“System, give me an ability that lets me view other people’s attributes,” Wang Xiaodong silently commanded in his mind.
[Ding! The host has obtained the Eye of Insight, allowing you to view anyone’s attribute panel.]
A faint golden gleam flashed deep within Wang Xiaodong’s pupils as his gaze fell upon Lin Chen, who lay limply on the floor.
[Name: Lin Chen
Charm: Completely Average (Barely Passable with the Protagonist Halo’s Enhancement)
Strength: Late-stage Yellow Realm
Destiny: 180
Favorability: -100 (Mortal Enemies)
Script: The Divine Doctor Descends the Mountain, and I’m Surrounded by Beauties?
Skills: Advanced Medical Skills, Intermediate Firearms Proficiency, Intermediate Piano Proficiency…]
‘Pfft…’
Wang Xiaodong nearly burst out laughing.
‘What kind of ridiculous character setting is this? An ancient martial arts practitioner raised in the mountains knows how to play the piano?’
His gaze swept across the banquet hall. Old Master Su was being helped back into his armchair.
The old man looked at Su Qingyue, who had been tossed onto the floor, then glanced at Lin Chen, who was coughing up blood. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he forcibly swallowed the blood rising in his throat.
“Young… Young Master Wang…” Old Master Su had barely begun speaking when a single look from Wang Xiaodong froze him in place.
At that moment, the doors to the banquet hall opened again. An assistant from the Wang family strode inside with steady steps and slapped a document onto the main table.
“Old Master Su, this is the termination agreement for every cooperative project between Wang Group and the Su family.”
The rustling of paper sounded especially harsh in the deathly silent hall. The faces of the Su family members instantly turned pale.
“No!” A Su family elder abruptly stood up. “We’ve been working together for three years…”
Slap!
“Who gave you permission to speak?”
Wang Xiaodong struck him across the face with the back of his hand. The man flew 3 meters through the air, crashed into the champagne tower, and fell unconscious.
“I call you Old Master Su only because I’m giving you respect.” Wang Xiaodong looked at Old Master Su and sneered. “Your Su family fattened itself on the Wang family’s resources, then turned around and let your granddaughter bring some random man here to humiliate me?”
“Don’t tell me you knew nothing about this. Weren’t you all waiting for the divine doctor to cure someone? While you’re at it, why don’t you see if he can cure your brains too?”
“Who the hell do you think I am? You actually dared to casually call me Xiaodong.”
“A bunch of idiots.”
Simple insults. Ultimate satisfaction.
Wang Xiaodong glanced at Lin Chen again and found him glaring fiercely in his direction.
“What? Are you about to shout something like, ‘Give me three years, and never look down on a poor young man’?”
Wang Xiaodong picked up a fountain pen, pressing its tip against the paper so hard that it nearly pierced through it. “What am I supposed to do with a partnership like this, keep it around to feed the dogs?”
Those words struck the guests like a heavy hammer.
Everyone understood what the Wang family’s status in the business world represented. Without the Wang family’s support, the Su family’s businesses would collapse within three days.
Seeing the situation deteriorate, the guests hurriedly invented excuses to leave.
“My dog is about to give birth…”
“My wife’s boyfriend is looking for me…”
“Wait for me! He’s looking for me too…”
In the blink of an eye, more than half the banquet hall had emptied.
The hems of expensive gowns swept across broken porcelain, while exquisite leather shoes stepped through spilled wine. No one spared the Su family another glance, much less dared to mention celebrating Old Master Su’s birthday.
The banquet hall, which had been filled with laughter and clinking glasses moments earlier, quickly became deserted and desolate.
The few close relatives of the Su family who remained huddled silently in a corner. Their gazes toward Su Qingyue were filled with resentment.
Su Qingyue sat helplessly amid the wreckage, staring at the backs of the guests fleeing in haste. Only now did she finally realize the magnitude of the disaster she had caused.
She crawled toward Wang Xiaodong and tried to hug his leg. “Xiaodong, I was wrong… Xiaodong, please don’t terminate the partnership!”
“Don’t touch me. You can wait until you’re living under a bridge!”
Wang Xiaodong kicked her back onto the floor.
‘Su Qingyue will die soon enough. Before that, I’ll make her watch her family fall apart with her own eyes and leave her wishing she were dead.’
The light from the crystal chandelier fell across the empty banquet hall, illuminating the deathly pale faces of the Su family members.
Old Master Su stared at the termination agreement and suddenly failed to catch his breath.
His prayer beads scattered across the table with a clatter, rolling everywhere. They looked eerily similar to the future awaiting the Su family as it fell apart piece by piece.
Su Qingyue sat amid the wreckage, her fingernails digging deeply into the fibers of the carpet.
Suddenly, she screamed and lunged at Lin Chen like a shrew, grabbing and tearing at his collar.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t encouraged me, how could the Su family have ended up like this?!”
Coughing up blood, Lin Chen seized her wrist. Veins bulged across his pale face as he snapped, “Su Qingyue, be reasonable! Who was the one who said she was willing to elope with me no matter what?”
“That was because you bewitched me!” Su Qingyue’s nails dug into his arm, leaving red marks behind. “Wang Xiaodong can buy me limited-edition handbags. Can you? He can keep the Su family firmly established in the business world. Can you? Other than pretending to be some miraculous doctor, what else can you do?”
Her words pierced Lin Chen’s heart like an icicle.
He violently shoved her away, his chest heaving. “So in your eyes, I’m not even worth as much as a handbag?”
“What else did you expect?” Su Qingyue suddenly laughed, tears streaming over the slap marks on her face. “Did you seriously think I wanted to sleep under a bridge with you? If you didn’t have some medical skills and weren’t useful for dealing with my family’s problems…”
Lin Chen endured the pain and asked hoarsely, “Those words… do you really mean them?”
“What else?” Su Qingyue sneered. “Did you actually think I would be interested in a penniless country bumpkin like you?”
Only now did she seem to realize how absurd it had been for her to abandon a wealthy heir and choose some young man from the countryside instead.
Her shrill voice cut through the sound of the rain outside. “A handbag Wang Xiaodong casually gives me is worth 1 million yuan! What about you? You can’t even afford a decent birthday present!”
Lin Chen clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his nails digging deeply into his palms.
“Then what about the… love you talked about…?”
“Love?” Su Qingyue looked as though she had just heard the funniest joke imaginable. “Can love put food on the table? Can it buy handbags? Get lost!”
Slap!
The crisp sound echoed throughout the empty banquet hall.
Lin Chen had slapped Su Qingyue across the face, and his blow was even heavier than Wang Xiaodong’s earlier slap.
“You’re the one who should get lost.” Lin Chen clutched his ribs as he struggled to his feet, staggering with every step. “From this day forward, neither of us owes the other anything.”
[Ding! Lin Chen has completely severed his romantic attachment. Lin Chen’s Destiny -60. Su Qingyue’s Destiny -60.]
“Wonderful. Truly wonderful!”
Wang Xiaodong slowly applauded, the sound especially grating in the empty banquet hall.
“Two dogs tearing each other apart. This drama has even more twists than one of those melodramatic short-form dramas.”
He flexed his wrist, his bones cracking as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
In the next instant, Wang Xiaodong vanished from where he stood. His body became a blur as he charged straight at Lin Chen!
Boom!
His fist smashed downward, blasting a massive crater into the floor where Lin Chen had been standing!
“Holy crap?!” Lin Chen’s pupils abruptly contracted.
In desperation, he crushed a jade pendant. His figure strangely distorted for an instant, allowing him to narrowly evade the fatal strike.
[The protagonist has activated a potential-burst state!]
Every muscle in Lin Chen’s body instantly tightened like iron. Veins bulged beneath his skin, while an unnatural flush spread across his body. His aura suddenly surged to an entirely different level.
“Damn it! Of course he has a cheat!” Wang Xiaodong cursed.
His movements did not slow in the slightest. He immediately twisted around and swept a vicious roundhouse kick toward Lin Chen’s neck.
Crack!
Lin Chen barely managed to raise his arm in defense, but the clear sound of bone breaking still rang out.
Using the force of the impact, he suddenly exploded backward.
Bang!
Lin Chen used the counterforce from his block together with an explosive burst of strength from his legs.
His entire body shot backward like a cannonball, precisely toward the glass window on the side of the banquet hall.
Crash!
The tempered glass shattered instantly. Carried by the momentum, Lin Chen disappeared through the window and into the darkness outside.
Only his disheveled shout remained behind.
“Wang Xiaodong! You never expected this to be my escape route, did you?! I’ll definitely be back!”
“Tsk. What a classic line.” Wang Xiaodong curled his lips disdainfully.
He turned toward Su Qingyue, who was lying helplessly on the floor, amusement filling his eyes.
“Looks like your ‘true love’ ran away~”
Su Qingyue covered her face. Tears and mucus smeared across her features, leaving no trace of the elegance expected of the young lady of the Su family.
She looked up at Wang Xiaodong, her eyes filled entirely with fear and pleading.
“Xiaodong… No, Young Master Wang! I was wrong. I really know I was wrong! Please spare the Su family. I… I’ll do whatever you say from now on!”
Wang Xiaodong sneered and bent down, gripping her chin so tightly that it almost felt as though he would crush the bone.
“Spare you? Are you worthy?”
“Don’t tell me you actually think putting on some little ‘repentant woman’ act will make me soften my heart.”
He released her and wiped his fingertips in disgust, as though he had just touched something filthy.
Su Qingyue collapsed onto the floor. Her eyes became unfocused as she murmured, “No… impossible… I’m the eldest young lady of the Su family…”
“Eldest young lady?” Wang Xiaodong sneered. “Soon, you’ll be a beggar living under a bridge.”
Su Qingyue’s entire body trembled as she frantically shook her head. “No… please… Young Master Wang, spare me…”
Wang Xiaodong broke into a chilling grin.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”
“I’m going to make you watch with your own eyes as the Su family collapses, little by little. Then I’ll send you to Siam to repay your debts.”