The final forty-eight hours were a study in surreal duality. Publicly, Mo Chen was the blushing bride, attending her final dress fitting, smiling for the press, and laughing with Julian at the rehearsal dinner. Privately, she was a general preparing for war.
She and Silas did a final reconnaissance of the estate using her [Thermal Sense]. She could see the faint, cold lines of the tampered gas pipes. She could see the heat signatures of the two Thorne assassins already hidden in the sniper nests, their bodies warm spots against the cool stone of the distant hills.
Silas's team, disguised as catering staff and florists, moved through the estate, planting their own countermeasures: EMP devices to disable remote detonators, hidden cameras, and non-lethal gas canisters of their own to incapacitate the Thorne security team.
Mo Chen made one final, massive burn. She used the last of her system funds to purchase a warehouse full of priceless Ming dynasty vases from a bankrupt collector. That night, in her Nevada hangar, she smashed every single one with a sledgehammer. The destruction was cathartic, a final release of the tension that had been building for two weeks.
[Daily task completed. $1,000,000 USD successfully burned. Host may proceed.]
[Accumulated Burning Milestone Reached. Unlocking Tier 3 Perk: Immolate.]
[Immolate: Host can now project a sustained stream of plasma-hot fire. Duration and intensity scale with host's focus and available energy. Cost: High mental strain.]
It was the weapon she needed. A torrent of fire that could cut through metal, flesh, and lies.
The night before the wedding, she didn't sleep. She sat in the dark, running through the plan again and again. She thought of her parents, of Tian, of the life she was fighting for.
This time, the ending would be different.