Chapter 1: Together in Death
8th of March, year 2039. Night. In a luxury suite on the 19th floor of the Tian Lun Pavilion Grand Hotel.
Even though the desire had died down, but the ambiguous feeling of it still lingered around. Zhang Yang sat in his bed with his top half naked watching the bare and empty pillow on his bed, his heart filled with the inconceivable.
He came to participate… no... perhaps in other words, he came here as a final resort to stop his girlfriend’s wedding. Based on only one sole reason… that is, because he was not the groom!
He and Lin Yu met each other through an online game called ‘God’s Miracle’. Though they first started off as enemies, they eventually got to know each other and ultimately developed feelings towards each other. However, Lin Yu’s family’s background was worlds apart from his. Her family had reached a point where their assets had surpassed a massive number which was in the billions. So naturally, they would not hand over their only daughter to some unheard-of man such as him!
Even then, Zhang Yang was not a poor and miserable nobody. He had a luxurious home, a few branded cars, and a few hundred thousand in his bank account. In the eyes of regular women, he was what they would deem as a bachelor with exceeding qualifications. Still, as compared to the Lin Family, there still existed a huge gap between them.
With his efforts in vain, the elders of the Lin Family treated him just as coldly. They almost chased him out of the house! The only thing that Lin Yu could do was to shed her tears for him. She could not ever agree to leave this planned marriage for his own. She only resorted to one desperate request and that was to never see her again.
Zhang Yang knew that Lin Yu was a girl who obediently respects her elders. Her mother threatened to take her own life to compel Lin Yu to go along with their wishes. That was enough reason for Lin Yu to accept the hand in marriage between the equally wealthy Liu Family’s only son, Liu Wei! In fact, the marriage should have been held 3 or 4 years back. It was only delayed because of Lin Yu’s constant struggle. But right now, it was obvious that her struggle had come to an end.
Zhang Yang withdrew quietly from Lin Yu’s wedding and went back to his hotel room. His heart fell into the depths of despair as he thought of his beloved who would become someone else’s wife. He went to have a dull drink before retiring to his room completely drunk. In the midst of it, he received a call. He could not recall what he said but not long after that, a woman came into his room and laid on his bed.
Zhang Yang was so incredibly drunk that he instantly went into ‘action’ when the both of them embraced each other. As the situation developed, Zhang Yang sobered up and realized that he recognized the woman who he was entangled with. It was the person who taught him Chinese Studies back in university, Miss Yu Li!
Eventually, Yu Li too recognized Zhang Yang. They ended their ‘session’ as they were both unimaginably abashed. But as compared to him, Yu Li was more embarassed than he was. She became a hostess but bumped into her old student. This made her feel ashamed, resulting in her bolting out of the room without even bothering to collect her payment.
With the mark left on his chest where Yu Li kissed him, Zhang Yang shook his head as he struggled to get the thoughts of this one night stand out of his mind.
But still, why would Yu Li give up her job as a teacher to sell herself to a hotel to become a hostess? There were many possibilities for her to do so. Perhaps a teacher’s salary was insufficient, or perhaps she had bad luck in making acquaintances and was forced by her boyfriend or husband to do this. Or perhaps she needed the financial help to pay for her parent’s illness…
Zhang Yang did not have much left in him to think about Yu Li because right now, while he was sober, he was being tortured by the pain in his heart. In his mind, there was only one person he could think of. Lin Yu.
‘Bang!’
The sound of the door crashing was heard as two burly men wearing suits and dark sunglasses barged in. Their cold facial expressions and body builds carried a strong killing intent.
Trailing behind them, of average height and size, was a man who walked in wearing a white formal suit and a pair of gold-framed glasses. He had the handsome face of a young man, yet he wore a careless smile on his face like a true gentleman.
“Liu Wei!” Zhang Yang immediately recognized that young man as he gritted his teeth.
One of the burly men grabbed a chair and Liu Wei immediately sat on it. He crossed his legs and said, “You must be wondering why I left my newly wedded wife to come here in the middle of the night.”
“Hmph, cut the bullshit!” said Zhang Yang coldly as he stared at his ‘rival’. Both he and Lin Yu knew that Liu Wei was adamant in marrying Lin Yu. However, this was not because of his feelings towards her, it was due to the Lin Family’s fortune. Both the Lin and Liu Families were heads of the business world. If they were to unite through marriage, then they could rule over a larger market together.
Liu Wei laughed but his facial expression contained no intentions of humor. He said, “Any women that belongs to me should not have any other men in their minds. And even if they do, I’d allow only the memories of a dead man! Do you understand now, Zhang Yang?”
Zhang Yang was astounded. He knew that this man, the only son of the Liu Family, would do something outrageous. But this is a hotel, a public place. It was just beyond imagination!
“There’s no need to be surprised! This state of Ji is under my family’s influence. Even if I put a hole in the sky, there would be someone to patch it up for me in my stead.” Liu Wei continued to speak as he laughed coldly, “That bitch actually delayed the wedding for 4 years because of you! Hmph! After I’m done with you, I shall go back and take really good care of her.”
Zhang Yang went into rage, fiercely did a backflip from the bed and onto his feet and shouted, “If you even dare to lay your hand on a strand of her hair, I’ll kill you!”
“Haha, not only will I be going to touch a strand of her hair, I will also be going to mess her up, mess her up really badly! That bitch actually slept with you for a number of times, did she not? That bitch actually made me out to be the bad person!” Liu Wei’s handsome countenance faded.
“Bastard!” Zhang Yang screamed and leaped towards Liu Wei.
Liu Wei scoffed and commanded the two burly men, “Throw him off the balcony!”
“Roger!” Answered the men instantly and simultaneously as they went into action.
Liu Wei had the highest of confidence in his experienced bodyguards and in a very relaxed manner he said, “A man broken by the lost of the love of his life, jumped off to end his life. How does that sound as the title of tomorrow’s newspaper headlines? I do wonder how that bitch would react to this. The face that she would make would certainly be very amusing!”
Even so, Zhang Yang did not show any signs of fear. He lost both his parents when he was very young and had been rebellious ever since. Since then, there was no one who bothered to care about his brawls, and he eventually became some sort of the local’s little tyrant. Eventually he toned down after he enrolled in a university. He stopped getting into fights and instead joined a martial art’s society and had proper skill showdowns.
He was born with a naturally strong and agile body build. After joining the society for merely two years, he was said to have beaten the 9th National Martial Arts Competition’s Champion’s instructor. Through the years, he had never stopped his training and this led to his unparalleled strength.
These two men must have had a certain degree of skill to become Liu Wei’s bodyguard. But still, in Zhang Yang’s eyes, they were still nobodies.
‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’
Zhang Yang’s fists were as fast as electric, flowing and dancing around. His feet moved like a snake and with a move called ‘False Steps Chaos Punch’, he beat them both until they had no chance of countering.
Liu Wei was both surprised and enraged. He never knew that Zhang Yang had such formidable skill. Without actually thinking things through, he pulled out a small firearm and fired at Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang was not curious about how a notorious family like the Lius could have gotten hold of a firearm. Instead he was surprised that Liu Wei would actually open fire at a public place! At the moment, his eyes were directed at the black hollow muzzle of Liu Wei’s gun, he instinctively waved his arm and hit one of the bodyguards who staggered in front of him, blocking his front.
‘Pa!’
As the deafening sound of gunshots faded into the distance, a mark of fresh red blood appeared on the vest of the bodyguard. The man fell onto the ground before he could even let out any cries of pain.
Liu Wei did not stop there, even though he was stunned for a moment, he held his gun back up and aimed at Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang, who was not afraid of getting a beating went to brawl with the other man. He then held the man as a meat shield and rushed towards Liu Wei.
The man saw that Liu Wei was aiming directly at him. Terrified, the man started to sweat as he screamed, “Please Master Liu, don’t shoot! Don’t shoo- “
‘Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!’
Being selfish and reckless, it was impossible for Liu Wei to listen to the cries of his own underlings. He then pulled the trigger repeatedly, letting 6 shots off as he emptied his magazine.
Within the smoke, bullet wounds could be seen on the dead bodyguard’s abdomen, chest and head. He had died before death could come to him. Zhang Yang pushed the body aside and rushed forward so quickly that he hit Liu Wei as he reloaded his gun.
In a flash, Zhang Yang emerged from behind the dead man’s body. He then powerfully lifted his hammer-like fists and punched Liu Wei’s face firmly.
The punch was so powerful that it sent Liu Wei’s gold-framed glasses flying off. A stream of blood came oozing out from a brand-new wound that he had just received.
Zhang Yang pulled Liu Wei out from under the man’s body and immediately, another punch followed.
“Ah!“
He screamed continuously. Liu Wei was a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he had never and could never endure this level of pain. In the end, however, he was still a ruthless man. With eyes carrying ill intent, he glared at Zhang Yang and yelled, “You bastard. You dared to strike me! You’re a dead man! Not only will I kill you, I’ll mutilate your corpse and feed them to the dogs!”
No matter how well one could control his temper, under the circumstances of being shot for 7 rounds, one might still lose his nerves completely. Zhang Yang’s rage was already well beyond comprehension. After listening to Liu Wei’s endless taunting, his rage rose by yet another level as he delivered one more punch. With a ‘Pa!’ sound, Liu Wei’s face was covered in his own blood and with ‘Wa’ sound, he spat out 7 to 8 pieces of his broken teeth.
‘Master Liu! Master Liu!’ several voices could be heard echoing through the hallway and more burly bodyguards came rushing into the room. Some of them had bulging waists, indicating that they were carrying weapons.
Liu Wei regained his composure and screamed shrilly, “Kill him! Kill him!’
‘Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!’
The bodyguards who received the order rushed towards Zhang Yang. Some of them even pulled out their knives.
Zhang Yang’s blood was dripping from his waist. Even though he had a meat shield to protect him, he still got shot in his abdomen. In just mere moments, he could feel the energy in him gradually seeping out. His vision blurred and he knew that he could faint at any time.
In a situation like this, staying conscious alone would be difficult, what more taking on those burly men.
Zhang Yang directed his gaze at Liu Wei and murmured, “Am I actually going to be doing the citizens a favor?”
With a burst of laughter, Zhang Yang grabbed onto Liu Wei and dashed towards the balcony. Gaining an unstoppable momentum, the two of them soared into the air before falling down from the 19th floor like two shooting stars.