96: You are not Hu Jing!

Hu Jing cried even harder, turning toward Yi Yue with tearful eyes.

"Mrs. Yi, I beg you..."

"Please put in a good word for me with Ye Chen. I really know I was wrong. Please say something for me, I'm begging you..."

Yi Yue pursed her lips, looking at the disheveled Hu Jing on the ground. A hint of complexity flashed in her eyes, but in the end, she didn't speak.

She clearly remembered the past Ye Chen had mentioned... those five years of being framed, humiliated, and having his dignity trampled upon like a fool. Sympathy felt cheap and ridiculous at this moment.

Seeing Yi Yue's silence, a glint of desperate madness flickered in Hu Jing's eyes.

She suddenly pulled a fruit knife from her bag and held it against her neck. The tip of the blade pressed against her skin, and her voice became shrill.

"Ye Chen! If you don't help me, if you don't give me a way out... I'll die here today! Right in front of you!"

"I'll make you remember for the rest of your life that you were the one who drove me to my death!"

The few customers in the shop cried out in alarm at this sudden turn of events.

Someone instinctively stood up, their face pale.

"Oh! Don't be impulsive, girl!"

"Let's talk this out, put the knife down first!"

"Young man, this... this is really going to cost a life! Why don't you just agree for now and coax her into putting the knife down first?"

"Yes, yes, a human life is at stake. Don't let something terrible happen!"

...The few warm-hearted customers hurriedly tried to mediate, their gazes nervously darting between Ye Chen and Hu Jing, fearing the knife would actually cut.

Yi Yue was also startled and took half a step forward. "Hu Jing, don't do anything foolish!"

Hu Jing, however, seemed to have caught her last straw. The blade pressed a bit closer, and a faint red mark appeared on her neck. She stared intently at Ye Chen, her face covered in tears and snot.

"Ye Chen! Do you agree or not?!"

Ye Chen watched the farce before him without a hint of panic on his face; he even felt a bit like laughing.

Holy crap!

This woman is truly shameless... actually using death as a threat?

Does she really think I'm some soft-hearted person?

Hmm?

Wait!

Why is there no influence of the inherited power on this woman?

Seeing Ye Chen's silence, a glimmer of hope rose in Hu Jing's heart, thinking her threat was working.

She stiffened her neck and began the countdown!

"Three!"

"Two!"

The moment the word "one" left her lips—

Ye Chen suddenly laughed.

Instead of stepping forward to stop her, he crossed his arms and watched her with leisure.

"Want to die?"

"Fine, go ahead."

"But please go die outside. Don't die in my shop."

"Otherwise, blood will be splattered everywhere, and I'll have to call the police and wait for them to haul away the corpse. It'll disrupt my business."

Everyone: "???"

The entire small shop instantly fell into a bizarre, deathly silence.

The customers who had been trying to mediate all stared with wide eyes and open mouths, as if someone had grabbed them by the throat; they couldn't utter a single word.

Good grief... I've seen ruthless, but never anyone this ruthless!

She's threatening suicide, crying her eyes out with a knife to her throat... yet this guy doesn't stop her and even complains that her dying in the shop would be bad luck and bad for business?!

Is this even something a human would say???

Even Yi Yue, standing nearby, was stunned. Looking at Ye Chen's calm profile, she didn't know how to react for a moment.

Hu Jing was even more completely dazed.

Her hand holding the knife was trembling. The cold sensation and stinging pain at her neck were real, but Ye Chen's cold gaze chilled her heart even more than the blade.

This man... really doesn't care if she lives or dies?

No, impossible!

He must be feigning composure!

A flash of madness crossed Hu Jing's eyes, and she shrieked.

"Ye Chen! Don't think I won't do it! I really will commit suicide!"

"If I die, you'll be the murderer! Everyone will know you drove me to my death!!!"

Ye Chen picked his ear. "Whatever."

"I'm really going to do it!"

"Sure!"

"I'm not kidding, I'll really cut!"

An impatient expression appeared on Ye Chen's face.

"Suicide?"

"You've been shouting for so long with the knife at your neck, so just cut already."

"All talk and no action."

"If you really can't bring yourself to do it..."

He paused, then suddenly took a step forward.

"Want me to help you?"

Before he finished speaking, Ye Chen's right hand shot out like lightning!

This sudden turn of events happened too fast; everyone was stunned!

The customers who were just mediating now had their eyes bulging and their mouths wide enough to fit an egg.

Help?

Help with what? Help someone commit suicide?!

Is... is this young man crazy?

Doesn't he know that's also against the law?!

Yi Yue was also badly frightened and instinctively took half a step forward. "Ye Chen! Don't—"

However, her words were abruptly cut off by the scene unfolding before her.

Just as Ye Chen's fingers were about to touch Hu Jing's wrist, the Hu Jing who had been crying and trembling a second ago suddenly changed her expression!

Sadness, pleading, madness... all emotions receded like a tide.

Replacing them was an indifference cold to the extreme!

Her figure swayed, and she slid backward like a ghost!

Her movements were light and swift, absolutely not the speed an ordinary person should have!

Ye Chen's lightning-fast grab actually caught only air!

*Whoosh—*

Hu Jing's figure stopped steadily at the shop's entrance five meters away.

She still held the fruit knife, but her posture had changed.

The tip of the blade was no longer against her neck but pointed diagonally at the ground. Her body lowered slightly, like a leopard ready to pounce.

Where was there any trace of the disheveled woman who had been trying to kill herself just now?

Inside the small shop, the air seemed to freeze.

Those customers were completely petrified, their brains unable to process what was happening.

What... what's going on?

How did the woman who was just crying and wanting to kill herself suddenly become... so skilled?

Her dodging movement was so fast their eyes couldn't even follow it!

Yi Yue was also stunned. Looking at the completely different figure at the door, then at Ye Chen's grave profile, her heart suddenly tightened.

No... this person isn't Hu Jing!

At least, not the nurse Hu Jing she knew!

Ye Chen slowly withdrew his hand, stood up straight, and narrowed his eyes.

"You're indeed not Hu Jing."

"Who are you?"

The woman at the door suddenly smiled charmingly. Her previously miserable and mournful voice became lazy and magnetic.

"Oh... I've been found out?"

"You really are the youngest and most heartless man I've ever met."

As she spoke, her free hand casually wiped across her face—

Like a face-changing act in Beijing Opera, the skin mask belonging to Hu Jing was actually peeled off and tossed aside!

What was revealed was a completely unfamiliar face.

Her features were deep and well-defined, her skin a healthy wheat color. Her amber eyes slanted upward slightly, flashing with a cat-like cunning and dangerous light.

Her nose was high-bridged, her lips full, and the corners of her mouth naturally upturned in a faint, enigmatic smile.

A glamorous and highly aggressive Western face!

She casually spun the fruit knife in a beautiful flourish at her fingertips and tilted her head to look at Ye Chen.

"Let me introduce myself. I've forgotten my own name, but they all call me..."

"Night Owl."

Ye Chen's pupils constricted. Two words instantly popped into his mind—

Assassin!

And a far more professional and eerie assassin than the Thirteen Death Zodiacs!

He quietly shielded the still-dazed Yi Yue behind him, his gaze locked on that glamorous face.

Ye Chen calmed down and asked, "Who sent you?"

"Quick reaction."

Night Owl smiled even more brightly, as if they were just chatting about the weather.

"I am from the Black Prison."

"You defeated the Thirteen Death Zodiacs and ruined the Black Prison's reputation."

"For such a prominent 'Dragon Crossing the River,' we naturally had to come and take a look."

"And while we're at it..."

A cold light flashed in her amber eyes. "Eliminating the problem at its roots."

Eliminating the problem at its roots?

Ye Chen frowned, suddenly remembering his earlier doubt. "Where is Hu Jing? What did you do to her?"

"That useless woman whose brain was fried by aphrodisiacs?"

Night Owl curled her lips, her tone nonchalant as if she were talking about an ant.

"I killed her for you."

"You didn't want to see her again anyway, did you?"

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment.

Huh?

Hu Jing... is dead?

That ex-wife whom he once hated to the bone and found utterly disgusting... just like that... dead?

Disposed of so casually by this glamorous assassin?

His feelings were somewhat complicated.

It wasn't that he felt regret, but... damn it!

Now that Hu Jing is dead, who's going to help him withstand the side effects of the Inheritance???

He was a little angry and said irritably.

"Who told you to meddle in my business?"