A super-rich tycoon? No, just call me the gentlemanly gigolo.

"Alright, Wanxing, I appreciate your kindness... uh, you go into the room and wait for me."

Jiang Ye clicked his tongue in annoyance, waved to Lin Wanxing who was still planning to continue with the second half of her lines, and then turned to Lu Man on the sofa:

"And Xiao Lu, didn't you keep saying you wanted to talk? Go ahead, wait for me in the room."

As he spoke, he casually grabbed some clothes from the sofa and handed them to Lin Wanxing. He then wrapped Lu Man in the blanket to make sure she wasn't exposed at all before helping her up and tucking both women into the second bedroom.

Soon, with a soft click of the door, only Jiang Ye and Zhou Rong remained in the living room, and the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat tense.

"Hehe, what's wrong? Mr. Jiang, is it... that you can't keep up the act?"

Zhou Rong looked at the closed door to the second bedroom, then at Jiang Ye who had turned around expressionlessly, and leisurely took out another cigar.

He was too lazy to play this low-level role-playing game with these Shengtian police officers any longer, so he simply chuckled and decided to get down to business, give them a way out, and end this farce once and for all:

"I'm not trying to criticize you, but if you really have any evidence, then just follow the proper procedures. Why go through all this trouble..."

"Bang!"

"Ouch!"

Before Zhou Rong could even light his cigarette or finish his sentence, Jiang Ye, who had been standing quietly in the center of the living room, suddenly sprang up and slammed his right fist, accompanied by a gust of wind, into Zhou Rong's face.

Zhou Rong felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, a sharp pain shooting through his nose, and was thrown backward by the immense force, crashing heavily into the sofa.

"Jiang Ye! How dare you..."

"Old man!"

Jiang Ye looked down at him, his eyes devoid of any playful smile, replaced by pure violence and ferocity, like a wolf that had finally torn off its disguise, revealing its gleaming white fangs.

"I've noticed you talk a lot, huh?"

"Are you crazy?! What are you trying to do?!"

Zhou Rong was both shocked and furious. He instinctively tried to struggle to get up and fight back, but firstly, he was too old and not as strong as the other party; secondly, he was afraid that the other party would use this as an excuse to accuse him of assaulting a police officer or of fighting each other.

He gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain in his nose, and simply stopped struggling, staring intently at Jiang Ye with his sinister eyes:

"Heh, good! Very good! You knowingly break the law and use excessive force, huh? Fine! You wait! Wait for my lawyer's letter! I'm going to file a complaint! I'm going to your superiors, to the municipal government..."

"Complain about your mother! Can't you understand what I'm saying?!"

Jiang Ye chuckled, released his grip on Zhou Rong's collar, raised his right foot, and stomped directly on Zhou Rong's chest, looking down at the other's face, which was flushed red with suffocation and rage:

"I'm in a good mood, so I'm playing along. You really think you're something special? You're asking for it!"

"cough--!"

Zhou Rong was so badly stomped on that he almost lost his breath. The cold smile on his face finally crumbled, turning into a dark blue color mixed with anger and humiliation.

"If you're willing to cooperate, you'll be useful to me. For the sake of business, I'll call you Uncle Zhou."

Jiang Ye bent down, one hand supporting himself on the back of the sofa, the other picking up the cigar that had fallen to the ground, and forcefully grinding it against Zhou Rong's face:

"You're useless to me, who the hell do you think you are? You dare to touch my woman... If I hadn't given my approval, would your cloves of garlic have even seen my woman? Huh?"

"Jiang! Ye! Hehe, good, good, good, good!"

Zhou Rong was struggling to breathe, a dull pain shooting through his chest, but he still forced himself to stand, glaring angrily at the young man before him through gritted teeth:

"You like to play hardball, huh? You like to use your power to intimidate others, huh? Then I, Zhou Rong, will play along with you! Let's see who ends up..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Jiang Ye released his foot from Zhou Rong's chest, but before Zhou Rong could even catch his breath, two more kicks came flying at him—

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

One kick landed on his ribs, and the other on the outside of his thigh.

It's not fatal, but it hurts terribly.

"Zhou Rong, you listen to me carefully."

Seeing Zhou Rong curled up in a ball, his eyes filled with malice as if he wanted to devour him alive, yet he dared not speak again, Jiang Ye gave a cold smile, squatted down, grabbed his hair with one hand, and forced him to look up and meet his gaze:

"I'm going in now to properly appease my woman, so I'll give you one more night."

"If you're willing to cooperate, you're still my Uncle Zhou, and I'll continue to laugh and joke with you. But if you're not..."

He slowly stood up, let go of his hand, took out his phone from his pocket, tapped the screen a few times, then turned the phone screen around and placed it in front of Zhou Rong.

"From now on, if you see Jiang Ye in Northeast China, you'd better fucking keep your head down!"

"Otherwise, I have a thousand ways to make you regret not being a good, obedient dog today!"

After saying that, he acted as if he had disposed of a piece of trash, never looking at Zhou Rong again. He casually clapped his hands, turned around, and strode towards the second bedroom.

"Bang."

The door closed.

The living room fell silent again.

Zhou Rong lay on the sofa, blood from his nose flowing down from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the expensive carpet and forming dark red blotches.

He stared at the tightly closed door, feeling an unprecedented humiliation, and viciously conjured up a thousand ways to take revenge—

Let them regret it, let them kneel and beg for mercy, let them know the consequences of messing with Zhou Rong...

But his gaze suddenly paused when it inadvertently swept across the screen of the phone in front of him.

On the screen is a search page from the phone's built-in browser:

"Double Color Ball Lottery Results for Issue 046, 2026"

「红球：24、2、31、9、10、33」

"Blue Ball: 16"

Lottery draw date: April 26, 2026

"!!!"

The pain and anger on Zhou Rong's face froze instantly, his pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something unbelievable, and he stood frozen on the spot, even forgetting to cough.

His hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

Trembling, he pulled the neatly folded note from his pocket, unfolded it, and a line of handwritten numbers came into view—

「24、2、31、9、10、33、16」

The same.

Word for word.

this......

How is that possible?!

In an instant, Zhou Rong felt his worldview being challenged like never before. A chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, making him feel cold all over.

All previous judgments, all certainty, and all composure seemed to crumble and become ridiculous in the face of this bizarre string of numbers.

He slowly put down his phone, his gaze falling on the tightly closed door of the second bedroom. For the first time... he truly began to re-examine that seemingly absurd young man.

"Northern Dragon Division... Dragon Lord..."

He murmured those words, his voice hoarse as if he had sand stuck in his throat.

If these aren't police disguises...

If that kid named Jiang Ye really is some deeper being beyond his reach...

Then Zhou Rong...

What kind of monster have we provoked?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At the other end, in the second bedroom.

Having finished the entire script, Jiang Ye pushed open the door and walked in. The cold and fierce expression on his face instantly vanished, and he returned to his lazy demeanor, as if he wasn't the one who had just beaten the old man.

"Jiang Ye, are you done?"

Inside the room, Lin Wanxing stood by the window, her shoulders trembling slightly, seemingly still ashamed of her awkward performance just now.

"What exactly happened? How did you get involved in this?"

"Wanxing, Xiaolu, don't be afraid."

Jiang Ye glanced at Lu Man, who was still wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the other end of the bed with a not-so-pleasant expression, but who was clearly also listening intently. He then looked at Lin Wanxing with a serious expression and spoke in a steady tone:

"This is a long story. It involves the safety and stability of Shengtian and even several surrounding provinces and cities. It concerns the peaceful lives of tens of millions of people. It has a lot to do with you. Let me explain it to you slowly."

He paused, as if organizing his thoughts, but his gaze "casually" swept over the neatly dressed Coach Lin in front of him. Then, as if he had noticed something amiss, he clicked his tongue softly, and his brows slowly furrowed.

"But then again..."

Jiang Ye stroked his chin, his tone becoming somewhat subtle:

"Since we're discussing something so important and confidential, we naturally need to maintain... um... equality, right? Wanxing, you're clearly not fitting in..."

"Unsociable?"

Lin Wanxing was slightly taken aback, subconsciously glancing at Lu Man on the bed, then looking down at herself, somewhat confused about Jiang Ye's meaning:

"How...how am I not fitting in?"

"Look!"

Jiang Ye sighed, pointed to his own underwear, then to Lu Man wrapped in a blanket on the bed, his face full of heartache:

"We're all just wearing underwear, who are you looking down on by wearing so much? Take it off, let's have an equal and open discussion..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Wanxing's eyebrows shot up instantly, and he quickly added, attempting to seize the moral high ground:

"...Why are you glaring at me? Damn it! You wouldn't be so selfish as to want us both dressed, would you? You could have just taken your own clothes off, why bother others? Lin Wanxing! How could you be this kind of person?"