Eric Turner felt a wave of inexplicable confusion in his heart. He simply didn’t believe that the wind or something like that had just happened to blow a piece of newspaper into the crack of his door. Such a coincidence was truly unbelievable. So he decisively closed the door, then looked at the cracks of the other doors in the corridor. But aside from this one piece of newspaper, there wasn’t a single other scrap in any of the door cracks. This made Eric Turner even more puzzled.

(What does this mean? The torn edges of the newspaper are very rough, clearly ripped by hand. Could it be that someone is trying to warn me or leave me a message?)

The strange feeling in Eric Turner’s heart grew even stronger. He picked up the one-eighth page of newspaper and examined it over and over, memorizing its contents. Aside from some trivial matters, the only thing that stood out was a car accident outside the gate of the university he attended. But he didn’t find any coded messages or secret notes in it. The origin of this newspaper fragment was rather abrupt.

(I’ll just leave it for now. Later, I’ll ask at school if it was them. Are they testing me in this way?)

Eric Turner’s personality was naturally carefree. If he couldn’t figure something out, he simply stopped thinking about it. He casually stuffed the newspaper fragment into his bag and then headed toward the school.

Eric Turner’s figure looked quite well-proportioned, about 1.8 meters tall. Although he wasn’t all muscle, he still appeared sturdy. However, a large burn scar on the left side of his face had ruined his entire facial structure. If not for that scar, his face would have been quite handsome, with sharp features. From the side, he had a certain charm that attracted women’s attention.

The place where Eric Turner lived was very close to the school gate. He had rented the place specifically to be near the school, and it only took a few steps to get there. On the way, Eric Turner also grabbed some breakfast. But what struck him as odd was that no one around was talking about the car accident at the school gate. It seemed as if everyone was completely indifferent.

(It feels like something’s not right…)

Eric Turner didn’t think much of it. After finishing breakfast and paying, he walked toward the school gate. What surprised him was that there were no traces of a car crash at all—not even a drop of blood. This was truly bizarre. Either his newspaper was fake, or the aftermath had been cleaned up with incredible speed, so fast that everything was erased before anyone could react.

“How is that possible? Unless it was a high-ranking official’s car that got hit, but if that were the case, it would have caused an even bigger stir… Fake newspaper? Then why give it to me?”

Muttering to himself, Eric Turner found the whole thing both ridiculous and amusing. To encounter such a strange event first thing in the morning—he really didn’t know which joker was playing this prank on him, even going so far as to make an eighth of a newspaper page to fool him. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, the torn newspaper would have seemed completely real.

Thinking this, Eric Turner stopped worrying about the fake newspaper. He didn’t plan to tear it up either. After all, it was something someone had painstakingly forged. If he just tore it up, it would be pointless. Better to keep it and see if that person had any follow-up tricks. If not, then with only this fake newspaper fragment as a clue, it would be nearly impossible to find them.

Putting the matter aside, Eric Turner headed toward the building for his first class. Anyone who’s been to college knows that university life is actually very free. If the professor doesn’t take attendance, you can go or not as you please. So, in college, students usually fall into two camps: those who slack off and those who study. Eric Turner was one of the studious ones. But he was especially smart, able to infer many things from one example, so he didn’t bury himself in books like those bespectacled types. His easygoing manner made it seem like he was just drifting through his days.

“Eric Turner! Are you coming empty-handed again?”

A clear female voice called out from behind Eric Turner. He didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was, and a smile had already crept onto his lips. The girl’s name was Grace Miller, one of his childhood friends from the orphanage, and one of the only two people he still considered family. Ever since the fire ten years ago, the three of them had survived on government aid and scholarships. They had even decided to work hard together in the future. That’s why he and Grace Miller were both studying law and politics, while the other was studying finance. He planned to become a lawyer, Grace Miller would enter government service, and the other would go into business, striving to build a commercial empire. The three of them would support each other until they achieved their dreams—the dream, or rather the conviction, that had been planted after that fire ten years ago…