Hu Ting took a deep breath, her expression shifting rapidly as she struggled to suppress the shock in her heart. He's just trying to scare me. After all, the minor conflict today wasn't irreconcilable. To put it bluntly, it was a mere trifle. Wasn't it?
Thinking this, despite the lingering fear, she finally let out a sigh of relief. Forcing a seductive smile, she said in a fawning tone, "Sir, I've long admired your reputation. That was all my fault just now. I was blind, but fortunately, no real harm was done."
After admitting her mistake, the rather attractive woman quickly changed the subject. "Sir, it must be fate that we met here today. Why don't we have dinner together? Besides, we're extremely honored that my son can be in the same class as little Miss Shanshan."
As she spoke, Hu Ting shot a meaningful glance at Sun Hao beside her.
Sun Hao immediately snapped out of his stupor. "Yes, yes! To show my sincerity, I'll have three penalty drinks at the dinner table later."
Her expression changed faster than one could flip a page.
"Didn't you just say you were afraid some riff-raff would contaminate your son's innocent mind? That you would never allow such people into the school?" Yang Hu said with his arms crossed, a look of great interest on his face.
Hu Ting was left speechless.
A smile played on Ji Ping's lips as he simply stared at her.
"Just now, my brain must have short-circuited, that's why I was spouting nonsense. But as they say, there's no sin in ignorance, right?"
It had to be said, Hu Ting was quite shameless. Her smile never faltering, she explained, "Besides, my Sun Family has some influence in Cangyun City. Who knows, maybe one day you'll have a use for us, Sir?"
"Your Sun Family? I'm permanently stationed in Cangyun City, yet I don't recall ever hearing of this family," Ji Ping said with a smile that wasn't a smile. "And from what you're saying, it would be an honor for the Commander of the Martial Department to know you?"
Hu Ting froze.
Those words, like daggers veiled in silk, made the beautiful young woman's face turn crimson. She wrung her hands, looking up timidly at Chen Yang. Surely a top-tier figure like him wouldn't hold a grudge against a woman like me in public, right?
Putting on his gloves, Chen Yang walked toward Hu Ting.
"This…"
Hu Ting's heart seized. The smile on her face was now visibly forced.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
An instant later, as if she couldn't take it anymore, Hu Ting scurried behind Sun Hao, clutching his clothes tightly.
Sun Hao didn't dare move. On the verge of a mental collapse, his mind was a complete blank.
CLACK... CLACK...
Chen Yang's footsteps were light, his pace unhurried. But each soft footfall sounded like the reaper's scythe scraping the ground, frightening Hu Ting so much that her lips twitched. The veins on her hands bulged as she gripped the fabric, her whole body trembling.
"S-Sir, please consider your status! How can you hold a grudge against a weak woman like me?" Hu Ting finally broke, her face a mask of terror. "If you touch me here, you'll only tarnish your own reputation!"
But Chen Yang remained completely unmoved.
He took a few more steps until he stood directly in front of her and Sun Hao, his expression unreadable.
"I've already apologized! It was such a trivial matter, do you really have to be so relentless?" Hu Ting panicked but argued desperately, "If you lay a hand on me today, what will other people think of you?"
The core of today's conflict was just that I drove away that orphan girl. And I didn't even do anything wrong, did I?
"For your own selfish reasons, you humiliated others and even called Shanshan a bastard?" Chen Yang's eyes turned icy. "She is my daughter!
"Being in the same school, the same class as my daughter, would contaminate your son's mind?
"And I would use this platform to build connections with parents like you?"
Hu Ting was dumbfounded.
At that, Chen Yang pointed a finger at Zhou Qing. "Is this what you call good upbringing and refinement?"
"I... I..."
Chen Yang's words almost made Zhou Qing's soul shatter. A cold, clammy sweat beaded on his skin. He hung his head, his mouth opening and closing several times, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"You carry yourselves like prominent figures. Before this War God, what do you amount to?"
SLAP!
Chen Yang's hand flashed out, delivering several slaps in succession. The three of them staggered back, blood trickling from their mouths as they crumpled to the ground. Hu Ting, who took the brunt of the force, had the skin on one side of her face split open, and blood streamed from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
"You're no man! You're a disgrace to your title!" Consumed by rage, Hu Ting spat through clenched teeth. A prestigious figure from the Martial Department had actually struck a woman. It was unjustifiable by any standard of reason or morality. It was utterly degrading!
"How my Boss conducts himself is hardly for a slut like you to comment on," Yang Hu sneered.
"I'm a woman! It's normal for me to act without thinking sometimes. Even if I offended you, you shouldn't have laid a hand on me!" Hu Ting argued, her tone dripping with self-righteous indignation, as if she were entitled to such leeway.
Chen Yang stated coolly, "I only hit an animal."
Hu Ting was stunned. An animal? He actually called me an animal? Ha... My status is so noble. Even if I can't compare to a big shot from the Martial Department like him, he has no right to humiliate and trample on me like this.
In an instant, a wave of humiliation and furious anger surged through her.
"Some big shot from the Martial Department... is this all you are?" With reddened eyes, Hu Ting wiped the blood from her lips and mocked him coldly. "With such a petty mindset, how are you any different from the common rabble? Your morals don't match your station!"
It was a clever tactic, an attempt to seize the moral high ground and intimidate him into stopping.
However, the towering and imposing man merely shot her a cold glance. "Save it. I, Chen, have never claimed to be a good man. When it's time to kill, why should I hesitate?"
Hu Ting's blood ran cold.
A dragon has scales that grow in reverse; touch them, and you die. No matter what justifications you have, when the time comes to kill, there is no other path.
A sharp intake of breath hissed through the onlookers. A chilling dread seeped into their bones. Had this god finally revealed the ruthless, decisive killing intent he was meant to possess?
Prostrate on the ground, Hu Ting could no longer speak. She was consumed by an icy numbness and the encroaching fear of death.
Chen Yang pulled off his gloves, now stained a glaring crimson, and tossed them into a nearby trash can. He gestured to Yang Hu. "Bury them."
WHIR!
Both Hu Ting's and Sun Hao's eyes widened in sheer terror. Before any plea for mercy could escape their lips, two large hands shot out and clamped down on their throats. Deprived of air, their lungs felt as if they were catching fire.
Ji Ping, having understood the whole affair, shook his head with a quiet sigh. The world today had long lost its integrity. There were far too many corrupt and power-abusing animals. Only by eradicating them completely could clarity be restored.
Recently, the most debated topic within the Martial Department was the new title, War God of the State. Did the words "of the State" refer to protecting it from foreign threats, or domestic ones? Or perhaps both? A thousand-mile dike can collapse from a single anthill. Some issues had festered for many years. It was time to act.
Rumor had it that the War God of the State was a representative pushed forward by the Elders' Court and the higher-ups, tasked with excising these malignant tumors to clear the skies.
Based on what he already knew and what he had just witnessed, Ji Ping had a strange feeling that the righteous Chen Yang was perhaps born for this position.
「Outside the kindergarten.」
Chen Yang declined Ji Ping's dinner invitation, patting him on the shoulder. "Conduct more live-fire exercises in the coming days. Push our combat readiness as high as it can go."
Ji Ping felt a chill. These meaningful words made his blood boil with excitement while also sending a shiver down his spine.
Train an army for a thousand days to use it for a single moment?