In the center of the hall, which now resembled a marble tomb, Patriarch Luo stood frozen. His breath was ragged, his eyes bulging as he stared at the pile of corpses of his men, killed by their own bullets. He stared at Wei Yan—the young man still standing casually beside the slot machine—as if staring at an entity from another dimension that defied human logic.
"What... what do you mean? Haven't you already won?" Luo's voice trembled, hoarse with fear he was trying to suppress. "You've already taken the jackpot! You've slaughtered my men! What else are you looking for?!"
Wei Yan turned his head slowly, his gaze blank yet sharp, as if he were counting atoms in the air. "Won? Ah, this jackpot money?" He kicked the pile of gold coins beneath his feet with the toe of his shoe. "This isn't about money. Money is just paper and metal given value by human imagination. How boring."
Patriarch Luo grew increasingly confused, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "Then?! If not money, then what?!"
Wei Yan wore an innocent expression, almost like a model student explaining his exam answers. "Nothing in particular... I'm just... making a short-term investment..."
"INVESTMENT?!" Luo's anger exploded, momentarily surpassing his fear. "YOU MADE TROUBLE ON MY PLACE! YOU MURDERED THIRTY PEOPLE IN MY CASINO! YOU DESTROYED THE DYNASTY I'VE BUILT IN THREE YEARS! AND YOU CALL THIS AN INVESTMENT?! AND YOU CALL IT SHORT-TERM?!"
Wei Yan tilted his head, seemingly completely confused by Luo's anger. "Oh... killing is wrong, isn't it? But I saw you kill Mr. Shen so easily earlier... so I thought that was the rule of the game. I was just... participating."
"YOU'RE CRAZY! YOU'RE A PSYCHOPATH!" Luo roared, his hand holding the gun trembling violently. "THEN WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT?!"
Wei Yan sighed, his voice returning to its calm, even, mocking tone. "I... said... I... want... to invest."
"Y-y-you—" Patriarch Luo felt his chest tighten. Wei Yan's twisted logic, delivered with an innocent face, hit him harder than a bullet. His blood pressure spiked, and he coughed, spraying a red stain onto the floor. "Cough! (Vomiting blood)."
Wei Yan studied the blood stain with a sudden realization, as if he had just had an epiphany. "Okay... maybe I was wrong about killing people for nothing. It's a waste of resources. But, I want to ask you something..."
Wei Yan turned to Shen Ruobing, who was still kneeling beside her father's body. The woman stared at Wei Yan with puffy eyes, her soul seemingly hanging by a thin thread.
"Miss Shen," Wei Yan called softly. "In your business world... are humans also considered assets?"
Ruobing was stunned, her lips trembling as she answered, her voice almost gone. "R-right... human assets are the most valuable... moreover—"
"Okay, I accept the answer," Wei Yan interrupted quickly. He turned back to Patriarch Luo, whose face was now ashen. "Now, Mr. Luo. If humans are assets, then technically... their organs have market value, right? So, if these assets are no longer fully productive, could harvesting their organs be considered a liquidity process to recoup investment losses?"
Silence.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly turned extremely cold. Wei Yan's logic, equating human lives with banking liquidity, made Shen Ruobing gasp, and Patriarch Luo begin to feel true horror. This wasn't just a killer; this was a predator who viewed the world as numbers and commodities.
"You... you're a devil..." Luo whispered, his legs weak until he fell down in front of Wei Yan.
Wei Yan paid him no more attention. He walked up to Shen Ruobing in a perfect gentleman's manner, contrasting with the pile of corpses around them. He stretched out his clean, white hand to the broken woman.
"Miss Shen," said Wei Yan. "Your future is dark now. Your home is destroyed, your protection is gone, and you only have a black destiny that will soon strangle you."
Wei Yan then took a silver folding knife from his jacket pocket—a knife that gleamed sharply under the casino lights—and placed it in Ruobing's palm.
"Use this knife," Wei Yan continued, his voice low, penetrating into Ruobing's subconscious. "Hone your resolve, cut your old destiny sparkler, and light your light only for me. Accompany me who will illuminate your future, and serve me as your most loyal shadow. Are you willing?"
Shen Ruobing stared at the knife, then at Wei Yan's hand, and finally, at the young man's eyes. In Wei Yan's eyes, she saw not pity, but absolute sovereignty. She realized one thing: the world she knew had died along with her father. The only choices left were to sink into darkness forever, or to hold the hand of the "God" who had just destroyed her enemy.
Tears of emotion streamed down Ruobing's cheeks. Having lost her home, having lost her support, she felt like she was falling into an endless black hole. Yet, in the midst of that pit, Wei Yan was the only light—albeit one that came from the fires of hell.
After a pause that felt like an eternity, Ruobing gripped Wei Yan's hand tightly, her fingers turning white from the pressure.
"Okay... I'm willing to follow you," Ruobing committed, her voice now steady with new determination. "As long as... as long as you never leave me in that darkness again. Take everything from me, but don't let me go back there."
Wei Yan smiled proudly, a satisfaction radiating from the depths of his soul as a ruler. He pulled Ruobing to her feet with a gentle but firm tug, sweeping her into his cold yet incredibly safe embrace.
"Good," Wei Yan whispered in Ruobing's ear. "A wise choice. From this moment on, you will have my love, my attention, and everything you desire. The entire world that has wronged you will kneel at your feet, because you are mine."
Just as Wei Yan embraced Ruobing, a metaphysical phenomenon occurred. Wei Yan channeled his chaotic energy, brewing and devouring the remnants of the black mist above Ruobing's head. Instantly, the once-black fragments of destiny exploded, transforming into a dazzling rainbow of colors—a sign that he had now been lifted from the abyss of damnation to the pinnacle of world destiny.
Meanwhile, the aura inside the Golden Fang Casino hall had reached a deadly freezing point. Patriarch Luo, the man who had only minutes ago been laughing at the suffering of others, was now a trembling mass of flesh. Wei Yan's "organ liquidity" logic had shattered his sanity.
Luo shuffled backward across the blood-slicked floor. "Don't... don't come any closer..." he groaned.
He hadn't been watching his step. The heel of his shoe caught on the stiff arm of one of his dead guards. He toppled backward, landing on his back in front of Master Shen's still-warm blood. There, in front of the man he had killed, Luo crawled backward like a bug that had lost its legs.
Wei Yan stepped forward, calm and unstoppable. Beside him, he held Shen Ruobing's hand. But between their fingers, a sharp silver knife lurched—an instrument of destiny waiting to be executed.
"P-please... I have money! I have connections! Take this casino, take it all!" Luo babbled, his eyes bulging at the glint of silver in Ruobing's hand. The fear gripping his heart was so intense that he lost control of his body. A wet stain spread across his expensive trousers, emitting a pungent stench of urine amidst the stench of iron.
Wei Yan halted in his tracks, his nose wrinkling slightly. He stared at the stain on the floor with utter contempt. "Disgusting. Even in death, a rat is still a dirty rat."
Shen Ruobing, her eyes still puffy but now gleaming with a thick darkness, stared at Luo with indescribable disgust. "Is this the man who killed my father? The man who trembles in his own urine?" Her voice was cold, as if her heart had frozen to ice.
"Miss Shen," Wei Yan whispered in her ear, his voice like the deathly whisper of the night wind. "This investment needs closing. Let's settle the accounts."
Wei Yan shifted his position behind Ruobing, draping his arm around her shoulders, and then placed his right hand over the one holding the knife. He gently guided her movements, as if teaching a student how to paint on a still-life canvas.
"Now," Wei Yan commanded.
They both took one final step forward. Patriarch Luo tried to scream, but his voice caught in his throat as the tip of the silver knife touched his chest.
SLAM!
"This is for my uncles!" Ruobing screamed. Her voice was no longer a sob, but a roar of vengeance.
Wei Yan grabbed Ruobing's hand and plunged it back into Luo's stomach.
SLAM!
"This is for my ignorant cousins!"
Patriarch Luo vomited blood, his hands clawing at the air, trying to beg for mercy that would never come. Wei Yan continued to guide the movements with the precision of an imperial executioner. Each stab was cathartic for Ruobing's shattered soul.
SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!
"AND THIS... IS FOR MY FATHER!"
The final stab plunged straight into Patriarch Luo's heart. Ruobing twisted the knife with all her remaining strength, her eyes wide open, staring directly into Luo's pupils, which were slowly dimming and losing their life. Luo gasped once more, his body convulsing, before finally collapsing stiffly on the floor of his own casino.
Wei Yan released his grip. The knife remained embedded in Luo's pulseless chest.
Ruobing stood frozen for several seconds, her breath ragged, her shoulders heaving violently. Suddenly, all the strength that had been supporting her seemed to evaporate. She collapsed beside her father's body, letting her knees hit the cold marble.
"Father..." Ruobing cried again, but this time her tears felt different. "This debt of vengeance... I've paid it. I've sent him to hell for you..."
She roared, releasing the emotional burden that had been suffocating her since that afternoon. However, along with the loss of hatred, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion hit her. The world in Ruobing's eyes began to spin. The colors of the casino lights faded, and darkness crept into the corners of her vision.
"Enough, Ruobing. Go to sleep," Wei Yan's voice sounded distant yet incredibly soothing.
Before Ruobing's body hit the floor, Wei Yan moved faster than lightning. He caught her, supporting her with his strong arms. Ruobing collapsed completely in Wei Yan's arms, her head resting on the chest of the man who had just turned her destiny into a rainbow.
Wei Yan carried Ruobing bridal style. He gazed at the now-silent hall once more. In the corner, the wall of destiny still stood strong, isolating Ye Fan, who was still engrossed in playing slots, unaware that the true hero in this room had just completed his task.
"Goodbye, rats," Wei Yan muttered.
He stepped gracefully past the corpses, heading towards the main exit. Outside, the night breeze greeted him with a refreshing chill. Wei Yan carefully placed Ruobing in the front passenger seat of her car. He himself sat in the driver's seat, gripping the still-cool leather steering wheel.
The car's engine roared softly, and the sedan sped away from the Golden Fang Casino in the direction of Qinshan Mansion.
In the car, Wei Yan glanced at the sleeping Ruobing. He could see the rainbow fragment above her head now glowing steadily, a jewel of destiny that he had just rightfully claimed.
"A very interesting investment," Wei Yan whispered into the stillness of the night. "Li Yuantong will surely be surprised to see her new assistant."
The silver car cut through the darkness, carrying a woman who had lost her world but had just won an eternal destiny at the side of the Chaos Emperor.