The pulse of the dimensional jump dissipated, leaving the street empty and the Lin mansion plunged into a silence of horror. The scene was surreal: Lin Jian lay unconscious on the ground, surrounded by his own thugs scattered like broken dolls. Xia Lihua and her father, Patriarch Xia, were frozen, their faces pale, their eyes fixed on the spot where Li Wei had vanished.
The Lin Family's Reaction:
Inside the study, Li Wei's father and mother heard the commotion coming from outside. They rushed out, their hearts in their throats. The sight of Lin Jian struck down, and the trail of brutality Li Wei had left, hit them like a lightning bolt.
"Jian! My son!" Li Wei's mother knelt beside Lin Jian, her voice a lament. She shook him, but he didn't react.
Li Wei's father, Gao Lin, approached Patriarch Xia, his face a reflection of inner chaos. "What... what happened here, Brother Xia? Who did this?"
Patriarch Xia, a man who rarely showed weakness, now trembled slightly. "It was... it was your son, Lin. Li Wei. The one you called 'useless'. He came, and... and he struck down Lin Jian. He... he is different. He's a monster. Or something more." His gaze shifted to the unconscious thugs. "Not even Lin Jian, with all his training, could touch him. And all these people... he dispatched them like insects. Alone. Without a scratch."
The reality struck Li Wei's parents with devastating force. Their son, the one they had despised, the one they had used, had returned. And he was not the scared child. He was an unstoppable force. The sight of the scars on his arms, the cold steel in his eyes, the change in his countenance... everything fit. It was not a phase. It was a transformation. And their "perfect son," Lin Jian, had been publicly humiliated by him.
Li Wei's mother began to sob uncontrollably. Not only for Lin Jian, but for the son they had lost, the one who now looked at them with a contempt as cold as the void of space. Li Wei's father collapsed onto a garden chair, his face covered by his hands. The Lin family, once a fortress of power and reputation, now crumbled from within, exposed to shame and terror.
The Millionaire Enamored: A Heart in the Shadows
While chaos took over the Lin mansion, across the city, in a penthouse with spectacular views, a young woman of exquisite beauty and sharp intelligence received the news. Her name was Chen Mingxia. Daughter of the formidable Chen conglomerate, and once, Li Wei's best childhood friend.
Chen Mingxia had spent years observing Li Wei from a distance, with a dull pain and helplessness that gnawed at her. She had witnessed Lin Jian's cruelty and the Lin family's indifference. Her own father, a ruthless pragmatist, had forbidden her from intervening, citing "family politics." But she had never forgotten him. Her feelings for Li Wei, buried under layers of pride and resignation, were a simmering fire no one knew about.
Her personal assistant entered the living room, his face pale. "Miss Chen, a report just came in. Disturbances at the Lin mansion. Lin Jian... has been beaten. Knocked out. His men... all knocked out. And... it is said it was Li Wei."
Mingxia rose from her chair, her eyes, usually cold and calculating in the business world, now gleamed with contained emotion. "Li Wei? Are you sure?"
"Witnesses are... quite shaken. They say he didn't look like himself. That he was... a ghost. With strange marks. And inhuman strength."
A fleeting smile, full of an emotion no one else would see, crossed Mingxia's face. Li Wei. He didn't break. He returned. And he returned with a power no one ever gave him. Her heart, which had felt the cold of helplessness, now pounded with a mixture of fear and a deep, secret admiration. The image of the helpless Li Wei, the shadow of the mansion, vanished. In his place, a formidable warrior, scarred by battles, rose.
She had believed her feelings were a weakness, a memory of a broken childhood friendship. But now, seeing the trail of Li Wei's silent fury, she realized it hadn't disappeared. It had transformed, like him. And there was a new fire in her, a desire to understand what had happened, what had made Li Wei who he was now. An obsession that went beyond romance.
"Prepare the private jet," Mingxia ordered, her voice calm but firm. "I need to visit my father. There are some 'investments' I want to discuss. Especially those related to... the Lin family." Her eyes gleamed with a dangerous light. Lin Jian's world was crumbling, and Chen Mingxia, with her vast resources and influence, was about to become a new player on this chessboard, moving in the shadows for a man who believed she had forgotten him.
Meanwhile, in the abyss of space, the Fortress of Justice prepared for its next jump. Li Wei, oblivious to the growing storm he had left in his wake in his home world, felt freer than ever. The public humiliation of Lin Jian had been cathartic, a symbolic closure to a painful chapter.
"Commander, the dimensional breach is stable. Next jump to: World 2: My Hero Academia. Alert status: Yellow," Aegis reported.
Li Wei adjusted his armor gloves. Personal revenge had been fulfilled. Now, revenge for the oppressed. World 2 awaited, with its own masks and its own shadows, and Li Wei was ready to tear them down.