Chen Lei's fist never landed.
It hung in the air three inches from Lin Feng's jaw, trembling like a dog that had just realised the thing in front of it wasn't prey.
Chen Lei's face went the colour of old milk.
Lin Feng didn't blink.
"Three thousand tries," he whispered. "You'll miss every single one."
Chen Lei pissed himself. A dark stain spread down his expensive trousers while the crowd's phones drank it all in 4K.
Su Mei tried the waterworks next. She lunged, arms wide, voice cracking into the shrill, desperate register she used when credit cards got declined.
"Feng-baby, it was all him! He forced me! I was drugged! I love—"
Lin Feng raised one finger.
She hit an invisible wall so hard her nose cracked. Blood sprayed across her white dress like abstract art.
He didn't touch her. He didn't have to.
"Every word on that rooftop is burned into me, Mei-mei." His voice was soft, almost tender. "You said I was a dying dog you couldn't wait to put down. You said Chen Lei's cock was worth more than my life."
He looked at the Bugatti, then at Chen Lei's trembling BMW.
"That car?" He pointed. "Fifty million. Your boyfriend's toy? Four. Do the math, genius. You sold your soul for a 4% discount."
Su Mei collapsed to her knees, clawing at the asphalt, smearing mascara and blood.
Lin Feng reached into his jacket.
Not a card this time.
Hell Inventory opened like a silent black hole. A solid brick of crimson hundred-yuan notes materialised in his hand; five hundred thousand RMB bound in gold foil. He dropped it on the hood of the BMW. The impact cracked the paint worse than the Chiron ever could.
"Fifty million in cash," he announced to the crowd. "Payment for emotional damages. Keep the change, murderers."
He slid back into the Chiron, window half-down.
"Run," he told them, voice almost kind. "Every second you're still breathing is a gift I can revoke."
The W16 howled. He left them screaming in a cloud of tyre smoke and hundred-yuan bills fluttering like dying red butterflies.
Twenty minutes later the Bugatti prowled into the Azure Spire's private forecourt. Valets scattered like startled birds.
Lin Feng didn't speak. He simply handed over the keys and walked inside.
The acquisitions director, Mr Han, tried his usual ice-king routine.
Lin Feng placed the black card on the marble desk.
"I'm buying the entire 88th floor. Penthouse, sub-suites, helipad, staff; everything. Draw the papers. Charge whatever makes you sleep at night."
Mr Han typed a test transfer for one billion RMB.
It cleared before his finger left the Enter key.
He aged five years in ten seconds.
"Welcome home, Mr Feng," he whispered, bowing so low his forehead touched the desk.
Deed signed. Keys in hand. Elevator doors sealed.
Floor 88.
As the car shot upward, Lin Feng caught his reflection in the mirrored walls; twenty years old, eyes glowing faint crimson in the shadows. The Devil's rental suit looked perfect on him.
The doors opened onto the private lobby; twenty thousand square feet of empty, obscene luxury.
And there, slumped on a velvet bench outside the medical suite, was Li Wei.
Pale-green scrubs two sizes too big. Hair escaping a tired ponytail. Dark circles under eyes that had cried for him when no one else did.
She was pressing a cold can of coffee against a raw, red wrist; friction burn from sixteen straight hours holding retractors for rich assholes who tipped in loose change.
She looked up. Froze.
"Lin… Feng?"
Her voice cracked on the second syllable.
He crossed the distance in three strides and crouched in front of her. Gently pulled the can away. The skin underneath was shredded.
Without thinking he brushed two fingers across the wound.
Godhand (passive healing sub-routine) triggered.
Redness vanished. Fatigue lines smoothed. Colour flooded back into her face like sunrise.
Li Wei gasped, tears already falling.
"You're warm," she whispered. "You're alive."
"I'm something better than alive." He took the deed from his pocket; thick cream paper, gold-embossed, worth almost a billion. Folded it once and placed it in her trembling hands.
"This floor is mine now. All of it. Your grandmother moves into the east wing tomorrow, the best doctors' money can buy, and money just became infinite. Your tuition? Paid for the next fifty years. You never pull another double shift."
She stared at the paper like it might bite her.
"I can't—"
"You already did," he cut in, voice soft for the first time since Hell. "You were the only one who stayed when I was dying. Now I'm not dying. I'm ascending. And I'm taking you with me."
He offered his hand.
No Charm skill. No tricks. Just truth.
Li Wei looked at his open palm, then at his eyes; really looked; and saw the monster wearing her best friend's face.
And she took the hand anyway.
"I trust you," she said, voice steady. "I always have."
Lin Feng pulled her to her feet.
The elevator doors closed behind them, sealing the 88th floor to the rest of the world.
DING.
First loyal subordinate acquired.
Title unlocked: Devil King (Infant)
Hidden quest progress: Build an empire that makes Hell jealous – 1/1000
Lin Feng smiled at the city sprawling beneath the glass walls.
Tomorrow the real blood would start flowing.
Tonight, he had a healer to feed, a grandmother to save, and a soft pair of lips that had never betrayed him to taste for the first time.
The Devil's rental clock ticked.
99 years, 364 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes…
Plenty of time.
He hit the lights. The entire floor plunged into velvet darkness lit only by the city's distant glow and the faint crimson flicker in his eyes.
Game on.