Chapter 048: A Reason

Outside the window, dusk had settled, and shadows swallowed the figures beyond sight. The empty road occasionally saw a few private cars pass by, most of them black Passat B5s, with the rare Audi, Mercedes, or BMW gliding through. As Lin Yu watched the ebb and flow of vehicles, his thoughts strayed far from the present.

Lin Yu was no saint immune to desire. He couldn’t help but envy those with the means to drive luxury cars, taking beautiful women out for a nighttime spin. China’s wealthy and powerful formed a vast class, stretching from the bottom to the very apex of the social food chain; by conservative estimates, their numbers exceeded ten million. But Lin Tiancheng and Wang Chunhua, his parents, were clearly not among them.

If Lin Yu wanted to rise, to claw his way to the top, he would have to rely on himself alone. His greatest advantage, aside from the search system in his mind, was the treasure trove of memories from his previous life. These allowed him to spot the most dazzling diamonds hidden in the dirt that others scorned.

For instance, the Phoenix Bar incident unfolding before him—a matter destined to shake the city.

Yet, every opportunity comes with its risks. After much deliberation, Lin Yu realized he lacked the power to oppose that group of privileged bullies. He could only watch as disaster unfolded, letting pass the chance to befriend the future overlord, Lian Jin.

It was a pity, but such was life.

He sighed to himself, “Well, washing up is done. All that’s left is to sleep.” Lin Yu felt a pang of regret, but no solution presented itself. He was not the sort of person who could sweep through the world clad in golden armor, nor did he know anyone who could.

The bedding and sheets at the Holiday Inn Express were pristine white, spotless and inviting. They appeared clean and were comfortable enough, but Lin Yu knew they had surely absorbed all manner of stains from countless guests. Still, material circumstances limit material pleasures—he had no choice but to endure and drift off to sleep.

Just as his eyelids grew heavy and his mind began to sink, a simple ringtone suddenly rang out.

Groggy, he fumbled for his trousers on the nightstand, pulled out his phone, and pressed the answer button. “Hello? Who is this?”

A sinister, youthful voice answered, “Heh. Who am I? I’m your father!”

“Are you out of your mind, you idiot?” Lin Yu cursed and was about to hang up.

But before he could, the sinister voice chuckled again, and the background exploded into a cacophony—shouts, cheers, muffled grunts.

“What exactly do you want, or what are you trying to do? You have ten seconds to explain, or I’m turning off my phone.” Now more awake, Lin Yu’s tone was sharp. No one would be in a good mood receiving such a call at midnight.

The caller, voice thick with smug provocation, replied, “What am I doing? Come see for yourself at Phoenix Bar, Lin Yu.”

“Sick in the head!” Lin Yu spat and hung up, switching his phone to silent and tossing it aside.

At that very moment, in another corner of the city—the Phoenix Bar—a scene was unfolding that would have filled Lin Yu with rage.

“Kid, your so-called Third Brother isn’t even standing up for you, is he?” Zhang Hongkai snarled, kicking Zhang Zhilong, who lay curled on the floor like a prawn.

Around Zhang Hongkai stood seven or eight cronies, Lin Lie at the forefront.

“You moron, can’t even speak proper Chinese. Can’t you get to the point when you call? Quit yapping like an old woman…” Though Zhang Zhilong had taken a severe beating, he stubbornly refused to back down.

In truth, his misfortune had been sheer bad luck. After a passionate encounter with their teacher, Tao Bo, in the restroom, he’d emerged in high spirits to look for Lin Yu. Failing to find him after a search, he ran into Lin Lie, a classmate of Lin Yu’s, and asked, “Brother Lie, have you seen my Third Brother?”

“Lin Yu? Haven’t seen him…” Lin Lie replied disdainfully after a swig of beer. He considered Lin Yu and his friends beneath notice.

“Fine!” Zhang Zhilong grumbled, and was about to leave with Tao Bo.

“Lin Yu?” At that moment, Zhang Hongkai—who’d already guessed from Lin Lie and Hu Bin’s comments that it was Lin Yu who’d knocked him out earlier—let out a cold snort and smashed a bottle over Zhang Zhilong’s head.

With a loud crack, Zhang Zhilong nearly collapsed. Before he could react, seven or eight spoiled scions swarmed him, beating him savagely.

Though barely over 1.6 meters tall and somewhat shifty, Zhang Zhilong was tough. After more than ten minutes of relentless blows, his face was bruised and battered, yet he uttered not a single cry.

“Call me ‘Boss’ and I’ll let you off for now,” Zhang Hongkai sneered, kicking him again.

“Heh. If I call them Grandpa and you Boss, doesn’t that make you their son?” Zhang Zhilong, curled up and shielding his vital parts, coughed out a taunt.

His words only enraged Zhang Hongkai further, who grabbed a full beer bottle and smashed it down on Zhang Zhilong’s head.

Blood instantly streamed down Zhang Zhilong’s already frail face; he looked utterly pitiable.

By now, Tao Bo, eyes brimming with tears, tried to intervene—only to receive a slap from Zhang Hongkai. Stunned, the young teacher stood motionless, at a loss. Suddenly, she remembered a scene from “Meteor Garden,” where the heroine shielded Dao Ming Si from a beating. Imitating this, she threw herself into the fray to protect Zhang Zhilong, but was tossed aside within seconds.

Such is the tragedy of the powerless: the courage to resist, yet no means to do so.

This was Tao Bo’s first encounter with Zhang Zhilong, and by rights, she should feel little for him. Yet her unorthodox thinking dictated her extraordinary behavior.

Meanwhile, after hanging up, Lin Yu felt increasingly uneasy. A few minutes later, he picked up his phone and found over a dozen unread messages.

Opening them, he read: “Your buddy Zhang Zhilong is at Phoenix Bar, kneeling and kowtowing to his ‘grandpas.’ If you have any sense of loyalty, come alone.” All signed by Zhang Hongkai.

Seeing these texts, Lin Yu’s hands began to shake with rage, a fierce anger igniting within him.

In less than a minute, he was fully dressed and out the door, sprinting down the street like a maddened leopard toward the nearby Phoenix Bar. Not even the neon beauty of the night could distract him.

Faced with the same peril, Lin Yu could abandon a promising opportunity, but he would never abandon a brother in distress.

Brotherhood—this was his reason, his sole justification, for risking everything.