"Who is she?"
Liang Zhen's voice cut through the hum of his private car, deep and calm—too calm. The kind of calm that preceded storms and hostile takeovers.
Across from him sat his chief aide, Lin Kai, awkwardly flipping through a digital tablet. "Wen Yanli. Twenty-two. Stepdaughter to the Wen family. No formal assets. No university records. No listed medical qualifications, yet she's been seen in several free clinics around the slums under an alias..."
Zhen raised an eyebrow. "Alias?"
"Goes by 'Dr. Lan.' The records are fuzzy—most clinics have no official files, just word-of-mouth praise. Cured a child of epilepsy last month using acupuncture and herbal formulas no one's seen since the Qing Dynasty."
Zhen leaned back, fingers steepled, eyes closed in thought.
"A maid who fights like a ghost and heals like a sage," he muttered. "Interesting."
Lin Kai hesitated. "Sir, are you... planning to invest in her?"
Zhen opened his eyes.
"No," he said smoothly. "I'm planning to buy her."
Meanwhile — Back at the Wen Residence
Yanli scrubbed her hands at the sink until the stench of wine and rich men's stares were gone. The scent of lavender soap filled the dim kitchen. She watched it spiral down the drain, along with whatever dignity she'd faked tonight.
"Not nearly as interesting as you think," she whispered again, repeating her words from earlier—like an incantation against regret.
But her fingers shook.
Just a little.
She'd looked into Liang Zhen's eyes too long.
Long enough to recognize a man who saw through people.Long enough to realize... he couldn't see through her.And that made him dangerous.
A knock sounded at the back door.
Her body stiffened instantly.
Only two people ever used that entrance.
One was dead.
The other… she didn't owe anything.
Cautiously, she opened the door—and a folded black envelope dropped at her feet.
She picked it up.
There was no name.
No return address.
Just a crimson wax seal pressed with a strange symbol—a coiled dragon biting its own tail.
She opened it.
Inside: one phrase written in calligraphy, no signature.
"Your secrets stink of gold and blood. I want both. Come to 79 Lujing Alley at midnight. Alone."
Yanli stared at it for a long, silent moment.
Then calmly, she burned it over the gas stove.
The flames didn't flicker.
Neither did she.
Midnight — Lujing Alley
The alley was silent, tucked between two abandoned storefronts in the decaying part of town. The kind of place drug deals went wrong and bodies were forgotten.
Yanli stood there in black, face veiled, fingers gloved.
She'd arrived early.
Always did.
From the shadows emerged a man. Not Liang Zhen—but someone worse.
Tang Baiji.
Once a biotech prodigy. Now a black-market dealer in experimental drugs, body parts, and secrets.
"You got guts, showing your face here, Dr. Lan," he rasped, licking his lips.
She didn't speak.
Didn't need to.
"You cured my mother last year. I should thank you," he sneered. "But you also humiliated me. Got the credit I paid for."
He lunged.
She moved first.
In three seconds, he was gasping on the ground, pressure points paralyzed, blood bubbling at his lip.
She crouched beside him.
Voice cold as steel.
"Tell whoever sent you—if they want my blood, they better bring a goddamn army."
She stood and walked into the darkness, cloak fluttering like wings behind her.
Elsewhere — Liang Zhen's Penthouse
Zhen sat at his window, whiskey untouched.
"She didn't go home," Lin Kai reported through his earpiece. "Tracked her signal to the south sector—Lujing Alley. She's gone off-grid."
Zhen smiled faintly.
"That girl doesn't hide. She hunts."
And now, he was certain—
She wasn't prey.
She was something far more dangerous.
Something he wanted to own.
Or destroy.