With the help of her classmates, Zoey Su managed to slip out of school. Feeling pretty pleased with herself, she cruised her sports car around the city, just enjoying the ride.
But her smug mood didn’t last long—she spotted, in her rearview mirror, that damn family driver actually chasing after her.
She was genuinely surprised—how had he managed to catch up with her?
Just then, her phone rang—it was her dad, Steven Su, calling.
After a brief hesitation, she hung up on her dad and switched off her phone.
On the other end, hearing the shut-off tone after dialing again, Steven Su nearly smashed his phone in rage. He roared, “That damn girl is getting more and more out of control!”
With so many cars in the city, even Zoey’s high-end sports car couldn’t shake off the pursuers behind her. It left her feeling seriously frustrated.
No way, I have to figure out how to ditch them!
Just as Zoey was worrying about how to escape, her eyes suddenly lit up—she’d spotted a familiar figure on the sidewalk. Instantly, she came up with a new idea for dealing with the driver and bodyguards.
She spun the steering wheel and pulled her sports car over to the curb.
Zoey Su pushed open the car door and sprinted toward that familiar figure, shouting in panic, “Brother Ian, help!”
After leaving the Nangong estate, Ian Song didn’t take a cab back to school. Instead, he strolled leisurely down the street, thinking about how the Lee Family might react after he’d seriously injured Madman Lee.
Thanks to Leon Lee, he’d learned a lot about the backroom scheming among the Ten Great Families.
He also understood just how dazzling he’d become.
According to his prediction, the Lees had two possible responses: either give up and stop causing him trouble—after all, now that he’d shown his true strength, anyone with half a brain could see how terrifying his potential was. The Zhao Family would definitely try even harder to pull him in and bind him to their side.
So if the Lee Family wanted to go after him, they’d have to consider whether they could handle the consequences of going to war with the Zhaos. After all, in the Yanhuang Republic, the Lees weren’t all-powerful—there were eight other families equal to the Lees and Zhaos.
There was another possibility: the Lee Family might throw caution to the wind and risk war with the Zhao Family just to kill him and eliminate future threats.
It wouldn’t be the first time for the Lees. Back then, Harold Zhao and Lee Longfei were both peerless geniuses, each entering the Innate First Layer at just eighteen.
In fact, Harold Zhao’s talent was even a notch above Lee Longfei’s.
In the end, Harold Zhao died and Lee Longfei rose, becoming a top Innate Ninth Layer expert. His rise strengthened the Lee Family’s power immensely.
Leon Lee might not know exactly how Harold Zhao died, but he did know it was the Lee Family who orchestrated it.
If the Zhao Family hadn’t lost their genius, would the Lee Family ever have managed to surpass them?
But now, with Ian Song on the scene—a prodigy even more terrifying than Harold Zhao—the Lees might just pull the same stunt again.
Thinking it over, Ian realized he had to speed up his own growth. Otherwise, if the Lee Family ever decided to throw away all pretense and send an Innate Sixth Layer assassin after him, he honestly wasn’t sure he’d survive.
When he beat Madman Lee, he’d actually considered turning him into a puppet.
But he’d already used Puppet Mastery once today, plus Madman was way stronger than Nangong Yushuang, and he was a hardened battlefield executioner with an iron will. Ian’s current spiritual strength might not be enough to enslave him.
Looks like he needed to level up his spiritual power.
Fame Points could be exchanged for spiritual strength at a rate of one million to one. Yesterday, his Fame Points had hit 320 million; the lottery draw cost him 38.88 million, but the hijacking incident was still making waves, so his Fame Points had bounced back to 340 million.
“Meow, exchange 100 points of spiritual strength for me.”
As soon as he gave the order, Ian felt a warm energy wrap around his soul. It lasted for about five seconds, then faded away.
His mind grew sharper, his thoughts more clear and focused.
The whole world seemed to come into sharper focus before his eyes.
He pulled up the system interface.
His mental stat had already jumped to 303 points.
“Congratulations, Host Ian Song! Your level has risen to 4. You’ve earned one free lottery draw!” The system’s cold voice echoed in his mind.
The first reward draw had given him Super Chef; the second, Super Driver.
“What will it be this time?”
Curious, Ian started the lottery.
The result popped up almost instantly.
“Super Language Pack? What’s that supposed to be?”
In no time, the Super Language Pack fused with his soul. Suddenly, Ian understood it all—in just a few seconds, he’d mastered thousands of languages spoken on this planet.
Since Ian hadn’t expected to win any big prizes anyway, he was actually pretty satisfied with the Super Language Pack.
If he ever ended up broke, he could always find work as a translator.
Just then, a panicked cry for help sounded behind him. Ian turned to see Zoey Su racing toward him.
“It’s you?” Ian grinned at Zoey Su. “Shouldn’t you be in class right now? What are you doing out here?”
“You’re out here too, aren’t you?” Zoey shot back, then glanced over her shoulder and saw her dad’s driver chasing after her with two bodyguards. She grabbed Ian’s arm and pleaded, “Brother Ian, those jerks have been following me nonstop. Quick, go teach them a lesson!”
After witnessing Ian’s real skills at Maple Leaf Villa, Zoey had total confidence in his fighting abilities.
If this were Ian’s first time meeting Zoey, he might’ve actually been tricked into being her muscle.
But now, with his spiritual strength up by another hundred points and his wisdom boosted, he glanced at Zoey and then at the three men rushing over. He was sure they weren’t the “bad guys” Zoey claimed.
Sure enough.
As the three approached, the driver pleaded earnestly, “Miss, please stop causing trouble and come back with us. Your father is furious. Have some pity on us.”
“Brother Ian, I don’t know them! Hurry and drive them away!” Zoey pleaded, shaking Ian’s arm.
“Really don’t know them?” Ian asked, half-smiling as he looked into Zoey’s eyes.
“I really don’t know them—they’re bad people!” Zoey insisted, sounding a bit guilty.
“Then I’m leaving!”
Ian shook off Zoey’s arm and made as if to leave. This girl was way too crafty—he didn’t want to get tangled up with her.
“Wah! Brother Ian, how can you just abandon me? I belong to you now—don’t leave me!” Suddenly, Zoey burst into loud tears and chased after Ian.
The driver and two bodyguards exchanged bewildered looks.
The driver’s face darkened. If this boy really had something going on with Miss Zoey, her father would be furious. He had to get to the bottom of it, so he motioned to the bodyguards to stop Ian.