The Sovereign Auditor: World Liquidation.

Chapter 7: The Debt of a Kiss

"You’re alive?" The words fell out of Zhao’s mouth like lead. His hand jerked. The crystal glass of 1945 Romanée-Conti slipped from his fingers, hitting the marble floor with a sharp, crystalline explosion. 

Red wine splattered across his white designer shoes, the color of fresh arterial spray. I didn't blink. I just kept walking.

Lin Xiao scrambled backward, her heels clicking frantically against the floor. She ducked behind Zhao, using him as a human shield. 

Her eyes were wide, darting from the mud on my collar to the cold, dead look in my eyes. I saw the disgust there. I also saw a flickering, strange fear.

"Han Sen?" She whispered. "What are you... why do you look like that?"

"I look like the man you left in the rain," I said. My voice was a flat line.

Zhao snapped out of his shock, his face contorting into a mask of pure, ugly arrogance. "I don't care how you got past the lobby, you cockroach. 

You think a black card makes you a king? It just makes you a target." He reached into his jacket and pressed a panic button.

"Red Lotus!" Zhao screamed. "Get in here! Kill him!"

The side doors of the penthouse burst open. Three men stepped out. They weren't like the suit-and-tie thugs from the hotel. 

These were "Red Lotus" elites—professional martial artists with scars on their knuckles and eyes that didn't hold a hint of mercy. They moved with a predatory grace, fanning out to encircle me.

"Break his bones," Zhao hissed, pointing a trembling finger at me. "I want him to watch while I finish my drink."

The lead bodyguard, a giant with a shaved head and a neck thicker than my thigh, stepped forward. He cracked his neck, the sound echoing in the high-ceilinged room.

"Any last words, kid?" The giant growled. I didn't answer him. I narrowed my eyes.

Eye of Valuation: Activate.

The world shifted. The penthouse turned into a grayscale blueprint, and red data points began to swarm over the lead guard.

[Target: Lead Guard.]

[Physical Value: $200,000.]

[Weakness Detected: Hidden Injury—Stress Fracture, 5th Rib (Right Side).]

[Command: Liquidate Injury. Multiplier: 10x.]

[Cost: $50,000. Proceed?]

Confirm.

The guard took one more step, his fist pulling back for a punch that would have crushed my skull. He never threw it.

A sickening crack—louder than the wine glass ripped through the air. It sounded like a thick branch snapping under the weight of a falling tree.

The giant stopped mid-stride. His face went from aggressive to a pale, ghostly mask of agony. He clutched his right side, his eyes rolling back in his head. 

A wet, rattling wheeze escaped his lips as his lung was punctured by ten times the force of his old injury.

He collapsed. He folded like a house of cards, hitting the rug with a dull thud. He was out before he touched the ground.

The other two guards froze. They looked at their leader, then at me. I hadn't moved a finger.

"What did you do?" Zhao screamed, his voice hitting a high, feminine pitch. "He didn't even touch you! Get up! You useless dog, get up!"

"He’s not getting up," I said.

I ignored the remaining guards. I didn't care about Zhao anymore either. I turned my gaze to Lin Xiao. She was still trembling behind him, her hands clutching his silk shirt.

Eye of Valuation: Target—Lin Xiao.

The numbers swirled around her head.

[Target: Lin Xiao.]

[Base Value: $500,000.]

[Current Value: $12.50.]

[Reason: Subject has traded 'Future Luck' and 'Destiny' for temporary material favor. Assets are currently in a state of rapid decay.]

"Twelve dollars," I muttered. "That’s all you’re worth now."

"What are you talking about?" Lin Xiao snapped, her fear turning into a desperate, defensive anger. 

"You’re crazy, Han Sen. You’re talking nonsense. Look at me! I’m wearing more money on my wrist than you’ve ever seen!"

"It’s borrowed," I said. "And the lender is calling in the debt."

"I have everything!" She yelled. "I have Zhao! I have a villa! I have a life you could never give me!"

"You have a memory of a life," I corrected. I reached into my inner pocket. I didn't pull out the black card this time. 

I pulled out a single, folded sheet of legal bond paper. The seal at the top was embossed in gold—the mark of the Sovereign Equity Group.

I stepped toward the mahogany desk, ignoring the two guards who backed away as if I were a plague carrier. 

I tossed the document onto the polished surface. It slid across the wood, stopping right in front of Zhao.

"What is this?" Zhao spat, though his hands were shaking as he reached for it. "Read it," I said.

Zhao snatched the paper. His eyes darted across the lines. "Foreclosure? Private Villa... Emerald Bay? No. No, this is my house! My father gave me that house!"

Lin Xiao’s face drained of color. "Emerald Bay? Zhao, that’s where we’re going tonight. You said it was ours."

"It was," I said. "Until twenty minutes ago. I bought the mortgage from your father’s holding company. Then I liquidated the equity. The locks are already being changed."

Zhao ripped the paper in half, his face turning a dark, bruised purple. "You think this matters? I’ll just buy another one! I have billions!"

"Check your notifications, Zhao," I said, my voice cold as the grave. "Your father didn't just sell me the house. He sold me you."

Lin Xiao looked at the torn paper on the floor, then back at me. She looked at the blood on my clothes again, but this time, the disgust was gone. There was only a hollow, soul-crushing realization.

"Han," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Han, listen... I didn't mean those things. I was just—"

"Save it," I said. I looked at the mahogany desk, then back at the door.

"You wanted to show Lin Xiao a night she'd never forget, right?" I looked at Zhao. "Better hurry. The movers are throwing your clothes into the street as we speak."

I turned my back on them, walking toward the elevator. "Conall!" Zhao roared behind me. "Conall, do something!"

Conall didn't move. He stood by the elevator doors, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

I stepped into the elevator. As the doors began to slide shut, I looked at Lin Xiao. She was reaching out, her mouth open to say something, but Zhao was already screaming into a dead phone.

The last thing I saw before the doors sealed was the foreclosure notice lying in the puddle of spilled 1945 wine.

The drop in my stomach wasn't from the elevator’s descent. It was the system.

[Quest Update: Young Master Zhao's Social Standing - 40% Liquidated.]

[New Asset Acquired: Emerald Bay Villa.]

[Warning: The Zhao Family 'Iron Fist Sect' has been notified of the breach.]

I watched the floor numbers count down. 99... 98... 97.

I wasn't done. I was just getting started.