No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

“Someone will take you for questioning later. Just stick to the plan and shoulder the blame.”

“This whole thing is just a simple fight between students. You only sent someone to tail Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen to get their tutoring schedules.”

“And try to win their forgiveness, especially Zhang Yu’s and Bai Zhenzhen’s. Pay them more if you have to. Just make sure this is categorized as a basic public security incident.”

“Your father says not to worry. Your uncle is a Grade-3 Faith-level Purple-Gold Merit Lord. The Zhou family is still a major clan in Songyang City—we can withstand this. Worst case, it costs us more money…”

As the voice droned on, Zhou Chechen wore a bitter, helpless smile.

Especially when he recalled how he’d previously messaged Zhang Yu, telling him to apologize properly.

Now it was his turn to grovel and beg Zhang Yu’s backer—a Righteous God—for mercy.

Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly. “In the end, I’m just another pawn in this game.”

“But this Zhang Yu… to get a Grade-6 Righteous God to intervene over something this minor… Just how favored are he and Bai Zhenzhen by that deity?”

…While chaos reigned in the Zhou family and Wanxing Education Group…

Inside the Inspectorate Department…

Zhang Yu was calmly cultivating in an office.

Though the door was locked, the AC kept getting colder, and he hadn’t eaten all day, there wasn’t a trace of panic on his face. He simply followed his daily cultivation routine.

“After all, the matter’s already in Deng Bingding’s hands. It’s not my place to interfere.”

Zhang Yu knew the only thing he could do now was cultivate diligently and keep improving his chances of passing the final Foundation Establishment exam to obtain his Foundation License.

Just then, the office door abruptly opened.

Gong Zhe came in carrying a large tray of food and two cups of Beast Protein Milk, smiling from ear to ear.

“You two must be hungry, right?”

“There’s not much to eat in the office, so I ordered some prefab takeout. Hope it suits your tastes.”

Seeing the sudden one-eighty in Gong Zhe’s attitude, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged a glance. They silently concluded: Deng Bingding must have made a move.

Gong Zhe placed the food before them, grinning as if the cold interrogator from earlier had been someone else entirely.

“Eat, eat—dig in while it’s hot,” he urged.

“Oh, by the way, our investigation missed a few things earlier. That surveillance footage got fixed—it wasn’t a mutual fight at all. It clearly shows Yue Jincheng trying to steal your phone. You were acting in self-defense.”

Even as he spoke, Gong Zhe muttered inwardly: “Why didn’t you two just say you were backed by a Grade-6 Righteous God from the start?”

“They sealed off Wanxing Group just for these two…”

At this point, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were deities in his eyes.

After hearing what had happened on the Wanxing side, Gong Zhe just wanted to send the two away as quickly as possible.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, however, simply chuckled and began eating without replying.

Still, Gong Zhe kept up the politeness. “The matter’s all cleared up. You’re free to leave whenever you’d like.”

Bai Zhenzhen snorted. “So we don’t even have to post bail?”

Gong Zhe sighed. “That was our mistake. Please, accept my sincere apologies.”

He bowed deeply to both of them.

“The bureau is taking this incident very seriously. We’ll make sure justice is done.”

Bai Zhenzhen pressed, “What about the guy who attacked us? Why isn’t he in custody?”

Gong Zhe winced. “He’s currently tied up in another case…”

As Gong Zhe kept apologizing and placating them, someone knocked on the door and came in to whisper in his ear.

His eyes lit up.

“They’ve caught the attacker—and the mastermind! They’re requesting to apologize in person. Would the two of you be willing to meet them?”

…

In the mediation room.

The moment Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen stepped through the door—

Thud!

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu had already dropped to their knees, kowtowing frantically.

Yue Jincheng’s face was a mask of humiliation. The idea that a proud university student like him had to kneel and apologize to two high schoolers made him feel his dignity had been ground into the dirt.

But then he remembered his student loans, the struggle to find work, and the sacrifices of his parents. He swallowed the pain.

“Yue Jincheng,” he muttered to himself, “you’re just an ordinary university student. The world is what it is. You can’t afford to provoke someone like that.”

“I’m sorry,” he said gravely. “I acted on my own and attacked you. Please forgive me.”

Si Zhouyu, still kneeling, felt far less burdened.

“So what if I have to kneel and apologize?” she thought.

She had knelt to top scorers in high school, to university students in college, to second-tier bosses, to teachers…

In the workforce, she knelt to managers, to clients…

She was already used to it.

As for pride? What pride? That’s for top high schoolers, elite college grads, the well-off…

She’d thrown all that away long ago—ever since she got kicked out of the honors class in high school.

“I’m deeply sorry,” Si Zhouyu said with heartfelt sincerity. “I failed to stop my coworker. It was a serious professional lapse.”

“I’m very, very sorry for the trouble we caused you both today.”

She was silently praying: Just don’t make me pay compensation…

Just then, Zhou Chechen stepped forward from behind the two.

He delivered a vicious kick to Yue Jincheng’s back, then slapped Si Zhouyu across the face.

“You two really screwed up! Do you know how much embarrassment you’ve brought to Wanxing Group?”

Then, with a pained yet earnest look, he turned to Zhang Yu.

“Zhang Yu, I had them watching you to see what cram school you go to after hours.”

“I didn’t expect Yue Jincheng to get so reckless and try to steal your phone for that info.”

“I’ll leave them here to kneel. However you want to punish them—it’s up to you…”

Watching Zhou Chechen’s seemingly sincere face, Zhang Yu was reminded of their first meeting. The same sincerity, the same humility.

And the excuse—wanting cram school intel—didn’t sound implausible. In high school, tutoring arrangements were serious trade secrets. Fights over them were common.

But there was no way Zhang Yu believed him now. He could only sigh inwardly: “Your acting’s still top-tier, I’ll give you that.”

Beside him, Bai Zhenzhen scoffed. “What good is beating them up? Will that get back all the time we lost today?”

Zhou Chechen sighed internally. “These two aren’t so easy to fool. I’ll have to pay up.”

“They’re the dogs of a Righteous God, after all—of course they’re greedy like their master. No idea how the talks with my father and uncle are going, but I’d better get this resolved quickly.”

Zhang Yu remained silent through all the back-and-forth, quietly messaging Deng Bingding.

For how to handle things next, he needed guidance.

After receiving Zhang Yu’s report, Deng Bingding replied: What’s your take?

At that moment, Fu Ji chimed in: “Let Zhou Chechen pay up.”

“With the evidence we have, the Zhou family only goes down for hiring people to follow us—not enough to crush them, but enough for Deng Bingding to investigate.”

“The Zhou family has deep roots. If Deng Bingding really tried to bring them down without hard evidence, she’d suffer too.”

“She’s probably not planning to go to war with them. But bleeding them dry under the cover of the Foundation Establishment exam? That, she’ll absolutely do—and do well. She’s probably already ‘warmly negotiating’ with their higher-ups.”

“But if we insist she digs too deep, it might annoy the Righteous God.”

“Plus, if there really is something shady behind the Zhou family, exposing it could hurt us too.”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen remembered what Fu Ji had mentioned before.

The Zhou family had been acting up ever since Zhou Tianyi’s backfire-induced death and Song Xu’s demise alongside that Evil God. And then there was the suspicion of an Evil God behind Songyang High.

There was no hard proof, but all the clues hinted at one disturbing possibility: the Zhou family might be backed by an Evil God.

Especially considering Zhou Tianyi’s claim that his Evil God backer knew Zhang Yu had one too.

If that Evil God was indeed the Zhou family’s patron… then Deng Bingding absolutely couldn’t dig too deep.

If she unearthed the Zhou family’s Evil God and that god exposed them in turn—then they were finished.

Zhang Yu gave a small nod. Fu Ji’s logic echoed what they had already discussed. Let the Righteous God bleed the Zhou family dry while Deng Bingding sinks her teeth into them—and they’d take their cut without rocking the boat.

After Zhang Yu sent back his agreement, Deng Bingding replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

Seeing that, Zhang Yu felt completely at ease. Fu Ji, watching the screen, mused, “Looks like the bleeding’s going well. The Zhou family caved fast.”

Zhang Yu raised his head and said to the trio before him, “Zhou Chechen, don’t think an apology is enough.”

“If you don’t satisfy us today, this isn’t over.”

Gong Zhe gave a polite cough and turned to Zhou Chechen. “Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were just taking a stroll when your company’s employees attacked them. They were traumatized, physically injured.”

“They lost precious time they could’ve used to study. You’re a high schooler too—you know how costly that is, right? Don’t you think you owe them?”

Zhou Chechen nodded. “Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen—I’m willing to pay 100,000 to compensate you both…”

“100,000?” Bai Zhenzhen sneered. “Are you joking? If Zhang Yu had a Root, a few trips to the Red Tower Breeding Company would’ve earned him way more than that.”

“Think about it. Based on that rate, how many sessions’ worth of time did you just waste for him?”

What the hell… Zhang Yu whipped his head around to glare at Bai Zhenzhen. Is this how you negotiate? You’re killing me here!

But he knew now wasn’t the time to argue. He turned back to Zhou Chechen and said, “Don’t talk to me about money. I’m not short on cash. This isn’t something money can fix. The trauma you inflicted today? That’s something I’ll carry for life.”