Evergreen Road Street.
"Miss!"
"Miss!" Dozens of voices echoed.
Beside the woman stood a cold-faced young man, gripping a black umbrella like a loyal knight silently guarding her.
Even more astonishing was the sight of nearly a hundred men in black suits lined up neatly before her.
The entire scene was suffused with an intimidating, murderous aura, as if the very air had frozen solid.
Nearby shops that hadn’t yet closed for the night took one look at the spectacle and hurriedly rolled down their shutters, shutting down in record time.
Gao Min was stunned. Even though this wasn’t her first time witnessing such a scene, she couldn’t help feeling shaken.
Xiao Bin had already briefed her on the situation inside—how Qiao Yong and his crew were running an illegal gambling den, complete with slot machines and even some people dabbling in illicit "little colored pills."
Snapping back to reality, Gao Min immediately pulled out her phone and made a call.
"Chief, we’ve got a situation here. I need backup!"
"How many?"
"As many as you can spare!"
"Understood."
After hanging up, she glanced at Liu Yutong beside her, her expression complicated. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being used yet again.
No doubt, their operation was probably "legal" in some twisted way, and she was once again playing the role of Liu Yutong’s "inside woman" in the police force, forced to cooperate.
Liu Yutong’s next words only confirmed her suspicions.
"Gao Min, later, a man with a scar on his face will be brought out. His record isn’t clean, but I think you should let him go. What do you say?" Liu Yutong deliberately flashed the bracelet on her wrist as she spoke.
"You—" Gao Min wanted to refuse outright. Letting a criminal go? That was dereliction of duty! But remembering the "greater scheme," she reluctantly agreed.
"I’ll arrange it," she said, her fists clenching slightly.
"Everyone ready?" Liu Yutong asked.
Li Xiaohui bounced forward eagerly, outlining her plan: "Sis Yutong, I’ve got everything mapped out! First, we break down the door, then charge in full force, catch them off guard, plant our flag, and boom—this place is ours!"
Liu Yutong: "..."
Sometimes, she seriously doubted whether Li Xiaohui had actually grown up in a military compound.
Gao Min: "..."
She heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was all an illusion. A very loud, very chaotic illusion.
"Xiaohui, let’s move," Liu Yutong ordered.
Li Xiaohui, practically vibrating with excitement, was about to shout "Charge!" when she suddenly felt something was missing. Her big eyes scanned the area and landed on Ma Da, who was holding a megaphone.
"Brother Ma, lend me that!"
Ma Da handed over his command tool without hesitation.
Now armed with the megaphone, Li Xiaohui felt invincible. She raised it to her lips and bellowed: "FOLLOW ME, CHAAAARGE—!"
Liu Yutong suddenly had the urge to look away. If she kept watching Li Xiaohui’s theatrics, she might burst out laughing.
BAM!
The door burst open, and a sea of black-clad figures surged inside.
Meanwhile...
Yu Mo stood frozen in place, watching the members of the Wanlong Society rush in, unsure what to do.
Ma Da noticed his hesitation and handed him a collapsible baton. "Hey man, you look like you need a weapon. Here, take this."
Yu Mo blinked. "What about you?"
"I’ll manage." Ma Da strolled over to a black car parked by the curb, popped the trunk, and pulled out a two-meter-long greatsword.
The blade wasn’t actually metal—just designed to look like it. Otherwise, he’d never be able to lift something that massive. It was a custom-made prop for intimidation, engraved with four bold characters: "World Peace."
Yu Mo’s jaw dropped as he stared at the absurd weapon, then down at the twig-like baton in his own hand.
This was what he called "managing"?
"Don’t sweat the details," Ma Da said, hoisting the sword onto his shoulder. "Let’s go! Time to wreck some faces!"
Yu Mo still didn’t move. His mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he was here to build confidence and courage, right?
And this was how they did it? Hand him a baton and tell him to just charge in blindly?
This...
Across the street, Liu Yutong and Gao Min observed the chaos from the entrance of a photo booth shop.
Liu Yutong noticed Yu Mo still rooted to the spot and shook her head slightly.
Still scared, huh?
But she didn’t blame him. Anyone seeing this kind of scene for the first time would be overwhelmed. Change took time.
Just then—
Yu Xin appeared out of nowhere.
She greeted Liu Yutong first, then walked up to Yu Mo.
"What’s wrong? Scared? After what those thugs did to you last time, I get it."
"But Yu Mo, listen. You’ve got Sis Yutong and the Wanlong Society backing you now. If you’re still like this... maybe you should just give up on those unrealistic dreams. Going abroad might be better for you. You’re not cut out to run the family business. Understand?"
"Yu Mo, stop letting people look down on you."
Time crawled by.
Snowflakes swirled in the biting wind, dusting their shoulders white.
Yu Xin stared at the boy before her—head bowed, baton clutched uselessly in hand—and her eyes filled with disappointment.
"Yu Mo, I’m done with you. I never should’ve helped you in the first place."
With that, she snatched the baton from his grip and turned to leave.
Yu Mo’s heart lurched violently.
His entire life had been spent tiptoeing around others, never daring to defy anyone because he knew he had no "right" to.
As the eldest son, the older brother, he bore the brunt of every mistake.
When his younger siblings messed up, his father and stepmother excused them—"They’re still kids." But when he slipped up? It was the belt.
The cruelest irony? He’d always sensed his father’s gaze carried a hint of disgust. At first, he thought it was because he wasn’t hardworking enough, obedient enough, outstanding enough. But later, he caught wind of a rumor—it was because he looked like his mother.
Yet, in all his memories, he’d never once seen her. Not a single photo. No one in the family ever spoke of her, not even his father.
He might as well have been fished out of a dumpster or hatched from a rock for all the connection he had to his own origins.
The whole family treated him like an outsider, worse than the hired help.
Sometimes, he just wanted to ask his father: Am I really your son?
Yet he dared not ask, nor did he have the courage to.
He could only endure it all in silence, burying every grievance and resentment deep within his heart.
