Shen Qiaoqiao knelt gracefully on one knee at the edge of the crater, smoothing the crisp pleats of her tailored charcoal skirt.
She opened the first gilded folio, laying the thick parchment right in front of Ancestor Jade-Bone’s mud-caked nose.
The parchment glowed with the solemn, golden script of the Heavenly Dao Commercial Tribunal. Next to Shen Qiaoqiao, Marcus Reed held up a portable optical projector, beaming the itemized financial ledger into the evening clouds for everyone to see.
“Ancestor Jade-Bone,” Shen Qiaoqiao said, her voice sweet, polite, and completely merciless. “I am Shen Qiaoqiao, Chief Legal Counsel of Taichu Sovereign Group. On behalf of Chairman Lin Mo and our municipal board, I am presenting you with the formal invoice for this evening’s festivities.”
Ancestor Jade-Bone blinked the muddy ditch water out of his eyes, squinting at the glowing parchment.
“An invoice?” the four-hundred-year-old monster croaked, his voice cracking like dry firewood. “You dare present me with an invoice?!”
“Standard corporate procedure for unauthorized commercial trespass,” Marcus Reed chimed in, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses. “Let us review the itemized charges together.”
Marcus tapped his stylus against the silver tablet.
