The atmosphere in the dining room the next morning was subtly tense.
Lu Qianqian was absent. After Lou Mengling personally went upstairs to persuade her, she had stopped crying but buried herself under the blankets, refusing to see anyone.
At the table sat only Lu Chenyuan and Lu Chenjin, the latter sporting faint dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night.
Lu Chenjin kept his head down, silently sipping his porridge without a word.
His elder brother’s words from the night before had seared into his mind like a brand—leaving him ashamed, shaken, and yet stirring a faint, unfamiliar longing he hadn’t even recognized in himself.
The feeling of being seen, understood, and even having his future mapped out was something he had never experienced in his twenty years of life.
"Made up your mind?" Lu Chenyuan set down his utensils, dabbing his lips with a napkin before speaking calmly.
Lu Chenjin’s grip on his spoon tightened, though he still didn’t look up. "About what?"
"Whether you’ll keep wasting your talent underground or step into the spotlight and fight for a real championship."
Lu Chenyuan’s tone was utterly indifferent, as if discussing the weather.
After a long silence, Lu Chenjin finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "I… can I really do it?"
For the first time, his usual defiance was absent, replaced by a fragile uncertainty.
Underground racing was thrilling, but deep down, he knew it was nothing more than a dead-end thrill.
Professional racing was another world—one he had secretly yearned for yet deliberately avoided out of sheer rebellion.
"It’s not about whether you can. You must." Lu Chenyuan’s gaze bore into him with unshakable authority.
"The coach I’ve hired for you is Hand, former technical director of an F1 championship team. Your physical trainer is a retired top expert from the national team. Your support staff will meet world-class standards."
Lu Chenjin’s head snapped up, disbelief flooding his eyes.
Hand—a legend in the racing world!
Countless elite drivers would kill for even a single piece of advice from him.
"You…" His lips parted, but no words came.
He had assumed his brother just wanted to drag him out of the gutter and keep him on a short leash somewhere.
But instead, Lu Chenyuan had struck like lightning, paving a golden path straight to the top.
"I’ll lay the road, but you’re the one who has to walk it." Lu Chenyuan watched his stunned expression before continuing, his words carrying deeper weight.
"And what I need from you isn’t just racing."
"Then what?" Lu Chenjin asked instinctively.
Lu Chenyuan’s fingers tapped rhythmically against the table, as if sketching out a grand blueprint.
"Have you ever considered what determines the outcome of a race—besides the driver?"
"The car itself. The engine, chassis, aerodynamics, tires… and data analysis."
The answer spilled from Lu Chenjin’s lips without hesitation—these were things etched into his bones.
"Exactly." Lu Chenyuan nodded approvingly.
"A few days ago, I reviewed a report on new energy vehicles. Current battery and electronic control systems still have massive room for improvement."
"Racing is the ultimate testing ground for automotive performance. Many cutting-edge civilian technologies are born on the track."
He locked eyes with Lu Chenjin, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"What I need isn’t just a champion driver named Lu Chenjin."
"I need you to become a leader in Xia Country’s future automotive industry. Your talent shouldn’t just be used to surpass opponents—it should drive technological innovation."
"I’ll establish an independent new energy technology lab, initially led by you, dedicated to R&D and testing for racing applications. Winning races is your short-term goal. Your ultimate mission is to see the technology we develop installed in cars across the nation."
The dining room fell into silence.
Lu Chenjin was utterly speechless. His mouth hung open, his mind blank.
Champion driver… Leader of Xia Country’s automotive industry… Driving technological innovation…
Each phrase detonated like a thunderclap in his mind.
He had never imagined that his "frivolous" hobby—the one his elders dismissed as a waste of time—could be tied to something so monumental.
He had always assumed his brother looked down on his passion for cars.
Now he realized Lu Chenyuan didn’t disdain it—he simply thought Lu Chenjin was playing at too low a level.
A surge of fire erupted from the depths of his heart, scorching through his veins and raising goosebumps across his skin.
It was the electrifying thrill of purpose—of being handed a mission and a value greater than himself.
"I… I’ll do it!" Lu Chenjin nearly shouted the words, his eyes burning with exhilaration. All his confusion, rebellion, and resentment had finally found an outlet—one fierce enough to incinerate them all.
Watching his brother’s ignited determination, the faintest trace of a smile tugged at Lu Chenyuan’s lips.
The most unruly "knight" on his chessboard had finally been pulled back within the boundaries—and given a clear direction to charge.
……
In the study, Lu Chenyuan stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the gardeners at work in the courtyard below.
Lu Chenjin’s issue was temporarily resolved, but another, deeper and more insidious problem demanded immediate attention.
His father—Lu Mingye.
In the original storyline, Lu Mingye’s infidelity and illegitimate child were the sparks that crushed Lou Mengling, severed the Lu family’s maternal support, and gave the Li family an opening to sow discord within the household.
This ticking time bomb had to be defused—before it exploded beyond control.
He dialed Lin Yuan’s internal line.
"Lin Yuan, I need you to investigate something."
"Of course, President Lu." Lin Yuan’s voice, as always, was steady and efficient.
"Pull all records of my father Lu Mingye’s personal account transactions over the past eighteen years. I need to know where every non-routine expenditure exceeding 100,000 yuan went—especially any long-term, fixed transfers to specific recipients."
Lu Chenyuan’s tone was calm, but the request would unsettle anyone.
Investigating one’s own father was taboo in any family.
Yet Lin Yuan didn’t hesitate—not even his inflection wavered.
"Understood. What level of confidentiality?"
"Highest clearance." Lu Chenyuan’s voice hardened. "No third party can know. Use our most reliable overseas team—no internal channels within the group."
"Copy that. Results within three days."
"Appreciate it."
Hanging up, Lu Chenyuan’s gaze deepened further.
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
