Standing at the alley’s entrance, Fu Yucheng looked up.

There was a rusty iron rod there, slanted against a wall, looking like it was about to fall down. It had a tattered sign on top: ‘Winter Jasmine Alley’.

It was a tacky name, and the alley was cramped, with rusty tin houses packed on both sides, most of them two or three stories tall.

The alley was also very dark, with rubbish everywhere and dirty water flowing down the street.

Fu Yucheng looked up. Above his head were clothing lines, densely packed with all sorts of erotic lingerie. The cheap-looking, colorful and small pieces of fabric swayed in the wind like flags, covering up the sight of the sky, which had been narrow to begin with.

Even in the chaotic Industrial Regions, this was considered a stereotypical slum – a disreputable one.

Fu Yucheng lowered the brim of his cap and walked through the alleyways, which stretched around him like a cobweb.

It was still before business hours, and the alley was empty and quiet.

A sleepy-eyed prostitute wearing a translucent silk camisole, leaning lazily next to a narrow door, breathed out a puff of smoke at him. “Hey, handsome, do you want to come play? I’ll give you a 50% discount.”

Fu Yucheng smiled at her, did not reply, and continued to walk down the alley.

The slum covered a very large area. Although the alley was narrow and cramped, the pathways were very complicated. Fu Yucheng walked around for half an hour before finally arriving at a rusty iron door.

The iron door was half open showing a dirty blue curtain that hung over it, a small courtyard vaguely visible inside.

Fu Yucheng hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to knock on the door or go directly in.

“Customer, do you want a foot massage?” A woman with a hoarse voice spoke, lifting the curtain at the back.

Across the door stood a twenty something year old woman. She had a pretty face, but her skin was yellow-ish and she had some blemishes on her nose.

Fu Yucheng was taken aback.

Seeing that he didn’t say anything, the woman hesitated a little, and then cautiously said, “We only do foot massages here, we don’t offer that sort of service.”

Fu Yucheng came back to his senses and said, “I’m not here for a foot massage, I’m looking for someone.”

The woman’s expression immediately tensed up, and she seemed to become more guarded. “Who are you looking for?”

Fu Yucheng said softly, “Don’t be afraid, I’m just looking for a friend, his surname is Lin. I heard that he lives with you.”

The woman looked at Fu Yucheng warily, but, noticing that he was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked very kind, she hesitated and finally said, “Well, he is inside. You, you can come in.”

Fu Yucheng followed the woman through the door. Inside there was a quiet small courtyard with two very simple metallic buildings.

The woman led him to a room on the second floor and lifted a dirty curtain. “A-Lin, someone is looking for you.”

The room was small and dark, and the only thing that could be seen inside was the shape of a man, sitting with his back to the door.

After a long time, the man whispered, “…Who’s looking for me?”

His voice was very hoarse, seeming as if his throat had been severely injured.

Fu Yucheng suppressed the emotion in his heart, walked into the room slowly, and whispered, “Senior Lin, it’s me.”

The man was startled.

He was silent for a minute before letting out a long sigh. “Fu Yucheng, why are you here?”

Standing behind him, Fu Yucheng muttered, “I’m here to see you.”

Lin Su was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. His laughter was hoarse and choked, unspeakably weird, and it sounded very uncomfortable.

Then, he turned around abruptly, and sternly said, “So you came to see me?! What did you come here to see when I’m like this?!”

The man was only in his thirties. His face was very haggard, still showing a small shadow of handsomeness.

However, he wasn’t sitting on an ordinary chair, but on a shabby wheelchair with a thin, dirty blanket on his lap that fell flat below his knees.

Lin Su inhaled harshly, his eyes fixed on Fu Yucheng. “Look at this!!”

Fu Yucheng looked at him and couldn’t say anything for a while, as if his clever mouth from the past had simply become a decoration.

The two of them remained almost completely silent in the dark, narrow tin room.

After an undefined amount of time, Lin Su closed his eyes and attempted to steady his breath. “Did you get a good look, Fu Yucheng? Then get lost!”

Fu Yucheng pursed his lips, took out a thin magnetic card from his pocket, and gently placed it on a low cabinet next to him. “This magnetic card holds twelve thousand transaction coins.”

He paused, and then added. “Senior Lin, I’m going to do something, and… I may not be back in the future. You… take care of yourself.”

Lin Su stared at the magnetic card on the low cabinet, and his eyelids gradually went red.

His voice was very hoarse, laced with a subtle tremor. “What do you mean, Fu Yucheng? My father’s life, the life of our juniors Yu Jingqiu and Lu Xing, everyone else’s lives… and my legs… are you planning to compensate for them all with that magnetic card?!”

Fu Yucheng replied anxiously, “Senior Lin, I didn’t mean that…”

Lin Su snapped unbearably, “Don’t call me senior! You’re not fucking worthy of it! My father does not have students like you!”

Fu Yucheng’s lips shook very lightly and he said nothing.

Lin Su unconsciously latched onto the armrests of the wheelchair. He grabbed them so tightly, his knuckles went horribly white. “Fu Yucheng, you traitor, you traitor… I really want to- I really want to kill you! Back then, if you didn’t betray us, how could this possibly…

“When my father picked you up back then, you were just a teenager. Your body was covered in infected wounds, and you had a forty degree fever. You were unconscious for days… In order to treat you, father took mother’s only relic, that pair of antique bracelets… and pawned them. He struggled for half a year just to save you. And you? What did you bring him to in the end?!”

He paused and then said dumbly, “I admit that you are very talented, very talented, the best one of the four of us. Yu Jingqiu and I were far inferior to you… even the little genius Lu Xing was also willing to be your follower, always hanging around you all day long, listening to everything you said. You had a bright future, why couldn’t you just remain peaceful?!”

Lin Su took a low breath and continued. “When you were twenty, you took Yu Jingqiu and Lu Xing everywhere to make trouble… You relied on your own ability and gathered a bunch of disorderly people, and then you even went to provoke the White Rose Palace?! I was also a fool before and didn’t stop you, and I even helped you lot out…!

“But what I really don’t understand is that, after paying such a great price, things were just so close, so very close to success… and then you changed your mind! You betrayed your own people and turned to the Imperial family? To that prince?!

“It was you, you traitor, you killed them… You killed our junior brothers, Yu and Lu, and killed father, it was you…!”

Lin Su got more and more excited as he spoke. Once he was done, his whole body was shaking like a leaf and he was unable to catch his breath.

Fu Yucheng took a step forward, gently pressing on the man’s shoulders, and spoke quietly. “Senior Lin, your health isn’t good, don’t get too worked up. Teacher, he should be alive, but I-”

Slap!

Lin Su gave him a loud slap with the back of his hand and snarled. “You liar! You even dare to lie to me?!”

Fu Yucheng’s face whipped to the side with the merciless strike. Five bright red fingerprints suddenly appeared on his handsome face.

He stayed still for a while, slowly lowered his head, licked the blood at the corner of his lips, and said nothing.

Lin Su gritted his teeth and looked at him. “Fu Yucheng, I really… I really don’t understand.”

Fu Yucheng was silent for a while before whispering, “Senior Lin, I can’t explain the past. I’m here now, and I don’t know if I will be able to come back. The money in this magnetic card isn’t a lot, but it should be enough for you to not have to worry about food and shelter for the rest of your life… I…”

Lin Su interrupted him coldly. “If you answer a question, I will accept this card.”

Fu Yucheng was confused. “What is it?”

Lin Su gave him a deadly stare and  carefully enunciated every word. “Why, why-?” He clenched his teeth tightly, not even noticing the strong smell of blood in his mouth. “Back then, it was obvious that we had the upper hand! Why did you betray us?! I wasn’t at the front line back then and the specific situation was unclear… I heard rumors saying that you had a special relationship with the Imperial Prince, and, when things reached a certain point, you couldn’t bear to attack him. As a result, you killed our juniors, Lu and Yu… Is that true?! Is it?! Tell me, Fu Yucheng!!!”

Fu Yucheng was silent for a long time before shaking his head. “No.”

Lin Su continued asking mercilessly. “Why then? You and Rongyuan, you… what is the relationship between you two? What was going on at that time?”

Fu Yucheng sighed. “That matter is too complicated, and I really can’t explain it now. Even if I tell you, you won’t believe it, and you might get into trouble.”

Lin Su sneered. “I just think you can’t find any excuses. You were always so clever, why don’t you just make up an excuse to fool me?”

Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “Whatever you say. Anyway, if you keep this card, I have to get going.”

He had just taken a step when he suddenly felt something. He couldn’t stop it from showing on his face slightly.

Lin Su sneered mockingly. “Why aren’t you leaving?”

Fu Yucheng closed his eyes, feeling the faint pressure of a psionic force field in the air, and whispered, “You set me up.”

Lin Su stared at him coldly. “What, so you can betray us but I can’t betray you? Ah, you probably don’t know, but your life is really valuable. Very, very valuable. At least, more valuable than your cursed magnetic card.”

“Senior Lin, you hate me, I deserve it.” Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but frown. “But, how did you know that I would come today?”

“Of course I didn’t know. I didn’t expect you to come at all,” Lin Su said coldly. “Two years ago, someone from the Empire found me, and he promised to give me amnesty and a large sum of money. He only had one request: that, if you were to come, I would press a communicator button to notify him immediately. Why wouldn’t I agree to something so simple?”

He slowly released the wheelchair armrest.

On the side of the armrest, there was an inconspicuous red button.

Looking at the button, Fu Yucheng smiled bitterly. “The people of the Empire are really troublesome. I’m already a useless man who has been banished to Earth… According to reason, those that are banished to Earth, either dead or disappeared, will no longer be pursued. And yet, they still refuse to let me go.”

He shook his head and let out a soft tsk. “Two years… that’s really a lot of patience.”

Before he finished his words, he picked up a cup on the table and threw it to the side.

Clash! With a crisp sound, the window glass shattered and fell to the ground.

Without hesitation, Fu Yucheng leaped, light on his feet, from the second floor window, and jumped into a small alley behind the building!

He rolled lightly like a cat, then stood up against the wall and glanced back and forth.

There was no one in the back alley.

However, the faint pressure of the psionic force field in the air was still there, and Fu Yucheng could almost feel it, cold and dangerous. The person coming was very strong, and he was obviously deliberately concealing his psionic field. He had concealed it so successfully that most manipulators wouldn’t be able to detect it.

Fu Yucheng’s degree of control and sensibility to psionic fields was at the level of a master’s, and even he could only feel a small, subtle fluctuation. It was like a hunting shark, swimming quietly below the water surface.

Fu Yucheng didn’t dare to be careless. With his nerves tense, he walked slowly towards the street.

As soon as he walked a few steps, he felt something and immediately stopped, frowning, and looked deeper into the alley.

A figure walked out slowly, appearing further down the way.

Fu Yucheng’s right hand was already holding onto Silent Blue Moon quietly behind his waist, but suddenly he was stunned.

The man looked at him from a distance and asked coldly, “Where are you trying to go?”

Our boy is back!!!!!!!

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