Chapter 19: Forcing the Throne? Courting Death?

After a moment of stunned silence, Zhao Qiang suddenly snapped back to his senses.

“Hey! How did we let him get away?”

“Yeah, we were just standing there in a daze, and that guy slipped out!”

“Damn it! Hurry, let’s chase after him!”

The group scrambled to their feet, only to discover, to their shock, that at some point the door to the private room had been locked from the outside.

“Damn! That bastard, what the hell is he playing at?”

Zhao Qiang and the other boys began kicking the door in frustration and fury.

At the same time, Song Yuxin seemed to recall something. Her face turned ghostly pale in an instant, and she staggered back a step, accidentally knocking over a bottle of vodka with her elbow.

A sharp crash echoed through the room, as if a funeral bell had tolled, striking terror into their hearts.

“Song Yuxin, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick? Why do you look so awful?”

Song Yuxin swallowed hard, her eyes wide with terror as she looked at the others, her voice trembling.

“Do you remember what Ling Xiao said just now?”

“What did he say?”

“He said… this was our first gathering in three years, and also our last supper before death.”

A chill ran through all of them. Zhao Qiang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Damn it! That bastard! Is he planning to kill us?”

“That scum, who does he think he is? He’s just a penniless orphan now, and yet he dares to threaten us?”

“Hurry! Call our parents! We need to take care of that little bastard!”

No sooner had he spoken than Xiaolong’s phone began to ring.

“Perfect, I haven’t even called yet, and my dad is already calling me! I’ll get him to come save us!”

With a smug grin, he answered the phone.

“Hello, Dad? Are you off work yet? I’m in a bit of trouble, can you come help me?”

“Help you? Help yourself, you idiot!”

His father’s furious roar blasted through the phone, leaving Xiaolong utterly stunned.

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

“Don’t call me Dad! I have no son as stupid as you! You little bastard, you dared to mess with the wrong people and brought disaster on our family! I’ve been dismissed from my position, your mother’s been fired, our family is finished! We’ll never recover from this! Don’t bother coming home, just go die out there for all I care!”

With that, Xiaolong’s father hung up.

Xiaolong was left in a stupor, his phone slipping silently from his hand and shattering on the floor.

The others stared in bewildered disbelief.

Zhao Qiang hurried to ask, “Xiaolong, what happened?”

Xiaolong gave a bitter laugh.

“It’s over, everything’s over! We were too foolish! This is all our own doing! If we’d had even a shred of conscience, would we have ended up like this?”

“A calamity from heaven can be survived, but one brought on by our own evil deeds cannot.”

“Are you out of your mind? Forget him, come on, let’s call for help.”

Zhao Qiang urged the others to call their parents, but one by one, each of their parents called first.

A few minutes later, silence fell over the room.

Despair began to seep into the air…

…

Ling Xiao left the Jiangzhou Grand Hotel and made his way toward the bustling downtown.

There, he had another appointment to keep.

He had wanted to give Zhao Qiang and the others a chance.

But unfortunately, they had squandered it.

Especially when they mocked Ling Xiao’s mother—their casual cruelty and laughter completely froze the last trace of friendship in Ling Xiao’s heart.

He crossed several streets and arrived at a small café called Black Cat. It wasn’t large, but he found it deeply comforting.

Three years ago, when he was studying in Jiangzhou, he and Mu Yiren often had coffee together in this very café.

It was Ling Xiao’s favorite place.

For three years, rain fell in Ghost Valley, and for three years, Ling Xiao longed for this place.

But now, though he was the same man, everything felt different.

He entered the café, and inside, a delicate hand waved energetically at him.

“Ling Xiao, over here.”

Ling Xiao smiled and walked over, taking a seat at the table.

“Miss Mu, you’re early.”

Mu Yiren smiled softly.

“Since you invited me, I had to show my appreciation. Besides, it was thanks to you that the Omega deal went through.”

“It was nothing, you don’t need to thank me.”

“By the way, what made you choose this café?”

“Why? Is there something special about it?”

“Not really, it’s just… I used to come here a lot with him.”

“Well, that’s quite a coincidence.”

…

They chatted for a while, and before long, the café’s radio began broadcasting from Jiangzhou Radio.

“And now, a breaking news bulletin. At 12:10 pm today, a fire broke out in a private room on the eleventh floor of the Jiangzhou Grand Hotel. The blaze resulted in the deaths of five high school students—three boys and two girls. Initial police investigation points to an electric hotpot accident, ruling out homicide, though inadequate mall safety management is suspected. The situation is still under further investigation.”

Mu Yiren, in the middle of sipping her coffee, paused in surprise.

“Jiangbei Grand Hotel?”

She looked at Ling Xiao, frowning in confusion.

“Was that…?”

Ling Xiao tapped his watch, his expression calm.

“I arrived here at exactly 12:05.”

“Oh, sorry. I thought maybe Zhao Qiang and the others went to find you, and there was some kind of conflict.”

Ling Xiao smiled faintly and shook his head.

“I’m not so childish as to get angry with a group of kids.”

“That’s true. You don’t seem like an ordinary person; I doubt you’d stoop to their level.”

As they spoke, a young woman in a professional suit hurried in from outside. Her long legs, clad in black stockings, drew every eye as she ran over to Ling Xiao and Mu Yiren, slightly out of breath.

“President… President Mu, it’s bad news!”

Mu Yiren frowned, setting down her coffee cup with a hint of annoyance.

“Keke, what’s the rush? Can’t you see I’m having coffee with a friend?”

“I’m sorry, President, but it’s really urgent! Chairman Wang and several others have called an emergency shareholders’ meeting—they want to replace the president! They insist you return immediately to discuss this!”

“What did you say?”

Mu Yiren’s expression turned icy, her brows raised in anger.

“Those bastards! They tried to use the Omega situation to force me out, and now that I’ve secured the deal, they’re desperate enough to move against me directly! How ruthless!”

Keke pleaded anxiously, “President, what should we do? Chairman Wang and the others have been scheming for your position for a long time. If they succeed, you’ll be out for good! If that happens, the Yiren Group might never belong to the Mu family again!”

Mu Yiren clenched her teeth.

“I won’t let them get their way. Come on, let’s go see what tricks they’re playing.”

She turned to Ling Xiao and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ling, thank you for the coffee, but I’m afraid I have to leave now!”

Ling Xiao smiled calmly.

“It’s no trouble. Why don’t I come with you? One more person is one more ally. Besides, I know the Omega people quite well—perhaps I can help.”

Mu Yiren was taken aback.

“But isn’t that too much trouble for you?”

“It’s no trouble at all. I have plenty of time to spare.”