“Someone will take you for questioning shortly. Just stick to the original plan and take all the blame.”

“In short, this incident was merely a dispute between students. You only had them followed to obtain information about Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s tutoring sessions.”

“Then you must try your best to gain Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s forgiveness. Don’t worry about paying a bit more; categorize this as a simple public order incident.”

“Your father reassures you as well. After all, your uncle is a Tier 3 Faith Golden Merit Master, and the Zhou family is a prominent clan in Songyang City. They can handle this; it’s just a matter of paying some extra money…”

Listening to the other person’s explanation, Zhou Chechen’s face showed a helpless, bitter smile.

He particularly recalled how he had previously messaged Zhang Yu, telling him to apologize properly to others.

Now, in the blink of an eye, he found himself having to apologize to Zhang Yu, practically begging the righteous god behind him for leniency.

Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly, “I am merely a pawn in this game.”

“But this Zhang Yu… to think such a minor incident could prompt a Tier 6 Righteous God to personally intervene. Just how important are he and Bai Zhenzhen to this righteous god?”

While the Myriad Star Group and the Zhou family were in utter chaos,

meanwhile, at the patrol bureau.

Zhang Yu continued his cultivation in the office.

Although the door was locked, the air conditioning grew colder, and his stomach rumbled, there was no trace of panic on his face. He simply continued his daily cultivation as usual.

“After all, the matter has been handed over to Deng Bingding, so it’s not my place to interfere now.”

Zhang Yu knew there was only one thing he could do: continue to cultivate diligently and increase his chances of passing the final Foundation Establishment exam and obtaining the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.

Just then, the office door suddenly opened.

Gong Zhe entered, carrying a large tray of food and two cups of beast protein milk. With a wide smile, he said, “You two must be hungry, right?”

“There’s not much to eat at the bureau, so I specifically ordered some pre-made meal delivery. See if it suits your taste.”

Seeing Gong Zhe’s sudden 180-degree shift in attitude, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged glances, realizing that Deng Bingding must have made her move.

Gong Zhe placed the food in front of them with beaming enthusiasm, as if the person who had coldly interrogated Zhang Yu earlier was someone else entirely.

Gong Zhe smiled, “Eat up, both of you. It’s hot.”

“Oh, by the way, there was an oversight in our previous investigation. That surveillance footage has been repaired. It wasn’t a mutual fight at all; it was clearly Yue Jincheng trying to steal the phone, and you acted in self-defense.”

As he spoke, Gong Zhe thought to himself, “You two, if you had a connection to a Tier 6 Righteous God, why didn’t you say so sooner!”

“To think that for these two, the entire Myriad Star Group was directly shut down.”

In Gong Zhe’s eyes now, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were nothing short of two great Buddhas.

After learning about the situation at the Myriad Star Group, Gong Zhe only wanted to quickly send the two away.

However, upon hearing this, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen simply chuckled, eating their food heartily without responding to Gong Zhe.

Gong Zhe showed no embarrassment whatsoever, continuing politely, “The matter has been thoroughly investigated. You two can leave anytime you wish.”

Bai Zhenzhen scoffed, “No need to pay bail anymore?”

Gong Zhe helplessly said, “Both of you, it was our mistake earlier. I sincerely apologize to you both here.”

Having said that, he bowed to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

Gong Zhe continued, “The bureau is now taking this matter very seriously and will definitely provide you both with a satisfactory explanation.”

Bai Zhenzhen asked, “What about the person who attacked us? Why haven’t you arrested him?”

Gong Zhe replied helplessly, “That person is currently involved in another case…”

As Gong Zhe repeatedly apologized and tried to appease Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, someone suddenly knocked on the door from outside, then entered and whispered a few words to Gong Zhe.

Gong Zhe’s eyes lit up, and he quickly announced, “Both suspects and the mastermind have been apprehended!”

“However, they wish to apologize to you both in person. Would you be willing to meet them?”

In the mediation room.

As Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen opened the door and walked in, they heard a thud.

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu were already on their knees, kowtowing repeatedly towards them.

Yue Jincheng, kneeling on the ground, was filled with humiliation. The thought of a dignified university student like himself having to kneel and apologize to two high schoolers made him feel as though his dignity had been trampled into the mud.

But remembering his loans, the difficulty of finding a job, and his parents’ hard work, he could only suppress the pain in his heart, thinking, “Yue Jincheng, Yue Jincheng, this is how the world works. You’re just an ordinary university student; their background is too strong for you to provoke.”

Yue Jincheng then spoke in a deep voice, “I apologize. I acted on my own initiative to attack you. Please forgive me.”

On the other side, Si Zhouyu knelt, her mind less burdened. “It’s just kneeling and apologizing, isn’t it?”

In high school, she knelt before students with good grades.

In vocational college, she knelt before university students, before influential figures, before teachers…

After starting work, she knelt before her superiors, before clients…

She had long grown accustomed to it.

As for self-respect? What self-respect does a vocational college student need?

That’s something for high schoolers with good grades, university students from prestigious schools, recent university graduates, wealthy people with rich families…

And ever since Si Zhouyu was kicked out of the model class in high school, she had gradually shed such useless things.

Si Zhouyu then spoke with a seemingly sincere expression, “To you both, I apologize for not stopping my colleague. This was a huge error on my part at work.”

“I am terribly sorry for the trouble I caused you both today.”

Si Zhouyu thought to herself, “Kowtowing a few times is fine, just don’t make me pay money.”

Meanwhile, Zhou Chechen, who was standing behind the two, stepped forward.

He delivered a sharp kick to Yue Jincheng’s back, then slapped Si Zhouyu across the face, scolding angrily, “Look at the fine mess you two have made? You’ve completely disgraced the Myriad Star Group.”

Then, looking earnestly at Zhang Yu, he said, “Zhang Yu, I had them observe you, just wanting to see where you went for tutoring after school.”

“I never expected Yue Jincheng to be so impulsive, trying to steal your phone to find out about your tutoring information.”

“Today, I’ll have them kneel here. You can hit them or teach them a lesson however you wish…”

Looking at Zhou Chechen’s seemingly sincere expression, Zhang Yu recalled their first meeting, when Zhou Chechen had also appeared earnest and sincere.

And what he said about trying to gather information on tutoring classes sounded perfectly reasonable, as tutoring information for high school students is considered important intelligence within schools, and various intrigues among students often arise from it.

However, how could Zhang Yu possibly believe his explanation now? He merely sighed inwardly, “This guy’s acting is as good as ever.”

Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen, standing by, coldly stated, “What’s the point of hitting them? Will hitting them make up for the time we wasted today?”

Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly, “Sigh, these two are indeed not easily fooled. I’ll still have to pay up.”

“They’re righteous god’s lackeys after all, so they’re probably as greedy for money as the righteous gods themselves. I wonder how the negotiations between my father and uncle and the righteous gods are going. I need to settle things here quickly.”

Zhang Yu, meanwhile, let Zhou Chechen and Bai Zhenzhen continue their back-and-forth. He didn’t interject, instead contacting Deng Bingding.

He certainly needed to follow her advice on how to handle the situation going forward.

After hearing Zhang Yu’s report, Deng Bingding replied, asking, “What do you think?”

Just then, Fuki said, “From our side, let’s just make Zhou Chechen pay a bit more money.”

“The evidence we currently have at most indicates that the Zhou family sent people to follow us. It’s enough for Deng Bingding to investigate, but not enough to completely crush the Zhou family.”

“After all, the Zhou family is deeply rooted. Without concrete evidence, if Deng Bingding were to push forcefully, she herself might have to pay a price.”

“Deng Bingding probably doesn’t intend to fight the Zhou family to the death, but she certainly has the courage, and a lot of it, to extort a significant sum under the pretext of the Foundation Establishment exam. She’s probably already having ‘cordial discussions’ with the Zhou family’s higher-ups.”

“But if we insist that she investigate thoroughly, this righteous god might find us troublesome.”

“Moreover… if something is indeed uncovered behind the Zhou family, it might even be disadvantageous to us.”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen remembered something Fuki had mentioned earlier.

“Zhou Tianyi, who died by backlash after attacking Zhang Yu; the Zhou family, which began to stir after Song Xu and his evil god died; and the potential evil god behind Songyang High School…”

“Although there’s no concrete evidence, all these clues subtly point to one possibility: that an evil god might exist behind the Zhou family.”

“Especially according to Zhou Tianyi’s statement, the evil god behind him knew that Zhang Yu also had an evil god.”

“If the evil god behind Zhou Tianyi is indeed the same evil god behind the Zhou family… then Deng Bingding absolutely cannot be allowed to investigate to the very end.”

“What if an evil god of the Zhou family is truly uncovered, and then they expose us as well? That would be troublesome.”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Fuki’s reminder was also the result of their prior discussions. While the righteous god was bleeding the Zhou family dry and Deng Bingding was seizing the opportunity to severely bite into them, they too would take some advantage, rather than insisting on fighting the Zhou family to the bitter end and making things difficult for the righteous god.

At that moment, after Zhang Yu replied to Deng Bingding with his thoughts, he received a thumbs-up emoji in return.

Seeing the thumbs-up on his phone, Zhang Yu instantly felt reassured. Fuki, looking at the emoji, thought to herself, “It looks like the righteous god is also squeezing them successfully. The Zhou family capitulated quickly this time.”

Zhang Yu then looked up at Zhou Chechen and the other two, saying, “Zhou Chechen, don’t think an apology will make this all go away.”

“If you don’t satisfy us today, this matter isn’t over.”

Gong Zhe, standing beside them, coughed and said to Zhou Chechen, “Students Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were simply enjoying themselves in the park when they were suddenly attacked by your company employee. They were not only mentally frightened but also suffered physical injuries.”

“They missed out on precious early morning study time and now have to waste their time here with you.”

“You’re a high school student yourself. Put yourself in their shoes; isn’t this a significant loss? Doesn’t it require compensation?”

Zhou Chechen nodded and said, “Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, I am willing to offer 100,000 to compensate for your losses…”

“100,000?” Bai Zhenzhen scoffed, “Are you kidding me? If Zhang Yu were to make ‘donations,’ a few visits to the Red Pagoda Seed Bank would easily amount to more than 100,000.”

“Think about it, by that standard, the time you wasted today would be enough for him to produce several times over!”

“No, you f***ing…!” Zhang Yu abruptly turned to stare at Bai Zhenzhen, cursing inwardly, *Is that how you help negotiate a price?!*

However, Zhang Yu knew this wasn’t the time to quibble. He turned back to Zhou Chechen and said, “Don’t talk to me about money. I’m not short on cash. This isn’t something money can solve. The psychological trauma you inflicted on me today is something I’ll struggle to heal from my entire life.”