The room fell silent as the figure standing in the doorway came into view. The people inside were frozen, their faces painted with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Vivian was the first to react, blurting out, “Daddy!”
But as the words left her mouth, she immediately realized her mistake. The man at the door wasn’t her father. In that moment, even Ivy Taylor found herself briefly filled with hope-only for it to be crushed again when she saw the visitor wasn’t Kayden. Despair wrapped around her once more.
The man in the doorway was a towering, muscular figure. His physique was so imposing that he looked like a weightlifter-a human wall blocking the entrance.
“Tom! What the hell are you doing? Are you out of your mind?” John barked, glaring at the hulking man who stood motionless at the door.
Tom was one of John’s men-a brawny but simple-minded brute. At a glance, it was clear he wasn’t known for his intelligence. For him to suddenly burst in like this had everyone in the room on edge.
After realizing it was someone on their side, Robert Peters and the others visibly relaxed.
But something was off. Tom’s expression was blank, his gaze fixed on the people inside without saying a word.
Robert Peters frowned and snapped at John, “Get rid of that idiot! He’s ruining my moment.”
“You heard him, Tom! The boss says to get lost!” John yelled, his temper flaring.
Yet Tom didn’t budge. He stood there like a statue, unmoving and unresponsive.
“Are you deaf? Get out of here before you screw this up for the boss!”
Before John could say more, Tom suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His massive body swayed, and then, as if the life had been drained out of him, he collapsed to his knees.
Behind him stood a gaunt young man. He was pale, almost sickly-looking, with a thin frame that contrasted sharply with Tom’s bulk. In his hand, he held a blood-stained, rust-covered blade. Despite its worn appearance, the knife still gleamed with menace.
The youth’s eyes were hollow and cold, exuding a chilling aura. He looked malnourished, as though he belonged to a different world entirely. Yet, when the men in the room locked eyes with him, a shiver ran down their spines.
His gaze was terrifying. Those eyes were like bottomless pits of darkness-soulless, unrelenting, and brimming with malice. It was as if a demon straight from hell had stepped into the room.
The temperature in the enclosed space seemed to drop. His mere presence turned the air heavy, suffocating.
He had killed Tom. That much was clear.
“Who are you?” John stammered, his voice trembling. Tom was no pushover-he was a fighter who could easily take on thirty men at once. But this stranger had killed him as if it were nothing.
The young man didn’t answer. His cold, detached eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail. When his gaze landed on Ivy Taylor, tied up and helpless, and on Vivian, bloodied and restrained at the table, his simmering fury began to boil over.
Beside Vivian stood a bald man gripping a knife, his stance threatening.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Vivian cried out, her voice filled with a mix of relief and excitement. All her earlier weakness seemed to vanish the moment she saw the young man. Her voice, trembling with joy, echoed in the room.
Tears streamed down Ivy Taylor’s face. It was him. Again, it was him.
“Daddy?” Bruce Peters sneered, studying the young man with contempt. “So, it’s you.”
Turning to his father, he added with a mocking laugh, “Dad, this is the guy I told you about-the one who said he’d come looking for trouble.”
Bruce’s tone grew angrier as he recalled their previous encounters. “This punk slapped me in front of the school, all because of Audrey Atkinson. And when I tried to get back at him, he beat me again! I’ve been waiting for this!”
Robert Peters, who had been silently observing, finally spoke. “You’re her father?” he asked, nodding toward Vivian.
“Father, my ass!” Bruce interjected heatedly. “This guy’s just here to mess with me! First, he stole my girlfriend in front of everyone and even kissed her right in my face. Now, he’s here again, ruining everything!”
Bruce’s frustration boiled over. “He’s a goddamn woman thief! Audrey, those two schoolgirls, and now this widow-he’s nothing but a predator!”
The young man’s steely gaze locked onto Robert Peters, unfazed by Bruce’s outburst. His voice was low and menacing. “Let the girl and her mother go. I’ll give you a quick death. Refuse, and I’ll show you what it means to beg for death but be unable to die.”
It was the first thing he said since entering the room, and it sent chills through everyone present.
Robert Peters’s face darkened. “You’ve got some nerve,” he spat. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
The young man didn’t waver. Instead, he repeated himself, word for word. “Let the girl and her mother go. I’ll give you a quick death. Refuse, and I’ll show you what it means to beg for death but be unable to die.”
The tension in the room thickened. Breaths grew shallow.
Robert Peters’s expression faltered for a moment before he snapped, “Do you have any idea where you are? This is the Blueocean Estate, a haven for cultivators! Do you think you can just walk in here and get out alive?”
But as the words left his mouth, a sinking realization hit him. If this man had made it this far, with blood still dripping from his weapon, there was only one explanation: everyone outside was dead.
The thought made Robert’s stomach churn. His face turned ashen.
The young man’s patience wore thin. His eyes burned red as he ground out his words. “Are you deaf? I said, let the girl and her mother go, and I’ll make it quick. Otherwise, you’ll wish you were dead.”
“Bastard! How dare you speak to our boss like that? Are you looking to die?” John roared, stepping forward.
But his confidence wavered as he shouted for backup. “Guards! Guards!”
The silence outside was deafening. Not a soul responded-not even the chirp of a bird.
“Guards?” The young man’s voice dripped with disdain. “Do you think anyone out there is still alive?”
John’s face paled. He opened his mouth to retort, but Bruce Peters interrupted, laughing nervously. “There are over a thousand cultivators in Blueocean Estate. No one? Are you blind?”
Robert Peters’s voice cut through the tension like a knife. “They’re all dead.”
The room went still.
Bruce and John froze, their eyes wide with disbelief.
“Impossible… that’s impossible…” John stammered, swallowing hard.
The young man’s voice was icy as he turned his attention to John. “You were the one who hit Vivian, weren’t you? I recognized your voice.”
Before John could react, the young man flung his rusted blade.
The knife flew through the air and buried itself in John’s heart.