Volume 1, Chapter 149: Fracture

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The living room was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

After a long silence, Ghost rose to his feet, rushed into his room, and roughly pulled out a suitcase to pack his things.

The others followed. Mrs. Xu stepped forward and snatched the suitcase from his hands.

“A-You, what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “Are you running away from home? Over something this trivial?”

“Trivial?” Ghost gave a bitter smile, his face deathly pale. “You hired a mercenary to cripple my hand, and you call that trivial?”

“Your mother already told you they wouldn’t cripple your hand. You’d still be able to live normally afterward. Besides, if you had listened to us, we wouldn’t have been forced to take such measures!”

Ghost trembled from head to toe. “You’re blaming me now for not listening, but you were the ones who agreed to let me become a professional player. I used to think you were the best parents in the world. I thought you loved me so much that you were willing to compromise for my sake. But it was all a lie.”

His throat felt bitter, and he forced the words out with difficulty. “You never saw me as an independent person. You only wanted me to follow the path you approved of. You never cared about how I felt.”

“That’s enough,” his father said. “A-You, how could you think that of us? If we didn’t care about your feelings, we never would have agreed to let you become a professional player. You’ve been at it for years. You’ve had your fun. Now retire immediately and devote yourself to your studies.”

“Impossible,” Ghost refused flatly.

His father grew increasingly furious. “Do you really have to oppose your mother and me at every turn?”

Ghost’s temper flared as well. “After doing something like this, what right do you have to call yourselves my parents?”

“Xu Jinyou, what did you just say?”

Ghost fell silent. He simply snatched the suitcase back from his mother and continued packing.

Mrs. Xu tried to take it from him again, but Zhang Shaodan stopped her.

With a livid expression, Zhang said, “Allow me to inform you that we already have evidence. What you’ve done is illegal. The moment we report you, you won’t escape legal punishment.”

Mrs. Xu looked at Ghost. “A-You, you wouldn’t do that, would you? You wouldn’t send your father and mother to prison, would you?”

The captain of the Jade Dragon team let out a cold snort. “When you did this, why didn’t you think about the consequences? Why are you only afraid now?”

He had once held Ghost’s parents in great respect. After this incident, not a shred of that respect remained.

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But Ghost’s father turned to the Jade Dragon captain. “What do you know? Can you play games for the rest of your life? Once you retire at twenty-five or twenty-six and return to school, do you know how many years behind everyone else you’ll be?”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way,” Xiao Rui said. “The years we spend as professional players aren’t wasted.”

Xiao Rui came from an excellent family. His grandmother was a remarkable woman, and after he became a professional player, she had spoken with him privately.

In the eyes of many older people, becoming an esports player was nothing more than playing games—a career with no future. But his grandmother did not think that way.

She supported him in doing what he loved. She had even told him that after retiring, if he wished, he could continue working in esports. As long as he could create value with his own hands, she would support him.

“My grandmother once told me that as long as you have the will and the ability, you can start over at any age. Besides, the esports industry is enormous. Even if you don’t remain a player, there are plenty of other jobs. Ghost is so talented and so popular that after retiring, he could become a coach, a commentator, or even join the league as—”

“Shut up!” Ghost’s father angrily cut him off. “Are you actually suggesting that he waste his entire life in this industry?”

Zhang Shaodan tugged at Xiao Rui’s arm. “Don’t waste your breath. They’re prejudiced against our industry. Nothing you say will change their minds.”

By then, Ghost had finished packing the belongings he wanted to take. His parents tried to stop him, but the Jade Dragon captain and Zhang Shaodan blocked them together.

Dragging his suitcase, Ghost reached the door. He stood in the courtyard and looked back at his parents.

“From now on, I won’t be coming back.”

“A-You!” his father roared. “How dare you!”

Tears streamed down Mrs. Xu’s face. “A-You, your father and mother know we were wrong, all right? Don’t be so stubborn.”

“I’m not being stubborn. I’m an adult. I know what I’m doing, and I know what I’m capable of. You’re the ones who committed an act forbidden by law. Shouldn’t you be reflecting on yourselves instead of blaming me?”

“And what then?” His father’s face turned ashen. “You’ve lost your way. As your parents, don’t we have the right to lead you back onto the proper path?”

Ghost sighed. He felt that Zhang Shaodan had been right when she spoke to Xiao Rui. Continuing to argue really was a waste of breath.

“Let it end here. I won’t pursue what you did in the past. But if you insist on remaining blind to your mistakes, I will uphold justice even against my own family.”

Ghost turned away. “I won’t be coming back.”

He no longer paid any attention to his parents’ cries behind him and pulled his suitcase toward the Jade Dragon captain’s car.

“Let’s go,” Zhang Shaodan called to the others.

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The Jade Dragon captain was the last to leave. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back at Ghost’s parents.

“By the way, do you know why that mercenary failed yesterday as well?”

Mr. and Mrs. Xu stared at him.

He gave a cold laugh. “Because our manager took the knife meant for Ghost. He lost a great deal of blood and had to be rushed to the hospital for surgery. He’s still lying in a hospital bed right now.”

Mr. and Mrs. Xu stopped in their tracks.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Do you know how much blood Ghost lost when he was stabbed at the All-Star match two years ago? The floor of the restroom was stained red. Oh, you didn’t know. By the time you arrived at the hospital, Ghost’s hand had already been bandaged.”

Pain seized both their hearts.

“Or perhaps you did know, but you simply didn’t care. You didn’t care whether your own son would be injured. You didn’t care whether he would be in pain.”

Mrs. Xu shook her head desperately. “That’s not true. We were heartbroken too, but this was the best solution.”

“The best solution?” The Jade Dragon captain sounded as though he had just heard an absurd joke. “Did it never occur to you that something could go wrong? That mercenary had a knife. If he failed to subdue Ghost in one strike and the two of them became locked in a struggle, could you guarantee that nothing would happen?”

The couple were left speechless. His father could only stammer, “That wouldn’t have happened. The mercenary we hired was the best in the business. A-You would have been fine…”

“Even now, you still refuse to admit that you were wrong. You’re still making excuses for yourselves. If you want my honest opinion, you not only have no right to be Xu Jinyou’s parents—you hardly have the right to call yourselves human.”

Leaving those cutting words behind, he strode out through the Xu family gate.

The once-kind and considerate Mr. and Mrs. Xu no longer existed in his eyes.

He had once envied Ghost’s family so deeply. He had once loved coming here as Ghost’s guest.

He would never set foot in the Xu household again.

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