Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two shot at each other. Mawu Ugan hit Shen in the torso of his black blazer, but the bullet was deflected.
"Tch, of course it's armor silk,"
she thought, then ran from cover. Mawu Ugan tore the bottom of her dress to increase her running speed.
She flipped over a table and charged at Shen. She pulled a knife from her pocket legwear and began fighting him in close-quarters combat.
Shen dodged and fought back. Mawu called her two pets to assist.
"Aww, now that's just cheating, woman!"
"Oh please, I'm a rule breaker,"
she barked.
Shen just rolled his eyes and pushed her off. The two lions were about to pounce on him—until Shen slid underneath them.
He quickly grabbed two kitchen knives from the counter and prepared himself. Mawu Ugan stood between her two pets.
"Clearly you've lost your touch, Lord Sovereign," she said with a smirk, brushing the lions' fur.
"You killed my fiancé, and as the head of the Ugan family, by family law, we hunt down our loved one's killer."
She made her claim, but Shen scowled and snapped back:
"Woman, I killed your husband because he tried to sell out national secrets to another country. And by the rules of contract, he was listed as Expurgatus."
Expurgatus, in Latin, means "cleansed" or "purged." A perfect form of execution.
"Sick 'em, boys," Mawu commanded her lions. The two beasts charged toward Shen. But to Mawu Ugan's surprise, Shen didn't move.
Instead, he stood his ground. She was confused. Why wasn't he making a move?
Then Shen gave a sharp whistle.
The lions paused… and stood their ground.
"What?!" she froze.
Mawu Ugan's two lions did not attack or tear Shen's body apart. Instead, the white lions approached him—and licked his hands. As if they were just oversized cats.
"Good girls," Shen muttered.
The lions growled and stood beside him. Mawu didn't expect the tables to turn like this.
"Impossible! I trained my pets since I was fifteen!"
she snarled.
Shen snickered.
"True, true. But they were delivered by yours truly."
Mawu Ugan was furious and confused.
"The hell does that mean?!"
Shen laughed and revealed that he was the one who rescued the two lions when they were cubs. He remembered the scars on each of their side heads. That whistle… was the same one he used when he nursed them back to life.
Mawu Ugan looked around and realized—she was alone in the room now.
Her lions had turned on her… showing their loyalty to the one who saved them from birth: Shen Goddem.
A chopper rose into view and slid out a machine gun. Clearly, this was Mawu Ugan's backup plan. The chopper opened fire and riddled the nightclub with bullets.
On the ground floor, chaos broke out. People dropped to the floor, some were trampled. Screams echoed as everyone tried to escape.
After a few seconds, the chopper stopped shooting.
Mawu Ugan emerged from hiding. She saw that both of her lions were dead.
"Hmph. Disgusting felines,"
she muttered, kicking one of the corpses. Assuming Shen had escaped, she climbed a ladder dangling from the chopper and left the scene.
"We'll meet again, Lord Sovereign…"
she whispered in rage, disappearing into the sky.
As the helicopter vanished, a cabinet shifted—revealing Shen beneath it, alive. One of the white lions had shielded him with its body.
With a final growl and a gentle lick on his face, the lion laid down and took its last breath.
"Thank you, my daughters,"
Shen murmured, walking over to the other lion. He checked its pulse—but there was none.
He pulled out his personal phone and called Xin Yin Jin, his personal secretary. He informed her of everything.
Moments later, the police arrived, but Shen had already escaped through a back alley. He slipped into a waiting black Rolls Royce.
As he got in, Xin Yin Jin, seated in the passenger seat, looked at his wounds.
"Dear God! What the hell have you been doing, Boss?!"
She quickly pulled out the first aid kit and tore his shirt open. She began cleaning the wound.
"Ugh—slow down, woman…"
Shen winced.
"Hmph! That's what you get, idiot,"
she snapped.
Once Shen was bandaged and dressed again, Xin Yin Jin informed him that the lions had been taken care of and were en route to the cremation center per his request.
"Thanks, Xin Yin Jin."
Xin Yin Jin took his hand and gently comforted her boss.
"Boss… you promised you'd retire from this."
He looked into her black obsidian-colored eyes. There was a hint of worry… and fear. Shen leaned forward and embraced her.
"B…boss…?"
Her heart was pounding, but his heartbeat was steady like a lullaby. She nearly fell asleep in his arms before he gently pulled away.
"Xin Yin Jin," he said. "Even if I've retired from that life, you followed me through everything without a question. So now I ask you: do you doubt me?"
Xin Yin Jin adjusted her glasses and said:
"Never have in my life, Boss. You took me in when I was a hostess on the street. You saw my worth. You taught me that I was a quick thinker."
Shen chuckled, reminiscing.
He was 19. One of his mentors—Sierra Zhang—had taken him to a high-end club to learn how to "become a man." There, Shen saw a woman in her 30s.
His mentor teased him for liking older women and ordered the woman for him, though the owner warned she wasn't the best choice.
Shen insisted.
"My, aren't you an eager little boy? Ready to graduate from boy to man,"
his mentor teased.
Blushing, Shen waited in a VIP room. The woman entered and closed the door.
"Greetings, sir. Thank you for choosing me,"
she said.
"My name is Xin Yin Jin, age 30. I may not be young, but I hope you can keep up."
She approached him, but Shen stopped her and asked her to sit beside him. Confused, she did.
They talked. Shen asked questions—she answered perfectly. He drew equations—she solved them. They clicked. Time passed.
"Why are you working here?" Shen asked.
Xin Yin Jin confessed: her husband had taken everything from her, and from the stress… she had a miscarriage.
Shen hugged her tightly. She felt his heartbeat—it was warm and calming.
Later, Shen left the club with Sierra.
"So, how was your first time?" she teased. "Was it boring? Or do you prefer younger meat?"
Shen didn't smile. He stopped walking.
"Sierra," he said, "I want everything you can get on that hostess."
Sierra raised a brow. No student had ever made a request before.
She smiled.
"Remember, my boy—it's not want. It's need. And I can see you need this."
A week later, Shen returned to the nightclub. Xin Yin Jin sat down, confused. Shen offered her two suitcases.
"One on the right: come with me, be my personal assistant. One on the left: I give you a normal life. A house, a job, peace. The choice is yours."
He told her he didn't pity her. He just believed she deserved justice. And if she chose him, he'd help her get it—even against her husband.
Xin Yin Jin clenched her teeth. Her life had been hell.
She got up—and threw the left suitcase away.
"You came here just to tell me that? After everything I told you?!"
she cried.
Shen got up and hugged her.
She tried to push him away, but her strength weakened. All she could hear was that heartbeat again. She cried into his chest.
Eventually, she made her choice.
"Can I believe you'll really bring justice for me? I don't want revenge… I want justice. Even if it's unlawful… is that possible?"
Shen placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Xin Yin Jin. I'll help you."
And with that, Xin Yin Jin left the nightclub—and followed Shen. She studied him. She learned his movements, his deeds, his world. They shared their pain, their pasts.
Together, they became ruthless.
And so, the Black Dragon Group was born—under Shen's leadership and her unwavering loyalty.
Back to the present…
Xin Yin Jin hugged Shen tighter, hearing his heartbeat.
"Boss… promise me you'll be safe. For my sake?"
Shen kissed her forehead. She blushed.
"B-Boss! You have a fiancée!"
She smacked his chest. Shen laughed.
"Says the woman who tripped and accidentally stole my first kiss."
They both burst into laughter, forgetting everything about today's chaos.
Meanwhile, in Sabah...
Hela Tucker, the current head of the Tucker family, sat in the prison visiting center. A guard brought someone in.
"Hello, my boy. How are you, Zac?"
The man behind the glass was Zac Tucker—Shen Goddem's twin brother. Identical in appearance, except Shen had a trident-shaped birthmark on his right chest. Zac didn't.
"Grandma, is it true? Did my mom actually pick that prick?!"
Zac yelled. Hela nodded in disgust, knowing her daughter Hana Tucker had chosen Shen to become Chairman of the Tucker Corporation next Monday.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Grandma?! That was supposed to be my seat! And that whore, Ryona Monroe… she was supposed to be my bitch. My fucking woman!"
He screamed in rage. Hela told him to lay low until everything settled.
But Hela had no idea how powerful Shen Goddem really was connected to both the surface world and the criminal underground. She believed her daughter had made the wrong choice.
---
Chapter 10 — End