"Exactly!" As if knowing what Feng Lin was about to say, Feng Lang seized the topic and continued. "As long as you have the strength and achieve a good ranking in the family ranking tournament, you'll naturally catch the family's attention and escape the fate of factory internships. Lower-class members are still family members after all—if you show formidable talent, who can suppress you? Not even the head steward!"
Feng Lang's words were full of instigation, clearly egging Feng Lin on to participate in the tournament.
Feng Lin understood this perfectly well, but he didn't mind.
Because if what the other party said was true, this family ranking tournament would indeed be a huge help to him, allowing him to escape his current predicament.
"This ranking tournament sounds good, but I'm about to be sent to the family factory for an internship. I don't know if I can get out of it. Distant water can't quench a present fire—how would I even have the chance to participate?" Feng Lin said in a low voice.
"That depends on whether you have the guts!" Feng Lang's eyes narrowed into slits, a sharp glint flashing within, as if he had regained control of the situation.
"What do I need to do?" Feng Lin asked directly.
Feng Lang was definitely using him, but Feng Lin didn't feel much resistance. As long as he could escape his current predicament, the details didn't matter.
There was no such thing as kindness without reason. If you gained something, others would seek something from you in return. Give and take, equal exchange—that was the most reasonable thing in the world.
What Feng Lin considered was how he could maximize his own benefit from this.
Confident that Feng Lin wouldn't refuse, Feng Lang smirked smugly. "It's simple: find a way to temporarily leave the family, skip the factory internship, and then make a strong comeback when the tournament starts, showing off your formidable strength so the family has nothing to say!"
"Is it really that simple? Just escape the family?" Feng Lin was slightly taken aback. It sounded too easy, almost unrealistically so.
"You think it's that easy? Escape? Where would you go?" Feng Lang sneered. "What era do you think this is? Back in the ancient Earth age, they had GPS global positioning systems. In the interstellar age, if someone wants to monitor you, escaping anywhere is useless. I'm not trying to scare you—if the family wants to find you, it wouldn't take three seconds on the entire Earth, or ten seconds across the entire solar system!"
Feng Lin fell silent, guessing that Feng Lang, as a high-ranking family member, must know secrets ordinary people didn't.
"Why?" he asked bluntly.
Since Feng Lang had already revealed some truths, he decided not to hide any further. "Every family member is born and raised in the family, and its influence permeates every aspect of your life. Even your identity chip is issued by the family. Do you think they wouldn't tamper with it? Naive! You lower-class members aren't told this—only we direct descendants know. Your identity chips are recorded in the family's central computer, and the family has higher authority than you do. They can access the chip's internal database at any time to monitor you. That means whatever you do, wherever you are, the family knows everything. You can't escape! And the identity chip is bound to you—you can't just swap it out. If you do, it immediately raises the family's suspicion, and they'll tamper with it again to keep a close watch on you..."
Feng Lang's words struck like thunder, earth-shattering.
The identity chip, a necessity for everyone in this era, was actually a tool for the family to monitor him. This realization made Feng Lin deeply uncomfortable.
Didn't this mean that if the family wanted to, they could track every move he made—eating, drinking, even his bodily functions—leaving him with no secrets at all!
Feng Lin silently clenched the identity chip in his hand. It was a transparent card like glass, incorporating the pinnacle of human technology, incredibly tough, and even capable of stopping bullets in critical moments.
This was no joke!
Humanity spanned the universe, numbering in the billions. A scientific institution had once calculated that several incidents occurred daily where identity chips stopped bullets and saved lives—it was no longer news.
Even with Feng Lin's strength, his fingers creaked as he squeezed, but he couldn't damage the chip in the slightest.
Hearing the sound of the chip being strained, Feng Lang said calmly, "Don't bother! You can't destroy the chip. And without it, you'd be unable to move in human society, becoming a complete blacklisted person, hunted wherever you go. That's probably not the outcome you want."
"Since you know I'm under the family's surveillance, what's the point of everything you've told me?" Feng Lin countered, not losing his composure.
Feng Lang had gone to all this trouble to tell him so much—it couldn't be for nothing.
And as he expected, it wasn't.
"Who says it's pointless? I can tell you the truth because I have a way to solve it. I'm a direct descendant, with higher authority in the family's central computer than you. So I went to some trouble to get the unlock code for your identity chip in the system. All you have to do is enter the chip's backend management interface, input this code, and you can unlock the family's lock on your chip anytime. Then you can go wherever you want, and they won't be able to track you!"
"What are your conditions for me to get this code?" Feng Lin didn't rush to celebrate, asking calmly instead.
No free lunch fell from the sky!
No good thing came without reason.
To get a return, you had to pay a price first.
"Good, straight to the point!" Since Feng Lin had asked, Feng Lang didn't hold back. "First, I admire your courage and want to point you toward a clear path. Second, if you participate in the family ranking tournament, I hope you'll help me take out three opponents. Don't refuse!"
As if recalling something unpleasant, his face twisted with gritted teeth.
So he wants to use me to deal with his rivals!
Feng Lin wasn't surprised at all.
He didn't believe the first half of Feng Lang's statement at all, but the second half was quite credible.
Where there were people, there was conflict. The lower-class family members, due to their low status, had little to fight over and could live in peace, albeit in poverty and monotony.
But the upper class was different. They seemed to enjoy the family's support and a life of ease.
Yet human greed had no limits. Once they got something, they wanted more.
To fight for precious, limited resources, they would do anything.
Even in feudal imperial palaces, there was court intrigue!
The families of interstellar humans were no smaller than ancient imperial courts. How could such a large family be free of conflict? The more glamorous it appeared on the surface, the fiercer the struggles beneath.
Feng Lang was willing to pay such a high price, even swallowing his pride to make a deal with me, someone he'd clashed with before. He must be cornered by his opponents!
That's why he wants to use my participation in the tournament to meddle in the family's power struggles and ruthlessly suppress his rivals.
It seems no one in the family's upper echelons can be underestimated. Feng Lang might seem like a playboy, but he's actually deep and cunning as a fox.
Many thoughts raced through Feng Lin's mind, and he guessed Feng Lang's schemes with near-perfect accuracy. He made a decision.
This deal was worth making!
"Are you so sure I can defeat your opponents?" Feng Lin didn't agree immediately, giving a faint, ambiguous smile. "If you can't handle them yourself, they must be no ordinary foes. They enjoy the family's support, have top-tier mentors, and must have awakened powerful genes with high life-force levels. They're extremely troublesome!"
"Rather than saying you don't believe me, maybe you don't believe yourself?" Seeing through his thoughts, Feng Lang's eyelid twitched, and he gave a sly grin. "I've looked into you thoroughly these past few days, and I have to say, I was shocked. You made a splash in the college entrance exam, jumping from a life-force of 0.4 to 1.5, and even cleared the twentieth floor of the virtual martial arts tower. You're another master of playing the fool. You were probably secretly training, planning to shock everyone in the exam and break free from the family. Based on my estimate, your life-force is definitely above 1.5 now, maybe even over 2. If the family hadn't sent you to that sweatshop internship, they might never have forced your true colors out! If anyone can do it, it's you!"
Clearly, Feng Lang had done his homework, investigating Feng Lin's past thoroughly.
"Likewise!" Feng Lin said flatly, unsurprised.
After all this mental sparring, how could he not see it?
Feng Lang was no pushover either—far from the simple playboy he appeared to be. That was just a disguise!
But he was wrong about Feng Lin. He hadn't been playing the fool before; he'd genuinely been useless, only rising to power recently, giving the impression of a sudden turnaround.
But since this involved the core secret of his strength—the gene equation—Feng Lin wasn't foolish enough to argue about it.
Reflecting on the details of their past interactions, Feng Lin gradually gained a deeper understanding of Feng Lang's character.
To suppress his rivals, Feng Lang was pinning his hopes on someone he'd previously clashed with. This was a desperate gamble, revealing a meticulous mind laced with a frantic, hysterical edge. He didn't even care about saving face anymore, showing a complete lack of scruples.
Dealing with him was like skinning a tiger.
No, he wasn't a tiger—he was a cunning fox!
Skinning a fox required caution, lest you end up being sold yourself!
If he really tried to pull a fast one on me, I wouldn't mind teaching him a lesson.
"What? Afraid to agree? Someone who dared to make a pact with the head steward isn't chickening out now, are they?" Seeing Feng Lin's prolonged silence, Feng Lang taunted with a mocking smile.
"Why not?" At that moment, Feng Lin made his decision, answering a question with a question, a hint of madness and stubbornness behind his calm smile.
His easy agreement made Feng Lang hesitate. "You're agreeing so readily, without any haggling—aren't you afraid I'll screw you over?"
"No madness, no survival. Let's survive first!" Feng Lin said calmly.
Feng Lang paused, and then both of them burst into laughter.
Yes!
No madness, no survival.
Whether it was Feng Lang or Feng Lin, both were at a dead end. If they didn't dare to take a risk, were they just going to wait to die?
Making a deal so easily—perhaps beneath their scheming exteriors, they were both madmen at heart.