Ethan leaned back and watched the prison disappear in the distance. A cold, calm smile spread across his face.
The sun glinted off the rows of black Rolls-Royces, the engines humming like a low, obedient growl. His body felt different heavier, yes, but also sharper, as if every fiber of him had been reforged in the fires of the last five years. The Dragon God was awake. The Golden Finger pulsed faintly beneath his skin, a reminder that this was no longer a human life he was stepping into. This was something far greater.
"Take us downtown," Ethan said. His voice was calm, but there was an edge that made Miller flinch.
"Yes, Master," Miller replied, voice barely above a whisper.
The city passed in a blur outside the tinted windows. Ethan didn't glance at it. The streets, the skyscrapers, the people they were all insignificant. His mind was already calculating, already planning. The Mitchell family had destroyed him once. That mistake will never repeat. Not now. Not ever.
He tapped the tablet mounted in front of him. Financial reports, property listings, corporate charts all glowing in sharp, cold lines. Every asset he had inherited from Mr. Han's Dragon Commerce Chamber could be moved, manipulated, or weaponized with a single command. A smile curved his lips. The world had shifted beneath him, and he hadn't even stepped onto the battlefield yet.
Miller cleared his throat. "Master… the Mitchell estate?"
Ethan's eyes flicked to the address. He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he let the moment, savoring the anticipation, the fear, the power. Finally, he said, "We'll go there last. First… let's remind the world that the Dragon has returned."
The first stop was a small private helipad near the financial district. Within minutes, Ethan was airborne in a sleek, black helicopter, the city sprawling beneath him like a board game. He opened the tablet again and scrolled through the headlines: Mitchell Group, Lisa Mitchell, family scandal, emergency loans. The Mitchells were already on the ropes. The threads of their empire were fraying, and Ethan had only just begun to pull.
"Who's first?" he murmured to himself, tracing the lines of companies, investors, and debtors. His eyes lingered on a few familiar names people who had looked down on him, laughed at his poverty, mocked his desperation. Their faces flickered on the screen. Soon, they would kneel. Soon, the Dragon God would make them bow.
By the time the helicopter landed on a rooftop in the city's financial district, night had fallen. Lights glittered like stars in the darkness below, but they were nothing compared to the golden light that flared beneath his skin. He stepped out, and even the wind seemed to part around him, an invisible current responding to the pulse of his Dragon Qi.
The first move was subtle, precise. He didn't need armies or guns yet just information, influence, and fear. Within hours, he began acquiring shares in key companies strategically, silently, using Mr. Han's accounts, offshore holdings, and proxy purchases. Every move was calculated to destabilize the Mitchells and their allies, but without revealing that he was behind it.
Back at the Mitchell mansion, Lisa Mitchell was already feeling the tremors of a world she couldn't control. The family fortune was slipping faster than anyone could track. Her father's phone buzzed constantly with calls from creditors and board members, all asking why the company was collapsing overnight. Panic threaded through the household like poison. Lisa watched her father pace and her mother wail, and for the first time in years, she felt… powerless.
And yet, she didn't know who to blame. A mysterious new investor had appeared, buying up half of their debt, taking positions in their key companies. No one knew who he was, but he was ruthless, precise, untouchable. Lisa glanced out the window at the city lights. Somewhere out there, someone was dismantling the world she had always taken for granted.
Meanwhile, Ethan returned to the Dragon Chamber's headquarters, a hidden skyscraper that looked ordinary from the outside but was anything but inside. The halls were lined with data terminals, holographic maps, and silent drones tracking economic shifts in real time. He moved like a shadow through the command center, issuing orders, monitoring the Mitchell Group's every transaction. Every subtle move, every missed opportunity, every creditor left unpaid it was all part of a plan that had taken five years to hatch.
And then there was Lisa. He had watched her from afar for months, using his Dragon Sight to gauge her health. The black mist around her heart was worsening, spreading in ways even modern medicine couldn't yet diagnose. It was ironic, almost poetic she was falling, slowly, while the Dragon God who had once saved her was preparing to reclaim everything he had lost.
Yet despite everything, there was a spark of curiosity in him. Would she survive the storm he was about to bring? Would she finally recognize the man she had destroyed, the man she had let rot in prison?
Ethan's lips curved into a dangerous smile. The world was his now, and every move he made was deliberate. Every victory, every acquisition, every power shift would be a message a reminder that the Dragon had returned.
And in the distance, the Mitchell mansion stood like a fragile monument to arrogance. The next steps would be careful. He wasn't rushing. The Dragon never rushed. He calculated, he watched, he waited, and then, when the moment was perfect, he struck.
For now, though, he let them squirm. Let them panic. Let them fear the invisible hand that was already dismantling their empire. He stepped into his private elevator, the golden light beneath his skin pulsing steadily, the Dragon God awake and in control.
The game had begun.
But even as the Dragon God moved unseen across the city, a small, silent pulse of movement caught his attention someone watching him from the shadows. A figure in black, perched on a rooftop across the skyline, eyes glinting with anticipation. Ethan's instincts flared, and a faint hum of power rippled beneath his skin. This was no ordinary observer. Whoever it was… they were waiting. Waiting for the Dragon to make his first move.
And when that move came, they would be ready.
The game had begun but the board was larger than he imagined.