Outside the villa, white flowers had already been hung.
Xu Lie's body had been sent into the room, and Xu Qianqian was now guarding it.
The mourning hall was set up in the living room.
Li Chonglou knelt before the memorial tablet, unable to rise.
In just one week.
Lü Yunxu was lying in the hospital, and Xu Lie had died.
Both tragedies were caused by him. He was powerless to change things, watching his brother die before his eyes.
The heart-wrenching pain almost suffocated him.
"Chonglou, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Brother Xu won't blame you..." Jiang Yuxin knelt with him until nightfall before softly advising.
"I know."
Li Chonglou's voice was hoarse, "Before, I once treated him as a bodyguard. With him around, I felt very safe."
"Brother Xu didn't have many friends. Besides Qianqian, I was probably the closest to him."
"For me, he would even risk his life!"
"I thought that after narrowly escaping death, good fortune would follow..."
At this point, Li Chonglou choked up and couldn't speak.
He thought that after rebirth, he could control his destiny and protect his family and friends with his past life's experience.
He had even surpassed opponents like Li Hanlong, so what else was there to fear?
But fate had dealt him a cruel blow.
First, Zhang Dongxu stabbed Li Hanlong for him and went to prison.
Now, Xu Lie had died protecting his family.
How could he repay this debt?
He hadn't notified Xu Qianqian yet, feeling guilty, lost, and anxious.
These emotions, which hadn't surfaced in years, now churned in his heart.
He was at a loss.
"Brother Xu was resolute his whole life. I believe he has no regrets about his choice," Jiang Yuxin said, tears welling in her eyes, not knowing how to comfort him. "The person is gone. I don't want you to follow Brother Xu's path."
"You are not alone anymore. You have your mother and me."
Her greatest worry now was that Li Chonglou would seek revenge with excessive eagerness.
Even Xu Lie had died at the hands of that person. How could Li Chonglou get revenge?
She couldn't bear to watch her man walk to his death like this.
"Did you hear what he said before he left?" Li Chonglou turned to Jiang Yuxin, his eyes still bloodshot. "If I don't get revenge, am I supposed to wait for him to kill you all?"
"He is a fugitive. The law has no hold over him."
"I am not qualified to be sad. That is a woman's business. What I need to do now is tear Tian Shan apart, limb by limb."
"I will never hand him over to the law for punishment; that is not enough. I will kill him myself!"
A sharp glint in Li Chonglou's eyes, his grief turned into killing intent.
Tian Shan had already been severely injured in the eyes by Xu Lie, and he knew Shen Yishou was here, so he wouldn't dare to return for a while.
After Xu Lie was buried, he would do his best to find this scumbag.
As for whether he could defeat him, it was not even a consideration.
He was not a gentleman, and there was no such thing as waiting ten years for revenge. The only thing he wanted now was to kill Tian Shan.
To pay tribute to Xu Lie's spirit.
"I..." Jiang Yuxin's beautiful eyes were full of worry, and she wanted to persuade him further.
Just then, the door was pushed open.
Lin Zhendong, with a pale face, appeared at the doorway, supported by Lin Ying.
"Xu Lie is dead?" Lin Ying's pretty face instantly changed upon seeing Xu Lie's memorial tablet.
Lin Zhendong's expression was complex, laced with grief.
He had only calculated that Tian Shan appeared in Qin Prefecture, less than ten miles from Li Chonglou's villa.
He hadn't expected Xu Lie to suffer disaster because of it.
Although Xu Lie had joined later, his martial arts talent far surpassed Li Chonglou's. In time, he would surely become a top expert.
But even he hadn't expected him to perish halfway.
"He was a step too late because of me. I couldn't even feed him the Qingyan Fruit." Li Chonglou tried his best to control his emotions, appearing less sorrowful.
What he needed to do now was to avenge, not to grieve.
"Chonglou, don't let anger cloud your judgment,"
Lin Zhendong saw that Li Chonglou's emotions were not right and sighed. "It's already happened. If you want Xu Lie's death to be meaningful, suppress your temper."
"With your current strength, you are no match for Tian Shan, and I can't help you either."
Divining fate for Li Chonglou had already caused him a backlash, severely damaging his vitality.
His true qi was in disarray, and his strength was diminished. While he could handle ordinary people, he would suffer greatly against an expert of Tian Shan's caliber.
"Master, if it were anything else, you could advise your disciple," Li Chonglou's gaze was firm and unwavering. "But on this matter, there's no need to persuade me further."
"Brother Xu risked his life twice for me. If I still cower and weigh the pros and cons like before, how can I be at peace?"
"I've lived a lifetime, but I'm not as enlightened as Brother Xu. It was only until his death that he made me understand."
"What true pure heart is."
"Tian Shan will not die, and I will never rest!"
In an instant, Li Chonglou's aura surged, making it impossible to refute him.
Lin Zhendong knew his mind was made up, and further persuasion was useless.
From the beginning, he hadn't misjudged. Although Li Chonglou wouldn't face imprisonment in his life, he would encounter many hardships and disasters.
A slight misstep could lead to utter annihilation.
But those who achieve great things in the world all go through this.
Even he didn't know whether it was better to watch from the sidelines or intervene.
When it concerns others, it's easy; when it concerns oneself, it becomes muddled.
He finally nodded and cautioned, "I won't stop you in this matter, but if you want peace of mind, be bold yet careful, follow your heart, and do not act rashly."
"Understood." Li Chonglou nodded heavily.
At this moment, he suddenly mustered his courage. There was nothing left to hesitate about.
He called Xu Qianqian to come home.
Then he got up and left.
Half an hour later, in the special VIP ward of the city hospital.
Li Chonglou pressed the half piece of Qingyan Fruit, which Xu Lie had clenched his teeth and refused to feed, into Lü Yunxu's mouth.
"Chonglou, is this thing really useful? Will it harm my girl?" Lü Chenggong's face was haggard. The dignified richest man finally understood deeply in these past few days that no amount of money was more important than his beloved daughter.
He insisted on staying by her bedside to keep watch until now.
If not for his extreme trust in Li Chonglou, he would never have forced himself to put this half-piece of black, mottled, and fishy-smelling thing into his daughter's mouth.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her. She is my friend," Li Chonglou's voice was as cold as a glacier, but it eased Lü Chenggong's heart.
The reason he rushed to the hospital was that he didn't want Lü Yunxu to suffer the same fate as Xu Lie.
Both had met with misfortune because of him. Xu Lie couldn't be saved.
But Lü Yunxu could still live. Although Qingyan Fruit had huge side effects, there was no other way at the moment.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Less than three minutes after swallowing the half piece of Qingyan Fruit, Lü Yunxu, who had been unconscious for days, suddenly trembled violently, then closed her eyes and coughed.
A mouthful of black phlegm was spat out.
Then, she was heard to groan as if in a dream, "Er~~~"
"Girl, girl, you're finally awake!" Lü Chenggong exclaimed with tears of joy and rushed forward.
Lü Yunxu opened her eyes, her vision gradually focusing.
Looking at her father and Li Chonglou before her, her eyes quickly became moist.
Her voice was hoarse and weak, "Dad... Brother Li, I had a very long dream. I dreamed that I died..."
"You won't die. From now on, Dad will never let anyone hurt you again," Lü Chenggong said, his voice trembling as he caressed his daughter's pale face.
"Yunxu, you rest well. I still have things to do," Li Chonglou said after greeting them and quickly withdrew.
Someone was waiting at home.
Xu Lie didn't have many friends, so the funeral arrangements were kept simple.
Only his family and Xu Qianqian were there. Seeing Li Chonglou return, Xu Qianqian's eyes were already red and swollen from crying. Wearing the white hemp, she instantly threw herself into his arms.
Sobbing uncontrollably, "Brother Li... my brother..."
"Qianqian, I won't let your brother die in vain. Give me some time." Li Chonglou's face was expressionless; he couldn't afford to be sad anymore.
He was the pillar of support. If even he were immersed in grief, who would avenge Xu Lie?
After all, Xu Qianqian was just a young girl who had just graduated, with a naive mind.
He had to handle everything.
The next day, Lü Yunxu, who could finally get out of bed, also came to pay her respects upon hearing the news.
On the third day, Xu Lie was cremated and his ashes were interred.
That night, Li Chonglou resolutely left Qin Prefecture and returned to Xiong Ying.
Before leaving, he reached an agreement with Shen Yishou to hire him for half a year for ten million to guard Qin Prefecture.
Lin Zhendong and his daughter went to Shangluo to continue investigating clues about Du Wu's tomb and Shi Boqiong.
Two hours later, at the Xiong Ying base in the mountains.
In the command office.
Li Chonglou stood tall and straight before the desk, his eyes as firm as nails, allowing Fan Lei to inspect him.
"Nonsense! Do you think Xiong Ying is your family's property?" Fan Lei's face was filled with rage as he slammed the table. "To catch a petty thief, you mobilize national resources. I think you've been completely blinded by personal vendetta!"
He had seen everything that had happened to Li Chonglou in the past few days.
He hadn't expected that the first thing Li Chonglou would do upon his return was to order him to mobilize personnel to eliminate Tian Shan.
This made him extremely angry.
Li Chonglou was not from a regular military background and had no discipline in his heart.
In the past, he had been very tolerant because he wanted to train a successor, but this time, Li Chonglou had crossed his bottom line.
"What if I told you that Tian Shan is the mastermind behind Xingzhi Group?" Li Chonglou said with an unperturbed expression.
He knew that with his own strength, killing Tian Shan would be suicidal.
He couldn't even find him. His master could only divine once; he was no longer able to divine a second time.
The only one he could rely on was Xiong Ying.
So he returned, to negotiate with Fan Lei.
Fan Lei's exposure was also within his expectations. If he were the helmsman of Xiong Ying, he would not allow others to arbitrarily use the national machinery.
"So what? That's the police's business. Your mission with Bai Jing in Zhonghai is already completed!" Fan Lei was unmoved, his deep eyes flashing with anger.
He was disappointed in Li Chonglou on this matter.
"Commander Fan, I've always had a question: Why do you think I can take your place?" Li Chonglou asked calmly. "Don't mention courage, strength, or strategy; these are insignificant."
"The way I appeared back then was definitely not top-tier."
"Who behind you is watching me, insisting it must be me?"
"Since that's the case, then help me kill Tian Shan, and I will do as you command!"
Li Chonglou's words stunned Fan Lei on the spot.