The Rise of a Special Forces Soldier Abandoned by a Wealthy Family

Zeng Long's gaze startled Old Master Wu's ashen face, like a cold blade, sweeping over every well-dressed but pale-faced young man and socialite present.

Have you ever cared about these people?! Some of them are already living at the very bottom of society!

They were simply struggling to survive in hardship, fighting with all their might in this society...

All they want is to send their parents off peacefully and raise their infant children to adulthood in good health!

This is their small and only right, their last thought in life!

"But what about you?!"

Zeng Long's voice suddenly rose, filled with endless sorrow and anger:

"You remain cruel and heartless, even robbing them of this last glimmer of hope!!"

Zeng Long's voice suddenly lowered, as if shifting from a fierce accusation to a desolate and philosophical reflection on the ways of the world, as if he were questioning himself, or perhaps questioning every soul:

"Life is inherently a cruel process of constant loss."

Parents and relatives will eventually leave.

Close friends, partners, and juniors may also be lost one day.

Youth will pass by silently.

The kinship, friendship, and love that we once firmly believed in may gradually deteriorate and eventually disappear in the face of cold reality.

Money, status, and even the physical body we depend on for existence—in the end… nothing will remain.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through time and space, carrying a penetrating power, sweeping over Elder Wu, Elder Liu, Elder He, and every other powerful figure:

"In the end, what do we truly gain from this life?"

"I also want to ask you all: you spend your entire lives chasing power and trampling on others, what exactly... do you want?"

"Why do you so ruthlessly crush other people's dignity and deprive them of their hope for survival?"

"Is it merely for the thrill of controlling the lives and deaths of others, looking down upon all living beings as insignificant as ants?"

His words, no longer fiery, were heavier than any of his previous roars—

It made those who were used to being high and mighty begin to examine the cold wasteland deep within their own hearts for the first time.

"You've made this society increasingly pragmatic and cold, leaving those at the bottom with fewer and fewer choices and less and less hope. What's left for them?"

Zeng Long's voice carried an almost cruel tenderness, as if describing a truth that everyone knew but was unwilling to face:

"Their dreams will slowly mold and rot in the daily mediocrity and struggle, in the damp pillows of the night."

"Their ideals will gradually lose their luster in the face of continuous setbacks, suppression, and the cold, cruel reality, and eventually... turn into decay that no one cares about."

"Years later, when they look back in the dead of night, they will be horrified to discover that deep within their hearts lies a cold, lifeless corpse..."

"That was me back then, young and full of passion, who thought I could change the world... "

"At that time, they will see a stranger, with a haggard face and numb eyes, struggling to survive in the cruel reality for the sake of his family and relatives."

"They wanted to feel sorry for him, to ask him why he no longer had dreams, why he no longer had passion for life and the future?"

Zeng Long slowly raised his hand, his fingertips tracing a line in the air as if touching an invisible yet real mirror. His gaze, filled with compassion, looked towards the void.

"So, they finally couldn't resist and reached out to touch him..."

"Then, he realized..."

"So, he... was right there in the mirror in front of us."

Dead silence! Utter dead silence!

The entire lobby of Yuetingyuan seemed to have been instantly vacuumed.

These words were too naked, too real, like a cold and precise scalpel, mercilessly dissecting the fear, helplessness, and emptiness that everyone is most unwilling to face deep in their hearts beneath the glamorous facade.

Whether they are high-ranking nobles, seemingly glamorous young people, or those who are bystanders and think they are detached, at this moment, they all seem to see that mirror and the... perhaps already unfamiliar self in the mirror.

Zeng Long's figure remained upright. He no longer spoke, but stood there quietly, like a clear mirror reflecting the true nature of every soul present.