Heng Tai Villa District – Villa 101.
The morning sun hit the marble floors of the most expensive property in Donghai City, but it couldn't warm the air inside Villa 101. This wasn't just a home; it was a fortress of glass and gold, worth over 30 million yuan.
At 8:40 AM, Chen Lan stirred from her silk sheets. She reached out instinctively, but instead of the warmth of her husband, her hand met something cold and rigid.
"Husband? Why aren't you at the office?"
Fang Yun was a man of mechanical discipline. By 7:00 AM, he was always at the gym; by 8:30 AM, he was behind his desk. To find him still in bed was impossible. Chen Lan shook him, her heart beginning to hammer against her ribs.
"Fang Yun? Wake up!"
No response. His skin felt like marble beautiful, polished, and devoid of life. When she pressed two fingers to his neck, there was only a terrifying, hollow silence. The man who sat atop a 100-billion-yuan empire, a global elite under thirty, was nothing more than a corpse.
A blood-curdling scream shattered the morning silence of the elite district.
The Investigation Begins.
Ten minutes later, the sterile silence of the villa was replaced by the staccato rhythm of police sirens and the flashing red-and-blue of an ambulance.
"He was fine... he was always so healthy," Chen Lan sobbed, her body trembling under a shock blanket.
Xia Zhixin, a senior detective with a gaze like a hawk and a posture that commanded the room, stood before her. He didn't look at the luxury; he looked at the lack of struggle.
"Ms. Chen, I need you to come to the station," Xia said, his voice a deep, steady rumble. "We need a formal statement."
In the sterile, fluorescent light of the interrogation room, Chen Lan's grief turned into a sharp, jagged weapon.
"It was him! It was Li Changfeng!" she shrieked, slamming her hands on the metal table. "He killed my husband!"
Xia Zhixin narrowed his eyes, his pen hovering over his notebook. "Who is Li Changfeng? And why are you so certain?"
"My husband told me last night," she gasped, her eyes wide with terror. "Li was released from prison yesterday. He came to the office. He told my husband to prepare for his funeral. Fang Yun thought it was a pathetic joke... he laughed about it over dinner! And now he's dead! How can that be a coincidence?"
Xia Zhixin didn't believe in coincidences. But he also knew the medical report: Fang Yun had no external wounds, no signs of struggle, and no poison detected in the initial sweep. It looked like a natural heart failure. How could a man kill someone just by saying a sentence?
"We will bring this Li Changfeng in for questioning," Xia promised, though his mind was already racing through a thousand possibilities.
The Silent Spectator.
At the suburban cemetery, Li Changfeng stood among the weeds, his phone screen glowing with the morning news.
"...Fang Yun, General Manager of Heng Tai Group, was found dead in his sleep earlier today. The city is in shock as the conglomerate's stock begins to tremble..."
A thin, cold smile played on Li's lips. He slowly sank to his knees before the broken tombstone of the Old Principal.
"It has begun, Old Dean," he whispered into the wind. "The first head has fallen. But don't worry... Fang Yun is just the appetizer. I'm going to send the entire board of Heng Tai down there to keep you company."
He felt the vitality from the Note thrumming in his veins. The ten days he had gained felt like a lifetime of opportunity. For the first time in six years, he didn't feel like a dying man; he felt like a god in the making.
"Once the debt is paid, I will live," he vowed, his eyes burning with an intense, dark light. "I'll take back everything they stole from me. Next time I come here, I'll bring you the finest monument this city has ever seen."
Li Changfeng stood up, his back straighter than it had been in years. He didn't look back as he walked away from the grave. He knew the police would be looking for him. In fact, he was counting on it.
The game was only just beginning.