By 7:00 AM the next morning, the shattered glass in the penthouse had been completely replaced by three inches of military-grade ballistic plating.
The blood was gone. The bodies were ash. The only proof that the Dragon Sovereign had ever set foot in my home was the fact that Su Qingran was currently standing in my kitchen, wearing a perfectly tailored navy-blue pantsuit, pouring me a cup of black coffee.
She slid the porcelain cup across the marble island.
"The police report has been filed regarding my Uncle," she said, her voice crisp and entirely professional, though her blue eyes softened when they met mine. "The board is fully pacified. I'm heading to the Consortium headquarters now to finalize the integration of the Su Family's supply chains."
I took a sip of the coffee. It was perfect.
"Take Old Chen with you," I said, leaning against the counter. "You're the Acting CEO now. That puts a target on your back. If anyone from the old guard tries to cause a scene, let Chen break their jaws."
She smiled, a stunning, confident expression that would have made the original Chu Feng drool. "I don't need Old Chen to break jaws, Chu Feng. I have your legal team. By noon, anyone who doesn't fall in line will be bankrupt."
I chuckled, genuinely impressed. The Ice CEO was fully unleashed, and she was wielding my billions like a scalpel.
"I'll see you at the office later," I said, setting the cup down. "I have a few... acquisitions to look into this morning. And remember, Commander Mu Xue'er is coming here tonight at 9:00 PM for her medical treatment."
Su Qingran paused at the door, her hand on the brass handle. She looked back at me, a flicker of something intensely possessive flashing in her eyes. "A private medical treatment. With the Scarlet Queen. In our home."
"Strictly business, Qingran," I smirked, enjoying the subtle jealousy. "She's just a patient."
"Make sure she remembers that," she replied smoothly, before turning on her heel and walking out to the waiting elevator.
[Ding! Su Qingran's territorial instincts have been triggered! The Harem dynamic is stabilizing!]
I let out a low breath as the doors closed. The domestic peace was nice, but the blaring purple warning from the System last night was still burning in my mind.
An Immortal Venerable. A 500-year-old cultivator who survived heavenly tribulations, only to reincarnate into a teenager's body in Jinghai City. In urban web novels, these guys were the absolute worst. They walked around with their hands behind their backs, called everyone "ants," and expected billionaires to hand over their entire fortunes for a single, low-tier Qi pill.
And this particular ghost had set his sights on the land directly beneath the Chu Consortium Headquarters.
"System," I commanded, walking toward my private armory. "Give me the exact coordinates of this 'Ancestral Dragon Vein'."
[Ding!] [The Ancestral Dragon Vein is a localized nexus of pure spiritual energy hidden 500 feet directly beneath the main lobby of the Chu Consortium HQ.] [If the Third Protagonist, Chen Fan, absorbs this energy, he will instantly bypass the mortal martial arts realms and achieve the 'Foundation Establishment' stage, making him immune to all modern conventional weaponry.]
"Foundation Establishment," I mused, strapping a sleek, custom-fitted shoulder holster over my dress shirt. I slid my tribulation-forged karambit into the left sheath, and a custom, suppressed 9mm into the right. "We can't have that, can we?"
[Meanwhile... The Chu Consortium Headquarters Lobby]
The morning rush hour at the Consortium was a well-oiled machine of thousands of elite employees scanning badges and filtering through the polished steel turnstiles.
But right in the center of the massive, glass-walled lobby stood an anomaly.
He was an eighteen-year-old boy wearing the cheap, slightly faded uniform of Jinghai City High School. His hair was slightly too long, falling over his eyes, and his posture was impossibly rigid. He stood with both hands clasped behind his back, his chin tilted upward in an expression of absolute, transcendent arrogance.
Chen Fan, the Reborn Immortal Venerable, looked at the eighty-story monument to modern capitalism and sneered.
Mortals, he thought, his ancient soul scoffing at the glass and steel. They build these pathetic towers to touch the sky, completely blind to the supreme spiritual vein flowing right beneath their expensive Italian shoes.
In his past life, Chen Fan had annihilated entire planets with a wave of his hand. He had subjugated divine beasts and commanded billions. Being trapped in this weak, mortal teenager's body was a humiliating setback, but it was only temporary.
He could feel the Dragon Vein pulsing beneath the marble floor. It was practically begging to be absorbed.
"Hey, kid!" a burly security guard barked, walking over with a frown. "This is a private corporate building. Where's your visitor badge? Are you lost? The high school is three blocks down."
Chen Fan slowly turned his head. His eyes, devoid of any human emotion, locked onto the guard.
"Ant," Chen Fan said, his voice carrying a strange, resonant echo that made the guard's eardrums vibrate. "You dare speak to this Venerable in such a tone? In the Heavenly Realm, your soul would be refined in hellfire for a thousand years just for looking at my shadow."
The guard blinked, completely baffled. "Listen, you little punk, I don't care what video game you're playing. Get out before I throw you out."
The guard reached out to grab the teenager's shoulder.
Chen Fan didn't even move his hands from behind his back. He simply released a fraction of his spiritual pressure—a microscopic burst of his ancient 'Immortal Aura'.
Thump.
The 250-pound security guard instantly collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as all the oxygen was violently forced from his lungs. It felt like a solid block of concrete had just been dropped on his spine.
Gasps and screams erupted from the nearby employees. The lobby ground to a halt as people backed away from the strange teenager.
"Let this be a lesson to the mortals of this world," Chen Fan declared loudly, his voice effortlessly echoing across the massive lobby. "Tell your Patriarch—the one who owns this building—to descend and kneel before me. If he signs the deed of this land over to Chen Fan, I will grant his family a century of prosperity and a single spiritual pill to cure all mortal diseases. If he refuses, I will wipe his bloodline from the face of the earth."
It was the classic, textbook entrance of a Reborn Immortal. Arrogant, uncompromising, and absolutely convinced that modern society would bow to his ancient magic.
Ding.
The private executive elevator chimed, the polished steel doors sliding open.
Su Qingran stepped out, flanked by Old Chen and four heavily armed corporate security elites. The Acting CEO took in the scene—the terrified employees, the gasping guard on the floor, and the arrogant high schooler in the center of it all.
"What is the meaning of this?" Su Qingran demanded, her voice cutting through the panic like a blade. She didn't look terrified; she looked incredibly annoyed.
Chen Fan looked at her. For a split second, a flicker of surprise crossed his ancient eyes. A woman with extreme Yin physique? Rare. She would make an excellent cauldron for my dual cultivation once I reach the Golden Core stage.
"You must be the concubine of the Chu Family Patriarch," Chen Fan said dismissively, still keeping his hands behind his back. "Woman. Bring your master to me. My patience is limited."
Su Qingran's eyes narrowed to absolute zero. "Concubine?"
"Miss Su, step back," Old Chen stepped forward, his veteran instincts screaming that this teenager was incredibly dangerous. He reached for the baton at his belt.
"Don't bother, Chen," a calm, deep voice echoed from the elevator.
I stepped out of the steel box, buttoning my suit jacket as I walked smoothly past my security detail. I stepped right up to Su Qingran's side, placing a reassuring hand on the small of her back before locking eyes with the teenager.
"So," I said, my voice completely relaxed, "you're the local stray who thinks he can claim my property?"
Chen Fan's eyes locked onto me. He tried to scan my cultivation base using his divine sense, expecting to see a mortal with weak, stagnant energy.
Instead, he hit a solid, impenetrable wall of absolute void.
The System completely masked my stats. To the Immortal Venerable, I was a terrifying, unreadable black hole.
"You are the owner of this land?" Chen Fan demanded, hiding his momentary confusion behind a mask of supreme arrogance. "Listen well, mortal. I am Chen Fan. The land beneath this building belongs to me by divine right. Hand over the deed, and I shall spare your—"
"Shut up," I interrupted smoothly.
I didn't yell. I didn't posture.
I simply unleashed the [Villainous Overlord Halo].
A terrifying, invisible shockwave of absolute, psychological dominance erupted from my body. Because Chen Fan was currently a Level 1 Protagonist in a weak mortal shell, his 'Destiny' was far lower than my accumulated Villain status.
The Halo slammed into him like a freight train.
Chen Fan's smug expression instantly shattered. His legs trembled violently. The ancient, 500-year-old soul inside his mind screamed in primal, mortal terror. His spiritual pressure, which had forced the guard to his knees, evaporated like steam over a volcano.
"W-what is this?!" Chen Fan gasped, his hands flying out from behind his back as he stumbled backward, his high school uniform suddenly drenched in cold sweat. "This pressure... what kind of ancient demon are you?!"
I walked slowly toward him, my polished leather shoes clicking rhythmically against the marble floor.
"I'm not a demon, Chen Fan," I said, stopping exactly two feet away from the trembling Immortal. I looked down at him with an expression of profound, aristocratic pity.
"I'm a billionaire," I whispered, leaning in close so only he could hear me. "And your 'divine right' means absolutely nothing in a capitalist society. Security? Throw this trespassing garbage onto the street."