Chapter 19

The private docks at the southern wharf were desolate, swallowed by the howling wind and the fierce, relentless rhythm of the storm. Inside an abandoned, rusted shipping warehouse at the edge of the dark pier, the air was freezing and thick with the scent of damp wood and engine oil.

Lin Mian slowly opened his eyes, his head throbbing violently from the lingering effects of the chloroform. He tried to move his hands, but the sharp bite of rough rope against his wrists stopped him. He was tightly tied to a heavy iron chair in the center of the vast, dimly lit warehouse.

“You’re finally awake, my clever sparrow.”
A smooth, chilling voice echoed through the rafters. Lin Mian forced his blurry vision to focus, watching Shao Ting step out from the shadows. The Hong Kong tycoon had completely lost his upper-class elegance; his hair was soaked, his shirt unbuttoned, and a frantic, unstable light danced in his snake-like eyes. He looked like a man who knew his empire was collapsing and had nothing left to lose.

Lin Mian didn’t scream. He didn’t beg. He simply took a slow, deep breath, staring at his past-life tormentor with a freezing, unyielding contempt. “You’re pathetic, Shao Ting,” Lin Mian said, his voice hoarse but completely devoid of fear. “You lost the corporate game, so you resort to kidnapping like a common street thug? You’ve already lost. My family knows. Lu Chen knows.”
Shao Ting let out a sharp, hysterical laugh, walking over until he was towering over Lin Mian. He reached out, his cold fingers gripping Lin Mian’s jaw with a bruising force, tilting his face up.

“Lost? I haven’t lost anything until I say so!” Shao Ting hissed, his face twisting into something genuinely psychotic. “Your precious Lu Chen might have frozen my shipping lines and tanked my stocks, but a cargo ship is waiting right outside this dock. In ten minutes, we will be on international waters. I am taking you to Hong Kong, Xiao Mian. If I can’t use you to bleed the Lin family dry, I will keep you in a basement until you learn to look at me the way you look at him!”

Lin Mian sneered, leaning his head forward to violently spit right onto the front of Shao Ting’s immaculate silver-grey suit. “In your dreams. I’d rather die a second time than let you touch me.”

Shao Ting’s face instantly flushed with an ugly, murderous rage. He raised his hand, his fingers curling into a fist, intending to strike Lin Mian’s pale face. “You little-“

*BOOM!*

The massive, reinforced steel doors of the warehouse didn’t just open-they were violently blasted off their hinges by an explosive breaching charge. The shockwave shattered the remaining glass panes of the high windows, raining shards down like a crystal storm.

Through the thick, billowing smoke and the pouring rain, a single, towering figure stepped into the warehouse.

Lu Chen had arrived.

He had discarded his tailored coat, wearing only his white dress shirt, which was heavily stained with rain, grease, and his own blood from his fractured collarbone. His left arm hung slightly unnaturally at his side, but his right hand held his heavy-caliber firearm with an unshakeable, lethal precision. His face was entirely pale, his eyes wide and completely black, radiating an apocalyptic, savage madness that made Shao Ting’s mercenary guards instinctively take a step back.

“Lu Chen…” Lin Mian whispered, a sudden wave of hot tears burning his eyes.

Hearing that voice, the monstrous, feral mask on Lu Chen’s face cracked for a split second, his eyes locking onto Lin Mian’s tied figure. Seeing that his sparrow was alive-and seeing Shao Ting’s hand hovering near his face-made something deep inside Lu Chen’s sanity completely snap.

“Kill him! Kill him now!” Shao Ting screamed to his remaining five mercenaries, panicking as he scrambled backward toward the rear exit of the pier.

The mercenaries drew their weapons, but they were dealing with a man who had entirely abandoned his own survival instinct. Lu Chen didn’t look for cover. He didn’t hide.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

Lu Chen moved like a ghost through the smoke, firing with a terrifying, cold bloodlust. Three mercenaries dropped instantly, shots fired directly through their chests before they could even align their crosshairs. A fourth lunged at Lu Chen with a combat knife, but Lu Chen sidestepped the blade, using his good right arm to grab the man’s throat and violently slamming his head against a concrete pillar with a sickening *CRACK*.

The final mercenary panicked, dropping his gun and raising his hands in surrender, but Lu Chen didn’t care. He simply pulled the trigger, neutralizing the threat without a single blink.

The warehouse fell into a terrifying silence, save for the sound of Lu Chen’s heavy, ragged breathing and the dripping of rain from his hair. He dropped the empty firearm onto the concrete floor and sprinted toward Lin Mian.

“Xiao Mian… Xiao Mian!” Lu Chen choked out, his voice trembling violently as he fell to his knees in front of the chair. With a pocket knife from his belt, his shaking hands cut through the thick ropes in a matter of seconds.

The moment his hands were free, Lin Mian threw his arms around Lu Chen’s neck, pulling the larger man into a desperate, crying embrace. “I knew you’d come. I knew it,” Lin Mian sobbed, burying his face in Lu Chen’s soaked shoulder.

Lu Chen buried his face deep into Lin Mian’s neck, his right arm wrapping around the boy’s waist so tightly it felt like he wanted to merge their bodies into one. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry I let them take you,” Lu Chen wept silently, his massive frame shaking against Lin Mian’s chest. “I almost died, Xiao Mian. My heart almost stopped.”

“I’m safe, I’m right here,” Lin Mian consoled him, kissing Lu Chen’s wet temple, grounding him.

Suddenly, a heavy, scraping sound came from the shadows near the back dock.

Shao Ting was limping toward a waiting speedway boat at the edge of the indoor pier, his face frantic as he realized all his men were dead.

Lu Chen slowly stood up from the floor, gently untangling himself from Lin Mian. The vulnerable, crying lover vanished in an instant. Lu Chen turned around, his eyes locking onto the fleeing tycoon, a chilling, dead smile spreading across his blood-stained face.

He walked over to the concrete pillar, picking up a heavy iron crowbar left behind by one of the mercenaries.

“Lu Chen… no,” Lin Mian said softly, standing up on his weak legs. He didn’t want Lu Chen to become a murderer for a piece of trash like Shao Ting. “Don’t ruin your life for him.”

Lu Chen paused, his back to Lin Mian. His grip on the crowbar was white-knuckled. “He touched you, Xiao Mian. He threatened to take you away from me.”

“He’s already dead, Lu Chen. Look,” Lin Mian said, pointing toward the blasted entrance of the warehouse.

Before Shao Ting could jump into the boat, the high-pitched wail of dozens of police sirens pierced the storm. High-intensity floodlights illuminated the entire wharf from the outside, and a tactical team of Shanghai police SWAT officers swarmed into the warehouse, their red laser sights instantly painting Shao Ting’s chest.

“Shao Ting! You are under arrest for corporate espionage, international smuggling, and aggravated kidnapping! Drop your weapons and put your hands on your head!” the police captain shouted through a megaphone.

Shao Ting froze, looking at the army of police officers, then at the blood-stained, terrifying figure of Lu Chen standing in the distance, and finally at Lin Mian, who was looking at him with absolute pity. Shao Ting dropped to his knees, his hands trembling as the officers rushed forward to cuff him, his grand delusions of a cage entirely shattered.

As the police secured the scene, Lin Heng
and Master Lin rushed into the warehouse, their faces wild with anxiety until they saw Lin Mian standing whole and safe.

“Xiao Mian!” Lin Heng cried out, throwing his arms around his little brother, followed closely by Master Lin, who was openly weeping with relief.

Over his brother’s shoulder, Lin Mian’s eyes met Lu Chen’s. Lu Chen was standing a few paces away, his broken left shoulder finally causing him to sway slightly from exhaustion, but his dark eyes were soft, filled with a profound, peaceful adoration.
Lin Mian gently pulled away from his family and walked straight back to Lu Chen. He slid his hand into Lu Chen’s good right hand, intertwining their fingers tightly.

“Let’s go home, giant wolf,” Lin Mian whispered, his smile radiant and full of a future they had successfully rewritten together.

Lu Chen squeezed his hand back, his thumb caressing the younger boy’s knuckles. “Yes. Let’s go home.”

To be continue