Chapter 140: Bet
The long-lost greeting reverberated through the mourning hall alongside the thunder.
The fragrance of flowers filled the place, and candlelight flickered. Everything remained solemn and unchanged, and even Lei Wuye lying in the coffin looked peacefully still.
But, in a flash, the atmosphere on site turned tense and confrontational.
At such a critical event, one uninvited guest after another had arrived. Tension and pressure overwhelmed the silent room. And when Chen Xingzhou, who was supposed to be in the hospital, personally appeared at the front of the mourning hall, it was like a spark thrown into a barrel of gunpowder, and the spreading flames and shockwave could no longer be contained.
The sharp screech of chairs scraping the floor echoed without end. Countless people in the hall stood up, staring coldly at Chen Xingzhou. The atmosphere had turned hostile in a split second, and now everyone was on edge. The ones who weren’t staring at Chen Xingzhou instead had their eyes glued to Lei Yaoxing.
All the outsiders remained seated in their original positions, silent and unmoving.
Across the seemingly frozen air, Lei Yaoxing fixed his gaze on the opponent standing just within reach. He studied the man’s now fully exposed and unmasked appearance, even though the gap between them was so wide.
For Lei Yaoxing, someone like Chen Xingzhou, who had repeatedly refused the White Deer blessing and the Upper Legacy ritual, was so insignificant that a single flick of his finger would be enough to spill his blood in the mourning hall and sever his head.
No. He might not even need to act at all. He could clearly sense that Chen Xingzhou’s condition could barely even be called “on the verge of death.” He was a genuine dying ember in the wind. It wouldn’t be surprising if he coughed up blood and died in the next moment.
And yet, this particular man, weakened to such an extreme, had become the most impossible opponent for him to ignore. Through nothing more than subtle manipulation from the shadows, he had forced Lei Yaoxing into frantic responses day after day, leaving the seat of power so close at hand, yet impossible to fully seize.
Now, when this man finally appeared before him in such a state, the one holding the decisive advantage was supposed to be Lei Yaoxing. And yet he was the one beginning to feel as if he were facing a great enemy.
Even without claws to rip flesh or teeth to tear through bone, something far more chilling was surging within this man’s presence. Despite the wheelchair, Chen Xingzhou’s faint breathing, and the way he seemed to look down from a sky higher than any falcon could reach, it was as if he had never even considered Lei Yaoxing a worthy opponent.
Faced with suffocating killing intent and anger, Lei Yaoxing had a calm look as he let out a faint sigh. “So that’s how it is? I really underestimated you.”
From someone who had been nothing but a cash-grabbing glove[1] used like a chamber pot, he had actually climbed step by step to where he was now. In this shadow war, he had stirred up massive waves in the stagnant waters of Cliff City by relying only on a handful of insignificant pieces.
“When did it start?” he asked.
“Hm?” Chen Xingzhou smiled slightly, as if confused. “What exactly are you referring to? The plan? Or ambition? That goes quite far back... Seven years ago, Old Master Lei took a liking to me and wanted to adopt me as his godson. Unfortunately, I’m a troublesome person. I didn’t know my place. I didn’t want the fortune I had to kneel and beg for.”
He sighed, stroking the armrest of his wheelchair. “More than twenty years ago, I took a broken folding knife to the market to collect protection racket[2]. The people there realized I was all bark and no bite, so I got surrounded and beaten, and in the end knelt on the ground crying and begging for mercy... no, maybe even earlier than that. Even earlier than that...”
The moment his first spark of ambition and greed ignited to burn the soul, sending up threads of smoke—that was when he first felt despair.
Under the bridge, a homeless youth held his crying younger brother in his arms, staring coldly at the distant icy neon lights. “Don’t cry, Yubo. From now on, it’s just the two of us. Lift your head. Wipe your tears. We are not illegitimate children. Do not be afraid. One day, no one will dare look down on us.”
The rain fell without sound, and a cold wind blew in from afar. It sounded like mockery and sneering laughter from dead spirits buried in the darkness.
But when he turned back and tried to recall it all, everything had become so blurred. Some memories were already distant, so distant that even in nightmares, they could no longer be recalled.
“So many years have passed in the blink of an eye.” Chen Xingzhou offered a self-deprecating smile and glanced at Lei Wuye’s coffin, shaking his head. “Looking at it now, it seems I was never the kind of person to repay kindness.”
A trace of crimson appeared in Lei Yaoxing’s eyes as he looked down. “Indeed. If my godfather were still alive, he probably would have never imagined that a dog like you, living off leftovers, would one day dare to act so arrogantly in front of his coffin. Going as far as to betray your own side and invite so many outsiders to interfere in Cliff City’s internal affairs... Chen Xingzhou, have you considered the consequences?”
Chen Xingzhou shook his head indifferently. “Rest assured, they are only here as witnesses. They have nothing to do with what is about to happen, nor with the matter between you and me. They must be here today...”
He paused, calmly glancing at Lei Yaoxing. “After all, someone needs to be held accountable for the chaos caused by the Wasteland Assembly over these past days.”
“Held accountable?” Lei Yaoxing was so amused that he almost burst into laughter. “Held accountable? Who? Me? And who do you think you are?”
Chen Xingzhou shrugged. “I just want to talk to you.”
“You? Talk to me?” Lei Yaoxing could no longer hold back and burst into laughter. Brimming with rage, he shouted, “You think you’re qualified to talk to me, Chen Xingzhou?! Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me?!”
Chairs scraped against the floor once more. At the back of the hall, the one-eyed woman smoking a cigarette was the first to stand. She flicked away her cigarette butt and walked toward the mourning hall. Under Lei Yaoxing’s near-murderous stare, she stood behind Chen Xingzhou. She was none other than Lei Wuye’s eleventh adopted daughter.
Then a second person, as if compelled by something, rose reluctantly with a helpless expression and walked to stand behind Chen Xingzhou. A third person followed, then a fourth, then a fifth...
Those remnants Lei Yaoxing had never taken seriously, the so-called defeated rabble who had been wagging their tails just days ago begging for mercy and submission, rose one after another. Even several of Lei Wuye’s former key aides, as well as the top enforcers from other factions, stood up without hesitation, shaking off the people trying to pull them back, and walked to the opposite side of Lei Yaoxing.
What had once been a packed mourning hall now had more than half its seats empty. Those still seated were now almost entirely limited to Lei Yaoxing’s direct subordinates and a few inseparable allies.
At this moment, the carefully maintained structure Lei Yaoxing had spent days consolidating was collapsing.
Crunch.
Beside Tong Shan, Tong Ting had already taken a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket and was happily spitting out shells, watching the scene unfold. Ji Jue frowned at this sight, finding him an eyesore.
So people on the Aether Path never forgot to keep snacks in their pockets, even in situations where lives are on the line, huh? They really would watch any kind of drama[3].
Even Tong Hua could only deduce murder motives at crime scenes and respectfully greet Ji Jue with “good afternoon, Mr. Ji” every day, yet her elders were sitting right under the White Deer’s gaze, personally observing the collapse of Cliff City like it was a stage play. The gap in class really was a bit too big.
Sensing Ji Jue’s gaze, Tong Ting turned back, seemingly momentarily surprised, then flashed a helpless smile and casually offered him a handful of sunflower seeds as a friendly invitation.
Ji Jue’s eye twitched. He subconsciously tried to wave the man off, but his outstretched hand somehow opened on its own and, without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed a large handful.
Crunch.
Now there were two people munching on seeds in a scattered rhythm.
Ji Jue’s eyes lit up. This Aether follower’s sunflower seeds are genuinely good. More!
Sitting among so many important figures felt like being inside an invisible fortress. Even an ant that would normally be crushed at the slightest disturbance now felt strangely safe. So safe, in fact, that Ji Jue could no longer sense the suffocating pressure that had already condensed into something tangible—such as killing intent, hatred, rage, resentment, and hunger—inside the mourning hall.
Beasts from the wilderness bared their claws and fangs at one another. Cold auras interwove in the space around them. Even the raindrops falling from the eaves seemed to freeze midair. Dust particles trembled in panic within the air yet did not dare to fall.
In this silence, brief enough to be imperceptible yet long enough to torment the soul, a single command, a glance, or even the smallest movement were enough to ignite the final fuse and trigger an unprecedented internal war in Cliff City.
But before that happened, Chen Xingzhou let out a soft sigh and coughed hoarsely from his wheelchair. He raised a trembling hand, wiping away blood at the corners of his mouth and nose.
Beneath his newly changed formal suit, a shocking dark red stain spread out. His wounds had reopened, but he paid them no mind. Slowly and unhurriedly, he said, “Before that, there is something I must tell you.”
After a brief pause, he added, “A while ago, I made a trip to Islet Peak. I had the honor of an audience with the Chief.”
Islet Peak. The Chief.
When those words, carrying immense weight, were spoken inside the mourning hall, even the heavy breathing and swallowing sounds vanished. It was as if even the souls and ferocity of the beasts had been subdued.
On Islet Peak, drifting above the sea, there was only one Chief that all White Deer followers revered and feared. That was the former ruler of the entire Federation’s underground world, the White Deer Celestial Being who had ended the Cliff City fragmentation crisis with his own hands a hundred years ago. He had stepped over the corpses of his predecessors to ascend to the position of the Chief.
After he lost interest in supreme authority and withdrew from affairs, no news of this Chief, also known as the Recluse, had been heard for over a decade. The once-unified dark side of the Federation inevitably fell into fragmentation once again, descending into constant internal struggle.
And now, the moment the Chief’s will was mentioned again, everyone instinctively held their breath.
“I told him that Old Master Lei was already old and getting confused by the day, gradually drifting away from the White Deer Path. If one day he were to pass away, the forces under him would likely lose control immediately. The longer Cliff City remained without a successor, the more the internal conflict would spiral out of control, and it would eventually become a target for everyone. Centuries of achievements by successive leaders would be destroyed overnight. Just like now...”
Between intermittent coughing and gasping, Chen Xingzhou slowly added, “The Chief asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to stabilize the people’s hearts, eliminate hidden dangers, and restore order to the chaotic wilderness. If I was fortunate enough to succeed, then the people would make a clay figurine of me to be worshiped[4]. Perhaps uncontrolled, barbaric growth is also a law of the wild...
“He agreed, and told me to try. So, we made a bet. I bet that I would survive, and that even after my ‘death,’ everything in Cliff City would remain within my expectations and control.”
Chen Xingzhou smiled and spread his arms, revealing the blood-red stain spreading from the bullet wounds on his chest. This was an order from the Chief. Even now, that dark wound had not healed. Even with the help of a panacea, it had left behind a pain that could never be erased in his lifetime.
But, at the same time, that pain was the mark of victory in a struggle against death itself. Thus, he looked down arrogantly at his opponent and said, “I won this bet.”
1. “Cash-grabbing glove” usually refers to a metaphor for making personal profit through improper or covert means, or engaging in illegal transactions. It can also, in a literal sense, refer to specific industries such as money laundering in finance or fraud-related activities. ☜
2. A protection racket is a racketeering scheme, usually perpetrated by a criminal organization, that coerces payments on a regular basis from an individual or group in exchange for agreeing to not harm them (or for supposedly "protecting" them). ☜
3. In Chinese, 吃瓜, which literally means “eat melon/seeds”, has a double meaning of “watching drama.” ☜
4. A 泥塑木胎 is a traditional Chinese sculpture technique where a wooden core or armature is carved first, then covered with clay (or similar mud-based material) and further shaped and refined on the surface.
In practice, the 木胎 provides the internal structural support, while the 泥塑 layer is used to model fine details such as facial features, folds in clothing, and decorative elements. After shaping, the surface is often dried, painted, or gilded.
This method was widely used for religious statues (such as Buddhist and Taoist figures) and temple sculptures because it combined structural stability with highly detailed surface artistry. ☜