Zhao Kai’s bloodshot eyes bulged as the crowd’s mockery rang in his ears.
Every phone camera was aimed straight at his face. Livestream comments scrolled by in thousands of messages, broadcasting his humiliation to millions across the province.
And right in front of him, Liu Yan was still screeching, her fake acrylic nails digging into the cheap fabric of his yellow debtor vest.
“Give me my five million yuan!” Liu Yan screamed, saliva spraying from her bright red lips. “You promised to buy me an apartment! You promised me a luxury wedding! You ruined my life, Zhao Kai! Give me my money!”
Zhao Kai’s sanity snapped like a dry twig.
For months, he had been hunted, beaten, and arrested. Now, stripped of his family’s wealth and forced to scrub urinals on his knees, he had nothing left to lose.
“Get off me, you vile parasite!” Zhao Kai roared like a rabid animal.
He grabbed Liu Yan by both shoulders and shoved her backward with every ounce of strength in his arms.
Liu Yan had been standing on three-inch imitation designer stilettos. Her heels slipped on the wet ceramic tiles.
She flailed her arms, gasping in shock as she lost her balance.
SPLASH!
With a heavy, wet thud, Liu Yan crashed butt-first directly into the large yellow industrial mop bucket behind her.
The plastic bucket contained ten gallons of gray, soapy water, mixed with floor bleach, urinal disinfectant, and sludge.
The filthy water erupted into a foul wave.
It splashed straight up into Liu Yan’s face, washing away her foundation and plastering her frizzy hair to her cheeks in wet, smelly clumps. The dirty water soaked through her fake mink coat, turning the synthetic fur into heavy, dripping rags.
Her imitation designer handbag flew from her grasp, landing in the gray puddle with a soft plop.
“AHHHHHHH!”
Liu Yan shrieked, flailing her arms inside the bucket like an overturned turtle. The cold, chemical-scented water ran into her eyes, burning her mascara into black streaks down her neck.
“My coat! My hair! It smells like disinfectant!” Liu Yan wailed, struggling to lift her hips out of the narrow plastic container. “Help me up! Somebody help me!”
Nobody moved.
The entire concourse erupted into deafening laughter.
Over a thousand shoppers, store clerks, and tourists clutched their stomachs, pointing their cameras at the yellow bucket.
“Look at her!” a young university student laughed, zooming in with her phone. “She dumped Chairman Lin for a playboy’s sports car, and now she is stuck inside a mop bucket!”
“That fake mink coat looks like a drowned sewer rat!” a jewelry saleswoman cheered. “Serves her right! A gold-digger who only cared about money!”
Old Wu walked up, holding his metal clipboard. He looked down at Liu Yan inside the bucket, shaking his head with a deep, disappointed sigh.
“Young lady,” Old Wu said plainly. “That bucket was freshly rinsed. Now I have to wash it all over again.”
Old Wu turned toward the two uniformed court bailiffs standing by the door.
He blew his whistle once.
TWEET!
“Bailiffs,” Old Wu announced, checking his stopwatch. “Their community restitution hours are officially fulfilled. Take these three away.”
The bailiffs stepped forward, snapping heavy steel handcuffs around Zhao Kai’s wrists, then around Zhao Kun’s and Zhao Tianxiong’s wrists.
“On your feet!” the lead bailiff commanded. “The prison transport van is waiting in the basement. Your fifteen-year terms at North Mountain Penitentiary begin today.”
Zhao Kai was dragged to his feet, sobbing uncontrollably. Chairman Zhao Kun stumbled forward with his head down, refusing to look at the crowd. Behind them, old Patriarch Zhao Tianxiong was supported by two officers, his eyes hollow and dead.
The fifty-year criminal reign of the Zhao Family Consortium had officially come to an end.
Up on the glass-paneled escalator twenty yards away, Lin Mo was descending toward the ground floor.
He wore his clean white linen shirt and dark trousers, looking relaxed and completely at peace. Beside him stood Su Wan, reviewing municipal clinic development schedules, and Shen Qiaoqiao, carrying a leather brief.
Tie Niu walked behind them, looking down over the handrail with a broad grin.
Down in the mop bucket, Liu Yan finally managed to roll onto her knees on the wet tiles.
She wiped the dirty, bleach-scented water from her eyes, gasping for breath.
She looked up.
Her gaze caught Lin Mo on the escalator.
He was bathed in the warm, golden afternoon sunlight filtering through the crystal dome. He looked tall, calm, and dignified, radiating the quiet, immense authority of a man who commanded an eighty-story sky-tower and ninety-eight billion yuan in personal cash.
Beside him walked Su Wan, elegant and brilliant, and Shen Qiaoqiao, sharp and confident.
They looked like royalty from another world.
“Lin Mo...” Liu Yan whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of bitter grief, regret, and madness. “Lin Mo! Look at me! It’s Liu Yan! I was your girlfriend for three years!”
She raised her wet, dripping hands toward the escalator, tears cutting clean lines through the gray sludge on her cheeks.
“Lin Mo! Tell them to let me up! Tell them to give me an apartment! You used to love me! You bought me wontons when you had forty-eight yuan! Lin Mo!”
Lin Mo did not stop.
He did not turn his head. He did not slow his step.
His eyes swept across the third-floor concourse with calm indifference, treating her voice like the buzzing of a distant fly.
Some people think a past relationship is a blank check they can cash forever, Lin Mo thought, amused by her complete lack of shame. She traded three years of loyalty for a ride in a rented Porsche. Now that the Porsche is in the impound lot, she expects me to wipe her tears.
Lin Mo turned slightly toward Su Wan, his tone quiet and professional.
“Su Wan,” Lin Mo said. “How are the preparations for the thirty new community clinics in the southern district?”
“The medical equipment has cleared customs, Chairman Lin,” Su Wan replied smoothly, her voice cool and pleasant. “Dean Gu’s team will begin patient intake on Monday morning.”
“Good,” Lin Mo nodded. “Make sure every consultation is completely free for families with a Goodness Score above eighty.”
The escalator carried them smoothly down to the ground floor, disappearing past the crystal archway.
Not once did Lin Mo spare Liu Yan a single glance.
Two female mall security guards stepped forward, wrapping a brown paper towel around Liu Yan’s shoulders and gripping her arms firmly.
“Ma’am, you are disturbing the public,” the lead guard said firmly. “You need to leave the plaza immediately.”
“Let go of me!” Liu Yan shrieked, kicking her wet shoes as they dragged her across the marble floor. “I am Lin Mo’s first love! You cannot treat me like this!”
The security guards ignored her screams, escorting her out through the revolving glass doors and onto the rainy sidewalk outside.
SLAM.
The heavy doors clicked shut behind her, cutting off the warmth and light of the luxury mall.
Late that night, rain pattered against the corrugated tin roof of the Jiangcheng South Long-Distance Bus Station.
The waiting room smelled of stale instant noodles, wet cigarette butts, and cheap floor wax. A single flickering fluorescent tube cast a sickly yellow glow over cracked plastic benches.
Liu Yan sat alone in the corner, shivering from the damp chill.
Her fake mink coat hung over her knees, stiff and crusty from dried toilet bleach. Her makeup was gone, leaving her face pale and sallow.
She pulled her cracked smartphone from her pocket and checked her remaining funds.
[Available Balance: ¥160.00 RMB]
Her apartment was locked. Her luxury bags were impounded. Her credit cards were blacklisted across the province. In the entire city of Jiangcheng, not a single former friend would answer her phone calls.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her palm.
Ding.
A WeChat message notification popped up from a contact named Bernard - Regional Director:
"Hey babe. Heard about the mess with Zhao Kai in Jiangcheng. Don't worry about that small-town criminal. I just took over the Jiangnan Regional Luxury Fashion Division here in Tianhai Capital. Meet me tomorrow night at the VIP Lounge of Cloud-Crown Marina. I will make you our chief brand ambassador. A real luxury life is waiting for you in Tianhai."
Liu Yan stared at the screen, her breath catching in her throat.
A flush of frantic, delusional hope rushed into her cheeks.
“Tianhai Capital...” Liu Yan whispered, clutching the phone tightly against her chest. “The provincial capital! The Four Tycoon Clans rule Tianhai! Bernard is an international fashion director!”
She wiped her nose with her sleeve, her eyes narrowing with bitter, stubborn vanity.
“Lin Mo... you think you won because you became the boss of a small city like Jiangcheng?” Liu Yan muttered, her voice trembling with venomous spite. “Jiangcheng is just a provincial puddle! Once I arrive in Tianhai and marry into the Four Tycoon Clans, I will come back with a fleet of yachts and buy your entire plaza just to fire you!”
An announcement crackled over the station loudspeaker:
“Final overnight coach service to Tianhai Provincial Capital now boarding at Gate 04. All passengers please proceed to the platform.”
Liu Yan stood up, clutching her smelly coat around her shoulders.
She spent forty yuan on a one-way rural coach ticket, leaving one hundred and twenty yuan in crumpled notes in her pocket, and boarded the rattling, diesel-fumed night bus.
As the heavy bus rolled out of the terminal into the rain, its headlights pointed north along the highway toward the glittering provincial capital of Tianhai.
The bus driver shifted gears with a harsh metallic grind, pulling onto the rain-slicked expressway. In the darkened passenger cabin, Liu Yan rested her forehead against the vibrating glass, clutching her phone as if it were a royal scepter.
Meanwhile, three miles away, on the eighty-eighth floor of Taichu Sanctuary Sky-Tower, the city lights sparkled below like a field of fallen stars.
Lin Mo stood before the panoramic glass window, holding a warm cup of roasted barley tea.
Beside him stood Su Wan, holding an architectural tablet. Behind them sat Tie Niu, Master Lu Jian, Dr. Gu Qinghe, and Shen Qiaoqiao around a wide mahogany conference table.
Through Lin Mo’s newly awakened Rank Two Peak Martial perception, his two-kilometer qi dome covered the entire urban core of Jiangcheng.
He could feel the calm, peaceful breath of the city.
The Zhao family’s poison warehouses were sealed. The corrupt bank officials were behind bars. Grandma Chen’s fifty canteens were feeding thousands of working families every day. The disabled veterans had found dignity and strength in the Righteous Martial Hall.
Jiangcheng was no longer a city ruled by fear and extortion.
It had become a true sanctuary.
Ordinary people walked the streets at night without fear. Honest street sweepers and delivery riders held their heads high, knowing their hard work was valued and protected.
Master Lu Jian unrolled a massive blue architectural map across the table, his eyes bright with excitement.
“Chairman Lin,” Master Lu said, pointing to twelve red pins placed across the city map. “The preliminary engineering for the Twelve District Public Morality Terminals is complete. By Monday morning, all twelve kiosks will be online.”
Su Wan adjusted her glasses, her voice clear and steady.
“With the Zhao Consortium completely liquidated,” Su Wan added, “Taichu Group holds forty-two billion yuan in municipal commercial assets, plus your ninety-eight point three billion yuan in personal liquid cash. No commercial or criminal force in Jiangcheng can challenge us.”
Lin Mo took a slow sip of tea, his eyes looking out toward the northern horizon where the river flowed into the dark distance.
“Jiangcheng is safe,” Lin Mo said, his voice flat, calm, and resonant. “Now, we turn this entire city into an unshakeable fortress of kindness.”
Lin Mo set his tea cup down on the table, turning toward his core team with a quiet, confident smile.
“We build the Twelve District Morality Terminals. We prove to the world that honest people deserve wealth. And once Jiangcheng is secured as our permanent sanctuary, we march on Tianhai Capital.”