Chapter 1

9:00 AM, City Court.

The media swarmed early in the morning, blocking the entrance to the court.

Almost all the media outlets in the city were present, all vying to be the first to get the news, causing nearby streets to nearly grind to a halt.

What had them so excited, as if they were hungry wolves?

Naturally, it was the trial taking place in the city court today.

"Good morning, everyone. We are now outside the city court, waiting for the announcement of today's trial results."

"Regarding this case, I'm sure many of you have heard about it. It's the recent high-profile murder case involving a wealthy businessman who allegedly killed his wife."

"The defendant, Li Silong, built his fortune from scratch over thirty years, amassing a wealth that ranks him third on the list of billionaires. However, at the peak of his career, he abandoned his wife and married a model thirty years younger, which earned him a lot of criticism. A month ago, his wife's body was found in a forest on the outskirts of the city, with multiple fatal stab wounds, suspected to be a crime of passion. As a result, the prosecution immediately listed Li as a suspect and mobilized all their investigators to investigate this high-profile murder case."

"However, this time, the prosecution faced difficulties. First, Li had an alibi, and second, the defense lawyer representing him is the renowned lawyer Zhang Qiansheng!"

"You may not know, but Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng has been practicing for 30 years and has won over 2,000 lawsuits. He is a true champion in the legal field, even defeating the top prosecutors of the prosecution. …"

The reporters began introducing the case to the audience on screen and in the live broadcast.

At that moment, the court doors were pushed open, and two middle-aged men in suits walked out.

"Look, they're coming out!"

"Li Silong and Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng are out. Judging from their cheerful expressions, the outcome of this trial is almost certain!"

"Who would have thought that Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng would once again defeat the prosecution and clear Li of the murder charges. With this, will Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng achieve his 3,000th career victory?"

Facing the swarm of media, Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng stood beside Li and addressed the reporters:

"I know many of you may not like this result, but the fact is that my client did not kill his wife. He has been fully cooperative with the prosecution during the investigation, providing multiple alibis. However, the prosecution ignored these pieces of evidence and still charged my client, listing him as the primary suspect."

"The murder charges have damaged my client's reputation, causing the company's stock price to drop, and the estimated market value has lost over 3 billion. I will represent Mr. Li and pursue legal action against the prosecution and the investigation department for economic losses. Their negligence and dereliction of duty have led to these financial losses and have wrongfully accused my client!"

"The real culprit is still at large. I urge the media to help me ask the prosecution: with a murderer still on the loose, are they really investigating seriously, or are they just looking for a scapegoat to cover up their failure?"

This statement caused a stir among the media.

It was like a direct declaration of war against the prosecution.

Moreover, he was going to sue the prosecution and the investigation department, which was a rare case in the city and even the country.

But considering his track record and Lawyer Zhang's confident demeanor, the media believed he had a sure chance of winning.

The interview ended, and Lawyer Zhang Qiansheng and Li Silong left in a luxury car.

At the entrance of Li Silong's company.

"Lawyer Zhang, thank you so much. You've helped me again. I'll transfer the 5 million yuan to your account shortly!"

"No need to thank me. Helping an old friend is what I should do."

"Ha ha ha, Lawyer Zhang, you truly live up to your name…"

The two men hugged tightly, and then Li Silong waved goodbye.

In the luxury car, watching Li Silong being surrounded by his subordinates and entering the company, Zhang Qiansheng's eyes showed no joy, only coldness and indifference.

"You didn't do it yourself, but you have a subordinate named Biao. He used to be a 'cleaner' abroad and has probably taken over a hundred lives. This time, it was just one more."

"However, I must say, this guy is quite professional. The prosecution couldn't find any decisive evidence. The prosecution probably saw the news and realized I was going to sue them. They must be in a panic now!"

"Of course, these are just my speculations, with no factual basis. I don't care if he killed that woman. What does it have to do with me?"

Zhang Qiansheng drove to a luxury apartment in the city center and picked up a heavily made-up woman.

"Honey, I love you~" As soon as she got in the car, the woman spoke in a coquettish tone.

"I told you to use less makeup. I don't like so much cosmetics."

"Honey~ I'm just doing it for you~" The woman ignored his disgust and continued in a coquettish tone: "If I don't use all the cosmetics I bought, wouldn't it be a waste?"

"You know you bought so many cosmetics, right? By the way, you used my money, didn't you?"

"This shows that you care about me~ Being with you makes me so happy~"

Zhang Qiansheng looked at the woman in the passenger seat, a 20-year-younger beauty who graduated from a famous art college, but his face showed no joy.

He parked the car by the roadside and took out three envelopes from his briefcase, handing them to her.

"Honey, why did you stop? Didn't you promise to take me shopping for a bag? I've had my eye on that bag for a long time. It's on sale today, only 300,000 yuan~"

"Open them and see, they're all for you!"

"For me? Thank you, honey~"

Hearing they were for her, the woman's eyes lit up.

She thought the envelopes contained checks or jewelry, typical gifts from her partner.

But this time, she was wrong.

The first envelope contained a thick stack of documents, or rather, a contract.

"Honey, what is this? This is... a divorce contract!"

The woman's voice became shrill, her eyes wide with disbelief.

The first page of the contract clearly stated four large words:

Divorce Contract!

"Zhang Qiansheng, what do you mean? You actually want to divorce me!"

The woman stopped being coquettish, her expression turning angry and accusatory.

"Open the second envelope, and you'll know why..."

Despite her anger, the woman subconsciously opened the second envelope.

The second envelope contained several photos of the woman with different men, all intimate.

Seeing the photos, the woman's face changed, her eyes darting around, and her expression panicked.

Zhang Qiansheng looked at the woman, his expression unchanged, and said calmly: "The first man is your fitness instructor. You hooked up with him during a fitness class, and you often go out to hotels with him;"

"The second man is a young lover you kept outside. However, your judgment is poor. He lied to you, claiming to be a graduate student at a prestigious university, but my investigation revealed that his admission certificate is fake. He's actually a jobless drifter who makes a living by scamming women. Besides you, he's also dating two wealthy women, a tech company executive, and the wife of a city councilor. He's even planning to seduce the councilor's daughter;"

"As for the third man, he's your ex-boyfriend from college. You told me you wouldn't contact him again, but you've called him 17 times in the past month, which is not what you promised..."

As these details were revealed, the woman's face turned pale.

"And the third envelope, open it as well!"

The woman mechanically opened the third envelope and took out a thick stack of documents.

"These... what are these..."

"Look and you'll know."

The woman read the first page, which listed various items, all records of purchases of cosmetics and luxury goods.

"I had a financial analyst calculate this. In the five years we've been married, I've spent over 30 million yuan on you. Now that you've cheated on me, violating our prenuptial agreement, I will settle every penny with you!"

Seeing the detailed list, the woman finally couldn't hold back: "Zhang Qiansheng, what do you mean? I've been with you for five years... five years of a woman's life!"

"Is that your reason for cheating?"

But Zhang Qiansheng's light remark deflated her.

"Listen carefully. I'll be generous and forgive the zeros, but the remaining 30 million yuan, you must pay me back in full. How you pay and where you get the money is your problem."

"You can ask your young lover to pay back, or go to your fitness instructor, or cry to your ex-boyfriend. I won't interfere. You can also hire a lawyer to sue me for divorce, but you'll have to find one from out of town. I guarantee no local lawyer will dare to challenge me. You know why I'm called Zhang Qiansheng, right?"

Zhang Qiansheng issued his final ultimatum, and the passenger door slowly opened.

"Disappear from my sight now. I need a signed contract in 24 hours. If I don't receive it, I'll make sure you and those men are ruined, and you'll never recover!"

Bang!

"Zhang Qiansheng, you bastard, scumbag, womanizer, I was blind to fall for you..."

The car door was slammed shut, and the woman began to scream hysterically on the roadside.

"Blind? I think it's more like I have poor eyesight..."

Zhang Qiansheng looked at the woman on the roadside and shook his head.

He didn't drive home as planned but headed to the suburbs, parking near an old street.

His gaze fixed on a street stall.

The stall was run by the owner alone, with her high school daughter occasionally helping out. They lived a very modest life.

Zhang Qiansheng looked at the owner, suppressing the urge to get out of the car, and sighed deeply.

This was his first wife, and they had been divorced for over ten years, with the woman leaving with nothing.

Although she had wronged him, over the years, Zhang Qiansheng's anger had faded, replaced by a sense of guilt.

He had chosen his career over his wife, which led to her infidelity. He had come to terms with this.

If he hadn't chosen to be a famous lawyer but instead worked as a legal worker, earning less but having a happy family, he could have enjoyed home-cooked meals and his daughter's cheerful "Daddy" every day, enjoying family life.

Zhang Qiansheng looked for a long time but didn't have the courage to approach. Eventually, he left.

He drove back to the city center, where his residence was a luxurious villa worth nearly 100 million yuan, covering over a thousand square meters, with a 400-square-meter garden at the entrance, a true display of opulence.

Zhang Qiansheng walked into the luxuriously decorated villa, looking at the chandelier in the living room worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, but his heart felt empty.

This house was his alone.

Zhang Qiansheng walked to the kitchen, preparing to pour a glass of wine.

It was his habit to have a drink to help him sleep.

Suddenly, he felt a breeze behind him. Before he could turn around, a black gun barrel was pressed against the back of his head.

Zhang Qiansheng didn't panic. His years as a lawyer had made him many enemies.

This wasn't the first time someone had pointed a gun at his head. He raised his hands and said calmly:

"Friend, if you're here for money, the safe is behind the painting in the living room. The code is 4396. There's 2 million yuan in cash and some jewelry inside. You can take it all, and I won't pursue you."

"Take me to the basement, where you keep your treasures!"

The intruder ignored him and said coldly, without any emotion.

"Treasures?"

Zhang Qiansheng was surprised.

His treasures were mostly art pieces, worth a few thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, but far from 2 million yuan.

Moreover, art pieces were not easy to carry. If the intruder was after money, it would be better to take the 2 million yuan and run.

"Not for money, not for my life, but for my collection. Why?"

Zhang Qiansheng couldn't understand, but since the intruder said so, he didn't argue and led him to the basement.

The basement vault was specially designed, reportedly more secure than a bank's, and even a missile couldn't break it open without the code.

However, this wasn't Zhang Qiansheng's design but the previous owner's, used to store his treasures.

Zhang Qiansheng was the second owner of the villa. He bought it and found the vault well-designed, so he used it to store his collection.

But the vault was empty when the previous owner left. He had checked, and there was nothing inside.

He entered the code, opened the vault, and saw a pile of art pieces, seemingly of little value.

The intruder pushed Zhang Qiansheng aside and headed for a corner of the vault.

He pressed a spot on the wall, and a section of it sank.

"A mechanism!"

Zhang Qiansheng was shocked.

As the current owner, he didn't know about this mechanism in the vault.

It seemed the intruder's target was related to the previous owner, not him.

The mechanism activated, and a hidden door opened.

Inside was a display stand with a golden eyeball on it.

The intruder had a portable earphone in his ear, and a voice came through.

"Yes, sir, I've obtained the item. Yes, the villa owner is with me, just an ordinary person. Understood, I'll handle it cleanly..."

The intruder ended the call, a ruthless look in his eyes.

But as he turned, Zhang Qiansheng picked up a flower pot and smashed it into his face.

Bang!

The intruder's head and the flower pot collided, and he passed out instantly.

"Damn, what is this thing? They sent armed men for it, and who are they?"

Zhang Qiansheng looked at the unconscious intruder and the golden eyeball in his hand, completely baffled.

He knew little about the previous owner, only that he was an archaeologist, but not a famous one. He had spent most of his life without finding any treasures and eventually sold the villa, disappearing.

If he had known buying a house would lead to this, he wouldn't have bought the villa for the sake of appearances.

Zhang Qiansheng took the golden eyeball and rushed out of the vault, preparing to trigger the villa's alarm, but saw several gun barrels already aimed at him.

He hadn't expected more than one intruder.

"Gentlemen, let's talk. I can hand over this item, and we can pretend nothing happened today..."

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Zhang Qiansheng tried to speak, but the guns with silencers fired.

Under the barrage of bullets, Zhang Qiansheng slowly fell to the ground, his eyelids growing heavier.

His mind flashed with images.

They were his life, his life as Zhang Qiansheng.

Though he appeared successful, he was lonely, always alone.

"I've already made a will. If I go missing or die, my billions of yuan in assets will be distributed through a foundation to them, as a way to atone for my past sins."

"The divorce contract is backed up at my law firm. Even if I don't return, the firm will handle the lawsuit for me. She won't get a penny, and the financial analyst will help me recover the 30 million yuan in expenses, so I'm not worried about her."

"The only thing I'm concerned about now is this thing in my hand. What the hell is it? It's so damn hot. These damn bastards, coming to my house with guns, what the hell are they thinking!"

Zhang Qiansheng gradually lost strength, his vision blurring.

The only thing he could see was the golden eyeball in his hand, now stained with blood.

"Damn, this thing is glowing!"

"What's happening? Why is it flying up?"

"Damn, the man is flying too. Fire, keep firing!"

"Quick, grab him, don't let him fly in!"

A series of shouts echoed in his ears.

What the hell are these bastards saying? I can't understand a word.

Zhang Qiansheng's body gradually lost weight. He knew this was the feeling of death, but why did it feel so light?