Sending Gifts in Prison

Military detention center.

Underground level two.

Maximum-security cell block.

The corridors here were half as wide as those in a normal prison, illuminated by pale fluorescent lights that stayed on twenty-four hours a day.

The door to each cell was made of reinforced alloy steel, all controlled centrally from the control room.

Signal jammers were embedded in the walls.

Not even a single text message could be sent out.

Lin Tian was locked in the innermost solitary cell.

Because he was a martial arts powerhouse at the peak of the Grandmaster realm, ordinary cells couldn't hold him.

So the military gave him special treatment.

Double-layered alloy handcuffs.

Magnetic shackles locked around his ankles.

A short chain connected the handcuffs and shackles, restricting his range of motion to no more than two meters.

Four high-speed cameras were installed in the corners of the cell, providing twenty-four-hour real-time surveillance.

Two fully armed sentries stood outside the door.

They worked in shifts, rotating every four hours.

At the end of the corridor, an eight-man emergency response team was on standby at all times.

They were equipped with stun guns, tranquilizer darts, and tear gas.

This level of security was already the highest grade the military detention center had to offer.

But even so, his guards were still incredibly nervous.

Because they had all read Lin Tian's file.

Peak Martial Arts Grandmaster.

Had personally killed over three hundred people.

Commanded a hundred thousand retired elites.

A man like this, even when chained up, could make everyone in the building lose sleep.

Lin Tian sat on the iron bed.

He leaned against the cold wall, his eyes closed.

He had been here for over ten hours.

From the early hours of last night when he was brought in until now.

He hadn't eaten anything.

He hadn't drank any water.

He hadn't said a single word.

Interrogators had come twice.

The first time was for routine identity verification and the reading of his rights.

Lin Tian didn't answer a single word.

The second time, a military prosecutor came to interrogate him, asking about the organizational structure and criminal facts of the Dragon King Palace.

Lin Tian still didn't say a word.

He just sat there with his eyes closed.

Like a rock.

The interrogators could do nothing about him.

They couldn't possibly use torture on someone at the peak of the Grandmaster realm.

If the torture failed and instead pushed him over the edge, everyone in the detention center combined wouldn't be enough for him to fight with one hand.

So they could only stall.

But what they didn't know was that Lin Tian's silence wasn't out of stubborn resistance.

It was because he was thinking.

He was thinking about Lin Ruobing.

From the moment he was escorted onto the military truck, he had been thinking about her.

Thinking of the image of her standing next to Shen Fei.

Thinking of the look in her eyes when she looked at Shen Fei.

Thinking of her figure from behind as she turned and walked into the villa without looking back.

Those images were like knives repeatedly slicing through his consciousness.

Every cut brought a stab of pain.

But he endured it.

Because he told himself that it was only temporary.

Lin Ruobing chose to stand by Shen Fei's side because the situation at the time was too chaotic.

She was terrified.

She didn't know what to do.

She needed a safe place.

Shen Fei's villa was the nearest safe zone.

So she stood beside Shen Fei.

That was all.

Wait until she calms down, wait until she knows his true identity, wait until she digests all of this.

She will come.

She will come to see him.

She will understand him.

Three years of forbearance were not meaningless.

He endured it all for her.

Everything was for her.

She will definitely understand.

She definitely will.

Lin Tian told himself this.

Over and over again.

This was his only belief now.

It was also the last straw keeping him from collapsing.

...

At three in the afternoon.

The alloy steel door of the cell opened.

An officer walked in.

He held a tablet computer in his hand.

"Lin Tian, someone sent you something. It has passed security and is clear. Consider this a special favor for you."

The officer placed the tablet on the iron bed.

Lin Tian opened his eyes and glanced at the tablet.

A silver casing, an ordinary brand.

"Who sent it?"

The officer didn't answer, turned around, and left.

The door closed again.

The sound of the deadbolt locking echoed in the cramped space.

Lin Tian looked at the tablet.

He hesitated for a few seconds.

Then he reached out his handcuffed hands and picked it up.

He pressed the power button.

The screen lit up.

There was no password.

There was only one folder on the desktop.

It had no name.

Lin Tian tapped on it.

Inside were four videos.

Numbered one, two, three, and four.

No titles.

No descriptions.

Lin Tian opened the first one.

The video played.

A warm living room.

Soft lighting.

Two people were sitting on the sofa.

Shen Fei and Lin Ruobing.

They were watching a movie.

The light from the TV screen reflected on their faces.

Lin Ruobing leaned against a corner of the sofa, her legs curled up, holding a throw pillow in her arms.

Her posture was very relaxed.

Very at ease.

It wasn't the resolute, powerful businesswoman persona she showed at the company.

But rather a softness that would only be revealed in the safest and most comfortable environment.

Shen Fei sat on the other side, with about a person's distance between them.

He held a glass of red wine in his hand, taking a sip occasionally.

The movie reached an interesting plot point, and Lin Ruobing smiled.

Then she casually leaned a little toward Shen Fei's direction.

Just a little.

She probably didn't even realize it herself.

But the camera captured it clearly.

Lin Tian stared at that scene.

Stared at Lin Ruobing's smile.

Stared at that subtle movement of her leaning closer to Shen Fei.

His fingers slowly tightened around the tablet's bezel.

The first video ended.

He opened the second one.

The scene switched.

An office.

Lin Ruobing sat behind the desk, talking on the phone.

"President Shen is Lin Logistics' most important partner."

Her tone was solemn and serious.

Then she added a sentence.

"He is also the person I trust the most."

The person I trust the most.

Not "one of."

But "the most."

Lin Tian's fingernails dug into the edge of the tablet.

The plastic casing let out a faint cracking sound.

The third video.

At a hotpot table.

Steam rising.

Lin Ruobing, Su Qingxue, Shen Fei, and Ling Xue, the four of them sat around it.

Lin Ruobing picked up a piece of tripe, swished it in the broth, and placed it on the plate in front of Shen Fei.

"Try this. Seven times up, eight times down, the texture is the best."

Her tone was so natural it seemed as if she had done this ten thousand times.

Shen Fei lowered his head and ate it.

He nodded.

"Not bad."

Lin Ruobing smiled.

It wasn't the polite smile of a business setting.

It was a very genuine smile, carrying a hint of smugness.

Like she was very happy that something she recommended was approved of.

Lin Tian's breathing grew heavy.

A crack appeared on the tablet's casing.

The fourth video.

Footage from this morning.

At the dining table.

Lin Ruobing sat opposite Shen Fei, holding a bowl of porridge.

In the video, her eyes were red and swollen, her face pale, clearly having cried.

But she was eating earnestly.

Then she put down the bowl and looked at Shen Fei.

"Shen Fei, I am going to divorce Lin Tian."

Her voice was very soft.

But every word was crystal clear.

I am going to divorce Lin Tian.

Divorce.

These words were like bullets.

They accurately pierced through Lin Tian's final line of defense.

The video continued.

"This is your own decision," Shen Fei said.

"Yes. My own decision."

"It has nothing to do with you. Even if you weren't here, after what happened last night, I would still get a divorce."

When she said this, her eyes were looking at Shen Fei.

That look.

It was the same as the smile at the hotpot table.

Just like the unconscious movement of leaning closer on the sofa.

It was filled with a reliance and attachment she had not even noticed herself.

The video ended there.

The frame froze on the exact moment Lin Ruobing looked at Shen Fei.

Red, swollen eyes.

A pale face.

And the soft, warm light deep within her eyes.

That light was not for Lin Tian.

It never had been.

Lin Tian stared at the frozen frame.

He looked at it for a long time.

A very long time.

An eternity.

The cell was so quiet that the electric hum of the fluorescent light could be heard.

Buzz—

Buzz—

Buzz—

Then.

Crack.

The screen of the tablet shattered.

It was not dropped.

It was crushed by Lin Tian's fingers.

Shards of glass pierced his palm.

Blood seeped through his fingers.

Dropping one by one onto the bedsheet of the iron cot.

Crimson red.

Exceptionally glaring against the pale sheet.

Lin Tian did not feel any pain.

He could not feel anything anymore.

"Divorce."

His lips moved.

The voice sounded like it came from very, very far away.

"She wants to divorce me."

Three years.

One thousand and ninety-five days.

Enduring humiliation every single day.

Every meal of plain white rice and pickled vegetables.

Every smile after being slapped in the face.

Every night sitting alone in the kitchen waiting for her to come home.

It was all for her.

All so that one day she would see the real him.

Make her shocked.

Make her worship him.

Make her regret not treating him well from the start.

But she chose divorce.

Not because he was arrested.

She said it herself, even without Shen Fei, she would still divorce him.

That meant her disappointment in him was not a matter of a day or two.

It had accumulated over three years.

It was ground away bit by bit by his daily "act."

He thought he was enduring humiliation for a greater purpose.

She only saw a worthless loser.

He thought he would turn the tables one day.

She just wanted to leave.

A joke.

A massive joke.

And he, Lin Tian, was the main character of this joke.

Lin Tian's hand loosened from the shattered tablet.

Blood dripped down his wrist.

He did not wipe it.

He lowered his head and looked at his bloody palm.

Several pieces of broken glass were embedded in his flesh.

Reflecting the pale fluorescent light overhead.

And his own twisted face.

"Ha."

He let out a laugh.

Very light.

Very short.

Like a laugh that had been choked off.

Then he did not laugh anymore.

The cell fell back into silence.

Only the sound of blood dripping onto the sheet.

Drip.

Drop.

Drip.

The two guards outside the door saw the scene inside the cell through the monitor.

They exchanged a glance.

Both saw the same emotion in each other's eyes.

Fear.

Not fear that Lin Tian would suddenly violently attack someone.

But fear of what unpredictable thing he might do next.

A peak Grandmaster pushed to a dead end.

More dangerous than any bomb.

...

Shen Family Villa, Study.

Shen Fei sat in his chair.

A dense string of notifications popped up on the system panel.

[The Child of Fortune, Lin Tian, has watched the video prepared by the Host! His spirit has suffered a devastating blow!]

[A major crack has appeared in Lin Tian's Dao Heart!]

[His final pillar of belief—"Lin Ruobing will understand me"—has been destroyed!]

[Lin Tian's Luck Value has plummeted!]

[Lin Tian's Luck Value: -2500!]

[Current Lin Tian Luck Value: 4400 -> 1900]

1900.

From the initial 15,000 to the current 1,900.

Only a fraction remained.

Shen Fei looked at that number.

It was not zero yet.

But it was very close.

There was still a final lingering spark in Lin Tian's Dao Heart.

What was supporting him?

Shen Fei thought for a moment.

Probably hate.

Hatred for Shen Fei.

Hatred is a very stubborn emotion.

Sometimes it lasts longer than love.

A person can break down because of losing love.

But hatred will sustain their final breath after the breakdown.

"As long as I am alive, I will kill Shen Fei."

Lin Tian was probably thinking this sentence.

Shen Fei leaned back in his chair.

The final breath.

It would not be hard to snuff it out.

But there was no rush.

Let him stay in prison for a few more days.

Let that despair slowly ferment.

Let the flames of hatred burn him to ashes.

In the end, Shen Fei would not even need to lift a finger.

He would collapse on his own.

Shen Fei closed the panel.

Stood up.

Walked out of the study.

A savory aroma drifted through the hallway.

Su Qingxue was making dinner.

The smell of braised pork.

Shen Fei walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

Su Qingxue was wearing an apron, holding a spatula in her hand.

"Hungry? It is almost ready."

"Yeah."

Shen Fei leaned against the kitchen doorframe, watching Su Qingxue's busy back.

Sunlight shone in through the window, falling on the side of her face.

Warm and quiet.

Outside the window, Jinling had returned to normal.

No helicopters.

No armored vehicles.

No gunshots.

Only the setting sun and cooking smoke.

As if nothing had ever happened.

But some things had changed forever.

Lin Tian's empire had collapsed.

Lin Ruobing's marriage was shattered too.

This could be considered a family ruined and destroyed, right?

Lin Tian, oh Lin Tian, you are truly pathetic.

Heh.