Meng Chao knew what happened after that.

After Su Lun joined Golden Tooth, he soon displayed astonis.h.i.+ng talent in operating and managing businesses.

Not only did he smooth out the old, complicated system in Golden Tooth and develop a brand new model of operation and profit models, he also put the entire lair through a revolution. He helped the lair change its image, from being seen as dirty, disorderly, and bad, and it attracted a lot of citizens to come over to trade with them and spend their money.

All his projects, including Mutual Gold Coliseum, not only helped the gangs gain a lot of profit, but also increased the harmony among the gangs. Objectively speaking, he managed to maintain the order in the lair and even Dragon City.

Due to this achievement and his personal relations.h.i.+p with Saber Jin Wanhao, within just a few years, Su Lun managed to secure his seat as the vice gang leader of Golden Tooth despite the fact that he was an outsider. He even obtained the t.i.tle of the G.o.d of Wealth in the Lair.

Any other person would have been satisfied after becoming the right-hand man of the Underground Emperor in Dragon City from being just a nameless university graduate, because that was the same as rising to power in just one step.

But to Su Lun, his position was still too far away from his goal of defeating Heaven Pharmaceuticals, and it filled him with despair.

Su Lun explained how after he entered the lair and discovered plenty of unmentionable secrets, he soon realized that he had chosen another dead end.

At the very least, there were two problems that he could not solve on his path.

First, the gangs were not as independent as he imagined.

He had thought that the gangs had the strength to fight against the mega corporations, that once he understood the cause behind the internal conflicts of the gangs, the lair could rise to power.

But soon, he realized that the gangs were affiliated to the mega corporations. Their lifelines—from their resources to their deals—were all firmly controlled by the mega corporations.

After the mega corporations completed their b.l.o.o.d.y primitive acc.u.mulation of capital, they wanted to wash their hands clean of all their crimes, so they removed themselves from most of the gray and illegal industries and pushed them off to the gangs.

“When you work in society, you have no freedom.” These were not empty words.

Even the n.o.ble Underground Emperor was exploited and controlled by the mega corporations most of the time. They also remained highly wary of the master of the lair.

The second was Jin Wanhao's wounds and age.

If there was a sliver of hope that the first problem could be solved, then that sliver of hope lay in Saber Jin Wanhao.

Su Lun admitted that Dragon City's Underground Emperor had a wild personality and an astonis.h.i.+ngly ambitious heart. He could not accept his fate of becoming the mega corporations' puppet and constantly wanted to break free of the mega corporations' control so that the lair could rise to power and become the tenth force aside from the nine great cultivation families. He even wanted it to become the strongest force of power.

Su Lun did not even need to entice him with anything. Saber Jin Wanhao himself was the greatest objector toward the nine great mega corporations.

This was an important reason behind why Jin Wanhao dared to secretly take in Su Lun's mother as his personal pharmacist even after she offended Heaven Pharmaceuticals.

Su Lun did not need to hide his animosity toward Heaven Pharmaceuticals in front of Jin Wanhao.

His animosity had long since festered into poison, and it was another reason why Jin Wanhao trusted and admired Su Lun even more as time pa.s.sed.

Still, the main problem was Jin Wanhao's wounds and age.

He was a hooligan at the bottom of the lair, but he had slaughtered his way out of a horde of zombies until he became the Underground Emperor. But the price for that t.i.tle was decades of fighting, and it left many wounds and pains for Jin Wanhao.

Even if Su Lun's mother had carefully made gene medicine and created a secret cultivation room based on his physical condition, she could not delay his death.

No matter how advanced gene medicine was, it could not help him become young again, and no medicine could possibly cure him.

Jin Wanhao was just too old.

Even if his chest flowed with burning ambition, his wounded body could no longer support his dream of bursting forth like a volcano and breaking free from the mega corporations' control.

Perhaps this was an important reason behind why he was willing to completely let go within just a few years and allow Su Lun to take control of Golden Tooth.

Jin Wanhao had to have known that his death was nigh and wonder if Golden Tooth would still exist after his death.

Su Lun was the person who did not want to see Jin Wanhao die the most.

At the very least, he did not want Jin Wanhao to die so soon.

He was an outsider, and a few years was not enough time to form a solid foundation in the lair.

He only had a smart head and no fighting strength. It was very hard for him to become the final victor during the unpredictable upheaval that was bound to come after Jin Wanhao pa.s.sed away.

The most important thing was that he had used a lot of revolutionary methods that focused on gaining quick benefits to produce results within the shortest amount of time. He offended and hurt a lot of people's interests, including Song Jinbo's, and most of them were senior members in the gang.

The moment Jin Wanhao died, these people would definitely launch a frenzied counterattack. This was something bound to happen.

He could save himself if he left the lair.

But all his hard work would be gone. He would also be branded as a lair citizen on the outside, so he could forget about taking revenge and becoming an outstanding member of society!

Red Brows Su Lun seemed like the brightest star in the lair on the surface. As the G.o.d of Wealth, he was even more popular than the Underground Emperor, who seldom appeared in public.

But when night arrived and he lay in his bed, he was the only one who knew how tormented and anxious he felt. It was as if he was burned by the flames of h.e.l.l, and every part of his body hurt.

The Vortex appeared before Su Lun at that moment.

In the beginning, Su Lun was naturally shocked and instinctively wanted to fight against the monster.

But he was mediocre in terms of fighting skills and was soon defeated.

To his surprise, the Vortex did not kill or eat him. It also did not brainwash him like what the government said the abnormal beasts would do. It did not plant any terrifying thing into the back of his head, ears, or eyes either.

The Vortex only asked him a question. “Were your parents killed by monsters?”

This might have seemed like a simple question, but it stunned the ace student of the ace course in Dragon City University.

Who was his friend, and who was his enemy? This question originally had an unquestionable and indisputable answer, but at that moment, the answer became blurry and distorted.

“Now, you should understand, right? I didn't have any other choice!” Su Lun started laughing like a wild beast. “I wanted to fight against Heaven Pharmaceuticals fair and square and in a forthright manner in the business field, then destroy it.

“I've also thought about using less than legal methods to become the master of the lair and use its strength to defeat the mega corporations.

“I was even willing to lower my requirements and accept not destroying Heaven Pharmaceuticals but just revealing the truth in the past to the public so that the millions of Dragon Citizens would know that Heaven Pharmaceuticals stole my family's gene medicine formula. I just wanted my family's name cleared and to get justice!

“Unfortunately, the mega corporations have practically monopolized everything. They have their hands wrapped so tightly on every path that it's almost suffocating, and I can't traverse down those paths.

“I'm trapped. I'm surrounded by dead ends everywhere. They're interconnected so tightly that they're like a spider web, and they've trapped me.

“Aside from asking for help from the monster civilization, what other choice did I have to take revenge for my parents?

“Tell me, Meng Chao, aren't you very smart? Aren't you better than me? Then think. If you were me, what other methods would you have used to seek justice for your parents?!”

“Usually, I refuse to answer hypothetical questions, but what happened to your parents deserves pity, and the mega corporations monopolizing everything and doing whatever they want is indeed a disease that Dragon City must solve as soon as possible, that's why I will answer you.”

Meng Chao thought about his answer for a while before he said, “If I ran into a similar situation and I had my current strength, I would infiltrate their ranks and continue training and fighting like a madman. I would also secretly investigate all the people who were involved in the case in the past so that I could figure out just who is the culprit.

“When I would feel that the time is right, I would sneak into those people's houses and deliver varying degrees of judgment based on the degree of crime they committed in the past. If it was light, I'd break their limbs. If it was bad, I'd kill them. I suppose that's what I would've done.”

“You make it sound so simple.” Su Lun scoffed. “What if you were weak, like me?”

“Then, I would have no other choice.” Meng Chao sighed. “Then, I would suppress my hatred, and when the time is right, when the culprits appear in public, most preferably for some really important and high-end commercial affair, I would throw mud at them.

“I would trust that regardless of whether I manage to throw mud at them or not, the media and social media platforms would be very interested in the reason why I decided to throw mud at them.”

“…” Su Lun was stunned once again, just like the time he discovered that the person who pretended to be Meng Chao was Meng Chao himself.

“Besides, I think the chances of me being able to have my mud land on them will be pretty high,” Meng Chao pointed out. “No matter what, you're a superhuman. Even if you don't have a strong body and can't do physical labor, as long as you practice hard day and night, you'd learn at least one skill.

“Then, burn your life and train like a madman. You don't have to practice anything else, just practice the skill of 'throwing mud' until you master it and perfect it. If you had caught them by surprise, I believe that no matter how high their cultivation realm was, your mud would land on them. At that time, it wouldn't matter whether you decide to tell your motive to the media or the law enforcers. You could just tell everyone the resentment you carry.”

“What sort of revenge is that?!” Su Lun demanded.

“This is the best revenge. It will let the public know the truth, and it won't stop you from having a life of your own. You won't harm a single innocent person, either. Isn't that much better than what you did?”

Meng Chao sighed and stared at Su Lun seriously. “Su Lun, things have already progressed to this point. Have you really never thought that your parents in heaven would have never wanted to see you using this sort of method to help them take revenge? It destroyed you, and you also harmed countless innocent citizens who had nothing to do with you. You destroyed their hopes, blessings, and expectations.

“I believe that when your father fought against monsters in the wild and your mother lived on in humiliation to gather education funds for you, they imagined countless versions of you in the future, but none of them was a demon who wanted to destroy Dragon City!”