"You need to look like you are bleeding to death."Bella spoke the words quietly in the damp air of the bunker. She held the jade Titanium Corporate Seal in her hands.Chase Lu stood in the center of the concrete room. He did not wear a tailored suit today. He wore a rumpled dress shirt. His collar was loose. His jaw was dark with rough stubble."Vincent Fang is a paranoid predator," Chase agreed. His voice sounded raw. "He will not accept a surrender unless he believes he broke my spine."Chase closed his eyes. He accessed the dormant energy resting deep in his chest. He invoked the Medical God skill.He did not use the ancient medical knowledge to heal his fractured hand. He used it to harm himself.Chase deliberately disrupted his own internal Qi flow. He restricted the blood circulation to his extremities. The healthy color drained from his face instantly. His skin turned a sickly pale ash.He forced a harsh feverish heat into his skull. His eyes became heavily bloodshot. He suppr

"Lower your weapons right now."The Vanguard commander screamed the order over the deafening roar of the helicopter blades. The mercenary leader grabbed the barrel of his subordinate rifle. He shoved the weapon toward the floor.He stared through the floor to ceiling glass windows of City Hall. His scarred face turned a sickly shade of gray. The color drained from his cheeks."That is not local police," the commander warned Vincent Fang. "That is the Capital National Guard. It is the state military."Vincent frowned. He clutched the stamped transfer deed for the Ghost Peak Mine.He assumed this was a standard raid. He assumed he could bribe the commanding officer. He believed his syndicate influence could buy any badge in the province. He did not understand the severity of the arriving force.Chase Lu stood beside the podium. He adjusted his silver cuffs.The slouched posture vanished. The illusion of the broken king evaporated into the humid air. He stood tall and unyielding. He radi

"Give me the exact floor."​Chase Lu spoke in a low subsonic register. He sat in the rear passenger seat of the armored Titanium sedan. The heavy vehicle rolled away from the municipal plaza. The tires hissed against the wet asphalt.​He adjusted the collar of his rumpled dress shirt. His muscles ached with a dull throbbing pain. He had intentionally disrupted his own internal energy to fake his physical collapse on the public stage. His nervous system demanded immediate rest. He ignored the profound fatigue.​He pressed a finger to his encrypted earpiece. He waited for the connection to the Skyline Bank military vault.​"The floor is set," Victoria Qin answered. Her voice cracked through the secure radio link. "Titanium stock is resting at exactly two dollars per share. The exchange is a graveyard."​Chase watched the gray city blur past the tinted window. The algorithm had worked flawlessly. The Ghost Trader had successfully weaponized the fake radiation reports over the past twenty

"Pour another glass."Commissioner Iron leaned back in his plush leather chair. The immense tension of the past week finally evaporated from his stiff shoulders.He sat in his pristine, climate-controlled office within the Capital Bureau's regional headquarters. The flat-screen television in the corner played a muted news broadcast showing Vincent Fang's plummeting financial metrics. Iron smiled a thin, bloodless smile. He had survived the crossfire of the billionaires.By issuing the National Decree and seizing the Ghost Peak Mine, he had given Chase Lu exactly what the man demanded. The transaction was complete. The blackmail material proving his treason was surely deleted by now. He had played the system perfectly.I am untouchable, Iron thought, swirling the hot liquid in his cup. Chase Lu is a businessman. He understands the value of a buried secret. Businessmen do not break deals. His assistant poured the expensive green tea from a delicate porcelain pot. Iron took a slow, sati

"Open the gate." Vincent Fang rasped. Rain lashed against the ancient stone steps of the hidden mountain monastery. He knelt in the dark storm, shivering uncontrollably. He had not eaten in three days. The sharp rocks sliced into his bare knees. His tailored silk suit was ruined, caked in thick filth and his own vomit. My money failed, Vincent thought frantically. My mercenaries ran away. A violent wave of nausea rolled through his empty stomach. He gripped his ribs as pains echoed the baton strikes the National Guard had delivered days ago. He had tried to buy the federal government with billions of dollars. He had tried to manipulate the stock exchange to crush his rival. Chase Lu had turned his own wealth into a weapon. The billionaire from the slums had crushed the Fang modern empire in a single afternoon. Vincent squeezed his eyes shut. The rain washed the blood from a fresh cut on his forehead. Chase was not a normal businessman. Chase was a monster who could not be bought o