"MOM!!!"
The word exploded like thunder amidst the hustle and bustle of the stuffy market district. To most, it was simply the cry of a panicked youth, but to Wei Ruoxin, it was a frequency long lost in her life. A word she had only dared to hear in her most painful dreams for sixteen years, a word she had once thought impossible to ever hear again.
Ruoxin's body trembled violently. Her joints felt as if they were locked, but she forced her neck to turn toward the source of the voice. There, amidst the parted crowd, a handsome teenager stepped forward. His face was flushed with pure rage—a rage that at first glance resembled that of a baby sulking over a snatched candy, but the aura radiating from him was far darker and more suffocating than mere childish rage.
The young man's every step made the asphalt of the market street vibrate. Behind him, Li Yuantong followed with graceful yet deadly strides.
Wei Yan looked at no one but his mother, who was now frozen in place. As he continued walking toward the center of the encirclement, he whispered coldly to Yuantong, "Yuantong... call your men. Get all the non-essential citizens out of here. I don't want them to see too much blood being spilled."
Yuantong nodded curtly. Without needing to shout, he took out his phone and entered a code. Within seconds, several men in plainclothes who had been disguised in the market began directing the residents to move away, clearing the area around Wei Ruoxin's food stall.
Seeing Wei Yan's arrival, the previously haughty Wei family cousin grinned broadly, though his eyes flashed with envy at the handsomeness and authority of the young man before him.
"Mother? Oh... so this is your son, Ruoxin?" the cousin laughed disdainfully, wiping his slightly dusty suit. "No wonder. He has a decent face, but he's still just a bastard—"
BOOM!
Before the word "bastard" could fully leave his mouth, a small explosion sounded. The skin on his cousin's lips suddenly exploded, tearing as if cut by a deep, invisible knife. Fresh blood gushed out, soaking the neat suit he was so proud of.
"Aaaaaarrgghhhh!!!" He fell to his knees, covering his now-destroyed mouth with both hands. The pain was so intense he could no longer make a coherent sound.
In the distance, Wei Yan's hand remained in the position as if he had just pinched something in the air. He hadn't even physically touched the man.
"I don't like the way your pursed lips make a sound," Wei Yan said flatly. His eyes were now fixed on the guards and the Wei family subordinate, who were trembling at the sight of their young master being maimed in an instant.
Wei Ruoxin remained frozen. Tears streamed down her tired cheeks. She wanted to ask so many questions—where did her son get this strength? What had happened while she was gone? But her tongue felt numb.
Wei Yan now stood at the center of the conflict. The dominance he exuded made the air heavy to breathe. He turned to the subordinate and the G-Wagon guards, staring at them as if they were insects beneath his shoe.
"I was just about to have the reunion I've been waiting for for decades," Wei Yan's voice echoed, low but authoritative. "And you... you tried to take that moment away from me? Without my permission? You even dared to do it right before my eyes?"
The Wei family subordinate took a step back, his face pale, but his loyalty to his family made him try to bluff. "You... you have Wei blood in your veins! How could you hurt your own brother?! He's your kin! You should be grateful you're still recognized as Wei, you ignorant child—"
"Wei's blood?" Wei Yan interrupted with a chilling, hair-raising laugh. "To me, you're just a wild animal who happened to be dressed up as a guard animal. And he..." Wei Yan pointed at his cousin, who was still groaning on the ground. "He's just a dog in a golden cage. He can only bark, but doesn't have the guts to bite like a man."
Wei Yan spat aside, a gesture filled with contempt. "Then why can't I do it? You think this is inappropriate? Tsk. Inappropriate is when your trashy family touches my mother with your filthy hands."
Suddenly, Li Yuantong moved as fast as lightning. He charged into the circle of guards. With a few efficient martial arts moves, he broke the grip of the guards who had previously tried to grab Wei Ruoxin.
Yuantong wrapped his arms around Wei Ruoxin's shoulders and pulled her to safety behind Wei Yan. "Auntie, you're safe now," Yuantong whispered with the tenderness he only showed Wei Yan and those closest to him.
Ruoxin stared at Yuantong in confusion. "Who... who are you? And my son...?"
"You can ask your questions later, Auntie," Yuantong replied, signaling Ruoxin to remain calm. "Now, let your son settle this small matter."
Seeing their initial unit overwhelmed, an emergency signal appeared. From another market entrance, another group of guards appeared, twice as numerous as before. They dismounted from black vehicles and quickly formed a line, roughly ordering the remaining residents to move aside.
The cousin, whose mouth was now covered with a blood-red handkerchief, issued instructions with furious hand gestures. His bloodshot eyes glared at Wei Yan with unfathomable vengeance. He ordered his entire force to charge at once.
Dozens of professional guards, with muscular bodies and blunt weapons, began charging toward Wei Yan.
However, Wei Yan didn't even move from his position. He stood upright, his hands relaxed at his sides.
Every time a guard approached within two meters, Wei Yan made only a small movement—snapping his fingers at them one by one.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of bones breaking rang out in unison, resembling the sound of dry twigs being stepped on. Strangely, each of the guards struck suffered only a single, crucial fracture—either a shin, a rib, or a humerus—which caused them to lose their balance and fall to the asphalt like rotten jackfruit.
They fell one by one within seconds. Wei Yan didn't move, didn't break a sweat, and didn't take his icy gaze off his cousin.
"Is this what you brag about as 'family strength'?" Wei Yan asked, stepping forward through the pile of bodies of the guards groaning in pain.
"Is that all?" he continued in a bored tone.
The atmosphere in the market was now utterly tense. The silence, filled only by the groans of the grown men, made the Wei family subordinate fall to his knees, urinating his pants in utter fear. Before his eyes, a teenager had just crippled an elite force with a mere "pinch" of air.
Wei Ruoxin covered her mouth with her hand, her heart pounding. She looked at her son's broad, sturdy back, realizing that the little baby she had left in the orphanage for safety sixteen years ago had now returned not as a victim, but as a king wielding control over life and death.
The stench of blood mixed with the suffocating dust of the market after dozens of elite Wei Family guards lay helpless on the asphalt. Wei Yan stood amidst the devastation, his figure like a god of death descended upon the earth, cold and untouchable.
He walked slowly, past the groaning bodies, toward his cousin, who was still kneeling, clutching his mangled mouth, and his helpless subordinate. Every thud of Wei Yan's shoes on the asphalt sounded like a death knell for both of them.
Wei Yan stopped right in front of them, staring down with a gaze that could chill the very marrow of their bones.
"Do you think what I did was just basic self-defense because you disturbed my mother today?" Wei Yan began, his voice low but filled with a pressure that made the air around them heavy. "You're dead wrong!"
He pointed his index finger directly at his cousin's face, which was now trembling violently. "You've probably forgotten your rotten memories of what you said. To you, they might just be trash words uttered a dozen years ago. But I... I heard every syllable of insult that came out of your mouth sixteen years ago when I was still in your arms!"
Wei Yan's eyes flashed a faint red, radiating the rage he had stored up across time and space. "At first, I thought you were just a worthless pawn from a side branch who happened to be passing by. But hearing your shrill, arrogant voice just now... I began to remember everything. I remember every cruel word you hurled at my mother when she was thrown out like an animal! You were one of those who spat on her dignity!"
The cousin tried to shake his head frantically, blood spurting from his torn mouth, but he couldn't say anything.
Wei Yan then pointed his finger at the subordinate, who was already covered in cold sweat. "And you! Don't think I don't know or have forgotten your sweet words. You pretended to be sympathetic, pretended to want to help, but behind it you were the one who leaked my father's hiding place to that old bastard! You are the very definition of a hypocrite!"
"Young Master... I... I was only following orders..." the subordinate stammered, trying to crawl backward.
"Orders?" Wei Yan grinned faintly, a truly terrifying grin. "Then accept your destiny today."
CRACK! CRACK!
Without Wei Yan moving a hand, with just pure mental will, the two men's leg bones shattered instantly. The sound of the crack was so crisp that it sent a sharp ache through anyone who heard it. Ear-piercing screams of pain erupted in the air, but Wei Yan didn't even bat an eye.
"Later... or perhaps the day after tomorrow, I will pay a visit to the Wei Family's main residence," Wei Yan said casually, as if discussing plans for tea. He glanced at the remaining Wei guards who were still standing but too afraid to attack. "Take these two pieces of trash away. And tell that old bastard you call the Patriarch: Prepare some coffins. Lots of coffins."
The terrified guards didn't wait twice. With trembling hands, they quickly dragged the cousin and the underling into the remaining G-Wagon, then drove away at high speed, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
----
After the noise of the car engines faded, the market district suddenly fell silent. Li Yuantong had ensured the area was completely sterile from outside interference. Now, in the middle of the empty street, only the three of them remained.
Wei Yan turned slowly. The dominance and murderous aura that had enveloped him vanished instantly, replaced by the vulnerability of a child who had traveled millions of light-years just to find his home.
He looked at Wei Ruoxin. His mother.
Ruoxin stood there, her hands, rough from hard work, trembling. She stared at the young man before her, trying to find any trace of the little baby she had held tightly in her arms during the rainstorm during her escape. And behind those piercing eyes, she found him. She found the sparkle in her son's eyes.
"Mother..." Wei Yan whispered. His voice was hoarse, filled with emotions suppressed for decades.
"Son... Is this really you? Yan-er?" Ruoxin's voice broke.
Every emotional dam they had built—Ruoxin with her 16 years of suffering, and Wei Yan with his wanderings across the multiverse—collapsed in an instant. The sense of kinship that had been lost now poured out like a flood.
Wei Yan sprinted and threw himself into his mother's arms. Ruoxin hugged her son with incredible strength, as if if she let go even a little, he would disappear back into the mists of fate.
"Mother! I'm home! I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm late!" Wei Yan wept uncontrollably on his mother's shoulder. The maestro who could bring down the stars was now just a sobbing child in his mother's arms.
"My child... Yan-er... You're alive... You've returned to Mother..." Ruoxin wailed, her tears soaking Wei Yan's expensive clothes. She kissed her son's forehead and hair repeatedly, confirming that this wasn't just a hallucination of her overworked mind.
Li Yuantong, standing a few steps behind them, turned his face away. His own eyes welled with tears at the sight. He knew all too well the burden Wei Yan had been carrying, and seeing him finally find his refuge was something that melted his hardened heart.
"Don't ever leave again, son... Never..." Ruoxin sobbed.
"Never, Mother. This time, no one will be able to separate us. Whoever dares try... I'll make sure they never see the sun tomorrow," Wei Yan promised through his tears, tightening his embrace on the woman who was the only reason he still wanted to call himself human.
Under the market district sky, which was beginning to yellow with twilight, the bloody reunion ended in a warm embrace that redeemed decades of torturous longing.