Chapter 587: Unforeseen Changes! (Two-in-One)

"I don't quite understand what you mean by that."

Shi Yicheng looked back, the ice in his eyes practically spilling over. Having his deepest secret laid bare had genuinely roused his killing intent.

"What good would killing me do, Second Brother?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"I'm just telling the truth."

"Shouldn't this be a good thing for you? Dad knows, and not only does he not blame you, he even wants to pass the position to you. It shows that your place in his heart is irreplaceable."

Shi Yicheng took a deep breath.

"I really have no idea what nonsense you're spouting, Ah Ji."

Naturally, he would never admit to such a colossal crime. He turned around immediately, ready to leave.

Right now, he needed to find a place to calm down and think of a countermeasure.

But just as his hand rested on the doorknob, Yan Jing's voice rang out again.

"Fine, it's nothing."

"I'll just show the recording to Fourth Brother and Eldest Brother. I think they'd be more than happy to see it."

Clang. The metal doorknob twisted completely out of shape in Shi Yicheng's grip.

He looked back, finally tearing away his last layer of disguise, and stared coldly at Yan Jing.

"What exactly do you want?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"I want your recording from the time Sixth Brother and I went missing."

"That happened so long ago. Does looking into it now have any meaning?!"

Shi Yicheng strode quickly up to Yan Jing. His silver-white camera face displayed visible, naked fury.

"Ah Shan is dead! He isn't coming back! What you should be doing right now is living your life, not playing at being some detective!" "Give me the recording," Yan Jing replied, his expression unchanged.

"And we'll leave it at that."

"Plus, I can give you the recording of my conversation with Dad from back then."

"..." The scarlet light in Shi Yicheng's eyes flared brilliantly.

The atmosphere in the room grew so tense that the slightest sound could have sparked a war.

But Yan Jing merely chuckled.

"What good does killing me do? Without my ballot, without Fifth Brother's ballot, you can't win at all. Furthermore, you haven't laid out any plans in advance, but instead exposed yourself early. Even your backup plan of killing Father has been blocked."

"And what about Eldest Brother? What about Fourth Brother?"

"Let's stop here."

With that, Yan Jing turned around, completely exposing his back to Shi Yicheng.

Looking at the seemingly defenseless Yan Jing, Shi Yicheng could barely suppress the weird energy around his body. Arcs of black light continuously rippled out from him. But in the end, the weird energy completely dissipated.

A USB Flash Drive traced an arc through the air and landed in Yan Jing's hand.

Yan Jing offered a faint smile, turning back to look at Shi Yicheng.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

He then pulled out a prepared USB Flash Drive of his own and tossed it to Shi Yicheng.

Shi Yicheng shot Yan Jing a cold glare and turned to leave.

Only to be stopped by Yan Jing's voice.

"Aren't you going to inspect the goods, Second Brother?"

Shi Yicheng said coldly, "If you dare trick me with something like this, you're dead meat, kid."

To his surprise, Yan Jing simply went ahead and played the video clip Shi Yicheng had just handed over.

Shi Yicheng felt his nonexistent temples throb, assuming Yan Jing was just trying to annoy him on purpose.

But suddenly, Yan Jing pointed at a spot in the clip and spoke softly, "This is when the leader of the Order Keepers stepped into the encirclement."

Shi Yicheng looked at the screen. In the footage, he was on a call with someone.

"The moment they enter, make your move, and don't hold back. I guarantee that after this is over, you won't be short a single thing you asked for." Shi Yicheng hadn't planned to answer Yan Jing's impending question, but eventually he couldn't help but snap.

"Who were you contacting at that time?"

"Why should I tell you? Who do you think you are—"

"It couldn't be the Mo Family; that was the faction Eldest Brother contacted." Yan Jing looked straight into Shi Yicheng's eyes.

"If you weren't the traitor in the family back then, the people you contacted naturally wouldn't have been the Zhu Family and Qi Family who showed up, nor the Order Keepers and New Life, and certainly not Sin City's Wrath."

"The only ones left are Sin City's Envy, Lust, and Greed, as well as Virtue Village."

Having said all this, Yan Jing looked at Shi Yicheng, as if waiting for him to answer.

Shi Yicheng, of course, wasn't going to take the bait. He wasn't an idiot.

He had made up his mind to say nothing, so there was no way Yan Jing could force his hand.

But Yan Jing suddenly smiled.

"You didn't deny it, Second Brother."

Shi Yicheng's heart violently skipped a beat.

Yan Jing smiled.

"So you also believe there's a traitor in the family, right?"

"Although you were afraid of drawing fire to yourself back then and repeatedly claimed the problem had to be external, deep down you saw it very clearly. There is a traitor in the family."

Shi Yicheng's gaze darkened.

"If you try to trick information out of me again, don't blame your Second Brother for disregarding our brotherly ties later."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"You still don't get what I mean, Second Brother."

"..." Hearing Yan Jing's words, Shi Yicheng's heart stirred.

But he forced himself to maintain a cold expression, turned, and walked out the door.

Out in the corridor, he walked at a brisk pace, his grip on his USB Flash Drive steadily tightening.

He had a premonition that his chance of success this time might just lie within this USB Flash Drive.

Back in the room, Yan Jing watched Shi Yicheng disappear down the hallway and smiled. He pulled the covers over his head and went straight to sleep, resting until dawn. The next day's breakfast was much more lavish than before.

After all, San Yan had returned.

However, San Yan hadn't come down to eat at all. A woman sat in the seat next to the head of the table, looking at the empty spot beside her before waving at Yan Jing. "Ah Ji, come here. Come sit next to Mom."

Yan Jing smiled and shook his head.

"That's Father's seat. I'll pass."

"Oh my, don't be so rigid..." Seeing that Yan Jing remained unmoved, the woman began calling out to the others.

During this, the woman noticed something.

"Where is Ah He? Why hasn't he come to eat?"

"He's probably still sleeping." Shi Sanchuan stood up.

"That kid... Father finally comes back, and he decides to sleep in. I'll go call him."

"Fifth Brother went out last night." Yan Jing stabbed a sausage with his fork and popped it into his mouth.

"Went out?" Shi Sanchuan was taken aback.

"Where did Ah He go?" The woman's eyes widened, her expression clearly turning anxious.

Yan Jing shook his head.

"I'm not sure. Fifth Brother said he needed to go find someone to verify a few things and left on his own. He said he'd be back today."

"I'll still go check." Shi Sanchuan grabbed his coat draped over a chair and hurried upstairs. Soon after, he returned to the dining room, looking frantic. "He's not there."

"He's not answering his communicator." Qi Hu put down the device in his hand.

"Maybe he just went out to have fun. Fifth Brother is the most playful, you all know that." Jiuhai casually took another bite of his sandwich. He seemed to have stepped out of the shadow of not being acknowledged yesterday, his demeanor completely normal and his appetite quite robust.

"Could he have run into trouble?" Shi Yicheng, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly chimed in.

As soon as he said that, the already tense woman appeared even more panicked.

"What kind of trouble? Ah He wouldn't have run out of Fear City, would he?"

"Who knows, Mom? Didn't Ah Shan and Ah Ji get into trouble before too? Right under our noses, no less."

Shi Yicheng sneered as he spoke, clearly implying something.

"Ah Cheng!" San Shan was already dead, but the woman still didn't know. Given Shi Yicheng's tendency to rub salt in the wound, Shi Sanchuan immediately barked out to stop him.

"You don't need to yell at me, Eldest Brother."

Shi Yicheng said coldly, "Back then, we all thought everything was perfectly safe. Yet Ah Shan and Ah Ji vanished for over a decade. Even now, Ah Shan still hasn't returned. If you say it's Ah He's own fault, who could believe that? Tell me, who would believe that?!"

"At the time, we had eyes on all the Seventh Rank and Eighth Tier experts, yet in the end, a few Fourth Tiers managed to slip in. Who could possibly believe that?"

"Ah Cheng!!" Shi Sanchuan shouted him down sharply once more, then looked at the utterly bewildered woman.

"Mom, you should go back and rest."

"Ah Chuan, what does Ah Cheng mean? Back then... wasn't it done by outsiders?" The woman's hands were trembling as she spoke.

"No, there's nothing of the sort. Granny Chu, please take Mother back to rest first." Shi Sanchuan looked toward Chu Fa standing nearby.

Chu Fa's expression was calm as they gently pulled the woman up.

"Madam, let us leave first."

"Ah Chu, I'm so scared." The woman's body was visibly shaking.

"It's nothing, Madam. Just the children playing around." Chu Fa sighed, pulling the woman along before they both vanished from the spot.

With the woman gone, the atmosphere in the dining room instantly shifted.

"What exactly are you trying to do, Ah Cheng?" Shi Sanchuan looked coldly at Shi Yicheng.

"I can understand that you want the position of family head, but you can't break the rules."

"What need is there to drag our affairs in front of Mom?"

Shi Yicheng remained seated, playing with the chopsticks in his hand.

Facing Shi Sanchuan's questioning, he merely gave a cold smirk and looked up.

"So you really believe it was outsiders who did it back then, Eldest Brother?"

"...That matter happened too long ago."

"I'm asking if you really believe that!!!" Shi Yicheng abruptly stood up, pointing his chopsticks straight at Shi Sanchuan's face.

"What are you trying to do?! Pick a fight, you brat?! Come on!!! Bring it!!!" Shi Sanchuan finally couldn't hold back anymore. He threw off his jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt.

But Shi Yicheng ignored him, turning his gaze instead to Qi Hu, who was sitting there quietly without saying a word.

"What do you think, Ah Hu? About what happened back then."

"You were weak and sick at the time, so you didn't participate in the operation. Where did you go? Answer me!"

Hearing Shi Yicheng's words, the furious Shi Sanchuan paused, sensing that something was wrong.

Qi Hu's expression was calm.

"My old illness was still flaring up at the time. Father checked it himself."

"Yeah, Second Brother. I suggest you don't throw a crazy fit here. If you want to be the family head, compete for it fair and square. Eldest Brother offered me this amount." Jiuhai stretched out his hand, gesturing a 'four', and grinned.

"If you can offer more than this, then I'll reconsider."

After losing his qualifications to compete, Jiuhai seemed to have completely let himself go, openly demanding bribes right in front of everyone.

But in the next second, something no one expected happened.

Shi Yicheng looked at Jiuhai in his seat with a cold smile.

"Father?! Heh! Father isn't worth shit!!"

The moment these words came out, everyone froze.

The furious Shi Sanchuan, the spectating Jiuhai, and Qi Hu in his chair—all of them now stared at Shi Yicheng with looks of sheer disbelief.

Openly insulting San Yan!!!

For hundreds of years!

Nothing like this had ever happened in this family!

"Heh, what are you looking at me for? Am I wrong?!" Shi Yicheng laughed coldly.

"Is Father always right? Back then, did he dare admit there was a mole in the family?! Under those circumstances, other than abandoning his own two children to protect his empire, what else did he do?"

"Don't you understand, Eldest Brother?! Or do you not understand, Number Four?! Everyone understands! Even Mom understands!!! But the situation is different now! Number Five just got into trouble right under our noses! Shouldn't we finally root out that traitor in the family?!"

"Insolent! Shi Yicheng! I'm warning you, take back what you just said right now!" Shi Sanchuan could no longer maintain his cold facade. Pointing at Shi Yicheng, he practically screamed.

The next second, seeming to only grow angrier, he lunged straight at Shi Yicheng.

The two of them instantly tangled into a brawl.

Jiuhai stared at the scene, completely dumbfounded for a moment.

As simple-minded as he usually was, even he had never imagined something like this happening in the family.

He hurriedly stepped forward, trying to pull the two apart, but before he could even get close, terrifying weird energy suddenly erupted, violently blasting him away.

Jiuhai's robust body crashed through the wall and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Drawn by the massive commotion, the butlers rushed over from all directions.

One by one, they stared in disbelief at the scene before them, having no idea why things had deteriorated to this point.

"Get lost!!!"

Panting heavily, Jiuhai sent the several butlers surrounding him flying into the air, and then plunged directly into the fray himself.

In an instant, the situation descended into even greater chaos.

At the dining table, Qi Hu watched everything unfold with a calm expression, dabbing his mouth with a napkin.

"Aren't you going to join the fight, Fourth Brother?"

Yan Jing smiled as he looked at Qi Hu.

"Is it fun for you, making things turn out like this?"

Qi Hu's expression remained perfectly calm.

"What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to prove that you have the ability to break free from Father's control, or do you want to take revenge on this family that never came looking for you? Or, perhaps you want to avenge the dead Ah Shan."

Yan Jing smiled, repeating the exact words Shi Yicheng had said to him earlier.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Fourth Brother."

"You should know exactly what I mean." Qi Hu's gaze instantly turned sharp.

"Yesterday afternoon, after Father spoke with you, he never left his room again."

"Yesterday evening, after Ah He talked with you, he left the house and disappeared."

"Last night, Second Brother went into your room, and when we saw him today, he turned into this state."

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

Qi Hu stood up, conjuring a pitch-black longsword in his hand, and pointed it at Yan Jing, who was still sitting in his seat drinking soy milk.

The sharp tip of the blade stopped just an inch in front of Yan Jing's camera lens.

Unbothered, Yan Jing slowly wiped his hands, then crossed them and rested them in front of his face.

"Didn't you already make it very clear what I want to do, Fourth Brother?"

"Avenge my Sixth Brother."

Hearing this, Qi Hu's gaze grew even colder. Unable to hold back any longer, he thrust the longsword straight toward the center of Yan Jing's brow.

Clang!

The long spike in Yan Jing's hand parried the blade.

Yan Jing smiled and stood up.

"You're too impatient, Fourth Brother."

"I have Seen Through your trump card."

Looking at Qi Hu's trembling gaze across from him, Yan Jing surveyed their surroundings and uttered words that struck even more terror into his brother's heart.

"Wrath. A nameless wrath is flowing through this courtyard."

"The only Divine Envoy of Sin City wouldn't happen to be nearby right now, would they?"