CHAPTER 13 — Blood in the Silence
The city slept.
Or at least, it pretended to.
Li Zheng Yuan moved through shadows like a predator born in darkness. Every footstep silent, precise. Every target calculated.
The next Yonghe executive was alone in a penthouse on the 32nd floor. Security cameras looped, locks disabled.
He didn't see Li Zheng Yuan approach.
A faint whisper in his head. "You are too comfortable."
Before the man could react, Li Zheng Yuan's hands were on him. Controlled, surgical. No struggle, no scream. The man's face contorted once… then went still.
By the time Chen Rui checked the logs, the access times were clean. Nothing showed. Li Zheng Yuan's presence was a ghost.
And deep inside… the darker part of him smiled.
Hunt complete. Next.
Meanwhile, Gu Wei Chen received intel that Yonghe's top assets were disappearing, executives vanishing.
"Someone is tearing his empire apart," Zhao Ming said cautiously.
"Not someone," Gu Wei Chen replied. Eyes dark, unreadable. "He is."
Han Lu's gaze sharpened. "You're saying Li Zheng Yuan is… hunting them himself?"
Gu Wei Chen's jaw tightened. "He's no longer CEO. He's predator."
CHAPTER 14 — Chaos Unleashed
Shen Jinhai had reached the limit of civility.
Two nights ago, his mid-level enforcer had been found half-alive, hanging in the warehouse rafters, painted in blood spelling "Obedience".
Tonight, Shen Jinhai made a choice.
He struck directly at what he assumed Li Zheng Yuan loved most: Chen Rui.
The assistant was ambushed while walking home. A clean, clinical attack — unconscious, abducted, restrained.
Li Zheng Yuan didn't call for help. He didn't panic.
Inside the dark, penthouse study, he poured himself a glass of wine.
A shadow crossed his reflection. "You let them touch him."
He didn't argue. He didn't need to. The split part of him had already begun planning the counterstrike.
At Golden Crown, Gu Wei Chen's eyes flickered with unusual intensity.
"They touched what belongs to him," he murmured. "And he will respond."
He knew this wasn't a threat. He had seen this pattern. The calm before violence. The hunter's silence before slaughter.
Late at night, the penthouse elevator opened silently.
Li Zheng Yuan emerged, dark coat over his shoulders, mask over his expression. The city lights reflected in the glass like a thousand tiny witnesses.
He didn't call Shen Jinhai. He didn't negotiate. He didn't leave a trace.
By morning, three Yonghe executives were missing.
Two of them would never return.
One… survived, just enough to whisper a warning to his colleagues:
"He is… not human."
CHAPTER 15 — Predators Face the Moon
The rooftop of Golden Crown. Midnight.
Li Zheng Yuan waited. Gu Wei Chen appeared, moving through shadows as fluidly as he always did.
"You're escalating," Gu Wei Chen said. His tone calm, but his eyes were sharp.
Li Zheng Yuan's lips curved faintly. "I'm not escalating. I'm correcting."
Gu Wei Chen's hand rested on the railing. "The world is watching. Do you realize what you're doing?"
Li Zheng Yuan's gaze was cold, almost inhuman. "The world doesn't matter. He does."
Gu Wei Chen tilted his head. "And if you lose yourself completely?"
Li Zheng Yuan leaned closer. Breath faintly brushing Gu Wei Chen's cheek.
"I already lost myself… and I like it."
The wind howled across the rooftop. Shadows danced against their faces.
Gu Wei Chen smiled faintly. Not fear. Not warning. Fascination.
"You're madness," he said softly. "And I've never seen anything more beautiful."
Li Zheng Yuan's dark half stirred, hungry.
Yes… let him see it. Let him feel it.
Below, the city lights sparkled innocently.
Above, two predators lingered on the edge of sanity.
And somewhere, Shen Jinhai watched through a grainy feed, realizing too late that the game was no longer his.
He whispered to himself, voice trembling with both fear and rage:
"Break them… both of them… if you can."
Li Zheng Yuan smiled faintly.
Madness isn't a threat.
It's a weapon.
And tonight, it had just begun.