"The spinal fusion was a success."The lead trauma surgeon stripped off his bloody latex gloves. He stood in the sterile corridor of the Titanium Charity Hospital. The sharp smell of bleach and iodine hung heavy in the cold air."She will survive the night," the surgeon continued. "The localized cellular regeneration was miraculous. We just need to monitor her vitals.""Thank you Doctor," Chase Lu said quietly. "Keep armed guards stationed at her door."The surgeon nodded and walked away down the long white hallway. Chase leaned back against the hard plaster wall. Dark blood from Lady Rose soaked the front of his white dress shirt. The sticky fabric clung to his skin.His heart raced erratically against his ribs. A cold sweat coated the back of his neck. Nausea twisted his empty stomach into tight painful knots. He closed his eyes to process the crushing reality of his deficit.He needed fifteen thousand System Points to purchase the Combat God upgrade. He needed that specific martial

"I will rip your spine out through your throat."Vincent Fang roared. The disgraced billionaire lunged forward. He moved with a speed that defied the dense muscle mass packed onto his frame. Dark blood dripped from his swollen knuckles.Chase Lu did not retreat from the charge. He planted his feet firmly on the carpet. He raised his arms to execute a traditional Wing Chun block. He intended to redirect the force just as he had done in the courtyard hours ago.Vincent did not throw a technical punch. He delivered a brutal sweeping clothesline strike aimed directly at the neck.The monstrous forearm slammed into the defensive guard. The force shattered the Wing Chun stance instantly. A sickening crack echoed through the room as Chase was launched backward through the air.He crashed into the oak bookshelf lining the far wall. Heavy volumes and splintered wood rained down around him.My bones are going to splinter if I take another direct hit. Chase gasped for air. A sharp agonizing pain

"If you must go, then do. You do not get to wallow in guilt tonight. You do not get to quit because the math is hard. You built a corporate empire from the slums. You brought down the Southern Syndicate with a single phone call. You are the King of the North."She released his face and stood up in the cramped tunnel. She looked down at him with the cold surgical precision of a wartime matriarch."Stop blaming yourself for the losses," Bella ordered. Her voice echoed loudly off the damp stone walls. "Kill him."Her words cut through the fog clouding his brain. The severe nausea receded. The frantic, erratically racing heartbeat steadied into a slow calculated pulse.Chase looked at his wife standing tall in the freezing tunnel. She was right. Guilt was a useless paralyzing emotion. Fear was a fatal tactical error.He opened the holographic System interface in his mind. The blue text illuminated the dark corners of his vision. He stared at his current balance of thirteen thousand System

Grandmaster Mo did not offer a formal greeting or wait for a response. The ancient leader crossed the flooded courtyard in a single step. He bypassed the thirty feet of empty space between them as if the distance simply did not exist. He drove an open palm strike directly into the center of Chase’s chest. Chase relied on his honed combat instincts. He raised both arms and locked his elbows together to execute an Advanced Wing Chun defensive block. The transfer between their colliding flesh sounded exactly like a high caliber gunshot echoing across the abandoned industrial sector. The force of the blow lifted the billionaire off the ground. Chase slid backward through the mud for ten yards. His shoes carved deep trenches into the ruined earth before he finally stabilized his stance. Both of his forearms went numb instantly. My bones are splintering, Chase realized frantically. A cold wave of panic flared in his disciplined mind as he processed the gap in their power. He is not usi

"Hold the perimeter and keep those weapons raised."The commander shouted the order over the roaring storm. Fifty elite mercenaries racked the slides of their assault rifles in unison. They stood behind concrete barricades at the base of the unfinished Dragon Tower. The freezing rain washed over their black tactical gear.Chase Lu walked out of the dark city streets. He did not carry a rifle. He wore a ruined black shirt soaked in mud and cold water.My skeleton feels like it is made of crushed glass, Chase thought.He stopped fifty yards from the barricade. A violent tremor ran through his hands. The system upgrade was not a simple magic spell. The Combat God progression aggressively rewrote his cellular density in real time. His marrow boiled inside his bones. Severe nausea rolled through his empty stomach. He bent forward and spat a mouthful of acidic bile onto the wet pavement.My body is rejecting the rapid density shift, he realized frantically. My heart is pumping too fast. I a