"Mom, are you catching a cold?"

Hearing her mother sneeze, Bai Wei fumbled for the air conditioner remote by her pillow and turned up the temperature. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Maybe that Su fellow is cursing me!" Madame Bai curled her lip into a sneer. "My plan is more than enough to get him killed, haha!"

She had arranged for someone disguised as a doctor to murder Du Yuanzheng, and she couldn’t wait for Su Xuan to be killed by Du Yuanzheng’s associates.

"He’s very wealthy." Bai Wei placed the remote back by her pillow. With her back to her mother, she said, "This world stinks of money; there’s nothing it can’t solve."

"You don’t need to worry about that." Madame Bai gently pinched her daughter’s shoulder. She looked like a loving mother, but her face was filled with serpentine venom. "The dead man’s people are from the martial world, just like the characters you see in martial arts films. They’re all stubborn-minded, ignore our laws, and believe in settling their own affairs their own way. It’s hard to placate them with money."

"Oh," Bai Wei responded softly.

"Let’s just happily wait for news of that Su fellow’s death." The smile on Madame Bai’s face grew wider.

"Then you’d better keep a close eye on things, Mom." Bai Wei gently caressed the small buttons on the remote. "I actually didn’t want you to punish him this way. I have a good impression of him; he’s handsome and gentle. If there weren’t any grudges between us, we might have even been friends."

"That’s just his outward appearance!" Madame Bai scoffed. "Just like your father. Doesn’t he seem amiable on the surface? But in secret, doesn’t he deal with anyone who blocks his path to wealth? And it’s not just your father. Which wealthy person’s hands are clean? Which one of them is a good person?"

Madame Bai turned over to face the ceiling. A brightly glittering chandelier hung from it, but in her eyes, it reflected only a chilling glint.

"Go to sleep, Mom," Bai Wei said, closing her eyes.

"You sleep first." Madame Bai gently arranged her daughter’s hair before reaching under the bed to retrieve a box.

Opening it revealed a small figurine inside. Two words were inscribed on its body: Su Xuan.

She pricked her fingertip with a needle, let a drop of blood fall onto the figurine, and then began to stab it repeatedly. Ever since her husband’s incident, she had found a tutorial on a curse website and made this effigy. She dripped blood on it and stabbed it daily, a ritual to settle scores and repay all grievances. Stabbing it a few times before bed each night helped her sleep soundly.

But right now, all she hoped for was that Du Zilong and his men would kill Su Xuan sooner. When her hand grew tired from stabbing, Madame Bai returned the figurine to its box and closed her eyes in satisfaction.

...

"Aah..." Su Xuan stretched languidly in the courtyard of his lavish home.

"Have you all come to an agreement?" Su Xuan glanced at Zhao Ling, Wei Haojie, and Du Zilong. "If so, you should all head home. I want to get some sleep."

"Brother Su, wait a moment," Zhao Ling said, looking at Su Xuan before turning to Du Zilong. "The two of us can help you find the murderer, but since we’ve only just met, if we help for free..."

"I understand!" Du Zilong patted his phone. "Name your price!"

"One hundred thousand!" After a brief discussion with his junior, Wei Haojie, Zhao Ling quoted the price to Du Zilong.

"No problem!" Du Zilong, desperate for revenge, agreed without a second thought. One hundred thousand yuan was about the most he could accept; any higher and he would have certainly tried to haggle.

"Pay half as a deposit first," Zhao Ling said, glancing at Du Zilong’s phone. "You can pay the rest after the job is done."

"Sure!" Du Zilong took out his phone and transferred fifty thousand to Zhao Ling.

Zhao Ling immediately forwarded thirty thousand to Su Xuan. Since he had only borrowed twenty thousand, it seemed he didn’t want to remain overly indebted to Su Xuan.

"Boss Du, shall we go?" Zhao Ling asked, his form of address changing to reflect his new role as Du Zilong’s employee.

"Let’s go!" Du Zilong once again covered his face with the black cloth and vaulted back over the wall, leaving the way he came.

Zhao Ling and Wei Haojie exchanged a glance, then followed their new boss over the wall.

"Heh, those three are certainly interesting," Su Xuan chuckled as he watched them leave, then headed into his room.

After washing up, he lay on the bed but couldn’t fall asleep. Since sleep wouldn’t come, he didn’t bother forcing it. Instead, he took out the throwing knives he had pilfered earlier, removed the clothes from a wooden coat rack, and began using it for target practice.

Initially, his technique was clumsy, and his throws frequently missed. But after more than half an hour, he had gotten the hang of it.

His eyes were different from an ordinary person’s; to him, even the knives he threw seemed to move in slow motion. This allowed him to adjust their direction mid-flight, tracking their trajectory through the air. With each throw and adjustment, his progress became increasingly rapid!

THUD! THUD! THUD!

After nearly two hours of practice, he could hit whatever he aimed at, never missing the target. If Cai Ruifeng, the number one knife-thrower of Shanhaiguan, were to see this, he would be astounded. Su Xuan’s two hours of intense practice were equivalent to several months of his own training.

Su Xuan also incorporated the power of Ruyi Tai Chi into his throws, further enhancing the knives’ penetrating force.

Time to sleep, time to sleep!

After another hour, Su Xuan had developed muscle memory for throwing knives. He could now do it with an effortless, fluid motion, free of any hesitation. Only then did he rub his bloodshot eyes, lie down on the bed, and fall into a deep, sound sleep.

To find those two murderers, the key lies with him!

Meanwhile, Zhao Ling, Wei Haojie, and Du Zilong hadn’t actually left. They had merely hidden themselves near Su Xuan’s house, quietly observing all activity at his gate. Their eyes missed no one who passed by, effectively making them Su Xuan’s unpaid bodyguards. But even as dawn began to break, they hadn’t spotted anyone suspicious.

...

「The next morning」

Su Xuan, who had wanted to sleep in, was personally woken by his senior sister, Wang Xuehan, urging him to eat breakfast while it was hot.

Exhausted from practicing with his throwing knives late into the night, Su Xuan listlessly washed up, threw on some random clothes, and went to the dining room.

But when he arrived at the dining room, he froze.

In addition to the smiling Butler Liu and the two yawning children, he also saw another figure. It was the same youthful apparition with whom he had a connection through the prescription.

The apparition was sitting alone, seemingly drinking a bowl of porridge. He would scoop some from the bowl with a small spoon, blow on it, and then put it in his mouth. In his other hand, he held a scroll, which he read as he ate.

How can I be seeing him for no reason?

Su Xuan rubbed his eyes, baffled.

"Brother Su, what’s wrong?" The young siblings seemed to notice something. Pointing at Su Xuan’s eyes, they exclaimed, "Your eyes look so scary!"