CHAPTER : ONE
Chu Yan had liquidated seventeen companies in his past life. He knew how to cut losses, hide assets, and wait for a CEO to blink. But kneeling on a frozen execution platform in a body that wasn't his, with a god's hand wrapped around his throat—this was a debt he couldn't calculate his way out of. Not yet.
"Look at me, traitor," a voice rumbled, vibrating through Chu Yan's marrow.
Cang Jue. The Supreme Sovereign. In this world's history, he was a tyrant. To Chu Yan's eyes, he was an over-leveraged asset with a serious anger management problem.
Chu Yan forced his chin up. The lightning blade humming inches from his neck smelled like ozone and death. In his first life here, he had begged. He had cried. He had died a coward.
Not this time.
"You're making a mistake, Sovereign," Chu Yan rasped. He didn't plead. He spoke with the flat, cold tone of a man delivering a quarterly earnings report. "You aren't executing a traitor. You're burning the only ledger that shows where your Sect's future went."
The pressure on his throat increased. Cang Jue leaned in, his silver hair brushing Chu Yan's cheek. His eyes weren't just angry; they were fractured with a dark, ancient betrayal. "You embezzled twelve thousand spirit stones, Chu Yan. You sold our secrets to the Demonic Cult. What 'ledger' could possibly be worth your life?"
"Twelve thousand?" Chu Yan let out a jagged, bloody laugh. "Sovereign, your High Elders are siphoning three million stones a year. Twelve thousand is the rounding error they threw at me to make me a target. You're about to kill your Auditor and let the thieves keep the keys to the vault."
Beyond the platform, Lin Mu stood in the shadows, his expression carefully neutral—but his fingers twitched toward the jade pendant at his waist. The same pendant the original Chu Yan had trusted like a brother. Insider traders always keep mementos of their victims.
[System: High-Stakes Audit Initiated. Relationship Variable: 'Deadly Curiosity' unlocked.]
Cang Jue's grip didn't loosen, but his thumb traced the line of Chu Yan's jaw—a micro-movement of possessive hesitation. He was looking for the lie. He didn't find it.
"Three million," Cang Jue whispered. The spiritual pressure around them flickered, a crack in the god-mask. "If you are lying, I will shred your soul myself."
"Give me three days," Chu Yan countered, his mind already cataloging the Elders on the platform, watching their heart rates spike as they overheard. "If I don't put the first million back in your hands, you can finish the job. But if I do... you give me the Seal of Authority. I don't want mercy, Cang Jue. I want the board of directors."
The Sovereign stared at him. The air grew so cold the obsidian floor began to crack. Then, with a violent shove, Cang Jue threw him toward the guards.
"Strip him," Cang Jue commanded, his voice a dark promise. "Lock him in the Null-Stone cell. If he hasn't produced a miracle by dawn, I'll start the liquidation with his fingers."
As the guards dragged him away, Chu Yan didn't struggle. He didn't look like a victim. He was busy. He was counting the steps to the dungeon, analyzing the guard rotations, and memorizing the exact shade of purple Cang Jue's eyes turned when he was tempted to kill.
He'd been in worse boardrooms. And Cang Jue had just made his first mistake—he'd shown Chu Yan exactly what he wanted.
And anything a man wanted could be weaponized.