Sunwest Penitentiary, Anshin Province.

Brandon Caldwell looked up at those seven huge gilded characters, and for a second, all kinds of feelings hit him at once. But above everything else, one thing stood out.

Relief.

He was finally out.

Back then, Brandon had been a somewhat well-known traditional physician. When he treated Aubrey Garrison, the spoiled young heiress of Bonwell Pharma Group, she happened to discover the medicinal liquor he brewed himself.

And the moment she saw it, she set her sights on it.

More precisely, on that formula for Five-Flavor Wine.

At first, Aubrey tried the civilized route. She offered money and wanted to buy the recipe outright. But his master had warned him long ago: no matter what happened, that secret formula could never be passed on.

So Brandon refused. Flat out.

When money didn’t work, Aubrey tried every trick she could think of. Soft pressure, hard pressure, coaxing, baiting—none of it got her what she wanted. In the end, she switched tactics completely and came at him like a storm, chasing after him with almost absurd intensity.

Brandon had known, even then, that she was after the recipe.

He knew.

But knowing was one thing. Resisting was another.

He still fell for her.

Hard.

Just like that, Aubrey got what she wanted. Bonwell Pharma Group launched the medicinal liquor, and in less than a year, it raked in over a billion.

Her wealth skyrocketed overnight.

And once Brandon had outlived his usefulness, Aubrey naturally stopped pretending. She wanted to dump him and cut him off clean.

But at the time, Brandon was in too deep. He had given her real feelings, real trust. How could he possibly accept that kind of ending? Of course he refused. No way was he agreeing to break up just because she said so.

And Aubrey?

She sent him to prison.

He stayed there until today.

“Aubrey Garrison...” Brandon narrowed his eyes, his jaw tightening. “I was seriously blind back then, falling for a woman like you. But what you probably never saw coming... is that prison actually turned out to be my lucky break. I cultivated true qi in there.”

Since he was young, Brandon had followed his master and learned all kinds of strange arts and secret techniques. The most important among them was martial training—cultivating until he could sense qi.

But in the world of martial arts, that step was insanely hard. Out of ten thousand people who trained, maybe not even one could develop qi sense.

Yet Brandon did it.

He spent two years in prison training in silence, grinding himself down day after day, and one year ago, he finally condensed true qi.

That changed everything.

With true qi, many of the skills his master had taught him could finally be used for real. He was no longer the same man he used to be.

Not even close.

“Aubrey, just wait,” he said under his breath, his gaze turning cold. “Everything I lost, I’m taking back. And your Garrison family? You’ll pay it back a thousandfold. Ten thousandfold.”

With that thought, Brandon stopped lingering and strode away from the prison gates.

But the moment he reached the bus stop, his eyes sharpened.

Several van doors slammed open one after another.

Seven or eight men jumped out and closed in on him fast, surrounding him in the middle before he could take another step.

The few people waiting for the bus were startled and hurriedly backed away, putting distance between themselves and the group. They stared over in alarm, faces full of uncertainty, no one knowing what this bunch was about to do.

Brandon Caldwell stayed calm from beginning to end.

He already knew these people were here for him.

But not only did he not run, he didn’t even step back. He just fixed a cold stare on the red BMW parked not far away.

The car door opened.

A young man got out first, the kind with overly polished manners and a soft, showy air about him. He didn’t come over right away. Instead, he turned and carefully helped a woman out of the car.

She was tall, slim, and dressed to the nines. Her features were delicate, pretty enough to make people look twice.

Aubrey Garrison.

The vicious woman who had lied to him, used him, and then ruined him.

The second Brandon saw her, his eyes turned bloodshot.

Still, he didn’t move.

He just stood there in silence, like a blade still in its sheath.

Even though he now carried strange abilities and real skill, he still had no money, no backing, no power. He knew exactly where the line was. He couldn’t afford to break the law.

Once he crossed that line, it would be easy for people to grab onto something, pin a charge on him, and toss him back into prison.

In front of the state, all those so-called monsters and tough guys were nothing. Just paper tigers.

He had already done one stretch behind bars.

There was no way he was going in a second time.

At that moment, Aubrey walked up to him. Her face was calm, almost cold, like they had never shared anything at all.

“Brandon,” she said flatly, “sign this document. Once you do, we’ll have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

As she spoke, the secretary beside her immediately handed over a file and a pen.

Brandon took the papers and glanced down.

A patent transfer agreement.

He let out a short laugh.

“Heh.”

For a second, he almost found it funny. He had nearly forgotten this whole thing existed.

Back when Bonwell Pharma Group launched that medicinal liquor, his senior brother had come straight to him and demanded an explanation. The moment he found out Brandon had actually given the secret formula to Aubrey, he had blasted him without holding back.

But what was done was done. There was no fixing it.

In the end, his senior brother had dragged him along to register a patent for the medicinal liquor formula.

Who would’ve thought that patent would end up mattering this much?

Aubrey’s expression darkened at once.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked, her voice turning sharp.

“I’m laughing because you’re childish. You ruined my life, and you still think I’d sign that?”

As soon as Brandon Caldwell finished speaking, he tore the patent transfer document cleanly in half.

Aubrey Garrison wasn’t angry. If anything, she laughed harder, like she’d just heard some joke.

“Childish? You calling me childish?” She lifted her chin, eyes full of mockery. “No, Brandon, you’re the naive one. If you’d just signed like a good boy, maybe you could’ve avoided getting beaten up. Too bad. You’re still exactly the same as before. Stubborn to the bone.”

Brandon swept his gaze around.

Seven or eight men had already closed in around him, forming a loose circle. Every one of them looked thick-built, broad-shouldered, arms swollen with muscle. These weren’t random street punks. Just standing there, they gave off the kind of pressure ordinary people would fold under.

But to Brandon, that was all it was—looks.

These guys thought they could handle him?

Yeah, dream on.

“Aubrey, why are you still wasting words with him?” the young man beside her snapped, clearly out of patience. “Beat him first. Hit him until he begs to sign.”

At that, Aubrey looked back at Brandon and spoke again, her tone turning cold.

“Brandon, I’ll give you one last chance. Are you signing, or not?”

The secretary immediately handed over another copy of the document.

Obviously, they had come prepared.

Brandon didn’t even reach for it. Instead, he looked at the young man next to Aubrey with a half-smile, like he’d suddenly found something interesting.

“And who’s this supposed to be?” he asked lazily. “Never seen him before.”

Aubrey hadn’t even opened her mouth when the young man cut in first, eager to speak.

“I’m Aubrey’s boyfriend. Marcus Morrison.”

Brandon gave a slow nod, then laughed.

“Oh, so you’re the poor sap taking over the mess.” His smile turned sharp, dripping with ridicule. “Aubrey, are you blind too? Out of all people, you picked this kind of bargain-bin loser?”

That finally wiped the calm look off Aubrey’s face.

Her expression darkened, and she snapped, “You’re the blind one! What do you even have that can compare to Marcus? Standing next to him, you’re not even worth mentioning!”

Marcus’s face also turned ugly. He stared at Brandon with open anger.

“I seriously don’t know where you get this confidence from. You actually think you’re qualified to compare yourself to me?”

Brandon’s eyes turned colder.

“My eyes were blind, yeah,” he said, voice flat and cutting. “Otherwise I never would’ve fallen for a vicious woman like her in the first place.”

Then he looked Marcus up and down again, his gaze full of contempt.

“And as for confidence?” Brandon gave a faint snort. “I’m taller than you, better-looking than you, so why wouldn’t I have it?”

“You—!”

Marcus choked on the words instantly.

He was around six feet tall, which usually made him stand out in a crowd, yet in front of Brandon, he still came up nearly half a head shorter.

His looks were decent too. He’d even gone the extra mile—double-eyelid surgery, a nose job, facial slimming. He’d spent plenty on that face, and the result was enough that he could pass for one of those polished pretty-boy types people raved about online.

But standing in front of Brandon now, that pride suddenly didn’t feel so solid anymore.

But the second Marcus Morrison looked at Brandon Caldwell’s sharp, chiseled face, he honestly couldn’t bring himself to claim he was better-looking.

Seeing Marcus getting verbally pressed, Aubrey Garrison quickly jumped in. “So what if he’s taller and better-looking? Yiming—” She caught herself too late, then stiffened and changed nothing. “Marcus comes from a better family than you, has a higher education than you, and way more ability than you. What do you even have to compare with him?”

“Damn right.” Marcus straightened his collar, forcing his confidence back. “I’ve got a postgraduate degree from Eastward University. Heard you never even went to college, huh?”

“No,” Aubrey cut in with a sneer, her red lips curling. “He didn’t even go to kindergarten.”

Marcus froze for half a beat, then burst out laughing like he’d just heard the joke of the year. “Hahahaha! I’m dead, seriously. Didn’t expect there to be someone who never even went to kindergarten. That’s insane. Hahaha!”

The two of them played off each other perfectly, one tossing the line, the other catching it, smugness practically dripping from their faces.

But Brandon didn’t get mad.

Not even a little.

Instead, he smiled. Calm. Lazy. Almost amused.

“Yeah, I never went to college,” he said. “Never went to kindergarten either. But I did sleep with Aubrey Garrison.”

The air instantly froze.

Both of them went blank.

Then Brandon threw his head back and laughed again, louder this time, every word landing like a slap.

“I had Aubrey Garrison for over half a year. So tell me, how’s that for credentials? Hahaha!”

“You—Brandon Caldwell!” Aubrey’s face turned red on the spot, shame and fury crashing together. She nearly exploded. “I didn’t think you could be this shameless!”

Marcus stood there in a daze for a second, like his brain had just short-circuited.

Then he suddenly turned to Aubrey and shouted, “Aubrey, didn’t you say he couldn’t do it? Aren’t you still a virgin?”