Young Drake made a bold statement, never knowing the price behind it.

    Shawn finally nced at him, but Marion jumped out, calling him incapable. That was the first time Marion stabbed him in the back, but he didn''t resent Marion.

    After all, everyone wanted a chance to climb up.

    In the end, Shawn let him stay. For a while, he imagined himself standing behind important figures, wearing a bodyguard uniform. But he had been too na?ve.

    Shawn didn''t want just any bodyguard. He needed enforcers who could clean up loose ends.

    He picked kids from the slums one by one. Then he locked them all in a dark, windowless dungeon. The training was brutal. Every inch of his body was covered in wounds.

    Marion tossed him the only bottle of medicine.

    Robert scoffed, "Leave him be. This isn''t the ce for him."

    But Drake would never go back to the slums. He would rather die.

    Of course, he knew why Marion and Robert had been chosen. With their skills, they were bound to be Shawn''s most trusted men.

    By then, they might give him a helping hand. But he didn''t want to pin his hopes on anyone else.

    His mother had ced all her hopes on his father, but that man abandoned her without a second thought. He had once relied on his mother, only to be left behind, struggling alone in a foreignnd.

    The only person he could truly count on was himself. He was determined to seize everything he could. Even if it cost his life, he would not have regrets.

    People died in the dungeon every day. Soon, everyone figured out the only way out, which was to eliminatepetitors while they slept.

    In that ce, killing wasn''t against the rules. People turned into wild animals, losing every shred of morality and humanity.

    The boys who had arrived full of youthful ignorance were mostly dead within a week. Thepetition

    thinned out fast. By the final tion

    only a handful remained.

    There was no way to tell night from day. Drake didn''t even know where his enemies were hiding.

    In thest two days, he didn''t dare to sleep at all, afraid someone would strangle him in his sleep.

    There he took his first life and felt the warm blood sttered across his face. The dying boy stared at him with both fear and resentment.

    Drake trembled, his eyes burning, but he couldn''t let it show.

    He had to be tough and fearless. To stay alive, he had done the worst, filthiest, bloodiest things.

    The path he took was filled with thorns and blood. He never dared to look back.

    In a daze, he heard the voice of a woman.

    She said, "Right and wrong, grudges and debts... They''re never that simple. The key is, will you make up for what you''ve done and try to be a useful person to this world?"