Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In the police car, Xiao Ze watched Shen Dongqing, who looked totally at ease, even glancing around curiously like he was seeing something new, and fell into thought.

He didn't think regular people had to be nervous riding in a police car, but Shen Dongqing was way too relaxed.

Luo Meilan, sitting nearby, was in a much more normal state. Her face was etched with deep worry, her arms wrapped around herself, looking very insecure. As for Shen Dongqing...

Xiao Ze watched Shen Dongqing close his eyes to rest, like he might fall asleep any second. He opened his mouth but said nothing.

Forget it, let him sleep. The fight with Zhao Zhi earlier must have worn him out, and once they got to the station, he probably wouldn't get much rest.

But Shen Dongqing didn't get more than a few minutes of rest. They reached the station quickly. Shen Dongqing yawned, tears welling up in his eyes, when a cup of tea was suddenly handed to him.

Shen Dongqing looked up, and the officer who'd brought him in said, "Have some tea to wake yourself up. The statement might take a while."

The tea was a bit hot, but after a cup, Shen Dongqing did feel more alert.

In the interrogation room, the officer asked for a detailed account of what happened.

Shen Dongqing recounted the whole thing in detail, with the fight against Zhao Zhi getting special attention.

"So you hit Zhao Zhi three times total?"

Shen Dongqing nodded.

"What made you think to use a spatula as a weapon?"

"The spatula was longer. I saw he had a knife, so I figured, 'an inch longer means an inch stronger,' and grabbed it on the spot," Shen Dongqing answered honestly.

That reasoning was pretty convincing.

The officer taking the statement looked at the report in his hand. Shen Dongqing's actions were a textbook case of self-defense. The final blow knocked Zhao Zhi out, and once he saw the man go down, he stopped attacking. No one could find fault with that.

The only thing that might be questioned was how severe Zhao Zhi's injuries were—three hits with a spatula had put him in the hospital in critical condition.

But as long as the medical exam proved Shen Dongqing only struck three times, he had no responsibility whatsoever.

After the statement was done, Shen Dongqing went home to rest. But while he rested, the officers on the case couldn't.

Having discovered that Zhao Zhi might have hurt someone before the armed robbery, the police launched a thorough investigation. And that search turned up the body of Luo Meilan's husband in Zhao Zhi's rental place.

Not just Luo Meilan's husband—there was also Zhao Zhi's wife's body. The case escalated instantly.

Those who'd earlier muttered that Shen Dongqing might have been too harsh, seeing how badly Zhao Zhi was hurt, suddenly had nothing to say once they learned Zhao Zhi had killed two people before.

Zhao Zhi's methods were too brutal. If Shen Dongqing had held back, it might've been him lying there instead.

Even the officers who'd thought Shen Dongqing's act of bravery was good but a bit impulsive drew in a sharp breath.

Given Zhao Zhi's ruthlessness in killing two people, his visit to the Luo house was clearly about more than just money. He likely would've taken the cash and then killed Luo Meilan and her daughter. If not for Shen Dongqing's quick action, it would've been another tragedy.

Even if the police had arrived quickly and caught Zhao Zhi, the mother and daughter would've been dead.

This news wasn't kept from Luo Meilan, since she was a relative of the deceased.

When she learned that Zhao Zhi had killed her husband before breaking in with a knife, Luo Meilan's mind went blank. When she snapped back to reality, a chill ran down her spine, and she hugged her daughter tightly.

Her earlier suspicion had been right—Zhao Zhi really did want them dead.

Then a wave of overwhelming relief and gratitude washed over her. If it weren't for Shen Dongqing, she and her daughter might've died on the spot.

Hugged a bit too tightly, Si Si squirmed, looked at her mother with confusion, and noticed she was crying.

"Mommy, don't cry." Si Si reached up to wipe her mother's tears and gently patted her, remembering that when she cried, her mom did the same.

Seeing her daughter still unaware of what was happening, Luo Meilan took a deep breath, forcing back her grief. Her daughter was still young; she couldn't let the child carry the weight of her sorrow.

Kids aren't that perceptive. After Luo Meilan coaxed her a bit and stopped crying, Si Si obediently went to play with toys in the living room.

Luo Meilan slipped into the bathroom, covered her mouth, and cried her heart out until she had no tears left. Then she wiped her face and came out.

After composing herself, Luo Meilan bought some gifts and prepared a generous red envelope, then knocked on Shen Dongqing's door.

The two went back and forth for a while. In the end, Shen Dongqing accepted the gifts but flat-out refused the red envelope.

"You can refuse the money, but just giving you these won't put my mind at ease. How about this—you don't have to pay rent for the year. Here's the rent and deposit you gave me before; take it back." Luo Meilan compromised but refused to let Shen Dongqing accept just a small token of thanks.

Shen Dongqing was silent for a moment, then agreed to the rent waiver, but one year was too long—six months was enough. That was the most he could accept.

Seeing how firm Shen Dongqing was, Luo Meilan didn't push it. She thanked him again before turning to leave.

Watching Luo Meilan walk away, Shen Dongqing felt a pang of sadness. Yesterday, he thought he'd prevented a tragedy, but it turned out the tragedy had already happened. He'd only stopped it from getting worse.

In Shen Dongqing's memory, the landlord's family had been happy and harmonious. Now, because of the killer's malice, that happiness was shattered.

Feeling heavy-hearted, Shen Dongqing opened the system panel and looked at the description of the Criminal Attraction Aura, a sense of urgency rising in him.

To be honest, the petty thieves he'd run into before had made him uneasy, but people are creatures of habit, prone to optimism. Maybe things weren't as bad as he'd feared.

But what Zhao Zhi had done was a sudden wake-up call.

This time, Zhao Zhi had targeted the Luo family. Shen Dongqing happened to hear the commotion and had enough Fame Points to exchange for a skill. But what if the target had been him? What if he'd been asleep and hadn't noticed? The outcome was easy to imagine.

Shen Dongqing knew very well that if he ran into a thug like Zhao Zhi without any preparation, he would definitely get hurt. And if he needed to save himself without outside help, his only option would be to use a gun.

And using a gun—the consequences were obvious.

So he needed more skills to protect himself.

Shen Dongqing looked at the system shop. After buying Unrestricted Combat Arts, he finally understood why it was the cheapest combat skill.

With a weapon in hand, his lethality had increased compared to an ordinary person, but his actual fighting ability was still lacking. This skill essentially used ruthlessness to forcibly boost lethality. If he could improve his base combat skills, he could bring out even more of Unrestricted Combat Arts' potential.

But looking at the prices of other combat skills, Shen Dongqing took a deep breath. They were way too expensive. The cheapest cost a hundred thousand Fame Points, and he only had around three thousand right now. The gap was enormous.

Wait...

Shen Dongqing stared at his Fame Points, eyes widening. In the blink of an eye, his points had jumped from three thousand to three thousand five hundred. A moment later, they broke past five thousand.

Had his act of bravery been reported somewhere?

But no one had come to interview him?!

Shen Dongqing quickly opened various social media apps and typed in keywords—Ningchuan, home invasion, act of bravery. But only old reports came up, clearly not about him.

He checked his Fame Points again. They were still climbing fast. What was going on?

Just as Shen Dongqing was puzzled, Zhang Feiyu called, and he finally found out what was going on.

Liang Xuan was sent to the hospital after being scalded by syrup. Due to the severity of the burns, combined with improper treatment involving ice packs, he suffered severe damage to his private parts.

When Liang Xuan woke up and learned about this, he was screaming and crying his eyes out in the hospital. His parents rushed over and, upon learning of their son's condition, were absolutely livid. They even set up online consultations with lawyers, asking if they could sue Shen Dongqing.

"Sue me?" Shen Dongqing said, looking confused.

"You don't know how disgusting Liang Xuan's family is. They cherry-pick facts and only say what makes them look good, and tried to fool those lawyers. But their story fell apart when they couldn't keep their lies straight. One time, they even framed it from your point of view, asking if there was any chance you could be prosecuted." Zhang Feiyu got angrier the more he talked.

Since starting his livestreams, he had encountered plenty of shameless people, but a family as shameless as the Liangs was a rare sight.

"Don't worry. I asked Officer Zhao, and he said even if the Liangs sue you, there's no way they'd win." Zhang Feiyu, worried Shen Dongqing might be anxious, quickly repeated the answer he had gotten from Officer Zhao.

If Shen Dongqing were still working, getting dragged into a lawsuit could mess with his job. But the thing is, Shen Dongqing stays at home, so aside from being annoyed by the Liang family, there was really no harm—there was even an upside.

"An upside?" Shen Dongqing was even more puzzled.

"You mentioned before that you wanted to start livestreaming as a new streamer. Even with platform support, with so many new streamers, you wouldn't get much traffic. But now the Liang family, probably on someone's advice, is trying to use public opinion to pressure the legal system—after all, once his injuries heal a bit, he might be going to prison." Zhang Feiyu explained.

"So?" Shen Dongqing asked.

"So both you and Zhou Jiayi have become tools for Liang Xuan to whitewash himself. According to the Liang family, Zhou Jiayi is a gold digger who bled Liang Xuan dry before finding an excuse to dump him. That's why Liang Xuan lost it for a second—but he only meant to scare her, not actually throw the syrup." Zhang Feiyu rolled his eyes after saying this. The way they were twisting the truth was just ridiculous.

"Surely no one actually believes that?" Shen Dongqing asked, genuinely puzzled. He thought the story was way too ridiculous, but if Zhang Feiyu was bringing it up, maybe some people actually bought it!

"The Liangs pulled out Liang Xuan's spending records, showing he maxed out credit cards and took out a bunch of online loans to feed Zhou Jiayi's shopping addiction. That made some people start to buy it." Zhang Feiyu said.

"Is Zhou Jiayi alright?" Shen Dongqing frowned, while also sending her a message. If this kept up, it could easily turn into a full-on online hate campaign against her.

"She's fine. I saw what was happening and reached out to her. Zhou Jiayi hasn't been to work these past few days, so the Liang family couldn't find her. When they went to her company, her boss was awesome and straight-up kicked them out." Zhang Feiyu paused here, then added, "They also showed up at your old company."

"They smashed the front desk vase as soon as they walked in, and in the scuffle, someone's phone got knocked to the floor. But when your company manager asked around, they found out you'd already quit. You should've seen the livestream—the looks on the Liangs' faces were priceless." Zhang Feiyu stifled a laugh.

He'd figured out the Liangs' goal: to cause trouble for Shen Dongqing by making a scene at his workplace. After all, when an employee has problems, some companies don't deal with the troublemakers—they just deal with the employee.

But since Shen Dongqing had already been let go, the Liang family's antics only caused trouble for the company, while Shen Dongqing was completely unaffected. And the Liang family still had to compensate the company for the damages.

"But they're saying that because of you, Liang Xuan's vital functions are impaired. By playing the sympathy card for Liang Xuan, quite a few people think that's punishment enough—if he still has to go to prison, then Liang Xuan's suffering is just too much." Zhang Feiyu's tone carried a hint of sarcasm.

"After all, when it doesn't happen to you, some people are all too ready to be forgiving." Shen Dongqing really couldn't understand some people's thinking. He changed the subject, "So what's this upside you mentioned?"

"Ahem, I got a bit sidetracked. Anyway, the upside is—you're famous now."

Although the buzz wasn't as big as Zhou Jiayi's, who was the main target of the smear campaign, for a new streamer, this level of attention was more than enough.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Zhang Feiyu waited a moment but got no response from Shen Dongqing. Thinking he might be worried that the fame wasn't legitimate, he reassured him, "Sure, there might be some controversy, but as a streamer, who doesn't have a bit of controversy? Don't worry about it—in a while, no one will even mention it."

Shen Dongqing frowned. The Fame Points from this buzz were skyrocketing, but he couldn't bring himself to feel happy about it.

"You two were being harassed by the Liang family—why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Even though Zhang Feiyu hadn't mentioned it, with three of them, the Liang family had gone after him and Zhou Jiayi—there was no way they'd skip Zhang Feiyu. Even if Zhang Feiyu seemed to have done nothing, given how the Liang family loved to make a fuss over nothing, Zhang Feiyu must have been harassed too.

Even if they couldn't find Zhang Feiyu in person, they could still cause trouble in his livestream room.

"Xiao Shen, you need to change your mindset. The worst thing for a streamer is having no buzz. Besides, with my eloquence, are you really worried I'd lose to them?" Zhang Feiyu said, forwarding him a video. "This is a clip a fan made of me—watch your big brother take on a room full of critics."

Shen Dongqing opened the video and watched as Zhang Feiyu, without a single swear word, delivered one brilliant line after another, leaving the Liang family red-faced with embarrassment. It was satisfying just to listen—no wonder the clip had so many views.

"See? Feel better now?" Zhang Feiyu chuckled, a bit smug. "It's not like we were keeping it from you. Look how recently this happened—we're telling you now. It's just that Zhou Jiayi and I were busy with other things, so it got delayed."

"Don't worry about the Liang family acting all tough now—they'll be crying soon enough." Zhang Feiyu's words piqued Shen Dongqing's curiosity, but no matter how much he pressed, Zhang Feiyu wouldn't say more, only telling him to wait and watch the show.

"Oh, by the way, have you registered your livestream account? When are you planning to go live? If the timing works, we could do a joint stream together and wrap up your heroic deed." Zhang Feiyu said.

Shen Dongqing sensed that this livestream would be related to the Liang family's tears, and his curiosity grew. He quickly said his account was ready and his streaming equipment had arrived—he could go live anytime.

"Great, send me your account name. I'll promote it for you. As for the joint stream, it'll happen within three days. Wait for my message." Zhang Feiyu hung up.

Shen Dongqing searched across various platforms and saw that the Liang family's antics had indeed caused quite a stir. After browsing around, he noticed that his newly registered livestream account had already gained some followers—clearly Zhang Feiyu had been promoting it for him.

A warmth spread through Shen Dongqing's heart. He silently vowed that once his own streaming took off, he would definitely help promote Zhang Feiyu's channel in return.