A Chaotic World

Lu Tianzi took a deep breath as he looked across the table to see Yan Caijie fidgeting nervously in her seat.

"I heard that you are working for the City Lord Manor," Lu Tianzi asked casually. "How is the life there?"

"It has been good. The people at the City Lord Manor treat me quite well," Yan Caijie answered half heartedly, then posed a question of her own after a bit of hesitation. "May I ask you something?"

"Is it about your brother?" Lu Tianzi made a quick guess.

Yan Caijie swallowed her saliva as she nodded, anxious about what she was going to hear next.

"What I am about to say might sound so unbelieveable that you cannot bring yourself to believe it. Even so, do you still want to listen?" Lu Tianzi prompted, this time directly conveying his voice to Yan Caijie.

Yan Caijie was taken aback when she heard this, and her heart immediately sank.

She might not be able to bring herself to believe it?

Was that not obvious enough that Lu Tianzi was going to share bad news?

In that case, could it be that her brother had already…

But regardless of what it was, at this stage Yan Caijie could no longer hold back her burning desire to know more.

Even if something untoward had happened to her brother, at least she would finally be able to find out the truth rather than continue living in ignorance.

"Yes, please tell me what you know," Yan Caijie answered.

Lu Tianzi contemplated for a moment before starting to reveal the entire farce about the Holy Guardians, as well as how people from the City Lord Manor had been betraying them by colluding with the demons.

He went on to mention how he would probably have died as well if not for a small weapon that was overlooked by the servants from the City Lord Manor and ended up not taken away from him, as well as how he had returned to the city after that, only to realise Yan Bingren had been chosen to replace him.

Lu Tianzi took care not to mention the names of Uncle Ye and family, as well as what he had been doing while in the city.

In order for his plan to work, Lu Tianzi needed to make use of Yan Caijie as a means. However, Yan Caijie was only human after all, and humans were unpredictable creatures, especially while under a state of shock.

Who knew how Yan Caijie would act in the end?

If she went on to report this to Hu Yuanbo, Lu Tianzi could even end up implicating Uncle Ye and family!

Thus he had to minimise the risks that his actions could pose to the people whom he cared about. This way, he could also ensure that his whereabouts remain shrouded in mystery, making it that almost impossible for Hu Yuanbo to find him.

But the best case would still be for Yan Caijie to act as he planned, rendering all these safeguards unnecessary.

Yan Caijie frowned initially, apparently not too convinced about Lu Tianzi's side of the story.

However, when she thought about her own brother's strange behaviour on the night of his departure, Yan Caijie could not help but to relive the many little doubts that had been swimming around in her mind.

On the night of his departure, Yan Bingren never returned to their accommodation.

According to a servant from the City Lord Manor, Yan Bingren had wanted to spare her the agony of parting when he decided to leave without bidding her goodbye.

However, Yan Caijie did not believe a single word of it.

They had been together all their lives and had a close relationship. Due to that, their understanding of each other was extremely deep. Just from that alone, Yan Caijie could already be certain that her elder brother would definitely have returned to the house to see her one last time!

This issue had always been bugging Yan Caijie, and even now she still felt like something was amiss.

If he was truly knocked unconscious while at the City Lord Manor just like what Lu Tianzi mentioned, then everything would make sense.

How would he return to the accommodation if he had not been given a choice?

But if that was true, then she would have lived her entire life under a complete lie!

In fact, it was not just her.

Everyone in Ivory Rock City would have been living under a lie woven by the City Lord Manor!

But if it was truly a lie on such a massive scale, then how could it be possible that no one had ever suspected a thing?

That was impossible!

"What about my brother then? Why is he not with you?" Yan Caijie suddenly asked.

"He is dead," Lu Tianzi answered coldly, causing Yan Caijie to frown even more deeply.

"And why should I believe anything that you say?" Yan Caijie doubted.

As though Lu Tianzi was prepared for her to ask this, he pulled out a piece of cloth and placed it on the tabletop.

Seeing it caused Yan Caijie's eyes to widen in shock!

That was Yan Bingren's headband, an item that their father had always worn when he was still alive. Yan Bingren had always believed that as long as he was wearing the headband, their father in heaven would be able to witness his every action and be satisfied with his every accomplishment!

Thus, he would definitely not allow the headband to be taken away from him as long as he was able to help it!

She reached out to hold the headband in her hands, running her fingers along the surface to feel the touch of the cloth.

There was no doubt about it.

It truly was Yan Bingren's headband.

"How?" Yan Caijie muttered, the tone of her voice suddenly far more subdued as compared to before. "Why didn't you save him?"

"I did save him from the demons. In the end, the demons were not the ones who killed him," Lu Tianzi looked her in the eye as he answered. "I did."

This time, Yan Caijie completely froze.

She simply did not know what to think of this reply from Lu Tianzi!

Even if Lu Tianzi was really the one who killed her brother, he could have easily woven a lie about it to convince her, and she would never be the wiser.

However, Lu Tianzi actually chose to admit that he was the culprit.

Was it because she was just a non martial artist, and he was not at all afraid of her retaliation?

Was it because he was feeling apologetic and wanted to confess?

Just what exactly was he thinking?

Due to this lingering confusion, Yan Caijie's emotional side was unable to keep up with her thoughts, and reason started to take over once again.

After all, even if Yan Caijie wanted to let loose and just act emotionally, she still needed to understand the ins and outs of the situation before she could even start to feel anything about it!

"What did you just say?" Yan Caijie asked again just to confirm. "You did what?"

"After I saved your brother from the demons, he wanted to return to the city to inform everyone and expose the City Lord Manor's misdeeds. However, I refused to bear the consequences of alerting Hu Yuanbo to our existences. Thus, he tried to sneak back to the city in the middle of the night, and I killed him to stop him from doing so," Lu Tianzi explained honestly.

Yan Caijie stared at him, dumbfounded.

"You killed him simply because he disagreed with you?" Yan Caijie asked, her voice trembling with concealed rage.

"I killed him because his disagreement with me would have gotten me killed," Lu Tianzi clarified. "But the reason does not matter at this point. No matter what, it is a fact that I was the one who killed your brother. But at the same time, Hu Yuanbo had a hand in it as well. Without him, things would never have progressed to such a stage."

Yan Caijie did not reply, merely tightening her hold on her elder brother's headband.

In the end, just like their parents did, her brother had left her as well.

Now she no longer had any living relatives, and would have no other choice but to rely on herself to continue living on in this harsh world.

Her elder brother had always been an honest and selfless man.

All his life, her elder brother had worked hard for the sake of giving her a better life.

Yet before she could even do anything for him in return, he had already made that one decision that would eventually lead him to his death.

That very decision was actually to sacrifice his freedom for the sake of humanity as a whole.

It was just like him, selfless as always.

But who knew that he would have to sacrifice even more than his freedom, paying with his life instead?

On top of that, to think that it actually had nothing to do with helping humanity!

Thinking about this, Yan Caijie could not help but close her eyes, letting out a tear that rolled down the side of her right cheek.

This tear was not one of sadness.

This tear was one of frustration for her elder brother's sake, having given up his life for no real reason whatsoever!

"Do you hate me?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"Why are you telling me this? There is no reason for you to admit to it," Yan Caijie opened her eyes and answered with a question of her own, her tone colder than ever.

"I naturally have my reasons for telling you this," Lu Tianzi matched her gaze solemnly. "Firstly, believe it or not, I believe that you have the right to know the truth. And secondly, I am here to offer you a chance at revenge."

"Revenge?" Yan Caijie was confused for a moment.

"That's right," Lu Tianzi nodded. "For your brother's death, it can be said that both Hu Yuanbo and I had a part to play. Now, I am going to show you a way to create a situation for both of us to fight to the death. The winner will live, while the loser will die. If I say that, would you be interested?"

Yan Caijie did not answer, merely looking at Lu Tianzi as she waited for him to continue.

If his story was true, then it was only natural for Lu Tianzi to bear hatred for City Lord Hu as well. That could explain why Lu Tianzi wanted to fight City Lord Hu to the death.

However, everyone in Ivory Rock City, martial artist or not, knew that City Lord Hu was an expert at the absolute peak. No one within the city would be able to stand a chance against him in a fight!

However, Lu Tianzi actually suggested such a thing?

Was he looking to seek amends for killing her elder brother by sacrificing his life?

From her doubtful eyes, Lu Tianzi could roughly guess what she was thinking about.

With another swipe of his hand, Lu Tianzi pulled out a small pouch and placed it on the table.

The small pouch was 2 inches on each side, taken from one of Nanhong Yechang's subordinates. However, Lu Tianzi had already emptied the contents and replaced it with a brand new substance – poison.

"This is an extremely potent poison that could even work on Hu Yuanbo. When ingested, even though Hu Yuanbo would probably not die from it, his battle capability will still fall by a huge margin. When that happens, I will move in to deal the final blow," Lu Tianzi explained.

"You want me to help you poison the City Lord? Just because of some story that you just told?" Yan Caijie naturally understood what Lu Tianzi meant by showing her the poison.

"Whether it is just some random story, I will leave it to your own judgement," Lu Tianzi made an obvious glance at Yan Bingren's headband that was lying in Yan Caijie's hands.

Yan Caijie naturally caught the direction of his glance, and closed her eyes as she let out a deep sigh.

"So what will it be?" Lu Tianzi asked.

Now that he had told her everything, the situation had progressed to an irreversible state. What Yan Caijie chose to do at this point would greatly impact Lu Tianzi's next few actions.

However, the current Lu Tianzi already had the strength to deal with most unexpected changes, and that was what prompted him to act as he did.

Yan Caijie took a few minutes to contemplate before opening her eyes once again, staring resolutely into Lu Tianzi's eyes.

"It would be the best result if both of you ended up killing each other! For this matter, I will gladly help you with it!"