Chapter 169: Kill Them All

Chapter 169: Kill Them All

Pei Huai: "Shut up."

Zheng Kaiji seemed to notice Pei Huai behind Song Yuqing only then. "Just a worthless person."

"Pei Huai, it's thanks to Song Yuqing that you became worthless."

Pei Huai's eyes darkened, his killing intent undisguised.

"Do you know what comes with absolute power?" Zheng Kaiji lowered his voice. "Boundless loneliness."

Pei Huai leaned close to Song Yuqing's ear: "Let me help you kill..."

Before Pei Huai could finish, Song Yuqing lifted his cold, lowered eyelashes. "No need."

The next second, blood splattered. A red line appeared on Zheng Kaiji's neck. The smile on his face hadn't even fully faded, but the light in his eyes instantly vanished.

Song Yuqing slowly released his hand. As the metallic object clattered to the ground, the alpha's body heavily followed.

Yet Song Yuqing's expression remained utterly unchanged.

As if killing an alpha meant nothing to him.

Song Yuqing's icy gaze swept over the crowd. "I gave you a chance."

But they still went after Qi Zhengqing, still pressured Qi Zhengqing.

Song Yuqing turned and uttered, "Kill them all."

Only then did the people inside begin to panic.

"Song Yuqing, you can't do this."

"We are council members; you have no right to execute us!"

"We haven't done anything wrong; how can you treat us like this?"

Song Yuqing said calmly, "Conspiring with the enemy, treason, delaying military operations, disobeying orders."

The voices quieted down significantly.

Most importantly, he felt they deserved to die.

A pack of ungrateful and useless traitors—shouldn't they die?

When Tan Shu arrived, he saw a scene of corpses strewn everywhere.

Tan Shu smiled, showing no fear but instead full of admiration. "You should have done this earlier. I'll send their charges to your office later."

If Song Yuqing wanted to kill, then he killed. These people were never clean anyway.

Tan Shu: "How do you plan to handle Sri Lanka and Westland?"

Song Yuqing said coldly, "Make them part of Newland."

With rulers like that, Sri Lanka and Westland would never know peace. So replace them with rulers who could bring peace to everyone.

Tan Shu asked again, "What about St. Millerland? If you plan to..."

Song Yuqing: "It remains as it was before."

Song Yuqing stopped walking. "Stop following me. Go back."

Tan Shu immediately halted. Others might not understand, but Tan Shu knew all too well what had happened.

Xiao Jinshi, that dog, was dead. Song Yuqing was in a bad mood.

But Song Yuqing was still the same Song Yuqing. He could kill the traitors in Newland for Xiao Jinshi's death, reject peace talks, and make Sri Lanka and Westland pay, yet he wouldn't drag innocent St. Millerland into it.

Why was he still so kind?

Was he torturing himself again?

Blaming himself for Xiao Jinshi's death.

For a moment, Tan Shu's mood wasn't great either. What could he do to make Song Yuqing happier?

"You don't need to stay with me either." After dismissing Tan Shu, Song Yuqing turned to Pei Huai. "Go back and see your father first."

Pei Huai didn't want to leave.

Song Yuqing glanced sideways. "Be good. He's very worried about you."

Pei Huai clenched his fists. "Alright. I'll see him and then come back to accompany you."

Song Yuqing nodded. "Mm."

The cold, sterile light passed through the massive glass wall, illuminating everything in the room with clarity yet devoid of warmth.

Qi Zhengqing lay quietly on the hospital bed, his features still deep and handsome. His chest rose and fell rhythmically with the respirator.

Aside from the complex life-support systems connected to him, he seemed merely immersed in a deep slumber, not teetering on the brink of life.

Song Yuqing stood outside, watching for who knew how long.

Song Yuqing's assistant stood nearby holding the diagnostic report, not daring to make a sound.

Who said Qi Zhengqing only held a title? That Teacher Song didn't care about Qi Zhengqing at all?

Clearly, Teacher Song cared deeply. If he truly didn't care, he wouldn't have invested so much effort into research.

Nor would he, having just undergone tremendous changes himself, so urgently eliminate all potential threats and unstable factors.

Clearing every obstacle for Qi Zhengqing, creating an absolutely safe environment where no one could disturb or pressure him, all for this one attempt.

But given Song Yuqing's current state, it was uncertain if the surgery could succeed. If it failed, one wondered if Teacher Song could bear such an outcome.

Song Yuqing finally spoke, "Give me the test results."

The assistant handed the report to Song Yuqing and briefly explained the findings.

"Due to forcibly using psychic energy, multiple nerves in the gland are severed, triggering a chain collapse of systemic functions."

"The patient's physical condition is extremely poor, and the surgical risks are very high."

Song Yuqing glanced down at the results. "Prepare. Tomorrow, you'll join me in the operating room."

The assistant opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but ultimately, no words came out.

Refusing surgery now would mean watching Qi Zhengqing die right in front of him, while proceeding with it gave a slim chance of survival—Song Yuqing could not let that chance slip away.

"I'll go prepare now."

Song Yuqing went back alone to the Qi family home and entered Qi Zhengqing’s study.

Everything inside was almost exactly as he’d left it.

His gaze fell on several medicine bottles lined up neatly in one corner of the desk—each that he’d labeled himself before he left.

The bottles were clean, dust-free.

Clearly, someone had made sure to clean them, yet their positions and quantities remained exactly as they were when he departed, untouched.

Before leaving, Song Yuqing had told him over and over to take the medicine on time, but Qi Zhengqing had not listened.

For the first time, Song Yuqing knew what Qi Zhengqing was feeling.

For the first time, he felt that Qi Zhengqing was acting recklessly.

He wanted to have it out with Qi Zhengqing—to blame him for not following his advice, for not taking his medicine properly, for facing off against those idiots on his behalf, for holding everyone off despite being unable to use his psychic abilities.

Why did Qi Zhengqing have to go that far?

But now...

Qi Zhengqing could no longer argue with him, nor even sit up to say a single word.

It was only then that Song Yuqing remembered the key Qi Zhengqing had left for him. He opened the drawer. On top were the power handover documents—Qi Zhengqing had signed over all control in the economic zone entirely to him.

Qi Zhengqing had clearly been afraid that, after his death, Song Yuqing would have anything holding him back.

Beneath that lay a pile of letters.

Song Yuqing opened the first one.

On it was Qi Zhengqing’s strong, steady handwriting, pressed deep into the paper.

—Qingqing, seeing these words is like seeing me.

Every letter began the same way. Those thin pages felt like they weighed a ton.

Song Yuqing’s knuckles went white from clenching too hard. His thin eyelids turned red, and tears wet his cheeks.

The paper wrinkled in his grasp. In this private space, the feelings he’d been holding back for days finally came pouring out, unrestrained.

In the study, only the sound of Song Yuqing’s rough, choked-off breathing remained.

Seeing Song Yuqing like this, even System 88, though just a system, felt really bad.

"Qingqing..."

The next day,

Qi Zhengqing was taken into surgery, with Song Yuqing in charge of the procedure.

This procedure took even longer than the last, but fortunately, it was successful. The gland nerve rebuilding was completed without any recurrence of what went wrong last time.

However, the alpha’s body had taken a lot of damage and needed time to recover. When he’d wake up remained uncertain.

A week later, Song Yuqing performed surgery to fix Pei Huai's gland. While Pei Huai couldn’t use his powers for a short time, he would fully recover without any lasting effects.

News of the two surgeries, especially the miraculous survival of Qi Zhengqing—a top alpha who should have been beyond saving—swept through the people in power.

The shock of it even temporarily overshadowed the terrifying rumors of Song Yuqing’s brutal treatment of the council members in the conference chamber.

A subtle yet palpable sense of panic spread among the high-ranking families who had not yet been purged.

Those who had already been silenced by Song Yuqing’s harsh methods now felt an even deeper layer of fear.

When the key to extending life lay in the hands of one person—and that person possessed absolute power and determination—any reckless move seemed both foolish and dangerous.

The desire to survive outweighed everything else.

Soon, a quiet but growing voice emerged, one that could no longer be ignored.

People proposed abolishing the inefficient and convoluted council system and consolidating power that had been fragmented. Military, political, and economic authority would be fully placed in Song Yuqing’s hands.

Fear of death was overshadowed by the terror of being excluded from the possibility of "life extension."

In the face of absolute survival resources, so-called power balances and family honor became things they could throw away.

Yet, in response to the wave of offers and gestures of goodwill, Song Yuqing remained unusually indifferent.

He still spent most of his days at Qi Zhengqing’s bedside, reviewing the documents Qi Zhengqing had left behind and handling essential government affairs. His expression remained as aloof and distant as ever.

Alphas hoping to secure surgery from Song Yuqing couldn’t even get to see him.

Pei Huai, Ye Siling, and Tan Shu stood by the window or sat on distant sofas like quiet guards, accompanying Song Yuqing daily.

Yet none of them tried to win his favor, unwilling to upset him.

The dead and the severely injured still mattered to him.

But the dead would become part of Song Yuqing’s past, while they would remain by his side in the future.

Tan Shu remarked, "They’re pretty much on their knees, begging you to save them. After all you’ve schemed for, aren’t you going to see what they want?"

Song Yuqing signed another document, his tone cold. "Then let them kneel and beg."

As soon as he spoke, the others’ eyes fell on his lips. Seated on the sofa, Song Yuqing appeared thin but gave off a cold vibe that kept people away, growing ever more ethereal and striking.

There was an air of abstinence, as if he had long been untouched by an alpha’s care.

Or perhaps the aura of a widower.

A chaste, forbidden stillness of one left behind, coupled with the authority of a ruler not to be defiled.

Tan Shu felt that even if Song Yuqing were to mourn, he had grieved long enough for those two alphas. It was time to start anew, to be courted and pleased by another alpha.

Yet, Tan Shu still did not voice this thought.

"They should beg you," Tan Shu said with a light laugh. "They owe you that much."

Song Yuqing remained silent.

Tan Shu knew that Song Yuqing’s emotions were slowly settling, smoothed over by time.

Even at his most difficult moments, Song Yuqing never considered relinquishing power, letting go of what he had worked so hard to obtain.

As for regret, perhaps Song Yuqing did feel a fleeting moment of it. But even if he did, given another chance, he believed he would not change his plans—he would only forbid Xiao Jinshi from leaving the Central Special Zone.

Perhaps, years later, others would write that Song Yuqing lost his beloved in this war—but that was merely the loss of a beloved.

Through the loss of his beloved, and because of that beloved, he shot straight to the top of the power structure in one step.

Author's Note:

Xiao Jin: Lost his beloved? Me? Well, that's quite the worthy death!

Song Qingqing: …Not all that heartbroken, really.