Heat continuously rose from the bowl.
Leo lowered his head and quickly stirred the noodles with his spoon.
But his other hand wasn’t idle either.
His phone screen kept scrolling as he opened the chat boxes of different real estate agencies one after another.
Messages were sent out in quick succession.
“Boss.”
“Another bottle of water.”
“Got it!”
A bottle of ice-cold water was placed on the table.
Leo unscrewed the cap and gulped down half the bottle.
“Refreshing.”
A voice suddenly came from the neighboring table.
“I’m not eating this!”
“It tastes bad!”
A seven- or eight-year-old boy pouted as he pushed the vegetables in his bowl aside with his spoon.
The woman beside him didn’t get angry.
She simply reached over and put the vegetables back.
“Eat a little.”
“You haven’t eaten many vegetables today.”
“I’m not eating them!”
“They’re bitter!”
“How are they bitter?”
The woman smiled and picked up one of the vegetables.
She took a bite herself.
“Look.”
“Mom ate it.”
The boy still shook his head.
The man beside them put down his spoon and took the child’s bowl.
He chopped the vegetables into smaller pieces and mixed them into the noodles.
“How about now?”
“Finish your food.”
“I’ll buy you some ice cream on the way home.”
The boy’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“It’s a deal!”
The family of three laughed together.
Leo’s hand paused as he was about to pick up another mouthful of noodles.
Steam drifted past his face.
Through the glass window, he saw his own reflection.
Leo remained still for a long time.
A scene like this…
It seemed like there had once been a time when he had experienced something similar.
Nothing special.
So ordinary that he hadn’t paid any attention to it back then.
His father would sit beside him, complaining that they were wasting money.
But every time, he would secretly order another dish.
His mother would always complain that he ate too quickly.
She would tell him to slow down.
Noisy.
Annoying.
Messy.
But now that he thought about it…
It was actually pretty nice.
Leo lowered his head and continued eating his noodles.
A drop of water fell into the soup.
He froze for a moment.
Another drop fell.
Leo raised his hand and wiped his eyes.
Then he laughed.
“Fuck.”
“The chili is really spicy.”
Clang!
Midnight.
High Sea University.
The girls’ dormitory was still brightly lit.
Sally was wearing a facial mask while sitting cross-legged on her bed, scrolling through short videos.
She suddenly raised her head.
“Leah.”
“Still can’t get through?”
Leah was lying on her bed, tightly gripping her phone.
Her expression was frighteningly ugly.
[The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable…]
It was that message again.
At first, Leo simply hadn’t answered.
Later, he had turned off his phone completely.
“Stop calling him.”
Sally curled her lips.
“Your brother just has money and doesn’t want to give you any.”
“Men like that are the worst.”
“You should just cut ties with him.”
Leah didn’t say anything.
Sally became more animated as she continued.
“You’re his biological sister, after all.”
“He isn’t even willing to give you five thousand dollars?”
“He won’t even answer your calls.”
“As expected, all men are the same.”
She rolled her eyes.
“My dad even complained today that my monthly allowance of ten thousand yuan is too much.”
“Ridiculous.”
“How is that little bit of money supposed to be enough?”
“It’s gone after buying two pieces of clothing.”
“When I find myself a rich second-generation guy to marry in the future…”
“He’ll be the first person I blacklist!”
Leah still said nothing.
Her phone screen had already gone dark.
She stared at it.
Her teeth clenched tighter and tighter.
“Damn it!”
“Leo!”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“After Mom and Dad died…”
“You’re my older brother!”
“If you don’t give me money, who will?”
“It’s only forty thousand!”
“You deliver food every day.”
“How is it possible that you can’t even come up with that much?”
Suddenly, Leah stopped.
It was as if she had thought of something.
“The house…”
She suddenly sat upright.
Sally was startled.
“What?”
“The house!”
Leah’s eyes gradually brightened.
“My parents left us a house!”
“And it’s a villa!”
“As long as I sell it…”
“What are credit cards worth?”
“Hundreds of thousands.”
“Even millions!”
“It’s all possible!”
She immediately opened her contacts.
She kept scrolling down.
Finally, she found the name she was looking for.
[Brother One, Real Estate]
She dialed.
Beep.
Beep.
The phone rang several times before an extremely impatient voice came from the other end.
“Who is this?”
“Why are you calling so late?”
“Brother One!”
“It’s me!”
“Leah!”
“I have a house I want to sell!”
The man clearly hadn’t fully woken up yet.
“Tomorrow…”
“Leah!”
His voice suddenly stopped.
The next second, his tone changed completely.
“Leah! Is that your family’s villa?!”
“House prices have fallen recently. It won’t be worth as much as the price Brother One previously offered your brother.”
“Just tell me if you’ll buy it.”
“Buy!”
“Of course I’ll buy it!”
The man instantly became energetic.
“Take a picture of the property ownership certificate and send it to me!”
“I’ll evaluate it for you right now!”
“Okay!”
“Okay!”
Leah hurriedly opened her phone’s photo album.
Before long, she had sent all the pictures over.
“Brother One.”
“I sent them to your phone.”
“Tell me once you’ve finished calculating the price!”
“No problem!”
The call ended.
Leah hugged her phone.
Her expression gradually turned cold.
She had begged for so long.
He wouldn’t even answer her calls.
Fine.
“Leo.”
“You brought this on yourself!”
New York
The most prosperous financial center in the United States of America.
It was already midnight.
Yet the top floor of a skyscraper was still brightly lit.
Beyond the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the city lights stretched all the way to the horizon.
Inside the office, a man sat behind the desk.
White shirt.
Black vest.
Gold-rimmed glasses.
The mechanical watch on his wrist was worth an astonishing amount of money.
“Boss!”
The door suddenly swung open.
A burly man hurried inside.
“Internal news!”
Senhwa raised his head and frowned slightly.
“What internal news?”
He removed his gold-rimmed glasses and casually placed them on the desk.
Then he raised his hand and straightened his slightly wrinkled cuffs.
Beneath the sleeves, his arm muscles bulged prominently.
The muscles looked like they could tear through the shirt at any moment.
Senhwa took a cigarette from the pack on the desk.
Snap.
The lighter ignited.
Smoke slowly rose into the air.
“Speak.”
The burly man quickly approached.
His voice was kept very low.
“Boss.”
“News just came from the brothers over in the South Korea.”
“There’s a game.”
“It’s called Galaxy.”
Senhwa’s hand holding the cigarette didn’t change.
“A game counts as internal news?”
“No.”
The burly man shook his head.
“That person was in a car accident before.”
“His left arm was paralyzed.”
“Nerve damage.”
Senhwa’s gaze finally lifted.
The burly man swallowed.
“After he played Galaxy…”
“That left arm…”
“Moved.”
The office suddenly fell silent.
The only sound was the faint crackling of the cigarette burning.
Several seconds later, Senhwa slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely!”
“I have the video.”
“Someone also checked with the hospital.”
“It isn’t fake.”
“His arm really couldn’t move before.”
The burly man looked at Senhwa.
He hesitated before speaking.
“Boss…”
“I was just thinking…”
“Your legs…”
His voice suddenly stopped.
The scene shifted downward.
Straight suit pants.
Polished leather shoes.
But those legs didn’t move at all.
Beneath Senhwa’s powerful and muscular upper body was a striking black wheelchair.
Several men in suits stood quietly on both sides of the office.
Outside the door, two heavily tattooed men could still be seen standing guard.
The atmosphere was completely out of place in such a high-end financial building.
Senhwa held the cigarette between his fingers.
His eyes remained fixed on the computer screen.
At the center of the screen, two silvery-white characters slowly appeared.
[Galaxy]
He remained silent for a long time.
“Get me a game pod.”
The burly man’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Now?”
Senhwa put his gold-rimmed glasses back on.
“Now.”
“I want to go in and see for myself.”
“This game…”
He lowered his head and glanced at his motionless legs.
“Can it really make me stand again?”