Comprehension against the sky, creating the Five Thunders in the real world

The pristine white walls were strikingly glaring.

He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, and after his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he looked blankly at Chen Jiale, who was closest to him: "How...how did I get here? How's my guesthouse? Was the fire...put out later?"

Before he completely lost consciousness, the owner remembered that the police had arrived, so he still held onto a sliver of hope—that if the police arrived in time to put out the fire, his guesthouse might still be saved, even if only a few ruins remained.

Seeing Chen Jiale's solemn expression and evasive eyes, the boss's heart sank. He knew his illusions had been shattered.

The other person shook their head, slowly released their hand from the owner's arm, and said in a low voice, "The guesthouse... is gone."

The boss's body seemed to collapse under the weight of a thousand pounds, and he slowly leaned back.

Seeing him like this, Chen Jiale felt sorry for him and gently comforted him, "But you can make a comeback."

"Yes, we must take it easy and accept this. The most important thing is that he is alright now," Xu Wei echoed.

Carlos Chan himself has said similar things countless times.

He also understood that no matter how much he pleaded, he couldn't change the fact that the guesthouse had been destroyed.

But he still wanted to comfort the other person.

After hearing his words, the boss's body suddenly began to convulse.

Xu Wei was the first to notice something was wrong. He quickly nudged Chen Jiale and said frantically, "Quick, quick! Keep an eye on him, I'll go call the nurse right away!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Wei rushed towards the door without looking back.

Before he could run more than a few steps, Chan Ka-lok shouted from behind, "Quick, call for help! He's about to faint again!"

Xu Wei had no choice but to quicken his pace and rush to the nurses' station, where he returned with several nurses.

After the nurses provided emergency treatment, the boss slowly regained consciousness.

This time, the owner seemed to have given up all hope. He forced himself to accept the fact that the guesthouse had been destroyed by fire.

"You..." Xu Wei hesitated to speak.

The owner suddenly burst into tears, pounding his fist on his chest, and sobbing, "Why is God so unfair to me? I've already suffered enough, and now I've even lost my guesthouse... What am I going to do now...?"

The mournful sound echoed in the ward.

Xu Wei and Chen Jiale watched him silently, unsure of what to say.

The nurses standing nearby couldn't bear to watch any longer, but they didn't know the specifics of the situation, so they could only gently comfort her: "Okay, okay, boss, don't be too sad. It's a relief that no one is hurt."

Instead of trying to persuade him, the boss cried even louder, as if the nurses had bullied him.

The nurses were at a loss for words and quietly withdrew.

Although Chen Jiale sympathized with his boss's plight, he simply couldn't bear to see a grown man crying his eyes out over something like this—especially in front of those young nurses, it was utterly disgraceful for a man.

He couldn't help but say dismissively, "If you ask me, you should think of it this way: it's a good thing you weren't in there, otherwise even you would have..."

Before he could even utter the words "dead," Xu Wei reacted quickly and covered his mouth, preventing the even more hurtful words from coming out.

The boss looked up blankly at the two struggling, then slowly lowered his head again.

He even envied these young men—they could get through anything with a drink. Unlike himself, who could only cry and whine. But he was no longer young, and had lost the courage of his youth. Faced with this situation, he truly had nowhere to turn.

"Boss, please ignore him, he can't talk. And please don't cry, it's bad for your health," Xu advised tactfully.

"What do you know? Have you ever experienced a situation where your love life and career are both going badly? You're not there, so all you can say is 'It's good that everyone's alright'... But do you know how many years it took me to earn those things?" the boss retorted defiantly.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he asked instinctively, "But my guesthouse was perfectly fine, how could it suddenly catch fire?"

As soon as he said it, he immediately covered his mouth, realizing that he seemed to have discovered something terrible.

The boss stopped crying and looked at Xu Wei and Chen Jiale with a serious expression.

The two quickly let go of each other, met the boss's gaze, and then subconsciously lowered their heads.

Although they knew it was arson, they were unsure whether to tell their boss—what if he couldn't handle the shock? What if he insisted on seeking revenge?
After hesitating for a while, the boss pressed again, "Do you know something? What exactly happened? Tell me now!"

Chen Jiale said awkwardly, "Nothing... What could you possibly find out? You're just overthinking it."

"Are you sure?" the boss pressed. "If you don't tell me, I'll go find the police myself and get the truth out of them!"

After saying that, he immediately tried to throw off the covers and get out of bed.

Xu Wei and Chen Jiale quickly stopped him.

Xu Wei couldn't keep it a secret any longer and had to tell him, "Actually, the police have already found out... Your guesthouse didn't catch fire naturally; someone deliberately set it."

"Arson on purpose?" The owner paused, then exclaimed angrily, "Who is so despicable as to burn down my guesthouse! I'll make sure they get away with this!"

His eyes were practically spitting fire, as if the arsonist, if he were standing right in front of him, would be torn to pieces by his gaze.

As the three were talking, Lin Beichen arrived from the police station.

Upon seeing Lin Beichen, Xu Wei and Chen Jiale immediately let go of their boss and ran over to him.

At this moment, the way they looked at Lin Beichen was like looking up at a god, full of worship.

Lin Beichen glanced at them with a hint of disdain before walking to the boss's bedside.

"How are you feeling?" Lin Beichen asked in a calm tone.

If you don't listen carefully, you really won't hear a hint of concern in those words.

The boss glanced up at him, initially intending to ignore him, but then remembered something important and reluctantly looked at Lin Beichen: "Has the suspect... been located?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire ward fell into a deathly silence.

When Lin Beichen's deep, slightly reproachful gaze fell upon Xu Wei and Chen Jiale, who were pretending nothing was wrong—

The two instinctively shrank back, trying their best to minimize their presence.

But Lin Beichen's gaze was too sharp. Although they forced themselves not to pay attention, their bodies couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Unable to bear this feeling of walking on thin ice any longer, Chen Jiale said aggrievedly, "Instructor, this really wasn't me who said it... he guessed it himself."

Lin Beichen didn't speak, but continued to stare at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

Xu Wei, standing nearby, grew anxious and pointed at the boss, saying, "Instructor, if you don't believe me, ask Boss Zhang!"

The boss then realized that they had known all along but had intentionally kept it from him.

He no longer cared about being sad, transforming all his grief into anger.

"Come on, tell me what happened! Why are you all keeping this from me?" the boss cried out in anguish.

Seeing that he already knew, Lin Beichen felt there was no need to hide it any longer.

He shook his head, a hint of regret in his voice, and said, "There is still no trace of the suspect."

"What? How could there be no trace of him? Where did that person go?" the boss asked in surprise.

He shrank back, unwilling to believe it.

But that was the truth. Lin Beichen stood beside him like a wooden statue, without uttering a sound.

The boss, seeing that he was indeed unaware of the situation, stopped making a fuss about it.

But then he thought again and became sad: "What sins have I committed to attract such people? Why are they treating me like this? I just want to live a peaceful life, why do they have to oppose me?"

As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.

But he stubbornly held back his tears. His stubborn yet sorrowful appearance was truly heartbreaking.

Lin Beichen turned his head away from him and said firmly, "I will definitely find the suspect."

Upon hearing this, the boss rubbed his eyes and looked at him hopefully, but soon the light in his eyes dimmed again.

He waved his hand helplessly, saying without any hope, "Forget it... If even the police can't find it, how could you possibly find it?"

However, he still subconsciously asked, "What exactly happened? How could someone set fire to my guesthouse?"

Lin Beichen followed up by asking, "Have you ever offended anyone?"

Although Lin Beichen was already 80-90% certain about the suspect, he still wanted to confirm it one more time just to be on the safe side.

Upon hearing this, the owner forgot his sadness and looked at him innocently, shaking his head and saying, "How could I offend anyone? I treat all the guests who come and go in this guesthouse like royalty. How could I dare to offend them? Could it be... that a guest who stayed here before set the fire?"

Lin Beichen shook his head and immediately denied it: "I don't know either. But you should take care of your health first, and I'll handle this matter."

The boss neither objected nor agreed, and just let him be.

He had given up hope for this matter. Now that he had lost love and his career, life seemed to have lost its meaning. He only wished for peace and safety.

After Lin Beichen left, Xu Wei and Chen Jiale also left.

Over the next few days, the three men investigated the arson attack on the guesthouse.

A few days later, the boss had recovered enough and was ready to be discharged from the hospital.

He felt much more relaxed and even seemed to have the energy to make a comeback.

But it seemed as if fate was deliberately working against him.

As soon as he stepped out of the hospital, he stretched and walked along the road, feeling refreshed.

Just then, a car pulled up in front of him. The driver had a deep scar on his face, making him look unusually fierce. He coldly asked, "Need a ride?"

The boss was terrified by his appearance and dared not ride in his car.

He quickly shook his head and made up an excuse on the spot: "No need, someone is coming to pick me up."

The man rolled up the car window and drove away.

The boss continued walking with an air of nonchalance, but as he turned a corner, several people suddenly rushed out and surrounded him.

The boss trembled with fear, pointed at the people around him, and threatened them with a forced smile, "What do you want to do? What do you want to do in broad daylight? If anything happens to me, you...you won't be able to escape either!"

In his extreme nervousness, the boss could barely speak.

But the group of people weren't afraid. After exchanging glances, they surrounded them.

The boss suddenly felt dizzy and knew nothing more.

The boss woke up and opened his eyes, only to find that he was surrounded by darkness.

He then realized that something was covering his eyes.

The boss tried to struggle, only to find that his hands and feet were also firmly bound by ropes.

Fear, like countless venomous snakes, instantly crawled all over my body.

Even so, the boss still raised his voice, arguing with these complete strangers: "Hey! Who are you? Where are you taking me? I have no grudge against you, so don't do anything stupid!"

Even with his body restricted and his movements limited, the boss continued to shout loudly.

Despite the louder he roared and the more his legs trembled, he still forced himself to appear fearless.

When he opened his mouth again to shout, a wad of cloth that smelled of dish soap was stuffed into his mouth—it was probably just grabbed from the kitchen to gag him.

He is blind and cannot speak.

The boss struggled, making muffled "whooshing" sounds, before giving up the fight.

At this moment, his sense of smell and hearing became exceptionally sharp. He could clearly distinguish the footsteps of only a few people in the scene.

They were whispering something he couldn't quite make out.

The boss sniffed hard and smelled a rusty smell, as if the metal had been soaked in water for a long time.

He roughly deduced that he was in an abandoned warehouse, or at least an old factory.

The boss tried to say something again, but his mouth was too full.

Someone said something, and then someone stepped forward and ripped the cloth out of his mouth.

The boss was finally able to move his mouth again. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a sudden screech of brakes.

At that moment, a glimmer of hope flashed through the boss's mind—someone must be coming to rescue him!

But he couldn't imagine who would come to his rescue in this situation. After all, he hadn't told anyone he was discharged from the hospital, and no one knew he had ever been hospitalized.

He originally thought that if he couldn't escape this calamity today, his body would probably be cold before anyone would remember that he even existed.

More than figuring out who kidnapped him, the boss wanted to know who would come to his rescue.

It turned out that Chen Jiale and others came to pick up their boss, but couldn't find him.

Unable to rest easy, they asked many people before finally tracking the trail to this location.

Upon hearing that someone had suddenly arrived, the group of people were clearly flustered.

Someone instinctively grabbed the boss by the collar, preventing him from moving.

In the chaos, they accidentally tore off the black cloth covering the boss's eyes.

The boss, who regained his sight, did not feel lucky. Instead, he complained to himself: "My luck is too bad. Why do I always run into this kind of thing?"

The next second, a cold object pressed against his neck.

He glanced down and saw a gleaming fruit knife pressed against his neck.

The boss, no longer arrogant, kept pleading with the man: "Brother, brother, let's talk this over! Can you please let me go?"

The other party remained unmoved, simply staring intently at the three approaching individuals.

Helpless, the shop owner lowered his voice again and said, "No, I just broke up with my boyfriend, and then my house burned down. If you kill me too, don't you think I'll be in a really bad situation?"

To everyone's surprise, the older man wasn't angry at all; instead, he looked even more distressed than the man himself: "You think you're the only one who's pitiful? Do you think I'm not pitiful? My child is sick and I don't have money for treatment. The hospital won't admit him. I see him suffering every day, and I wish I could take his pain away!" (End of Chapter)