Liu Yan’s muddy fingernails dug desperately into the charcoal wool of Lin Mo’s overcoat.
Her breath came in ragged, wet sobs. Around the central architectural sand-table, over two hundred affluent homebuyers, real estate investors, and luxury property brokers stared in stunned silence.
“Lin Mo, look at me!” Liu Yan pleaded, her voice ringing across the marble pavilion. “I only broke up with you last week because my mother threatened to disown me! She demanded a three-hundred-thousand-yuan bride price! I was completely helpless! Deep down, you know I always loved you!”
She tilted her tear-stained face upward, batting her smeared eyelashes to project a delicate, tragic aura.
“You just gave a five-million-yuan garden flat to an old stranger you met ten minutes ago,” she cried out, her voice cracking with theatrical sorrow. “We shared a dormitory bench for three whole years! We ate cheap wontons together behind the university library!”
She pressed both palms together in a desperate plea. “If you can give millions to random old men on the street, why can’t you buy me a villa? Just one little fifteen-million-yuan riverside villa! It is pocket change to you!”
A murmur of whispered conversation rippled through the gathered crowd.
Several older ladies in pearl necklaces shook their heads, murmuring among themselves. “Three years together in college... that is a long time for young people. Maybe the young tycoon should show some mercy.”
“Mercy?” a wealthy corporate investor scoffed nearby. “Did you see her clothes? She was kicked out of an alley! A woman who dumps a man when he is poor and begs at his feet when he is rich deserves nothing.”
Dozens of younger socialites held their smartphones high, streaming the unfolding drama directly to municipal social media groups.
Lin Mo looked down at Liu Yan with calm, flat eyes.
Moral kidnapping is truly the most pathetic form of amateur extortion, Lin Mo thought deadpan. She spent an hour ago laughing while her sugar daddy docked an honest kid’s medicine money. Now she expects a fifteen-million-yuan dividend for three years of condescension.
Tie Niu took a heavy step forward, his knuckles cracking with a sound like snapping oak branches.
“Chairman,” Tie Niu rumbled, his scarred brow furrowing with disgust. “Shall I deposit this pest outside in the fountain? The mud on her slip is staining the floor.”
“No need, Tie Niu,” Lin Mo said softly. “Water is expensive, and cleaning the fountain costs labor. Besides, when someone asks for charity in public, we follow public procedure.”
Lin Mo gently reached down and peeled Liu Yan’s fingers away from his coat. His grip was light, yet as unyielding as forged tungsten. He stepped back two paces, smoothing his lapel with practiced ease.
“Miss Liu,” Lin Mo said, his tone deadpan and completely relaxed. “You say you love me, and you say your heart has always been pure.”
Liu Yan nodded frantically, wiping her mascara-stained cheeks with the back of her dirty wrist. “Yes! Yes, Lin Mo! My heart is completely sincere! I swear to Heaven and Earth! I never cared about money! I only care about you!”
“Then you are in luck,” Lin Mo said with a faint, polite smile.
He reached into his inner pocket and produced a sleek, matte-emerald handheld device. It was his upgraded [Voice-Broadcast Benevolence POS Machine], fitted with high-definition optical lenses and multi-spectrum biometric sensors.
Lin Mo set the emerald terminal down directly onto the glass rim of the illuminated architectural sand-table.
“Everyone in Jiangcheng knows that Taichu Benevolence Group operates under a strict public charter,” Lin Mo announced, his voice carrying effortlessly across the grand pavilion. “My funds are tied to the Taichu Pure-Heart Trust. We disburse money only to individuals with verified moral integrity.”
The two hundred wealthy buyers leaned forward, their eyes fixed on the sleek emerald terminal.
“This terminal connects directly to our moral evaluation core,” Lin Mo explained, looking down at Liu Yan. “It measures civic honesty, filial piety, and altruistic conduct. The minimum passing threshold for charitable endowment is an average score of eighty out of one hundred.”
He pointed a finger at the miniature model of a magnificent three-story lakeside villa nestled among miniature weeping willows.
“That villa right there is Villa Number Eight,” Lin Mo continued smoothly. “Private swimming pool, geothermal heating, riverside mooring berth. Retail price: fifteen million yuan. Miss Liu, if you press your palm onto this scanner and score even eighty points, I will swipe my card and sign the deed over to you this very second.”
Liu Yan’s breath hitched in her throat. Her bloodshot eyes widened with blazing, uncontrollable greed.
Fifteen million yuan, she screamed inside her mind. A lakeside mansion with a private pool and willow garden! I don’t care about his magic machine! A machine is just plastic, glass, and wires! I never went to prison! I never stole a car! How could my score possibly be lower than eighty?!
“You promised, Lin Mo!” Liu Yan shrieked, scrambling to her feet. “Everyone here heard you! You promised to buy me Villa Number Eight if I scan my hand!”
She lunged forward, thrusting her right palm flat against the emerald glass scanner with all her strength.
FLASH!
A blinding beam of azure light swept across her palm, illuminating every crease and fingerprint.
For one second, the terminal hummed quietly with high-frequency processing cycles.
Then, the azure light abruptly turned an enraged, violently flashing crimson.
WHEEEEE-OOOOO-WHEEEEE-OOOOO!
A deafening, one-hundred-and-twenty-decibel police strobe siren detonated from the device’s internal acoustic horn!
Red laser beams projected a massive holographic warning banner four feet into the air above the sand-table, spinning with furious intensity!
The high-power external speaker boomed across the entire sales center with the force of a thunderclap:
[EXTREME GOLD-DIGGER PARASITE ALERT! CRITICAL DEFICIT DETECTED!]
[RECIPIENT: LIU YAN, AGE 22.]
[MORAL INTEGRITY SCORE: 14/100 (ABYSSAL MORAL FAILURE)!]
[FORENSIC ENTRY 1: ABANDONED BOYFRIEND FOR EMBEZZLER TO OBTAIN PENTHOUSE.]
[FORENSIC ENTRY 2: EXTORTED EXPENSIVE GIFTS WHILE CHEATING ON PREVIOUS DATES.]
[FORENSIC ENTRY 3: CHEERED DOCKING OF SILICOSIS PATIENT'S MEDICINE MONEY.]
[STATUS: ZERO PERCENT CHARITY ELIGIBILITY.]
[SYSTEM DIRECTIVE: SUGGESTED ACTION: STOP BEGGING YOUR EX AND GET A REAL JOB!]
The electronic voice was so crisp, booming, and relentlessly clear that every single word echoed against the high ceiling like artillery fire.
The two hundred wealthy homebuyers stood frozen in collective shock.
Then, an earth-shattering roar of laughter exploded throughout the sales hall!
“Hahahahaha! Moral score: fourteen points?!” “Fourteen out of one hundred! That is lower than a casino loan shark!” “She cheered docking a sick man’s medicine money?! What a vile creature!” “Look at her face! Quick, livestream this to the Jiangcheng luxury forums!”
Dozens of socialites and businessmen held their phones high, recording Liu Yan’s trembling, mud-splattered figure from every angle.
Liu Yan felt all the blood rush to her face, then drain completely away.
Her ears rang with the roaring laughter of two hundred wealthy strangers. The flashing red holographic text spun above her head, bathing her face in humiliating crimson light.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!” Liu Yan shrieked, clawing at her ears. “It is a lie! It is slander! Lin Mo, you rigged this machine to destroy me!”
Shen Qiaoqiao stepped forward, adjusting her round glasses with a sweet, dimpled smile.
“Miss Liu, this terminal uses forensic verification certified by the International Juridical Standards Board,” Shen Qiaoqiao stated cheerfully. “If you believe the device has slandered your character, you are welcome to file a defamation petition in District Court. I would be delighted to represent the terminal pro bono.”
Su Wan stood beside Lin Mo, her expression cool and unimpressed.
“Miss Liu,” Su Wan added calmly. “When you discarded Chairman Lin last week outside Grand Golden-Plume Plaza, you claimed that wealth determines a person’s standing. Today, Chairman Lin has simply allowed you to be weighed by your own standards. It appears you are completely bankrupt.”
Grandma Chen shook her head, clutching Little Guo’er’s hand. “Tsk, tsk. Such a pretty young girl, but her heart is blacker than the bottom of an unwashed coal pot. Xiao Mo, thank goodness you didn’t marry this wicked creature. She would have stolen the ginger out of my wonton broth!”
Little Guo’er pointed a small finger and giggled. “Bad auntie! The machine said go get a real job!”
Teacher Zhou leaned forward on his cane, sighing with deep sorrow. “Young woman, dignity is earned through honest sweat, not through begging those you looked down upon. You traded your integrity for vanity, and now you have neither.”
Liu Yan slumped backward onto the floor, clutching her bare knees.
She looked up at Lin Mo.
The twenty-two-year-old billionaire stood tall and upright, bathed in the midday sun. His eyes were calm, devoid of hatred or anger. He looked at her not with vengeance, but with the cold, absolute indifference reserved for a discarded speck of dust.
He really doesn’t care, Liu Yan realized with bone-chilling clarity. He doesn’t hate me. I am nothing to him. I threw away an untouchable empire for a fake diamond necklace and eighty-five yuan of zinc.
Tears of profound, irreversible despair flooded her eyes. She buried her face in her hands, curling into a ball on the cold marble floor.
Lin Mo did not waste another second on her.
He stepped past her trembling body, walking around the illuminated perimeter of the central architectural sand-table.
Sales Director Ma stood nearby, slapping his own cheeks repeatedly with sweaty palms. “Chairman Lin! Please forgive my earlier blindness! I will personally carry this woman out to the trash heap right now! Please let me serve you!”
“Tie Niu,” Lin Mo said quietly.
“Sir!” Tie Niu stepped forward.
“Have your guards escort Miss Liu and Director Ma outside the gate,” Lin Mo instructed. “Their presence is disturbing Teacher Zhou’s rest.”
“With pleasure, Chairman,” Tie Niu grinned.
Tie Niu signaled two Iron Guards. Within five seconds, Director Ma was hoisted by his collar, and Liu Yan was dragged backward through the glass doors, her wails fading down the stone stairs into the distant courtyard.
The sales pavilion fell quiet once more.
Dozens of wealthy property buyers gathered around the outer railing of the sand-table, their eyes wide with mounting awe. Whispers traveled through the crowd like ripples across water.
“Did you hear what he just told the security guards?” “He didn’t just throw out his gold-digger ex-girlfriend... he had Director Ma dragged off the property too!” “Look at which section he is studying! That is the crown jewel of the entire river development!”
Lin Mo turned his attention to the vast architectural display before him.
In the center of the illuminated lake lay an exclusive, private sanctuary: Emerald River Island.
The island was surrounded on three sides by lush weeping willows, private stone docks, and crystal-clear mountain streams flowing directly from the northern peaks. Fifty freestanding, custom-built Spanish colonial luxury villas stood arranged along the curved shoreline. Each villa featured private stone courtyards, heated swimming pools, high-efficiency geothermal heating, and rooftop solar arrays.
Next to the island stood two modern, low-rise residential towers comprising two hundred spacious, river-view luxury flats designed for extended multi-generational families.
Su Wan stepped up beside Lin Mo, reviewing the district’s zoning blueprints on her tablet. “Chairman Lin, Emerald River Island has its own independent bridge access, deep-water filtration plant, and private perimeter security ring. It is the most secluded, quiet residential enclave in the entire metropolitan area.”
“Quiet air and clean water,” Lin Mo nodded. “Grandma Chen can tend her vegetable garden without inhaling diesel exhaust, and Little Guo’er can play in the riverside park with other children in complete safety.”
Lin Fang stepped forward timidly, her eyes shining with professional passion. “Chairman Lin, the developer originally intended to sell these fifty villas to overseas mining executives, but the project stalled during last year’s commercial credit crunch. The structural quality is exceptional. Reinforced seismic foundation piles, solid granite exterior walls, and triple-glazed soundproof glass.”
Lin Mo pointed his hand toward the entire central island and the two adjacent residential towers.
He looked over at Sister Lin Fang, who was still clutching her sales tablet with wide, hopeful eyes.
Lin Mo smiled warmly, his voice calm, steady, and decisive.
“Sister Lin Fang,” Lin Mo said, his tone carrying the absolute weight of a sovereign monarch. “Bring me the master deed folder for all fifty villas on Emerald River Island.”