Chapter 135 - 111: Thirty Years East, Thirty Years West, Don’t Bully the Poor Son of a Concubine

Chapter 135: Chapter 111: Thirty Years East, Thirty Years West, Don’t Bully the Poor Son of a Concubine

But no one took action. Instead, they kept an eye on Yan Xun and quickly reported the news to Qi Shihao.

Qi Shihao wasted no time. He went to Chen Ye’s home immediately and told him everything he had learned.

Chen Ye nodded after listening, then pulled out a stack of silver notes and placed it on the table.

"These are Benfeng Bank silver notes worth two thousand oceans. Boss Qi, take them and distribute them among your men."

"This..." Qi Shihao was taken aback and hurriedly tried to refuse. "Boss Chen, I can’t accept this. It’s our duty to handle things for you."

Chen Ye smiled. "The men have been running all over the city for this little matter of mine. It wasn’t easy. Just consider this a small token for them to get some tea."

Since Chen Ye had put it that way, Qi Shihao could only accept the silver notes, marveling to himself.

’This Boss Chen is so young, yet not only are his skills practically divine, but his way of handling people is also flawless.’

’A man like him was destined for far more than simply being an Actor.’

At this thought, his resolve to stay on good terms with Chen Ye became even firmer.

"Boss Chen, should I send a few of my more capable men..." Qi Shihao made a throat-slitting gesture. "I guarantee it’ll be a clean job."

Chen Ye shook his head.

"There’s no need to trouble everyone. Yan Xun is, after all, a scion of a powerful family from Pingjing. Even if he’s not important to them, his death here in Sea Guardian Guard would ultimately be a hassle."

He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the distant sky as he spoke nonchalantly.

"Tell me the ship’s name and its departure time. Then, arrange for a fast boat to follow the passenger vessel once it sets sail. I’ll handle the rest myself."

Qi Shihao’s heart clenched.

He was suddenly reminded of Li Kang, who had died so mysteriously. A chill crept up his spine.

But he didn’t dare to ask any more questions, so he could only nod firmly. "Alright, I understand."

「The next evening.」

The pier was a cacophony of noise and long blasts from steam whistles.

Yan Xun clutched a battered leather suitcase, waiting in line amidst a motley crew of passengers from All Walks of Life.

He kept glancing around furtively, his head darting up from time to time, terrified of being recognized.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly.

He boarded the passenger ship named the Hai’an.

The conditions in the second-class cabin were even worse than he had imagined. The moment he stepped inside, a foul odor—a mixture of fish, sweat, and mildew—assaulted him, making him wrinkle his nose in disgust.

But he couldn’t afford to be picky now.

He found the most inconspicuous corner to sit in, clutching the suitcase tightly to his chest.

With another long blast of the steam whistle, the ship gave a slight shudder and began to slowly pull away from the port.

Watching Sea Guardian Guard recede into the distance, Yan Xun finally let out a long sigh of relief.

’I’m safe.’

’Just you wait. I’ll be back!’

Yan Xun seethed with silent vows for a moment longer before the exhaustion of the past several days washed over him like a tide. Leaning against the cold cabin wall, he drifted into a deep sleep.

What he failed to notice, however, was that in the final moment before the ship departed, a figure had slipped silently into the very same cabin.

...

In his dreams, Yan Xun seemed to have returned to the Yan Mansion in Pingjing.

He was once again the unwanted son of a concubine, bullied at every turn.

He tried desperately to flee, but there was no escape.

Just then, the sound of a gong rang out by his ear without any warning.

CLANG—!

The sound wasn’t loud, yet it was terrifyingly crisp. It didn’t seem to come from the outside; rather, it felt as if it had exploded directly inside his mind!

"Ah!"

Yan Xun jolted awake, his face deathly pale and his heart pounding wildly. In an instant, a cold sweat soaked through his shirt.

He gasped for breath, glancing around. The cabin was still dim and noisy. Some of the other passengers were playing cards, some were chatting in low voices, and others were dozing, just as he had been.

’So it was just a nightmare!’

Yan Xun heaved a sigh of relief. He shifted his stiff body in the cramped seat and began to stretch.

But he froze mid-yawn.

Because he saw that someone had appeared in the seat across from him.

The person was just sitting there silently, offering him an eerie smile under the swaying light of the cabin lamp.

And it was a face he knew all too well.

It was Li Kang!

In an instant, Yan Xun’s scalp went numb with terror, and every muscle in his body tensed.

He knew better than anyone that Li Kang was long dead.

’Then who was this person in front of him?’

Not only that, but Yan Xun also noticed that this "Li Kang’s" smile was incredibly bizarre.

A normal person’s smile is dynamic; it crinkles the eyes and brows, and the curve of the lips changes.

But this Li Kang’s smile was like a mask carved into his face. It never changed in the slightest, its curve so unnervingly precise it made one’s heart pound.

Just as Yan Xun felt his skin crawl with fear, the Li Kang across from him finally moved.

He let out a sinister chuckle, then whispered in a bone-chilling voice.

"Eldest Young Master Yan, how could you leave me all alone and run off... Do you have any idea how cold it is down there?"

Yan Xun was scared out of his wits. He scrambled to shrink back, but the cold wall of the cabin was right behind him, leaving him no room to retreat.

He wanted to scream, to cry for help, but no sound would come out.

And the passengers around him, chatting and playing cards, seemed completely oblivious to the abnormality of the situation, continuing to mind their own business.

Just then, the world before his eyes began to distort.

The wooden deck beneath his feet became viscous and pitch-black, like melting wax.

The clamor of the passengers vanished, replaced by a dead silence.

Even the dim yellow lamps transformed into flickering, eerie green will-o’-the-wisps, casting a sinister, terrifying glow all around.

In the blink of an eye, the ship’s cabin had transformed into a solemn and grimly forbidding courtroom.

High above in the courtroom sat a Judge whose face was obscured. His figure was cloaked in shadows, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes that stared coldly down at him.

Beside the Judge, a heavy tome flipped open on its own, its pages rustling. Densely packed lists of crimes, written in Cinnabar, covered its pages.

"Yan Xun, a native of Pingjing. As the son of a concubine from a powerful house, you are of corrupt character. You have preyed upon the common folk, forced the innocent into prostitution, and brought ruin and death upon families... totaling seventeen households and fifty-three lives!"

The Judge’s voice was devoid of any emotion, yet each word struck Yan Xun’s heart like a heavy hammer.

Yan Xun, terrified out of his mind, collapsed to his knees but still tried to argue stubbornly, "I... I didn’t! They did it willingly! What does it have to do with me?"

In response, the Judge simply let out a cold sneer.

"Still trying to argue at death’s door."

SMACK!

The Judge slammed his gavel down. Instantly, the area below the dais filled with indistinct ghostly figures, each with a wretched appearance and radiating overwhelming resentment.

There was the merchant who had been driven to throw himself in the river, the shop clerk beaten to death by his vicious thugs, and the innocent young woman he had tricked into a life of ruin, who ended up dying of sickness on the streets...

They were all people whom Yan Xun had directly or indirectly caused the deaths of over the years.

Now, they all swarmed forward, letting out shrill wails and stretching out their pallid hands as they condemned Yan Xun for his monstrous crimes.

"Give me back my husband!"

"My home... you destroyed my home!"

"Yan Xun, you animal! I’ll haunt you even in death!"

Yan Xun was utterly dumbstruck, so terrified by the horrifying scene before him that he nearly lost his mind.

He wanted to argue, to scream, but an invisible force enveloped him, making him feel as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss.

Then, a flood of memories that were not his own surged into his mind.

He became the cloth merchant who had been driven to bankruptcy. He stood in his empty shop, feeling the utter despair of a man with nothing left to live for, before finally picking up a rope and placing it around his own neck.

Then he became the woman his men had drowned in the pond. He felt the icy water rush into his nose, the tearing pain in his lungs, and his life slowly ebbing away amidst endless darkness and suffocation.

Each experience was a form of psychological death by a thousand cuts.

He felt the pain, the bitter resentment, and the utter despair of his victims in their final moments.

Again and again, it repeated in an endless, horrifying loop.

"No... stop... I was wrong... I was really wrong..."

Under this endless torment, Yan Xun’s mental defenses finally crumbled completely.

Snot and tears streamed down his face as he kowtowed frantically, begging for mercy, a truly pathetic sight.

However, the Judge seated high on the dais and the countless ghostly figures around him merely watched him with cold indifference.

Finally, after experiencing the death of yet another victim, Yan Xun felt his insides rupture from sheer terror. His vision went black, and the entire scene shattered around him.