43: Carp Essence

“Good, good, good! Charles, you must stop him!”

Upon hearing Charles’s words, Ye Diyun immediately turned and fled without the slightest hesitation.

A sharp glint flashed in Qiao Suinian’s eyes. He didn’t pursue, but instead had the little skeleton silently follow Ye Diyun.

“What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and come in to help!”

Charles shouted towards the window, attempting to attract the attention of the guards in the courtyard.

Ye Diyun’s courtyard was located on the outskirts of the Ye family estate. In the past, Ye Diyun would often indulge his private desires here, and screams and the smell of blood frequently emanated from the villa.

Therefore, what Charles could rely on now were these guards outside.

However, Charles didn’t know that the patrolling guards in the villa courtyard had already been turned into Undead by Qiao Suinian.

Seeing that his shouts were ineffective, cold sweat broke out on Charles’s forehead. He looked at Qiao Suinian, who resembled an Asura, and said in a deep voice,

“Qiao Suinian, I advise you to calm down. It’s not too late to turn back now! If you truly dare to lay a hand on Young Master Diyun, you will absolutely not leave the Ye family alive!”

However, Qiao Suinian completely ignored Charles’s words. The Useless Club directly swung towards Charles’s head.

He was an invader now, and he wouldn't be foolish enough to waste time chattering with Charles here.

Charles’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected Qiao Suinian to act so decisively. However, Charles was no pushover either!

Before the apocalypse, he was a martial arts enthusiast. His Tai Chi had reached a masterful level, and he was even respectfully called the Tai Chi Sect Head.

Although he rarely had the chance to fight after joining the Ye family as Ye Diyun’s butler, this didn’t mean he had neglected his training.

This terrifying ancient martial arts strength was also why, despite being an Awakened with only a life-skill profession, he dared to stay behind alone to block Qiao Suinian.

In his opinion, no matter how strong Qiao Suinian was, he could deal with him using the Tai Chi principle of ‘four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds’.

Charles let out a low roar, and his muscles instantly bulged, almost bursting his suit.

Facing Qiao Suinian’s powerful blow, Charles employed the three strongest moves of Tai Chi: receive, neutralize, and release!

Charles’s hands seemed as soft as boneless, effortlessly receiving the blow. Then, his palms drew circles, directly neutralizing Qiao Suinian’s force.

Finally, with a forceful push, his strong, powerful palms heavily struck Qiao Suinian’s chest.

However, Qiao Suinian remained motionless. Instead, Charles suddenly felt a sharp pain in both hands, as if he had slapped a thorny iron plate.

His attacks all landed on the Thorn Armor, triggering its passive ability!

With a crack, to Charles’s astonished gaze, his arms were directly shattered by the rebound force of the Thorn Armor!

“Sir, times have changed.”

Qiao Suinian’s expression was strange. He naturally saw that Charles was a master of ancient martial arts.

But after the System ofJob transfer for all (Awakening) descended, unless you Awakened a combat profession, no matter how exquisite your ancient martial arts were, they would be useless.

After all, no matter how strong ancient martial arts were, they still belonged to the realm of Mortals.

And beings like Qiao Suinian, who could summon Undead, could no longer be considered Mortals.

Qiao Suinian raised the Useless Club to end Charles’s life, but at that moment, Charles knelt on the ground and pleaded,

“Qiao Suinian, can I ask you for something? If you kill me, please don’t trouble Young Master Diyun anymore! No matter how Young Master Diyun offended you, you can take it out on me. You can torture me however you want! I only beg you to spare Young Master Diyun!”

“Oh? So loyal? What’s your relationship with Ye Diyun?” Qiao Suinian squinted at Charles.

“No relationship. I’m just a butler who watched him grow up since he was a child!” Charles shook his head.

“In that case, Ye Diyun still has to die!” A keen intuition told Qiao Suinian that the relationship between Charles and Ye Diyun was not simple.

Charles’s body trembled, his once meticulously groomed silver hair now disheveled, completely devoid of his former gentlemanly elegance.

“Alright! I’ll tell you, but I beg you to spare Ye Diyun!” Charles said.

“Alright, I promise you.” Qiao Suinian nodded.

“Actually... I am Diyun’s biological father!” Charles sighed and said.

His aged eyes were filled with memories of the past. He had originally intended to take this secret to his grave, but now, to save Ye Diyun’s life, he had no choice but to reveal it.

He only hoped that Qiao Suinian would keep his promise and spare his child.

Qiao Suinian was startled by Charles’s words. He focused his gaze and found that Charles and Ye Diyun indeed had some resemblance in their features!

“A butler having an affair with the madam? What a cliché story, but... quite good!” Qiao Suinian grinned. “I’ve decided not to kill you yet!”

Qiao Suinian lifted Charles like a chick, sensing the location of the skeleton warrior he had sent out.

He hadn’t expected that the Ye family of Jinghai, once known as the ‘Sky-Shading Leaves’, would have such a scandal.

He wondered what the head of the esteemed Ye family would react like if he knew he had been cuckolded by a butler.

“Wait! Didn’t you say you would spare Young Master Diyun?” Charles’s face changed drastically.

More than living, he wanted to exchange his life for Ye Diyun’s.

“Of course, but I think Ye Diyun should have the right to know who his biological father is!”

Qiao Suinian looked serious, as if he was genuinely thinking for Ye Diyun’s sake.

“I swear to heaven, as long as you tell Ye Diyun the truth and make him believe that you are his biological father, I will spare him!”

“You...!” Charles gritted his teeth, but a person under duress has no choice but to yield.

He could only hope that by dragging out time, someone from the Ye family would notice the anomaly here. This was probably his only way to be rescued.

Inside the secret room.

“Quick, help me heal first!”

Ye Diyun directly pulled over the priest who was treating Yu Tianlei.

“Young Master… what happened to you?” Priest Fu Liu was startled by Ye Diyun’s injuries. Ye Diyun’s hand was clearly a comminuted fracture.

“Stop asking, damn it! Hurry up and heal me! Be careful, or I’ll kill your whole family!” Ye Diyun roared, like a beast ready to lash out at any moment, scaring Fu Liu.

He dared not say anything more and hurriedly cast healing spells to treat Ye Diyun’s injuries.

Ye Diyun closed the door of the secret room, still feeling a trace of lingering fear. He only hoped that Butler Charles could stop Qiao Suinian.

Yu Tianlei, holding his daughter, saw Ye Diyun rushing in, one hand dangling, with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Ye Diyun seemed to be injured and was fleeing from someone’s pursuit?

With the Ye family’s overwhelming power, who would dare to pursue Ye Diyun?

Or rather, who would have the ability to pursue Ye Diyun?

As a worker who had been repairing the Ye family’s sewers for many years, Yu Tianlei knew very well how strict the Ye family’s guard force was.

Ordinary Mortals, let alone pursuing Ye Diyun, even sneaking into the Ye family was wishful thinking.

Even the entrances and exits of the sewers beneath the Ye family were guarded by dedicated personnel.

However, Yu Tianlei was naturally happy to see Ye Diyun being pursued. His heart was filled with joy.

Although he couldn’t kill Ye Diyun himself, seeing Ye Diyun die before his eyes would still count as revenge!

Yu Tianlei was now eagerly anticipating the pursuer to come knocking, and he even began to ponder if there was any way to send word that Ye Diyun was here.

What they didn’t know was that a stealthy little skeleton was quietly standing at the door of this secret room, like a statue, completely motionless.

“Damn it! Damn it, Lingnu, you damn bitch! You’re dead, and you still have to bring me such big trouble!”

Ye Diyun roared hysterically, his eyes red. This secret room was built with heavy investment and had excellent soundproofing, so he wasn’t worried about the sound escaping.

In his opinion, he had never done anything to offend Qiao Suinian. He had sent Su Su to capture Qiao Suinian, and Su Su had only left less than three hours ago, so it was impossible for him to have reached Jinghai University.

Therefore, the only explanation was that Lin Wanling must have said something to Qiao Suinian, which made Qiao Suinian so determined to come and kill him.

It had always been Ye Diyun who cuckolded others; no one had ever dared to cuckold him, Ye Diyun.

Now Lin Wanling not only cuckolded him but also sent her adulterer to kill him. How could Ye Diyun, who always held himself in high regard, tolerate this?

At this moment, he wished he could find a way to revive Lin Wanling, and then personally scrape the flesh from her body, piece by piece. Ye Diyun gritted his teeth, whimpering like a mad dog.

Seeing this, Yu Tianlei quickly hugged his daughter and moved further into the corner. He felt that Ye Diyun was simply an incurable lunatic.

Under Fu Liu’s treatment, Ye Diyun’s broken arm quickly recovered. He moved his arm, and the resentful look in his eyes became even more apparent.

“It’s been so long, and that Qiao Suinian hasn’t come after me. It seems Charles might have stopped him? That’s great!”

“Lingnu, ah, Lingnu, since you’re dead and I can’t torture you, then I’ll torture your adulterer thoroughly!”

Ye Diyun stuck out his crimson tongue and licked his lips. He had already thought of more than a dozen tortures for Qiao Suinian in his mind.

Just as Ye Diyun was fantasizing about Qiao Suinian breaking down and screaming under his torture, there was a sudden crisp clang!

The door of the secret room instantly deformed and twisted, and a huge footprint appeared on the metal door of the secret room, making Ye Diyun’s face turn pale with fright.

“Little bunny, be good ~ open the door ~”

Qiao Suinian’s voice came through the deformed door crack. Just hearing that voice made Ye Diyun tremble like a sieve.

“Qiao Suinian? How… how did you find this place?!”

Ye Diyun shrieked, his voice sounding like a male duck whose neck was squeezed. Then, as if he thought of something, Ye Diyun’s face became extremely ferocious.

“I understand! It’s Charles! It must be that bastard Charles who revealed my hiding place. I’m going to kill his whole family!”

Ye Diyun was furious. In his opinion, Charles must have betrayed him out of fear of death, otherwise Qiao Suinian couldn’t have found him.

Outside the door, Qiao Suinian heard this and looked at Charles, whom he was holding, with a half-smile.

Charles’s eyes were tightly shut, his aged face filled with pain.

Qiao Suinian smiled pleasantly.

“Qiao Suinian, I warn you, my father is the head of the Ye family! If you dare to harm even a single hair on my head, my father will absolutely not let you go!”

Ye Diyun frantically shouted from inside the door. He was truly terrified. He was the son of the Ye family head, and this was his last straw.

Qiao Suinian ignored him, merely instructing the little skeleton to pick up its iron sword and begin hacking at the door’s bolt.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The skeleton warrior was like a precise instrument; the interval between each sword strike was almost identical.

The clang, clang, clang sounds were like the death knell, making Ye Diyun’s already taut nerves approach collapse.

Qiao Suinian certainly had the ability to kick open this iron door directly, but he simply wanted to torture Ye Diyun mentally.

Death is not terrifying; the process of waiting for death is the most terrifying.

In ancient times, there was a torture called the water drop torture, which required a special device to carry out.

The prisoner would sit on a chair, with his head exposed through a round hole in the center of a wooden board supported by four pillars, and firmly secured so he couldn’t move.

Directly above, a bucket with a small hole drilled in its bottom hung, and water dripped onto his head, drop by drop, through this small hole.

During this time, the prisoner’s scalp would slowly swell, fester, and finally fall off, revealing the stark white skull. Over time, even the skull would crack, exposing the pale brain, until death.

The pain brought by the water drop torture was unbearable for Mortals, and the process from execution to death was extremely long.

The executioner would provide the prisoner with good food and drink, carefully tending to their wounds, keeping the prisoner conscious at all times to slowly “enjoy” this process.

There have been related experiments in modern times to verify the authenticity of the water drop torture, but the experiment could not continue because the experimenter’s psychological state nearly collapsed after an hour.

This creeping sense of impending death was enough to shatter anyone’s psychological defenses.

Each time the sound of the longsword striking the iron bolt rang out, Ye Diyun’s heart would skip a beat. He felt that every second now was longer than an hour on a normal day.

Ye Diyun’s pupils were bloodshot, his whole body trembled, and he tightly clenched his fists. Finally, his psychological defenses completely collapsed!

“I’ll fight you!”

Ye Diyun let out a roar. He could no longer endure this oppressive atmosphere and actively pulled open the door of the secret room.

Then he threw a punch, and the wind from the punch whistled. An 8th-level Awakened still had some power.

But in front of Qiao Suinian, it was like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot.

He raised one hand and easily caught Ye Diyun’s punch, then kicked him hard. Ye Diyun flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the wall of the secret room.

“Good kick! Kick that bastard to death!” Yu Tianlei couldn’t help but let out an excited shout. He remembered Ye Diyun kicking him like that at the time!

Qiao Suinian then realized there were three other people in the secret room: two adults and a little girl.

One of the men was a priest, whom Qiao Suinian directly ignored. Even dogs would shake their heads at a priest’s combat power.

But when Qiao Suinian looked at Yu Tianlei, a surprised expression couldn’t help but flash in his eyes!

It’s him!

Nine-star Forging Grandmaster — Yu Tianlei!

Qiao Suinian naturally remembered this person. In his previous life, for the Ye family to dominate Jinghai City after the apocalypse began, Yu Tianlei was absolutely an indispensable and super great contributor!

It was because of him that the Ye family never lacked equipment; almost everyone was armed to the teeth.

Although Yu Tianlei himself had no combat power, his presence in the previous life at least increased the entire Ye family’s combat power by more than thirty percent.

It could be said that Yu Tianlei was the Ye family’s left and right arm!

He had always thought that Yu Tianlei willingly became the Ye family’s lackey, but judging by Yu Tianlei’s attitude towards Ye Diyun now, it didn’t seem to be the case?

Qiao Suinian began to consider recruiting Yu Tianlei, but now was not the time. Everything could wait until Ye Diyun was dealt with.

Ye Diyun struggled to sit up, his eyes filled with venom, like a vengeful ghost.

He saw Qiao Suinian, and he also saw Charles, who was being held by Qiao Suinian.

Why is this old dog still alive! Ye Diyun roared silently in his heart.

At this moment, he was even more certain that Charles had betrayed him!

“Oh, Young Master Ye Diyun, don’t look at me with such a bitter expression. I’ve brought you good news.”

“Good news?” Ye Diyun was stunned.

Qiao Suinian smiled. This was the happiest he had smiled since his Rebirth.

“Of course it’s good news. This Butler Charles is your biological father! How about that, surprised? Unexpected?”