Chapter 144: Curtain Call?

Chapter 144: The Curtain Falls

"Haha, great! This is the first time I've ever seen someone from the Lin family grow a spine."

Another booming laugh echoed from the outer hall—

Loud and completely uninhibited!

Immediately after, a tall young man standing a full one meter ninety, with a dark complexion, suddenly stood up...

Swish—

Following his movement, several other young men stood up instantly and gathered around the dark-skinned youth. Their eyes fixed firmly on the dozen or so Lin family members clustered together, burning with a restless excitement and eager to start a fight with the Lin clan...

"Xiao Feng, do you intend to meddle in today's affairs as well?"

The leading young man of the Lin family's expression changed. He turned around to glare at the dark-skinned youth with a dark, gloomy gaze. The group of Lin family juniors standing behind him wore similarly altered expressions.

"Is that so surprising?"

The tall young man strode forward until he stood right in front of the Lin family youths, flanked by five or six members of his own clan. He looked down from on high at the young man who had questioned him: "Lin Jun, my second uncle has already stepped forward. How could I possibly stay out of it? Do you really think the Xiao family is a pushover?"

"Xiao Feng, this matter has nothing to do with the Xiao family!"

The young man named Lin Jun turned even paler. Although his voice remained loud, anyone with eyes could tell that uttering those words meant he had already lost.

"Who says it has nothing to do with us?"

Xiao Feng curled his lip and suddenly looked toward Xiao Feilong in the inner hall: "Second Uncle, I... uh, I'm doing the right thing today, right?"

"Haha, right, absolutely right! I knew all along that you brat were a true scion of the Xiao family, much more of a man than your old man." Xiao Feilong laughed heartily, though his words made everyone nearby want to collapse. Was that supposed to be a compliment?

"Did you all hear that? Second Uncle said it's the right thing! If any member of the Lin family dares to step through that door later, beat them up for me! Remember, don't beat them to death, just cripple every last one of them! If the sky falls, Second Uncle will hold it up for us..." Xiao Feng immediately turned around to instruct his cousins, raising his voice so everyone could hear.

"What the hell!"

Xiao Feilong's face turned pitch black inside the inner hall. His nephew was even more shameless than he was, dumping the entire blame squarely onto his shoulders. Dammit all! Xiao Feilong looked at the third-generation Lin family members and felt a pang of panic in his heart. He knew all too well what his nephew was capable of; that wild streak of his definitely surpassed his own back in the day. If the Lin family really dared to step inside, this brat would actually dare to cripple all of them...

One or two didn't matter. Xiao Feilong wouldn't even be afraid if Lin Cong, the eldest young master of the Lin family, was crippled.

However, crippling every single Lin family junior present would turn this into a massive catastrophe. He could almost picture the Old Master coming after him with a cane to fight him to the death. Damn it, wouldn't that mean he would never be able to return to East Sea for the rest of his life?

Just as Xiao Feilong was silently cursing his nephew for being shameless, he turned to look at his eldest brother, Xiao Feihong, and nearly choked with rage. His eldest brother was even more shameless; right now, he was lying limply in the arms of a guest, feigning unconsciousness as if he had been knocked out by the shock of the scene...

Damn it.

What a shameless pair of father and son.

Xiao Feilong had the overwhelming urge to curse, assuming Xiao Feihong weren't born of the same mother...

"Count me in too. How could a scene like this possibly lack me?"

Right at that moment, another young man stood up from the outer hall. None other than Ling Tianhu's son, Ling Bin. Unlike Xiao Feng, who was acting on his own accord, Ling Bin had secured his old man's ultimate authority before coming, fully prepared for a major showdown. He simply hadn't expected the male lead of the day to turn out to be his own instructor, leaving Young Master Ling dumbfounded for a good ten minutes.

What the actual hell.

The instructor was actually Fu Ziqing's fiancé?

Could things get any more surreal than this?

Ling Bin had watched blankly as events unfolded one after another, his brain completely short-circuiting. When he finally regained his wits and realized a fight was about to break out, he remembered his father's instructions and immediately stood tall. The moment he moved, three other young men stood up behind him, and the four of them crossed the floor in a few strides to join Xiao Feng and the others...

Just like that, Xiao Feng's faction swelled to over ten people.

"Damn, I actually thought you'd play the coward today!" Xiao Feng clearly recognized Ling Bin and burst into hearty laughter.

"You're the one playing the coward." Ling Bin offered a wry smile, casting a glance toward the inner hall while inwardly scoffing. He wasn't the least bit worried about Chu Fei coming to harm. No one understood Chu Fei's lethality better than he did; that man was an absolute demon, no joke at all. They didn't even need to lift a finger—that freak of an instructor could single-handedly thrash the entire Lin family without breaking a sweat. Still, he had stood up because he knew that if he didn't, his old man would surely skin him alive when he got home.

He was merely taking a stance; actual fighting wasn't required.

Naturally, he felt no pressure at all facing such an easy task.

One could say that among everyone present—including Xiao Feng—Ling Bin was the only one without an ounce of pressure. He knew Chu Fei's terrifying nature far too well. He even felt his old man was making an unnecessary fuss; with the instructor's fearsome combat prowess, did he really need others to back him up? What a joke.

Meanwhile, the group of Lin family youths led by Lin Jun wore uniformly ashen expressions. A single Xiao Feng was already putting immense pressure on them, and now Ling Bin had joined the fray. Kun City and East Sea were right next to each other, and more than a few of them knew Ling Bin's background and methods. Moreover, setting aside physical prowess, they were outnumbered. If a fight broke out now—

"Heh—"

Xiao Feng seemed to anticipate that the standoff would paralyze Lin Jun and prevent him from daring to strike. He suddenly looked toward the inner hall and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Brother Chu, don't you worry! I've got these Lin family pups blocked for you. Not a single bastard is stepping inside. You just go ahead and ruthlessly teach that hypocrite Lin Cong a lesson! Out of the whole East Sea, that kid is the one I despise the most, acting all high and mighty day in and day out. Go right ahead and don't hold back; if you cripple him, Second Uncle will take the blame! With Second Uncle here, you can walk sideways across the entire East Sea!"

"Crap!"

Xiao Feilong almost rushed out to rip his nephew's mouth apart. Passing off someone else's favor so cheaply was utterly shameless! He had foolishly thought his nephew was the only true-hearted one among the younger generation, unlike his old man.

Damn it, he must have been blind.

"Enough!"

Just as Xiao Feng's words trailed off, a deep voice rang out from within the inner hall...

Everyone's heart skipped a beat as they watched Old Man Lin slowly stand up. It was he who had spoken.

Old Man Lin's face was grim, yet devoid of any outward sign of rage. First, he cast a cold glance at Chu Fei, then at his own grandson Lin Cong, before turning his gaze toward the group of young men locked in a standoff by the door, and finally toward his fifth son. At that moment, Old Man Lin's expression was remarkably calm, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Just when people expected Old Man Lin to fly into a thunderous rage from the provocation, his gaze finally settled back on Chu Fei: "Very well. True to being the descendant of Chu Zhangtian, you certainly are arrogant enough."

"Thank you for the compliment, Elder Lin," Chu Fei said with a refined smile, completely shedding the icy chill he had directed at Lin Cong moments ago, leaving the onlookers astonished.

"Hah—"

Old Man Lin was so angry he laughed. He took one last look at his grandson Lin Cong, then raised his head to look at Elder Fu, who had remained silent throughout, a bitter smile touching his lips: "Elder Fu, I truly apologize for turning your birthday banquet into such a mess."

Elder Fu remained silent; he, too, could not fathom Old Man Lin's true objective.

"Since we of the Lin family staying here would only disrupt your banquet further, I will take my leave now. Once this matter settles, I will personally come to make amends!"

Old Man Lin cupped his hands in a formal salute toward Elder Fu and bowed slightly. Then, without warning, he turned and strode toward the exit, saying coldly over his shoulder: "Members of the Lin family, get out of here, all of you!"

His voice was not loud, yet it carried an irresistible authority.

Swish—

Old Man Lin's figure swept quickly out of the inner hall and through the outer hall. Along the way, the crowd parted to clear a path, watching him depart with complex gazes...

The next moment.

Lin Cong, standing in the inner hall, was the first to turn and leave, though as he spun around, he shot Chu Fei a vicious glare like a venomous snake.

Followed by Lin Chenglong, the fifth son of the Lin family, stationed at the passageway between the inner and outer halls... As he turned and walked out of the outer hall, the dozen or so young Lin family members turned and left in unison...

Departing right alongside them were several second-generation members of the Lin family from the outer hall...

Swish—

As the Lin family members cleared out, the massive outer hall suddenly emptied of over twenty seats. One could only imagine how many people the Lin family had actually brought.

In no time at all, the Lin family members had vanished completely, leaving not a single soul behind. Even a few guests who were too closely tied to the Lin clan stood up and slipped away...

Everyone watched the scene unfold in absolute silence, not a single person uttering a word.

Old Man Lin's reaction exceeded everyone's expectations, yet somehow fit the pattern of what was bound to happen.

The abrupt departure of the Lin family, however, rendered the atmosphere of the birthday banquet even more bizarre.

Everyone present knew that the Lin family had suffered a massive defeat today, crushed at the hands of a young man, losing every shred of dignity. The Lin family themselves surely knew it too; before a single day passed, the news of the Lin family getting slapped across the face would spread through every alley of East Sea and across every corner of China...

Elder Fu watched Old Man Lin leave without making a single move to stop him from start to finish. He knew he couldn't stop them. The Lin family had suffered too grievous a humiliation today; although Chu Fei was the one who struck the blow, it was bound to implicate the Fu family as well. In particular, Elder Fu's silence up to that point had practically pushed the Lin family to the brink of ruin. Yet Elder Fu had no choice—he simply didn't dare to speak up. If he intervened, the one getting slapped might no longer be just the Lin family, but the Fu family as well. Remaining silent now merely made them look on as a spectacle, whereas trying to side with the Lin family would likely earn them a direct slap to the face.

Even so, Elder Fu knew clearly in his heart that with Old Man Lin's departure today, the cooperative relationship between the Fu and Lin families, established only in recent years, was destined to be severed completely.

"Haha! Awesome! It's been so damn long since I had this much fun. Watching the Lin family scurry away like a pack of stray dogs is just beyond satisfying..."

Just as everyone maintained a stunned silence, watching the developments with cold detachment, a sudden, wildly inappropriate burst of laughter echoed through every corner of the room, startling many into clutching their chests. When they turned to see which "sacred entity" was laughing so brazenly, they could only curse inwardly: *What the hell!*

Looking at the immensely smug fellow who was laughing with such abandon, even Elder Fu felt a sudden urge to curse out loud at this mad dog.

While others merely cursed in their minds, someone at the scene actually voiced it out loud.

"This lunatic!"

Xiao Feihong, the acting head of the Xiao family, had just "regained consciousness" only to find his own younger brother laughing like a lunatic. The moment he opened his mouth, a curse slipped out, and then his head slumped to one side as he was "frightened unconscious" once more...

[Is the curtain really falling? The excitement is only just beginning! The traps have been dug, can you guess what happens in the next plot? And this damned roller-coaster weather has given me a terrible cold; I've been breathing through my mouth all day, my head is spinning from cold medicine, and I can barely keep my eyes open—it's so miserable! Finally finished writing, time to go to sleep!]