The Unraveling of Disorder

Disorderly revelry ultimately devolves into slaughter.

In the dimly lit basement, a young man with a delicate appearance sits before a computer. The screen’s eerie glow illuminates his ever-changing expression, making him appear eerily unsettling.

The youth is named Xiang Qi, an orphan and a bachelor. On the surface, he is a shy and delicate young man, but in reality, he is a person with a particularly malicious nature.

This is unknown to everyone except his father, who has been missing for four years and has been automatically classified as deceased.

Believing that revenge should not be delayed, Xiang Qi has consciously started learning how to deceive and manipulate from a young age. He skillfully uses his appearance to lull his opponents into a false sense of security, achieving his goals.

Those who have offended him usually meet a miserable end, and no one suspects him.

Who would imagine that a shy and somewhat timid child could be the mastermind behind everything?

The key point is that Xiang Qi generally accomplishes what he sets out to do. Such people are arrogant, but Xiang Qi’s arrogance is only evident in his attitude towards others and does not show on the surface.

He considers himself only a bit clever, strategically inferior to a certain Chu-surname man from another dimension, intellectually inferior to another dimension’s Feng-surname man, and even in the area of shamelessness, he is outmatched by a certain Hua-surname woman next door.

Consequently, he focuses his main energy on hiding himself, believing that as long as he hides well enough, he is invincible.

Despite this, there are some things that must be done.

Xiang Qi always felt that his father’s disappearance was highly suspicious. He knew his father was a cunning man, and Xiang Qi’s malicious personality was largely shaped by his father.

Such a cunning middle-aged man disappeared without a trace, leaving no information behind.

Even a fool could tell that something was amiss.

Xiang Qi’s maliciousness, while significant, is not on par with his father’s. By putting himself in his father’s shoes, he realized that whoever made his father, a powerful figure, vanish without a trace must be a formidable enemy.

Arrogant as he may be, Xiang Qi is also very pragmatic. He knows that such an enemy is beyond his capabilities, so he chose to bide his time.

By the third day of his father’s disappearance, he quickly moved, transferring his school records to another province.

The difficulties were numerous, and for a teenager, it was overwhelming.

Yet, he managed it, finding it surprisingly miraculous.

He had his own considerations for this. Firstly, knowing nothing about the enemy, he had to consider the worst-case scenario. If the enemy was clever, this move would make them more suspicious.

With nine truths and one lie in the modified records, along with the address change, it served as a signal, a probe, and was enough to deceive some of the enemies.

Overall, it was a mixed bag. The best choice would have been to stay put and do nothing, but Xiang Qi still went ahead with it.

If they wanted to deal with him, those people would come, and they wouldn’t let him go. Whether or not he changed addresses, the situation would be the same. However, since he had changed addresses and remained safe, those potential enemies probably hadn’t noticed him.

This was good news, but it didn’t lessen Xiang Qi’s vigilance. He began to self-study hacking, working hard to make his modified records seem reasonable while subtly investigating the truth behind his father’s disappearance.

Naturally, there were no results.

Perhaps, to the police, this disappearance case was strange and peculiar, but Xiang Qi could find no more information no matter how he investigated.

It was just an ordinary disappearance case after all.

Four years passed, and the police had long since closed the case, no longer paying attention to it. Xiang Qi began to wonder if he had been overly sensitive, making a mountain out of a molehill, gradually returning to a normal life.

Unfortunately, fate played a trick on him, one that was almost unbearable.

On this day, he received an email from an unknown number, with only one sentence in the content.

“You are Chen Xuan’s son.”

It was a statement, not a question. Xiang Qi couldn’t help but think deeply about the meaning of this sentence, his scalp tingling and his face growing pale.

“Huh…”

He closed the laptop, turned on the light, and sighed deeply.

The inevitable had finally arrived, and at this moment, the boy’s heart became strangely calm. It was similar to the feeling of a fugitive who had been hiding and worrying for days, finally captured and suddenly at ease.

Xiang Qi didn’t believe that these people, connected to his father’s disappearance, would let him go. Perhaps it was time to start thinking about his final arrangements.

His fingers tapped the table absently, his eyelids drooping, as if he had already resigned himself to his fate.

But was he truly willing to accept this? Xiang Qi asked himself, his eyes growing fiercer, like a wild beast cornered and ready to pounce.

How could he accept it!

He wanted to live, more than anyone else. Only by living could he have everything; once dead, he would have nothing.

That’s why he had worked so hard to investigate the truth behind the disappearance, straining his brain to guess his enemy’s possible thought processes.

All these actions, all these plans, were just to increase his chances of survival when this day finally came.

Come on! Who lives and who dies is still up in the air.

Xiang Qi growled inwardly. He had prepared for this moment for four years. Four years was enough to change many things and add many variables.

As someone who holds a grudge, the constant worry and fear over four years had only exacerbated his malicious nature, and the underlying threat to his life had caused Xiang Qi to stray further from the path of humanity.

Believe me, few people can remain calm under the threat of death.

Xiang Qi’s expression returned to normal. He had decided to drop out of school and take real action.

His public identity was undoubtedly a sitting duck. Through his years of hacking, he had accumulated a certain amount of initial connections, and Xiang Qi was confident that he could survive a few more months without his real identity.

This time would be his counterattack period. When the hidden enemies surfaced, collecting information would undoubtedly become much easier.

The more comprehensive the information, the greater the chances of winning. As long as he could successfully eliminate the enemy, he could return to his normal life.

Living is more important than anything else.

In comparison, other things were not as necessary and could be sacrificed.

“Click…”

A mechanical sound interrupted Xiang Qi’s thoughts.

What’s going on? Have the enemies found me already?

It shouldn’t be so fast; this place is hidden enough… Xiang Qi became tense; was his plan ending before it even began?

Until he saw a box on the table that had suddenly opened on its own.

Xiang Qi’s face twisted in confusion. He recognized this thing. It was a valuable-looking item left by that bastard father of his.

He had once suspected that the box might contain some clues, but after failing to open it with various methods, he had given up on the idea.

Even a drill couldn’t scratch the silver-white paint, and a hydraulic press compared to it broke first.

This finally made him abandon the idea of forcibly opening the box.

Over time, Xiang Qi had forgotten about this thing, casually tossing it there and never bothering with it again. He hadn’t expected it to open on its own today.

Realizing it wasn’t an enemy attack, he finally relaxed, then became curious about what was inside the box.

It’s well-known that humans are always curious about what’s inside a box, guessing what might be inside.

This is also known as Schrödinger’s box effect. Before the box is opened, you never know if there’s anything inside.

Stroking his chin, Xiang Qi thought his father probably wouldn’t be so cruel to his son. There was a good chance that it wasn’t a deadly bomb or a lethal poison—something that takes effect as soon as the box is opened.

Moreover, perhaps his father’s disappearance was related to the contents of this box?

After finding enough excuses for himself, Xiang Qi reached out and opened the already unlocked box, seeing a transparent crystal card the size of a bank card and an ID card inside.

ID card?

Quickly sensing something unusual, he paid no mind to modesty at this moment.

“Xiang Ran… sixteen years old?” This was the information on the ID card, featuring a beautifully over-the-top girl’s photo.

Xiang Qi’s brow furrowed as he couldn’t decipher the meaning behind this. He could only turn his attention to the other transparent crystal card beside it.

This card had no writing on it, only an image of a girl’s chibi version; though significantly altered, he still associated it with the girl on the ID card.

So, my father left me an identity that’s probably useless and a card that looks like a fan-made product. Xiang Qi’s gaze became deep and meaningful, understanding the intent behind it.

Of course, its appearance here suggests that this identity is likely valid. Perhaps he wanted me to change my appearance and gender to avoid being hunted?

Xiang Qi almost laughed at his own thought, reaching out to take the crystal card.

Then his expression froze.

A mechanical voice, devoid of emotion, resonated in his mind, as if it were his own imagination.

“Player bound, custom template detected, loading…

Loading successful, main talent activated.

Attention, the game will begin in 30 minutes. Please prepare.”