A few days later, Robert’s body began to show obvious signs of aging and weakness.
Everyone, including himself, thought it was the great shock that had caused him to become so haggard.
But the Mafia had many matters to deal with every day, and since Robert didn’t have the energy to cope, he started to delegate his power to Qiao Yiyang.
Qiao Yiyang handled everything very well, and Robert was very satisfied with him, as were many others who came to respect him.
He also covertly nurtured his own power, quickly expanding his influence.
By the time Robert realized something was amiss, he was no longer able to contend with Qiao Yiyang.
By then, not only had Robert’s hair turned white, but he had also aged more than a decade.
Qiao Yiyang placed Robert under house arrest and prevented him from contacting others.
Then, he relished watching Robert’s body deteriorate day by day, growing increasingly useless and old.
He wouldn’t kill him outright. He was his most hated enemy, so he wanted to torture him to death slowly.
Qiao Yiyang even revealed to Robert the truth about the virus he’d been infected with, making the remainder of Robert’s days extremely painful.
He was a man who put power above everything else and also a man who was deeply afraid of death.
Watching himself grow older and more useless by the day, drawing closer to death, Robert naturally felt fear and terror.
In the end, he even begged Qiao Yiyang like a dog to spare him and to give him an antidote.
Robert met such an end, which Qiao Yiyang found deeply satisfying.
Qiao Yiyang told him that he would give him the antidote if he passed on the Mafia to him.
Having no other options, Robert handed over control of the Mafia to Qiao Yiyang to survive, hoping that Qiao Yiyang would spare his life and allow him to live out his days.
But Qiao Yiyang did not do so.
He threw Robert’s aged body into a cage, where he was mauled to death by several wolves and then eaten until only bones remained.
By that time, Robert looked like he was in his eighties or nineties, with white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and exceedingly emaciated, utterly unrecognizable.
So after killing him, Qiao Yiyang found a recently deceased old man to replace his body, slightly altered his appearance, and turned him into the spitting image of Robert.
Everyone thought it was Robert and gave him a grand funeral.
Little did they know, the real Robert had become food in the bellies of wolves.
With Robert gone, Qiao Yiyang officially took over the Mafia and became the new godfather.
These were the experiences of his past.
After hearing this, Lin Xinlan was deeply shocked.
She had not expected Qiao Yiyang’s past to be so tragic.
Is it that everyone who walks this path has a past they’d rather forget...
After recounting his experiences, Qiao Yiyang said with a faint smile, "Xinlan, I’m telling you this not to seek your sympathy, nor to defend myself. I just... want you to know about my past, to understand what kind of person I am."
Aside from a few people in the Mafia, he had never spoken of these experiences to anyone else.
He disdained to do so, and would not speak of it.
Now, he wished only to reveal his past to Lin Xinlan.
It was as if a child, having been wronged, had finally found a sympathetic listener, and he poured out all the sadness from his heart in one go.
Once he had spoken, he felt much better in his heart, at least the wounds of the past wouldn’t cause him as much pain and sorrow anymore.
Lin Xinlan watched him calmly and suddenly asked, "That girl is..."