The silence that descended upon the banquet hall was absolute. It wasn't the silence of shock anymore; it was the silence of a vacuum, as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.
Three hundred million dollars. In one second. The receipt fluttered in Mr. Pang’s trembling hand like a white flag of surrender. "Impossible..." Adams whispered, clutching her pearls. Her face was the color of old ash. "That trash... where did he get that money? Did he rob a bank?" "A bank doesn't carry that kind of cash, Mom," Bella murmured, her voice barely audible. She stared at her husband's back. The faded grey T-shirt was the same one he wore when he scrubbed the floors, but the man wearing it seemed to have grown ten feet tall. Justin Han staggered forward, his white suit stained purple with wine and red with blood. "Mr. Pang! Check it again! It's a glitch! A system error! That beggar can't even afford a sandwich, let alone a hotel!" "Shut up!" Mr. Pang snapped, whipping his head around. His face was pale with terror. He knew exactly what that transaction meant. The money was already in the corporate account. It was real. "Do not insult Mr. Lu!" Chase stepped forward, taking the black card back from Mr. Pang’s shaking hands. He blew on it gently, as if removing a speck of dust, and slid it back into his pocket. Then, he turned his gaze to the four security guards who were still standing there, batons half-raised, looking confused. "Who do you work for now?" Chase asked. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried to every corner of the room. The guards looked at Mr. Pang. Mr. Pang nodded frantically, practically vibrating with fear. "We work for Boss Lu!" the lead guard shouted, dropping his baton and snapping to attention. The other three followed instantly, bowing their heads. "Good," Chase said. He pointed a finger at Justin Han. "Throw this trash out." Justin’s eyes bulged. "You dare! I am the heir of the Han family! My father is a partner in this hotel! You can't—" "I own 100% of the shares now," Chase said calmly. "Your father is nothing here. Get him out. And while you're at it, toss out anyone else who laughed earlier." "Yes, Boss!" The guards didn't hesitate. They had seen the receipt. Money was the only god in this city, and Chase Lu was its new prophet. Two guards grabbed Justin by the arms. The young master kicked and screamed, his dignity evaporating. "Chase Lu! You’re dead! You hear me? The Han family will destroy you! I’ll kill you!" "Make sure he lands face first," Chase added casually. "Understood!" The guests watched in horror as the city's golden boy was dragged across the expensive carpet like a sack of potatoes and thrown out the front doors. A moment later, a muffled thud echoed from the pavement outside. Chase turned back to the room. His eyes swept over the guests—the elites, the business partners, the distant relatives. Every person who met his gaze flinched and looked away. Finally, his eyes landed on the main table. On the Song family. Grandma Song had stopped eating. Her spoon hovered halfway to her mouth, trembling slightly. Adams was gripping the tablecloth so hard her knuckles were white. Chase walked toward them. The sound of his cheap sneakers on the floor was the only noise in the room. "Chase..." Adams stammered, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace of pain. "My... my good son-in-law! I knew it! I always said you were hiding your talent! Look at you, making a joke with your mother-in-law earlier. You naughty boy!" She reached out to grab his hand, her eyes darting greedily toward his back pocket where the card sat. "Come, sit! Sit by Grandma! Let’s celebrate! This hotel... it’s a gift for the family, right?" Chase sidestepped her touch. He didn't look angry. He looked bored. "A gift?" Chase repeated. "Mom, five minutes ago, you said I was a dog. You said I should eat outside." "No, no! I was testing you!" Adams laughed nervously, sweat beading on her forehead. "It was a test of character! And you passed! Bella, tell him! Tell your husband to sit down!" Bella stood up. She looked at her mother, then at Chase. Her eyes were complicated—shock, confusion, but mostly a strange, dawning realization. "Chase," Bella said softly. "Who... who are you?" Chase looked at his wife. The only person in this room who hadn't actively mocked him, even if she hadn't saved him. "I'm your husband," Chase said. "And I'm leaving." "Leaving?" Adams shrieked. "Where are you going? You just bought the hotel! We have to sign the papers! We have to transfer the deed to the Song family trust for safekeeping!" Chase laughed. It was a dry, humorless sound. "Safekeeping? You think I bought this for you?" He turned to Mr. Pang. "Mr. Pang, prepare the Presidential Suite. I want the best doctors in the city brought here immediately. My mother is being transferred from the City Hospital tonight." "Yes, Mr. Lu! Immediately!" Mr. Pang bowed and scrambled for his phone. Chase turned back to Bella. He extended a hand. "Bella. Are you coming?" [Ding! New Choice.] [Option 1: Leave alone and become the solitary King. Reward: ‘Lone Wolf’ trait (Strength +20), Relationship with wife ends.] [Option 2: Demand Bella divorce you now. Reward: $1 Million Cash.] [Option 3: Take your wife's hand and leave the family behind. Reward: A Top-Tier Medical Team for your mother + Rolls Royce Phantom Fleet.] Chase looked at the options. He looked at Bella. Despite everything, she had suffered with him for three years. She had been ridiculed for marrying him. She hadn't divorced him even when Justin Han offered her the world. "Bella," he said again, his voice softer. "Come with me. I’m going to save Mom." Bella looked at her mother, who was mouthing 'Go with him! Get the money!' She looked at her grandmother, who was staring at Chase with calculating eyes. Then she looked at Chase. For the first time, she saw a man who could actually hold up the sky. She reached out and took his hand. "I’m coming," she whispered. "Good choice," Chase smiled. He turned around, pulling Bella with him. They walked toward the exit, the sea of guests parting for them like the Red Sea. "Chase! You can't leave!" Adams screamed after them. "The bill for the banquet hasn't been paid! And the vase! The vase Justin broke!" Chase didn't look back. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers. "Mr. Pang," Chase called out over his shoulder. "Banned." "Sir?" Mr. Pang asked. "The Song Family," Chase said. "They are banned from my hotel. Kick them out." "You heard the Boss!" Mr. Pang shouted, waving at the guards. "Clear the table! Get them out!" As Chase and Bella walked out into the cool evening air, the sounds of Adams screaming and Grandma Song cursing faded behind the closing doors. Outside, the sun was setting, painting the sky in hues of violent orange and purple. Three sleek, obsidian-black Rolls Royce Phantoms were idling at the curb. A driver in white gloves stepped out and opened the rear door of the lead car. "Mr. Lu, Mrs. Lu," the driver bowed. "Your car is ready." Bella stopped. She touched the cool metal of the car. "Chase... is this... is this real?" Chase looked up at the sky. He thought of the three years of hell. He thought of the system in his head. He thought of the ten billion dollars. "It's real," Chase said, guiding her into the car. "And we're just getting started." As the heavy door thudded shut, isolating them in a cocoon of silence and luxury, the text appeared in his vision one last time. [Phase 1 Complete. New Function Unlocked: The Investment Eye.] Chase sat back in the leather seat. The engine purred. The game had indeed just begun.Latest Chapter
Failed Enchantment
The doors of the top floor office on Elm Street clicked shut, sealing out the hum of North City and leaving Megan Wu alone in the room with Chase Lu.Rain drummed against the floor to ceiling glass behind the wide desk of dark slate, where Chase sat in a simple black woolen sweater, his sleeves pushed up to expose forearms still wrapped in clean white linen. He did not rise to greet her, nor did he offer the customary tea ceremony expected when receiving an imperial envoy from the Capital. He merely set aside a shipping manifest, rested his interlocked fingers on the stone surface, and watched her walk across the polished floorboards with eyes as still as deep well water.Megan smoothed the emerald silk of her skirt, took a seat in the low leather armchair across from the desk, and crossed her ankles with practiced grace.She did not reach for the silver data drive in her pocket, nor did she open with a formal recitation of imperial statutes. Instead, as she offered a subtle, practice
Standard Protocol
The twin engines of the executive Gulfstream spun down with a fading whine, spraying twin plumes of mist across the rain slicked tarmac of the North City municipal airstrip.Inside the pressurized cabin, Megan Wu smoothed the emerald silk of her overcoat, adjusting the jade pins securing her hair while two male attendants in matching violet tunics retrieved her leather luggage. She had studied the protocol manuals of seventeen provincial courts, expecting the usual assembly of local magistrates, decorative honor guards in ceremonial armor, and a covered pavilion lined with red carpet to protect a royal delegation from the northern weather.The hydraulic stairs extended with a dull thump against the asphalt, and the cabin door swung open into the driving sleet.No pavilion stood on the runway, and no regional dignitaries waited with welcoming speeches.At the bottom of the stairs, standing in the gray downpour without an umbrella, stood Victoria Qin. She wore a black tactical jacket se
The Banquet Test
Crystal stemware clinked against fine bone china along the length of the fifty foot mahogany table, where sixty senior members of the Wu Clan sat beneath carved gold leaf ceilings to celebrate the spring alchemical dividend.Near the head of the table, Elder Corvin Wu sloshed another generous pour of plum wine into his silver goblet, his round cheeks flushed dark from heavy drinking. He leaned back in his high chair, resting his forearm on the embroidered silk cloth, and fixed a mocking glare across the table at Megan Wu."To think our great heiress spent fifteen years mastering five classical instruments and three branches of pharmaceutical law just to be packed into a wooden crate," Corvin announced loudly, his words cutting cleanly through the murmur of polite conversation. "The Ancestral Board wants to tame a wild dog in the northern snow, and our grand lineage sends its prized songbird to warm his bed."Several lesser elders at the lower end of the table chuckled into their linen
The Boardroom Panic
The three dimensional holographic map hovering over the black marble conference table in the Lu Capital Group tower flickered, shifting from divided territorial markers into a solid, unbroken wall of blue and crimson light.Preston Lu stood at the head of the glass walled boardroom on the eighty eighth floor, his tailored charcoal suit unbuttoned, his silver hair combed back with severe precision. His liver spotted hands rested flat on the polished stone surface as his cold eyes tracked the red line of Miller Canal, where southern trade manifests and northern transport convoys were already moving in coordinated grid patterns across the provincial divide.Beside the display, Envoy Kenneth stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his silver rimmed glasses catching the harsh glare of the digital projection."The southern border is sealed, Patriarch," Kenneth reported, his usual easy smile entirely absent from his face. "Elder Dahk accepted the synthetic geothermal reactor on Oak Str
Friction of Peace
The sharp crack of an iron scabbard striking a wooden dispatch table echoed across the Miller Canal depot, cutting through the hum of idling trucks.Captain Miller stood with his hand clamped to his sidearm, glaring across the supply crates at Senior Disciple Zhao, whose crimson robes were caked with chalky river dust. Behind Miller, twelve Titanium riflemen kept their weapons unslung, while eight southern swordsmen rested their palms on the pommels of their curved blades."We do not hand over our encrypted patrol schedules to men who spent last Tuesday aiming mortars at our trucks," Miller said, his jaw tight with lingering anger. "The treaty grants your families transit along the southern bank, but this checkpoint remains under Titanium military jurisdiction."Zhao sneered, stepping closer until the heat radiating from his palms warmed the cool morning air between them. "Your mercenary squads hide behind thermal optics and sandbags because you lack the stomach for close combat. If w
Price For Fire
The secure terminal inside the Elm Street logistics depot chimed with three urgent pulses, displaying an incoming priority transmission from the River Valley demarcation line.Chase Lu placed his tea cup onto the steel desk, leaning over the console as Victoria keyed the visual link. The holographic projector flickered to life, showing Elder Dahk standing inside the half built timber hall of the new southern settlement, his face drawn with fatigue while several senior clan elders argued loudly in the background."Chase Lu," Dahk began, his voice carrying none of the quiet ceremony from their meeting at the bridge. "We honored our agreement, we guided our people down from the high peaks, and our young men have laid their weapons in the armory. Yet my council is on the verge of rebellion, and the peace we swore across that brazier is eroding by the hour."Chase frowned, resting his hands flat on the desk. "Our supply trucks arrived at your depots this morning, and the grain manifests we
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