Loyalty no longer meant safety.

The Nine Dragons had always been a battlefield of ambition, but now, the war was turning inward.

Feng Bao saw himself as the inevitable future of the syndicate—strong, ruthless, decisive. A storm was waiting to sweep away the old order.

Shen Ai, however, did not wait for storms. She shaped them.

"He thinks power is taken by force," she murmured to one of her confidants. "But true power is never seen until it is already absolute."

Their battle played out in whispers and shadows.

A warehouse tied to Feng Bao’s operations mysteriously burned down. A trusted lieutenant of Shen Ai disappeared overnight. Supplies were rerouted. Orders were ignored. And in the middle of it all, their supposed allies watched carefully, waiting to see who would break first.

Across the city, Bintang and Clarissa debated their next move.

"We could let them tear each other apart," Clarissa suggested. "The more they fight, the weaker they become."