Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The sun was setting. The yellow earth in the northern suburbs, illuminated by the sunlight, looked as if it had been coated with a layer of dark rust.

Several towering cranes stopped operating. The motors were silent, and the only sound on the construction site was the whistling of the wind through the safety netting.

The bricklayers, having worked all day, sat in twos and threes under the scaffolding, their clothes covered in dried cement stains.

No one spoke; only the sound of chopsticks rummaging through the aluminum lunchboxes as people swallowed.

Ye Xiu, shirtless, found an abandoned cable reel to use as a stool.

He wore a pair of worn-out canvas shoes. He spread his legs wide, his back muscles relaxing in the effort.

"Old Zhao." Ye Xiu nudged the old man next to him who was eating a steamed bun with his elbow.

He proudly opened the large white foam lunchbox in his hand.

"Did you see that? I just got my perfect attendance bonus today, and I splurged a little."

As soon as the lunchbox lid was lifted, a rich aroma of fried meat wafted out, masking the earthy smell of the construction site.

The rice was pressed firmly. It was topped with a layer of glistening red chili oil and scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

The most impressive dish is the two large chicken legs lying side by side on the rice.

Fried until golden brown. The batter glistened temptingly with oil.

Old Zhao swallowed hard, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Hey kid, that must have cost thirty yuan, right? You really went for it."

"Of course." Ye Xiu grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "In our line of work, where would we get the strength to carry steel bars if we didn't eat meat? I call this a reasonable investment."

He reached up and rubbed his hands vigorously on his work pants, removing the grime from his palms.

I carefully broke apart the disposable chopsticks. I blew on them to remove the sawdust.

This meal was incredibly precious to him.

Previously, in the Dragon King's Palace, he was served top-grade Wagyu beef flown in from the air. But he ate it without any taste, his mind preoccupied with how to avoid assassination attempts.

Now, this 30-yuan boxed lunch was made brick by brick by himself.

Clean and reassuring. The smell itself is comforting.

He picked up a piece of egg, just about to put it in his mouth.

"squeak--!"

The sharp screech of tires against the ground shattered the surrounding silence.

Three black Jinbei vans, without even license plates, drove recklessly into the construction site gate.

The car was going too fast, kicking up a large cloud of dust. It covered the dozing security guard at the entrance in dust.

The first car braked suddenly and stopped less than ten meters from the scaffolding.

The car door opened. The sliding rails made a creaking, sluggish sound.

More than twenty young men in leather jackets jumped off the bus. Some were clutching rusty steel pipes, while others were carrying black electric stun guns.

The leader was a tall, thin man with dyed red hair.

With an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, he kicked over a broken plastic bucket used for washing hands.

Dirty water was spilled all over the ground.

"Stop eating, you bastards! Are you deaf or something?"

Red Hair slammed the steel pipe in his hand onto the pile of steel pipes. The loud bang made people's eardrums ache.

"You have five minutes. Everyone pack your things and get out of the construction site! Our boss has requisitioned this place tonight!"

The elderly workers who were eating were terrified.

The steamed buns in their hands fell to the ground and got covered in dust. They stood up shakily and hid in the direction of the workers' shed.

Old Zhao's face also turned pale, and he tugged at Ye Xiu's trouser leg.

"Xiao Ye, let's go. These guys look like those thugs from the north of the city who collect protection money. We can't afford to mess with them."

Ye Xiu didn't move.

He paused mid-air with the chopsticks holding the scrambled eggs with tomatoes. His mouth was slightly open, and his brows slowly furrowed.

Screw you, you scoundrel. I haven't even eaten yet.

When Hongmao saw that the workers had all dispersed, he turned around and saw the shirtless, burly man sitting on the cable reel still holding a lunchbox.

He felt he had lost face.

"Hey. I'm talking to you, big guy."

Red Hair carried the steel pipe and walked over. His leather shoes made a squelching sound as they stepped into the mud.

"You can't understand human language, can you? Get lost!"

He walked up to Ye Xiu and glanced down at the steaming, deluxe lunchbox.

Ye Xiu suppressed his temper.

He stuffed the egg into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and swallowed it.

"Brother, you have to let him finish his meal, right? We paid for it."

He tried to keep his tone calm. His face, which always habitually wore a crooked, cold smile, strained to project a simple, honest expression.

"Wasting food will get you struck by lightning!"

Red Hair was delighted.

He turned his head and sneered at the group of thugs behind him.

"This big oaf is talking to me about saving food? Does he think he's some kind of neighborhood committee auntie?!"

The underlings burst into laughter. The sound was particularly jarring in the empty construction site.

After laughing, the red-haired man's eyes turned cold.

He raised his right foot, clad in a pointed leather shoe, and delivered a vicious kick to the white styrofoam lunchbox in Ye Xiu's hand.

"I'll let you eat!"

Ye Xiu reacted too slowly. No, or rather, he wasn't prepared for an ordinary person to kick his food.

The tip of the shoe kicked hard into the bottom of the lunchbox.

The inferior plastic foam made a crisp popping sound and split in two on the spot.

Time seemed to crawl like thick mud at this moment, moving at an unbearable slowness.

Ye Xiu's hands were still in the position of holding the lunchbox. His ten fingers were suspended in the air.

He watched helplessly as the entire box of white rice shot into the sky like scattered snowflakes.

Tomatoes coated in red oil tumbled through the air, splashing juice and leaving greasy parabolic trails.

A few drops of sauce landed on Ye Xiu's dusty chest muscles. They were a little hot.

But the most deadly thing was those two golden chicken drumsticks that he had stared at for a long time but hadn't even taken a bite of.

They traced an arc in mid-air.

A few golden crumbs fell off the crispy batter on the chicken leg as it was being tossed around.

Then it fell down.

Next to it was a muddy puddle that had accumulated from yesterday's rain. A piece of rotten plastic bag was floating on the surface of the water.

"Clatter."

Two muffled thuds.

The two large chicken legs slammed solidly into the murky, yellow muddy water.

Water splashed up. The tempting layer of mud instantly covered the dough.

The aroma of fried meat was completely masked by the stench of fermenting sewage. Even its original color was unrecognizable.

The surroundings became quiet.

Old Zhao hid behind the door of the workers' shed, covering his mouth tightly, afraid of making a sound.

Red Hair retracted his foot.

He brushed off a few grains of rice that had splashed onto his trouser leg and looked at Ye Xiu with a defiant expression.

"Eat up. Mud mixed with chicken legs, very nutritious." He spat out the smoke from his mouth and spat a mouthful of phlegm into the mud puddle.

Ye Xiu squatted there.

It didn't move at all. Like a rusted stone sculpture.

He stared at the mud puddle. Stared at the two lumps of flesh completely destroyed by the mud and water.

My mind went blank. All thoughts of reason and legal education pamphlets vanished.

He got up at six o'clock this morning. He carried eight tons of steel bars and pushed more than two hundred truckloads of cement.

His shoulder was chafed raw by the steel bars, and the sweat seeping in caused excruciating pain. He didn't utter a sound.

He was planning that after get off work he could sit comfortably in the wind and enjoy this meal with double the amount of meat.

That was money he earned honestly and cleanly with his own two hands.

He didn't rob, he didn't cheat, and he didn't wipe out anyone's entire family. He just wanted to eat a hot meal in peace.

Now, it's gone. Thirty yuan, just like that, kicked into the mud.

Scalding hot soup dripped down his rough trouser legs.

Finally, with a "smack," it splashed onto Ye Xiu's worn-out canvas shoe, the sole of which was almost completely flat.

A dark dot was burned into the canvas on the shoe's upper.

Ye Xiu slowly stood up.

Its massive two-meter-tall body, like a mountain, blocked the setting sun from Red Hair's view.

A large shadow loomed overhead.

Red Hair suddenly felt a little short of breath. His neck inexplicably started to feel a chill.

He swallowed hard, gripped the steel pipe in his hand, and took a half-step back.

Ye Xiu kept his head down. His bangs fell down, obscuring his eyes.

The muscles on both sides of his neck bulged. The veins on his forehead stood out like writhing blue earthworms.

He slowly raised his head.

The intense killing intent that had been dormant in his eyes for so long, belonging to the Asura Dragon King, could no longer be suppressed and surged wildly.