Footsteps drew closer, and broken snatches of conversation drifted over.
“Damn it, what bad luck… doing this kind of work in the middle of the night…” one voice complained, slurred from drink, his tongue feeling tied in knots.
Another voice muttered a few grumbles after him, full of resentment.
Inside the thin coffin, a cold glint flashed in Shen Ji’s eyes. They were from the Marquis Residence!
He no longer hesitated. The ice ability already condensed within his body, like an ice arrow awaiting release, was precisely controlled by Shen Ji’s mental energy. In an instant, it gathered to one point and burst toward the crack he had pried open…
Boom!
The coffin boards exploded on impact! Wood chips flew everywhere!
The split-open coffin lid was hurled far away by that overbearing force, crashing into a patch of withered grass and raising a choking cloud of dust.
“Ghost! It’s a ghost!!!” The two Marquis Residence guards who had just reached Shen Ji’s grave were terrified out of their wits. Their drunkenness instantly vanished, and they scrambled backward in panic, staring in horror at the coffin that had suddenly blown apart.
Amid the billowing dust, a figure braced one hand on the coffin wall and slowly stood up.
Under the pale moonlight, Shen Ji’s face was revealed, white as paper yet still shockingly beautiful.
“E… Eldest Young Master?!” Liu Xiang, the more composed of the two guards, rubbed his eyes hard. After making out that face, his voice shook so badly it went out of tune. “Y-You… you’re not dead?!”
Even breathing sent a tearing pain through Shen Ji’s internal organs. He lifted his gaze, and those bottomless black eyes swept over the two of them with icy indifference. He said nothing.
After a brief silence, wild joy and greed suddenly erupted in the eyes of the two opposite him.
“Shen Ji isn’t dead!!” The guard named Wang Liu shot out a greedy gleam, his voice trembling with excitement. “Brother Liu Xiang! A windfall has fallen right into our laps! Take down the Eldest Young Master! Offer him to the Lady!”
“Good! Move!” Liu Xiang was also drunk on greed and alcohol. With a clang, the two drew their swords and savagely lunged at Shen Ji, who had just stood up from the coffin and was still a little unsteady!
They only wanted to clutch that “windfall” tightly in their hands!
A trace of almost imperceptible mockery curved Shen Ji’s lips.
Seeking death!
The instant their blades were about to touch Shen Ji’s chest…
Shen Ji moved!
His movements were so fast that only afterimages remained! He directly avoided both attacks, and at the same time, his withered hand, carrying his ability, struck rapidly, tapping several times at Liu Xiang’s shoulder and elbow joints!
“Uh!” Liu Xiang only felt half of his body instantly go limp and powerless. A wave of searing pain hit him. With a muffled grunt, he crashed to the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror.
Shen Ji moved like a ghost, swinging his elbow back with pinpoint accuracy into Wang Liu’s ribs!
“Ugh…” Wang Liu’s vision went black, and he nearly lost his breath. The pain and choking sensation made him curl up on the ground in an instant, leaving only convulsive spasms.
Shen Ji finished his move and stood still. The violent motion triggered the poison in his body, and he coughed heavily, a streak of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Forcing down the churning blood and dizziness in his body, he fixed a cold stare on the two men sprawled on the ground, completely unable to resist. His voice was hoarse and low:
“What is the situation in the Marquis Residence now?”
Liu Xiang was filled with terror. The Eldest Young Master’s ghostlike methods and chilling gaze… how could this still be the frail Eldest Young Master from before?
He trembled like a leaf in the wind and stammered, “I… I’ll talk! The Lady… the Lady and the Second Young Master! Tonight… in the small flower hall in the inner courtyard… they quietly held a banquet… and even invited a music troupe… I heard the Lady say it herself… that once the funeral rites for the Eldest Young Master and the old marquis were finished, on an auspicious day three days from now, they would… hold the succession ceremony for the Second Young Master… Every word I said is true! I wouldn’t dare hide anything. Please, Eldest Young Master, spare my life!”
“A banquet to celebrate… heh! In three days… the succession ceremony…”
His body was still barely cold, and Lady Liu and Shen Mingxuan were already rushing to celebrate. It was truly wonderful!
His gaze fell on the two cowards on the ground, those useless men who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Shen Ji said no more. He struck swiftly and directly ended both of their lives.
He shoved the two bodies into the blasted-open grave pit and hastily buried them, making it look almost no different from the original grave mound.
The night wind howled, sinking everything into even deeper silence. Shen Ji forced back the blood rising in his throat, cold sweat covering his temples.
He had just transmigrated and already endured a string of life-and-death crises, so Shen Ji hurriedly called out to the system in his heart:
『Where is the newbie gift pack?』
『The host may use one cubic meter of space.』
『Current points: 0. Completing tasks later will earn points, which can be exchanged for items in the shop.』
When the cold mechanical voice finished speaking, it fell silent.
Shen Ji was left speechless, secretly grumbling in his heart that the system was useless.
Without stopping, Shen Ji confirmed the direction and then dragged his broken, seriously ill body, staggering toward the city.
He walked for a long time before the pitch-black city wall finally came into view.
Shen Ji found a low, crumbling corner of the city wall, silently climbed over the top, landed lightly, and entered the dark alley inside.
The poison in his body roiled, and his vision kept dimming. Just as he turned into a secluded narrow alley and was about to lean against the wall to catch his breath…
“You little beast! You still dare bite? Looking for death!”
“Beat him hard! Beat him until he submits!”
“Damn it! Ruin his looks and we won’t get a damn copper coin for him!”
Filthy curses and the heavy thuds of fists and kicks striking flesh, mixed with the muffled sobs of a child desperately suppressing his cries, sounded especially loud and harsh in this quiet, deathly still slum.
Shen Ji stopped abruptly and crept closer, hiding himself in the shadows.
Not far down the alley, three burly men were surrounding a burlap sack that kept twisting on the ground, punching and kicking it. One of them was clutching his bleeding wrist, humiliated and enraged, and his kicks were especially vicious.
During the struggle, the mouth of the sack loosened, and the small head of a child covered in bruises and bloodstains emerged.
The faint light of dawn fell on the child’s battered little face. His mouth was split and bleeding, and tears mixed with the dirt on his face as they fell. Even in such a miserable state, that delicate, beautiful face was still breathtaking.
Those big eyes, stained with blood and bruises, held a stubborn, unyielding defiance like a trapped beast — bright and unextinguished even in the dark night, like stars in the dark night! He bit his lower lip hard, refusing to make a single sound of weakness.
That child was actually Chu Yu, the kidnapped legitimate grandson of the Duke Zhenguo’s Residence!
That little young master of the ducal residence, adored by the old duke and the heir couple, a true precious jewel!
In his previous life, Chu Yu had only just been kidnapped around this time. The Duke Zhenguo’s Residence sent many people to search, and the Five Wards Military Command and the City Patrol Office were also mobilized, but after several months there was still no trace of him.
Later, one could only hear the noble ladies sighing one or two times: that precious little young master had died a silent, miserable death outside at such a young age, and even his bones could not be found, leaving countless people sighing in regret…