Lu Family Ancestral Hall – Total Darkness
The sharp crack of a gunshot tore through the suffocating silence.
For a split second, it felt like the entire world had stopped breathing.
Selina's eyes widened in the darkness, her entire body frozen, heart pounding so violently it echoed in her ears. Her trembling hand flew instinctively to her chest, as if she could somehow shield herself from a bullet already fired.
This can't be happening. Not now. Not when I finally found the courage to face everything.
The metallic scent of blood seemed to hang in the air already—cold, bitter, and unmistakable.
Panic gripped her heart like an iron fist, squeezing tighter and tighter until every breath she took felt like drowning in ice-cold water.
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind—Damian.
His breath was hot against her ear, his voice low but commanding.
"Stay behind me."
She felt his body tense like a coiled spring, his fists clenched, ready to lunge at the unseen threat in the pitch black.
Another gunshot rang out.
And then… the lights flickered back on.
The scene before them was chaos.
Adrian Jiang lay on the floor, blood spreading beneath him.
But he wasn't dead.
Not yet.
His eyes locked onto Selina's with a strange, almost triumphant gleam, even through the pain.
"You think this ends with me?" he coughed, blood staining his lips. "You have no idea… who's really coming for you."
A cold chill ran down Selina's spine.
If Adrian wasn't the end of it… then who?
Before anyone could move, a new figure appeared at the entrance of the hall.
Tall. Hidden in the shadows.
The man stepped forward, and as the light finally revealed his face, Selina gasped—her knees buckling under her.
It was Damian's grandfather. Alive. And smiling.
"Did you really think the old king would fall so easily?"