---
Inside a black-armored SUV speeding along the rugged outskirts of the city, the rhythmic hum of tires against gravel filled the silent tension in the air.
Su Meilin lay stretched out on a makeshift bed in the back, her skin pale, lips dry, and forehead slick with cold sweat.
Her usually perfectly done hair was tangled, framing a face that once brimmed with arrogance but now looked vulnerable.
A woman with platinum hair—cut sharply at the chin, the ends glowing faintly in the dim light—leaned over her, holding a syringe filled with a glimmering, clear serum.
Her eyes were a glacier blue, detached and unreadable.
Without a word, she jabbed the serum into Meilin's neck.
The coolness of the drug rushed through Meilin's veins, spreading like frost over fire. Her erratic heartbeat slowed.
Her breathing evened out.
The heat that had consumed her body like a fever ebbed away.
Meilin's lips parted with a gasp, her chest rising sharply.
She blinked, disoriented, trying to focus through the haze. "Where… am I?" she croaked.
"You're safe," the woman replied, her tone indifferent. "For now."
Meilin tried to sit up, but her limbs refused to obey.
Her voice trembled with weakness and mistrust. "Why… help me? Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head slightly, like someone examining an insect. "Because I wanted to."
"What…? Wanted to?" Meilin's eyes narrowed despite her frailty. "That's not an answer…"
The woman didn't speak again.
Instead, she turned away, tapping a compact comms device embedded in her wrist glove. "Send word to Lord Severin," she said calmly. "The girl is rescued. Phase Two may proceed."
Before Meilin could make sense of those words, darkness engulfed her consciousness again.
---
Back at the Su Family Mansion, in the grand living room decorated with European luxury and redwood antiques, Li Yan sat comfortably on a velvet sofa, her head tilted back as she sang along with the opera playing on the massive television.
Her voice was off-key, but she sang passionately, enraptured by the drama.
From upstairs, a sudden shout jolted her.
"Master! Master—!"
The voice was panicked. Urgent.
Li Yan blinked, confused. Her stomach twisted.
"What—" she started to say, but before the words left her mouth, one of the Su bodyguards barreled down the stairs, breathless and pale.
"Madam! Master—Master has fainted!"
Li Yan's heart stopped.
Everything around her blurred for a second.
She dropped the remote, kicked off her slippers, and bolted up the stairs, her heart slamming against her ribs like a drumbeat.
—
The study door was wide open. Inside, the Su family's old patriarch lay collapsed beside his armchair, his face ghastly pale, mouth slightly open, eyes closed tight.
"Father!" Li Yan cried out, kneeling beside him. She pressed her fingers to his neck, finding a faint but erratic pulse. "His heart rate's too slow!"
She turned to the nearest guard, eyes sharp with fear. "Did you give him the medicine!?"
"Yes, Madam!" the guard stammered.
"Call the ambulance!"
"We already did. They said they'll be here in five minutes!"
Li Yan took out her phone with shaking fingers and dialed her husband. "Zhenghao! Father fainted! It's serious!"
---
In a Downtown Conference Room of Su Cooperation, Su Zhenghao sat at the head of a sleek glass table, surrounded by shareholders mid-discussion about overseas expansion.
As the phone buzzed, he frowned and picked it up, annoyed.
But the moment he heard his wife's voice—frantic, on the verge of tears—his expression changed.
He shot to his feet.
"I'm on my way," he said curtly, already moving.
His assistant blinked. "Sir?"
"Tell them the meeting is postponed. Something urgent has come up."
Without waiting for an answer, he strode out of the room, his phone still pressed to his ear.
"I'm coming," he said to Li Yan. "Stay with him. Don't let them move him without professionals."
His assistant turned to the stunned shareholders with an apologetic bow.
---
Back at the Su Family mansion, as the sound of the approaching ambulance echoed from the gates, Li Yan stared at her phone screen.
She bit her lip.
"Meilin…" she muttered, trying again to call her daughter.
The line was dead.
Disconnected.
The sirens of the ambulance cut through the gated compound's quietude.
Two paramedics rushed in, quickly transferring the old man onto a stretcher. His body looked frail. Like he'd aged ten years in one fall.
Li Yan clutched the edge of the stretcher as she climbed in beside him, trying to hold back tears.
A bodyguard joined them silently, his face grim.
---
By the time they arrived, the medical team was already prepared.
The old man was rushed into the emergency room, and Li Yan paced back and forth outside, her face pale and eyes rimmed with panic.
Moments later, Su Zhenghao arrived in a black car, followed closely by his assistant.
He burst into the waiting area. "Where is father?"
"In the emergency room," Li Yan said breathlessly. "They're trying to stabilize him."
Su Zhenghao exhaled and looked around—but saw no trace of their daughter.
"Where's Meilin?"
Li Yan avoided his gaze. "Her phone... it's off."
"You're joking," he said, voice dropping coldly. "She's not here?"
"She... she left earlier. I don't know where she went," Li Yan admitted, clenching her fingers tightly.
"This is what I warned you about," he growled. "You've spoiled her beyond reason. She runs off without a word and can't even be reached when her grandfather is dying!"
"Don't say that!" Li Yan snapped, glaring at him. "She doesn't know. She'll come—"
"Oh, she'll come?" Su Zhenghao said mockingly. "When? After we bury him?"
Su Zhenghao shook his head in disgust, muttering, "I married a foolish woman and raised a foolish daughter."
He sat down heavily on the bench outside the operating room, folding his arms.
---
Two Hours Later…
The operating room door finally creaked open.
A middle-aged doctor in blue scrubs stepped out, pulling off his gloves.
The couple sprang to their feet.
"How is he?" they asked in unison.
The doctor sighed. "He's stable now. Out of immediate danger. But he was frightened by something… severely."
"Frightened?" Li Yan echoed. "What do you mean?"
"His heart rate spiked drastically before collapse. If he hadn't been brought in when he was, the outcome could have been tragic."
"Thank you, Doctor," Su Zhenghao said with a stiff nod.
The old man was wheeled past them moments later, pale but breathing.
As the team pushed him toward the VIP ward, Su Zhenghao turned to his wife with a tight frown.
"What happened?"
Li Yan shook her head, her face drawn. "I don't know. I heard the bodyguards shouting. I found him unconscious…"
Su Zhenghao didn't argue this time.
Instead, he followed the stretcher down the corridor, his brows knitted in concern.
They followed him into the VIP ward, where nurses adjusted the IV lines and checked his vitals.
As he lay resting, Su Zhenghao stepped aside and turned sharply to the bodyguard who'd been with the Old Master Su. "You. What happened before he collapsed?"
The young man stepped forward, his face tense. "Sir… the Obsidian Fangs came back."
Silence.
Su Zhenghao frowned, confused. "Who?"
"The Obsidian Fangs," the man repeated, voice low, as if the name itself carried weight.
Su Zhenghao's eyes narrowed. "What kind of name is that? A gang?"
"Who are they?"
---