Shen Yueran slowly walked toward the team leader.
Every step she took felt heavy in the suffocating silence.
The man was already frozen in place, his whole body stiff, his face pale with fear. He wanted to retreat, but his legs felt nailed to the floor. He wanted to speak, but his throat had gone dry.
Then, without warning, a fist suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.
Fast.
Too fast.
Before he could even understand what had happened, darkness flashed across his vision.
The next moment, his knees slammed into the floor.
Bang.
He was already kneeling before Shen Yueran.
The pain shot through his body, but before he could even cry out, Shen Yueran had already grabbed his hair and forced his head up.
Her blood-stained face lowered slightly, and her eyes locked onto his.
"In my Mingxiao's territory," she said, every word clear and cold, "if I say you die, then you will die."
Her voice was not loud.
But in that moment, it sounded even more terrifying.
"No one can stop me. Your Guo Family or Huo Family cannot stop me." Her fingers tightened in his hair. "This is my territory. My words are law here. No one can deny me."
The team leader's scalp felt as if it were about to tear apart. His whole face twisted in pain, but under her gaze, he did not dare make a sound.
Shen Yueran kept holding his hair as she walked behind him, dragging his head back with her.
Then she stopped.
Her voice drifted into his ears like a death sentence.
"Now die for me."
Every person present looked at her in fear.
The bodyguards who were still standing no longer dared move. The men lying on the ground did not dare make a sound. Even the air itself seemed to have frozen.
The frail young man lying on the ground looked at her in shock and awe, his eyes wide as he stared at the blood-covered woman standing there like a demon that had walked out of hell.
After finishing those words, Shen Yueran reached toward her belt.
The hidden knife at her waist slid into her hand.
She lifted it without hesitation and was about to slash it across the team leader's neck.
Then, in that terrifying silence, an old man's furious roar suddenly burst from the speaker of a phone like an enraged lion.
"You bull-headed drunkard! Are you trying to rebel?!"
The voice exploded across the entire room.
Everyone was stunned.
"I just went on vacation for one week, and now it's become your territory? No one can disobey your word, not even me, huh?!"
The roar did not stop.
"You ungrateful wolf!"
The knife that was about to meet the team leader's neck suddenly stopped.
Shen Yueran's hand froze in midair.
At the same time, Liang Zhen hurried forward, carrying the old command token in one hand and holding the mobile phone up in front of Shen Yueran with the other.
On the screen, the face of an old man appeared.
It was Shen Mingshan.
The moment she saw him, the frost on Shen Yueran's face disappeared as if it had never existed.
The blood on her face was still there.
The knife was still in her hand.
But her expression had changed completely.
"Ha ha, Grandfather, you've misunderstood." She smiled as if nothing had happened. "This time, I'm not the one who caused trouble."
Her tone turned light and aggrieved.
"After finishing my work today, I just came to our club to relax. These troublemakers came here, caused trouble, and beat our men in our own territory."
She pointed vaguely toward the mess around her as she spoke.
"It was like they were shitting on your face, Grandpa. I didn't do anything wrong."
The old man on the other side of the phone was so angry that his face turned dark.
"You shit-head!" Shen Mingshan roared again. "Is this how you explain it? You're saying it's my territory and they're shitting on my face, and you're just defending it?"
Shen Yueran blinked innocently.
Her bloodied face, paired with that shameless innocent expression, made the scene even stranger.
On the other side of the phone, Shen Mingshan looked furious enough that his head seemed ready to burst open.
"Grandpa," Shen Yueran said quickly, "they didn't just cause trouble in our territory. They stood in our place and threatened us with their power. They kept talking about some Guo Family and some other family."
Her tone became more righteous the more she spoke.
"That's why I said all those things, Grandpa. Don't misunderstand me, okay?"
Shen Mingshan's expression on the screen remained ugly, but after hearing her words, he seemed to calm down a little.
His breathing slowed, though the anger in his eyes had not faded.
At that moment, Liang Zhen immediately spoke from the side.
"Old Master, it's not some Guo Family."
His voice was steady and respectful.
"They are from the Huo Family."
The instant those words fell, the old man on the other side nearly fainted.
His eyes widened sharply.
"What did you say?"
Liang Zhen lowered his head slightly.
"They are from the Huo Family."
For a second, Shen Mingshan's entire face went blank.
Then the next moment, another storm erupted.
"You drunkard!" he roared so loudly that even the speaker crackled. "You will definitely be the death of me one day!"
His scolding came nonstop.
"You brainless troublemaker! I only left for one week! One week! And you already dared to smash Huo Family people until they look like this?"
"You still dare say you didn't do anything wrong?"
"You still dare say you came to relax?"
"You call this relaxing?"
He roared one sentence after another, not giving Shen Yueran the slightest chance to interrupt.
Shen Yueran opened her mouth several times, but every time she was immediately drowned out by the old man' scolding.
The people around them lay on the floor or stood frozen, listening to the old man's furious scolding echo through the club.
Shen Mingshan kept scolding until he was visibly tired. Only then did his voice finally drop a little, though it was still full of anger.
"Clear this mess yourself!" he snapped. "Don't involve Mingxiao in it!"
Then, before Shen Yueran could reply, he added one final sentence that struck like thunder.
"you are removed from your position as young leader until this matter is dealt with. Until then, Liang Zhen will handle the affairs of Mingxiao Security."
The moment Shen Yueran heard that, her drunken mind seemed to clear a little.
For the first time since the phone call began, real shock appeared in her eyes.
"Grandpa—"
But before she could say more, the screen had already gone dark.
Shen Mingshan, who had raged like a cyclone from beginning to end, was gone the instant he finished his final attack.
The call ended.
Only the empty screen remained.
Shen Yueran stared at it for a moment.
Then she slowly turned her head toward Liang Zhen.
As always, Liang Zhen avoided looking at her directly and kept his head slightly turned to the side. He stood straight and calm, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.
That made Shen Yueran narrow her eyes.
"Zhen'er," she said slowly, "are you plotting against me for this young leader position? Do you want to become the future head yourself?"
Liang Zhen remained expressionless.
Shen Yueran snorted and continued accusing him.
"You unfilial thing. Even if you're an ungrateful person who bites the hand that feeds him, I'm not like that."
Her tone turned grand and righteous again.
"I'll hand over all my duties to you. This Mingxiao or Huangxiao has nothing to do with me now."
Liang Zhen's face remained still, but the muscles at the corner of his mouth twitched faintly.
Shen Yueran, however, was already no longer looking at him.
She turned her gaze toward the people lying all over the place.
Her eyes swept across the whole scene.
Then she frowned.
For the first time since the chaos began, Shen Yueran finally had one serious thought in her mind.
How was she supposed to deal with this thing?