The next day.
Early in the morning, Chloe brought Sherry some clothes to choose from. Sherry didn't like any of them, nor did she dare to wear a single piece.
Fyren grew annoyed. "Damn it! I've got a hundreds-of-millions project to discuss, and you're here dawdling over a piece of clothing! This one! Chloe, make her put it on—with high heels and stockings. If she doesn't, I'll skin you alive!"
Sherry shouted, "The Young Lord has never made me wear clothes like these!"
Fyren grabbed her by the collar. "That's because the time hasn't come. Once you become his concubine, he'll make you wear things a hundred times more humiliating than this! You're the person Senior Brother gave me. What did he say? Did he tell you to obey me? Did he?"
Sherry didn't dare to resist, so she had to put on the tailored little suit. Not only Fyren, but even Chloe was stunned.
This girl isn't lacking in charm at all!
Chloe was already quite tall, but with Sherry in high heels, she stood even taller than Chloe. Her waist was so slender that the suit's cinched waist perfectly accentuated it—Fyren truly felt he could wrap both arms around that delicate waist.
[Little vixen. With a waist this thin, I could snap it with a little force.]
Sherry blushed and shot Fyren a glare.
Her lower half was clad in a form-fitting skirt paired with sheer black stockings, her long, straight legs hinting at the flesh beneath. The high heels only added to her allure. A decorative handkerchief was pinned to her chest pocket, and her hair was styled slightly to avoid looking too stiff. Chloe had even put some makeup on her.
Fyren couldn't help but curse inwardly.
[Otto sure knows how to pick women—why is every one of them a knockout?]
But then a new problem arose: Sherry was too shy to go out.
Fyren was baffled. "What are you being so skittish for? You were perfectly calm when you eavesdropped on our late-night chat yesterday! I told you to wear a business suit! A business suit, sis—what's there to be shy about?"
"Fyren…"
"Call me Master!"
"Fyren, please. I've never worn clothes like this before. Give me my own clothes back. I've always protected you in secret…"
"Shut up! You talk too much!"
Fyren thought for a moment. "Chloe! Come here, stick your butt out!"
Chloe lowered her head and obeyed. Fyren slapped her butt. "Are you listening?"
Chloe turned around, looking aggrieved. "I'm listening."
Fyren glared at Sherry. "Did you see that? Am I being cruel?"
Sherry was on the verge of tears. "Yes."
"Am I being mean?"
"Mean!"
"Do you want a spanking too?"
Sherry's eyes watered. "No!"
"Then come with me obediently!"
Watching Sherry stumble in her high heels, Fyren couldn't help but snicker to himself.
[You ran your mouth so much—who else was I supposed to scare?]
[In my company, anyone who doesn't wear a short skirt and stockings gets fired.]
Sitting in the spacious, comfortable business car, Fyren had his arm around Chloe, making Sherry—sitting across from them—flush and her heart race.
Don't think Sherry was calm when she sat on the windowsill yesterday. It was only because her heart was weighed down by overwhelming sadness and sorrow. Her spiritual awareness was incomplete, so her perception of the world around her differed from ordinary people's. Immersed in that deep sense of abandonment, she'd paid no mind to Fyren and Chloe's romantic antics.
But today was different.
Without realizing it, after last night's events, her inner defenses had quietly crumbled, and she'd started to accept the fact of being by Fyren's side. With her sadness fading, girlish shyness bubbled up. Add to that the fact she'd never worn such provocative clothes before, and she felt like meat laid out on a chopping block—utterly uncomfortable, her mind swarming with thoughts of men and women.
At that moment, Fyren was openly flirting with Chloe, making Sherry feel even more uneasy.
"Rogue!"
"Guilty as charged!" Fyren admitted bluntly. "I'm a rogue. Nine out of ten people in Crystalpeak City know it!"
"Beast!"
"Hey, hey, hey—you're my personal bodyguard! What did my elder brother tell you? To be my bodyguard? To be my maid? Has a maid ever cursed her master?"
Sherry seethed, but there was nothing she could do about this man. He had a point, dammit!
"Call me master."
Sherry pouted, her face scarlet. "M…master."
"Louder! Who can hear that whisper?"
"Master! Is that loud enough?!"
"Whoa, easy—you trying to deafen your master?"
Sherry's eyes watered, humiliated to the point of wanting to rush over and beat Fyren senseless. Fyren saw she was at her limit and didn't want to push too far.
"I've lifted the skirts of nearly all the female employees in our group, spanked all their butts, and touched all their thighs. Chloe, isn't that right?"
Chloe blushed, pouting. "Fyren, you're awful."
"You'll see…"
Just then, the phone rang. Fyren glanced at the screen and answered, "Eason, what's up?"
"Fyren! Help me!"
Fyren sighed. "Did you get into another fight?"
"No! My older sister found out about me and Susan! She doesn't approve—says Susan's brother is in the underworld, and Susan's had a rough go of it since graduating. My sister thinks their family has bad morals, and since I'm the eldest son of the Chen family, I can't marry a woman like that! Big brother, you gotta help me!"
Fyren felt a surge of irritation. "Dude, you're in your twenties. Back when you were chasing girls, not even the devil could stop you. Why are you scared of her now? Why not stand up to her?"
"Cut the crap! Back then it was just… fun. Now I've found true love! I'm gonna marry her! You gonna help or not? If not, I'll have Susan have the baby and send it straight to your place! Let the Zhang family raise my kid!"
"I have a meeting to get to. We'll talk later. That's it."
"Hurry! My sister's ruthless. Hale might be in trouble!"
"I know!"
…
In the meeting room, around thirty people were locked in a heated debate. As Fyren walked in, everyone turned to look at him and greeted him in unison.
Sherry, despite her sealed spiritual awareness, somehow possessed an innate sensitivity to certain elusive human emotions and undercurrents. She was startled to notice that the entire group had been flushed with anger, arguing fiercely—yet the moment they laid eyes on Fyren, their expressions shifted. Unconsciously, they softened into looks of eagerness and respect, as if he were some upright magistrate they all relied on to set things right.
Could this man really be so trustworthy?
Fyren gave Chloe's butt a pinch, but no one so much as glanced in their direction. He plopped down in the boss's chair with a flourish. "What's all the yelling about?"
The chief engineer pushed his glasses up his nose. "Fyren, are you really set on launching full-scale construction across the entire line?"
"Is that even a question?" He waved a hand. "Everyone sit. Let's talk this through. No need to act like bandits from Mount Liang—we're civilized folks here. Let's hash it out calmly."
It wasn't long before the room erupted into arguments again.
Maggie's faction, focused on stability, insisted that Dasheng Group had already done more than enough by taking on the project—it was already a lifeline for Crystalpeak City's people. They argued the project should proceed slowly, prioritizing cost-cutting, especially avoiding sudden large expenditures. This approach, they said, was the safest, keeping later-stage risks manageable.
On the other side, the ambitious faction, led by the chief engineer, fiercely backed Fyren's bold vision. They knew that once tens of thousands of workers swarmed the shantytown, progress would skyrocket—but the costs would be astronomical. Preliminary calculations suggested that if tens of thousands of workers really did flood in to start full-scale construction, daily investments would hit tens of billions, and that was a conservative estimate.
What's more, coordinating the various construction teams and project zones—managing their collaborations, conflicts, and disputes—would demand far more precise, timely coordination. The need for highly skilled technical, managerial, planning, and financial talent across the entire shantytown would also surge.
And that's not all! Launching the entire project at once would create a colossal demand for construction materials, machinery, engineering fleets, technical support, and more.
Take a simple example: in the past, with just one worker, things could move slowly. You provided food, lodging, wages, tools, and materials, and he worked at his own pace. Dasheng Group could balance profits with subsidies, relying on a drawn-out effort to secure the project. But now, suddenly scaling up to a hundred workers meant Dasheng had to provide food, clothing, shelter, wages, materials, tools, technology, and management for all of them. What was once a trickle had become a flood—Dasheng's finances couldn't withstand that kind of strain.
It was like a cluster of families, led by a company, recklessly rushing to build a city.
The chief engineer's voice brimmed with excitement. "Fyren, I know this will pile immense pressure on you, but rest assured—I'll coordinate every detail and do everything in my power to keep costs in check! Once this project wraps up, Dasheng Group will have achieved something extraordinary. On a national, even global scale, a project of this magnitude is vanishingly rare! Dasheng will be etched into history. Building a high-tech, modern city in three months? It'll become a benchmark, a leader in the nation's construction and development industry!"
Maggie slammed her fist on the table, genuinely furious. "What about the risks!? The money!? Chief Engineer! My dear Chief Engineer! Taking on this project was already a gamble! If things go south, our funds won't just trickle out—they'll flood like a broken dam! Dasheng Group can't weather that! In a month and a half, we'll be broke! Not only will the project grind to a halt, but what about the tens of thousands of workers? What about a collapsed Dasheng? What about the shantytown residents!?"
The two quarreled more fiercely by the second, each side firing off their arguments.
The chief engineer finally lost his temper. "This is a grand undertaking! It's for the well-being of millions in Crystalpeak City! There will be pressure, but I'll move heaven and earth to keep it in line!"
Maggie snapped back, "We're fed by the company, so we owe it loyalty! I don't care about Crystalpeak's residents—I care about Dasheng surviving! Thriving! Keep this up, and we'll crumble!"
Just then, Chloe nudged Fyren. "Fyren."
He jolted out of his thoughts and glanced at her. "Huh? Oh, right—I'll give your bra back. The no-bra look suits you, though."
"No, that's not it!" Chloe shot him a knowing look.
Fyren spun around, springing to his feet. "Mayor Ziv!?"
Everyone in the room froze, turning to stare at Mayor Ziv and his secretary Winnie standing in the doorway. It seemed they'd been listening for quite some time.