Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

Creditor?

Gu Ming's face remained expressionless upon hearing those two words.

He just looked at the old man in front of him calmly.

He walked to the wooden table between the two of them, reached into his pocket, and pulled something out.

It was neither a gun nor a knife.

It's just an ordinary fountain pen.

He gently placed the pen on the table.

The pen touched the rosewood with a "click".

The sound was so sudden in the deathly silent hall.

Shen Guodong's eyelids twitched.

Shen Wanshan's cloudy old eyes finally showed some reaction.

He stared at the pen, as if trying to recognize something.

Gu Ming did not explain.

He stretched out his finger and gently pressed it on the top of the pen.

There was no conversation as I had imagined.

There was no explanation from Gu Yuanshan before his death, nor any accusation that could be used as evidence.

A few seconds of piercing electrical noise came from the loudspeaker.

A sharp sizzle shattered the thirty-year-long silence in the room, tearing apart the feigned tranquility.

Then there was the whooshing sound of the wind, and a bunch of other indistinct noises.

Finally, a woman's voice rang out.

It wasn't speaking, it was crying.

That kind of sobbing, held back so tightly in my throat, came in waves.

The sound was very soft, but it cut into the ears and hearts of everyone present, one sound after another.

The cries were filled with despair, fear, and struggle for mercy.

Shen Guodong's face turned pale instantly, and his body involuntarily took half a step back, crashing into the pillar behind him with a thud.

Gu Ming didn't look at him.

His eyes were fixed on Shen Wanshan's eyes from beginning to end.

He could clearly see how those eyes, which had been completely calm before, suddenly became completely chaotic.

From initially looking down on and scrutinizing them.

I didn't understand when I heard the sound of electricity.

Then came the fear when the crying started.

Finally, the crying lasted for more than ten seconds, and the fear turned into a kind of despair of losing everything.

Shen Wanshan had been putting on airs and acting high and mighty his whole life, but now, it all crumbled.

His old face was full of wrinkles, and the flesh on his face twitched uncontrollably.

He tried to say something, but his lips moved a few times and he couldn't utter a single word.

The recording is still playing.

The desperate, muffled cries, like a death knell, echoed again and again in this mansion that symbolized power.

"Turn it off..."

Shen Wanshan finally managed to squeeze out two words, his voice hoarse and strained.

He reached out to grab the voice recorder on the table.

That hand, which once held the power to turn the tide and decide the life and death of others, now trembles so much that it can't even make a simple grasping motion.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

His trembling hand knocked over the teacup next to him.

The scalding hot tea spilled out and splashed onto Gu Ming's polished leather shoes.

The brown tea stains spread across a large patch on those expensive leather shoes, looking particularly unsightly.

Gu Ming looked down at the puddle of water.

Then he smiled.

He didn't wipe it, and he didn't even move his foot.

He simply raised his head, looked at the old man who was completely flustered, and said in a very soft voice:

"So, you're also afraid of the cold."

These words sent a chill down Shen Wanshan's spine.

The temperature inside the old house seemed to drop to freezing point all of a sudden.

Shen Wanshan abruptly pulled his hand back, as if he had been burned.

He looked at Gu Ming, his lips trembling, and for the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.

This young man.

He didn't say anything.

There were no questions, no shouts, and no shouting and cursing like a typical person seeking revenge.

He played a recording that was incomplete and didn't even contain a single complete sentence.

A piece of "silent evidence" with all key information erased.

But this is the most sophisticated threat.

Because only Shen Wanshan himself knew the immense secret hidden behind that voice, a secret that could completely destroy the entire Shen family and AME.

Gu Ming is gambling.

In hindsight, he made the right bet.

He reached out and pressed the stop button on the recorder.

The suffocating crying stopped.

The hall fell silent once more.

All that remained was the ticking of the old wall clock and Shen Wanshan's heavy, disordered breathing.

Very light footsteps could be heard outside the door.

The bodyguards hired by the Shen family were already prepared.

At the slightest word from Shen Wanshan, they would rush in, hack Gu Ming to death, and throw him into the dry well in the backyard.

They did the same thing thirty years ago.

However, when Shen Wanshan looked into Gu Ming's terrifyingly calm eyes, he felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he slumped softly against the back of the chair.

He swallowed hard, and finally, he squeezed out a hoarse word through his teeth.

"Walk."

This word wasn't spoken to Gu Ming.

He was speaking to Shen Guodong behind him, and to the assassins outside the door who were ready to make their move.

He gave up.

They abandoned all the prepared ambushes and backup plans.

He didn't even dare to look at Gu Ming again.

Gu Ming took back the recording pen, put it in his pocket, turned around, and walked out of the hall that disgusted him.

As he stepped out the door, the cool moonlight shone on him, casting a long shadow that looked particularly lonely.

Outside the gate of the house, the night was deep.

Chen Mo leaned against the car, motionless, blending into the night.

When she saw Gu Ming come out, she immediately went to greet him, her eyes showing a hint of nervousness.

She noticed that the boss's face was calm, but his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

When Gu Ming got into the car, she noticed that the back of his expensive custom-made shirt was completely soaked with cold sweat.

The car door closed, shutting out the gloomy house behind them.

Gu Ming leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath.

There was a bloody smell in his breath.

Chen Mo didn't ask about the result, but quietly started the car.

The car drove smoothly out of the seemingly bottomless alley.

After a long while, Gu Ming finally opened his eyes. His voice sounded tired, but it carried a chilling ruthlessness.

"Notify Su Qingying."

"Project Mars, to be launched immediately."

He paused, looked out the window at the rapidly receding neon lights, and added another sentence.

"Tell her the plans have changed. The Mars project is no longer a business; it's our refuge."

"We need to build one..."

"A dark forest where light can never shine in."

Chen Mo tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

She didn't understand what he meant, but she could hear the change in the boss's tone.

The Gu Ming of the past, though cold, still had a glimmer of light in his eyes.

Tonight, he seems completely dead.

Gu Ming didn't say anything more.

He turned his head and looked at his face reflected in the car window.

That face was young and handsome, yet it carried a sense of vicissitude and ruthlessness that seemed out of place for someone his age.

In that instant, he felt that his gaze was actually matching that of Shen Wanshan, the figure in the shadows just now…

The same.