46: family

This kind of arrangement, involving real identities and the financial market, could only be entrusted to Zhao Tianyang, who had signed a permanent master-servant contract.

"Yes! I guarantee the mission will be completed!"

Zhao Tianyang took the note without any hesitation.

Although this seemed like a trivial errand, far less glamorous than Seventh Master and Old Ghost managing hundreds of billions in assets, he harbored no resentment.

His greatest value was to help his boss share his worries.

"After you're done, go home and prepare," Lin Yu added. "Tomorrow is Linzhou No. 1 High School's Professional Awakening Day; don't miss it."

"Yes, Boss!"

Zhao Tianyang nodded heavily, then turned and left quickly.

He had originally planned to spend three days resolving these matters, but with Old Ghost and Seventh Master being so cooperative, his efficiency had greatly increased.

Lin Yu stood alone at the alley entrance. Before leaving, he had taken over three million from Old Ghost, which he had already withdrawn into his external bank account.

He opened his mobile banking app, found the familiar collection phone number, and transferred all the outstanding debt and interest, down to the last cent, to the other party's account.

"Your account ending in xxxx has successfully repaid xxxxx yuan."

Looking at the notification on his phone, Lin Yu deleted all the collection contact information.

The five years of gloom had, at last, come to an end.

Now, he just waited for the wind to rise.

More than ten minutes later, he returned to the familiar, abandoned junkyard, filled with the smell of decay and rust.

The solitary container cast a long shadow in the moonlight, like a silent tombstone.

Lin Yu stood before this "tombstone" for a long time.

Here, his five years of youth were buried.

Buried were his glory as a favored son of heaven, and buried was the pain of his estrangement from his family.

Those misunderstood days and nights, the hardship of living on loans and scrap materials, the loneliness of facing the whole world alone – all were here.

Now, it was time to put an end to it.

Lin Yu raised his hand.

He did not summon any magnificent cards.

A most ordinary, even unranked, gray Card Conversion appeared in his palm.

A Small Pebble.

He didn't even use the Multiplication Card.

He simply injected his five hundred points of mental energy into this insignificant pebble.

Then, another five hundred points of strength.

The next second, he flicked his finger.

The gray Card Conversion transformed into a faint glow, gently landing on the container's metal plating.

There was no explosion, no loud bang.

Only a grating "buzzing" sound.

Centered on where the pebble landed, the container's thick metal plating began to decompose and dissipate at a visible speed.

It didn't turn into fragments, but directly into the most basic metal powder, which, carried by the night wind, completely vanished into the air.

This process lasted less than ten seconds.

When everything settled, only an empty, rectangular imprint left by the container remained.

And all the trash he had left behind from those five years.

Lin Yu glanced at the scattered debris, then turned and left.

An era had ended... When Lin Yu returned home again, the sky was already showing the first hints of dawn.

He had returned faster than he had anticipated.

Seventh Master's proactive surrender and Old Ghost's goodwill had saved him a lot of trouble.

The living room light was on.

Father Lin and Mother Lin sat on the sofa, both awake, their faces etched with unconcealed worry.

Seeing Lin Yu push the door open and enter, they both let out a sigh of relief.

"Xiao Yu, you..." Mother Lin was about to ask.

"I've taken care of everything from the past during these few days I was out," Lin Yu replied calmly.

Taken care of everything?

Father Lin and Mother Lin exchanged glances. Although they didn't fully understand the meaning of their son's words, they could feel that something was truly different.

The Lin Yu before them, though still thin, had completely shed the despondency and gloom that had clung to him for five years.

In its place was a composure and stability they had never seen before.

It seemed that this time, Lin Yu was truly better!

Just then, Lin Yao's door also opened.

She was wearing rabbit pajamas, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Seeing her brother safe and sound in the living room, the stone that had been weighing on her heart for so long finally fell.

She believed her brother's explanation.

Perhaps those needle marks really were just the price of becoming stronger.

She ran to Lin Yu's side, carefully sat down, tugged at his sleeve, and whispered, with a hint of pleading and immense anticipation.

"Brother, tomorrow... no, it's today. Today is the Professional Awakening. Can you... can you come with me?"

Lin Yu looked at his sister's small face, both nervous and hopeful, and laughed heartily.

He reached out and, just like when they were little, vigorously ruffled her hair.

"Otherwise, what do you think I came back for?"

Those words instantly made Lin Yao's eyes light up. All her unease and fear transformed into immense joy at that moment.

Father Lin and Mother Lin watched this scene, a long-lost smile appearing on their faces.

A family should be like this.

Mother Lin smiled and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Soon, the dining table was filled with steaming soy milk and fried dough sticks.

The family sat around the table, the atmosphere so warm it felt almost unreal.

"Oh, right," Father Lin took a sip of soy milk, then suddenly remembered something. He put down his cup, his face filled with worry, "Our neighborhood seems to have been restless lately."

"What's wrong, Old Lin?" Mother Lin asked.

"Just two days ago, I went downstairs to get the car and found a big hole punched through the wall in our underground parking lot!" Father Lin's expression was serious. "I heard from the security guard that Professionals were fighting down there, and the commotion was so loud the whole building was shaking! It's too dangerous!"

Lin Yu paused in his movement of picking up a fried dough stick.

Lin Yao's eyes also widened: "Really? That scary?"

"Exactly!" Father Lin sighed. "In this day and age, Professionals are becoming more and more numerous and powerful. If something happens in a place where ordinary people like us live, and we get caught in the crossfire, there's nowhere to complain."

Mother Lin's face also showed worry.

"How about... after Lin Yao finishes her College Entrance Examination and goes to university out of town, Xiao Yu, you also find a stable job, and we sell this house and move back to our hometown."

"Our hometown is quiet, without so much fighting and killing. It would be nice for us to live a peaceful retirement."

Lin Yu listened without a word.

He knew that his parents' talk of returning to their hometown for retirement was true.

But the deeper reason was that the family was out of money.

Originally, with the Lin family's assets, while not extremely wealthy, they could be considered middle class in Linzhou City.

They had a house, a car, and a small business, living a comfortable and affluent life.

But now, to gather the three million for his "loan" as an "unfilial son," they had sold everything they could and even divested their business.

From middle class, they had become impoverished overnight.

And the cause of all this was himself.

Strangely, the "dangerous Professional" they worried about, capable of punching through walls with a single blow, was also himself.