Victor Yu personally drove Evan Lin back to the city.
Watching Evan's figure as he got out of the car, Victor Yu's expression was unusually complicated.
He sat in the car for a long time before finally driving away.
When Evan got home, he ran into Lucy Lu in the living room. She seemed to be in a good mood, and when she saw Evan walk in, she greeted him with a smile: "Xiao Yi, how's school been these past few days?"
"Auntie has been a bit busy these days and hasn't had time to look after you."
As she spoke, Lucy Lu's face showed a hint of apology.
Ever since Charles Chen was promoted to deputy general manager, he and Lucy Lu had been attending all kinds of banquets, meeting quite a few government officials—opportunities they never used to have.
Before, Charles Chen was just a department manager, nowhere near the level of mingling with so many people. But now that he’s been promoted to deputy general manager of Wansheng Real Estate’s Brightsea branch, there are a lot more social events to attend.
"It's fine, Aunt Lucy. Everything's good at school. If you ever run into any trouble, you can always tell me." Evan smiled.
"What trouble could I possibly have? You’ve really grown up these past few days." Lucy thought for a moment, then continued, "After exams, how about we go out and have some fun? During summer break, we could take your mom along too. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her in ages."
Lucy Lu sighed with emotion as she spoke.
"I'll ask my mom after exams and then decide."
After chatting a bit more, Evan returned to his room.
"I've got fifteen million on hand now. First thing is to buy Mom a new apartment, then find some time to look for spiritual herbs and medicines."
Evan took the bank card out of his pocket and placed it on the table. Ten million of it was from Boss Long's loss. Boss Long hadn't dared to withhold the money—just thinking about how Evan KO'd Tiger with a single punch was enough to terrify him.
After handing over the money, Boss Long immediately caught a night flight back to River City. He didn't want to see Evan for even a second longer, always feeling like Evan was about to beat him up.
Meanwhile, at the Liu family villa.
Clinton Lewis sat with his eyes half-closed. The old butler answered a call nearby, responded a few times, then hung up and respectfully approached Clinton, bowing slightly: "Master, Tiger is dead."
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Clinton slowly opened his eyes. His aged face creased into a frown. "Dead?"
Tiger came back with Frank Liu—he was Frank’s junior martial brother. Back in the day, Clinton Lewis was always suppressed by Damon Wang in Minghai City, so he endured for years and had Frank sent away to train at Mountain Tiger Sect.
All these years, Frank suffered hardships that most people couldn’t imagine, but he finally succeeded—he trained until he broke through to inner strength.
Inner strength is the hidden force generated from the body’s meridians and muscles. It’s what happens when someone trains their body to the absolute limit and produces a power beyond mere muscle.
Beyond inner strength lies the legendary ‘internal force’—when you reach that, you’ve truly stepped into the martial world.
Anyone who’s mastered inner strength can split wood with bare hands and shatter rocks with their fists—their muscles and bones have reached an incredible level.
"Frank said Tiger was just one step away from mastering inner strength?" Clinton Lewis asked quietly.
"Yes, Third Young Master said Tiger was one step short. But that last step, though it seems small, is actually as distant as the ends of the earth."
"Tiger may look powerful and tough, but it’s all just for show," the old butler replied. Clinton nodded slightly.
"Let Frank know and see what he says." Clinton thought for a moment. The butler understood and called Frank, briefly explained the situation, then hung up.
"Third Young Master said, Tiger’s dead and that’s that. If he fought Tiger, three punches would be enough. But what he really wants is to know who killed Tiger." The old butler bowed, still smiling, as if Tiger’s death hadn’t affected him at all.
"Just three punches?" Clinton Lewis perked up at that. "Three punches to kill a Tiger—Frank really is something!"
"Investigate, then let him know. But even a second-rate Tiger kept Damon Wang busy for days—if Frank steps in, what could Imperial Grand possibly do?" Clinton laughed. "Unless Damon Wang personally fights. But can he really master inner strength? If not, let Frank kill him too. Then all of Minghai City will be ours!"
Clinton slapped the armrest, as if he could already see Damon Wang crushed under the Liu family's heel.
......
Evan opened his eyes at five in the morning, went out for his usual run, and paused briefly when he passed the villa at the foot of Thousand-Saints Mountain. He glanced up at it.
The old man and young girl he'd met before hadn’t appeared again these past few days.
He shook his head, tossing those stray thoughts aside.
That morning, Evan arrived at school. People glanced his way, curiosity written all over their faces.
But right now, there was another piece of news that had grabbed the students’ attention even more.
Ethan Yi had been taken to Beijing by Coach Peter and officially joined the National Soccer Team, with hopes of becoming the next Gavin Gu.
With the help of the school and the Education Bureau, this news quickly made the front page of Minghai City’s newspaper the next day, spreading like wildfire.
Joining the National Soccer Team.
For a student, that kind of honor was enough to make everyone left at school look up to him.
And thanks to Ethan Yi, No. 2 High could finally hold its head high in front of No. 1 High.
Ironically, the one who single-handedly crushed Ethan Yi’s whole team—Evan Lin—was actually getting less attention now.
Some guessed that Coach Peter didn’t pick Evan because he saw more long-term potential in Ethan Yi, while Evan was just a late-blooming ‘wild monk’ with no formal training—no match for Ethan in terms of potential or future development.
Others claimed Evan personally turned down Coach Peter’s invitation. Most people scoffed at that idea, but a few students who saw Peter practically begging Evan yesterday afternoon were more convinced than ever of Evan’s strength.
All these rumors didn’t interest Evan in the slightest.
Right now, all he wanted was for the school to hurry up and finish finals so he could take his grades home and make his mom happy.
If not for his mom, Evan wouldn’t bother staying here at all.
When he entered the classroom, Mia Chen looked like she wanted to say something to him, but Evan just walked right past her without looking back.
That left Mia feeling inexplicably disappointed.
The bell rang. First period was math.