As one of the four dominating Kurfürst families in the Imperium of True Human Beings, the Li family had a long history. Long before the Imperium was established, it was already a noble family in the Star Ocean Republic and controlled the military, politics, and business.
After thousands of years of development, there were a lot of secondary families. Counting the younger generation of the core bloodline, there were at least eight thousand of them every year.
With so many family members, naturally, they were of different backgrounds. Not every one of them could grow up to be a talent.
However, most of the family members had received the rigorous elite education of the family, and they had been raised to be decisive and ruthless since they were little.
Even the brutal bandits in the Land of Sins who killed without blinking were as harmless as lambs whose teeth had been plucked in front of the seemingly gentle, elegant young men.
But this "Li Jialing" was an anomaly.
It was said that he was born in a secondary family of the Li family. His father was an unknown warrior in the family who died on the battlefield a long time ago. His mother died of dystocia when she gave birth to him.
Therefore, he had been living in the "Training Yard" of the family as an orphan. When he grew up, he was fostered in the residences of the big shots of the family, where he studied with the big shots and handled the daily chores for them. He was essentially a servant who was not a servant.
Originally, the fate of such an orphan from a collateral branch was either an ordinary warrior of the family or an even more obscure worker. Perhaps after working diligently for a big shot for decades, they would go to the family's new business on a desolate planet to serve as a manager or something like that.
But Li Jialing was lucky enough to be noticed by "Li Lingfeng", one of the top experts in the middle generation of the Li family, and he was often brought around by him.
Li Lingfeng and "Li Linghai", the queen of the dynasty, were known as the "Twin Pearls" of the Li family. They were both powerful people who were very likely to be the next leader of the family.
Not just the person that he was interested in, even a dog that he was interested in would be more awesome than certain experts at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium.
As a result, Li Jialing was able to enter the circle of the most distinguished descendants of the Li family.
Like all the noble families of the Imperium, the Li family did not particularly value bloodline but advocated the cruel competition where the strong preyed on the weak.
As long as they were strong enough, the collateral descendants would be able to kill the heir of the main family, and they would still be able to enter the main family and obtain the true inheritance of the Li family.
Therefore, those core disciples were rather wary of Li Jialing at first. They thought that Li Lingfeng had noticed a certain particularly brutal vibe in him, and that was why Li Lingfeng treated him differently.
But as it turned out, after a few days of contact, they found that Li Jialing was a complete wimp, a coward, a loser, and a joke!
Strength was another matter altogether. In any case, with the Li family's wealth and technology, even if it was really a piece of trash without the strength to even truss a chicken, with astronomical resources, they could still forcibly refine it into a barely passable warrior.
However, this useless fellow had an extremely cowardly personality. Not to mention killing people, he didn't even dare to kill a chicken.
Humans were born to be evil. Young people always bullied the weak and feared the strong. The young people of the Imperium of True Human Beings were particularly so.
Li Jialing soon became the target for all the central descendants of the family to vent their pressure on.
At first, some people were wary of Li Lingfeng's attitude.
However, other than sending Li Jialing to a special school that was dedicated to the training of the core disciples of the family, Li Lingfeng had never asked anything about him, as if he had completely forgotten him.
Once, when Li Lingfeng's biological grandson asked him about Li Jialing cautiously, the big shot of the Li family raised his head in confusion. "Li Jialing? What Li Jialing? "
It seemed that it was just an unintentional move that Li Lingfeng made on the spur of the moment. Perhaps the loser's father had once interacted with Li Lingfeng, but it was definitely not a big deal. Right now, Li Lingfeng had already forgotten the loser!
In the core school of the family, Li Jialing immediately became a target that everybody could bully and humiliate.
Or rather, if the dog feces in the school had legs, they would stomp on Li Jialing's face every day.
Many people said that Li Jialing had survived to this day because he was so useless that whoever killed him would be mocked by his companions.
He was just everybody's toy and a public punching bag. Nothing more.
However, on this trip to "Manjusaka, the City in the Sky" to observe the trial of the seniors, Li Lingfeng, the big shot of the family who led the team, suddenly remembered the loser for some reason and specifically asked to bring him along.
The young people had been dissatisfied for a long time. Just now, the loser was bold enough to vomit in public, which was a great humiliation for the Li family. A lot of them were infuriated and determined to kill him.
Li Jialing had long been used to everything. He wiped the leftovers on his body in silence, without the slightest expression on his pale face. He was utterly unmoved by the mockery within the family, the confusion of other families, and the result that he would definitely be killed in a few days.
His life seemed to not belong to him and was just an unimportant game.
Li Jialing lowered his eyes, unwilling to watch the gory war on the light beam anymore. He was about to hide in a corner of the hall when he suddenly sensed two pairs of eyes that were both cold and scorching. He couldn't help but shudder.
Li Lingfeng was looking at him in silence not far away.
The powerful man in the Imperium of True Human Beings, the blood brother of the current queen "Li Linghai", and the great man who could mobilize thousands of starships and millions of men of sacrifice at any moment, had a graceful appearance that was entirely different from his identity.
His face was as smooth as jade, his eyes were like shooting stars, and his long hair reached his shoulders. He was gentle and elegant. Although he was more than two hundred years old, he looked like a young scholar who had just graduated from a university. His every movement was indescribably elegant.
Li Jialing's eyelashes shivered. Lowering his head and biting his lips, he walked toward Li Lingfeng obediently.
The young people of the Li family who had been bullying him blatantly a moment ago were greatly confused, but they did not have the courage to go forward and ask.
When Li Lingfeng and Li Jialing turned into the corridor outside of the hall, they looked at each other in confusion, not understanding the relationship between the big shot of the family and the "shame of the family".
In the corridor, Li Lingfeng and Li Jialing looked at each other in silence. The atmosphere was rather subtle.
"Why haven't you done anything when you have been bullied?"
His hands behind his back, Li Lingfeng looked at the "weak" young man and said casually, "Are you going to hold it in until you are really killed by them? As long as you yawn and kill a couple of them casually, nobody will dare bully you anymore. "
Biting his lips hard, Li Jialing was silent for a moment before he said softly, "Your grandsons are among them."
"I have a lot of grandsons, great-grandsons, and great-grandsons," Li Lingfeng said.
"It is not a big deal even if a couple of them die, not to mention that they are doing it for you."
Excruciating pain and stubbornness beamed out of Li Jialing's eyes. He still shook his head and said, "I — I don't want to kill anyone. I know that as long as I do, a dam will be completely broken, and I will not be able to control myself at all!
"Is it enough to kill a couple of them? That's impossible. You are lying to me. After I kill a couple of them, you will certainly arrange stronger opponents for me. You want me to kill another thirty to fifty, then another three to five hundred, and then another three to five thousand. This cruel experiment will never have an end.
"Since I can't get away from you in any way, I would rather not kill any of them. If I have to die, I'll just die!"
Li Lingfeng put on a smile of comfort. "You are very smart, and you are getting smarter and smarter."
"It is you who have made me so smart."
A bitter smile popped up on the young man's pale and young face. "Smart enough to figure out my identity and fate and realize that I am just a special 'test subject', no different from the sinners on the Land of Sins at all."
"I think more and more highly of you."
Li Lingfeng's eyes turned deep and mysterious as he mumbled, "I really hope that you can unleash all your potential. What a terrifying scene it will be exactly? 'Somebody' will certainly be shocked."
"What if I don't let you get what you want?"
Summoning his courage, Li Jialing revealed the side that he had never shown in front of the young people of the Li family. Clenching his fists, he said, "You can build me into a terrifying monster, but I cannot carry out the cruel slaughter as you wish. What will you do? Kill me?"
Li Lingfeng was amused.
"In the past ten years, I have spent so many efforts and resources to raise you. You should know best how complicated and successful the experiments and refinements were, shouldn't you?"
The future leader of the Li family looked at the young man thoughtfully and said, "You are my most precious wealth. How can I waste you for nothing? Besides, your performance today is within my expectations. This is sort of an interesting game between 'somebody' and me, isn't it?
"Trust me. One day, you will recognize your nature and obey your real fate. You will even inherit the strength of the entire Li family!"
Li Jialing's body shook, and he couldn't have been more shocked.
It was the first time that he had heard the last sentence that Li Lingfeng said.
"What — what do you mean exactly?"
The young man's eyes seemed to have grown teeth, and blood spots the size of needles burst out of his face. He half begged and half bellowed, "Tell me the truth. Who are my parents exactly? Who is the 'somebody' that you always talk about? Why did you choose me for such cruel refinements? Why did you force me? Why did you do everything?"
"If you want to know the answer so badly, just listen to the real voice in your heart. Do not be bound by the nonexistent rules. Just slaughter to your heart's content!"
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