111: By taking the initiative, can one gain a decisive advantage over fate? (Only correcting typos)

Xu Le followed the two people, walking on the streets of the First District, passing through one alley after another.

A bad premonition faintly rose in his heart; he picked dark alleys to walk through, always feeling like no good would come of it.

He couldn't help but stop: "Haven't we arrived yet?"

"We're here, it's just ahead."

The two pointed to a building ahead that looked grand and majestic; only then did Xu Le continue to follow them.

The two continued to talk about Minister Zhao's various glorious deeds, just like a storybook, starting from scratch and growing into a great tree—a true model of a noble son from a humble background.

Entering the building, the two led Xu Le directly to the office and knocked lightly on the door.

"Director, the person has been brought here."

A hearty voice came from inside: "Alright, let him in!"

Xu Le frowned. Wasn't it a Minister? Why had it changed to a Director?

Entering the office, he felt "Minister Zhao's" face was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall it for a moment.

"Student Xu Le, please have a seat!"

"Minister Zhao" pointed to the sofa next to him with a warm smile.

"Who are you? Have we met?"

For some reason, he felt the smile of the person in front of him was particularly hypocritical, even more repulsive than the formulaic smile of a greeter.

"Minister Zhao" was startled and waved for the two to leave before starting to explain.

"We haven't met. You find me familiar, perhaps because you've seen my cousin!"

As Xu Le was reminiscing, he heard the other party continue: "His name is Tang Wei, an SS-rank Genius who was murdered at only 18 years old."

"He was only 18!"

"Do you think the person who killed him often has nightmares and can't sleep?"

As "Minister Zhao" spoke, he took out his ID badge and pinned it to his left chest. It clearly read: Director of the Planning Department — Tang Zhi.

So he was from the Tang Family!

Xu Le smiled.

During the unified entrance exam, they had forced an attempt to harm him;

Later, during the admission interview, they wanted to directly crush his college dreams;

After failing, they even invited Ghost Executioner, one of the five great assassins, to assassinate him... time and time again.

He hadn't even thought about revenge yet, but the other party kept provoking him.

This was leaving him no way out.

The Aristocratic Families were truly overbearing!

Seeing the cold glint in Xu Le's eyes, Tang Zhi couldn't help but feel nauseous: "It's this disgusting look, knowing no respect for status, knowing no gratitude, just like a lowly wild dog that becomes arrogant and wants to bite people once it gets its way."

Xu Le laughed out of extreme anger: "Gratitude? What gratitude? Gratitude that you're afraid I'll be bored and keep trying to kill me?"

Tang Zhi was prepared; he took a stack of reports from the drawer and threw them in front of Xu Le.

"Take a good look. If not for our Aristocratic Families, a wild dog like you would have been reduced to eating mud and starving to death! To think you have no gratitude and even try to betray your masters!"

Xu Le glanced at it; it was roughly the economic report of the Ninth District. He didn't know how Tang Zhi had gotten hold of it.

The data on it was shocking. In the Ninth District, the four Aristocratic Families—Tang, Chen, Zhang, and Wang—were involved in various industries and were all industry leaders, accounting for a full 81% of the economic volume, and the taxes they paid were astronomical figures.

While the Great Zhou officials, represented by the City Lord's power, accounted for less than 5%.

And the vast majority of ordinary people were actually scattered, only occupying 4%.

The remaining 10% was controlled by Aristocratic Families from other districts.

In the Great Zhou where martial power was supreme, Xu Le had already felt the hardships of ordinary people, but he hadn't expected it to be this difficult.

Even more shameful was that the high-and-mighty Aristocratic Families didn't feel ashamed for occupying more resources; instead, they felt they were the ones feeding the ordinary people.

"Wild dog, does your conscience hurt even a little bit? If it does, it means you're not completely beyond redemption!"

Xu Le was furious: "A wild dog is your father! You blood-sucking vermin are the ones with no conscience at all. If you had even a tiny bit of conscience, you wouldn't say such disgusting things."

"I know you've been deliberately trying to provoke me. Congratulations, you've succeeded, you idiot."

A flash of unnaturalness crossed Tang Zhi's face, but it was immediately replaced by rage. That damn wild dog actually didn't follow his arrangement.

Fortunately, he had a Plan B.

He suddenly roared at the top of his lungs: "Impossible! The Human Race will never be slaves! What kind of trash thinks they can tempt me?"

!!!

Xu Le looked at the seemingly insane Tang Zhi, and various schemes and intrigues he had seen in his past life surfaced in his mind.

He quickly turned to run. This was the other party's territory; surveillance and such things could conveniently malfunction. If he stayed to explain, even a hundred mouths wouldn't be enough.

"Want to escape?"

"It's too late!"

Tang Zhi sneered and pulled out a scroll.

Boom!

Invisible air pressure emerged, and piercing alarms sounded throughout the building.

Xu Le's steps to leave suddenly stopped; he sensed a familiar aura.

Reapers Scythe!

A black scythe appeared in the Void Realm; as soon as it appeared, it seemed to take away all the hidden darkness in the surrounding space.

Xu Le's expression was grave. The attack of the Reapers Scythe was too strong and belonged to a Divine-Grade skill; he didn't dare to be careless.

The "Life Recovery" skill in his hand was already prepared, and if necessary, he could also use "Void Evasion."

It felt as if a long, long time had passed.

In fact, it was less than a second; it was just the illusion of the Divine Soul being shaken.

The phantom of the Reapers Scythe had already slashed... onto Tang Zhi.

A transparent phantom that looked like Tang Zhi was taken away and vanished.

His health bar was also emptied—no, a sliver of blood-red remained.

Tang Zhi took out another Forbidden Curse and tore it apart, "Time Solidification." This was a crowd-control skill that could trap an enemy for at least half an hour, or even longer.

However, he was still using it on himself.

Being trapped inside, because of the time stagnation, the outside world couldn't attack either. A "tasteless" enemy-trapping skill had actually become a life-saving Divine Artifact.

"Who dares to collude with gods in the First District!"

An angry roar came, making Xu Le's ears ring.

Then, a bearded man crashed through the wall and appeared in the office.

Xu Le was surprised and looked at the remains of the scroll in Tang Zhi's hand; that was the only evidence.

The bearded man also saw it and looked at Tang Zhi with cold eyes.

Tang Zhi shuddered and looked around, immediately discovering the evidence of his crime.

Just as he was about to continue tearing it up, the bearded man's voice sounded again.

"You don't think just tearing it up will work, do you? Then what would we Patrol Envoys be for?"

Tang Zhi's right hand froze, and a fireball burned the scroll to ashes.

The bearded man's voice sounded again: "Surrender. Even if it's ashes, our Forensics Department can restore it."

Tang Zhi trembled and hurriedly cleaned up the ashes.

Xu Le also reacted at this time. That bearded man was clearly from the Tang Family; the two were in cahoots. No wonder he could arrive so quickly.

Tang Zhi's lips moved slightly, full of smugness.

Only Level 68, yet his strength was already comparable to a Divine Envoy. Such a great enemy of the Family could not be kept!

He had entered the game as a piece himself, determined to eliminate Xu Le and win against heaven by half a move!

"Xu Le, the evidence of your collusion with gods is conclusive. You will not only die, but you will die as an extremely wicked Cultist."