Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

A video window pops up.

The image is a bit shaky, and the resolution isn't very high. The background appears to be a somewhat cluttered room.

A woman with a gentle demeanor but a deep weariness appeared on the screen.

She was beautiful, with a resemblance of seventy percent to Xie Wang in her features, but her eyes were filled with anxiety, and she would occasionally glance warily towards the door.

It is the mother.

She was the mother who always smiled gently in Xie Wang's memory, but who ended up being mangled and bloodied in a terrible car accident.

Xie Wang's breathing stopped for a moment.

He bit his lip hard, his eyes instantly turning red, greedily gazing at the long-unseen face, his fingers hovering in mid-air, yet he dared not touch the screen.

"Little rascal..."

The woman in the video spoke, her voice trembling slightly despite her best efforts to remain calm:

"By the time you can open this file, your mother will probably no longer be in this world."

"Being able to crack this layer of encryption shows that you've grown up, and... you've inherited your mother's talent. You must become a very skilled computer expert, right? Mom is so proud of you."

Xie Wang's tears fell silently onto the keyboard.

The grievances and longing that had been building up for years finally burst forth at this moment.

The mother in the video took a deep breath and spoke faster, as if she was in a hurry:

"Xiao Wang, remember what I'm about to say. It concerns your life."

"The hard drive your mother left you originally contained that core algorithm. It was the culmination of her life's work, and also the root cause of our family's destruction."

She paused for a moment, her eyes hardening with determination:

"But I deleted it."

"That data was too dangerous. To get it, Tianlong Group went so far as to set a trap to get your father addicted to gambling, causing him to incur huge debts, and even creating various 'accidents' to threaten me... I can't leave it to you; it's a curse. I've completely destroyed the data; from now on, that data will never exist in the world."

"Tianlong Group".

Upon hearing these four words, Xie Wang's pupils contracted sharply, and his teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound.

A business tycoon in Jiangcheng, and the biggest rival of the Su Group.

So this is the mastermind behind it all.

The mother in the video had red eyes and a choked voice:

"They've been following me lately, they even tampered with my brake pads... I know I probably can't escape, and if something happens to me, it'll be their doing."

"Xiao Wang, promise your mother that before you have absolute strength, you must never let anyone know that you are my son, and never try to fight against the Tianlong Group like an egg against a rock. Staying alive is the most important thing."

"And...about your father."

The mother's eyes became complicated, filled with pain and reluctance:

"I know he's changed. He hits you, yells at you, and ruined our family. But he used to... really love you and this family. He was tricked by those people and driven crazy, which is why he's like this."

"Xiao Wang, if possible... Mom hopes you can try to influence him and give him a hand. After all, in this world, besides me, he is your only family."

Xie Wang closed his eyes in pain, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.

The only relative?

That scoundrel who only knows how to smash him with bottles and treats him like a cash cow?

But... his mother said that he was driven insane by Tianlong Group.

A deeper hatred burned in Xie Wang's chest, almost threatening to devour him.

At the end of the video, the mother wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes, revealing a pale yet warm smile:

"Although the data has been destroyed, Mom left you some money in a secret account overseas. It's money Mom secretly saved over the years, and it's very clean."

"It's not much, but enough for you to finish college and live a decent life. You don't need to crack anything; the website address and password are in the document below."

"Xiao Wang, live well and see this world for your mother."

The screen flickered.

The video ends.

The image freezes on the mother's last smile, her final tenderness left to the world.

Xie Wang sat in the darkness, motionless for a long time.

The only sounds were the static from my headphones and the occasional whistling of the wind outside the window.

A long time passed.

With trembling hands, he opened the text document.

Enter the URL.

Enter your birthday.

Account Balance: 5,000,000.00 USD

Five million US dollars.

More than 30 million RMB.

For Xie Wang, who once had to collect recyclables to pay for his tuition, this was an unimaginable sum of money.

But looking at that string of zeros, he felt no joy.

"mom……"

Xie Wang murmured softly, his voice hoarse and broken.

This is money to buy your life.

It's a blood debt that Tianlong Group owes her.

He slammed his laptop shut and stood up.

He won't squander this money.

When he grows up, he will use this money as the handle and his own skills as the blade to personally eradicate the cancerous tumor that is Tianlong Group and avenge his mother!

……

4:30 a.m., Jiangcheng West Suburb Cemetery.

Before dawn, mist lingered in the mountains and forests, carrying a biting chill.

Xie Wang was wearing a black windbreaker and holding a bunch of white chrysanthemums he had just bought from a roadside flower shop.

He walked up the slippery stone steps one by one.

This is where the forgotten people of this city are buried.

Finally, he stopped in an inconspicuous corner.

The tombstone was old, covered with withered leaves and dust.

The woman in the photo is still young and gentle; it was the last photo taken before her car accident.

[The Tomb of Xie Wan, a Loving Mother]

Xie Wang knelt down.

He didn't mind the dirt; he used his sleeve to wipe away the dust from the tombstone bit by bit until the photo became clear again.

He placed the bouquet of white chrysanthemums in front of the monument, his forehead pressed against the cold stone.

"Mom, I've come to see you."

The boy's voice sounded particularly lonely in the morning mist.

"I saw the video."

"I received the money. Dad... I also sent him in to sober up for a few days."

Xie Wang closed his eyes, feeling the coolness emanating from the stone tablet, like his mother's cool hand stroking his forehead.

"You told me not to mess with the Tianlong Group and to live a good life."

Xie Wang raised his head, the bloodshot veins in his eyes still visible, yet a dark and crazed flame ignited within them:

"But I can't do it."

"They killed you, ruined Dad, and now they're going to ruin me."

"Mom, it's okay that you destroyed that core data."

"I will find it again. I will become stronger than you think."

"One day, I will make those people from Tianlong Group kneel before your grave and repent."

A mountain breeze blew by, swirling up a few fallen leaves.

Xie Wang stood up and took a deep look at the tombstone.

At this moment, a faint white light appeared on the eastern horizon.

The first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, shining on him and illuminating the long shadow cast behind him.

The shadow was no longer hunched over, no longer cowering.

"I'm gone."

Xie Wang turned around and did not look back.

He had to rush back to school.

There is his light, there is Su Qinghe.

That was the pillar that sustained him on his path of revenge.