It was from that moment onwards that Yun You understood, in this world, the only true justice would always be upheld by the people themselves.

Shen Ye knew this too.

So, like Yun You, he left his hometown where he had lived for over a decade.

Only, he and Yun You chose different paths; he went to the border region and became a mercenary.

In this era, being a mercenary was the easiest way to achieve class leap, but at the same time, it was the profession with the highest mortality rate, bar none.

On average, out of every hundred mercenaries, only fifty would complete the initial trial task, with the rest becoming food for the beasts of the wild.

And among the fifty survivors, forty were likely to die within a year, with seven surviving no more than two years, which marked the standard career length of a seasoned mercenary.

In other words, out of a hundred aspiring mercenaries, only three would eventually become seasoned mercenaries.

Therefore, at the time, no one had high hopes for Shen Ye, a boy who was not yet an adult.

But how can one explain...

Sometimes, it is those without any attachments who exhibit terrifying potential.

Shen Ye was no exception.

In the span of a year, he completed hundreds of missions, earning the title of seasoned mercenary.

In two years, he amassed enough money to live in the Upper City, enough to buy himself an apartment in the coveted B District.

Yet, he never spent any of that money.

People couldn't understand his intentions; wasn't becoming a mercenary all about earning money to enjoy life?

Three years...

Shen Ye had accumulated a total of one hundred million Silver Cannon.

And this was the first stepping stone towards realizing his ideals...

He used the money to purchase a Genetic Potion that was only circulated within giant corporate laboratories.

This potion was meant to defy destiny, offering a chance to become an Apprentice Death God.

Even though the potion was still in the experimental stage at the time, highly unstable, more likely to cause the user to explode and die than become a god, Shen Ye had no other choice.

In this world, a mere mortal dreaming of establishing order was extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Only an Apprentice Death God, and only an Apprentice Death God, had the power to interfere with the rules.

Only by becoming an Apprentice Death God would Shen Ye have hope for revenge.

...

His luck was good.

Even though the potion made him experience countless deaths, in the end, he shed his mortal body and became a true Apprentice Death God.

Although the Sequence he received was known as the "waste sequence" of the Tuner, Shen Ye didn't think so.

Where there's a will, there's a way; he believed that as long as he didn't give up and continued to train, even a waste sequence could shine brightly.

He quietly trained his strength and continued his life as a mercenary, honing his combat skills and mindset between life and death.

At 20, he advanced to Tier Two.

At 26, Shen Ye reached Tier Three, his speed of advancement even surpassed many of the Death Gods from prominent families.

At 31, riding the corporate warfare wave, he shone in countless battles, gradually earning a reputation for himself, and advanced to Tier Four, becoming a respected Human Demigod.

Returning in glory, he fulfilled the vow he made, using thunderous means to clean out all the gangs still dealing in super films in Z District.

Unfortunately, due to the time that had passed, the gang that ruined his family had long since vanished, and its main members had scattered, but it didn't matter...

In the hands of a Human Demigod, they couldn't escape.

Shen Ye spent over a year hunting down those bastards who profited off human lives, exterminating them one by one, be they gang henchmen who had fallen to the slums or gang leaders who had become Nest City's upper-class; anyone involved in that past event was spared none.

His thunderous methods sent shivers through the entire Z District; those who once acted arrogantly, grabbing people randomly on the streets, had to turn into sewer rats in his presence, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Overall, during that period, Z District's law and order improved significantly.

However, as the saying goes, "money makes people lose their minds."

When the Upper City folks discovered that no new super films had been released for a long time, they further increased the film purchase prices.

Seduced by enormous profits, the gangs, which had been quiet, began to move again, only this time they no longer caught people brazenly; instead, they bought and sold people secretly, filming new movies.

Later, Shen Ye spent three whole years hunting them down.

No matter what methods he used, no matter how many Death God partners he summoned, it was all to no avail.

The super film industry continued to thrive unchecked, even showing signs of further expansion.

After discovering hundreds more underground gangs in Z District, Shen Ye finally understood one thing.

Just demolishing gangs was only treating the symptoms and not the cause.

Where there is demand, there is a market; if the demand isn't eradicated at the source, the filming of super films will never cease.

So on that day, Shen Ye smoked through the night and finally made a bold decision.

He didn't even tell his most trusted person, Hikamu, about this.

He knew that in the eyes of the world, this matter was shocking, but he didn't care... because from a young age, he was determined to improve people's lives, to free his hometown from that foul and dirty state.

For this, he was willing to sacrifice his life.

March 2073, Awakening of Insects.

Without notifying anyone, he went alone to the largest luxury community of Nest City Upper City B District—Dragon and Phoenix Manor.

The manor's security didn't stop this cloaked man; after all, this was the Upper District, let alone major crimes, even petty theft was rare to see, so even the security personnel weren't that vigilant.

Moreover, Shen Ye's attire clearly showed he was an Apprentice Death God, and even in the Upper District, Death Gods held a high status, surpassing wealthy people and council officials.

"This lord must be here visiting relatives..."

The security didn't think much of it.

But soon, he would realize just how wrong he was.

...

Once Shen Ye formally entered Dragon and Phoenix Manor, he took out a list.

It was a list he had spent hundreds of millions of Silver Cannon on, commissioning a whole hacker team to investigate for him.

Everyone on the list had, to varying degrees, been involved in the purchase of super films.

In other words, they were accomplices responsible for turning Z District into a living hell!

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Ye drew his blade from his coat, going through the list person by person, killing them one by one!

For anyone appearing on the list, Shen Ye had only one approach: a single decisive strike.

He wouldn't employ the extreme, brutal methods of slaughter seen in super films, but even simple beheadings and limb severing were enough to instill unprecedented terror and panic among those Upper City people who had never personally experienced such violence.

Screams erupted one after another, as Shen Ye slaughtered from the manor's main avenue to each villa, from day into night.

No one could stop him; in the face of a Tier Four Demigod, the Upper City's security personnel and guards were as fragile as ants, and even other similarly powerful Apprentice Death Gods were unwilling to meddle, watching from afar.

After all, facing a Tier Four Death God blinded by rage was certainly not a wise move.

So by the end, Shen Ye slaughtered everyone on the list in one night.

Not a single Upper City lord survived his blade.

Only when the final target fell did Shen Ye let out a long breath.

He knew his revenge had finally come to an end.