2025-12-31 18:13:41Mrs. 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?"
Viper stepped forward, his face aglow in the light of his smartphone screen. "Transaction done, my lord. The previous owner, Mr. Zhang, was very happy to receive an offer of twofold market value. The digital deed is now registered in your name."
"Twofold?" Mrs. Higgins crowed. "You must think I'm a fool. Are you really—"
Ringing. Ringing. Ringing.
Her phone buzzed from beneath her apron. She pulled it out begrudgingly.
"What?!" she growled into the receiver. "Mr. Zhang? I’m busy evicting some trash right n—"
She fell silent. Her eyes widened. The color drained from her face faster than water does down a drain.
"Sold? What do you mean sold? Right now? Electronic transfer? But... who?"
She gradually lowered the phone as she stared at me in horror. Her hands began to quiver so violently she almost dropped the phone.
"You..." Mrs. Higgins whispered. "You really..."
I started to walk forward. "Who's the landlord now?"
"Mr... Mr. Wright..." Mrs. Higgins swallowed hard, forcing a horrible, fake smile onto her face. "I... I didn't know! Misunderstanding! I was just joking around with Sarah! Sarah is my favorite tenant! I will put rent down! No, no rent! For one year!"
I turned to Sarah. "Did she treat you all right?"
Sarah looked down. "She... she turned off the heating in winter because I was late on rent by two days. She called me... names."
My expression hardened.
"You turned the heating off?" I asked Mrs. Higgins.
"I... I was saving energy!" she squeaked.
"Get out," I said.
"What?"
"You have ten minutes to pack your things and get out of my building," I stated coldly. "If you are not out, I will have my men throw you out."
"You can't do that!" Mrs. Higgins screamed, her greedy self coming back. "I have tenant rights! I've been in the manager's unit for twenty years!"
I signaled Viper.
Viper grabbed Mrs. Higgins by the collar of her flower-print blouse and hoisted her off the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Ten minutes for you, according to the Dragon King," Viper growled in her face. "Ten seconds for me."
"AHHHH! Help! Murder!" Mrs. Higgins came screaming as Viper dragged her toward the stairs.
I looked to Sarah. She was staring at me, her mouth slightly open.
"Ethan..." she whispered. "Where did you get two million dollars?!"
"I have friends," I lied smoothly. "Pack your things. Just essentials. We're not staying here."
"But where are we going?"
THWOP-THWOP-THWOP.
A deep rhythmic thump began to shake the walls. The window panes rattled. Dust cascaded from the ceiling.
Light from a spotlight pierced through the grime of the window, lighting up the tiny room as if it were day.
I strode toward the window and peered out.
A vast helicopter was hovering above the street: a military-grade Sikorsky converted for buff womans. The downdraft was sending rubbish bins rolling down the street. Neighbors were now poking their heads out from the windows with mouths agape.
The side of the helicopter bore a golden insignia: A dragon coiled around a sword.
"Our ride is here," I said offering my hand to Sarah.
Sarah turned to look at me and then at the helicopter. For the first time in five years, a faint spark of hope flickered in her weary eyes.
Some time later, in River City Central Hospital, she heard the following: "AAAAHH! IT HURTS!" The screams of David Miller, as he moaned in pain while the doctors were treating the fractured arm and setting the bone.
A doctor barked, "Hold him down! The bone is shattered as if it was twisted by a machine!"
In the waiting area, Martha Miller was pacing like a tiger in a cage. Her makeup was gone, and the cake frosting had colored her expensive dress any number of nasty shades.
"That animal!" said Martha, and she hit her purse against the wall. "Ethan! That ungrateful dog! I will kill him! I will hire the Triads! I will spend every penny I have to see him dead!"
"Mrs. Miller," the nurse pleaded, "please lower your voice..."
"Shut up!" screamed Martha. "Do you know who I am? I am the matriarch of the Miller family!"
Ring.
The family accountant was calling.
"Finally!" Martha answered. "Transfer five million to the mercenary account. I want a hit put out on Ethan tonight."
"Mrs. Miller..." said the accountant, with a trembling voice. "We...we have a problem."
"What problem?"
"The transfer failed."
"What do you mean, failed? Try again!"
"I did, Ma'am; I tried three times. The bank says...the bank says our assets have been frozen."
Martha stopped pacing. "Frozen? By who? The IRS?"
"No... by the Global Banking Federation. And...Mrs. Miller, it gets worse. The Grand Sky Group just issued a press release. They are cancelling the partnership. They are suing us for 'Corporate Negligence' because President Lee was injured at our event."
"What?!" Martha's knees weakened. She grabbed a chair for support. "But...but that's a billion-dollar deal! If they pull out, our stocks will crash!"
"They already crashed, Ma'am," the accountant cried. "In the last ten minutes, the Miller Corporation stock dropped by 40%. The shareholders are in a panic. The banks are calling in our loans. Ma'am...we are looking at bankruptcy by tomorrow morning."
The phone slipped from Martha's hand to the floor,which felt like a very cold place.
Bankruptcy?
By tomorrow morning?
Suddenly, the echo of Ethan's chilling voice took hold of her thoughts.
"I will bankrupt your company. I will strip you of your titles. I will make you beg on the streets."
Martha felt a shiver run down her spine: This was no ordinary threat.
"He...He did this?" she whispered, her eyes wide with terror. "Who is he? Who the hell is he?!"
The location is Sky Garden Villa.
The helicopter touched down softly on the private helipad of the most expensive estate in the city. The Sky Garden Villa sat atop a hill, overlooking the entire glittering skyline of River City. It had a swimming pool, a private cinema, and gardens that rivaled a palace.
I helped Sarah down. She looked around, stunned into silence. Not from cold, but from shock.
Servants in crisp uniforms were already lined up, bows down.
Welcome home, Master. Welcome home, Mistress.
Into the great master bedroom I led Sarah. Silk sheets covered the bed. The view from the floor-to-ceiling windows was breathtaking.
"Sleep." I said. "No one can hurt you here. The rats are gone. The cold is gone."
Sarah sat on the edge of the bed. She looked at the silk, then up at me.
"Ethan," she asked softly, "Are you going to sleep here?"
"I have work to do," I said, turning towards the door. "I have to clean up the rest of the garbage."
"Wait."
She reached out and grabbed my hand. Her grip felt weak, but full of determination.
"Don't go," she whispered, holding on. "Please. I...I'm scared. If I wake up, and this is a dream..."
I hesitated. I looked at the woman who had endured five years of hell for me. The "Dragon King" didn't need sleep. The "Medical God" felt no fear. But my wife...she needed her husband.
I softened my expression.
"Okay," I said. "I'll stay."
I sat in a chair beside the window, watching over her like a guardian statue.
"Sleep, Sarah. When you wake up, the world will be different."
As she closed her eyes, my phone buzzed. A text came in from Viper.
[Report: The Miller Family stocks have crashed. But David has contacted the 'Black Tiger Gang'. They are coming for you.]
I stared out the window at the reflection of the moon.
Black Tiger Gang.
I smiled. A cruel, bloodthirsty smile.
Good. I needed some exercise.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The First Algorithm (Series Finale)
Deep Space, the absolute center . Time, the end of the journey.That slipspace tunnel didn’t exactly go out with some dramatic spatial ripper, you know. It didn’t throw them into a freezing void, nor did it dump them into a chaotic plasma storm.No, it just kinda faded. quietly, like somebody dimmed a lamp.On the bridge of the hijacked Praetorian dreadnought, the loud alarms started to shut themselves off, one after another, as if they were embarrassed to keep screaming. The heavy, thrumming vibration from the dark matter drives eased down into this deep, total stillness, like the ship had forgot how to move.Ethan pushed himself up, slow , from the pristine white deck. He used the command console for support because his knees felt… not right. Krax came up beside him, his massive dark matter broadsword resting across his shoulder, that yellow cybernetic eye widening in a way Ethan almost never saw, pure uncut awe.“Twig,” Krax said, low , like a prayer, “where are the stars ?”Ethan
The Hijack
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter. Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect defeat.Out there, the vacuum just… did what it always does, no friction no sound no warning, like the universe was being polite. Ethan’s drop-pod cleared the three-kilometer span between the dying Archivist and the enormous Praetorian dreadnought, in a few seconds flat, too fast for anyone to even blink.Through that small, reinforced viewing slit, in the dark matter capsule, the pristine white porcelain hull of the enemy flagship kept swelling, until it basically ate his whole field of vision.“Brace for impact twig!” Krax’s voice cracked through the local comms, loud enough to make his teeth feel loose.CRASH.The drop-pod’s heavy modified nose slammed right into the dreadnought’s primary forward viewport. The kinetic velocity was basically violence on rails. It shattered the flawless Progenitor glass. Ethan’s pod punched straight through the bridge deflector screens and skidded hard across the g
The Broken Math
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect DefeatOut there, the void beyond The Archivist kind of lit up, not with that clean, disciplined beamwork of absolute zero plasma, but more like a messy… frenzied firestorm, erratic and uncaring. The Harvester remnants, now stripped of their flawless logic, were throwing themselves forward like zealots who forgot why they started.“Assimilate the Glitch. Format for the new absolute,” the broken chorus of millions of drones chanted, over the open comms channel, like it was normal.“Kill the broadcast!” Ethan yelled, over the shriek of tearing metal, as a plasma beam just grazed the forward viewport, once. “I don’t need a choir!”Elena slammed her fist down on the comms console, severing the external audio feed , like she could cut the chaos by pressure alone. “They aren’t aiming for the bridge or the engines! They’re targeting the hangar bays and the airlocks! They’re trying to board us!”“Let them tr
The Supernova's Wake
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter. Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect Defeat .Slipspace was supposed to be frictionless , a harmonic tunnel through the fabric of dimensions, you know, smooth and calm like nothing ever resists. But riding the absolute kinetic fury of a dying star? yeah, that “corridor” became a tearing washing machine of cosmic energy , violent, inconsistent, and way too eager to rip at the walls of reality.Ethan clung to the exterior dark matter hull of The Archivist. Under Jarek’s massive ironwood-and-steel chassis he flattened himself, like if he stayed small enough, the dimension shear might pass around him. His hybrid Titan frame had driven what was left of his biological roots deep into the ship’s armor plating, an odd, stubborn anchor, shielding him from that lethal dimensional tug.“Hold your breath, kid!” Jarek’s synthesized voice roared over the local comms, static violently chewing up the words into fragments. “We are dropping out of the s
The Heart of the Lotus
Deep Space. The Perseus Arm. The Cradle.Time: 4 Months, 1 Day Post-Architect Defeat.The central spire of the Cradle was, without exaggeration, a First Epoch engineering marvel. A towering needle of woven bio-steel and glowing crystal that literally speared the sky and kept reaching toward the suspended blue-white dwarf star.Now it was a slow, decaying staircase into hell.Ethan sprinted up the massive spiraling crystalline steps. His lungs burned, drawing in that thinning ozone-heavy air, like it had teeth. Without the limitless push-and-breathe stamina of his Dissonance Core, the moment had teeth too, he could feel the human cost stacking up past exhaustion.Above, the massive containment rings holding the dying star in stasis hummed with a low, unstable frequency, wrong somehow. Like the structure itself was trying to remember how to quit."Intruder detected. Entropy required," a chorus of grinding metallic voices hissed from the landing above, all at once, too close.Ethan skidd
The Rotting Stars
Deep Space. The Perseus Arm. The Cradle.Time: 4 Months, 1 Day Post-Architect Defeat.The sky above the crystalline city did not just break; it decayed.A massive, jagged fissure tore through the glowing bio-steel canopy of the Cradle’s petal .The protective atmospheric shielding flickered and then died, replaced by this awful pouring rain of purple light, like it wanted to seep into every thought."They’re through the roof!" Warlord Krax screamed, tracking the breach with his cybernetic eye, no pause, no breath.Hundreds of rusted, jagged shapes dropped from the gap . They were the Purge’s foot soldiers. In a vague, horrifying way they reminded you of the Praetorian drones used by the Harvesters, except there was no clean geometry here, no pristine order. Their chassis were asymmetrical and made from corroded dark metal that flaked away , then re-formed again and again in this constant state of entropic flux. They didn’t glide. They fell with jerky, wrong spasms, optical sensors bur
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