Chapter 212: Chapter 212

The Qin Family Mansion was brightly lit.

Qin Mu, with Qin Zhiheng in tow, roamed about the mansion and whispered, "This is the place that imprisoned your father for a lifetime. We were his weak spot, and so he went willingly to his death. Till his last breath, his name was Qin Sheng, not Qin Shuang."

Qin Zhiheng looked around the mansion with a piercing, youthful gaze. "If Qin Jinhai couldn’t pry it open or break it, what makes me think I could?"

He was smart, but not arrogant. His dad had always secretly praised Qin Jinhai’s capabilities to him. In his heart, his father and Qin Jinhai were the finest people in the world.

If both of them couldn’t breach the Qin Association, what made him think he had the adequate ability to succeed?

Qin Mu murmured something in Qin Zhiheng’s ear.

Qin Zhiheng looked surprised. "Really?"

"I believe your dad wouldn’t lie to me."

Qin Zhiheng went upstairs and rapidly unlocked all the codes to Qin Sheng’s study.

At the same time, Wu Yue shared all the contents of the study. Suppressing his excitement, he used the cameras in Qin Sheng’s study as his eyes, closely observing the layout and furnishings inside.

Qin Mu took Qin Zhiheng upstairs. Instead of hurrying to close the study, Qin Zhiheng leisurely roamed around, treating it no differently from any other part of the mansion.

Qin Mu did not remind him.

Before long, men in black appeared behind them.

"Young Master, you should close the study promptly after opening it. Otherwise, someone could take the chance to steal the password and hack into the system, leading to the leakage of important documents and secrets."

Qin Zhiheng feigned surprise. "Why didn’t you say so sooner? After so much time has passed, is reminding me now of any use?"

The men in black silently stared at him.

Qin Zhiheng led Qin Mu out of the study. "We’ll just change the codes later. I’ll also avoid visiting the study unnecessarily. It’s eerie and quite frightening."

Seeing the two leave, the men in black silently departed.

Qin Zhiheng and Qin Mu did not stay at the Qin Family Mansion that night; they returned to their original house.

As soon as they reached home, Qin Yuan immediately reminded them, "The Qin Family Mansion is now your home. You are to live there and not stay out without authorization."

Qin Zhiheng looked at him coldly. "Kindly take a good look. I am a minor. My mother is a woman who just lost her man. We are living people, not puppets you control! Today is New Year’s Day, and we wish to quietly commemorate our loved one in a place familiar to us. You can’t even grant such a simple request? Then find someone else. Let whoever wants to be the family head take the position. Do you really think it’s so coveted?"

Qin Zhiheng’s anger flared suddenly.

The youth’s bloodshot eyes and fierce, unyielding stubbornness were plain for Qin Yuan to see, holding nothing back.

Qin Yuan turned to Qin Mu. "There are rules you need to teach him, or he won’t even know what killed him."

Qin Mu looked back impassively. "A family of three dying neatly together? That sounds perfectly fine."

"Don’t think that just because the Clan Association has chosen Qin Zhiheng for future leadership training, you can make demands on them!"

"If there were a more suitable candidate, you would never have chosen my son and me," Qin Mu scoffed. "The condition for choosing Zhiheng was to kill his father, and you expect him to thank you? You heartless beasts!"

A crisp slapping sound echoed through the small apartment.

A moment later, an even heavier slap sounded.

Qin Yuan’s face was violently knocked 카메라side.

Qin Zhiheng withdrew his hand. "We’re all just someone else’s dogs, aren’t we? Does watching us bite each other every day give you a thrill?"

There was no emotion in the teenager’s starkly clear eyes. His ink-dark pupils sharply mirrored Qin Yuan’s astonished face.

Qin Yuan realized he was afraid. Afraid of this teenager. He had once felt this same fear when facing a seven-year-old Qin Jinhai. That childish face had held no childlike emotions, only cold indifference. The fear of Qin Jinhai had dominated him for twenty years. He had thought this dread would vanish with Qin Jinhai’s death. Unexpectedly, another youth had inherited Qin Jinhai’s ruthlessness.

Fearfully, Qin Yuan backed out of the small apartment.

Through his phone, Qin Jinhai clearly saw everything that had transpired.

Qin Zhiheng will indeed be the key to dismantling the Qin Family Clan Association. He’s driven by hatred, not by a craving for power or fame.

Qin Jinhai still had one lingering question.

Why would the members of the Clan Association choose Qin Zhiheng? He isn’t the ideal puppet; can they truly trust him? Or are they deliberately trying to lure me out?

Qin Jinhai was more certain it was the latter.

Qin Zhiheng must have been thoroughly instructed before being allowed into the mansion; he surely knew the importance of the study. He wouldn’t just fling open the study door, allowing Qin Jinhai’s men to swiftly access the study.

Wu Yue cursed under his breath as he hid all the information, skillfully outmaneuvering the opposing hacker.

Trying to fight me? Still too green! I deliberately left some bait, and you bit immediately. Not even dogs chase as persistently as you! Now that I have their addresses, finding those idiots will be no trouble at all.

Qin Jinhai’s voice sounded, "Leave a message for Qin Zhiheng in my tone. Arrange a meeting."

Wu Yue responded, his fingers flying across the keyboard. TAP, TAP, TAP.

Three minutes later, the message reached Qin Zhiheng’s phone.

By then, Qin Mu was already asleep.

Qin Zhiheng gazed at the message, a sense of powerlessness washing over his slender frame.

He knew he was no match for Qin Jinhai. Leaving the study door wide open had been his gesture of sincerity. He couldn’t be sure if this message was genuine, but he had to go. He had no other way out. He believed he was also Qin Jinhai’s best choice!

Qin Zhiheng descended the stairs noiselessly.

The deep night of New Year’s Day remained bustling and noisy.

On this day, he had lost his father.

In the future, he and his mother would have to struggle to survive, as if clinging to a cliff edge. He couldn’t bring himself to wallow in self-pity. Pitying himself would only waste time and bring no benefit.

Qin Zhiheng walked into a pitch-dark alley and was suddenly blindfolded. A wave of dizziness struck him without warning.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a room with a huge screen.

Qin Jinhai’s stern, sharp face appeared on it.

Qin Jinhai spoke coldly, "Brave of you. I’ve accepted your welcoming gift."

Qin Zhiheng chuckled and rose from the sofa. "Aren’t you afraid this is a trap I set?"

"And what if it is?" Qin Jinhai retorted. "Life is about solving one problem after another."

"Did you find out where your father is?" Qin Zhiheng asked. He believed the study held that information.

"I cracked the study’s cipher two months ago," Qin Jinhai responded with considerable sincerity to this young man who was so like him. "It’s extremely complex; each layer requires its own cipher, and filtering through it all is not easy."

Qin Zhiheng pondered. "The last time my father saw me, he mentioned something out of the blue: ’close at hand.’ I think if he wasn’t talking about your father, he was talking about Fu Bing’s relatives."

"He was talking about Fu Bing’s relatives."

Qin Zhiheng was surprised. "You already know who they are?"