Twenty years ago, in the depths of winter.

Dark clouds loomed over the city, and the people on the streets quickened their pace, eager to get home.

After hiding for dozens of days, ten-year-old Song Lingyuan obediently followed his mother’s instructions and hid in a corner of a bumpy construction site.

He concealed himself behind a pile of scattered red bricks.

“Stay hidden here. No matter what happens, don’t come out until you see all those men in black leave. Do you understand?”

This was the last thing his mother said to him.

Song Lingyuan nodded. His parents exchanged a grave look, hunched down, and carefully moved to the other side of the construction site from behind the brick pile.

Then, resolutely, they walked out.

They stood tall, walking decisively to the center of the construction site.

They approached the men in black who were armed with handguns and had been chasing them.

“Mom…”

Hidden behind the pile of bricks, Song Lingyuan peeked through the gaps, murmuring softly.

But his parents did not look back.

The men in black surrounded his parents, shoving them toward a gray concrete building still under construction nearby.

Song Lingyuan saw his mother’s figure appear in the gaps of the building and knew they were climbing floor by floor, but no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn’t see where they were headed.

Finally, when his parents reached the edge of the top floor, Song Lingyuan could clearly see them again!

Seeing his parents so far away, his heart twisted with fear.

But then, something even more terrifying happened—

His parents leaped backward!

Like two discarded stones, they plunged swiftly from the top of the building!

“Thud—” “Thud—”

The heavy sounds reverberated on the ground.

“Mom!…”

Song Lingyuan’s eyes widened, and he let out a shrill scream.

But he was immediately silenced by Duan Yixun, who was three years older, covering his mouth tightly.

“Shut up! You might want to die, but I don’t!”

But Duan Yixun’s reaction was just a little too late; the scream had already alerted the men.

A few of the men in black stationed below the building turned sharply and looked in their direction!

Terrified, Song Lingyuan backed up several steps.

But behind them was a wall. There was nowhere to run.

The men in black exchanged a few words, then sent one of them to investigate.

The man in black held a gun, squinted, and took slow, deliberate steps toward them.

“Run right, I’ll run left.”

He heard Duan Yixun’s harsh whisper in his ear and glanced left—

To the left was the construction site exit, but the right was clearly a dead end!

“Yes, the right has a higher chance of getting caught, but you attracted these people, so you should take responsibility.”

Duan Yixun spoke coldly, giving him a shove!

Just as Song Lingyuan was about to be pushed out from behind the bricks, right into the view of the men in black—

The concrete floor beneath them suddenly cracked open and shifted apart on both sides!

The ground gave way under their feet, and they both tumbled onto an underground staircase!

Rough hands grabbed their ankles and pulled them down into a dimly lit basement.

Quickly, the ground above closed shut again.

Through the thick bricks, they could hear a distant, heavy male voice reporting:

“Nothing unusual detected!”

Then the footsteps faded away.

Covered in cold sweat, Song Lingyuan huddled in the basement, looking at the gentle face of the man in front of him, realizing he was safe for now.

The man who extended a helping hand to save him and Duan Yixun that day at the abandoned construction site was none other than Wen Li and Wen Shu’s father.

Upon hearing from nearby workers about what had happened, Mr. and Mrs. Wen took pity on the two children, who had lost their parents in one night, and decided to keep them, treating them like their own children.

Song Lingyuan spent an entire week in the airtight but safe basement.

The sight of his parents dying before his eyes became a haunting memory. He often curled up in a corner, trembling as he replayed that moment in his mind.

During those times, Mrs. Wen would hold him, speaking softly to soothe him, even bringing him a cup of sweet milk to help him calm down.

That sweet milk was the only comfort he experienced in those dark days.

Then, one day, a week later—

Just after breakfast, Song Lingyuan watched as Duan Yixun suddenly pushed his chair back, stood up, and thanked Mr. and Mrs. Wen.

“Thank you both for saving our lives. Once I reclaim what’s mine, I’ll make sure you’re well rewarded. I’ve arranged for someone to pick up me and my brother; it’s time for us to leave.”

Mr. and Mrs. Wen looked shocked and urged them to stay, but Duan Yixun pulled Song Lingyuan decisively, turning to leave.

“Where are we going?” Song Lingyuan asked after saying a tearful goodbye to Mrs. Wen, still unsure of Duan Yixun’s plan.

“Are you planning to hide underground like a rat for the rest of your life?”

Duan Yixun led the way out of the basement, standing in the construction site, squinting in the bright sunlight as he looked toward the scene of last week’s events.

Turning back, he shot a mocking look at Song Lingyuan:

“I contacted Uncle. I’ll use our father’s assets in the outer district as leverage to have him take us in temporarily while we figure out how to get revenge.”

Though three years apart, with one taking their father’s surname and the other their mother’s, they were different in temperament and rarely shared the same thoughts.

But this time, Song Lingyuan agreed with Duan Yixun.

He also wanted revenge for his parents.

So, without further hesitation, he followed Duan Yixun out of the construction site. They walked along the main road for a long time until they reached the place Duan Yixun had arranged to meet their uncle, Duan Dong.

Duan Dong arrived promptly, ensuring no one was around, then quickly stuffed them into his car and took them to his private villa on the other side of the city.

But Song Lingyuan hadn’t expected that after only three days at their uncle’s house, Duan Yixun and his “partnership” with their uncle would fall apart.

That evening, Duan Dong rushed home, shoved them both out, saying,

“You two little brats, get out now! Someone’s investigating your whereabouts and found their way to me! Your parents are dead; don’t drag me down too!”

“Duan Yixun, get out! I don’t want your father’s money. I want to stay alive. Never tell anyone you know me!”

Duan Dong roughly threw them out the door, giving them a few hundred yuan as a final gesture.

The next three months were a blur for Song Lingyuan.

Duan Yixun didn’t abandon him. Song Lingyuan knew it was because Duan Yixun still found him useful.

None of their relatives in A City would take them in, fearing trouble. With only a few hundred yuan, the two young boys were forced to find any means of survival, each trying to find work in the freezing winter.

Song Lingyuan’s father had been a senior official in District A, and his mother had been the vice president of the Association. Their lives had been one of privilege, with servants tending to their needs. Neither of them had ever begged anyone or been looked down upon.

But in those days, they had to plead, humbly asking shopkeepers on the street to hire them for menial labor.

No one dared to take on two children with unclear backgrounds.

One day, a restaurant owner, irritated by their persistence, cursed them for disrupting business and kicked Duan Yixun out of the door.

In the biting cold, on the stone-paved alley, Duan Yixun picked himself up, looked at Song Lingyuan with a grim expression, and spat,

“I swear, I’ll never again beg these lowly commoners for anything!”

“Song Lingyuan, I’ve thought of a way to make money. If you still want to survive, come with me.”

Before Song Lingyuan could answer, a group of teenage boys, tall and imposing, suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley and began closing in.

They cornered the two brothers at the end of the alley.

“Little brats, hand over anything valuable you’ve got for your daddies here.”

Song Lingyuan turned to run, but they were no match for the group. The two were quickly grabbed by the scruffs of their necks and thrown onto the hard stone pavement.

Countless fists landed heavily on Song Lingyuan’s legs and arms, leaving him bruised all over. The little money they had left in their pockets was all stolen.

Behind the gang of men, people passed by in the alley without noticing anything wrong.

Song Lingyuan lay on the ground, wracked with pain, and watched as, after the gang took the money and left, Duan Yixun quickly bit his lip and stood up, limping forward. Song Lingyuan had no choice but to gather his strength and follow.

He didn’t know where Duan Yixun was going, nor how long they had walked, until they reached a desolate field on the outskirts of City A.

In the field, there was a wild bush of thorny roses.

Duan Yixun, with his injured leg, jumped into the field and began plucking roses from the bushes, branch by branch with his bare hands.

Standing behind him in the dark, Song Lingyuan suddenly understood what Duan Yixun intended to do.

Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day.

So, he also jumped into the field and started picking roses.

The light was so dim they couldn’t avoid getting pricked by the thick thorns of the roses. But after all the pain they had endured, they no longer felt it.

By the time they had each gathered a large handful of roses, their hands were bloodied, staining the stems. They had to wash the flowers clean in a nearby river.

“Ten yuan per stem. Sell all these, then come back to get more. We need to earn enough to start a business.”

Leaving this statement behind, Duan Yixun took the flowers and headed back to the road, walking through the darkness toward the city.

When they returned to the city center, a distant bell chimed—it was Valentine’s Day.

Duan Yixun spread his worn-down coat on the ground, placed the roses on it, and started selling. At ten yuan per rose, they were the cheapest in the entire street. Within an hour, they sold out.

Then they returned to the field, picked more roses, and sold them again, repeating the process. After three trips, their throats were hoarse, and they were drenched in sweat despite the cold winter night, but each of them had made over a thousand yuan.

“It’s enough.” Duan Yixun counted the money and stuffed it in his pocket.

Exhausted and starving, Song Lingyuan wanted to buy a bowl of noodles from a nearby shop, but just as Duan Yixun put his coat back on, a group of shady-looking flower vendors surrounded them.

“So, you two little punks dared to steal our business tonight?”

“Hand over the money, and we’ll let you off lightly.”

Trembling, Song Lingyuan took a couple of steps back and saw Duan Yixun throw a punch—only to be pinned to the ground and beaten again.

Song Lingyuan knew they would lose their money in the end, so he handed over his share, and the men let him go, calling him “sensible.”

As he stepped out of the encirclement, he quickly cried out for help to the passing pedestrians.

However, upon seeing the intimidating appearance of the gang, people hurried past without stopping.

The middle-aged men realized he was calling for help and quickly chased him down, throwing him to the ground.

Having been beaten not long before, going without food for days, and walking so far, Song Lingyuan’s head hit the pavement hard, and he felt the world spin around him.

He could barely hold on and began to lose consciousness, faintly hearing Duan Yixun’s enraged voice—

“You wait… One day, I’ll make sure every last one of you dies! …”

…

That night, the Management Committee of City A held a re-election, and everything changed overnight.

As if by fate, the committee member who had orchestrated the secret order to kill Song Lingyuan’s parents lost the election for President by just one vote, despite years of scheming and countless misdeeds!

The new President-elect was a politician allied with Song Lingyuan’s father. Once in power, he immediately sent people to bring Song Lingyuan and Duan Yixun back to the committee.

The Association also learned of Song Lingyuan’s mother’s passing. The president, devastated, offered to take care of her child.

In the end, Duan Yixun chose to stay by the President’s side, immersing himself in politics from a young age, while Song Lingyuan went to the Association to continue the work his mother had left behind.

The brothers parted ways.

Three years ago.

On the night Duan Yixun was finally elected as President of City A, Song Lingyuan heard news of the sudden death of the committee member who had killed their parents.

The Association, which controlled all major media outlets worldwide, quietly suppressed the news.

A few days later, Song Lingyuan learned that Duan Yixun had hunted down every single hitman who had once pursued them, killing them one by one.

He thought that would be the end of years of hatred.

…

Song Lingyuan spoke slowly, pausing every few sentences.

Thankfully, whenever he struggled to continue, Luo Yu would gently pat his shoulder, offering a sense of comfort.

He wasn’t used to exposing his past so openly in front of others.

For years, he had presented himself as the adopted son of the Association’s president, later becoming its official president. He had never shared his story with anyone.

But now, he felt he had to.

Because this was no longer just about his story.

If he was correct, the current incident with the spiked anti-sleep medication was part of Duan Yixun’s revenge on City A.

And now, every family member in the basement had lost someone to Duan Yixun’s plot for vengeance.

It should never have come to this.

When Song Lingyuan finished speaking, the basement was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Luo Yu, sitting next to Song Lingyuan, was stunned.

A mix of sympathy for Song Lingyuan and shock at the truth filled the room—

This was a random massacre!

“Does he want to slaughter the entire city?” someone in the crowd asked, trembling.

“No.” Song Lingyuan shook his head. “The fatal dose ratio is about one in 100,000 to one in a million…”

Luo Yu couldn’t help but speak:

“He wants all of us to feel the uncertainty, the feeling of not knowing when death will come.”

“Just like what he went through as a child.”

“But Duan Yixun may not have killed the ones he wanted revenge on—instead, he ended up killing those who once showed him kindness…”

Hearing this, Song Lingyuan’s deep blue eyes, lowered and filled with sorrow, began to tremble along with his lashes.

This struck at the deepest part of his guilt, the pain of regret that he hadn’t realized everything sooner.

Luo Yu pressed his lips together, gently resting his hand on Song Lingyuan’s: “President Song, it’s not your fault.”

“Click—”

Wen Li suddenly stepped quickly out of the bedroom, his footsteps snapping everyone out of their shock.

Having heard the entire story from inside, Wen Li’s heart was consumed with grief and rage for his parents’ wrongful deaths, overtaking his rationality completely.

He scanned the room, then called out in a low voice, “Luo Xuan!”

From the crowd, Luo Xuan, the genius hacker and Ph.D. in computing from City A University, who had been hiding among the insomniacs, slowly stood up.

Wen Li nodded to him.

“Set everyone up with virtual IP addresses and virtual ID cards. Tonight at eleven, we’ll go live together.”