No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

As Yue Jincheng departed, leaving Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen puzzled, the office door swung open again. Gong Zhe entered with another member of the Inspectorate Department in tow.

There was no longer any trace of a smile on Gong Zhe’s face. He said coldly, “Regarding today’s mutual assault case, I’m here to take your statements.”

“Mutual assault?” Zhang Yu frowned. “How’s that mutual? I told you, he tried to steal my phone.”

Gong Zhe replied flatly, “Wasn’t your phone still in your hand? I saw you using it to make a payment.”

“That’s because I stopped him from taking it,” Zhang Yu said.

Gong Zhe’s tone turned colder. “Then how do you prove he was trying to steal it?”

“According to the testimony of another bystander at the scene, you struck first. He only fought back in self-defense.”

Zhang Yu blinked. “I attacked him first?”

“Just check the surveillance footage. He clearly reached into my pocket from behind!”

Gong Zhe flipped through the documents in his hand and said indifferently, “The surveillance camera was broken. That scene wasn’t recorded.”Seeing Zhang Yu fall silent, Gong Zhe pressed on, “So, no evidence to prove he was trying to steal from you?”

“You’ve been short on money lately, haven’t you?”

“Your monthly test scores have dropped, haven’t they?”

“Do you feel like your mental state’s been unstable recently?”

As these loaded questions kept coming, Bai Zhenzhen finally couldn’t hold back. “What are you trying to do? Frame Zhang Yu as the aggressor?”

Gong Zhe frowned. “These are standard procedure.”

“As for who started it—your word doesn’t count, his word doesn’t count. Only evidence and the investigation results matter.”

Bai Zhenzhen snapped, “Then why did he get to leave while we’re still stuck here?”

Gong Zhe responded as if it were obvious, “He could afford bail and filed for a postponed hearing. All legal and proper, so of course he was allowed to leave. Once we finish questioning you, you can pay bail and leave too.” ꞦÁNǑꞖΕ𝘴

That only made Bai Zhenzhen angrier. “We were the ones who called the police. Now we have to post bail too?”

Gong Zhe said coolly, “Just because you reported it doesn’t mean you didn’t break the law.”

But inside, he knew this wasn’t just about bail money.

Because shortly after their interrogation of Yue Jincheng, Wanxing Education Group had started pulling strings.

A company with wealth and influence, backed by a full legal team—their reach was beyond most people’s comprehension.

And when such a force was turned on two poor high school students, even if Gong Zhe didn’t know why the company was doing it, he could already see how this would end.

Especially after sensing his own superiors leaning toward Wanxing Group, Gong Zhe had fully dropped the act. There was no trace of the friendliness he’d shown Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen earlier.

After taking their statements, Gong Zhe left them in the office.

Bai Zhenzhen, growing more annoyed by the minute, clutched her stomach and banged on the door. “I need to use the bathroom!”

No one responded.

Just then, Zhang Yu’s phone buzzed with a message from Zhou Chechen.

Zhou Chechen: The school is very disappointed that you were involved in a fight off campus. You and Bai Zhenzhen will be receiving disciplinary action.

Zhou Chechen: Make sure you apologize properly. Don’t disgrace Songyang High.

Zhang Yu narrowed his eyes. “What’s this supposed to mean? A threat?”

Moments later, Yun Ni also messaged: “What happened? I just heard they want to revoke your Divine Assistant status.”

Seeing the messages flood in, Bai Zhenzhen felt a mounting pressure. It was like an invisible hand squeezing them tighter and tighter.

And as this unfolded, Fu Ji burst into laughter.

“Looks like the Zhou family made their move. That’s actually great.”

“If they’re trying to spin it as mutual assault and applying pressure everywhere, then clearly they’re using this as an excuse to go after you. Maybe extort some money, maybe get you locked up so you can’t go to school.”

“Heh. But they don’t know you’ve added Deng Bingding as a friend. They don’t know he’s already investigating the Zhou family.”

“The deeper the Zhou family gets pulled into this, the harder—and more expensive—it’ll be for them to back out later.”

…

Meanwhile, back at Wanxing Group’s security department, Yue Jincheng had returned.

Entering the director’s office, he found the head of security waiting—not alone, but with Si Zhouyu and a lawyer present as well.

The security chief looked up coldly. “Who gave you permission to act on your own?”

“I…” Yue Jincheng started.

Smack!

The chief slapped him hard across the face.

“If the company didn’t still need you, you’d already be fired.”

Yue Jincheng’s cheek burned, but he didn’t dare touch it. Bowing deeply, he said, “I’m sorry, Director. It was all my fault.”

“Hand over your phone.”

Yue Jincheng twitched at that command, a flicker of fear in his eyes. But he complied.

The security chief opened the company’s internal financial platform. “The company fronted your bail. Use your reserve fund to reimburse us—now.”

“Move it.”

Grinding his teeth, Yue Jincheng did as ordered.

Then the chief said, “From now on, stick to the story: Zhang Yu hit you first. The two of you ended up in a fight.”

“Our legal team will coach you on the details.”

“Just remember—if you act out of line again, don’t bother trying to find work in Songyang City.”

The lawyer added, “It’s simple. Just tell the Inspectorate exactly this…”

As the lawyer explained the fabricated narrative, Yue Jincheng frowned.

“So we just keep ‘mediating’? Keep hounding him? Harassing him non-stop?”

“This is the perfect chance to crush him. With the company’s power, we could make sure he never goes back to school.”

“We could threaten him—get the info the higher-ups want…”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence before the chief kicked him in the gut.

Yue Jincheng doubled over, gasping like a boiled shrimp.

“I just told you,” the chief said coldly. “Don’t act on your own. Do what you’re told. Understand it or not, execute it anyway.”

“The company doesn’t need grunts who think for themselves.”

“Got it?”

Barely managing to stand, Yue Jincheng nodded. “Got it.”

But inside, he was baffled. He couldn’t understand why the company was going so easy on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen—two broke high school nobodies. With the company’s resources, crushing them would be effortless. So why keep letting them off the hook?

…

“Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are just ants.”

“Crushing them is easy.”

“But pinning them down, grinding them inch by inch without killing them—forcing them to cry for help from their nest… now that takes real finesse.”

In the 333rd floor of Central Tower, Zhou Yang stood in his hospital room, gazing out over the city.

He sighed to himself. “New hires these days are so reckless.”

But he wasn’t rattled. He’d weathered too many storms to be shaken by mere mistakes.

When he learned that Yue Jincheng had attacked Zhang Yu and gotten caught, Zhou Yang moved immediately to seize control of the narrative.

“We can’t just pretend nothing happened—that’ll alert the Evil God.”

“But we also can’t eliminate Zhang Yu outright. That’d sever our lead.”

Zhou Yang thought, “Better to make it look like Zhou Chechen is orchestrating this out of personal revenge.”

“If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen think it’s just bullying from Zhou Chechen, they won’t see the bigger picture.”

He worked the phones, activating both the Zhou family’s influence and Wanxing Group’s resources. In no time, he’d reshaped the situation to his will.

With a deep breath, Zhou Yang thought, “Now we send more eyes on them. Monitor them from all angles.”

“Whether they try to run or call on the Evil God, we’ll catch it.”

“But before that…”

“Since the wheels are in motion, why not have them detained for a few days? Assign someone inside to rough them up a little—maybe they’ll crack.”

“They’re Foundation Establishment exam candidates, sure, but everything we’re doing is legal. Who’s going to blame me?”

As he fine-tuned the operation in his head, Zhou Yang’s phone suddenly started buzzing.

Then buzzing again. And again. Message after message flooded his screen.

“Righteous Gods are here! They’re raiding the company tower!”

“Chairman Zhou! The security department’s been sealed by Righteous Gods—no one’s responding!”

“Zhou Yang, what’s going on? Why is a Sixth-Rank Righteous God investigating you?”

“Uncle! A Righteous God just descended on the family estate!”

“Chairman, our funds have been frozen!”

At first, Zhou Yang was stunned.

“A Sixth-Rank… Righteous God? Investigating me?”

But as more and more alerts poured in, he felt it—the net tightening around him.

He couldn’t breathe.