Jin Shi sat in the corner of the room, his head lowered slowly as his grandmother, Sovana, stood in front of him with a harsh expression. Her words filled the thick air of the room, her reproach echoing, "You are the son of a criminal, and you will end up just like him. You will become a killer like your father, like Marcon." Those words hurt Jin Shi deeply, but they weren't new. Since he was little, he had been hearing them from everyone, and no one ever cared about how they made him feel.
But Jin Shi never responded to such words. He knew no one could understand what he was going through, and no one could bear the pain he had lived through. He preferred to stay silent, remaining in the shadows, out of sight. Despite the bullying and blame he had endured throughout his life, he always chose to stay calm, as if he didn't care about what others said. Those words were just a repetition of what he had heard over and over again.
Still, his heart was filled with sadness, and he felt a mix of anger and rejection. He saw himself as different from those who judged him, knowing that the path he walked was not their path, and that he wasn't a criminal or a killer, no matter what his past was.
At that moment, Jin Shi's life took a sudden turn. As he was leaving school, picking up his bag from the ground after another bullying incident, he noticed something strange. There was a person watching from afar, and someone was approaching him in a strange manner. It wasn't like the other students. This person was dressed in distinctive clothes, had a large build, and his eyes seemed ruthless. As he moved closer, Jin Shi felt a strange sensation. He stopped as the person came closer, and it became clear that he was not just any student. He was someone else entirely.
This person introduced himself with an unnaturally polite smile: Richard D, the leader of one of the city's most notorious gangs.
"You're Jin Shi, right?" Richard asked with a mysterious grin. "Do you have a page called 'Jonsho'? Aren't you skilled in programming and creating synthetic images? I heard you do it for money."
Jin Shi was shocked by the unexpected question. He knew his online work had attracted attention, but he never imagined a member of a gang would be watching him. He had always kept his distance from gangs or anything illegal. Jin Shi quickly regained his composure and looked Richard in the eye with steady confidence.
"You're right," Jin Shi said as he pulled his hand from Richard's grip and took his bag off his shoulder. "But I don't do anything without compensation. I don't work for free, not for anyone, even if they are the leader of a gang."
Richard hesitated for a moment, but his smile didn't fade. "You know, we need people like you in our gang. We have several projects that require your programming skills. We have money and power