A project worth one-point-three billion and two years of hardship.
Walking in the evening, Qin Yang was in high spirits. He had plans to meet up with his mentor at a bar named "Delight".
On his first day of university graduation, his mentor had introduced him to a drug development project worth one-point-three billion.
Two years down the line, and the project was nearing its conclusion. Qin Yang had made a name for himself, and once production kicked off, he could expect an annual income of at least a million. It was an exciting thought.
As Qin Yang neared the bar for his meeting, out of the blue, an old fortune teller by the roadside tugged his trouser leg. Without even lifting his head, he asked, "Hey, young man, would you like to have your fortune read?"
Qin Yang laughed, "Old man, look at me. I’m the personification of good luck. Do I really need a fortune reading?"
The old stall owner stuck a cigarette in his mouth, took two drags, and squinted his eyes to get a good look at Qin Yang.
"Hmm! You’re spirited. But beware, stepping into that bar will bring you nothing but bad luck."
"Hey, old man, that’s not how business is done. You're bringing me bad luck!"
Qin Yang was suddenly displeased. He had been in a good mood and wondered why he'd run into such a tactless old man.
Seeing Qin Yang's displeasure, the old man wasn’t bothered. He picked up a half brick he had been using to keep his stall from moving.
"Young man, he who doesn’t listen to the elder suffers. I’ve been using this brick for many nights. It's imbibed some divine spirit. Take it with you."
Qin Yang was at a complete loss for words, even starting to question if the old man was mentally unstable.
However, he didn't turn down the offer. Wanting to get rid of the old man, he unceremoniously took the brick and placed it in his back pocket, heading into the bar.
Inside the dimly lit bar, music played. Every few steps, he could spot some odd men and women entangled in the dark corners.
Qin Yang walked down, headed straight for room 308, the place where he was supposed to meet his mentor.
Today, his work was finished early, and Qin Yang arrived earlier. He did not know whether his mentor was there yet.
As Qin Yang was about to enter room 308, he suddenly heard a peculiar sound from inside. The noise was akin to a cat in heat, a noise to make one's heart tickle.
Qin Yang stopped in disbelief. It was not right. The person he was supposed to meet was his mentor, and it was impossible for such a ludicrous sound to come from there. Maybe he got the wrong place.
He quickly looked up at the room number.
"Correct, it's room number 308."
With mixed feelings, Qin Yang gently pushed the door.
The door was surprisingly not closed. The room was dimly lit, and there was sentimental music playing.
A woman was lying in a man's arms, and the man shamelessly said: "Shan Shan, come over tonight."
The woman laughed flirtatiously and pointed at the man's head with her finger.
"You! You’re not sincere. Either marry me or give me half of Qin Yang's share.”
"Ha ha ha, don't worry, you won't be forgotten. Qin Yang was kicked out of the game long ago. The results of the drug research became mine a year ago, and this kid is still stupidly working for me until the end.”
As the room filled with salacious laughter, Qin Yang outside the room was already dumbfounded.
That man and woman were his mentor and Shan Shan, his old classmate who recommended him for the pharmaceutical research position.
He was crazy. In that moment, Qin Yang completely lost his mind.
Seeing the woman he trusted and his most respected teacher in bed together, conspiring to steal his achievement, made it feel as if his world was collapsing.
Consumed by anger, he was at a loss.
Bam!
Qin Yang kicked the door of room 308 wide open. The man and woman inside scrambled up like startled strays.
"What achievement?! Repeat what you just said. What happened to my achievement?"
"Qin Yang, it's you?"
Caught red-handed, the shameless teacher pulled out a document with a red seal from his briefcase and slapped it onto Qin Yang's face.
"Fool, see for yourself."
"Let me tell you, the results of the new drug are mine, and you have nothing to do with it anymore. From tomorrow onwards, you don't have to come to work."
Having said that, the teacher brushed Qin Yang aside, allowing Shan Shan to latch onto his arm and strut out of the room.
As Shan Shan passed Qin Yang, she had a contemptuous sneer.
"Silly little boy, you really think you have any say over the success worth billions?"
Boom!
A surge of fury shot through him. Qin Yang couldn't hold back anymore.
Suddenly, he felt the half-brick in his pocket heat up. He pulled it out and roaring, he charged forward.
"Hypocrite, I'll smash you to death."
Wham!
A brick suddenly made its flight as Qin Yang took a brisk step forward, instantaneously landing it on the back of the man's head, who was acting like a dog pretending to be a mentor.
Ouch!
In a panic, the tutor staggered forward a few steps.
He could never have dreamed that the scholar-like Qin Yang would actually take action, and he hurriedly fled toward the bar exit.
As he was escaping, he was also shouting, "Calm down! Assaulting someone is against the law, beware of me having you jailed."
"Damn it! You old lecher, pretending to be a scholar, I'll kill you."
Qin Yang who had been suppressing his anger for a long time finally exploded, he ran after with the brick lifted.
The scene instantly turned into chaos, the bar waitstaff sensing the situation was not good, quickly stepped aside and took out his phone to call the police.
Whack! Whack!
The tutor who had just escaped from the bar was pressed by Qin Yang to the ground, and the brick was dancing in the air. The tutor's forehead was instantly bleeding profusely.
Just then the sound of a police siren rang out, a patrol car quickly stopped on the side of the road. A slim and valiant policewoman rushed over, just in time to see Qin Yang lifting the brick.
The policewoman was quite capable, striding forward in single step, with a move seized the brick, and swiftly twisted Qin Yang's arm behind his back, pressing him firmly to the ground.
At this moment, the fortune teller outside the bar lit his dry pipe again.
After puffing on his pipe twice, the old man moved his lips slightly and said, "Hehe, young man, do you believe in fortune telling?"
Despite the distance between them, Qin Yang could hear clearly.
Feeling helpless, he moved his lips that were practically pressed to the ground, and sighed, "Fortune telling!"
"Old man, do I still need to have my fate read with my rotten luck?"
A self-deprecating voice came out of Qin Yang's mouth. He was fuming, only regretting that he hadn't killed this scammer before the police had restrained him.
In the distance, the fortune-telling old man seemed to hear Qin Yang's voice.
He squinted, glancing at Qin Yang through the sparks that jumped from his tobacco, and nodded meaningfully.
"Uh-huh! You're definitely unlucky, so you should have your fortune read. Maybe fate will show you a clear path."
"Hahaha, fate!"
In the middle of the night, Qin Yang's manic laughter echoed. The female police officer who had restrained him looked at him in astonishment, not understanding who he was talking to.
After laughing, Qin Yang struggled to lift his head and cursed at the sky, "Bullshit fate! If it had any eyes, it wouldn't have treated me like this, let alone shelter those parasites."
"'Life is beyond one's control, so why bother reading one's fortune!'"
In a flash, those once kind faces and ruthless expressions once again appeared in Qin Yang's mind, one after another.
To his surprise, the old fortune teller actually started to praise him after hearing what he said.
"Well said 'Life is beyond one's control, so why bother reading one's fortune.' Since you don't believe in fate, this great benefit is yours."
As he spoke, the old man tapped the dry tobacco pipe in his hands, emptying the burnt out tobacco onto the ground. Miraculously, a wisp of curling green smoke rose strangely from the ash.
The green smoke rapidly spread, its scope ever widening, and human eyes were gradually lost in the fog.
All were frozen in stupor, save for Qin Yang, even the policewoman was petrified in that moment.
Time stood still.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the horizon, subsequently clouds churned, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, as if a black dragon was soaring in the clouds.
"The weather has turned!"
Qin Yang raised his hazed eyes to observe the night sky, just as he looks upwards, a bolt of lightning slashed through the darkness.
Crash!
A dazzling light fell unerringly on top of Qin Yang's head, a surge of intense electricity instantly spreading throughout his body.
Qin Yang was stupefied.
How unjust! He was struck by lightning. Was he going to die so easily? What a sad end to his life!
Just at the moment when he believed that he was about to die, the rampant current within his body suddenly darted into his mind, entering the pupils of his eyes.
A burst of divine light appeared in his eyes, shooting out a beam of white light straight towards the swirling black clouds above.
BOOM!
A deafening thunderclap rang through the world, and the clouds were split open by the divine light from his eyes, revealing an ancient, azure inn nestled deep within the clouds.
The inn of a ghostly blue hue hung in mid-air, surrounded by a raging river. A stone bridge sat on the river, exuding an aura of majesty and strangeness.
In the flash of a lightning strike, Qin Yang was surprised to see the words "Bridge of Regret" engraved on the bridge.
Next to the yellow river stood a stone tablet, inscribed with the word "Underworld."
However, what startled him the most was not the stone bridge or the Underworld, but the inn itself.
For, on the door of the inn, a peculiar name was written - the Inn of Reincarnation!
As soon as he made out these words, the heaven started to rain, turning the rain into bitter tears that trickled into Qin Yang's eyes.
At this moment, Qin Yang felt as if his soul began to solidify. A wave of sorrow and unwillingness brimmed onto him from the rain, as if experiencing a millennium's torment in an instant, turning around only to see the endless desolation.
Such bitter tears they were as if they melted away a lifetime of sour distress and reincarnated hatred.
However, facing this bizarre scene, Qin Yang suddenly woke up in the rain.
My God! How strange! Could it be that the Heaven that he had been cursing, is finally awake?
Boom! Another thunderous sound echoed into the night sky.
Just as he was coming to a realization, Qin Yang saw that the Inn of Reincarnation, together with the Underworld River and Bridge of Regret, poured down from the clouds in one lump sum.
The scene turned into innumerable raindrops, filling his entire body, instantaneously forming a tattoo on his chest. The content of the tattoo was a vivid depiction of those strange scenes deep within the clouds.
