Chapter 135: Competitions

The air within the grand chamber of the Beijing Imperial Palace was a heavy, suffocating blanket of dread, far removed from the petty human politics it typically hosted. President Zhi Jin Ming, his impeccably tailored suit a stark and vulnerable contrast, knelt amidst a dozen of China's most influential corporate giants and patriarchs of elite families. These were individuals who commanded vast empires of wealth and wielded immense power in their own right, yet here, they were reduced to trembling, utterly subservient figures.

Seated upon thrones carved from dark, gleaming obsidian, draped in opulent robes of silk embroidered with golden, coiled dragons—a macabre twist on human royal regalia—were the Harvest Leaders. Krill Shen, a male, loomed sixteen feet tall, his dark purple scales absorbing and reflecting the ambient light with a faint, oily sheen. A silent, predatory stillness emanated from his massive form.