The morning after the Viper's Nest fell, everything in the city felt off. Most people just went about their day, but if you looked closer, if you were one of the powerful few you could feel it. Something big had shifted. The Zhao Group was finished, Boss Lei had vanished, and now this shadowy Dragon Group was gobbling up assets like it owned the place.
Su Yan sat slumped at her desk in the back office of her family's old textile company. She had her head in her hands. Sure, finding her father alive in the hospital had felt like a miracle, but reality hit just as hard the next morning.
"The debt collectors will be here at noon, Yan'er!" her mother, Zhang Li, cried as she paced. "The Zhaos are bankrupt! They can't help us now! And your useless husband is gone again, I'll bet he rented those cars with stolen money and now he's hiding from the police!"
Su Yan didn't even lift her head. She couldn't stop thinking about Ye Chen at the hospital, the way he spoke, how the Hospital Director actually bowed to him. Was that real? If it was, then why wasn't he here now?
The office door slammed open. Her father, Su Tang, stormed in, looking like he'd found the fountain of youth, face bright, eyes wide.
"Yan'er! Stop crying. Look at this!"
He tossed a heavy, gold-stamped folder onto her desk.
"What is it, Dad?"
He could barely get the words out. "An investment. Someone from the Dragon Group just walked into our lobby. They paid off our thirty-million-dollar debt. Every cent."
Su Yan's heart just about jumped out of her chest. "Wait. Why? What do they want?"
"Only one thing." Her father pointed to a line in the contract. "They say Su Yan must become Chairperson and CEO of the entire Su Group. She gets 51% controlling interest, and if anyone in the family including me tries to interfere, the money's gone and the debt comes back."
Zhang Li's jaw dropped. "Fifty-one percent? Then the rest of us have no say? That's outrageous! Who is this investor?"
Su Tang shook his head. "No name. Just a black dragon stamp where the signature should be."
Su Yan touched the contract. Her hands shook. Ye Chen. It had to be him. But how in the world could a man who'd spent three years scrubbing her floors pull this off?
"We need to go to headquarters, now," her father said. "The Board's already meeting. Your uncles and cousins are planning to sell off our factory equipment to save their own skins. If they do, we lose everything."
The Den of Vipers
The Su Group headquarters had once looked impressive, but now its glass tower just looked tired. Inside the boardroom, you could almost taste the greed.
"Su Yan is just a girl!" Uncle Su Ben shouted, pounding the table. "She let the Zhaos use her, and now look at us. The Zhaos are finished, and we're about to drown! We sell our machines to the Lin family today, or we all go to jail for the company's debts!"
"You're not selling anything!" Su Yan's voice cut through the noise as she pushed open the heavy doors.
The directors sneered at her. "Look who finally crawled back. Where's your beggar husband, Yan'er? Did he find a new trash heap?"
Su Yan didn't even blink. She walked straight to the head of the table, the spot reserved for the Patriarch.
"Get out of that chair, girl!" Su Ben barked.
"This seat belongs to the Chairperson." Su Yan's voice grew steadier with every word. She tossed the gold folder onto the table. "As of ten minutes ago, the Dragon Group owns the majority of this company. I'm the new Chairperson and CEO. Uncle Ben, you're fired. Security's waiting to walk you out."
The room exploded. Su Ben laughed, sharp and ugly. "You? CEO? Don't make me laugh. The Dragon Group wouldn't even spit in our direction. This is a joke!"
He lunged for the folder, but the door swung open again.
A woman in a blood-red suit strode in, her heels cracking against the marble. Four guards in tactical gear followed right behind.
"I'm Linda, Chief Legal Counsel for the Dragon Group," she said, voice like ice. "Mr. Su Ben, you're violating a standing order. My client doesn't like people touching his property."
Su Ben turned pale. Everybody in the city knew Linda, the "Ice Queen" of the legal world. She'd never lost a case. If she showed up, the contract was legit.
"Who… who's your client?" Su Ben stammered.
Linda glanced at Su Yan. For a split second, something flickered in her eyes, maybe respect. "My client wants to stay anonymous, for now. But he has a message for the Su family: 'The sun is rising, and the shadows are burning away. Choose your side wisely.'"
Su Yan sunk into the chair. For the first time, she felt what real power was like. Heavy, but not crushing, more like someone was holding her up. Ye Chen, where are you?
The Shadow Falls
While Su Yan took her throne, Ye Chen stood on the rooftop of Cloud-Peak Manor, the city's most exclusive estate. The city lights below looked like scattered stars.
"She's in, Master," Han Mufeng said, stepping out from the darkness. "The Su family is reeling. Su Yan just became the most powerful woman in the city's textile business."
"Good," Ye Chen said. He wore a plain black tracksuit, but somehow, he made the air feel heavy. "She needs that power. The people coming next don't care about contracts or boardrooms."
"Master… the sensors." Han Mufeng's voice got quieter. "A private helicopter just entered restricted airspace. No tower signal. It's using a Ye Family cloaking frequency."
Ye Chen's eyes narrowed. He looked up. A dark shape dropped out of the clouds, gliding down like a silent predator.
"The First Elder," Ye Chen muttered. "Didn't even wait twelve hours."
The First Elder, Ye Ling. The man who'd personally ordered Ye Chen's mother's treatment cut off, ten years ago. A master of the Withered Palm, a technique that could kill with a touch.
The helicopter hovered over the manor's helipad, but didn't land. A figure stepped out of the open door and just dropped sixty feet, straight down.
BOOM.
He hit the reinforced roof, sending spiderweb cracks across the concrete. When the dust cleared, an old man with long white hair stood there, eyes cold and sharp as broken glass. His gray robes snapped in the wind.
"Ye Chen," the old man called, voice rough as gravel. "You've made quite a mess for someone who's supposed to be dead."
"I learned from the best, Elder," Ye Chen shot back, hands at his sides, fingers twitching. "You always said that in the Ye Family, you're only dead if you're too weak to kill the one holding the knife."
"So you did learn," Ye Ling said, glancing around at the manor's luxury. "But all this money can't buy back a soul marked for reclamation. Hand over the Golden SIM card. I'll make your death quick. Maybe I'll even let your wife live as a servant in the Capital."
Ye Chen's face went blank. That was his Zero Point. Anyone who knew him knew to be scared when he looked like that.
"Elder," Ye Chen said quietly. "You shouldn't have mentioned her."
He moved. Not running, one second he was ten feet away, the next his fist hovered inches from the Elder's throat.
The Elder's eyes widened. He threw up a withered hand.
CLANG.
It didn't sound like flesh hitting flesh; it was deeper, like stone on stone. The shockwave shattered the penthouse windows below.
The Elder staggered back, eyes wide for the first time. "That power… that's not Ye Family style. Where did you learn the Forbidden Breath?"
"In places you were too scared to go, old man," Ye Chen growled.
Down in the driveway, three black sedans screeched to a stop. Men in masks, the Ye Family's Ghost Squad jumped out, guns ready.
"Master!" Han Mufeng shouted, weapon drawn.
"Stay back, Han!" Ye Chen barked, never taking his eyes off the Elder. "This isn't business anymore. It's a cleansing."
The Elder grinned, all gums. "The Ghost Squad will be inside in three minutes, Ye Chen. Your wife's father is in the guest suite, isn't he? Tell me… how many bullets can a man in a coma take?"
Ye Chen felt a cold rage settle in his bones. Defense wouldn't cut it anymore. If he wanted to protect Su Yan, he had to become the thing the Ye Family feared most.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Golden SIM card. Didn't bother to hide it. He held it up, gold flashing in the moonlight.
"You want it?" Ye Chen said. "Come and take it. But be warned, Elder… the last person who touched my property is eating through a tube now."