You're Strong But Now You're Mine
Chapter 152 - 151: The Rebellion of the Gears

Chapter 152: Chapter 151: The Rebellion of the Gears

In fact, Le Yuxin didn’t need to be here tonight.

He had already sent all the details of the plan to White Night, so he could just watch White Night perform. There was no part in the plan where Jing Zhengwei cooperated — it was impossible for him to openly help White Night unless he wanted to bring the Jing Family down with him.

Although bringing down the Jing Family with him was an excellent choice, Le Yuxin’s current target was the big fish of the Silver Blood Association, and the insignificant Jing Family naturally was not worth his attention.

Yet Le Yuxin came anyway, intentionally switching his duty to late night.

After all, it was his plan, and he knew the timing and various details to launch it. Plus, with his position as the squad leader, if White Night made any blunders, he could cover for him.

Moreover, such a big incident occurring, even if Le Yuxin were at home, he would have to rush to Half City at the first opportunity. Therefore, whether Le Yuxin was on duty or not didn’t make much difference. If he stayed at home, he’d feel anxious due to worry, and cuddling with Qing Lan wouldn’t be sweet. It was better to be on duty.

And most importantly—

Le Yuxin wanted to see if the fire he had ignited could truly engulf the entire Half City.

This kind of thinking wasn’t hard to understand; for example, murderers often return to the crime scene to witness their grand achievements, or if you take a big dump, you often can’t resist looking back to admire your great work.

An author who writes a novel also wants to hear the readers’ praise to seek a sense of recognition.

After spending more than a week preparing the plan, how could Le Yuxin hold back his anticipation and hide away waiting for the attack to happen?

Of course, he had to sit in the best seat with the best view, enjoying the beautiful scenery under the night sky!

But this also brought up a small issue for Le Yuxin to consider: as the squad leader, if a serious attack occurred in the area under his watch during his duty, he would be held accountable.

Therefore, Le Yuxin didn’t choose the attack day blindly. Today was the duty day for Quan Xin and Luo Zhen, and with him and Qin Le Yin, four people would take the blame together, surely enough to withstand the Silver Blood Association’s censure.

Of course, that wasn’t enough. Le Yuxin had never underestimated the malicious hearts of this group of rich kids—he didn’t dare to fully read Jing Zhengwei’s memory till now—so he also had to guard against Quan Xin and Luo Zhen accusing and smearing them first, spreading rumors that he colluded with White Night and so on.

This possibility existed, as Le Yuxin knew the "Youth Daily" had drawn many people’s covetous eyes; it was just the Jing Family protecting him. Now with an opportunity, it was hard to ensure they wouldn’t unite to squeeze Jing Zhengwei out.

Four people sharing the blame get no benefits, while if one person takes the blame, the others get to eat meat... Le Yuxin, considering from his own perspective, felt that others were also unreliable bastards.

Thus, Le Yuxin had to create an environment where everyone shared the blame—by neglecting duties together!

Le Yuxin brought up topics and took out a Monopoly game to lure Quan Xin and Luo Zhen into the pit!

As long as the attack happened while they were playing Monopoly together, they’d naturally become an alliance!

But Le Yuxin didn’t expect that the off-duty Ting Chaozao and Lan Jianbo would also join in!

One blame to share among six people!

Now Le Yuxin felt as steady as Mount Tai—would Silver Blood Association’s leader Ting Gu really severely punish his son to punish the few neglecting duties? Impossible!

Although Le Yuxin would soon realize how naive his "a tiger, though cruel, will not devour its cubs" thinking was, Ting Chaozao’s participation indeed made him even more invigorated.

"Finally here."

As Quan Xin twirled a pen, it flew forward with a flip of his hand. He jumped up and caught it mid-air, then smoothly seated himself on the stone seat in the pavilion.

"Coincidence, there are exactly six seats here." Quan Xin gestured with a smile: "Please."

The two duty pavilions of Half City were both built on high ground by the shore, and coupled with the patrol execution guards at the city gates, they formed a triangle that could monitor the entire Half City region.

Being close to the shore, there was naturally a faint sewage smell, but Luo Zhen and Quan Xin were prepared early on—their soldiers placed small boxes around the pavilion and lit them, soon filling the place with the scent of flowers.

Qin Le Yin asked: "Incense of flowers?"

"It’s the same scent as Xiangxue Sea." Quan Xin said with a smile, "I custom ordered an ultra-strong flower incense blend from the flower scent shop; if placed in a living room or bedroom, it’d surely be overwhelming, but here it suits just right. If you guys want, take a few back and give them a try. If they work well, tell them my name, and since they made quite a few orders for me, feel free to grab some."

"No wonder I always smell fragrance when I’m the next one on duty after you." Ting Chaozao touched his nose, looking displeased: "I thought my nose was ruined by the stink, mistaking it for a pleasant smell."

Lan Jianbo said calmly: "Don’t speak so lightly. That day, you had everyone in the Scenic Battle Technique have to touch your nose—people not knowing would think the second young master of the Ting Family has such a unique fetish."

Luo Zhen extended his hand towards Ting Chaozao: "Let me have a touch."

"No, no." Ting Chaozao chuckled bitterly, moving away from Luo Zhen: "We’re all adults, stop touching here and there."

"Humph, don’t flatter yourself," Luo Zhen scoffed: "You’re even uglier than me. Why would I fall for you?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Luo Zhen, you are the unparalleled best young master in the world above and below. I’m the little second firefly, how could I match your Xuanzhu brilliance?"

"That’s more like it." Luo Zhen responded satisfiedly: "But if others can touch, why can’t I?"

"No, brother Luo!"

Although Luo Zhen behaves erratically, like a hooligan with no manners, his appearance is undeniably good-looking, with sword-like eyebrows and eyes like stars, ape-like arms and a wasp-like waist. The patrol uniform he wears makes him look like a General, unlike Ting Zao, who indeed falls short in comparison.

To be fair, among the Silver Blood second generation that Le Yu has seen, there aren’t many who look ugly. Zhengwei from the Jing Family, needless to say, he’s able to dress as a woman without issue. Among the four brothers of the Jing Family, even the most honest and naive Jing Zhengtang has a dignified appearance.

The four brothers of the Jing Family standing in a row don’t look like the offspring of twisted merchants; instead, they seem like the descendants of great heroes.

After all, these wealthy individuals have undergone continuous breeding selection through money and partners, though they can’t ensure the intelligence of their offspring, they can at least continue their parents’ looks.

"Wei Shao, explain how to play," Lan Jianbo ignored the two chasing and teasing behind him and looked at Le Yuxin: "Don’t mind them, they usually enjoy flirting and bickering like this, you’ll get used to it."

"Good one, Jian Shao, don’t think that just because you gave me an off-road vehicle you can slander me like this!" As Ting Zao passed by, he knocked on the back of Lan Jianbo’s head, and Luo Zhen was also displeased; he kicked the stone bench under Lan Jianbo’s butt.

However, Lan Jianbo was as stable as a mountain, sliding one meter on the bench and kicking it back with both feet.

"Stop messing around, are we playing or not?" Qin Leyin sighed: "Stop fighting, if you want to fight, go outside, you can’t die from fighting here!"

The two chasing and teasing finally sat down calmly, while their bodyguards and attendants ignored them, evidently accustomed to this situation.

The six sat around the stone table, with Le Yu looking at their curious and expectant expressions, feeling a strange sense of dissonance in his heart.

He suppressed his subtle feelings and quickly explained the game Monopoly. Essentially, Monopoly is a flying chess game that triggers events, it’s not complicated for beginners, and everyone understood it immediately, starting their first round of Monopoly.

"I got the car card! I can roll three dice! Haha, awesome!"

"Haha, cannon missile card, let me see who has the most money now... Ting Er Shao, it’s not personal, but you’re really too rich, I’ll send you to the Medical Bureau for a day!"

"Time card? Everyone returns to the state of the previous round? This is too insane!"

"Force Purchase Land card, I can forcefully buy someone else’s land... Great, I like it very much."

"Framing card, collude with the Imperial Court to make the target go to jail for five days. Alright, who’s the lucky one to be~chosen~by~me~?"

"Encounter war chaos, and for the next three rounds, no profit will be gained... This is not realistic at all, the more chaos, the more I earn! Our Ting Family sells weapons!"

Soon, they were fully immersed in the Monopoly game, with the encounters in the game causing either joy or despair, shouting loudly, cheering for their good luck, or pounding the ground in frustration due to bad luck. Those with good luck were envied by sour lemons, those with bad luck were loudly mocked, and they enjoyed each other’s subterfuge, having fun like...

Like a group of twenty-something youths.

Le Yuxin watched them and finally realized where the dissonance in his heart came from.

Ting Zao, Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Lan Jianbo... Even though they are merchants’ sons, with guilty blood flowing through their veins, they are also just twenty-something young people.

They naturally have joys and anger, curiosity and playful spirits, friends they can play around with, and they get genuinely happy playing a game with peers.

Because of Zhengwei from the Jing Family, Le Yu had always symbolized them as ’merchant’s sons,’ as if they were a group born to seize power, exploit the people, and drain profits—a group of cunning and scheming merchants.

But clearly, they also have a normal side—they would gloat for cleverly dodging smells, avoid friends due to peculiar hobbies, and genuinely enjoy playing games with peers.

Ting Zao is suave and tactful, Luo Zhen is tough but aware of boundaries, Quan Xin enjoys spinning pens and sharing, Lan Jianbo is silent but extremely sarcastic...

Being friends with them might not be so bad.

At this moment, Le Yu suddenly thought of Jing Qingfu, the old man sitting in a wheelchair, eyes only on money and property, tongue only with the conflict of interests.

He’s like a rusty old machine, fulfilling his final mission—choosing the next younger, better, and more performant machine for the Jing Family.

Was there a time when he had friends to play, laugh, and shout together?

No one is born a machine.

Whether it’s these privileged Silver Blood second-generation or the ordinary people struggling in Xuanzhu County,

It’s this land where silver and blood flow that turns them into bone-crunching machines, ever-rotating gears.

So...

Boom!

A thunderous noise shakes the ground, a firelight shoots into the sky, illuminating the night sky of Half City.

Le Yu turned his head, his eyes reflected the beautiful scenery of Half City, dazzling with lights.

Let it begin.

Let those lofty rusty machines know the rebellion of the gears is truly deadly.

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