Longcheng International Hotel, The Grand Golden Ballroom.
Tonight, the ballroom was packed with the apex predators of Longcheng and the surrounding provinces. The parking lot looked like a global supercar exhibition, jammed with Rolls-Royces and Bentleys. The air inside was thick with expensive perfume, Cuban cigar smoke, and the palpable, electric scent of greed.
Every pair of eyes was glued to the center stage, where a bulletproof glass case housed a completely ordinary-looking plastic water bottle.
Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous corner near the buffet section.
Shan Hu was expertly de-shelling a massive Australian lobster. Beside him sat his sister, Shan Qing, wearing an evening gown but looking utterly out of place and nervous.
"Bro… do we really not have to pay? This lobster plate alone must cost thousands," Shan Qing whispered, eyeing the well-dressed elites around them. "Plus, we don't have an invitation. We snuck in! What if security catches us?"
Shan Hu stuffed a chunk of lobster meat into his mouth, mumbling, "What are you afraid of? Tonight's meal is on that Su girl. Besides, your brother is a billionaire now. What's wrong with eating a couple of his lobsters? Eat! Have some more!"
In truth, Su Qingxue had prepared a supreme VIP box for Shan Hu, but he found it too stuffy and insisted on dragging his sister to the main hall to "soak up the atmosphere" (and the buffet).
Just then, a commotion stirred near the entrance.
"It's Chairman Lu of the Ascent Group!"
"I heard his company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Their stock was cut in half."
"A starving camel is still bigger than a horse. Look at his swagger. Does he look bankrupt to you?"
Lu Zhentian and his son, Lu Shaoxiong, strode into the ballroom. They were dressed to the nines, their faces wearing expressions of desperate resolve. Lu Zhentian tightly gripped a black card in his hand—it contained the very last of the Ascent Group's liquid assets: Five Hundred Million Yuan.
Lu Shaoxiong had sharp eyes. He immediately spotted Shan Hu in the corner, stuffing his face with seafood.
A flash of venom crossed his eyes as he whispered to his father, "Dad, look! That punk is just mooching food! The Su Clan didn't even give him a seat at the main table!"
Lu Zhentian shot Shan Hu a cold glance and sneered. "He's just a clown. Once we secure the Divine Water tonight and connect with the capital, tomorrow will be his funeral. Ignore him. Focus on the mission."
Head held high, father and son marched straight to the front row VIP seats.
At 8:00 PM, the house lights dimmed, and a spotlight hit the stage.
Su Qingxue appeared, looking like a regal white swan in her evening gown. She wasted no words, walking directly to the "mineral water."
"Ladies and gentlemen," her voice rang out, cool and penetrating. "I know you all have doubts. Why does a bottle of water start at fifty million?"
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
Su Qingxue smiled faintly. She signaled for staff to bring out a pot containing a dead orchid—nothing but withered, gray twigs.
"Seeing is believing."
She uncapped the bottle, used a dropper to carefully extract a single drop, and placed it onto the root of the dead orchid.
The entire hall held its breath.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds…
Whoosh!
Gasps erupted from the crowd! The gray, dead twigs turned green at a visible rate. Plump, emerald leaves unfurled, and within ten seconds, a flower spike shot up and bloomed into a fragrant orchid right before their eyes!
Resurrection of the dead wood! A miracle!
The ballroom exploded! The wealthy elites, who had been skeptical moments ago, now had eyes red with frenzy, like sharks smelling blood. If one drop could save a dead plant, surely a mouthful could save a life!
In the corner, Shan Hu shook his head helplessly. "That girl really knows marketing. The flower wasn't dead-dead; a drop of spiritual water would obviously revive it. If it were actually dead, it would've taken at least half the bottle."
Shan Qing stared, forgetting to chew her lobster. "Bro… is that water… really magic?"
Shan Hu smirked. "Magic? That's just my bath—cough, that's a nutrient solution I mixed."
On stage, Su Qingxue recapped the bottle. "The Longevity Elixir. The only bottle in the world. Starting bid: Fifty million. Begin."
"Sixty million!"
"Eighty million!"
"One hundred million! I bid one hundred million!"
The price skyrocketed, breaking the two hundred million barrier in under a minute. The billionaires of Longcheng were fighting for their lives.
Lu Zhentian sat in the front row, palms sweating. He hadn't expected the competition to be this fierce.
When the price hit three hundred million, the number of raised paddles dropped significantly.
Lu Zhentian took a deep breath, raised his paddle violently, and roared: "Four hundred million!"
The hall went silent.
Four hundred million for a bottle of water was an astronomical price.
"Four hundred million, going once…" Su Qingxue began the count.
"Four hundred and fifty million!" A coal boss from a neighboring province gritted his teeth and raised his paddle in the corner.
Lu Zhentian's eye twitched. He turned to glare at the coal boss, his eyes bloodshot. This was his last chance. He could not lose.
He stood up, raised his paddle, and screamed hoarsely:
"Five hundred million!"
This was everything the Ascent Group had left, plus leveraged assets.
The coal boss hesitated, then sighed and lowered his paddle.
"Five hundred million, going twice. Five hundred million, sold!"
As Su Qingxue's gavel fell, Lu Zhentian collapsed into his chair, exhausted, but a manic grin spread across his face.
"We won… we won…" Lu Shaoxiong grabbed his father's hand excitedly. "With this water, the Big Shot in Beijing will protect us! Shan Hu is dead meat!"
The auction ended. Under the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd, the Lu family clutched the "mineral water" like a holy grail and rushed out of the hotel, surrounded by bodyguards.
In the corner, Shan Qing clicked her tongue. "Bro, five hundred million! That water sold for five hundred million! There are so many idiots in this world!"
Shan Hu wiped his mouth and stood up, a playful smile on his face.
"Yeah, lots of idiots. But they didn't just buy water; they bought a 'dream.'"
"Let's go, sis. The show's over. Time to go home."
"Bro, is that five hundred million yours?"
"Pretty much. Later, I'll buy you an amusement park."
"Really? I want one with a Ferris wheel!"
Laughing and chatting, the siblings strolled out of the ballroom.
Late that night. A secluded villa on the outskirts of Longcheng.
Lu Zhentian and his son carefully placed the five-hundred-million-dollar "Longevity Elixir" into a safe.
"Dad, when do we contact Beijing?" Lu Shaoxiong asked impatiently.
Lu Zhentian lit a cigarette, his hands still trembling. "Not yet. We rest tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll fly to the capital personally to present the treasure! This water won't just save our lives; it will take the Ascent Group to the next level!"
Just then, Lu Shaoxiong stared at the water and swallowed hard. "Dad, do you think it's really that magical? Maybe… we should try just a tiny sip? There's a whole bottle; a sip won't be missed."
Lu Zhentian hesitated. He was curious too. What did five-hundred-million-dollar water taste like?
"Fine. Just a small sip. To test the effects."
Lu Shaoxiong carefully unscrewed the cap and poured two small spoonfuls into a glass. Father and son each took a spoon.
"Cheers! To Ascent!"
They downed it.
The moment the water hit their tongues, a coolness shot straight to their brains, followed by a warm current in their stomachs. Their exhausted bodies were instantly flooded with vitality.
"Godly! It's godly!" Lu Zhentian felt ten years younger. His back pain vanished; his legs felt strong.
"It really works!" Lu Shaoxiong shouted in excitement.
However, what they didn't know was that while the water contained spiritual energy, it was indeed primarily bathwater from the pool Shan Hu used to fix the array.
More importantly, when Shan Hu asked Su Qingxue to bottle it, he had casually added a subtle, undetectable "Truth Hex."
The hex was harmless to the body, but it had one side effect: For the next 24 hours, whoever drank it would be unable to stop themselves from speaking their deepest, darkest truths.
"Dad, this water is delicious! I feel so energetic, I really want to… I really want to report our company for tax evasion right now!" Lu Shaoxiong suddenly blurted out.
Lu Zhentian froze, then raged. "Are you crazy? What nonsense are you spouting!"
But then he clamped his hand over his own mouth, horrified to find his lips moving against his will. "Yes! If you report it, the ten years of fake ledgers and the evidence of bribing the Vice Mayor for that land deal will all be exposed!"
Father and son stared at each other, seeing deep terror in the other's eyes.
"I won't say it! I won't say it!" Lu Shaoxiong desperately covered his mouth, but the words leaked through his fingers. "And the fact that I've been poisoning your wine with slow-acting drugs to inherit your money early—I can't say that either!"
"What?!" Lu Zhentian's eyes bulged. "You unfilial son! And don't you dare find out that I have three illegitimate sons hidden away ready to replace you!"
Inside the villa, the father-son "confession session" spiraled completely out of control.