War God: Revenge of Trash Ex-Son-in-Law

CHAPTER 1

Thunder roared violently, shaking the massive glass windows of the luxurious Miller family residence in Alpine, New Jersey. Inside the warm living room, Raymond knelt on the cold marble floor. His rough hands gripped a mop cloth tightly. He had just finished wiping the last stretch of the floor when a maroon folder landed right in front of his knees, splashing dirty water onto his faded jeans.

“Sign it. Stop wasting our time,” the voice came coldly from the lips of Chloe, the woman who had been his wife for the past three years.

Chloe stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Her gaze toward Raymond was filled with disgust, as though he were nothing more than a pile of trash staining her home.

Raymond slowly looked up, his messy hair covering part of his weary eyes. “Divorce... papers? But, Chloe, what did I do wrong? I’ve done everything you asked of me. I took care of this house without ever complaining.”

“And that’s your biggest problem, Raymond!” his mother-in-law, Evelyn, cut in from the sofa. The middle-aged woman set down her teacup with a sharp clink. “For three years, you’ve lived in this house like a parasite. All you can do is hold a feather duster and a spatula. Meanwhile, tomorrow, the Miller family will sign a massive one-hundred-million-dollar contract with Vance Corporation! How could we possibly allow an amnesiac with no background like you to sit in a seat of honor?”

Raymond stared at the folder beneath him, his throat feeling dry. “I may not remember who I was before three years ago. But my feelings were sincere...”

“Keep your pathetic sincerity to yourself!” Chloe stepped forward, the tip of her high heel pressing against the maroon folder until it slid directly in front of Raymond. “Did you think I didn’t know about your filthy behavior behind my back? Look at this!”

Chloe threw several printed photographs onto the floor. In the pictures, the silhouette of a man resembling Raymond could be seen embracing another woman inside a cheap motel in Queens.

Raymond froze, his hands trembling as he picked up the photographs. “This... this isn’t me, Chloe. That night, I was in the kitchen making your mother’s soup order until two in the morning. You know that!”

“Enough, Raymond. Arguing with you only gives me a headache,” Chloe turned her face away coldly. “Vance Corporation wants a clean alliance. Young Master Julian Vance personally requested that our family have no stains, including an unemployed son-in-law accused of cheating. So, leave this place.”

“Chloe...” Raymond crawled forward, trying to reach the hem of his wife’s dress, but Chloe quickly stepped back as though she were afraid of catching a disease.

“Don’t touch my daughter with your filthy hands!” Evelyn stood up, her voice shrill. She snapped her fingers toward the side door. “Thomas! Peter! Drag this parasite out! Throw his belongings onto the street!”

Two burly men in black security uniforms stepped inside. Ignoring Raymond’s words, they roughly grabbed both of his arms. Their strength was so overwhelming that Raymond felt his shoulder joints shift painfully. The maroon folder and a pen were forced into his trembling hands. Under the pressure of their painful grip, they forced Raymond’s fingers to sign the white paper.

“Good. Now you’re nobody in this house anymore.” Chloe took the document back, staring at the black ink signature with a cynical smile.

Raymond was dragged through the long corridor before being thrown onto the wet asphalt outside the massive iron gate. An old backpack containing several worn-out clothes was tossed directly onto his chest before the gate slammed shut.

Bang!

Raymond slowly rose to his feet, his knees bleeding from hitting the asphalt. Rainwater immediately mixed with the tears on his cheeks. He hugged his old backpack tightly and wandered down the sidewalk in a daze. His mind was empty, leaving only deep pain over his miserable fate. Why did he have to live such an oppressed life?

A blinding beam of headlights suddenly cut through the darkness from behind. A sports car sped forward, slicing through the rain at terrifying speed. Raymond turned around, squinting against the glare. He tried to step aside, but the car sharply swerved, as though deliberately aiming for him.

Screeech! Crash!

The sound of screeching tires collided with the deafening impact of metal. Raymond’s body was thrown several meters into the air before crashing into a concrete road barrier. His backpack flew from his grasp, his worn clothes scattering across the ground, slowly soaked by rainwater and the thick stream of blood flowing from his head.

The sports car stopped for a moment several meters ahead. Its window lowered slightly, revealing the sneer of a blond young man—Julian Vance—holding the steering wheel, before he slammed on the accelerator and disappeared into the darkness of the storm.

Raymond lay on the freezing asphalt. His vision slowly blurred, covered by a layer of warm blood. His heartbeat weakened, and every breath felt agonizing.

Am I going to die here? As nothing more than a parasite? he thought bitterly, mourning his miserable fate.

However, just as his consciousness stood on the brink of total darkness, a sound like a massive crack echoed inside his mind. The sound did not come from outside, but from the depths of his soul that had long been sealed beneath a mysterious fog.

KRAKK!

The crack spread rapidly, shattering the invisible chains surrounding all of his memories. Along with the breaking of that seal, a burning pain suddenly surged through every nerve in Raymond’s body. Events from thousands of years ago, endless battlefields of higher dimensions soaked in the blood of gods, and millions of golden-armored troops kneeling beneath his feet suddenly flooded into his dying mind.

[ Warning: The Eternal God of War Soul Seal has been destroyed. ]

[ Initiating ancient memory synchronization... ]

[ Synchronizing mortal body with the God of War Soul Core: 1%... 5%... ]

A semi-transparent golden text glowed brightly, spinning within the darkness behind his closed eyes. The agonizing pain tormenting him gradually transformed into a cold stream of energy flowing through every blood vessel in his body, instantly stopping the bleeding from his head.

Raymond’s once weary and hopeless eyes suddenly snapped open beneath the raging storm.

The aura surrounding his body changed completely in an instant. His pupils radiated a cold and piercing golden glow. The fear and weakness that had consumed him for the past three years vanished without a trace. He had not remembered everything yet, but he knew one thing—he was not an ordinary human.

The man moved, slowly rising from the asphalt. There was no longer any surrender on his face. He stood tall beneath the pouring rain, staring in the direction of the car that had hit him with an icy gaze.

“The Miller family... Vance Corporation...” Raymond muttered those names in a heavy voice filled with authority, completely different from the gentle and timid voice he had possessed only minutes earlier.

He clenched his right fist, feeling the remnants of combat power beginning to flow back into his muscles. A faint smile filled with cruelty curved at the corner of his lips.

“For three years, I slept as a foolish human,” Raymond said, his voice cutting through the roar of thunder in the sky. “It’s time for all of you to pay for every drop of blood that left this body.”