Chapter 213: Chapter 213

"Understood." Qin Jinhai’s eyes, like inkstones, looked through the screen at Qin Zhiheng. "We are each other’s best option, and your actions tonight were very risky. If you don’t want you and your mother to end up as unnamed corpses in a gutter, it’s best not to be so direct. Those people have many ways to torment others."

"I believe my rebellion tonight fits my character," Qin Zhiheng responded nonchalantly.

Qin Jinhai raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the Clan Association is filled with fools? If they were, the Qin Family would no longer be the leading prestigious family. Don’t underestimate any family that has stood unshaken for a hundred years."

"I certainly don’t understand them as deeply as you do," Qin Zhiheng replied, not getting upset. "Have you found their weakness?"

"What is it?" Qin Zhiheng asked eagerly.

Instead of answering, Qin Jinhai countered with a question, "What happens when a weakness is found?"

"A leak," Qin Zhiheng replied.

"A leak or a spark of new life; strong life will seep through the cracks. Even if it is a disgusting and rotten place, new life can still sprout," Qin Jinhai observed.

Qin Zhiheng sharply realized the difference between him and Qin Jinhai.

He was cold from the inside out, capable of icily destroying anyone in the way of his objectives.

Even though his father had just died, he felt little sorrow.

He simply tried to rationalize the event and forced himself to appear sad.

Qin Jinhai was cold on the inside but warm on the outside, willing to give more people a chance.

That’s precisely why, despite his sufficient capacity, he couldn’t bring himself to kill his father.

Qin Jinhai let his father get hurt many times, always avoiding vital spots, not intending to kill him.

He just couldn’t do it.

Qin Jinhai did not point out Qin Zhiheng’s issue.

Qin Zhiheng’s current state was like many of the unjustly dead at the beginning.

Their hearts were occupied by hatred and anger.

There was a distorted pleasure within the pain.

Indifferently, Qin Zhiheng said, "This is your biggest failure, so you couldn’t protect her."

Who "she" was didn’t need to be stated.

Qin Jinhai gave a faint smile. "Not bad, using provocation. Qin Zhiheng, I need you to be reckless, as your age and experience suggest, to diligently ’apply yourself’ within the Qin Family."

"Do you really think the Qin Family will let me act recklessly?" Qin Zhiheng wasn’t sure.

"I once thought like you, that the Qin Family had no flaws. It was only after I established Wu Shipyard that I realized they simply have a very smart leader, and the subordinates are too obedient," Qin Jinhai remarked.

Taking his group of unjustly dead as an example, it wouldn’t be hard for him to create another Qin Family.

The unjustly dead were absolutely loyal to him as their center.

"You disrupt their rhythm in the light, while I’ll look for their master in the shadows," Qin Jinhai instructed.

Qin Zhiheng didn’t immediately agree. "How can I be sure you won’t become another master?"

"I can’t guarantee anything to you; cooperation inherently involves risk. You can make your own choice," Qin Jinhai said, extending his hand to end the call.

In the end, Qin Zhiheng was still a child.

He quickly called out, "Wait, I agree to your terms. But you have to agree to one of my demands."

"Keep my mother and me alive."

The giant screen went dark.

In the large screen, Qin Zhiheng saw his own face.

He very much disliked the feeling of being controlled by others.

He had heard about Qin Jinhai from his father.

His father greatly admired Qin Jinhai, and his protection and support for Qin Jinhai even surpassed the love he had for him.

Qin Zhiheng had always longed for a chance to confront Qin Jinhai head-on.

After just a brief conversation, he felt intimidated.

It wasn’t something that could be filled with experience and age.

As Qin Zhiheng was considering this, the screen in front of him turned black once again.

When he awoke again, he was sitting on a bench at a bus stop somewhere in Jiangcheng.

There were no buses, only the stench of burnt fireworks.

As Qin Zhiheng looked up at the gray sky, his eyes grew even colder.

He patted his pocket; his cell phone was still there.

He made a call to Qin Jinmo.

Qin Jinmo answered almost instantly.

"I’m Qin Zhiheng. Let’s work together and bring down the Qin Family!"

Qin Jinmo let out a low chuckle. "You’ve got guts."

He wasn’t as smart as Jinhai, but that didn’t mean he was dumb.

Qin Jinmo had Mu Lin release the news online that Qin Group had failed to secure a land auction.

On the first day of the new year, Qin Group’s stock price plummeted by 10 percent.

Soon after, news of several high-ranking Qin Group executives resigning followed.

And the most explosive news on the first day of the year was that Qin Sheng had committed suicide by poison in prison.

"Qin Group," "Qin Family," and "Qin Sheng" became hot keywords, dominating the headlines.

As soon as one hot search was suppressed, another scandal burst forth.

The gossip-hungry netizens truly felt the joy of the New Year.

Ever since the rumor of Qin Jinhai’s accidental death circulated, Qin Group and the Qin Family had become hot gossip topics.

Now, Qin Sheng was dead, too.

After the demise of Jinhai, a group of executives who had followed him left Qin Group.

With the death of Sheng, another batch of executives resigned.

And Qin Group had just missed a critical investment opportunity in land.

All signs pointed to one direction—the decline of the Qin Family.

Without Jinhai and Sheng, how would the Qin Family maintain its status as the leading prestigious family?

Qin Yuan entered the study with a cold expression on his face.

Upon seeing the chaos inside the study, he hadn’t even spoken when the young man standing amidst the mess took the initiative to speak.

"Is this how you deceive me? The Qin Family can just find any puppet they want; why do they have to find me to bear this disgust? I’m not interested in taking over a heap of trash. Find someone else quickly!"

Qin Yuan stopped ten steps away from Qin Zhiheng, looking at him coldly.

"Don’t think we don’t know what tricks you’re playing! Do you think Qin Jinmo is that clever? He can’t protect you or Qin Mu."

"Yo, you’re quite well-informed. Why don’t you pull back your puppet then and face the fight head-on? Hiding behind and scheming like you’re some master strategist. In reality, you’re just a bunch of idiots without the right to even take the stage!"

"Is your master disfigured, or just a born invalid with physical defects?"

"Take a look at Wu Shi, the leader of those unjustly dead. He doesn’t even wear a mask anymore, strutting around with that face so ugly it gives people nightmares. I don’t see what’s so bad about it. Why don’t you let your master give it a try?"

"He’s tired of choosing puppets, and we unlucky ones chosen as puppets find it disgusting too."

The words of Qin Zhiheng were transmitted meticulously to a room without light through a pinhole camera on Qin Yuan’s body.

Inside the room, there was no one.

Only the noise of black curtains being flipped by the cold wind could be heard.

RUSTLE. RUSTLE. Monotonously irritating.

Qin Yuan, having received no instructions, said, "You can go on provoking, but if the Qin Family falls, none of the Qin descendants will have it easy."

"As if I had it easy in the past or now! I have even less faith that I’ll have a good future," Qin Zhiheng retorted angrily, kicking the papers on the floor. "This damn mess, let whoever wants it deal with it!"

"Do you really think you’re irreplaceable?" A glint of cold light flashed in Qin Yuan’s eyes.

His gaze fixed on Qin Zhiheng as if looking at a dead man.