Rayn and Ken were escorted through the buzzing headquarters of Momentum Global Wire (MGW). A woman with black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a silver suit greeted them, bowing respectfully. She introduced herself as Mei Ruo, showing them the path to the studio.
The primary studio was a kinetic spectacle—a sleek, ultra-modern set bathed in cool blue light, where rolling global market data flashed across giant screens. The energy of real-time transmission crackled in the air.
As they settled near the round table, the host approached. Mei Runo—a woman with a sharp gaze—introduced herself.
Ken, ever curious, asked, "Did the woman who showed us the way, Mei Ruo, is she your sister or what?"
Runo smiled. "Yes! You have a very sharp sight." Ken laughed, proud of his observation.
Rayn, however, was impatient. "Could we start the interview? I have work to attend to the moment this is completed." Runo nodded and immediately began.
"Welcome, Mr. Rayn and Mr. Ken," Runo began. "Before we dive into the corporate empire you've built, we have to address the mystery. Everyone knows you as just 'Rayn' and 'Ken.' Could you please give us your full names?"
Rayn, staring directly into the lens, replied first. "My name is Rayn Li Zhao."
Ken followed with relaxed charm. "And my name is Ken Li Zhao."
"Oh! The same surname! Are you two related?" Runo asked, feigning surprise.
Ken beamed. "Yes! We are brothers. He is my elder brother, and I am the younger brother."
"This is news to the world! And what are your parents' names?"
Rayn took over, his tone carefully calibrated between respect and finality. "Our mother's name is Valerie Li Zhao. We do not have a father."
Runo pressed the sensitive point. "Did your father leave your mother, then?"
A flash of genuine, cold anger crossed Rayn's eyes. He hated the cheap drama of the media, especially when it involved Valerie. He leaned slightly forward. "We are both orphans, and we only have our mother who took care of me and my younger brother." His voice softened, showing the one vulnerable point in his armor. "After we became successful, we established an orphanage to help others like us. I dislike commenting on my personal history, but I certainly will not tolerate any speculation that might reflect poorly on my mother."
Runo quickly conceded. "Understood, Sir. Thank you for explaining."
The interview transitioned into the usual corporate awe—the speed, the scale, and the extreme youth of the brothers' success. Ken, the CEO, handled the market analysis and growth projections with practiced enthusiasm.
The focus then shifted fully to Rayn, the acknowledged architect of the Valerie empire.
"Mr. Rayn," Runo began, "You are known as the mind, the strategic core of the company. Your philosophy is legendary. Beyond the usual metrics of profit and valuation, what truly drives your decision-making? What is the code you follow?"
Rayn paused, allowing the silence to capture the global audience.
"My code," Rayn began, his voice calm, clear, and immensely authoritative, "is optimization. I don't deal in emotion; I deal in variables. My company is merely the most optimized version of my destiny."
He looked straight into the camera. "Every relationship, every investment, every setback—it's all data. We are simply ensuring the trajectory of our future trends upward. Control is the only currency that matters."
He continued, addressing the question of their motivation. Ken was about to speak, but Rayn interrupted, directing the narrative back to his own moment of genesis.
"When I was in middle school, my class teacher asked about my dream," Rayn recalled. "I replied that I wanted to become a businessman and make my mother and brother happy and rich. My classmates all laughed at my dream. That day, I made a conscious decision: I would become something they would never, ever achieve."
Rayn then stared into the camera, his lips curving into a precise, calculated, arrogant smile. He named four people—former classmates, perhaps. "Wenson, William, Kalix, and Xue. What are you doing? I hope you are also in a good place." The message was clear: I won.
Runo asked one final personal question: "Do you both currently have girlfriends?"
Rayn replied without hesitation. "We both do not have any romantic partners."
Meanwhile, across the city, in the comforting, chaotic environment of her orphanage, Valerie Li Zhao watched the interview on a small television with the children.
A little girl pointed at the screen. "Madam, they said your name and told everyone you are their mom!"
Valerie smiled, her heart full. "Yes, darling. I am their mom."
"Are you really happy they got successful?" the girl asked.
"Yes, I am incredibly proud of them," Valerie confirmed.
A slightly older boy asked, "Madam, how did you find them? What happened when you found them?"
Valerie began to explain, her voice soft with memory. "I was twenty years old, working as a software engineer. It was nine o'clock, and I was walking home. I saw a child crying on the street, hungry. I hesitated at first, but I couldn't leave him. I took him home and later named him Rayn."
She paused. "My parents were not happy that I had a son without being married, but I didn't care. I raised Rayn with my good salary and my intelligence—I even became the CEO of my own small company later."
"Then, after one year, I decided Rayn needed a brother. I went to the local adoption center. I saw Ken, and I immediately knew he was meant to be my second son."
She continued, her pride swelling. "I gave them everything I could. But when Rayn was just fifteen, he came to me and said, 'Mom, I want to end school and start a company.' I told him, 'Rayn, you and Ken have the knowledge of every book, but education is important.'"
After i said that they both work hard and started a company called Valerie.' They set up a system to deliver exactly what people wanted. They were making around $17,000 a day at the age of fifteen! They expanded rapidly, establishing new branches and eventually becoming one of the top global companies by the time Rayn was twenty-two."
Valerie concluded: "I resigned from my job, sold my company shares, and used the funds to start this orphanage to take care of cute children, just like all of you."
The interview concluded with massive success. Ken was thrilled by the public reaction, but Rayn was already focused on the discreet notification on his phone.
As they walked out, pushing through the reporters, Rayn looked down at his phone. The notification ; it was a text from his mother.
Valerie Li Zhao: "Which restaurant should we go to tonight? You boys choose."
Rayn immediately typed his reply: "I want to eat at the restaurant we often go to, the three of us." He wanted the familiar comfort of their family unit.
He told Ken his mother's plan. They finished their work quickly and, in a calculated move to avoid further publicity, decided to travel to the restaurant on bicycles, leaving the luxurious cars behind.
That evening, the three of them—Valerie, Rayn, and Ken—sat together, eating with full smiles, sharing the details of the interview. Ken excitedly explained the questions.
"Why were you so arrogant in answering those final questions?" Ken asked his older brother, genuinely perplexed by the deliberate arrogance.
"I wanted to express my true feelings," Rayn replied simply, confirming his philosophy of calculated honesty.
Valerie intervened, stopping their discussion with a soft, affectionate smile, cherishing the rare, peaceful moment of their family being together.
It was in this moment of fragile peace that the impossible happened.
Rayn was suddenly struck by an intense, agonizing headache. He grasped his temples, squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them, the restaurant was gone.
He was standing in a place of absolute blackness, enveloped by thick, black mist that swirled like smoke. Then, the entire vast space was filled with hundreds of immense, watchful eyes that seemed to stare directly into his soul.
From the deepest void, a black shadow figure approached him. The figure did not speak, but a chilling voice resonated in Rayn's mind, full of malevolent glee, calling him by a name that should not exist in this reality:
"Yao Wang Ming! How are you?"
The shadow figure's face remained hidden by the mist, but Rayn clearly saw a creepy, triumphant smile before the figure reached out a hand.
Rayn instantly collapsed. He was back in the restaurant.
He blinked, dizzy, finding himself cradled immediately in his mother's lap. Valerie's black eyes were wide with terror and concern. He looked up at her, wondering what had just happened. The two realities had violently collided.
The intrusion of Yaowang Ming's consciousness is complete. Rayn now knows his dream is not fiction.