The remaining forces on the other side, having lost their leader long ago, quickly became fragmented and were all soon brought under the control of Chi Xingduan's subordinates.
Through that incident, Chi Xingduan's deepest realization was not the undeserved suffering inflicted upon his wife and child, but the understanding that he couldn't afford to have weaknesses, especially involving his family.
Therefore, he never remarried or had children again. It was five years later that he adopted Chi Yiheng from the orphanage when he was five years old.
Children his age were rarely adopted.
Boys might have it a bit easier, with some families preferring boys over girls so much so that they couldn't find suitable boys of the right age and have to accept older boys like him.
More people prefer to adopt infants or children who couldn't remember anything.
For children his age, it's already difficult to find a good family.
Therefore, when Chi Xingduan adopted him, he needed an heir.
At five years old, training could already begin.
But he wasn't the only candidate.
Chi Xingduan had found many children around the age of five or six to train together.
After rigorous training, even death was possible. Survival of the fittest was the rule to choose his heir.
Chi Yiheng didn't want to die, so he worked hard to survive various training and challenges.
It was truly hell; if he didn't want to die, he had to let the other children die.
So, he never had friends among the children he was tested with.
He had to guard against other children playing tricks to kill him, whether older or younger.
Children trained with him may have initially kept some innocence and kindness.
But these traits faded away with increasing training and torment.
Innocence and kindness couldn't survive there.
Maintaining innocence and kindness meant death.
No child there should be underestimated.
Even a child of four or five, with big eyes shining, could offer you bread laced with poison to kill you.
They all knew that to live and excel, others had to die.
Otherwise, the training would never end until someone stood out as the winner.
Initially, Chi Yiheng harbored naive thoughts and sincerely wanted to unite with them to defeat Chi Xingduan and escape.
He even made a good friend among those children.
When his friend was injured during training and couldn't meet the standards, he helped him complete the training step by step.
Because they exceeded the time limit, neither had dinner that night. He secretly went to the kitchen to steal food for his friend.
But when caught, his friend didn't hesitate to push him out and absolve himself of responsibility.
He still remembered that boy, crying with fear and regret in his eyes.
Covered in injuries after being punished and thrown back into his room, the boy came to see him and apologized, saying he was just too scared.
The boy cried, promising not to do anything to hurt him again and begging for forgiveness.
At that moment, Chi Yiheng realized that there were never any friends here.
When something went wrong, the stupidest one was always pushed out.
At the time, Chi Yiheng suppressed his inner irony and nodded, forgiving the boy.
But when he recovered from his injuries, he framed the boy.
The escape plan he made was blamed on the boy.
Because by then, Chi Yiheng finally understood that escaping was a joke.
He couldn't escape, and no one could.
Later, he watched as the boy was dragged away.
The boy still didn't know that it was Chi Yiheng who framed him.
Crying and calling his name, he saw him as his last hope.
But even if it wasn't his doing, what could such a young child do?
How could he possibly save anyone?
Moreover, it was something he did.
It was then that Chi Yiheng truly realized that perhaps the boy didn't intentionally push the blame onto him.
He was just too scared, too used to relying on others for help and protection.
Perhaps this mentality was also caused by Chi Yiheng.
Becoming friends, Chi Yiheng's loyalty would always protect that boy.
When the boy was alone, he could manage on his own despite being somewhat timid. But because of Chi Yiheng, he had someone to rely on.
The boy couldn't be blamed, just too weak. Once someone gave him a reason to rely on, he would ask for help, feel safe and secure, and became protected.
But was all this really the boy's fault?
Later, Chi Yiheng thought about his own responsibility.
He gave the boy a reason to rely on, thinking whatever he did, Chi Yiheng would protect and forgive him.
As if protecting him was always the right thing to do.
Chi Yiheng looked at Chi Xingduan, who handed him the gun directly, but didn't take it.
Chi Xingduan looked at him coldly and said, "If you don't accept it, you'll never be the young master of the Organization R again. I'm going to find an heir to train again, and although it takes time, it's better than wasting time on you and causing the Organization R to collapse."