Song Biao flicked his cigar with his manicured thumb, letting a glowing flake of gray ash fall directly toward Grandma Chen’s copper soup cauldron.
His smirk was wide, ugly, and filled with lazy cruelty.
Behind Song Biao, the eight bodyguards in black martial robes sneered at the crowd of sanitation workers and delivery riders. They placed their hands on their hips, daring anyone in the banquet to utter a single word of protest.
Before the ash could travel three inches through the air, Lin Mo moved.
He did not rise from his seat. He did not yell. He simply picked up an ordinary white ceramic soup spoon from the banquet table beside him.
With a slight flick of his right wrist, Lin Mo released a whisper of his Rank Two Peak internal qi.
WHIP-CRACK!
The ceramic spoon broke the sound barrier with a sharp sonic pop.
The spoon shattered the burning Cuban cigar into flying sparks, striking Song Biao dead center across his open mouth.
CRACK!
The impact sounded like a heavy iron hammer hitting a clay brick.
Song Biao’s two gold-capped front incisors snapped clean off at the gumline. A spray of crimson blood and white tooth shards showered across the silver silk lapels of his suit.
Song Biao staggered backward four steps, clutching his face with both hands and howling like a scalded dog.
“My teeth! My teeth!” Song Biao screamed through a mouthful of blood and broken enamel. “Kill him! Rip his hands off! Break his neck! He struck an envoy of the Song Clan!”
The four lead Rank Two bodyguards roared in unison.
Their dark martial robes billowed as they launched themselves forward across the red carpet, their hands coiling into black iron tiger claws. Vicious internal qi hissed through their fingertips, aimed straight at Lin Mo’s throat.
Tie Niu stepped off the stage.
He did not draw his cold-iron sabre. Against these four provincial brutes, his bare hands were more than enough.
Tie Niu took a single heavy step forward, his combat boot splintering the granite pavement beneath him.
THUD.
Tie Niu reached out with both arms, moving like a striking python.
His left hand locked onto the throat of the first bodyguard. His right hand locked onto the throat of the second.
BAM!
Tie Niu slammed their skulls together with an earth-shaking crack. Both men’s eyes rolled white into their heads, their legs turning into limp jelly.
Before the remaining two bodyguards could react, Tie Niu spun on his heel.
He grabbed the third man by his collar and the fourth man by his belt. With a ferocious roar from his Bronze-Bell body, Tie Niu twisted his massive shoulders, knotting the limbs and robes of all four provincial fighters together in a tangled heap.
He slammed the four men onto the red carpet in a groaning human pretzel.
CRUNCH.
The four Internal Martial fighters lay piled on top of each other, unable to move a muscle, gasping for air like landed carp.
The one thousand workers seated at the banquet tables stood up, cheering wildly.
“Good hit, Commander Tie!” Stationmaster Old Ma shouted, raising his tea bowl.
“Fold those provincial bullies into dumplings!” Auntie Liu cheered from the front table.
Song Biao stumbled back against the front grille of his Rolls-Royce, trembling from head to toe. Blood poured from his split lips, dripping onto his lavender silk pocket square.
Su Wan and Shen Qiaoqiao walked calmly down the stage steps.
Su Wan’s expression was as cool and unbothered as an autumn lake. In her hands, Shen Qiaoqiao carried an official, gold-stamped document bearing the sovereign seal of the Central Bank.
Shen Qiaoqiao stepped directly in front of the bleeding Song Biao.
With a crisp flick of her wrist, Shen Qiaoqiao slapped the heavy parchment document directly across Song Biao’s swollen left cheek.
SLAP!
The paper hit his face with a loud, stinging crack, leaving a red rectangular welt against his pale skin.
Song Biao blinked through his tears, looking down at the bold, embossed letters on the certificate:
[CENTRAL SOVEREIGN SETTLEMENT RESERVE VERIFICATION]
[INSTITUTION: TAICHU BENEVOLENCE GROUP]
[HOST ACCOUNT: LIN MO]
[VERIFIED UNRESTRICTED CASH BALANCE: ¥101,363,180,000.50 RMB!]
[ONE HUNDRED AND ONE BILLION, THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE MILLION YUAN]
Song Biao’s eyes bulged so hard the red veins looked ready to burst.
“One... one hundred and one billion...” Song Biao stammered, his blood dripping onto the paper. “In... in liquid cash?! That is impossible! Not even our Song Clan holds ten billion in cash!”
Su Wan looked down at him with quiet, chilling disdain.
“Your Song Tycoon Clan controls twenty billion in leveraged assets across Tianhai,” Su Wan said, her voice clear and cutting. “You offered five hundred million for fifty-one percent of Taichu Group? That is not an offer, Director Song. That is an insult from a beggar.”
Shen Qiaoqiao adjusted her spectacles, her smile sharp as a razor.
“Tell your uncle, Patriarch Song,” Shen Qiaoqiao added, “that Taichu Group does not sell equity to parasites. When we enter Tianhai Capital, we will purchase your clan’s debts at auction and foreclose on your estates.”
Song Biao’s legs shook so violently that he had to lean against the Rolls-Royce bumper just to keep from collapsing into the dirt.
Lin Mo stepped down from the stage, his hands resting easily in his pockets.
He looked at the crushed flower pots beneath the luxury car’s tires, then looked at Song Biao.
The provincial clans think their names carry absolute authority, Lin Mo thought, completely unimpressed. They live in their enclosed capital, thinking the rest of the world exists to pay them tribute. They have no idea that their entire world is about to change.
Lin Mo stopped three feet from Song Biao.
“Director Song,” Lin Mo said, his tone casual and flat. “You wanted to teach me how business works in the provincial capital?”
“Lin Mo...” Song Biao gasped, spitting out another tooth fragment. “You... you dare strike an envoy of the Song Clan? The Four Tycoon Clans will never let your trucks cross into Tianhai!”
“My trucks will go wherever honest people need medicine,” Lin Mo replied softly. “And your threats will only make my security teams stronger.”
Lin Mo turned toward Su Wan.
“Su Wan,” Lin Mo commanded. “Disburse ten million yuan immediately.”
Su Wan opened the executive console.
“What are the parameters, Chairman Lin?”
“Ten million yuan,” Lin Mo said clearly. “Allocate five million to establish the Taichu Strategic Legal Defense Corps under Chief Counsel Shen Qiaoqiao, securing cross-provincial regulatory compliance. Allocate the remaining five million to Tie Niu’s Righteous Martial Hall to upgrade our long-distance armored transport escorts and communications grids.”
Tap.
Su Wan swiped Lin Mo’s Black-Gold Sovereign Benevolence Card across the console.
BEEP.
A grand, celestial chime rang out deep in Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥10,000,000.00 RMB on Cross-Provincial Legal Defense & Security Fleet Upgrade!]
[Target Beneficiaries: Shen Qiaoqiao (Goodness: 91/100), Tie Niu (Goodness: 93/100), & 10 Senior Legal & Security Officers (Goodness: 88–94/100)!]
[Purpose: High-level inter-provincial regulatory compliance, satellite communication grids, and armored transport reinforcements!]
[Pure Altruistic Intent Verified: Protecting civic supply corridors, defending municipal sovereignty, and preventing cartel extortion!]
[Triggering 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Cash Refund Received: +¥1,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥102,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 194,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,930 Verified Righteous Allies (+5 cross-provincial legal and security officers formally integrated)!]
One billion more in cleared cash, Lin Mo thought, watching his vault balance reach one hundred and two billion yuan. Song Biao came to rob me of fifty-one percent of my company. Instead, he just funded my provincial expansion and handed me a billion in cash.
Lin Mo turned to Tie Niu, gesturing toward the bleeding director.
“Tie Niu,” Lin Mo said calmly. “Clean up the garbage.”
“Right away, Chairman Lin,” Tie Niu grinned.
Tie Niu walked up to Song Biao, grabbed him by the leather belt of his trousers with one massive hand, and lifted him into the air like an empty laundry sack.
With a smooth, effortless swing, Tie Niu hurled Song Biao head-first through the open rear window of the center Rolls-Royce!
CRASH!
Song Biao landed inside the leather cabin in a tangle of arms and legs, groaning in sheer agony.
Tie Niu kicked the remaining four groaning bodyguards off the red carpet, tossing them into the second car like sacks of potatoes.
“Get out of Jiangcheng,” Tie Niu barked, slamming his palm against the roof of the Rolls-Royce with a deafening metallic boom that dented the steel plate. “If I see these license plates in this city again, I will turn your cars into metal soup!”
The terrified drivers slammed the cars into reverse, tires screeching in clouds of white smoke as they fled the plaza at top speed.
The one thousand workers in the square burst into wild, joyous cheers.
“Chairman Lin! Chairman Lin!”
“Taichu forever!”
Grandma Chen wiped her hands on her apron, smiling warmly as she ladled fresh wontons into clean porcelain bowls.
Lin Mo smiled at the cheering crowd, raising his hand in greeting before walking toward the private VIP dining pavilion behind the stage.
Inside the quiet pavilion, a large round mahogany table was set with fresh jasmine tea and steaming bowls of shrimp wontons.
Grandma Chen, Dr. Gu Qinghe, and six-year-old Little Guo’er sat around the table.
Little Guo’er was smiling, swinging her legs from her wooden chair while looking down at the delicate white mutton-fat jade locket resting on her chest.
“Grandma, look,” Little Guo’er said in her sweet, cheerful voice. “The little jade lotus is so pretty! It has nine little petals!”
Grandma Chen patted her granddaughter’s braided hair, her eyes glowing with gentle warmth.
“Uncle Mo gave you a treasure, Guo’er,” Grandma Chen said softly. “You must always remember Uncle Mo’s kindness.”
“I will always remember!” Little Guo’er declared, smiling brightly.
Dr. Gu Qinghe sat beside her, sipping hot green tea, his eyes filled with grandfatherly affection.
Lin Mo pulled out a chair, sitting down beside Little Guo’er.
He reached out, gently patting her small braided hair.
“Do you like it, Guo’er?” Lin Mo asked warmly.
“I love it, Uncle Mo!” Little Guo’er said, holding up the pendant. “It feels so warm, like—”
Suddenly, the little girl’s voice stopped.
Her tiny shoulders shivered violently.
The color drained from Little Guo’er’s rosy cheeks, turning her skin as pale as winter snow.
HISS.
A sound like water freezing on cold stone whispered through the quiet room.
The two-inch white mutton-fat jade locket on her chest suddenly flared with an eerie, icy blue light.
In a fraction of a second, a thick layer of crystalline white frost crept across the surface of the jade, coating the gold silk cord in delicate needles of ice.
Little Guo’er’s breath came out as a cloud of freezing white vapor.
“Uncle Mo...” Little Guo’er whispered, her teeth chattering so hard they clicked together. “I... I’m not in pain... but my chest is so cold... my hands feel like they are holding snow...”
Above her chest, the translucent phantom of a nine-petaled frost lotus materialized in the open air, spinning erratically and shedding sparks of freezing yin-qi.
The temperature inside the dining room plummeted twenty degrees in three seconds.
The hot jasmine tea in the cups froze solid into cloudy ice. The steaming bowls of wontons grew cold, white frost coating the broth. The glass windows cracked with sharp snapping sounds as thick fern-like patterns of frost covered the panes.
Grandma Chen gasped, clutching Little Guo’er in panic.
Dr. Gu Qinghe dropped his teacup.
The porcelain shattered on the floor as Dr. Gu sprang to his feet, his face turning paper-white.
“The Nine-Petaled Frost Lotus...” Dr. Gu cried out in sheer horror, his hands shaking violently as he reached for his needle pouch. “The Innate Pure-Lotus Spirit Root has fully awakened, but her mortal body cannot anchor the pure yin-essence! Chairman Lin, her meridians are freezing from the inside out!”