The carriage fell silent for a few seconds. Jiang Lijin turned her head to look at the dazzling neon lights speeding backward outside the window, then let out a quiet, low laugh.
"That's exactly what I want—to make him move. The noble forces are too tangled up. Going through proper procedures would take ten years to finish investigating. If he doesn't move, how can I find an excuse to kill? This all-or-nothing gamble of his just gives me the chance to cut through the mess quickly. What I want is to uproot the whole thing."
Su Han paused for a moment, then understood her meaning. She was deliberately leaving a flaw exposed to force Darren into rebellion, so she could then legitimately carry out a purge.
Jiang Lijin withdrew her gaze and softened her tone as she added, "Be careful these next couple of days. Have Tianque arrange for shadow guards to stick close to you day and night. That said, Darren's definitely only focused on me right now, so you'll actually be safest on your end."
Su Han nodded solemnly, committing her words to memory.
Back at the villa.
The moment she pushed open the front door, Rowan ran straight into Jiang Lijin's arms, smelling faintly of milk.
Rowan tilted her fair, delicate face upward, her red hair pressed softly against her forehead, her eyes full of anticipation.
"Sister!"
Jiang Lijin's expression instantly softened. She bent down and lifted the child into her arms, feeling her weight—she'd definitely gained a decent amount. After all the good food and careful care these past weeks, there was now a bit of roundness in the little girl's cheeks.
Tinia came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of finely cut fruit and approached.
"Sister, have some fruit. I just washed it."
Jiang Lijin reached out with his help, picked up a piece, and popped it into her mouth. Her gaze swept around the room. Tianyan had already collapsed onto the sofa the moment he entered, opening his light brain, while Tianque sat down very gently beside him.
"Where's Chiron?"
"The dean is still working overtime at the Academy of Sciences. He'll be back late tonight."
Jiang Lijin sat down with Rowan in her arms, glancing casually at Tianyan.
"Any movement from Darren?"
Tianyan's ten fingers tapped rapidly across the virtual keyboard.
After returning to his mansion, he cut off all his normal external communications. But his counter-tracking measures are a joke. I just intercepted an encrypted military-frequency signal. He's mobilized the Third Escort Fleet stationed in near-Earth orbit, along with a fully armed private army directly under his command. They're advancing at full speed toward the central city.
Jiang Lijin let out a cold snort.
"Quick on his feet. He really is panicking. Ryan!"
Ryan, who had been standing guard outside the door, strode in quickly. "Your Highness."
"Have the Divine Shield Squad hold the perimeter of the villa tonight. Anyone who comes within a hundred meters of the villa—shoot them dead on the spot. No warnings, no need to ask for orders."
Ryan acknowledged the order and withdrew.
Night had fully fallen. After dinner, Jiang Lijin was playing with Rowan, building blocks. The little girl was completely engrossed, her plump little fingers pinching a blue piece, trying to snap it into place. Tinia lay sprawled without any dignity on the wool carpet nearby, occasionally passing Rowan a piece, though his gaze kept drifting toward Jiang Lijin.
Everything looked unnaturally calm, as warm and ordinary as a typical weekend night.
But Jiang Lijin's mind was screaming warnings.
Too quiet. Darren's private army had already entered the city. By all logic, they should have surrounded this place by now. Yet there wasn't a single person around the villa. Even the sound of crickets had vanished.
Just then, Tianyan suddenly shot up from the sofa, his voice cracking slightly.
"Boss, something's wrong! The main city's air defense system energy threshold is spiking abnormally! The coordinates... right above our heads!"
Jiang Lijin's heart lurched violently, and her blood ran cold in an instant.
Darren never planned to send troops for a direct assault. He had gone completely mad—he'd actually activated the Empire's near-Earth orbital cannon hovering in space. The old lunatic intended to erase this villa, along with her and Rowan, straight off the map.
"Boom!"
There was no time to react at all. From above the ceiling came a tearing sound—the sonic boom of a high-energy particle beam piercing through the atmosphere.
A blinding, blazing light robbed everyone of their sight instantly. The entire night sky was completely illuminated. The villa's defenses, supposedly strong enough to withstand heavy mecha, didn't last a single second upon contact with the particle beam. They shattered silently at once.
Rowan shrieked in terror: "Sister!"
In the 0.1 seconds between life and death, Jiang Lijin's instincts moved faster than her mind. She pressed Rowan tightly against her chest, shielding the child beneath her own body.
At that exact same moment, three tall figures threw themselves over her without any hesitation.
Tinia let out a desperate roar as he covered Jiang Lijin from above. Tianyan and Tianque pressed in from left and right, wrapping her protectively in the center with their steel-hard bodies.
To protect Jiang Lijin, in the face of this devastating strike, the three males unflinchingly used their own flesh as shields, and the five of them instantly formed a tight, impenetrable circle.
In that final instant before the heat—hot enough to vaporize steel—was about to engulf them—
"Ding!"
A pale blue honeycomb energy barrier materialized out of nowhere. With Jiang Lijin at its center, it instantly expanded into an absolute safety zone with a radius of only one meter.
The area was just one meter wide, but it perfectly encompassed the five of them, huddled as one.
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening explosion completely swallowed the entire villa. The raging energy flow tore the building apart in an instant. Bricks, bulletproof glass, expensive furniture—all vaporized in the terrifying heat. Even the ground was blasted into a deep crater.
But that frail-looking pale blue barrier didn't even budge. The massive particle beam slammed into it, sending out ripples of energy but letting in not even a trace of heat or a speck of dust.
Inside the barrier was a square meter of dead silence and ragged breathing. Outside was absolute annihilation.
Xiao Yi's electronic voice went haywire inside Jiang Lijin's mind, tinged with obvious static and sobs.
[Host, wuwuwu! That scared me to death! A little more—just 0.1 seconds more—and we would have all been dead! Lucky we bought that barrier back in the system shop!!]
Jiang Lijin's ears were still ringing, but then she remembered. Back in the Tianlang Star System, she had spent a hefty sum in the system mall to buy a protective barrier. After that, since she never encountered any life-threatening danger, she had completely forgotten about it.
The blinding light gradually faded. Outside, smoke and dust filled the air, thick with the stench of burning.
Tinia, Tianyan, and Tianque's rigid bodies slowly relaxed. They loosened their arms and looked down to check the person they were protecting. The moment they confirmed Jiang Lijin was unharmed, a deep, post-terror relief flickered in their eyes as they silently let out the breath they had been holding.
At that moment, all they felt was the joy and gratitude of having survived. None of them had the energy to question where this heaven-defying barrier had come from—as long as she was alive, that was all that mattered.
Jiang Lijin gently patted Rowan's trembling back and pulled the child out from her arms.
"It's okay. Don't be afraid. Sister's here."
As the danger receded, the barrier automatically pushed away the debris that had fallen on top of it, then dissolved into specks of blue light and vanished.
Jiang Lijin stood up. The night wind lifted her disheveled hair. She stared at what had once been her home—now completely leveled to the ground—and her eyes grew colder by the second, until they became ice itself.
Brushing the dust off her clothes, Jiang Lijin's voice had no inflection, but it carried a chilling murderous intent.
"Tianyan, where is Darren now?"
A bloodthirsty gleam flashed through Tianyan's eyes as his light brain swiftly pulled up the tracking signal.
The railgun’s firing authorization requires his real-time biometric confirmation. He’s currently at a secret underground command post on the outskirts of the city.”
Jiang Lijin tilted her head, issuing the order with cold brutality.
“Tianque, go take out that railgun control room. Leave no one inside alive.”
Tianque still didn’t answer. He only gave her a long, deep look, then vanished into the night with a flicker of movement.
Jiang Lijin raised her voice.
“Ryan!”
From outside the ruins, Ryan, covered in dust and grime, sprinted in with his Shield Squad. They had been setting up perimeter defenses when the shockwave from the explosion hurled them into the air. Fortunately, the railgun had targeted only the villa’s core; on the periphery, they had narrowly escaped disaster.
With her tone as cold as steel, Jiang Lijin strode boldly over the debris.
“Bring your people and follow me to the outskirts. If Darren wants to play this game big, I’ll see it through to the end. Tonight, I’ll grind him to ashes.”
