President Lee kicked his limbs up, such that the hue on his face was mottled crimson and purplish in appearance. It skewed about wasting against my shins, his expensive leather shoes doing a poor job at impressing me."Let... let me go...," he wheezed, clawing at my fingers. "I... I will give you money! Ten million! No, twenty million!"The crowd remotely watched in horror. This was President Lee, the CEO of Grand Sky Group, a man who could bring companies to their knees with a phone call. Now, however, he appeared as a fish on a hook."Twenty million?" I cocked an eyebrow, tilting my head. "You think your dirty money can buy back my hand that touched your wife?"I looked at his right hand; the fleshy, sweaty hand that had just lethargically creep up the thigh of Sarah a moment before.System Diagnosis. [Target: Middle-aged male. Overweight. Weak joints.] [Action: Commencing Punishment.]"You like to touch things that don't belong to you," I said calmly. "So you don't need this anymor

Mrs. Higgins held her gaze on me for the next three seconds. Then she threw her head back and cackled. It was the sound of a crow choking on a bone."Buy the building?" She wiped tears from her eyes. "Did you hear that? The convict wants to buy my building! And boy, do you have any idea how much a four-story apartment block is worth in the North District? Even a dump like this would fetch two million!"She pointed a fat, sausage-like finger right at my chest."You probably don't even have two dollars in your pocket! Just a piece of prison trash trying to act tough in front of his wife."She turned on Sarah, her face twisted with mockery. "And you! Trouble! You brought criminals to my decent establishment. Get your bags packed! Five minutes for you to be out, or I will chuck your clothes out through the window!"Sarah trembled, grabbing my arm. "Ethan... let's just go. Please. Don't cause trouble."I didn't move. I stood as still as a mountain."Viper," I said calmly. "Is it done?"Vipe

They are to report to River City General Hospital, V.I.P. Ward.The disinfectant was very heavy in the atmosphere.David Miller lay bedridden, right hand in heavy plaster cast, but sweat was drenching his little body with pain, yet on the feverish expectant eyes of the boy.Next to him, Martha Miller peeled an apple with a small knife."And I just got a text," said Martha venomously from their company. "Don't worry, sweetie—the Black Tiger Gang has entered the Villa. Fifty men. Iron Tiger is personally leading them all."He grinned and the grin took more the form of a grimace. "Good. Good! I want Ethan crippled. No, I want him dead! I want him head on a platter!""He will be." Babes soothed him. "Iron Tiger is a monster. No one survives him. By sunrise, Ethan will be history, and then we can take that slut Sarah and sell her to underground brothels to make for our lost stock value."Bang!The door of the V.I.P. room sprang open.David and Martha craned their necks waiting for a doctor.

I sat in the private garden of the Sky Garden Villa. The air was fresh, smelling of pine and expensive landscaping.Sarah sat directly opposite me with slightly trembling hands as she pushed a heavy wooden box across the stone table."A visitor came while you were at the company," Sarah whispered. "An old man. He said his name was Elder Mo. He said... he said your last name isn't Wright. He said it's 'Yeager'."My hand hesitated mid-air, poised over the teacup.Yeager.That name hit me like a blow in the gut. Five years ago, while at the very depths of Cell 99, my Master-the Old Monster-would look at my bone structure with some confirmation that his insanity was manic. "Boy," he gurgled, "you have the blood of the War Gods! No wonder you survived my training. You are a dragon cub lost in a flock of sheep."I inspected the box. It was made of Black Dragon Wood-a timber so incredibly rare that it was illegal for commoners to own it. It could only be found in the forbidden valleys of the

The heavy glass doors of L'Amour Boutique swung open.A woman stepped out.The streaming crowd in the Royal Plaza came to a freezing halt. Talks ceased. Heads turned.No longer was Sarah Wright a lowly figure in a faded cotton dress; she was regal.A midnight-blue evening gown of silk exquisitely draped her delicate frame to the floor, like a cascade of liquid stars. The gown glistening under the lights of the mall. Her heels, encrusted with crystals, clicked imperiously on the marble floor. The hair that had been knotted up back into a bun was now let down, with soft waves falling around her shoulders.She didn't look like an inhabitant of a slum; she looked like the Queen of River City.I walked beside her, my hand casually placed on the small of her back. Clothed in black, I allowed a dissatisfied gaze for the awed faces of the passing public."Ethan," Sarah whispered, flushing a little. "Everyone is staring. Is it... too much?""It is exactly enough," I said. "Lift your head. You