[Capital University – Dormitory]
Ever since the day he was harassed by that lunatic at the airport a month ago, Xia Muyan had begun having the same dream over and over again.
In the dream, everything was shrouded in thick, impenetrable fog.
The air smelled of damp, rotting wood, mixed with a faint metallic scent—like rusted iron… or blood.
Somewhere in the distance stood a vague silhouette.
The voice that came from it was so humble it seemed to sink into the dust, yet there was a desperate determination in it—as if begging for forgiveness, or saying a final goodbye.
Xia Muyan tried desperately to walk closer, to see the person's face.
But with every step he took, a dull pain tore through his chest.
It felt as if a rusted nail was being driven slowly into his bones, inch by inch, freezing his whole body with trembling pain.
Then he would wake up, drenched in sweat.
Xia Muyan leaned against the cold headboard, breathing rapidly, his palms slick with cold sweat.
Instinctively, he pressed his hand over the left side of his chest, feeling the lingering ache there. His fingers tightened until his knuckles turned pale.
Who exactly was that person?
The voice in the dream sounded so desperate.
Not like an aggressor—but more like someone who had run out of all paths and was offering himself as a sacrifice.
But if that person had once been important to him, why did the mere memory of the man's face at the airport make every instinct in his body recoil in fear?
He took a deep breath and forced down the unease.
It was just a nightmare. A hallucination caused by too much stress.
Click.
The dormitory door opened.
His roommate Lin Zi burst in energetically. Seeing Xia Muyan sitting on the bed with a pale face, he froze.
"Muyan, are you okay? I saw you trembling in your sleep just now. Another nightmare?"
Xia Muyan wiped the moisture from the corner of his eye. His voice was slightly hoarse.
"I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well. Why are you so excited?"
Lin Zi hurriedly changed his shirt while talking nonstop.
"Didn't you check the campus website yet? There's a major lecture in the main auditorium this afternoon. Are you going? I heard that guy rarely shows himself in public!"
"A lecture?"
"The most legendary alumnus our university has! The current ceiling of the business world—heir to the Gu Group! A living legend you usually only see on the cover of Finance Magazine. He's coming back to give a talk today. If we miss this, we'll regret it for four years!"
Lin Zi's eyes sparkled.
The Gu Group.
For some reason, Xia Muyan's heart skipped a beat.
In the finance department, the Gu Group was practically a sacred name.
He had studied many of their acquisition cases in recent years—ruthless, precise, flawless.
The thinking of that heir was almost like a perfect computer.
For a moment, the image of the unhinged man at the airport flashed across his mind.
Xia Muyan immediately shook his head with a self-mocking smile.
Impossible.
A business genius that rational—almost cold-blooded—could never be the same man who had lost control in public at the airport.
"So? Are you going?" Lin Zi pressed.
Xia Muyan pushed off the blanket and got out of bed, his expression returning to its usual calm.
"Yes. A case analysis at that level isn't something to miss."
[Capital University – Main Auditorium]
The air-conditioning in the auditorium was running at full power, yet it still couldn't suppress the restless heat of more than a thousand students.
Lin Zi dragged Xia Muyan to seats near the front side.
He continued chattering beside him.
"Muyan, what do you think this Mr. Gu looks like? People in finance say he's extremely protective of his own people—and extremely obsessive. Any company he sets his eyes on basically has no way out. If we could get into the Gu Group after graduation, that'd be like our ancestors' graves emitting smoke!"
Xia Muyan lowered his head, staring at his notebook.
Reason told him that standing up and leaving now would be the right choice.
But the moment that man began speaking, his pen moved as if possessed.
"Currency risk hedging in cross-border mergers isn't about choosing the right tools…"
Xia Muyan looked up and cursed himself silently.
He had actually started listening.
Then—
At the exact moment the host walked onto the stage—
Xia Muyan's faint smile froze.
His chest tightened without warning.
The familiar pain crashed into him like a tidal wave.
It felt as if an invisible hand had seized his heart and was squeezing it mercilessly—far more violently than the episode at the airport.
For a moment, he couldn't even breathe.
"Now, please welcome with our warmest applause—Executive President of the Gu Group, Mr. Gu Yaocheng!"
The moment the host finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted across the entire auditorium.
"Oh my god, he's so handsome!"
"That aura… is this what top-tier tycoon pressure feels like?"
Amid the almost hysterical cheers, a tall and imposing figure slowly stepped into the center of the spotlight.
Xia Muyan's back stiffened instantly.
Trembling slightly, he lifted his head.
His gaze passed through the boiling crowd and fixed on the man standing on stage.
It was him.
The moment Gu Yaocheng began speaking, Xia Muyan's first instinct was to stand up and leave.
But the voice continued:
"The core of risk hedging in cross-border acquisitions has never been the choice of tools."
His feet didn't move.
His notebook opened.
He didn't even realize it.
By the time he wrote down the third line of notes, he suddenly snapped back to himself.
What was he doing?
That man had investigated him. He knew which university he attended. His appearance here today could not possibly be a coincidence.
Xia Muyan closed the notebook.
His fingers pressed down on the cover, and he stopped writing.
But his ears betrayed him.
Even though the man now stood there in an immaculate suit, elegant and dignified—
Even though he stood on a stage flooded with brilliant light—
Xia Muyan would never mistake him.
That was the same lunatic who had gripped his wrist at the airport.
On stage, Gu Yaocheng's gaze swept across the crowd of thousands.
Then, with terrifying precision, it locked onto Xia Muyan.
At that moment, the calm mask on the man's face cracked slightly.
In his eyes surged an overwhelming storm—
ecstatic joy,
guilt suppressed for months,
and something that sent chills down Xia Muyan's spine—
an almost pathological possessiveness.
Gu Yaocheng quietly suppressed the impulse rising within him and continued the lecture.
His voice was deep and magnetic, like a perfectly calibrated machine. Every piece of data, every argument, was flawless.
But those sitting nearby would notice something strange.
His gaze almost never left that corner of the audience.
A month ago, at the airport, he had let him go.
During that month, he had reviewed that worn file countless times.
His phone had gained a number he never dialed.
The name saved with it contained only two characters.
He had read the speech draft twenty times.
Yet not once had it truly been for today's lecture.