The Supreme Sovereign Returns

Chapter 009

Rosalie Calloway, despite being a stunning beauty, let out a scream utterly devoid of composure. It was the kind of shriek that made listeners' hearts clench and brought tears to their eyes. Her face drained of all color as she flailed wildly in her seat, panic consuming her entirely.

The car lurched violently, shaking as though it might tear itself apart at any second.

"Hahaha! If you're scared, scream louder!" Cassian Reed didn't seem bothered in the slightest. A grin spread across his face, barely masking the edge of madness flickering beneath it. If someone could fast forward a thousand years and ask those who knew him what made Cassian most dangerous, they would answer without hesitation, in unison: his madness.

Only madness was truly impossible to suppress.

When Cassian had walked the path of cultivation, it was that very insanity, that reckless edge no one else possessed, that had carried him forward. But as his cultivation level rose and his concerns multiplied, he had buried that wildness deep. It had been ages since he'd let it surface.

Today, it returned.

Cassian's hands flew across the wheel, spinning it at a speed that defied belief. Any ordinary car would have disintegrated under such force, but he controlled the Aurelian like it was an extension of his own body. Just as Blondie's white Corvane was about to ram them from behind, Cassian jerked the wheel hard. The Aurelian's rear end swung out in a perfect arc, slipping into the adjacent lane by mere inches.

"Damn it!" Buzz, driving farther back, saw the whole thing unfold. His jaw dropped, and regret surged through him. He should have stopped Blondie. Should have kept him from throwing his life away like an easy target.

Now it was too late.

Blondie's white Corvane had been barreling forward at full speed, intent on smashing the Aurelian into the dump truck ahead. But when the Aurelian slipped away, the Corvane had no time to slow down. Blondie barely managed to turn the wheel before the car slammed headlong into the rear of the massive truck. The impact was catastrophic.

It went up with a BOOM that shook the street.

The Corvane had been going too fast. Its fuel tank erupted in a violent explosion, flames billowing into the sky like a demon clawing its way into the world. Heat rolled outward in waves, and the surrounding drivers slammed on their brakes in panic. Cars skidded to chaotic stops at all angles, drivers shouting in shock and disbelief.

The dump truck, meanwhile, hesitated only briefly before continuing on its way, barely affected. It was like a human being stung by a mosquito: annoying, but hardly painful. The truck driver glanced into his rearview mirror, caught sight of the fireball blooming behind him, and felt the faintest jolt of impact. He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, stopped the truck, and climbed out. When he saw the wreckage, his face went white with horror.

Behind him, more vehicles screeched to a halt, creating a tangled blockade across the entire road.

"Shit!" Buzz stared at the gridlock ahead, realizing he couldn't advance another inch. He slammed his palm against the steering wheel, fury boiling over.

A sedan rear-ending a dump truck and exploding into a towering inferno was the kind of catastrophic accident Harborcrest only saw once a decade. Emergency crews would be swarming the scene any minute. Bystanders were already out of their cars, phones raised, snapping photos. The road was completely jammed, impassable in both directions.

"Son of a..." Buzz muttered, his car trapped in the middle of the chaos, unable to move forward or back.

His phone rang.

Buzz's expression darkened. In his foul mood, he was ready to tear into whoever was calling, but when he glanced at the caller ID, his face went rigid. He let out several long, steadying breaths before answering.

"The Gould heir?"

"I called Baldy. He said you'd have the girl by now." The voice on the other end was low and cold, with an edge that could cut.

"So. Do you have her?"

"The Gould heir..." Buzz clenched his jaw, scrambling for an explanation. Finally, he forced the words out. "Baldy and the others had her. They were about to finish the job when some lunatic came out of nowhere, beat them down, and took off with the girl. Blondie and I found out and went after them... but then Blondie got played. He smashed straight into a truck. His skull's split open. You can probably see it on the news right now if you turn on the TV..."

"Are you trying to be funny?"

The voice on the other end cut him off, sharp and frigid.

Buzz's face went pale. His lips trembled, but no words came out.

"I sent a whole crew to grab one woman. And now you're telling me she was rescued by some random lunatic? Are you people trying to do a comedy bit? What exactly am I paying you for, entertainment?"

There was a pause, heavy and suffocating.

"Three days."

"I want that woman in front of me within three days."

"Yes... yes, sir." Buzz exhaled in relief, as if he'd just been pardoned, but the line was already dead. The dial tone buzzed in his ear. He quickly switched to his contacts and started rallying every crew he had across the city.

Meanwhile, on a quiet stretch of road far from the chaos, the silver luxury Aurelian glided smoothly forward. Its headlights cut through the darkness, bright and unwavering. Perhaps because of the explosion back on the main road, this route was nearly deserted. Most of the time, the Aurelian drove alone.

"He... he's dead, isn't he?" Rosalie's voice was small, her face still pale with lingering terror.

"If he's not dead, he'll be spending the rest of his life in a hospital," Cassian replied casually, as though he were discussing the weather. His tone was relaxed, almost bored, like a chauffeur driving the family's eldest daughter home after an uneventful day, chatting about how the wife's lover had stopped by to play cards with her father again.

In truth, to Cassian, one death really wasn't a big deal. The Celestial Realm had been far crueler than Earth could ever be. Wars involving millions, battlefields littered with corpses stretching beyond the horizon. Here, the strong prey on the weak. In the Celestial Realm, that iron law was magnified a thousandfold.

Besides, he hadn't even been the one to kill Blondie.

Cassian hadn't laid a hand on him. He'd simply given the man a choice, and Blondie had chosen poorly. Cassian's dynamic vision and reaction speed were far beyond human limits. Those two factors alone made his driving skill surpass that of any professional racer.

That gap in distance, that split-second lane change? Only he could have pulled it off.

Blondie had ignored that reality, and it had cost him his life. Technically speaking, Blondie had committed suicide. Cassian hadn't forced him to do anything. The idiot had chosen to ram the truck all on his own.

"Um, so... crazy guy..." Rosalie began hesitantly.

"I saved your life multiple times, and you're still calling me crazy?" Cassian raised an eyebrow. This girl really didn't know how to read the room.

Rosalie offered an awkward smile and quickly corrected herself. "Okay, okay. Sir. Will 'sir' do? So, sir... who are you, exactly? How are you so good at fighting? Where do you live? What do you do? Are you ex-military or something? Special forces? A cop?"

Cassian's gaze dimmed slightly as he shook his head with a self-deprecating smirk and replied, "You mean me? I'm just an unemployed drifter with nothing better to do."