The rain is still falling.
The fine rain, like endless sorrow, enveloped the entire majestic palace.
Holding the black umbrella, Su Wanqing walked out of the filthy place of the Jiaofangsi and onto the smooth, mirror-like obsidian avenue.
The rain washed away the last bit of mud from her high-heeled riding boots.
There was no trace of triumphant joy on Su Wanqing's face.
The cold and cruel smile that he had deliberately maintained in front of Li Man was long gone. In its place was a complex expression mixed with weariness, determination, and expectation.
Her heart was pounding. Not from excitement, but from nervousness.
What she was about to do was a huge gamble, with everything on the line, including her life and dignity.
The palace doors opened silently for her.
Lin Feng stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, his back to her, gazing at his kingdom outside the window, shrouded in rain.
He wore only a loose black silk robe with the collar slightly open, exuding an aura of languor and danger.
The air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood and strong liquor.
Su Wanqing folded up her umbrella and handed it to the maid at the door.
She approached step by step, and finally stopped three steps away from Lin Feng.
"All done?" Lin Feng didn't turn around, his voice as calm as if he were asking about the weather.
“It’s done.” Su Wanqing’s voice carried a hint of the chill of a rainy night, and a slight, almost imperceptible tremor: “Now, Li Man will only regret why she’s still alive in this world.”
"Hmm." Lin Feng made a nasal sound that was hard to understand, and then he slowly turned around.
His face wore a half-smile, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
He walked to the wine cabinet and poured himself a glass of blood-red alien wine, swirling it gently.
"Well done," he commented casually, as if praising a tool that had completed its task.
Su Wanqing's heart sank.
She didn't want that kind of meaningless praise.
She took a deep breath, raised her head, and looked directly into Lin Feng's unfathomable eyes.
This was the first time she dared to gaze so directly and demandingly at her God.
"I did as you asked."
Her voice was even colder than before, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth: "Now you should... fulfill your promise."
Lin... Feng paused for a moment as he swirled his wine glass.
His smile deepened, but it also grew colder.
"promise?"
He seemed to have heard a very interesting word, slowly took a sip of his wine, and then lazily said, "Su Wanqing, you've been by my side for quite some time now. You should know that..."
He paused, his gaze sharp as a blade, cutting through all her pretense.
"I never keep my promises."
boom!
These words, like a thunderclap from the heavens, exploded in Su Wanqing's mind.
All her expectations, all her resolve, all her gambles vanished in that instant.
Her body swayed uncontrollably.
The mask that had always maintained its coldness and pride finally cracked.
Her eyes reddened rapidly, visible to the naked eye.
Crystalline tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back with her last, and most pathetic, pride, preventing them from falling.
She laughed, but her laughter was more painful than crying.
"Heh...hehe..."
She chuckled softly, her shoulders trembling slightly: "Yes... I should have thought of that... How could I have been so foolish as to believe an emperor's promise?"
Her voice was filled with self-mockery and despair.
"It doesn't matter."
She raised her head, and the last glimmer of light in her reddened eyes went out, leaving only a deathly gray.
She seemed to have all her strength drained away in an instant, leaving her feeling empty: "Anyway... the worst that can happen is death."
After saying that, she turned around, ready to leave this place that had utterly broken her heart, like a defeated soldier dragging her shattered dignity away.
That's right.
The reason she dared to bully Li Man so recklessly and without reservation was because of Lin Feng's instructions.
That day, after Lin Feng ordered Li Man to be sent to the brothel, he gave Su Wanqing such a cruel order.
Su Wanqing was naturally unwilling to comply.
"Leader, isn't this going too far?"
She mustered all her courage at the time: "Li Man is, after all, your... old acquaintance. What if you rekindle your old feelings in the future, and she retaliates afterward? I... I simply cannot bear the consequences."
She was afraid.
She feared becoming a victim of power struggles, a tool Lin Feng used to vent his anger, which he could then discard at will.
At that moment, Lin Feng looked at her with a playful expression: "Are you scared?"
“I…” Su Wanqing gritted her teeth: “I’m just making the worst-case scenario plan for your reputation and for my own future.”
Lin Feng smiled. He walked up to her and said in an almost seductive tone, "What kind of guarantee do you want?"
"I……"
Su Wanqing's heart began to pound wildly.
"How about this?"
Lin Feng saw through her deepest desire. "Go and remove this thorn from my heart. Make her utterly despair, so she can never appear before me again, becoming a true piece of trash, only fit to rot in the mud. As long as you do it..."
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I'll make you my woman. My woman in the truest sense."
This promise, like a devil's pact, instantly shattered all of Su Wanqing's reason and defenses.
Become his woman!
This not only satisfies her personal affections, but also means that she will gain a truly unshakeable position in the sanctuary.
She will no longer be a chief steward who could be replaced at any time, but will be the rightful "leader's wife".
For this, she was willing to risk everything.
She poured all the darkness, jealousy, and cruelty in her heart onto Li Man without reservation.
Everything she did was precisely aimed at destroying a woman's dignity and hope.
She succeeded. She pulled out the thorn.
But now, Lin Feng is telling her that the contract she obtained by exchanging her soul is nothing but a piece of waste paper.
Nothing can be more heartbreaking than this.
Just as she took her first step and was about to step out of the palace gate, a strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind.
Su Wanqing's body stiffened instantly.
Lin Feng's breath, mixed with the smell of alcohol, sprayed around her ear.
"Who let you leave?"
His voice was deep and hoarse, carrying an irresistible domineering quality.
He abruptly turned her petite body around, making her face him.
Su Wanqing raised her head, and tears, finally unable to be held back, slid down her cheeks.
She looked at the face before her, a face that evoked both love and hate, her lips trembling, yet she couldn't utter a single word.
"Why are you crying?" Lin Feng gently stroked her cheek with his other hand, roughly wiping away her tears with his fingertips. "I only said that I don't keep my promises. But I didn't say that I don't want to keep them tonight."
Su Wanqing's mind went completely blank.
She didn't understand. She had absolutely no idea what this man was thinking.
"Why..." she asked instinctively.
A wicked smile curled at the corners of Lin Feng's mouth.
He enjoyed seeing her bewildered and helpless, as if she were completely at his mercy.
This is much more interesting than her cold, calculating demeanor.
"Because I like seeing you like that just now."
He said frankly, his fingers gently stroking her cheek: "That expression of falling from the clouds to hell, and then being pulled back up by my own hands... is beautiful."
"You..." Su Wanqing was so shocked by his almost insane remarks that she couldn't speak.
“Remember,” Lin Feng pulled her even tighter into his arms, his strong chest making her feel suffocated, yet she couldn’t muster the strength to resist: “From now on, you must be obedient. Your joys and sorrows can only be bestowed upon you by me. Understand?”
His words were not a request, but a command.
Su Wanqing looked into his deep, seemingly all-consuming eyes, but she didn't answer. She simply closed her eyes slowly, very slowly.
It is surrender, and it is also succumbing to depravity.
Excitement, fear, grievance, ecstasy... countless complex emotions intertwined and collided in her heart, ultimately turning into a blank space.
What happened next is left unsaid.
The rain outside the window gradually stopped.
A faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon.
...
The next morning, the first rays of sunlight streamed through the huge French windows and onto the luxurious carpet.
Su Wanqing woke up on the huge soft couch that could comfortably accommodate seven or eight people.
There was no one beside him anymore.
Only a faint scent of forest breeze lingered in the air.
She slowly sat up, the silky blanket slipping off her smooth shoulders, revealing large expanses of snow-white skin and red marks on it.
She sat there blankly for a long time, her mind still replaying the madness and debauchery of the previous night.
She didn't know what she meant to Lin Feng. Was she a tool that had received a reward? Or a plaything he had favored on a whim?
But she knew she had won.
Regardless of the process, the result was that she became Lin Feng's woman. The first, and currently the only, woman in the true sense of the word.
She got up and put on the black trench coat that had been carelessly tossed on the ground.
When she wrapped herself up tightly again and transformed back into the shrewd and capable chief eunuch, her eyes were completely different from yesterday's.
It was a heartfelt satisfaction, tinged with a touch of languid smugness and the pride of a victor.
As she walked out of Lin Feng's palace, radiant with joy, she bumped into Qian Xiaoxiao, who was carrying a bowl of carefully prepared "Snow Swallow Soup".
Qian Xiaoxiao had clearly timed it perfectly, intending to bring Lin Feng breakfast in order to win his favor.
When she saw Su Wanqing walk out of Lin Feng's palace, and it was clear that she had spent the night there, the smile on her face froze instantly.
"Steward Su... Steward Su?" Qian Xiaoxiao's voice trembled with disbelief.
Her gaze, like the most sophisticated scanner, swept back and forth over Su Wanqing.
When she saw Su Wanqing's slightly swollen lips and the red marks that were deliberately covered by her high collar but still inadvertently revealed, her heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand.
The flames of jealousy instantly ignited in her eyes.
"You...you were here last night?" Qian Xiaoxiao's voice became shrill.
Su Wanqing smiled.
She walked up to Qian Xiaoxiao and looked down at her with the air of a victor.
"Yes," she replied casually, yet her words were like a sharp sword piercing Qian Xiaoxiao's heart. "The leader said that it rained heavily last night, and the night was cold and the dew was heavy, so... he let me stay overnight."
She deliberately phrased "let me stay overnight" in an extremely ambiguous way.
Qian Xiaoxiao's face instantly turned a deep liver color.
Her hands, holding the bowl of "snow swallow soup," were trembling with anger.
"You...you slut! What seductive tricks did you use to seduce the leader?!" Jealousy made her lose her mind, and she cursed indiscriminately.
"Smack!"
A crisp slap echoed through the silent corridor.
Su Wanqing's attack was swift as lightning, showing no mercy.
Qian Xiaoxiao covered her instantly swollen cheek, looking at Su Wanqing in disbelief: "You...you dare to hit me?!"
"Hit you?" Su Wanqing sneered, her eyes looking at her like she was looking at a clown. "Qian Xiaoxiao, mind your place. I am the Grand Eunuch appointed by the leader himself, in charge of palace punishments. You openly insulted your superior, and according to the law, you should be slapped twenty times. This slap of mine is to teach you manners."
She took a step forward, exuding an imposing aura.
"And don't think I don't know about your underhanded dealings. Bribing the leader's maids, finding out his preferences, even secretly spraying your cheap perfume on his clothes... Do you think you can hide any of this from anyone?"
Qian Xiaoxiao's face turned deathly pale. She hadn't expected that all her supposedly secretive methods were actually under Su Wanqing's control.
"I...I didn't..." she was still being stubborn.
"Whether it's true or not, you know it in your heart." Su Wanqing was too lazy to waste any more words with her. She gently tapped the bowl of steaming snow fungus soup in Qian Xiaoxiao's hand with her finger:
"From now on, you don't need to worry about these things. I will personally take care of the leader's daily life."
This statement is tantamount to declaring her sovereignty.
Qian Xiaoxiao trembled with rage. She gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with resentment: "Su Wanqing! Don't be so smug! The leader is just indulging in a moment of novelty! Who do you think you are? You and I are both just playthings of the leader!"
“There are differences between playthings.” Su Wanqing’s smile was filled with a cruel sense of superiority: “At least, it was me by the leader’s side last night, not you.”
She leaned close to Qian Xiaoxiao's ear and whispered the most hurtful thing she could say.
“You know what? The leader said that what he hates most is a woman like you, who has some looks but is full of scheming and likes to act all clever. He said... you make him feel cheap.”
"You're talking nonsense!" Qian Xiaoxiao screamed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you can ask the leader yourself."
Su Wanqing straightened up, straightened her collar, and looked at her with a disdainful gaze. "However, I guess you don't even have the right to see him anymore."
After saying that, she ignored the woman who was on the verge of collapse and walked away with elegant and proud steps.
"ah!"
Qian Xiaoxiao let out an angry scream and slammed the bowl of scalding hot snow swallow soup in her hand onto the ground.
The precious white jade bowl was shattered on the floor. The milky white soup, along with her broken ambition, flowed onto the cold floor, leaving a mess.
She lost.
They suffered a crushing defeat.
...
On the other side, Lin Feng had already stood at the highest point of Chengtian Hall, coldly watching everything that was happening in the corridor through a huge one-way crystal wall.
The struggle between Su Wanqing and Qian Xiaoxiao was like the wrestling of two ants, which did not arouse his interest in the slightest.
The reason he chose Su Wanqing was very simple.
First, Su Wanqing is smart and ruthless. She can accurately understand his intentions and carry them out without fail.
He was quite satisfied with the cruelty shown towards Li Man. A qualified tool should have this kind of awareness.
Secondly, Su Wanqing is ambitious, but her ambition is within a controllable range. What she wants is status, power, and the title of "leader's wife." These are things he can easily give her and take away at any time.
Qian Xiaoxiao was too foolish. Her scheming was written all over her face. To him, her attempts to gain favor through small favors and flirting were childish and laughable.
What he needs is a sharp, obedient knife, not a spoiled pet that he has to deal with at his own expense.
As for the so-called "love," he scoffed at it.
He allowed Su Wanqing to become his woman, but it was merely putting a more ornate collar on the neck of his kept henchman. This would make her more loyal and easier to use.
His gaze passed over the palace before him and went into the distance.
The shelter has been stable for far too long.
Stability means stagnation, it means decay.
He needs a war.
A war of expansion that could set the entire shelter ablaze once again.
He needs new enemies, new land, and new resources.
He needed to make everyone understand that a comfortable life was not a given, but something that had to be earned through bloodshed and conquest.
He picked up a communicator from the table and connected to Qin Lan's channel.
"Qin Lan."
"Leader! Your subordinate is here!" came her excited and respectful voice from the other end of the communicator.
“Mark all the survivor settlements we have identified so far, regardless of size or strength. Compile a detailed report, including their population, armed forces, resource reserves, geographical location... everything.”
"I want to see this report on my throne tomorrow morning."
A cold, predatory flame ignited in Lin Feng's eyes.
"The game is about to begin."
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