The night crept in heavy and slow, like smoke slipping under a door.
I lay on my back, staring at the cracked ceiling in the Zhang family guest room. The bed was too small, the mattress thin, the air warm and sticky. But it wasn't the heat that kept me awake.
It was the memories.
They had a habit of creeping in when the noise died down.
I blinked once, twice… and let myself fall into them.
****
Two Years Ago in Marrakesh, Morocco
The night air was laced with blood and sweat.
I pressed my palm against the gash in my side, breath shallow, footsteps uneven. The rooftop beneath my feet swayed as the wind howled over the city like a curse.
Behind me, Duan Yu was limping, half-conscious.
And ahead?
A man I once called brother.
"Li Tian," he called, stepping into the moonlight. "You shouldn't have come back."
I stared at him.
Chen Hao.
One of my five original lieutenants. My shadow during the early years of the Court. The man I'd once trusted with my life.
He now held a pistol trained at my head.
"You took the deal," I said quietly.
He didn't deny it.
"They offered me a seat at the table, Tian. The Circle. You know what that means. Power beyond anything we've touched."
"You sold me out."
He shrugged. "I survived."
My blood dripped onto the concrete.
I felt the warmth slipping from my body like sand.
"You're not walking away from this," Chen Hao said. "There's a bounty on your head in six countries. But… I can make it quick."
I looked him in the eye.
Then I smiled.
"You should've aimed first."
Before he could react, I moved.
I didn't feel the pain anymore. The adrenaline wiped it clean. I closed the gap between us in a heartbeat, drove my elbow into his jaw, then disarmed him with a twist and a knee to his ribs.
The gun clattered to the ground.
He reached for a knife.
Too slow.
I caught his wrist, spun, and slammed him into the railing.
"I gave you everything," I hissed.
He spat blood.
"You were always too soft, Tian. That's why they're coming."
I didn't answer.
I just let go.
He dropped.
Twenty stories.
Duan Yu and I disappeared that night. We buried the name Dragon King and let the world believe I'd died in Morocco.
Because when you're being hunted by wolves…
Sometimes it's best to let them think you've bled out.
****
A knock at the door jolted me back to reality.
I sat up fast,my heart thudding in my chest.
"Li Tian?" Xue'er's voice.
I stood and opened the door.
She was in a robe, hair slightly damp, eyes shadowed from exhaustion.
"I couldn't sleep," she said.
I didn't answer.
"Can I come in?"
I stepped aside.
She entered, silent, folding her arms as if to protect herself. She stood near the window, looking out into the dark.
"Earlier today," she began, "you called someone… and then our accounts were restored."
I stayed quiet.
"Then Qin Hao's dealership collapsed, and now there are rumors he's being sued by his own shareholders."
Still, I said nothing.
She turned to face me. "Tell me the truth, Li Tian. Who are you?"
That old question again.
But for once… she asked it with fear in her voice.
And awe.
I walked toward her slowly.
"The same man I was when you married me," I said. "Just no longer asleep."
She blinked.
Then stepped back.
"I should go," she muttered.
I didn't stop her.
But as she opened the door, her hand lingered on the knob.
"…Thank you," she said without turning around. "For whatever you did. Even if I don't understand it."
Then she left.
And I stood there, staring at the door she'd just closed.
****
The next day, I walked to a corner shop near the old downtown district. It was the kind of place I used to buy instant noodles from when the Zhangs refused to feed me properly. I wanted to see if the owner was still alive.
Mr. Luo — the old blind war veteran who ran the shop — wasn't there.
Instead, I found his grandson weeping near the counter, one eye swollen shut.
"What happened?" I asked.
He flinched, crying softly.
I crouched beside him.
"Who did this?"
He whispered a name I hadn't heard in a long time.
Jin Bao.
A street enforcer who once owed his rise to Dragon Court and now ran extortion rings in my city like a rabid dog off its leash.
I left without another word.
****
I found Jin Bao in a back alley behind a pool hall, laughing with his men, a cigarette between his lips. He was fat now. Soft. Wearing gold rings and a watch that didn't belong to him.
He didn't recognize me.
Not until I broke the wrist of the man standing beside him.
"What the fuck?"
He turned, eyes widening.
Then narrowing, as he realised who I am.
"Li Tian?"
"Hello, Bao."
He reached for his belt , to grab a blade.
I moved.
He didn't even see it coming.
One second I was ten feet away.
The next, he was on the ground, breath wheezing out of him as my boot pressed against his throat.
"You forgot your oath," I said coldly. "To the Court. To me."
"I-I thought you were dead!"
I leaned closer.
"Does that justify putting your hands on a child?"
He said nothing.Just whimpered.
I stood and turned to his men,a pack of half-trained dogs.
"Take him to the warehouse," I said.
Duan Yu emerged from the shadows. "Already waiting."
That night, Jin Bao's empire burned. His accounts were seized. His lieutenants vanished. And the word spread:
The Dragon was back.
****
By the time I returned to the Zhang villa, something had shifted.
Zhang Meiling offered me tea.
Zhang Deshun didn't insult me once.
And Xue'er?
She stared at me like she was seeing a ghost.
I sat on the porch under the moonlight, listening to the night birds call in the distance, and thought about what came next.
The Zhangs would soon face a choice.
They could bow.
Or break.
But either way…
They would learn to obey.