The next second…The already tense atmosphere completely shattered.BANG! BANG! BANG!A barrage of gunfire exploded throughout the room mercilessly. Not from just one direction—the attack came from all sides. From hidden balconies above, from vents that had gone unnoticed, even from wall panels that quietly opened.Muzzle flashes burst one after another.Dozens… no—hundreds of bullets shot out at once.The air trembled, filled with deadly whistling sounds capable of tearing a human body apart in an instant.Some guests screamed reflexively and threw themselves to the floor.“AAAAH!”“We’re going to die!”Some covered their heads, others froze in place. There was no escape. No place to hide.This attack had clearly been planned to eliminate the target in a single moment.And yet…In the middle of that storm of bullets, Alex still stood there.Calm.Unmoving.Even his gaze did not change in the slightest.As if what was flying toward him… were not deadly bullets.Lori, standing beside h

The room once again fell into a suffocating silence.All eyes were fixed on Rey Sogun, who remained deeply bowed. Not a single one of his subordinates dared to move. Even their breathing felt restrained.Alex did not respond immediately. He simply stared. His gaze was flat, emotionless. Yet that very lack of emotion made the pressure feel several times heavier.A few seconds passed.Then…“Leave.”A single, light word. Yet it sounded like an absolute command.Rey Sogun slowly lifted his head slightly, but still did not dare to look directly. Without wasting even a second, he stepped back.“Yes.”His reply was short. Firm. Without the slightest intention to resist.He turned around.“Everyone, withdraw.”The order was executed instantly without question. More than ten people who had arrived with intimidating auras… now moved quickly to leave the room. There was no longer any sense of dominance. Only one thing remained—They, Rey Sogun and his men, had chosen to avoid confrontation.BAN

The atmosphere inside the spacious director’s office suddenly changed. The air, which had been cool from the air conditioning, now began to tremble. Alex stood upright in front of the bronze dragon furnace, his relaxed expression gone, replaced by the sharp gaze of a predator stalking its prey.Lori, standing near the door, suddenly stiffened. As a cultivator who had reached the peak of body–Qi unification, she could feel the shift in atmospheric pressure within the room. Her heart pounded rapidly—not out of fear, but because her instincts warned her that something significant was about to happen.“Watch carefully,” Alex murmured.Alex raised his right hand. His fingers moved, forming a complex ancient seal. Instantly, a flow of pure Qi energy began to emanate from his body. But this was no ordinary Qi. The energy was not blue or transparent like most cultivators’. It was a dim golden hue, and as it radiated outward, the temperature around the marble table rose drastically.WOOOSH!Al

Alex let out a low laugh, a sound that vibrated in his throat and felt dangerously close to Olivia’s ear. He didn’t pull away. Instead, he allowed that intimate silence to linger between them for several seconds that felt like an eternity. In Alex’s eyes, that mischievous glint slowly shifted into something deeper, as if he were crafting a grand plan in his mind.“Actually,” Alex began, his voice returning to its usual relaxed tone, “I have a more interesting idea than just a kiss as payment. How about we turn this into a game? As compensation for the years I disappeared without a word, I’ll let you become my ‘owner’ for a while. You can order me around, play with me however you like, until you feel your resentment has been fully repaid. What do you think, Director Olivia?”Olivia froze. She stared at the man in front of her, who looked both shameless and strangely sincere in offering himself as her plaything. But instead of laughing or agreeing, her expression slowly changed.The joy

“Stop talking?! Kill him and finish the mission!”The other two kidnappers nodded in unison.But Alex merely curled his lips into a cold grin.“All my life, I’ve heard countless people say they’d kill me… and yet, here I am, still alive.”“Die, you arrogant brat!” the man in the black robe roared.He lunged forward at full speed. His purple dagger sliced through the air, aiming straight for Alex’s heart with the precision of a professional assassin. His movement was so fast it left afterimages behind, while the corrosive purple Qi scorched the air in its wake.To ordinary eyes, he was nothing more than a deadly black blur. Even Olivia, from a distance, held her breath, her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white, as if she could barely restrain the icy power within her.TING!A clear, ringing metallic sound echoed across the park, freezing the heartbeat of everyone who heard it.The black-robed man’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His legendary purple dagger—one