'Huh?'
He walked past them without so much as a glance.
Yu Xiang's body trembled with the shock of it, her carefully prepared expression crumbling as she turned to watch his retreating form.
Beside her, she could feel Chen burning with rage, his cultivated composure cracking as his bronze eyes blazed with barely contained fury.
But it wasn't just that Tianlong had ignored them.
It was the 'casualness' of it.
The complete and utter indifference, as if they weren't even worthy of acknowledgment.
As if Chen was so far beneath notice that he might as well not exist.
'Wait.' The realization hit her like a qi backlash. 'Zhao Chen thinks this man is his enemy. But... he doesn't even see Chen as competition.'
Her mind, honed by years of manipulation and survival, quickly processed the implications.
Chen's hatred, his wounded pride, his burning need to prove himself—it was all one-sided.
To Tianlong, Chen wasn't a rival to be defeated or an enemy to be crushed.
