20: Chapter 20: The Feud Ends, Young Master Lu Pays Compensation!

The Scrap Yard was deathly silent.

The wind blew over the corrugated iron roof, making a rustling sound.

Shen Hongyuan sat on that broken folding chair, his left leg crossed over his right.

Not far away, Lu Beichen, pinned in place by the invisible spatial confinement, was soaked in cold sweat beneath his tattered, expensive combat suit.

The excruciating pain of his dislocated left arm left his face as pale as paper, yet he couldn't move an inch.

On the other side of the Scrap Yard, Su Ming was no longer content with just lying there.

He quietly climbed up, half his body poking out from the pile of scrap.

While maintaining the painful expression of "petrification sequelae."

Big drama is only sweet when eaten from the front row.

However, eating drama aside, he couldn't stop eating.

He quietly adjusted to a more comfortable angle, his left hand nonchalantly resting on a tungsten-based counterweight block beside him.

[Ding! Devoured high-purity tungsten-based counterweight block, mass points + 4.2]

So satisfying.

"Shen... Uncle Shen."

Lu Beichen forced a smile that was uglier than crying, trying to break the suffocating silence.

"This is a misunderstanding. I swear, I definitely didn't tamper with your robot. It must be that its underlying AI logic is too trashy and it suddenly malfunctioned! I was just kindly trying to intervene, I didn't expect... to be accidentally injured by this piece of junk instead."

He lifted his dislocated left arm, hissed in pain, but made the action very obvious.

"Look, I'm a victim too."

He spoke earnestly, but his eyes kept darting toward Shen Qingci, hoping to gain a shred of pity.

Su Ming gave Lu Beichen a thumbs-up in his heart.

Good guy, this dude crawled out of a pile of scrap metal and the first thing he did was shift the blame.

If we're talking about thick skin... his own might still be thicker.

[Ding! Devoured alloy drive shaft remnant, mass points + 3.6]

Silence spread through the air.

Shen Hongyuan didn't speak either.

He just used his fingers, which were holding a cigarette, to gently flick the ash.

Seeing that Shen Hongyuan didn't respond, Lu Beichen felt his confidence return a bit.

What are you acting so high and mighty for? At the end of the day, you're just a scrap collector.

Lu Beichen straightened his back.

His tone became three degrees tougher instantly.

"Uncle Shen, to be frank."

His tone was no longer the grievance of a victim, but the condescension of a benefactor.

"The security facilities in your plant are really too outdated. A military robot goes out of control just like that; what if it wasn't me who got hurt today, but someone more important?"

"My father is Senior Researcher Lu Zhenbang of the Federal Research Institute! Our Lu Family of the Imperial Capital has connections in the military too! I can choose not to pursue today's matter, but you must give me an explanation. Medical expenses, mental distress compensation—these are the bare minimum."

He tilted his neck, his joints clicking.

"Otherwise, tomorrow I'll make one phone call back to the Imperial Capital, and the Lu Family has plenty of ways to make the military re-examine the operating qualifications of your Scrap Yard."

"Let's see if your dump of a factory can keep running!"

This upside-down, black-and-white threat made Scarface Li, the Short-haired Lady, and the others, who had just recovered, tremble with rage.

Because this bastard kid almost caused a death just now.

Now he was turning it around to demand compensation?

They clenched their fists tightly, their eyes full of fury, yet because of the other party's status, they dared not speak.

Lu Family of the Imperial Capital. Federal Research Institute.

These two phrases dropped like a hammer, heavier than the robot's punch.

Shen Qingci's beautiful eyes were wide open, the veins on the back of her hand gripping the cold edge Tang sword bulging.

The blade itself even gave off a slight hum.

The thing she hated most in her life was this kind of shameless villain who twisted facts and treated human life like grass!

Shen Hongyuan flicked his cigarette ash, still unhurried.

"Finished?"

Two words, not loud.

But Lu Beichen's mouth closed subconsciously.

Shen Hongyuan raised his right hand, index and middle fingers together, and gave a light flick.

Above his fingertips, a wisp of extremely faint dark purple energy fluctuation appeared out of thin air, jumping gently like ghost fire.

Seeing that familiar dark purple ripple, Lu Beichen's face turned pale "swish" instantly!

"This,"

Shen Hongyuan said casually.

"Is what I extracted from the gap in the robot's shoulder armor."

"Magneto-magnetic waves, very pure."

"The energy signature of the S-rank special talent [Magneto-Heart]."

He tilted his head and glanced at Lu Beichen.

"Little Lu, do you want to guess how many people within a five-hundred-kilometer radius of Jiangcheng can use this kind of energy?"

Shen Hongyuan's voice was flat, but it hit Lu Beichen's heart like a heavy hammer.

But he still remained stubborn, stiffening his neck:

"That... that was the residual energy fluctuation from my defense when I fought it earlier! It doesn't prove anything..."

"Shut up."

"I was right there when you patted the robot's shoulder armor. You think I didn't notice?"

Shen Qingci couldn't hold it in any longer, pointing her blade forward, aiming remotely at the center of Lu Beichen's brow.

"You know how long you stood on the second floor yourself."

Shen Qingci said every word clearly.

"When the robot rushed out, you stood by the railing and watched. You waited for it to lose control and rush into the crowd, waited for it to cause casualties, and then you jumped out to play the savior!"

"Your script of a hero saving the beauty is truly disgusting!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole place was in an uproar!

The gaze of all the workers instantly changed from anger to extreme contempt and hatred, nailing Lu Beichen to the spot.

With his disguise torn to shreds in public, Lu Beichen's handsome face could no longer hold onto the mask of hypocrisy and became completely distorted.

The pride of an S-rank genius made him choose the most foolish way.

"So what if I did it?!"

He roared with a crazed expression, his voice sharp and piercing.

"The lives of a few bottom-feeding nobodies, plus this pile of scrap metal of yours... Being able to trade for a chance for me to play the hero is your commoners' honor!"

"Shen Hongyuan! If you dare touch a hair on me, the Lu Family will definitely make it so you can't survive in Jiangcheng! My brother is at the Academy of Sciences, and my father holds the core technology approval rights for three military industrial projects! You, a scrap collector..."

He scanned the workers glaring at him, his eyes filled with contempt as if they were ants.

Shen Hongyuan's eyes turned icy cold.

He was in a retired state now.

Back in the day, he would have crippled every pampered rich kid he saw who treated human life like a toy.

A terrifying murderous aura descended over the entire Scrap Yard like substance.

He didn't even stand up, just pressed down in the void.

Suddenly, a "click" sound!

The spatial confinement suddenly contracted.

Lu Beichen was mid-sentence when his whole body was pressed down from above by an invisible giant hand.

His knees "bang" slammed into the concrete floor, and a clear cracking sound of kneecaps came from them.

"Ah—!"

The scream echoed through the plant.

Shen Hongyuan stood up and threw the cigarette butt on the ground to stomp it out.

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

It took only a second to connect.

"Old Zhou, it's me."

His tone was like chatting about daily life.

"Help me check the Lu Family of the Imperial Capital, Lu Zhenbang. No rush, just give it to me when you're done."

After speaking, he hung up directly.

After doing all this, he looked with disgust at Lu Beichen, who was kneeling on the ground, twitching all over from extreme pain and fear.

Killing such a junior would dirty his own hands.

"The purchase price of the robot is eight million Federal Credits, I'll round it up for you."

He flicked the cigarette butt and stood up, "Factory repairs, two million for delaying work."

"My daughter was disgusted by your little play, one million for emotional distress."

"The families in the factory were also scared, another one million for mental distress."

"Twelve million in total, not a penny less."

Shen Hongyuan waved at Liu Feng.

"Lock him in the isolation room on the fifth basement level. Release him when the money arrives. If he can't come up with the money..."

"He can just rot here for the rest of his life."

"Yes, boss!"

Liu Feng had long disliked this kid and grinned grimly.

Grabbing Lu Beichen by the hair with one hand like a chick.

He lifted him directly from the ground and dragged him toward the main building like a dead dog.

As for the Lu Family of the Imperial Capital?

Shen Hongyuan didn't take it to heart at all.

Regardless of what tiger or dragon you are, once you arrive in Jiangcheng, you'd better lie down obediently.

When Lu Beichen was being dragged, he passed by the pile of scrap where Su Ming was lying.

The two's gazes met briefly.

Lu Beichen's look at Su Ming was full of venom!

A look that said, "I've remembered you."

Su Ming felt depressed inside...

Why the hell are you glaring at me?

What does it have to do with me!

After handling all this, Shen Hongyuan's gaze swept over the messy plant, and his brows furrowed again.

When his gaze passed over the scrap mountain, he happened to bump into Su Ming squatting on the pile of iron.

The teenager who was just dying and groaning in pain.

At this moment, he was holding his chin with one hand, looking at the direction where Lu Beichen was dragged away with an unsatisfied expression.

That expression, where was there any desolation of a "dying person with petrification"?

It was clearly a spectator who hadn't had enough fun watching the finale.

Then... eye contact!

The air suddenly went quiet.

Su Ming obviously realized he was exposed.

The corners of his mouth began to twitch, his brows twisted toward the center, brewing for half a second...

"Ouch..."

Shen Hongyuan: "..."

Did I just... run into an old drama queen?!