Snow Leopard Shut Up

It was truly a cliché.

Just to fight over a few broken springs, they were willing to use living, breathing people as bargaining chips.

Lin Mo felt physically sick of this kind of drama.

The family eliminated first got the least, while the last one standing took all.

The Situ family wanted to climb the Gongsun family's towering tree through marriage. The logic was flawless, but the methods were despicably vile.

Why should Jiang Yunlu be sacrificed?

At the thought of that girl who would blush, act stubbornly, and secretly care for others being given away like a piece of cargo, a nameless fire rose in Lin Mo's heart.

No, it wasn't a nameless fire. This fire had a first and last name; it was called "I've lost my appetite for beef."

He waved his hand out of boredom, releasing his control over Situ Dingyi.

The eerie purple hue in Situ Dingyi's eyes receded like the tide. He suddenly snapped back to his senses, staggering and nearly losing his footing.

The bizarre sensation from just moments ago still lingered in his mind, as if a puppeteer had been pulling his tongue, forcing him to spit out his deepest secrets word by word.

The look in his eyes when he looked at Lin Mo had changed from initial wariness to bottomless fear.

"Let me ask you a question," Lin Mo's voice was flat, betraying neither joy nor anger. "If I could rescue your young lady from the Situ family, would you be for it, or against it?"

A fleeting, irrepressible look of joy flashed across Situ Dingyi's face, but that glimmer of light lasted for less than a second before he forcefully suppressed it, returning to his cautious demeanor.

"My... my thoughts aren't important," he began hoarsely. "The young lady has her own thoughts. But, the family will absolutely never let her leave."

Hearing this, Lin Mo nodded thoughtfully, as if doing a simple logical deduction, and then, with the tone of someone discussing how nice the weather was today, stated a conclusion:

"Since the root of the problem is the Situ family, then this family isn't of any damn use anymore."

He paused, then added a sentence.

"Might as well wipe them out."

The air seemed to freeze.

Situ Dingyi's mouth fell slightly open, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, but he couldn't spit out a single word.

He felt as though his brain had been blown completely blank by this casual remark.

Wipe them out?

Wipe out the Situ family?

Did this guy know what he was saying?

"You can't!" Situ Ding'er beside him finally snapped out of his stupor and roared hoarsely, "The Situ family has a legacy of a thousand years and profound foundations, you..."

"A thousand years of dregs should be swept into the trash heap."

Lin Mo cut him off directly, his gaze shifting to the two of them, the corners of his mouth pulling into a half-smile.

"I'm actually curious. You two, one is named Situ Dingyi, the other is Situ Ding'er. Does your family just take the easy way out when naming? Are there a Ding-san and Ding-si later on to make up a mahjong table?"

Hearing this teasing, Situ Dingyi suddenly spoke up.

"Dingyi is a bestowed name. It is the name for the most outstanding disciple of the Ding lineage. It is an honor."

He really had been brainwashed silly; being named Ding-One was actually considered an honor.

"Then you might as well change your name to League of Legends, that sounds far more impressive."

This sudden quip instantly dissipated the heavy atmosphere, forcing all the words of loyalty Situ Ding'er had prepared back down his throat, turning his face bright red.

Lin Mo, however, didn't look at him again. His gaze fell back onto Situ Dingyi, his voice becoming deep and carrying a strange, piercing power.

"Don't give me that thousand-year legacy crap. Don't you want Yunlu's mother, your young lady, to break free from the cage that has imprisoned her for half her life?"

"Don't you want the mother and daughter to truly reunite just once?"

Every word pierced the heart!

Situ Dingyi shuddered all over.

"Hey! Don't listen to his nonsense!" Situ Ding'er jumped in anxiety. "He's a lunatic! He just wants to destroy the Situ family!"

"Shut up, snow leopard!" Lin Mo's words were law, and Situ Ding'er instantly clamped his mouth shut, unable to speak a single word.

"Heh..."

Situ Dingyi suddenly began to laugh softly, the sound filled with bitterness and self-deprecation.

He raised his head and looked straight at Lin Mo. "Actually, whether I am for or against it doesn't matter at all, right?"

"After all, just like before, whatever you want to know, whatever you want me to do, I simply cannot resist."

Lin Mo nodded approvingly.

"Smart people just save so much trouble."

"That's right, it really doesn't matter." He spread his hands. "But I'm a rather democratic person. I like giving people the chance to choose."

"Now, make your choice."

After Lin Mo finished speaking, he stopped looking at them and turned around on his own accord, as if admiring the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He said he was giving a choice, but that unquestionable sense of oppression was sharper than any blade.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from Situ Dingyi's forehead.

He felt as though he were standing on the edge of a cliff. Behind him was the thousand-year-old family that imprisoned everyone he cared about; in front of him was a demon who promised to smash everything to pieces.

And this demon had just proven to him that he could push him over at any moment.

Situ Dingyi forced himself to stand straight, looking up at Lin Mo, his voice carrying a barely detectable tremble.

"I can take you to the Situ family, but I beg you to spare the innocent people of the Situ family."

Hearing this, Lin Mo's mouth broke into a wide grin, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"What counts as an innocent person?"

This light and airy retort smashed into Situ Dingyi's chest like a heavy hammer.

He was momentarily at a loss for words. His chest heaved violently a few times before he managed to say with difficulty, "There are many people in the Situ family who have never left the Hidden Sect their entire lives! They were born in the Hidden Sect, grew up in the Hidden Sect, and everything they know and have learned was taught by the family. What guilt do they bear?"

"Oh?" Lin Mo raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard something interesting. "Doesn't that mean they should be destroyed even more?"

Situ Dingyi's pupils shrank violently.

He only heard Lin Mo say leisurely, "Their minds are imprisoned in a feudal cage, refusing to accept the new era and new ideas. How can that be allowed? We must make them step out, properly undergo the nine-year compulsory education, so they can become reliable successors of Communism in the future."

Situ Dingyi wanted to say something more, but Lin Mo had clearly lost the patience to spout nonsense with him.

"You're too annoying."

He extended a finger and casually tapped it against the forehead of Situ Ding'er beside him.

Situ Ding'er's originally struggling gaze instantly froze, then turned into a dead, empty void, like a marionette that had lost its soul.

"It's better to let him lead the way. You can just be responsible for bearing witness."

Lin Mo turned his head to look at the two people behind him.

"How about it? Do you want to go home and sleep, or come with me to check out the Hidden Sect?"

The invisible Xie Yuling curled her lips and said nothing, which meant she was definitely going.

As for Ning Qingcheng, she nodded vigorously.

"I want to see what the Hidden Sect is really like."

Actually, Lin Mo also wanted to know. The Dragon Tiger Dojo was a grotto-heaven blessed land, so the Hidden Sect should be one too, right?

Then the question was, did so many families share a single grotto-heaven blessed land?

If there were any doubts, they would know once they went to take a look.

Saying this, Lin Mo looked at Situ Ding'er.

"Lead the way. Take me to your Situ Clan."

"Yes!"

At this moment, Situ Ding'er was completely under control.