Yun Chuji was willing to let go of hatred for the sake of the future. She knew that revenge and an eye for an eye were like a blood-stained hand, plucking out the world’s living eyeballs one by one until there was nothing left to pluck.
There was nothing wrong with this line of thinking. The problem was, she had learned it from books.
And books always omitted details the author deemed unimportant. For the sake of a tight narrative, many authors would make such sacrifices.
The detail omitted in this case was: even if the victim doesn’t retaliate, the perpetrator will still exist.
Tang Jianxi, with far more life experience than the sheltered Yun Chuji, had not overlooked these details.
Thus, after a long silence, Tang Jianxi said, “I’m going to expel Clarence from Spartacus.”
Only then could she prevent it from becoming a tool in Clarence’s power struggles, and stop him from hiding behind the banner of Spartacus after doing something despicable, safely plotting how to sacrifice others to save himself.
Yun Chuji understood her thinking, but she also knew of the mentor-student-like relationship between Tang Jianxi and Clarence. It was for this very reason that, despite discovering Clarence’s true nature during the Glory incident, she had chosen not to confront him.
Instead, she had withdrawn.
“Can you bring yourself to do it?” Yun Chuji asked, a little worried.
Tang Jianxi’s pale, beautiful face was as fragile as a morning lily stirred by the wind, yet the fire in her eyes was so real, as if she were constantly scorching something.
After the Glory incident, although Tang Jianxi knew Clarence wasn’t as concerned with the omega community as he appeared, she was also keenly aware that even if he used Spartacus as a tool for his ascent, he could not betray the source of his power’s legitimacy.
Therefore, omegas would gain their long-desired freedom and rights as he rose to power.
Until that gunshot.
It forced Tang Jianxi to confront a truth she hadn’t dared to face—just how many innocent people would be sacrificed by following the path Clarence had laid out?
Yun Chuji was not the only victim in this shooting. To some extent, the perpetrators were victims as well—which was one of the reasons Yun Chuji was unwilling to pursue the matter too harshly.
If those in power hadn’t given them assurances, temptations, lies, and ideals, they would never have thought to interfere with the manner of a person’s death.
Before this, John’s father had never even seen an animal carcass; he ate a vegetarian diet and synthetic meat.
And as for those omegas, it went without saying. They could only plan the whole affair so calmly by imagining Yun Chuji as a monster blocking the path to omega freedom.
Ultimately, this was a peaceful and prosperous era. Most people held a great deal of respect for life.
Of course, they were the ones who made the decision, that was undeniable. But in the end, when they made that decision, they had been left with very few choices.
And this was the event Clarence had engineered. He used conspiracy and vendettas as a ladder to power, while also making conspiracy and vendettas a normal state of life for omegas.
Would this bring freedom?
It was highly likely.
Would this bring peace?
There was only a very small chance.
Tang Jianxi would not accept a weak, premature surrender, nor would she accept an endless war fought for the sake of hatred and revenge.
“I can’t do this. Honestly, I’m not suited to be a leader,” Tang Jianxi said. “So I’m going to have my brother do it.”
Yun Chuji’s eyes widened slightly. “But… isn’t Young Master Tang secretly involved with the Sixth Prince?”
Hearing this, Tang Jianxi gave a cold smile, a smile that held a certain icy fondness. “They might have been involved before, but it’s definitely been cut off recently.”
Because Tang Jianshen had a severe case of mysophobia.
So severe that he couldn’t even stand stimulating alpha pheromones.
“Huh?”
Yun Chuji couldn’t follow Tang Jianxi’s train of thought. After all, her knowledge of Tang Jianshen was truly limited.
Tang Jianxi smiled and didn’t explain further. Instead, she reached out to smooth the hair that had been mussed during their embrace. “You just focus on getting better. I’ll handle all of this.”
In any case, she never wanted to hear a gunshot like that again in her life.
Yun Chuji was stunned for a few seconds, then raised a hand to take hers, bringing it to her lips for a gentle kiss. “I’ll be healthy again very soon.”
Two days later, an unwelcome guest appeared in Tang Jianshen’s office. In fact, there had only ever been one person who could bear that notorious title.
Tang Jianshen looked up and scrutinized his dear sister.
Undoubtedly, the attack on Yun Chuji had hit Tang Jianxi hard. She looked much more haggard, and her aggressive aura was more pronounced. But what Tang Jianshen couldn’t understand was why Tang Jianxi had let those people off so easily, signing a settlement agreement and preventing the case from going to court, which greatly reduced the incident’s impact.
Even though those few would still face prison time, they wouldn’t be reviled and targeted by hundreds of millions of people, forced to live the rest of their lives in anxiety and fear.
But then he thought of the person behind the incident and suddenly understood. If it was him, he certainly had the means to achieve that.
“If you’re here to ask me about the Torch Project, then there’s no need to say more. The project has no future, not even with the philanthropic value you champion.”
Tang Jianxi said, “No, I also agree to scrap the Torch Project. But I’m not here for that today.”
Tang Jianshen looked at her in surprise. Information rapidly reassembled in his brain, but he couldn’t piece together a logical answer.
So he offered a less logical one: “You want me to help you find someone to assassinate Clarence?”
It had to be said, he knew his sister, even if their relationship had recently cooled to a freezing point.
Tang Jianxi nodded, then shook her head. In a tone that was both whimsical and exceptionally certain, she said, “I want you to take Clarence’s place in Spartacus.”
Tang Jianshen was quiet for a moment, then said, puzzled, “Did you leave out a few words?”
The correct phrasing should have been for him to help her take Clarence’s place in Spartacus.
“No, it’s you. You do it.”
Tang Jianshen looked at her and reminded her, “I’m not an O-rights activist.”
He didn’t think struggle was a good method, nor did he ever feel that rights won through struggle rather than merit were reliable. But the fact was, such things had happened many times throughout history.
So Tang Jianshen knew that he wasn’t suited for thinking about such matters. People like Clarence were.
“We don’t need an O-rights activist to lead us right now,” Tang Jianxi said with a wry smile. “We’re too naive, and too easily led astray.”
But Tang Jianshen ignored her troubles. As direct as ever, he said, “What I mean by ‘I’m not an O-rights activist’ is that I don’t want to do this kind of work for O-rights.”
“Besides, I’m very busy. I don’t have time for this.”
“You’ll do it,” Tang Jianxi said, almost mystically.
Tang Jianshen shot her a glance but said nothing.
“If you don’t, Spartacus is going to start developing its own inhibitor. And this time it won’t be a sham product like ‘Warm-O.’ They’re coming for the market.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Clarence is threatening you. He wants to become the leader of all omegas. This is his way of handling this crisis—disguising his own mistake as a crisis for the entire omega community, using that sense of crisis to seize greater power.”
At least within Spartacus, rumors were already starting to spread that the attack was staged by the A-Virtue faction to frame the O-rights faction. Many agreed that an alpha is an alpha, never to be trusted.
For such a baseless rumor to spread so quickly, it would be an absurd, nonsensical story if someone wasn’t pushing it from behind the scenes.
This crisis might cause the public’s perception of Spartacus to worsen considerably, but it had ironically increased cohesion within the organization.
This was also why she had rushed to find Tang Jianshen.
The matter was indeed urgent. If an O-rights group gained control of inhibitor production, it would no longer be a matter of market competition. The problem would become much more complex and would undoubtedly lead to chaos.
However, Tang Jianshen emphasized again, “The second thing I mean by ‘I’m not an O-rights activist’ is that there’s no way you O-rights activists would ever accept me.”
“That’s fine. Tang Group has done a lot to help omegas over the years. You can absolutely use that to gain the trust of Spartacus members.”
“That was led by you and Mother, not me.”
“You didn’t object, did you?”
“That’s enough,” Tang Jianxi said definitively.
“…….”
“Why me?” Tang Jianshen finally asked.
“Because you have the motive, and the ability.”
With things more or less settled, Tang Jianxi’s demeanor relaxed considerably.
“Motive?” Tang Jianshen didn’t even know he had a motive. The one he had was the one Tang Jianxi had just given him.
Tang Jianxi said in a low voice, “Clarence cheated on you.”
“……”
Tang Jianshen let out a breath and said calmly, “I’m not the kind of person who cares about that sort of thing.”
“Oh, really? Then why did you agree so quickly?”
He hadn’t even properly checked if what she said was true.
This was just… so unlike Tang Jianshen.
Tang Jianshen pressed his lips together, turned his head away, and said in a cool voice, “That’s because I know you wouldn’t give up. And while you have many flaws, you’ve at least always possessed the quality of honesty, even if it has caused you many setbacks on your path as a businesswoman.”
Tang Jianxi smiled faintly. “Alright then. Pack your things and come with me to Spartacus to seize power.”
“Give me a month. I need to arrange things here at the company.”
“No need. Mother will take over your work.”
So, Tang Jianxi had already discussed this with the whole family, had she?
Tang Jianshen fell silent for a moment, then lowered his head and curled his lip in a self-deprecating smile. “You were always Mother’s favorite.”
But Tang Jianxi didn’t agree with that statement. She took a few steps forward, looked earnestly into her brother’s eyes, and explained softly, “Mom didn’t come back from the Imperial Capital Star for me. She came back for you.”
“??” Tang Jianshen was confused, but more than that, he had a bad feeling.
“I told her Clarence used you and threw you away, and she strongly agrees that you should go get your own back.”
“??????????”
“Tang Jianxi!!!”
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