Night fell like a veil, and the stars faded from the sky.
Neon lights flickered across the city as traffic streamed along the streets.
Ligang Building, an office tower in the southern district of Huanyang City.
The building was brightly lit, with lights on across more than half its floors. Through the glass windows, people could be seen working inside.
--Knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Xue Wu looked up from his screen and gestured for the visitor to enter.
The door opened. A young female employee wearing round glasses walked over with a stack of documents and gently set the proposal on the corner of his desk.
"Mr. Xue, this is the marketing department's promotion plan for the next phase. It needs your approval."
Xue Wu murmured in acknowledgment, took the documents, and quickly flipped through them.
His fingertips paused at the edge of a page for a moment. After confirming everything was in order, he signed his name at the end.
"Oh, right, Mr. Xue."
The employee pushed up her glasses, barely able to contain her excitement.
"The first-month figures for the Huihuan app are in. Downloads by domestic users alone have topped one million."
Huihuan was the company's newest secondhand digital-goods trading platform, and the first platform of its kind in the country in the true sense of the word.
Although they had not spent much on promotion before launch due to funding issues, the response had been good. These results were an unexpected bonus.
Xue Wu's lips curved upward as he handed back the signed documents.
"Good work."
He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.
"You've all worked hard, too. By the end of the year..."
Before he could finish dangling a carrot, the phone at the corner of his desk began to vibrate.
The screen lit up, displaying the caller's name.
Xue Wu's gaze paused. He waved toward the employee still standing nearby.
"Go on, get back to work."
Once the woman had left and closed the door,
Xue Wu picked up his phone and answered.
"Hello, Dad!"
Whatever the person on the other end said,
a glimmer of delight appeared in Xue Wu's eyes, though his expression remained calm.
"What? Mom's made progress? Good, I understand. I'll head back right away!"
After a brief conversation,
Xue Wu put down his phone.
He turned his chair toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The neon lights of Huanyang City glittered, and streams of traffic filled the roads. Even the factories in the distance were brightly lit.
Their reflections on the glass looked dim and indistinct.
"I can't believe she really made progress."
He murmured softly.
Just moments earlier, during the call,
his father, Xue Hai, had told him something.
His mother had made further progress in her research on the Green Bag Fragment.
For him, that was undoubtedly good news.
Over the past few days, he had kept thinking about Hu Long's situation.
Although he was Hu Zhao's boyfriend in name,
Hu Chengwen had spoken to him face-to-face because of his family background.
The message had been clear: Hu Chengwen would not let them marry until Xue Wu had made something of himself.
Besides, Hu Zhao wasn't the sort of girl who lost her head over romance. She was relatively traditional and listened closely to Hu Chengwen.
So, although they had officially started dating soon after meeting,
their relationship had made little real progress.
They had only held hands a few times now and then. Nothing more had happened.
That was what frustrated him most.
But he didn't dare force the issue. He understood that the Hu Family was no ordinary family. If he actually tried anything, he might not survive until the next day.
That was one of the reasons he had used that thing on Hu Long.
It would have been useless on Hu Chengwen. Even if Hu Chengwen died, he had a son, and the family fortune still wouldn't fall into Xue Wu's hands.
Once Hu Long was dead, Xue Wu could marry into the Hu Family and claim its vast fortune.
As for the one-year-old Hu Yu, Xue Wu hadn't given him a second thought. He would have to be dealt with sooner or later, anyway.
But things were different now.
If his mother really had mastered the power described in the records, then wealth and influence would both be within reach.
By then, the Hu Family's fortune would all be his.
At the thought,
he couldn't wait any longer. He stood up, left his office, and went to another floor to find Hu Zhao.
"What's wrong?"
Hu Zhao glanced up at Xue Wu.
She picked up a cup of coffee that had gone a little cold and took a sip.
Then she asked casually,
"My mother had a bit of an accident. She took a fall, and I may need to go back and check on her."
Xue Wu spoke quietly.
At that,
Hu Zhao set down her coffee and asked with concern,
"Is your mother all right? Do you want me to go with you?"
"She's fine. It's nothing serious. I just spoke with her, and I can go back and check on her myself. The company is at a critical point right now. You can't leave."
Xue Wu replied.
There was no way he would take Hu Zhao back with him.
"All right. Let me know if anything happens."
Hu Zhao thought it over and didn't insist.
First, the company was at a critical juncture and couldn't spare anyone. Even she, the boss, often had to work overtime.
Second, she didn't particularly like her nominal future "mother-in-law." They had only met once, but the woman had made her feel uneasy.
Besides, judging by Xue Wu's reaction, it probably wasn't anything serious.
Afterward,
Xue Wu left the company, took the elevator down to the underground parking garage, and drove away, heading for his family home.
Huanyang City wasn't far from Wu Mountain, where his family lived.
It was only a little over two hundred kilometers away, and Xue Wu took the expressway.
He reached Wu Mountain in less than two hours.
He followed the mountain road and soon drove into the village.
It was around ten o'clock.
At that hour, the city was still brightly lit, and the nightlife was just getting started.
But for the villagers, it was already time to rest.
The village was quiet in the late night, but thanks to its development as a tourist destination, streetlights had been installed. It wasn't pitch-black.
A few barks rang out in the night.
Xue Wu didn't make a fuss. After driving up to his house,
he opened the car door and got out.
For various reasons, their house was rather isolated, with the nearest neighbor several hundred meters away.
When Xue Wu reached the front door, he saw that the iron gate was ajar.
He pushed it open, went inside, and closed it behind him.
Once in the courtyard, he saw that the lights were on inside the house.
"Dad!"
Xue Wu called out.
The next moment,
a figure seemed to move inside.
Then Xue Hai's voice rang out.
"Xue Wu, is that you? Come here quickly. Something went wrong while your mother was practicing."
As he spoke,
Liu coughed inside the house.
"Hm? What happened?"
At that, Xue Wu stiffened. Without thinking twice, he hurried forward and pushed open the door.
But the instant the door cracked open,
an arm shot out from the side like a venomous snake. Five fingers clamped precisely around his neck and yanked. A savage force dragged him inside before he could resist.
Before he could make out the attacker's face, darkness closed in over him.
--Crack!
His glasses shattered with a sharp snap.
Then an enormous force slammed into his right eye socket, as if the punch would shatter his entire skull!
Xue Wu felt as though a red-hot iron spike had pierced straight into his brain.
He tried to scream, but the hand around his neck was like an iron vise, leaving him unable to make a sound. He nearly passed out from suffocation on the spot.