"How is the progress on the recent arrangements?"
Lounging on the plush, oversized velvet sofa of Mansion No. 1, Adrian casually wrapped his arm around the naked, trembling beauty resting in his lap. He directed his cold, searching gaze toward Yi Zhongtian, who sat submissively on a lower chair opposite him.
This multi-universe system mission required capturing far too many female targets, and Adrian simply did not possess the infinite time or stamina to personally engineer every single capture. Therefore, aside from the high-priority, primary targets, he had delegated the heavy lifting of the secondary operations directly to his shadow fixer.
After all, when it came to running illicit scams, framing innocent targets, and engineering financial ruin, Mr. Yi was the undisputed master of the craft.
"Several of the specific operations you assigned to me, Young Master, are already in active preparation," Yi Zhongtian reported smoothly, keeping his head respectfully bowed. "However, we still need to calculate the absolute perfect opportunity before we can launch our offensive against the Qu Group and the Shengxuan Group."
"Oh?"
Adrian idly reached inside the sheer, translucent fabric of Nan Xiang's robe, his fingers locking onto the cold, gold rings newly pierced through her nipples. He gave one of the rings a sudden, merciless pinch through the cloth.
"The Shengxuan Group is a massive, state-backed enterprise in the country, so I can understand why Tan Zongming's empire is difficult to touch," Adrian mused, swirling his glass of whiskey. "But this Qu Group is merely an emerging real estate developer, isn't it? Aren't developers of that caliber usually buried under mountains of predatory bank loans? Besides, how could a common contractor who built his empire on real estate and concrete not possess a vault full of dirty, illegal secrets?"
As the cynical old proverb went: The first pot of gold in the capitalist market is always baptized in blood. Adrian didn't believe for a single fraction of a second that Qu Xiaoxiao's father, Qu Liancheng, had built his multi-billion-yuan empire through nothing but honest, hard work and perseverance.
"The Qu Group rose to prominence back in the day entirely due to the political backing of Yao Daping," Yi Zhongtian explained, beginning his clinical analysis. "Currently, Yao Daping occupies the powerful position of Acting Governor of JS Province—a man of immense, untouchable authority. The Qu family has deeply intricate, corrupt connections with him. To put it bluntly, Qu Liancheng is merely acting as Yao Daping's financial front man. If we want to dismantle the Qu Group, we must first bypass Yao Daping's political shield."
In this country, once a private merchant's wealth crossed a certain threshold, they were legally required to secure a powerful political patron; otherwise, they would be instantly swallowed whole by the state or larger predators. Although the Qu Group wasn't a top-tier national conglomerate, it still commanded a market value of three to five billion yuan. It was only natural for them to act as dogs for a provincial governor.
This was the exact reason Qu Liancheng was so desperate to marry his daughter, Qu Xiaoxiao, off to Yao Bin, Adrian calculated. Yao Bin's family was intimately connected to the governor's inner circle.
"Yao Daping...?" Adrian murmured, his fingers idly rolling the gold ring on Nan Xiang's nipple.
"Have you discussed this issue with Secretary Xu yet?" Adrian asked.
"Absolutely not!" Yi Zhongtian instantly stood up, bowing deeply to declare his loyalty. "You can rest entirely assured, Young Master, that I will never reveal a single syllable of your private affairs to anyone without your explicit command."
For a professional middleman and fixer like him, playing double agent or tattling was a guaranteed way to get a bullet in the brain. Admittedly, he was technically Vice Mayor Xu Guangxi's dog, but currently, his life and career were entirely bound to Adrian Li. Unless Secretary Xu's personal survival was directly threatened, he would never dare to commit treason against his new master.
"Inform Secretary Xu of this tomorrow," Adrian commanded coldly. "Tell him I need to arrange a private meeting with Yao Daping to discuss the Qu family's future. If Yao Daping knows what is good for his political career, he will cooperate. Otherwise..."
Adrian suddenly flicked the gold ring on Nan Xiang's nipple with his fingernail.
The beauty in his arms immediately shuddered violently, her toes curling as a silent gasp of pure agony was squeezed from her throat. Her nipples had only been violently pierced earlier that morning, and the delicate, raw wounds hadn't even begun to form a scab. This sudden, rough tugging immediately tore the healing flesh, sending a blinding wave of heat radiating directly into her chest.
But Nan Xiang was no longer a naive girl. She knew with absolute, terrifying certainty that this was a critical business meeting; if she dared to let out a single scream or interrupt their conversation, the consequences to her body would be unimaginably horrific. She bit her own tongue, letting the blood pool in her mouth as she maintained a silent, trembling smile.
"I understand your requirements, Young Master. I will deliver the message directly to Secretary Xu first thing tomorrow morning!" Yi Zhongtian replied, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.
Even now, he still didn't possess the clearance to know the true, hidden identity of Young Master Adrian Li. But the boy's absolute, nonchalant attitude—treating a powerful regional governor like a disposable chess piece—made Yi Zhongtian feel as though he were walking on a field of landmines.
"By the way, Young Master, the specialized film crew and legal team you requested have been fully assembled. The official lawyer's letter was hand-delivered this morning," Yi Zhongtian reported, moving to a safer topic.
"Excellent. Run the initial play and monitor their reactions. Keep a tight grip on these variables, and I won't forget your loyalty when it comes time to distribute rewards," Adrian waved his hand dismissively, signaling the fixer to scram.
"Thank you, Young Master! I will execute the plan immediately!" Yi Zhongtian practically fled the master suite, desperate to put distance between himself and the terrifying billionaire.
"Did that hurt, slut?" Adrian asked with a dark, mocking smile, looking down at the twitching, sweat-sheened face of the beauty pinned beneath his arm.
"No! It doesn't hurt... it doesn't hurt at all, Master!" Nan Xiang lied instantly, her voice trembling as she forced her eyes to stay bright and compliant.
"Let your Master examine the damage."
Adrian roughly pulled back the sheer, translucent veil covering her torso. As his designated sex slave, Nan Xiang was forbidden from wearing actual clothing inside the mansion. If Yi Zhongtian hadn't arrived to deliver his political report, she would normally be walking around completely naked, save for a thin red silk rope tied tightly around her slender waist.
Tug.
Adrian hooked his index finger through the gold ring on her left nipple, violently pulling the metal downward as he stared into her eyes. "Are you absolutely certain it doesn't hurt?"
"No... it doesn't hurt!" Nan Xiang whispered, the muscles in her face violently twitching.
Getting a heavy gold ring jammed through a highly sensitive nipple was infinitely more excruciating than piercing a common earlobe. Compounded by the fact that the needles had breached her skin just hours ago, this sudden, brutal friction instantly tore the fresh flesh open again, causing a slow trickle of crimson blood to ooze out and dye the gold ring. It would be an absolute miracle if she wasn't screaming in agony!
"Tell me, do you know exactly what this red rope around your waist represents?" Adrian asked, ignoring her pain entirely as his other hand came down to flick the thin red silk tied around her hips.
"During... during the Ming and Qing dynasties," Nan Xiang explained in a low, submissive tone, her artistic education allowing her to recall the historical trivia, "the prostitutes in the high-end brothels would tie a single red string around their bare waists. This red string was officially considered their very last layer of modesty when receiving paying customers. As long as that red string remained untied, they could psychologically comfort themselves with the illusion that they were not completely naked... that they still possessed some dignity."
"Oh? And do you honestly believe a single piece of red string can preserve the dignity of a woman who has already had her womb scraped?" Adrian asked mockingly.
"Yes... I was young, foolish, and ignorant back then," Nan Xiang replied, her heart turning to absolute ash.
She finally, bitterly understood the root of her daily physical degradation. This Young Master didn't merely despise her because she wasn't a pure virgin; he harbored a deep, visceral disgust because another man's child had once been conceived and violently aborted inside her uterus.
'But if he finds my body so incredibly repulsive and tainted,' Nan Xiang wondered in silent, hollow confusion, 'why did he go to such terrifying lengths to drag me into his bed in the first place?'
Apartment: 3602
While Nan Xiang was trapped in her silent existential dread, a massive explosion of anger was currently rocking the apartment.
"This is outrageous! This is utterly, completely outrageous! I am entirely insulted and structurally disorganized! I am going to launch a massive lawsuit against these bastards!" Sekiya Shinji roared in pure, unadulterated fury, his face turning a dangerous shade of purple as he waved a crisp legal document in the air.
"Sekiya! Please, keep your voice down! Don't let the others in 3601 hear you!" Tang Youyou hissed in panic, frantically jumping up to cover the Japanese cartoonist's mouth with her bare hand. If this embarrassing scandal leaked and the entire apartment block found out, her acting career would be permanently ruined!
"I am so incredibly angry right now that I feel the absolute biological urge to commit seppuku on this dining table!" Sekiya muffled through her fingers, his eyes bulging as he pointed at the formal lawyer's letter. "And you have the audacity to tell me to calm down?! How the hell am I supposed to maintain my composure under this kind of direct, legal humiliation?!"
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Give me powerstones.
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