A voice suddenly cut through the room, chillingly sharp, like an eerie, frigid wind blowing up from the deepest abysses.

Fei Yingming’s voice snapped silent, drowned by an immeasurable coldness. He stared ahead with wide, desperate eyes, yet there was nothing there.

“Im...pos...sible, no…”

Halfway through his protest, the hand holding the gun suddenly jerked upward, about to squeeze the trigger, when an agonizing pain shot through his limb. He let out a strangled scream.

His forearm, the one gripping the weapon, was completely pierced by something sharp and pinned to the floor. His hand went limp, and the gun clattered away onto the ground.

Amidst Fei Yingming’s raspy shriek, the shape of a blade slowly became visible embedded in the wound of his arm, stained dark by his own blood.

“You brought this upon yourself; don’t blame me.” The same emotionless voice echoed again.

“No—”

Fei Yingming felt an icy chill at his throat as his voice was simultaneously severed. A torrent of ** poured from his gullet. He desperately clamped his hands over his neck, trying to stop the scalding blood from gushing out, but it was utterly futile.

His eyes held infinite terror. He saw the approach of death. As his lifeblood drained away, his strength ebbed, and a profound cold began to seep into his body.

“No. I can’t die. I won’t die. I won’t die…”

He repeated the phrase incessantly in his mind.

His body began to tremble. His limbs started to spasm. He felt his eyelids growing heavier, heavier, overcome by an endless wave of exhaustion.

Then, a breeze swept in from outside the door. And then—the dying Fei Yingming saw a pair of eyes. They were black eyes, holding a flicker of—pity?

It was him?

It was him!

To die by his hand! A fierce surge of resentment and fury erupted in Fei Yingming’s heart. Mustering strength from some unknown reserve, he threw his entire being toward those eyes. His body lunged forward once, and then stilled forever.

Fei Yingming’s corpse lay spread upon a widening pool of crimson blood. His impeccably neat yellow suit was soaked through, and the remnants of a savage grimace, frozen from the moment of death, still clung to his handsome face.

His eyes remained wide open, refusing to close in death, that final spark of unwillingness slowly fading away, just as his life was.

A mysterious sigh suddenly resonated in the vacant room. Whatever grudges existed in life, with the extinguishing of a life, everything dissolved into nothingness.

Ten minutes later, a piercing scream shattered the quiet serenity of the Green Lake Hotel…

Mingzhou City, First High School.

It was the first day of the new term, and the students were in high spirits, huddled in small groups, trading stories of their break.

The trio around Zhong Yun, however, seemed rather subdued. Zhong Yun was visibly fatigued, fighting off drowsiness with heavy blinks. Chen Wen was preoccupied, showing no inclination to speak.

Seeing that neither of them wished to converse, Tian Hai also fell silent and turned to Zhong Yun’s laptop to browse the internet.

“Fei Yingming is dead.”

After a while, Chen Wen suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed outside the window as if mentioning some trivial matter.

“Dead?” Zhong Yun’s surprise was perfectly calibrated. “How did he die?”

“Who died?” Tian Hai, sharp-eared, dropped the computer game the moment he heard the news of a death and crowded closer. “Who died?”

“Don’t know, Xiao Wen said Fei Yingming died,” Zhong Yun explained.

Chen Wen turned his head, his eyes fixed on Zhong Yun, articulating each word slowly, “He was murdered.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Zhong Yun asked, slightly bewildered. He laughed. “You don’t think I did it, do you?”

To his surprise, Chen Wen nodded. “Yes. I suspected you from the very start of the day.”

“What kind of joke is that?” Tian Hai exclaimed. “Xiao Yun would kill someone?” His voice rose slightly, causing the other students chatting in the classroom to turn their heads, casting strange looks their way.

The female class monitor shot Tian Hai a fierce glare, complaining crossly, “Can you be quieter? There are other students here. Mind your influence.”

The teachers were busy with other arrangements, having given brief instructions before letting the students study on their own, tasking the class monitor with maintaining order.

Tian Hai offered an embarrassed smile and lowered his voice when he spoke again. “You shouldn’t make jokes like that.”

I am certainly not joking, Chen Wen sighed inwardly. Am I the only one who suspects him? Fei Yingming’s death was undoubtedly a bombshell that sent shockwaves through the entirety of Volger.

As one of the designated heirs of a major family, Fei Yingming had been killed in the heavily guarded Green Lake Hotel in an extremely brutal manner. The repercussions were disastrously negative, setting countless prominent figures on edge.

For years, there had been an unwritten rule in Davor: once a person achieved a certain standing, resorting to assassination against them was absolutely forbidden. Otherwise, the culprit would face total ostracization, rendering their life impossible.

If one struggles to reach such heights, yet cannot even guarantee personal safety, what is the point of living? People shared this common sentiment, especially those at the apex of society, who could not tolerate such an incident.

Of course, this was also tied to social order. The relative advancement of the current social structure had fostered this unspoken rule.

Thus, Fei Yingming’s death had undeniably touched a raw nerve. All the major families and factions were watching closely, and their intelligence agencies immediately mobilized to provide substantial assistance to the Fei family.

Zhong Yun landed on the suspect list because the man who orchestrated the assassination attempt against him—Fei Yingming’s assistant, a middle-aged man—had disclosed the history between Fei Yingming and Zhong Yun.

The petty grievances between Fei Yingming and Zhong Yun naturally became the motive for the murder.

The Chen family, however, was unaware of the specifics. They were only surprised by how quickly the Fei family had linked the investigation to Zhong Yun. As fierce rivals of the Fei family, the Chen family learned of Fei Yingming’s death immediately. Combined with their suspicions about Zhong Yun’s background, Zhong Yun became their primary suspect.

The Chen family covertly deployed their intelligence operatives to investigate Zhong Yun’s movements the previous night, only to discover that Zhong Yun had spent the entire evening in a luxury suite at the Pearl Grand Hotel, accompanied by a beautiful woman. They hadn't left until dawn. There was no record of them exiting the hotel during that time.

This initially cleared Zhong Yun of suspicion.

However, Chen Wen still harbored doubts. Based on his understanding of Zhong Yun, he wasn’t the type to casually spend the night with a strange woman.

This was highly unusual, and Chen Wen sensed the faint odor of conspiracy.

Chen Wen finally sighed. “I was just saying.” Whether Zhong Yun did it or not, probing further was inadvisable; playing ignorant was the best course.

If Zhong Yun were the perpetrator, with his ghost-like methods capable of killing from a thousand miles away, Chen Wen wouldn't need to worry about him at all.

If it wasn't Zhong Yun, then asking was merely redundant.

Yet, deep in his core, he still felt an undeniable connection between Zhong Yun and Fei Yingming’s death, no matter how ironclad the alibi.

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