Apocalypse Forecast

The blood silently rose, silently fell.

It was as if even the screams had disappeared.

In the deadly silence, Wood Cottage did not look at Fourth Aunt’s face that seemed as if her mother had died, nor did he care if she would lose her composure in anger and attack him recklessly.

From the very beginning, she was never the focus.

She was not the opponent he needed to deal with today, no matter how troublesome she might be, she was insignificant compared to the real challenge.

The true orchestrator was sitting at the top, holding a tea cup, calmly seated, glancing indifferently at the childish antics and absurd counterattacks of the juniors.

That was the true backbone of the Lin family, the Elder, the pillar, one of the controllers of the shadow world in the Southeast Asia region, and has been the undisputed leader of the Triad for fifty years.

Old Dragon Head, Lin Wei did not fear.

All of this, wasn’t it orchestrated by him?

Fourth Aunt, that fool, merely smelled the benefits and brought her foolish son, hoping to reap the rewards; he did not oppose because he needed someone clueless to rush forward for him, to test the boundaries of the Tanbo Inner Circle.

He had not yet surrendered.

After missing the opportunity given by the teacher, he still wanted to negotiate terms.

He hoped to reclaim what he had missed.

He wanted to use this chance to break through that invisible glass ceiling and extend the legacy of his sins into the darkness of Kyoto, striving to move further.

But the Tanbo Inner Circle’s momentum was already established; to achieve anything, their situation must be disrupted, and Tanbo Inner Circle must willingly seek his aid and accept his help.

Therefore, he wasn’t afraid of escalating the matter, not even afraid of full-scale war, because the bigger the chaos, the more precious the power of the Triad.

But Fourth Aunt did not understand; she was already muddled from doing shady business.

She thought everyone was in organized crime, coming out to make money, cherishing peace.

She presumed she could replace Wood Cottage in negotiations or show goodwill to him, but there were no terms, and this matter wasn’t within the realm of negotiation.

She hadn’t thought it through.

What needs to be done in daylight is different from clandestine compromises.

From the beginning, Tanbo never had any intention of negotiation, nor did they ever discuss ’half’!

——Either all or nothing!

Either Tanbo completely registers and surveys the hybrid population, or they utterly fail, losing everything, regressing to before the Alliance era.

Half?

There’s no need for half!

If anyone stands up and declares Tanbo worthless, refusing to comply, refusing to acknowledge them, then it means they’ve lost.

The long efforts, the teacher’s contributions, and the sacrifices of many—everything would collapse.

It turns into a joke.

Turns into an eternal stain on the teacher, an unwashed disgrace in Wood Cottage’s hands!

Wood Cottage understands this.

Uncle Liu understands this as well.

Therefore, in that instant, the elderly man at the top shook his head and chuckled disdainfully.

Finally, he put down his tea cup.

Raised his gaze.

For the first time since Lin Nineteen was born, he looked seriously at him, solemn and cold, with no warmth.

Because this was normal, this was best.

Warmth, harmony, and friendship have never been the core of the Lin family.

They were born cold-blooded.

Even when greeting with smiles, their eyes would have no warmth; only when touching their core rituals would they tear off the mask and reveal their true self.

Thus, the entire meeting room froze instantly.

Darkness surged, invisible sins flooded out like tides, enveloping, sealing, freezing everyone, solidifying everything in the air.

In Lin Wei’s fearless hollow shell, simmering malice rubbed against each other, overlapping into sighs of disappointment.

"Little Nineteen, you’re becoming more and more reckless."

"Why?"

Wood Cottage grinned, retorting: "Does Uncle Liu want to discipline me on behalf of Grandfather?"

"I’m afraid even the Family Head won’t manage; when he released you, he probably foresaw this day, expecting much of you but not wanting you to succeed."

Uncle Liu scoffed: "Look, as he wishes... You’ve learned to mimic your teacher!"

Wood Cottage’s grin grew more pleased: "Isn’t this good?"

"No."

In that instant, the simmering malice no longer concealed its mockery and spite, along with... intent to kill!

"Because you always fail to mimic properly."

The elderly man sighed hoarsely: "Because you still fall short—Little Nineteen, you’ve emulated his style but didn’t learn his true self-assurance.

Ah, such nostalgia... This scene is like when you imitated the righteous hero in front of the whole family as a child.

Such naïve fantasies, form over substance mimicry, with no understanding at all... thinking that’s the right way, thinking that’s good, never realizing the things on the TV are always illusions!"

In that instant, Uncle Liu grinned, from his aged shell suddenly, countless viscous darkness extended, python-like aberrations covered in vermilion scales materialized, coiling around the entire meeting room, no, the whole Jinling Street.

With just a silent upward gaze, countless neon lights in the night sky extinguished, and weak rain streams panickedly reversed direction, rushing into the sky.