Lu Qingtang suddenly raised her leg and landed a precise kick straight onto Jiang Shang's knee.
With a loud thud—
Jiang Shang's knees slammed into the floor, and he collapsed in agony in front of Lu Qingtang, clutching his stomach.
He trembled all over, struggling with all his might to pull himself up, but a follow-up kick drove him right back down.
Lu Qingtang ground his entire head hard against the floor, looking down at him from above with a sneer of utter disgust. "An animal that can't control its emotions—a stinking piece of trash who only knows how to unleash violence on women!"
She slowly lifted the crowbar in her hand, aiming its cold, sharp tip straight at the hand that had violated Lu Wensheng, the corners of her lips curling up slightly. "A shameless scumbag who loves to bully, oppress, harm, and trample on the innocent and weak, relishing and enjoying their desperate struggles and agonizing screams..."
"How about I let you taste what it's like to be treated like a beast—to be stepped on, bullied, harmed, trampled, and destroyed under someone's foot?"
Gazing at the crowbar in her hand, Jiang Shang shook violently. "You... you dare..."
Lu Qingtang flashed a radiant smile, a trace of terrifying murderous intent seeping into the depths of her eyes. "Thank your lucky stars I'm only crippling your hand..."
Lowering her voice, she wore an innocent, sweet smile on her pretty, delicate face. "In a different time and place, I'd just... kill you, you know!"
At such close range, Jiang Shang met those dark, icy-pool eyes. Though she was talking about murder, her gaze remained utterly calm and unruffled, as if killing were nothing more than a routine everyday occurrence to her... An endless chill crept up his spine. "I was wrong... Spare me..."
Seeing the immense fear and horror in his eyes, Lu Qingtang smilingly raised the iron bar and, amid a shriek of terror, violently drove the tip straight through the center of the man's palm.
Bright red blood splattered out.
Jiang Shang let out a piercing howl, his large body convulsing before he rolled his eyes and collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
An abrupt, dead silence fell over the entire room.
Lu Erya's cold, arrogant smile awkwardly froze on her face.
Lu Qingtang gave a little click of her tongue, pulling the crowbar out with a look of distaste.
Pinned to the floor, Jiang Shang gave a violent twitch as blood continued to flow endlessly from his palm.
Casually kicking the man aside, Lu Qingtang turned around at a leisurely pace. Catching sight of the group of people standing frozen in shock nearby, she broke into a gentle smile. "Alright, your turn!"
The group stared wide-eyed, looking at Lu Qingtang as if she were a monster.
Following closely on the heels of that shock came overwhelming fear and accusations.
"Lu Wensheng, you've got some nerve! You—how dare you—"
Lu Qingtang glanced at the girl who had spoken, and the blood-dripping crowbar flew from her hand, hurtling straight toward the girl's head.
"Aahhhhh—"
A few minutes later, aside from Lu Erya, everyone who had come to make trouble for Lu Wensheng had been brutally beaten, lying curled up on the ground with blood spraying from their noses and mouths.
Losing all color in her face, Lu Erya stared at "Lu Wensheng," who was approaching her lazily with the crowbar in hand, and forced a composed threat. "Lu Wensheng, if you dare lay a single finger on me, Mom and Dad will never let you get away with this!"
Lu Qingtang arched an eyebrow mockingly. "Let me get away with it or not, I couldn't care less."
Lu Qingtang was an orphan, adopted by that person at a young age, and had spent most of her life living abroad over the years.
She looked so much like Lu Wensheng that there was a strong chance they were related by blood.
Still, judging by how the Lu Family treated Lu Wensheng, there didn't seem to be any point in acknowledging these relatives.
Lu Erya's pupils contracted violently, her face turning ashen.She looked at the murderous-looking "Lu Wensheng", a flash of eerie darkness passing through her eyes. Concealing her phone, she acted as if terrified out of her wits and turned to run.
However, the moment she moved, Lu Qingtang grabbed her by the hair from behind.
Lu Erya let out a heart-rending scream.
Pinning down her head, Lu Qingtang violently smashed it against the wall.
*Bang!*
Dizzy and disoriented, Lu Erya suffered a split, bleeding scalp.
Having grown up without ever breaking so much as a fingernail, she was suddenly subjected to such brutal violence, causing her screams to distort instantly.
Looking at her pretty dress and exquisite makeup, and recalling the despicable methods she had used against Lu Wensheng, Lu Qingtang snorted coldly and delivered a clean, decisive kick that sent her flying into the drainage ditch beside them.
In an instant, Lu Erya was covered in filth, leaving not a shred of her previous nobility and arrogance.
She began to cry. "Lu Wensheng... No matter what, I am still your sister... How dare you treat me like this..."
Hearing her abruptly fragile and pained cries, Lu Qingtang narrowed her eyes playfully and stepped on Lu Erya's head.
Caught off guard, Lu Erya had her entire face pressed into the water, choking down several mouthfuls of sewage as she struggled with muffled, whimpering noises.
A smile played at the corners of Lu Qingtang's lips as she said with a rather willful and domineering air, "Don't say you're my sister. We don't have any blood relation at all."
"I am the true bloodline of the Lu family. A fake like you dares to call yourself my sister... Do you even deserve to?!"
A trace of venom flashed in Lu Erya's eyes as her tearful voice trembled. "Lu Wensheng, I know you resent me, but the baby mix-up wasn't my fault. What right do you have... to treat me like this..."
Looking down at her from on high, Lu Qingtang sneered, "Because you owe me."
"You owe me eighteen years of wealth and luxury, you owe me the affection of my parents and family, you owe me the happy and fulfilled life that should have been mine..."
"You owe me so much, and yet, instead of me beating and scolding you, you should be kneeling on the ground in deep gratitude. How dare you still bring people here to act so cheap in front of me—"
Applying force with her foot, Lu Qingtang shoved Lu Erya's face back into the muddy ditch. "Heh, how could you even dare?!"
Struggling violently under her foot, Lu Erya let out miserable screams.
Without a shred of mercy, Lu Qingtang gave Lu Erya a thorough beating. Once she was certain that the other girl was filthy from head to toe and could no longer maintain the airs of a wealthy young lady, Lu Qingtang sneered.
She withdrew her foot and turned to go comfort Lu Wensheng, but Lu Erya, having just freed herself, suddenly scrambled up with all her might and shrieked in terror, "Don't kill me! Help!!"
At the same time, the wail of police sirens and an angry shout echoed from the mouth of the alley.
"What are you doing? Drop your weapon and put your hands up!"
Lu Qingtang froze, then lowered her head with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
Her gaze met Lu Erya's triumphant look.
That face, smeared with a mixture of blood and sewage, was filled with hatred and smugness.
Looking at Lu Qingtang, she smiled viciously and whispered, "Lu Wensheng... You're done for!"
***
At the same time, inside the hotel.
Ning Yan sat gracefully on the sofa, trimming rose stems with his slender fingers, smiling as he listened to his subordinate report the results.
"Young Master, when we arrived at the scene last night, the Crown Princess was already gone."
"Thinking she had been taken by that group of people, we gave chase immediately. After a fierce battle, we discovered that the Crown Princess wasn't in their hands at all."
"We then worked through the night to pull surveillance footage from within a ten-kilometer radius, and discovered that last night, a daughter of the Lu Family of Qincheng had appeared near the hotel..."