The next few days over the capital settled into an eerie, almost unnatural tranquility. The digital space remained completely devoid of new smear campaigns, the paparazzi stayed at a strictly managed distance, and the production set of 'The Jade Phoenix' proceeded without a single technical hitch or loose wire.
The atmosphere in the city felt heavy, like the suffocating, silent pause that always precedes a violent summer thunderstorm.
Chen Ying, however, was not fooled by the sudden peace. Her mind, honed by years of navigating high-stakes survival, knew that an abrupt silence from a cornered predator was never a sign of surrender.
It was simply quiet before the execution. Madam Su and Su Ruo were facing total annihilation, and Lu Sihan was running out of standard corporate maneuvers. When vipers find themselves backed into a dark corner, they don't give up—they prepare a lethal, desperate strike.
