4: 4. Life is a revolving lantern

“Mom, Dad, I got a perfect score… Huh, Mom, why are you crying… Why is Dad hitting you?”

“Ah ah ah! It hurts so much, Mom, Dad is drunk and hitting me, it hurts so much, boo hoo… I don’t want this dad…”

“Mom, why did you leave? Are you abandoning me? Boo hoo hoo… Mom… I don’t want to live with Dad, he just drinks and hits people every day… I’m so miserable…”

“What are you reading? I don’t have money. Tomorrow, you’ll tell your teacher you’re dropping out… Ugh… Say one more word and I’ll beat you to death…”

“Yo kid, this area is our territory. You have to pay us protection money? No money? Tsk tsk tsk… Looking at your bruised face, you must be a punk too. Then follow me, call me Brother Long!”

“Damn it, what are you staring at? Be careful or I’ll gouge out your eyes! From now on, if you set up a stall in this territory, remember to pay protection money to me, Zhang Biao!”

“Brother Long got arrested. Let’s break up. Zhang Biao, I have an uncle who does renovations. Why don’t we go work as laborers? There’s a lot of construction everywhere with real estate booming…”

“My name is Zhang Biao. There’s a big job recently, short on people. Let’s do it together. I can’t guarantee you’ll get rich, but you’ll definitely make money.”

“You need to make this ledger look good, and also tamper with the materials. That way, we both profit. Anyway, it’s the company’s money, so it’s not for nothing.”

...It turns out that when a person is on the verge of death, they really do see their life flash before their eyes.

Lu Feng, in a short period of time, had almost experienced Zhang Biao’s entire life. Although they were just fragmented memories, they allowed him to understand the man’s general situation, including his secrets.

Lu Feng got up, packed his belongings, and immediately went downstairs to complete the discharge procedures.

Just as he was doing so, outside the doors, chaos had already erupted, with police sirens and disturbances rising and falling.

Medical staff hurriedly pushed a stretcher bed, running quickly. Blood continuously dripped from the stretcher, a shocking sight. People around quickly moved away when they saw it.

“Move aside, move aside quickly! Someone is injured! Arrange for emergency treatment immediately!”

Lu Feng looked back and saw Zhang Biao lying on the stretcher bed, covered in blood, already gone.

“Where are the family members? Notify his family to come quickly!” the nurse shouted.

“How pitiful, he looks so young, how could he have been stabbed to death?” someone nearby whispered.

Lu Feng shook his head and walked out on his own. At the entrance, he hailed a taxi.

“Driver, to Goldfish Garden.”

Half an hour later, Lu Feng got out of the taxi. Looking at the old gate of the community, he wasn’t in a hurry to go in. He first went to a roadside bubble tea shop and ordered a 4-yuan lemonade, then sat there and waited for a while.

A moment later, he saw a woman rush out of the Goldfish Garden community entrance.

The woman was attractive, but at this moment her hair was messy, and a few buttons on her clothes were misaligned, clearly indicating she had rushed out without tidying up.

She hailed a taxi and hurried towards the hospital.

Lu Feng had just finished his lemonade, threw away the bottle, and then leisurely entered the community.

That woman was Zhang Biao’s mistress. With Zhang Biao, her sugar daddy, in trouble, she would definitely go to see what was happening.

Lu Feng walked, observing his surroundings. This community was quite old, with outdated facilities, and even lacked surveillance cameras.

Arriving at Unit 9, Lu Feng pressed the elevator directly to the 7th floor. He stopped in front of door 701, looked at the keypad lock, and without hesitation, entered the numbers from Zhang Biao’s memory. With a 'ding', the door opened.

The interior layout was a completely modern, low-luxury style, with large areas of classic black, white, and gray, milky white marble walls, and exquisite ceilings. It was clear at a glance that it was quite valuable, completely out of place with the old community outside.

Lu Feng’s heart raced. He cautiously walked in, avoiding touching anything else. He went straight to the utility room, and after opening the door, found it piled with various large and small cardboard boxes and miscellaneous items.

At first glance, there was nothing unusual, but Lu Feng knew that a portion of Zhang Biao’s ill-gotten gains was hidden here. Even his mistress, who lived with him, didn’t know about this money.

He pulled out a cardboard box that was pressed in the very corner, tore open the tape, and opened it to see several stacks of cash piled together. Without even counting, Lu Feng knew there were two hundred thousand yuan, and beneath the cash, there was also a USB drive.

His breathing suddenly became rapid, and his fingers trembled slightly.

His father was ill, so he truly needed this money.

Lu Feng found a bag, quickly packed all the money and the USB drive, then restored the cardboard box to its original state, and quietly left the house.

Walking out of the unit building, the sunlight shone on his face, making him feel a bit dazed.

This was his first time using his dream ability to influence reality, and he was inevitably excited.

Not daring to linger, he went out and hailed a taxi, immediately heading towards where he lived.

The place Lu Feng currently lived was rented by his parents, a one-bedroom, one-living-room in a farmer’s house. They had paid two years’ rent upfront at the time.

After the small restaurant closed, they had planned to work in the big city, but who knew his father would be diagnosed with kidney failure. They couldn’t afford to stay in the big city and had to return to their hometown, so the rental house was temporarily left for Lu Feng to live in alone.

Pushing open the door to the rental house, Lu Feng threw the bag on the floor and lay down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Gradually, his heartbeat began to calm.

However, the calm didn’t last long; a stronger ambition began to spread wildly deep within him.

This ability was simply a divine artifact that could change one's destiny!

As long as he used it well, money, fame, power, status—everything would be within reach!

“It seems this brick to the head today… was worth it!”

Just as he was immersed in his expectations for the future, a phone call brought him back to reality.

Lu Feng picked up and answered. A low voice came from the other end: “I’m Officer Li from the East Street sub-bureau in Jiangcheng. You’re Lu Feng, right? I have some questions for you.”

Suddenly hearing that the police wanted to question him, Lu Feng’s body instantly tensed. He sat up straight and said, “What is it?”

“Zhang Biao was stabbed to death this afternoon. Before that, he took you to the hospital for treatment, right?” Officer Li asked slowly.

Lu Feng feigned surprise and said, “Foreman Zhang is dead? How is that possible? I was indeed knocked out by a brick at the construction site around noon today, and he came to see me.”

“Hmm, do you know this person, Li Qiang?”

Lu Feng shook his head and only recounted what he had seen earlier when the two men were arguing: “...It should be a conflict caused by Foreman Zhang withholding his money. He often arbitrarily deducts workers’ wages, even my salary this month is only one-third left.”

Officer Li had clearly taken statements from others, so he wasn’t surprised by this answer.

He suddenly changed the subject and asked, “By the way, I originally planned to go to the hospital to find you this afternoon. I heard from the nurse that you had been discharged?”

Lu Feng gave a bitter smile: “Since the doctor said I wasn’t seriously injured, I… I still didn’t want to stay in the hospital, afraid I couldn’t afford the hospitalization fees…”

His answer was flawless. Who among poor workers would want to waste money in a hospital?

Officer Li was silent for a moment, then sighed: “I heard you’re only in your third year of high school. Take my advice, it’s too early to enter society now. You should still focus as much as possible on your studies; education is the only way out.”

He spoke with genuine sincerity, and Lu Feng also gratefully said, “I know, thank you, Officer.”