"Boom!"
The massive commotion startled Sun Yize and Sun Zhengguo.
"What's going on?"
Father and son felt a jolt of alarm.
Then they saw three figures appear in their line of sight.
The man leading them was a young man with a cold expression.
"Who are you? How dare you barge into the Sun family?"
Sun Zhengguo demanded angrily.
Sun Yize's expression changed, however, and he hastily pointed at Ning Chen. "Dad, it's him! He's the one who beat me yesterday!"
Sun Zhengguo's face turned extremely ugly. After injuring his son, the other party actually had the audacity to force their way to his doorstep?
If word got out, where would he, Sun Zhengguo, save face?
Sun Zhengguo gave a cold snort. "I was just about to look for you, and you actually delivered yourself to my doorstep. I think you really are—"
Before he could finish, Ye Qinglong tossed a package forward.
Four bloody heads rolled out, leaving four trails of crimson blood on the ground.
Sun Zhengguo's pupils constricted sharply, and the rest of his words caught in his throat.
W—were these the four men he had sent out?
All dead?
And had their heads chopped off?
Sun Yize nearly wet himself with fright. Although he usually threw his weight around and acted like a tyrant, where had he ever seen such a bloody scene?
He felt sick to his stomach.
"Daring to harbor thoughts about my sister—I already gave you one chance before. Since you don't cherish it, go to hell, all of you." Ning Chen's expression was detached.
An aura of killing intent instantly enveloped the area.
A crisis of mortality washed over him. Sun Zhengguo had never felt such terror, especially since the other party had severed the heads of the four men he dispatched; these people were definitely desperate criminals.
Terrified beyond measure, Sun Zhengguo didn't dare hesitate, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Quick! Do it!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The Sun family bodyguards hiding in the shadows raised their guns and fired.
Bullets whizzed through the air.
Yet, a scene that chilled Sun Zhengguo to the bone unfolded before him.
Every single bullet was blocked by an invisible current of air three inches in front of Ning Chen, freezing in mid-air as if embedded in solid space.
"How is that possible?!"
Not just Sun Zhengguo, but even the bodyguards in the shadows had drastic changes in expression, looking as though they had seen a ghost.
They had only ever seen this kind of thing in movies.
However, before they could dwell on it, the next moment, all the bullets flew backward in unison, moving even faster than when they had left the barrels.
Accompanied by several miserable cries, in the blink of an eye, every single Sun family bodyguard was dead!
Sun Zhengguo and Sun Yize were utterly dumbstruck!
Ning Chen stepped forward, walking toward Sun Yize.
He looked very calm at the moment, but the people from God Village all knew that the calmer he seemed, the stronger his killing intent.
To Sun Yize, however, every one of Ning Chen's steps felt like a death knell.
When Ning Chen reached him, his whole body was already drenched in cold sweat. Meeting Ning Chen's gaze, Sun Yize finally broke down; his legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees, trembling with terror. "N—Ning Chen, my dad and I will come to apologize in person right now! We will definitely beg your sister and brother-in-law for forgiveness..."
Ning Chen replied calmly, "No need. You're no longer qualified to appear before my sister."
"I genuinely want to apologize..." Sun Yize stammered in panic.
But the response he received was a kick from Ning Chen.
"Ah!"
Immediately afterward, a blood-curdling scream like that of a slaughtered pig burst from Sun Yize's mouth. His face turned pale as death, and clutching his shattered groin, he curled up on the ground, his whole body writhing in agonizing spasms.
This sight made even Ye Qinglong feel his scalp tingle, sending a chilly sensation straight to his nether regions.
As a man, he knew all too well the terrifying power of the Hall Master's kick—it was an agony no man could endure.
In fact, it was just as he thought.
Within seconds of screaming, Sun Yize passed out cold from the sheer pain.
Watching his son collapse unconscious on the ground with blood gushing from his groin, Sun Zhengguo was consumed by terror and fury. He only had this one son, and now Ning Chen had crippled him?
Even if Sun Yize managed to survive, he was ruined for life.
And since he had lost his reproductive capacity, it meant the Sun family line was ended.
"You are so vicious."
Sun Zhengguo gritted his teeth, his eyes spitting fire.
"Everything is just desserts for what you brought upon yourselves."
Ning Chen said indifferently.
"Kill him."
This time, Ning Chen did not do it himself.
"Yes."
Ye Qinglong stepped forward immediately. Sturdily built and tall, he radiated an overwhelming sense of oppression.
Sun Zhengguo panicked all over again.
His anger instantly turned back into terror.
He still had endless wealth and glory to enjoy; he didn't want to die.
"I was wrong, Ning Chen—no, Mr. Ning! I apologize to you, please spare my life! Name your conditions, anything at all, and I will satisfy them!"
"As long as you spare my life, from now on, I will be your dog, ready to follow you through fire and water. All my assets are yours to command, my houses, my money, my mistresses—they are all yours..."
Sun Zhengguo fell to his knees, bowing his head low. He consoled himself with the thought that even Han Xin had endured the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs; he too could abandon his dignity. Whatever it took, he had to save his life first.
"Kill him."
Ning Chen uttered only two words.
Sun Zhengguo panicked completely. "Mr. Ning, you really don't need to kill me! I can be your dog..."
"Sorry, you're not even qualified to be a dog." Ye Qinglong sneered, grabbing him by the throat and hoisting him straight up.
Sun Zhengguo's eyes bulged as he struggled frantically, but the air grew scarcer and scarcer...
Ye Hongli looked at Ning Chen. "Hall Master, what about that Sun Yize? Should we kill him too?"
"Make his life a living hell." For daring to bully his sister, Ning Chen certainly wasn't going to let him die so easily.
They stepped out of the villa.
A chilly wind swept past.
"The wind is rising. Then let it begin with the bankruptcy of the Sun family."
Ning Chen looked up at the sky. He had already instructed the Ye family siblings to begin investigating the truth behind the destruction of the Ning family all those years ago. Every single person involved would pay, and not a single one would escape!
...
On the return journey, passing by the Ning Family Old Mansion, Ning Chen noticed that instead of withdrawing their personnel, the Chucheng Auction House had actually reinforced the guards watching over the estate.
"Hall Master, I've checked. The Chucheng Auction House hasn't canceled the auction for the Ning Family Old Mansion; in fact, they've stepped up publicity. Two days from now, the auction will proceed as scheduled."
"Shall we intervene?"
Ye Hongli asked.
"No need. Let them auction it. I want to see just who dares to covet my Ning family home." Ning Chen changed his mind.
At that moment, his cell phone rang.
It was a call from his sister.
Ning Chen answered.
"Little brother, where did you go?" Ning Qingxue's voice sounded anxious.
Ning Chen made up an excuse. "I went downstairs to buy breakfast. I'll be right back."
Ning Qingxue let out a sigh of relief before saying, "My mother-in-law—your brother-in-law's mother—is in critical condition right now. We have to rush to the hospital. When you get back, stay put at Luo Xuan's place and don't go anywhere, you hear me?"
"Alright." Ning Chen agreed first, then asked, "Which hospital?"
"Chuzhou City First People's Hospital," Ning Qingxue said hurriedly before hanging up the phone.
"To the Chuzhou City First People's Hospital." Ning Chen directly told Ye Hongli to change route.
...
Chuzhou City First People's Hospital.
By the time Ning Chen arrived, Mother Jiang had just been wheeled out of the ICU, and the attending physician shook his head. "If you could have come up with the five hundred thousand earlier to pay for her kidney transplant, it might have still been in time. Now, start making arrangements for the funeral.Hearing this, Jiang Li felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
Ning Qingxue burst into tears.
Ever since she married Jiang Li, her mother-in-law had been wonderful to her, never holding anything against her and treating her like her own daughter. Yet now, they were separated by the boundary of life and death.
Of the two nurses accompanying the attending physician, a short-haired female nurse said coldly, "While this patient was in the hospital, we never saw you two tending to her side. You completely ignored her all this time, and only when she drops dead do you come running over to fake tears and put on an act of filial piety?"
The other nurse hurriedly tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Minmin, stop talking nonsense. They used to take care of her every single day, and took wonderful care of her at that—I saw it all with my own eyes. They were probably out trying to raise money this past period. Be careful if the family comes looking for trouble with you for saying that."
The short-haired nurse was completely unfazed. In fact, because Ning Qingxue and Jiang Li had failed to come up with that five hundred thousand, she had lost out on a hefty commission, leaving her quite bitter—which was why she had spoken up to throw those barbs.
She gave a cold snort. "What is there to be afraid of? My uncle is the vice president. Who dares to look for trouble with me just because I said a few words?"
These remarks felt like a knife twisting in the hearts of Ning Qingxue and Jiang Li.
Especially for Ning Qingxue, who knew all too well that she hadn't come to the hospital for the past half month because she had lost her mind, and Jiang Li hadn't come because he was protecting her, having assaulted that rich heir and been locked up.
"It's all because of me, it's all my fault."
Ning Qingxue choked back a sob.
"It's fine, don't blame yourself. Blame my own incompetence." Jiang Li swallowed his grief and comforted Ning Qingxue.
"Slap!"
Yet right at that moment, the sharp sound of a slap rang out abruptly.
Everyone was stunned.
They quickly looked over.
They saw the short-haired nurse who had just been running her mouth clutching her cheek, tears welling up from the pain.
"Slap."
With a backhand stroke, Ye Hongli delivered another hard slap across her face. "That's for running your filthy mouth."
"Y—you dare hit me? Do you know who I am?" The short-haired nurse clutched her face, shocked and furious.
"Slap!"
"Slap!"
Ye Hongli landed two more consecutive slaps. She controlled her strength perfectly—enough to make the short-haired nurse suffer excruciating pain, but not quite enough to smash her face to pieces.
At this, the short-haired nurse was thoroughly terrified.
"Little brother?"
Ning Qingxue and Jiang Li naturally noticed Ning Chen, who had followed closely behind Ye Hongli.
Ning Chen stepped forward briskly and said, "Auntie can still be saved."
With that, Ning Chen pushed Mother Jiang's bed directly back toward the ICU.
Jiang Li and Ning Qingxue froze in astonishment.
At that moment, the attending physician, hearing the commotion over here, hurried back. Discovering that Ning Chen was actually pushing his patient—no, pushing someone medically pronounced dead—back into the ward, his expression changed drastically.
"What are you doing?"
"Get out of there immediately..."
The doctor moved to stop them.
"Wait right here." Ye Hongli blocked his path, and a single glance from her completely cowed the doctor.
The attending physician quickly recovered his wits, furious that he had actually been cowed by a mere look from this woman.
That made him flush with embarrassment, but an invisible pressure radiating from Ye Hongli's body kept him pinned in place, making him truly dare not act rashly.
"If anything goes wrong, you will be held responsible—fully responsible." The attending physician could only try to wash his hands of the liability.
Barely a minute later, the short-haired nurse returned.
Accompanying her was the vice president.
"Uncle, that's the woman! She hit me—four whole slaps! You have to vent this terrible anger for me."
The short-haired nurse pointed at Ye Hongli, gritting her teeth.
"Slap."
"Slap."
"Slap."
Ye Hongli walked over and, right in front of everyone, delivered three more successive slaps across the short-haired nurse's face.
"So I hit you. What about it?"
Ye Hongli said coldly.
"You..." The short-haired nurse clutched her face, furious.
Before she could say another word, however, Ye Hongli landed yet another slap, knocking several of the short-haired nurse's teeth right out of her mouth.
"If you dare utter one more word, I'll slap you once. Say ten more words, and I'll slap you ten times."
Ye Hongli snorted coldly.
This completely dazed the short-haired nurse and terrified her to her core, leaving her too frightened to squeak even half a syllable more.
"You dare commit violence right in front of me?"
Ye Hongli's sudden onslaught of slaps had left the vice president momentarily stunned. He never expected anyone to resort to violence right under his nose—they simply had no regard for him at all.
Recovering from his shock, he began shouting sternly.
Ye Hongli looked at him, her peerless face frozen in icy disdain. "Commit violence, so what? What can you do to me? Or do you want to try fighting me?"
"You... you... you look human enough, yet you're so utterly boorish."
Ye Hongli's gaze was ice cold; where would the vice president dare fight her?
Besides, as a vice president, he valued his status. Hitting a woman would ruin his reputation, and if he actually tried to fight and lost, getting slapped around by a woman himself—where would he put his face?
Under Ye Hongli's intimidating pressure, he had no choice but to back down for the moment.
Ye Hongli cast a disdainful glance at him before turning back to look toward the ward.
To be honest, she was quite curious herself: could Ning Chen really save someone whom modern medicine had pronounced dead?
Did this new Hall Master truly possess the medical prowess to bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh on skeletal bones?
"Uncle, she hit me and didn't give you any face either. Are you just going to let this matter go?"
At this point, the short-haired nurse cowered behind the vice president, gritting her teeth with bitter resentment.
The vice president gave her an annoyed glare; if not for her, he wouldn't be humiliating himself here today.
However, the vice president also gritted his teeth and snorted. "Of course we won't let it go just like that. I've already called security. If that fellow can't bring the dead back to life, today I'll make sure none of them get off easy. Desecrating a corpse, intentional assault, abusing medical staff... I'll make them pay dearly."
"Th—then what if a miracle really happens and the deceased is revived?" the short-haired nurse suddenly blurted out.
The vice president sneered. "A miracle is a miracle precisely because it doesn't happen—that's why it's called a miracle. How could someone already pronounced dead by medical science possibly be brought back?"
Yet right as those words left the vice president's mouth, the ward door swung open.
Ning Chen walked out from inside.
"Little brother, how is she?"
Ning Qingxue and Jiang Li looked at Ning Chen with eyes full of hopeful expectation.
Ning Chen smiled.
He stepped aside, and Mother Jiang walked directly out from behind him.