Early the next morning.
Outside Ye Chen's underground fortress, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Several cars silently pulled up to the bunker's entrance.
Shen Ning霜 was directing a team of elite security personnel, systematically managing the scene.
Seeing the Lu Corporation's emblem on the cars, the debt collectors could only obey her instructions, register their information, and return home to await news.
The scene was cleared.
The security personnel began cutting through the heavy metal door... The door was opened with specialized equipment, and a stale, heavy air wafted out from deep within the bunker.
Security personnel filed in and quickly found their targets in a locked room.
Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun, having been imprisoned for a day and two nights, were on the verge of a mental breakdown.
When the door opened and they saw the light streaming in and a group of people in uniforms, they practically tumbled out.
"Officers! Officers! You're finally here!"
Liu Yun clutched a security guard's arm, sobbing uncontrollably.
"My beast of a son! He's gone mad! He locked us up!"
Shen Ning霜 stepped forward, offering warm water and comforting them:
"Uncle, Auntie, don't be afraid, you're safe now."
"We're not police, we're from the Lu Corporation."
"Lu... Lu Corporation?"
Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun's cries abruptly stopped, their faces filled with confusion.
They had only heard that name in financial news; how could it... be related to them?
...Lu Corporation, reception room.
Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun were politely invited here, took hot showers, changed into clean clothes, and held hot tea in their hands, but their emotions were still like startled birds, anxious and uneasy.
The door to the reception room was pushed open.
Lu Cheng, dressed in casual clothes, walked in.
His face held a warm, spring-like smile, and his eyes showed genuine concern.
Behind him followed Shen Ning霜, who had brought them, and... Dongfang Yue, with a complex expression and evasive eyes.
"Uncle Ye, Auntie, I apologize for the fright you've endured."
Lu Cheng stepped forward, bowing slightly, his tone full of apology.
"I am Lu Cheng. Regarding your son, Ye Chen, I... am very sorry."
Those words instantly left Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun at a loss.
They scrambled to their feet, and Ye Jianguo stammered, "Mr. Lu... this has nothing to do with you, it's us... it's our failure to raise our son properly..."
Lu Cheng waved his hand, signaling them to sit down, and he also sat opposite them, sighing.
"No, in this matter, our Lu Corporation also bears an inescapable responsibility."
He began to tell a 'truth' script that had long been prepared.
"In fact, our group's financial department noticed the unusual capital movements of the Ye family quite early on."
"He seemed... to have fallen into a strange delusion, selling all his family property to do things we couldn't understand."
"As for that air-raid shelter..."
He paused, a look of 'anger at his failure' appearing on his face.
"We later found out that an unscrupulous manager under our employ, for the sake of performance, illegally operated and sold it to him at a high price."
"Currently, that manager has been dismissed from the group and is undergoing internal investigation and police questioning. We will never condone such behavior!"
His words were seamless.
He expressed sympathy, perfectly shifted the blame to a 'non-existent' subordinate, and portrayed the Lu Corporation as a responsible and discerning entity with a positive image.
Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun listened, dumbfounded. Their limited social experience was as simple as a blank sheet of paper in front of a player of Lu Cheng's caliber.
They only felt that this legendary big shot, not only had no airs, but was also so responsible and accountable.
Just then.
Ye Shuying 'happened' to walk in hurriedly, handed a document to Lu Cheng, and then whispered a few words to him with a solemn expression.
Visibly, the smile on Lu Cheng's face froze.
He took the document, glanced at it, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter, finally culminating in a heavy sigh.
He looked up at Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun, his eyes filled with sorrow.
"Uncle, Auntie, there's some unfortunate news I need to tell you."
"Ye Chen is missing..."
"However, the police found an unidentified male body in the suburbs early this morning."
Upon hearing this, Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun's hearts leaped into their throats, and even Mother Ye's recently recovered rosy complexion began to turn pale again... "So, the police still hope the family can go... to identify him."
...City Forensic Center, morgue.
The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
When the white sheet was slowly pulled back by the forensic doctor.
A face covered in deep wrinkles, with withered skin and sparse, gray hair, was exposed under the lights.
That face was aged, shriveled, and only filled with death.
It was Ye Chen, whose life force had been sacrificed!
Liu Yun only took one look, then immediately shook her head frantically, tears welling up, yet seemingly with a hint of joy within them:
"No! It's not our son!"
"Our Chenchen is only in his twenties! This is an old man! You've made a mistake! A mistake!"
Ye Jianguo also confirmed, trembling all over.
Indeed, this was an old man!
Although... he looked somewhat similar.
But this was not his son.
Absolutely not.
In the end, Ye Chen thus disappeared as a 'missing person'...
Back at the Lu Corporation.
Lu Cheng looked at the dazed Father Ye and Mother Ye, gently pushing a check in front of them.
"Ye Chen made a mistake, and we also had an oversight, but you two are innocent."
"This is our group's bankrupt enterprise assistance fund, providing special aid for you two."
Ye Jianguo numbly picked up the check.
When he saw the number on it, his cloudy eyes suddenly widened.
This amount was at least half of his former family fortune...
"I know that no amount of money can bring back a filial son."
Lu Cheng's voice continued, his tone sincere.
"But life must go on."
"Perhaps... you two can have another child; he will surely be more sensible and filial than Ye Chen."
These words were the final straw that broke the camel's back.
After a series of ups and downs—their son's 'disappearance,' losing everything, and being imprisoned—the couple's psychological defenses completely collapsed.
Suddenly receiving such a 'lifesaving fund' and such warm and thoughtful 'care.'
Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun could no longer hold back.
With a 'thud,' they almost knelt before Lu Cheng, but were quickly helped up by Shen Ning霜.
They held Lu Cheng's hand, sobbing uncontrollably, repeating only one sentence:
"Mr. Lu... you... you are truly a good person!"
"You are our benefactor! We can never repay you in this lifetime!"
Finally, Lu Cheng personally saw Ye Jianguo and Liu Yun into the car.
As the car window rolled down, the couple in the car kept waving at him, their eyes filled with endless gratitude.
The car drove away.
The warmth and concern on Lu Cheng's face vanished without a trace, replaced by indifference.
He turned around.
Only Dongfang Yue remained, still obediently standing behind him.
Her beautiful face now held only confusion, and a hint of fear... She didn't understand why Lu Cheng would do this... making the'Son of Destiny's' biological parents grateful to him, revering him like a god?
Lu Cheng looked at Dongfang Yue's complex gaze and smiled.
He gently lifted her chin, as if seeing through all the turmoil in her heart.
His voice, in her ear, said:
"You see, Yue'er."
"The best way to destroy a person is never simply to kill his physical body."
"But to... erase all traces of his existence, and then, as a savior, go and rescue those he has harmed."
The corners of Lu Cheng's mouth curved into a perfect arc.
"This, is a perfect... funeral."]}