Chapter 203: Behind The Scenes, The Good, Bad, And Ugly!

Chapter 203: Behind The Scenes, The Good, Bad, And Ugly!

A week earlier, just after General Lee sabotaged his enemy and joined the China Emperor, the weight of the clan fell entirely on Jill's shoulders. She sat alone at her desk inside the dimly lit Feng Estate, swirling a glass of deep red wine and letting the alcohol dull the bitter ache in her chest.

The heavy wooden door creaked open, shattering her hollow musings as her husband, Greg, stumbled into the room. He was already half-drunk, his arm carelessly wrapped around the waist of his personal maid just to keep his balance. "Wife, stop working and let's go make babies!" Greg slurred, his hot, alcohol-soaked breath cutting through the scent of her wine. "I want you pregnant soon, or the rumors will start. I just tell others you're coming off your pills, so let's just fuck again and get it over with, hic!"

Jill looked up at the man who was supposed to be her prince, feeling a wave of intense revulsion roll through her stomach. After their marriage, the charming facade shattered entirely, leaving behind nothing but a bloated, selfish toad. This Song family man had put on such a flawless show during their courtship, but the very night of their wedding, his true, ugly colors crawled into the light. He was nothing but a self-serving pig who only cared about getting his own rocks off, entirely devoid of gentleness or a single shred of consideration for her feelings. Even when her silent tears flowed freely across the pillows during that agonizing first time, he never once paused or bothered to ask why she was crying.

To make matters worse, it wasn't long after that miserable wedding night that her father officially passed the Head position down to her, believing she was stable now that she had a husband. The horrifying truths she learned upon taking the seat completely shattered her entire worldview, leaving her feeling utterly betrayed by her own blood.

Her father had willingly let the Yellow Emperor marry her little sister Tina, whom she doted on so deeply, instead of offering Jill's hand. He claimed it was so the Fire Birds could have a strong leader, but she knew the real reason was simply so Tina could be happy. Why did it have to be her? Why would a father actively choose not to want the legendary Yellow Emperor to be the Head's husband, especially when he already served that exact role for Victoria Long and Helen Tang? Jill remained completely perplexed as to why she was passed over for her naive little sister, left to rot while Tina was handed the entire world on a silver platter. And what was the brilliant Head of the Feng family given instead? This pathetic, groping toad.

Jill's knuckles turned completely white as she squeezed her pen, the sharp plastic digging into her palm while she watched her husband's fingers openly roam beneath his maid's uniform.

"I am busy doing actual work to pay for your mindless fun," she said, keeping her voice cold and hard as stone to mask the trembling in her chest. "And secondly, I already told you it will take at least six months for the pill's effects to wear off before I can even conceive a child, so just go screw your maid. Besides, your new fiancee, the Lee woman, has finally arrived, so go sleep in her bed for now."

Greg blinked his bloodshot eyes, a lazy, dim-witted grin spreading across his face as he clumsily patted the maid's thigh. "That is right! Wife, you are so smart! Daniella, walk me over to Melody's mansion, hic!"

"Yes, my Master," the maid murmured, guiding his stumbling weight back out the door.

Jill dropped the pen onto the desk and downed the rest of her wine, the liquid burning a path down her throat as the silence of the room closed in on her. The memory of confronting Tina flashed through her mind, recalling how the raw bitterness inside her forced her to tell her own sister she was no longer welcome in her home.

She remembered screaming at Rick over the phone for ten agonizing minutes, pouring all her rage into the receiver, only for him to offer a quiet, heartbreaking apology. He explained that the ancient law of the Syndicate and Central explicitly forbade the main branch and the syndicate from marrying, yet his logic only fueled her anger. She hated Rick even more for saying sorry, because his apology proved he knew the exact depth of her pain, yet he chose to do absolutely nothing to fix it.

What hurt the absolute most was the realization that even the Yellow Emperor himself preferred to be with her sister over her. She had been completely honest with him from the start, treating him with nothing but genuine kindness, and he simply did not want to love her back.

To add to the misery, her retired father had the nerve to try and scold her later on, claiming she was actively souring their vital relations with Tina and Rick. It was his own fault the relationship soured in the first place, yet he wanted to shift the blame onto her shoulders.

She sat in the shadows of the quiet office, letting the tears fall silently down her cheeks as the weight of the last year crushed her spirit. It had been twelve months since she was forced into marriage and crowned the Head, and every single day made her want to abandon the position entirely.

Her eyes drifted to the official documents sitting on the edge of the desk, drafted quietly by her private lawyer. All it required was her signature to end the nightmare. It was a formal letter relinquishing her position as Head, stacked directly on top of a legal petition for divorce. She wanted nothing more than to just walk away from the clan and quit, leaving some other unfortunate Feng relative to rule over this miserable prison of regrets.

A sharp, vibrating ring cut through the dark office, making her flinch as her smartphone illuminated the desk. It was an unknown number, buzzing persistently over and over until she finally swiped the screen and held it to her ear, refusing to say a word.

[Head Feng, you are not going to give up, are you?]

The unfamiliar voice through the earpiece made her grip tighten on the phone as she leaned forward against the desk. "Who is this, and how did you get my private number?!"

[Do you hate the Yellow Emperor? Are you his enemy?]

She felt her heart skip a beat, her defensive instincts kicking in as she forced a confused tone into her voice. "I-I do not know what you are talking about. What Yellow Emperor?"

[You did not expose Rick to the Lee, correct?]

Her eyes went wide in the darkness, a chill running down her spine. Only the four clan Heads and the Central Government were supposed to know the true identity of the Yellow Emperor, yet this mysterious caller knew it was Rick. But when she recalled her interactions with the Lee siblings, neither brother nor sister seemed to show any concern regarding him at all. Could this person on the line actually be one of the Lee family members trying to test her?

"Father, is this you changing your voice?" she asked, looking around the empty room as if someone were watching. "I have told absolutely no one about Rick."

[No, I am not Tony Feng. So, are you Rick's enemy, do you want to hurt him?]

"No, of course not," she answered immediately, the sheer confusion making her head spin. "Who are you?"

[I am an opponent to those who betray the Yellow Emperor, that is all you need to know... So I ask again, you are not quitting are you?]

"Yes, I am," she admitted, looking down at the divorce papers beneath her hands.

[Why? If you do that now, will it hurt the Yellow Emperor's plans? Do you want him to lose one of the 4 Clans' loyalty to your successor?]

"Because my husband utterly disgusts me, and I refuse to let his vile child grow inside me," she spat out, the tears mixing with pure anger. "And ruling the Feng has absolutely no meaning to me anymore, because I have nothing left to live for."

[SDF General Lee was almost killed by the Lee because he was protecting Rick, so who will you side with, Rick or the Lee?]

"What?!" she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as the pieces began to click together in her mind. "Commander Lee, impossible... Oh, wait... He is Rick's grandfather, oh? So the two Lee siblings and my husband are working together?"

[See, and who said blondes are stupid? That is right... They, including your husband, want to kill Rick and ALL of his children in less than two years. They want to cripple Rick's power completely. So what do you want to do, Mrs. Feng? Will you quit and let your pathetic husband and the Lee family get their way? Tick, tick, tick, I am impatient.]

She stared at the signed documents, a newfound fire replacing the cold despair in her veins as she realized what was at stake. "How can I help?"

[Seems Rick caring for you was not in vain after all. Well, the first thing you are going to do, is to make up with Rick and your sister, who by the way does not know who Rick really is, just in case you thought she did.]

"What? Impossible," she shook her head, shifting her phone to her other ear. "She has to know."

[No, your mother and Tina Feng only know he is special, but Victoria and Helen know exactly as you do. The new head of Lang however has not figured it out yet.]

"How do you know so much about Rick?" she demanded, leaning over the desk as her curiosity peaked. "Are you his ally?"

[Hmm? I know him better than anyone else in this world. But that is not important right now. You will bring your family together in two weeks to show the world you want to make up. Of course the Lee and your husband will be completely against it, but let them puff out their useless chests in front of Rick, fufu. Do you have any requests for staying on as the head?]

"I still want to divorce my husband," she said firmly, tapping her finger against the desk. "But if I do that now, my position as Head will be lost under clan law, so what can I do about it?"

[Hmm? Give me a week, and I will make sure you will never have to sleep with Greg ever again. How is that? This will show I am entirely sincere in wanting you to help my Emperor.]

"Then what do I do about producing a child?" she countered, her brow furrowing as she thought of the clan regulations. "If I am shown to be unable to have an heir within five years of becoming the head, will I be taken out of power once again?"

[Just find a man with black hair and blue eyes, fufu.]

"No, I do not want that," she replied instantly, a wave of disgust washing over her. "That concept disgusts me just thinking of it."

[I guess blondes are dumb after all... Rick also has black hair and blue eyes...]

"AH! I remember now!" she cried out, a sudden realization hitting her as her mind raced back to the rumors. "That was exactly what the twins did! Can I actually do that?"

[Long ago, I seduced my husband in a very similar way. His name was Tim Smith, and he was just like Rick, so here is how you convince him...]

For the next ten minutes, Jill listened intently as another intricate green-hat scheme for love ensued over the line, ensuring Rick was betrayed by his very first love.

And forty-eight hours before the above incident took place...

Far from the quiet shadows of the Feng Estate, Commander Kris Lee of the SDF sat at his large metal desk, reviewing the latest intelligence updates. He carefully read through the reports detailing the recent movements of the traditional Li clan, his eyes narrowing at the potential threats.

The heavy silence of the military office shattered as a young officer burst through the doors, entirely out of breath. The young man frantically saluted, his chest heaving as he stood at rigid attention, waiting anxiously for the Commander to acknowledge his presence.

Commander Lee looked up from his paperwork, his expression hard and unreadable. "Report..."

"Sir, it is critical..." the officer gasped, struggling to catch his breath as he stepped closer to the desk. "The Traditionalists have assembled a massive force of twenty Masters from their own clan, along with several prominent masters from the Forest Temple. They have officially stated they are arresting you for treason... Somehow they received word of your wife passing long ago and are now openly coming for your head. What shall we do, sir?!"

Kris Lee furrowed his greying eyebrows and sighed, the weight of decades of military service resting heavily on his shoulders. He looked directly at the panicked officer, keeping his voice completely calm and steady as he issued his final commands.

"Our Conservative faction is officially done," Kris said, his voice cutting through the tense air of the office. "Send word for all of our loyal followers to vanish immediately, telling them to go to Rick and serve him covertly from the shadows. I will personally activate the End of Days protocol to completely erase and destroy everything left behind, so thank you for your hard work. Sadly, this will be our very last meeting as fellow soldiers, so go now and tell everyone to destroy every shred of evidence before they disappear."

The man, who had served the General faithfully ever since he was a young recruit, choked back a sob as he snapped a rigid salute with misty eyes. "Yes, sir, and thank you for absolutely everything."

The officer turned and left the office just as fast as he had arrived, leaving the old general completely alone in the quiet room.

Kris stood up from his desk and walked over to a framed picture hanging on the wall, staring at the painted face of his deceased wife, who happened to look like a breathtakingly beautiful version of May Lee. He swung the picture aside to reveal the hidden wall safe, quickly punching in the security code to pop the heavy metal door open. Inside rested a bulky, primitive black phone the size of a brick alongside a thick stack of confidential documents. He pulled both items out into the open, then reached back inside to press a heavily guarded red button labeled with the small, stark words: EMP Generator.

A digital countdown timer immediately flickered to life, showing exactly two hours remaining until full activation before he firmly shut the safe door.

Kris walked over to the metal trash can, giving the folder in his hands one final, lingering look. Inside rested the biggest and most astonishing secret of his entire life, an absolute truth that he had actively hidden from his own daughter for years. With a heavy, sorrowful sigh, he struck a match and set fire to the edges of the paper, watching the flames lick across a photograph of a bloody body that looked exactly like his son, covered in deep bullet wounds.

"How incredibly stupid do the Traditionalists honestly think my son is?" Kris muttered to himself, a mocking sneer touching his lips as the paper began to curl and blacken in the heat. "A true Grandmaster can easily slow his own heartbeat to perfectly feign death for a time, yet you absolute fools waited a whole eight hours before trying to bury him. Did you honestly think I could not get to his side in time? Humph!"

Kris turned his attention to the heavy black phone, dialing the secure numbers manually before leaning close to let the built-in scanner read his eye. Around thirty seconds of static passed before a raspy, deeply familiar voice echoed through the speaker.

[Is it time already? I had hoped this day would never actually come.]

"Shadow, I need to be extracted immediately," Kris said, keeping his eyes fixed on the burning trash can. "Can your people pull it off? It looks like I will finally be joining you in the afterlife now."

[The exact moment this phone began to ring, I sent out the tactical command to retrieve you... Tell me, did you burn the ritual incense for me like I asked?]

"I have never missed a single year to burn it for Sally Tang and Lucy Lee," Kris replied, the heat from the flames warming his face. "Plus, you know that is the only time I ever get to see the family in person anymore."

[I have been completely dead inside ever since that day, but my children still desperately need me. Everything is fully prepared on my end, so tell me, did you successfully hide all of my spies? Especially Ling Ling and Mei?]

"Yes, every single one of your sleeper agents is safely hidden away," Kris assured him, shifting his stance as the documents turned to ash. "And your fierce sister is still right by Rick's side, so my departure changes nothing. She is incredibly fierce, acting just like your mother used to."

[I wanted so badly to see my kids one last time, but after losing their mother, I simply had no face to look them in the eye... I could not save her when they targeted Linda in broad daylight.]

"Stop constantly blaming yourself for the past, because you had absolutely no idea they would try to assassinate you out in the open," Kris said, his voice hardening. "But I understand, because that is exactly how I felt when your own mother died just to save my life. I only hope little Rick never has to suffer our terrible fate."

[Is little May truly happy with Rick?]

"You have been hiding in those shadows for far too long, and now you are asking completely stupid questions," Kris let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "That girl is absolutely crazy for him. I just want our kids to survive this massive mess and stand triumphantly over our enemies' broken bodies, and then I can finally join your mother with zero regrets."

[Stop talking like an old man, and hurry up to the designated extraction point... Many good men are going to have to die just to retrieve you, so make sure you kill a few enemies on your way out. And also completely destroy that phone, because their little hacker wannabe will definitely try to get information from it, so see you very soon. Click...]

The line went dead, leaving nothing but a repetitive dial tone echoing into the quiet room.

Using his bare hands, Kris squeezed the device until a sharp crack and a loud snap echoed, completely pulverizing the black brick into pieces before dropping the remnants into the burning flames of the trash can. A sudden mechanical klaxon blared through the military base, accompanied by flashing red hazard lights signaling that it was officially time to evacuate the entire area.

The old General cracked his neck from side to side, flexing his knuckles until they popped loudly in the smoky air. A vicious, predatory grin spread across his face as he turned on his heel and stepped out of his office for the absolute last time.

An incredibly nasty, brutal firefight ensued the moment he reached the corridors, but the twenty Masters sent to claim his head stood no chance against the veteran. Fifteen were killed in a matter of minutes, and the remaining five fled into the night with critical injuries. By the time a stealth-helicopter hovered overhead to retrieve General Lee, the EMP activated, ensuring everything within a ten-mile radius containing any electrical components completely stopped functioning. The massive blast left absolutely not a single piece of useful data behind for a hacker to ever retrieve.