

“And in the end, help me pass along a thank you to Long Jin.”

Though he had been forced into the arena by Zhou Yongzi, it was still she who put a stop to the Zhou family’s evil—something he had always wanted to do, but never had the courage to carry out.

When they left the , Tang Qiaoqiao’s eyes were red as a rabbit’s. She had been furious when Zhou Qian chose to trust Long Ling and didn’t want to speak to him anymore—but after all, they had grown up together.

Chen Mo sighed. “Brother Qian was just born into the wrong family.”

Feng Yilian said, “Let’s go. There’s still plenty to deal with. The trouble isn’t over yet.”

…

After learning that the Zhou family would not escape this catastrophe, the outraged public finally proven right. This round belonged to the people—justice had crushed power.

But things weren’t going to end so simply. As long as the Atavist Management Regulations not altered, incidents like this would bound to happen again. Protests continued, which made every Atavist family uneasy.

An emergency meeting of the Atavist families was formally gathered.

When Jing Pei arrived, she received more than a few resentful looks. She smiled and said, “Now that’s not very fair. The Zhou family brought this outcome on themselves. From start to finish, I never intended to provoke them.”

Everyone knew the truth: Zhou Yongzi had forced Jing Pei onto the stage. If the Zhou family hadn’t done what they did, if Zhou Yongzi hadn’t courted disaster, none of this would have happened—or dragged other families down with them.

They had also run their own investigation and discovered the involvement of that information broker. The email exchanges between Zhou Yongzi and the broker only highlighted her stupidity.

She had purchased intelligence on Chu Xusheng, and the broker had even provided instructions on how to kill him. If she had followed those instructions, she might have succeeded in killing Chu Xusheng in the arena. But her greed knew no bounds; she wanted to eliminate Jing Pei as well. In the end, she tried to steal the chicken only to lose the rice.

Everything had been Zhou Yongzi’s own doing, and she had clearly intended to kill Jing Pei. If Jing Pei hadn’t struck back with lethal force, should she have held back instead? If the Long family could be bullied so easily, who would respect them?

Besides, when the Zhou family head begged them for help, they had immediately cut ties and stood aside. They had no real grounds to blame Jing Pei.

The resentful looks faded as representatives from all the great families took their seats.

First, as usual, they cursed Qiu Fa. Only then did the meeting move on.

“Those people only stare at our so-called privileges—why don’t they think about what we’ve contributed? Whenever Atavists commit crimes, it’s the and us who deal with it! And we do it for free!”

“And just because we can’t spare more manpower to help them, they turn resentful. Give them a cup of rice, and they’ll hate you for a bucket!”

“They have the lives they do now because our Atavist families have done more than our share!”

“…”

Jing Pei yawned. Turning her head, she noticed Wu Ying sitting there in a daze, her cheeks red as if she’d just been roasted.

Jing Pei blinked and leaned closer. “Wu Ying, what are you thinking about?”

Wu Ying jumped as if startled and blurted, “Nothing at all!”

The room fell silent. Everyone turned to look at her. Wu Ying waved her hands in a fluster and earned disapproving looks from the elders before the meeting resumed.

“Classic ‘there’s no three hundred taels of silver buried here,’” Jing Pei said with a smile.

Wu Ying shot her an embarrassed glare. Jing Pei stopped asking, but Wu Ying fidgeted, leaning closer as if to speak; her mouth opened and closed several times. In the end, she slammed a fist onto the table in frustration and slumped.

How could she just blurt that out! That she suddenly got horny in the middle of the night, gave in to her animal instincts, and dragged the kind young man who’d come to deliver milk into bed with her?

What made it worse was how clear her memories were—how she had pressed him down, how she had bossed him around as always, ordering him to continue, not even letting him rest. Her younger brother, Jiang Qing—reserved, immaculate, every button fastened, cool and composed—and that expression on his face…

Ahhh—help! What kind of beast was she?!

But why had no one told her that the Black Tortoise line went into heat upon reaching a certain age?! No—her father must have known, he just hadn’t been able to bring himself to say it. Otherwise, why would he have arranged for several young masters to sleep in the guest rooms around her last night?

What the hell—if you’re going to be a parent, at least do a proper job with this stuff, old man!

Wu Ying knocked her forehead against the table hard enough to nearly shatter it. With her ponytail tied up, her flushed ears were fully exposed.

Jing Pei rested her chin on her hand and watched with a smile, thinking Wu Ying looked like she wanted to reveal her turtle shell and hide inside it completely.

So cute.

This meeting ended without any effective solutions. Everyone was too busy venting their anger; if they said anything more right now, it would likely only backfire.

…

Wu family.

Chu Xusheng woke to the sharp scent of disinfectant. He froze for a moment, then suddenly tried to sit up as if startled—only for pain to explode through his body like bolts of lightning. A series of cracking sounds followed, and he collapsed back down.

“If you keep moving like that, your bones will heal crooked. We’ll have to break and reset them,” a cool male voice said from nearby.

At this point, Chu Xusheng couldn’t move even if he wanted to. Not a single bone in his body was intact.

“Miss Long Jin…” he forced out through the pain. After that blinding flash of golden light yesterday, he had passed out. Now he was in a hospital room, with no idea how much time had passed—or how she was doing.

A tablet was placed in front of him, already playing one of the most viral videos of the moment—one that had even spread overseas.

He watched Zhou Yongzi undergo angelic judgment, her inside and out laid bare for everyone to see her rotten heart, until she was burned to nothing but ashes. His eyes turned red.

The hand holding the tablet—long-fingered and clean—tapped to open another video: footage from the port that morning, showing what had happened to the Zhou family head and the others.

Emotion surged through Chu Xusheng. All the violent resentment that had been building inside him day after day vanished the moment he learned what had happened to his sister. His mind, for the first time in a long while, felt light. In its place rose another kind of emotion—boiling, swelling in his chest, as if it might burst free.

This was what he had wanted: for the Zhou family’s evil to be exposed, for them to taste the pain his sister once endured. His wish had come true—completely, openly—and not a drop of the Zhou family’s filthy blood had stained his hands.

A person should live without guilt under the sun. From now on, he could live in the light, free of shadows.

With others present, he forced back his tears, only sniffing quietly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Though it seems our family won’t be getting you—and neither will any of the others,” the cool voice said again.

Chu Xusheng turned to look. A white shirt buttoned all the way to the top, gold-rimmed glasses, refined features, distant and composed—Jiang Qing, Wu Ying’s stepbrother. He looked to be in a good mood, an air of ease about him, as if he didn’t mind at all that Chu Xusheng wouldn’t be joining their family.

“I’m sorry,” Chu Xusheng said. He realized he was in their home, cared for by them, and felt a bit embarrassed.

“It’s fine. I understand.” Jiang Qing’s lips curved as if recalling something. “Who wouldn’t want the hero who fell from the sky?”

Amid ruined walls and total devastation, when a boy about to be fed to a monster had lost all hope, a small hero descended from the sky. As he fell, she caught him.

W-want…? Chu Xusheng’s eyes widened. Th-that wasn’t the right word, was it?

Jiang Qing seemed to snap out of the memory and looked at him, speaking nonchalant. “At first, I thought you had an agreement.”

“What?”

“She helps you take revenge. You become her retainer.”

Chu Xusheng froze, then his expression darkened with offense. “Miss Long Jin isn’t that kind of person. Every time she’s helped me, she’s asked for nothing in return. Please don’t think that way of her.”

There was no trace of falsehood in his expression—his body language and micro-expressions showed no sign of lying.

“My apologies. I thought too much into it. Get some rest. At the very least, you’ll need to be able to walk if you want to ask Long Jin to take you in, right?” Jiang Qing stood and left.

He walked to a secluded area, took out his phone, and made a call, recounting everything.

The person on the other end replied with a mocking tone, “So it seems she really is a good person? Doesn’t sound like she’s acting for her own benefit.”

After ending the call, Jiang Qing took out a different phone and dialed another number.

After hearing him out, the person on the other end said, “In that case, although Long Jin is quite calculating, she doesn’t seem like someone who meddles too much. The bigger threat to the organization is still that information broker.”

…

Jing Pei had just gotten into the car when she received a call from Long Yiming, who told her there were several special guests at home.

Jing Pei lowered her head and sent a message to Tao Ze.

[Let Mo Weiwei prepare]

Then she looked out the window and saw a stray dog rummaging through a trash can by the roadside.

A faint smile lifted her lips. “That dog suits my eye,” she said to the driver. “Go catch it for me.”

…

People were still talking nonstop about the Zhou family incident.

A bicycle stopped in front of a café, and a young man walked in with a light step.

“Dr. Cao, you’re here. The usual today?” a clerk asked with a sweet smile.

The young man’s cheeks reddened slightly. He nodded, then leaned against the counter and chatted with her.

“Dr. Cao, you’re the school doctor at the Twelve Zodiac Academy’s Atavist Division, right?” another clerk leaned in, curious. “You must know some inside stories. Are those Atavist families really that lawless? Do the students bully teachers—especially staff like you who aren’t Atavists?”

Dr. Cao scratched his head. “Well… not really…”

None of the café’s patrons noticed that outside, at the parking area, a man in a black baseball cap was tampering with the bicycle. Only his tall build could be seen. As he worked, his sleeve slid up, revealing glimpses of a tattoo.

Nearly an hour later, Dr. Cao finally left the café, reluctant to go, and rode his bike back to school. On the downhill stretch, he relied on his skills as usual—skipping the bike lane to ride straight down the steps.

This time, however, the bicycle fell apart halfway down.

“Ah! Hey—ah—help, help—!”

…

The Zhou incident had caused such a huge impact that the government sent personnel to assist the in its investigation. To the Atavist families, it was officially presented as aid requested by Qiu Fa, making sure that something happens or is true that there was no violation of the Atavist Management Regulations.

At last, the staff could catch their breath.

“Then I’ll head home first,” Mei Yanlan said, brushing her hair back. The messages from her pregnant husband had nearly flooded her inbox—annoying to no end.

But last time, he said he wanted a divorce.

She was almost looking forward to going home and seeing the divorce papers waiting.