Chapter Eighteen: The Massive Order!

Lu Chen's vow—so impossibly commanding yet suffused with gentleness—struck like a final oracle, utterly shattering the fragile remnants of Jiang Wanxing's reason and pride.

Her eyes, red-rimmed from hours of weeping, had shed every trace of her icy mask and pretense, leaving only pure vulnerability and bewilderment. Those twin phoenix-amber orbs fixed unwaveringly upon Lu Chen's face—which, though pale from the overexertion of his "Heart-Hunter" technique, now glowed with an uncanny radiance born of sheer control.

In her gaze swirled a storm of emotions: shock, confusion, despair, indignation—but above all, an abyssal trust and a baffling dependence she herself could not comprehend.

It was as though this inconsequential, even somewhat shabby young man before her were no insignificant ant, but a deity who had peered into the secret recesses of her soul, soothed every wound, guided her from utter darkness, and at last offered the redemption and rebirth she had longed for.

Her supple, voluptuous form remained pressed against Lu Chen's chest—narrow, perhaps, but in this moment her sole bastion of warmth and safety. She felt his heart thundering beneath her ear, each pulse resonating through her, and a heady scent—a mingling of faint sweat and the bright vitality of youth—that filled her with shame and yet ignited an uncontrollable, almost pathological craving, as if addicted to his dominance.

"Y-You… really… can do this?" Jiang Wanxing's voice was so hoarse it barely resembled speech; each syllable seemed torn from her trembling, incense-sweet lips by sheer force of will.

Lu Chen did not reply at once. He simply inclined his head, his gaze brimming with both pity and possessiveness, studying this peerless beauty—once a sovereign lady feared by countless men—now helpless, like a lost lamb bereft of all protection.

Then, leaning close so that only they could hear, his tone at once imperious and tender, he whispered by her flushed earlobe, every word laden with irresistible temptation:

"President Jiang, from now on, forget every unpleasant memory of the past. Forget those who have hurt you… and forget your so-called 'Queen' persona."

"Remember only one thing—"

"From this moment on, you, Jiang Wanxing, are mine… a woman bound to Lu Chen."

"Everything that is yours… I will assume full control of."

BANG!

His declaration—so absolutely domineering and redolent of ownership—detonated in her mind like a nuclear blast.

Her lush curves stiffened as if struck by lightning; her phoenix-amber eyes, once blurred by confusion, snapped into two pinpointed shards of disbelief and shame.

She wanted to scream, to rebel, to tear this audacious youth to pieces just as she had done countless pathetic suitors who dared to cross her. Yet she discovered, to her horror, that she could not so much as lift a finger.

Deep within her heart's darkest recess—long suppressed—lurched an almost forbidden thrill: a ravenous excitement born of sheer, absolute domination.

This dreadful revelation sent her heart—frozen and numb for so long—into frenzied bloom, as if a parched desert had suddenly drunk its first rain, its pulse racing, awakening and… yearning to be conquered.

"Y-You… you…" Her red lips quivered uncontrollably as those two syllables scraped from her throat, fragile as a wounded creature's cry, laden with innocence and helplessness.

She dared not imagine what destiny awaited her should she surrender all—body and soul—to this young man. What new, unknown adventure would unfold?

Lu Chen, watching this regal serpent-queen brought low by his words, felt a heady satisfaction ripple through him—like the finest vintage coursing through his veins. He knew the moment had come.

It was time to reap his very first—and most sumptuous—trophy on this "hunting ground."

Gently he released the sinful hand that had encircled her slender waist, then, with an almost reverent gesture, cupped her tear-streaked, exquisitely fragile face, forcing her averted phoenix-amber gaze to meet his own in the rawest, most intimate communion.

"President Jiang… no, from now on, I suppose I should call you… Wanxing, right?" His voice, soft as silk yet laced with a power she could not resist, each syllable a key prying open her last defenses born of loneliness and misunderstanding.

"Tell me, deep in your heart, what is your truest desire?"

"Or… allow me to help you fulfill it."

Her body froze again, as if struck by a second bolt; her eyes, darting with shame, gradually lost all focus under his insinuating stare, dimming like stars blasted from the heavens.

Her lips trembled, as if to speak, but only a plaintive, broken sound emerged, barely audible.

Lu Chen smiled—a confident, irresistible curve of lips charged with mastery over all.

He knew this woman—marked "S-Class Ultimate Prey" on his Heart-Hunter spectrum—was utterly, irrevocably his.

"Very well…" With that, he slid a freshly printed contract from the inner pocket of his modest suit and produced a sleek, limited-edition pen embossed with the "Manting International" logo.

"Wanxing," he continued, voice composed yet chilling with omniscience, "as your… first token of 'submission' to me, I believe you would not refuse this bespoke VIP Strategic Partnership Agreement valued at thirty million, crafted by Feichi Group specifically for you."

He placed the sumptuous contract and that emblem of ultimate power and wealth upon her priceless rosewood desk with unquestionable authority, then fixed her with a look heavy with insinuation and expectation.

Her body stiffened once more; her eyes—already hollow with confusion and despair—now blazed with the deadly light of righteous fury at his brazen insult to her dignity.

She wanted to destroy him for this ignoble provocation—but in that instant, as her gaze locked onto Lu Chen's fathomless, commanding black eyes, her heart—long frozen—quivered anew, as if a parched land were revived, pulsating with a fierce desire to be utterly conquered.

Long… after so long, she finally extended the slender hand adorned with that peculiar ruby ring, trembling but resolute, to pick up the heavy pen.

Under his triumphant gaze, she traced her name across the contract—unstintingly, without hesitation.

The final stroke landed, and Jiang Wanxing felt every ounce of her soul drain away. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed against the sumptuous leather chair behind her like a marionette whose strings had been severed.

Lu Chen rose and retrieved the hefty contract, redolent of ink but also imbued with all his daring, wisdom, and reckless gambit.

A cold, sinister smile curved his lips—an ice-cold arc edged with infernal power.

He knew that from this moment, his destiny would be rewritten. And Jiang Wanxing—his S-Class ultimate prey—would become his first and most loyal stepping stone on the path to conquering Star City… and, perhaps, the entire world.