Chapter 4: Not a Single Good One Among Them

He didn’t know why, but whenever he panicked, he would lose control of his bladder.

This had often happened back at school when classmates bullied him, earning him constant ridicule and ultimately making him hate going to school.

Zhou Chengxi’s brows furrowed tightly as he listened to Fourth Brother. Chen Liyang had indeed acted out of character earlier, but Zhou Chengxi refused to believe he had genuinely turned over a new leaf.

A man who had done evil for years couldn’t change for the better unless his soul had been replaced.

“Who knows what he’s up to? Let me take you to change your pants, and we’ll figure everything out when Eldest and Second Brother get back.” He felt no disgust toward his brother’s incontinence. Instead, he hated himself for not arriving in time when Chen Liyang beat him before.

Even if Chen Liyang had truly repented, a simple apology couldn’t undo the damage he had caused.

The scars he had left on the siblings would be repaid twofold one day.

Meanwhile, Chen Liyang walked into the bathroom and finally caught sight of his appearance in this life in the mirror above the sink.

Looking at his reflection nearly killed him on the spot. To be fair, to end up as a live-in son-in-law, the original host must have had decent looks.

But now, his cheeks were swollen like a pig’s head, and the dried blood at the corner of his mouth made him look like a man-eating monster.

Not to mention his dark, zombie-like eyes paired with yellow, bird’s-nest hair. The white short-sleeved T-shirt on his chest even bore a prominent footprint, making it easy to imagine how thoroughly the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King^[1] had stripped the original host of his dignity.

Staring at his reflection, looking like neither human nor ghost, Chen Liyang looked to the heavens in wordless despair.

What kind of taste did the original host have? He was a father of five and still dyed his hair yellow, as if terrified people wouldn’t know he was a punk.

Stripping off his clothes, Chen Liyang took a quick shower.

He had no external wounds, only internal ones, yet the touch of water still made him grimace in pain.

While he was showering, Eldest and Second Brother returned home, backpacks on their shoulders.

Both wore faded school uniforms and buzz cuts, which lent a touch of maturity to their childish faces.

The two brothers looked nothing alike. The taller one had a fiercer demeanor, his tightly pressed lips exuding an intimidating aura.

The shorter one was gentle and refined. Though clad in a tattered uniform, he carried a strange, tragic elegance.

As soon as they entered the living room, both instinctively glanced toward Chen Liyang’s bedroom.

The living room was empty, and no shouting came from the bedroom.

Only then did the two walk toward their own room. The self-built house they rented was a single-story bungalow with three bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a courtyard.

Although the house was reasonably large, the surrounding environment was terrible. This urban village sat right next to a landfill, and every summer, the stench became unbearable.

On top of that, the houses here were all run-down structures built in the nineties.

Even though the location was close to the city center, it was hard to rent out, let alone sell.

They lived here simply because it was cheap: an eighty-square-meter detached house for only five hundred Yuan a month.

Chen Liyang occupied the largest, south-facing master bedroom, while Eldest and Second Brother shared a room with their youngest sister.

Third and Fourth Brother shared another room.

Inside the room, a little girl sat on the bed. Her hair was a tangled mess, and she wore hand-me-downs from her older brother that slipped off, exposing half of her shoulder.

She sat there numbly, her big, round eyes devoid of any spark.

Even when her two brothers walked in, she didn’t react at all, completely lost in her own world.

Seeing that their sister was awake, the two set down their backpacks and walked over to the bed.

“Wanning, you’re awake? Do you want to get up?” Zhou Chengdong asked, his eyes softening as he reached out to pat her head.

He was met only with endless silence, though he seemed used to her lack of response.

Zhou Chengdong smiled and lifted his sister from the bed, while Zhou Chengnan stepped forward to put her sandals on for her.

It was early June, and the weather was sweltering. There was no air conditioner in the room, only a single standing fan.

To make matters worse, Chen Liyang had set a rule that they could only run it briefly before going to sleep at night, and never during the day.

If he caught them breaking the rule, he would move the fan into his own bedroom.

Because of this, Zhou Wanning’s shirt was soaked through with sweat, yet she acted as though she couldn’t feel a thing.

She used to talk. She would smile and call out for her mother and brothers.

But after their mother went abroad on a business trip, no word came from her for over half a year, nor did she send any money home.

Once they moved to the urban village, Chen Liyang’s temperament changed drastically. On top of enduring cold and hunger, they had to suffer his verbal abuse and beatings.

Home became a living hell. Zhou Wanning watched her brothers get beaten every day. At first, she would cry in terror, but after Chen Liyang kicked her across the room once, she gradually stopped talking altogether.

Over the three years they had lived here, she had not spoken a single word or shed a single tear, like a rag doll without a soul.

Just as the two led their sister out of the room by the hand, they ran straight into Chen Liyang coming out of the bathroom.

Yesterday, when Chen Liyang was carried back like a dead dog, they had prayed in their dreams that he would just die.

Even becoming orphans was better than enduring daily abuse from this stepfather.

Yet when they saw him walking around completely fine aside from a few bruises, a flash of disappointment crossed both brothers’ eyes.

It really was true: the good die young, but villains live forever.

What surprised them, however, was that Chen Liyang didn’t unleash a storm of curses upon seeing them. Instead, he took the initiative to greet them: “Classes over?”

Though his tone was warm and gentle, inside he was screaming like a groundhog^[2].

That tall, fierce-looking teenager was definitely Eldest Brother Zhou Chengdong, the future martial arts prodigy who would form a mercenary team. He would take any job for money and kill anyone without hesitation, taking no fewer than three thousand lives.

As for the shorter, handsome youth, he was undoubtedly Second Brother Zhou Chengnan, a genius doctor in the future medical world. By day, he would practice medicine and save lives, revered by the world.

But by night, he was a total psychopathic serial killer, creating dozens of perfect crime scenes with airtight alibis.

The police knew full well that he had the strongest motive, but constrained by a lack of evidence, they were unable to arrest him and bring him to justice.

In the end, this game of cat and mouse only came to a close when he exposed himself. Otherwise, had he simply quit while he was ahead, he could have lived out the rest of his days in carefree comfort.

As for the youngest girl, her future achievements were no less formidable.

Though she didn’t commit murder herself, she was a ruthless, top-tier lawyer, a true femme fatale.

For money, she would get murderers acquitted while their victims ended up sentenced to prison instead, driving many to their deaths. Safe to say, not a single one of these five siblings was a good person.

Yet one had to admit they were all remarkably intelligent. Had they not gone down the path of crime, there was no doubt they would have excelled in their respective fields.

Now that all five major villains who wanted him dead were accounted for, Chen Liyang felt immense pressure, yet at the same time, a faint surge of excitement.

If he could reform them and guide them back onto the right path, wouldn’t he turn out to be the ultimate winner in life?