"Master, here are the reports." Anna handed over a navy folder with gold trim along its edges.
She watched as her hands reached for the folder and flipped it open. The contents hit her like a physical blow – how could she not remember this piece of shit?
Li Min's "boyfriend" was the son of a notorious drug lord, and the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. The reports detailed his sophisticated operation specializing in designer drugs and experimental compounds. His latest venture – a new synthetic drug – had already claimed lives across three provinces. But drugs were just the beginning. To fund his twisted experiments, he'd expanded into human trafficking, targeting young women specifically. Li Min had been just one of many victims who'd crossed his path. His method was always the same: arrange to meet, then have his men kidnap the girls right in their own neighborhoods.
Li Hua had seen through him immediately, forbidden Li Min from seeing him, even locked down their mansion to keep her safe. But Li Min, young and naive, had managed to slip away anyway, forcing Li Hua to frantically search the neighborhood that fateful night.
Three days from now, when she was finally released from the hospital, her organization would join forces with the elite members of the Shadow Assassin's' Guild. Together, they would methodically dismantle both the Drug Lord and his sons entire operation – burning down drug labs, intercepting shipments, and liberating trafficking victims. Their compounds would be reduced to ashes, their network scattered to the winds, and their reputation destroyed beyond repair.
She would then drag the drug lord's son in front of Li Min and, without a word of explanation, slice his head off. The brutal execution would serve as a twofold lesson: to Li Min about the consequences of naivety, and to anyone else who dared threaten her family.
A lesson written in blood, delivered with the cold efficiency that had made her name feared in both the corporate world and the underground.
Even now, remembering this future-past moment, Li Hua felt the cold certainty of its necessity. The calculated brutality had been justified – the drug lord's son had to die for his crimes, for the lives he'd destroyed, for daring to target her family.
Yet something twisted in her chest as she remembered Li Min's face during the execution. Perhaps she could have handled it differently – eliminated him quietly, away from her sister's innocent eyes. Li Min had already been traumatized by his betrayal; did she need to witness such violence from her own sister as well? Her new life had taught her that protection didn't always require public displays of power, that sometimes the gentlest approaches left the deepest impressions. Violence had its place, yes, but maybe the lesson for Li Min could have been delivered with more wisdom and less blood.
Her consciousness flickered again, the memory beginning to fade at its edges. Shrouded in darkness, Li Hua attempted to pierce through this void by carefully releasing her spiritual essence, measuring each pulse of power in case her parents were nearby. She didn't want to startle them with an unexpected burst of spiritual energy, but she needed enough power to break free from these memories that held her captive.
To her disappointment, her spiritual essence dispersed into the void like smoke in a strong wind, offering no purchase, no path back to consciousness.
But scenes slowly materialized around her like watercolors bleeding onto rice paper.
Captain Fu lay groaning on the polished floor of the training hall, his pain echoing through the silence as Li Hua watched impassively from her leather chair. Behind her, rows of men in crisp suits and starched uniforms sat rigid with tension, witnessing the display.
"Please, Master," he gasped, but before he could continue, Anna's boot found his chest with surgical precision.
"Save your tears, Captain," Anna's voice cracked like a whip. "You don't pass the trials for promotion with sympathy – you pass them with skill, intelligence, and strength." She turned to address the assembled audience, her words sharp as steel. "Do you hear that? Save your ranks and seniority bullshit. In this training hall today, only strength and skill matter. Your blood, your connections, your years of service – none of it counts here."
Li Hua tilted her head ever so slightly, observing the assembled men behind her through her peripheral vision. They shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Anna's words settled over them like a heavy shroud.
She remembered this day clearly - the day she created the death squadron. The formation of this elite unit had triggered a massive reorganization within her power structure. While she assigned her most experienced veterans to her sister's protection detail, ensuring Li Min's safety remained absolute, the resulting leadership gap in her organization needed to be filled.
Today's trials would determine who among these candidates would rise to claim the empty seats of power. She had handpicked each potential commander herself, breaking them down in this very hall until only the strongest remained. The memory of their training sessions still haunted her - the crack of bones, the metallic taste of blood in the air, the way she'd shaped these men into living weapons through countless brutal trials. Each broken bone and spilled drop of blood was an investment in both Li Min's safety and her organization's future, a calculated sacrifice to ensure both would thrive in her absence.
"Master." Anna walked over, "What do you want to do with him? Should I remove him from all future assignments?" Anna's voice pulled Li Hua back to the present moment, to the trembling man curled in the center of the training hall.
"Does he have a Family?" Li Hua asked.
"Yes, master. Newly married and a baby on the way."
Li Hua shut her eyes for a moment before responding, "Send him to the defensive unit."
He would live, and more than that, he would prosper. The defensive unit - it was where she sent those she couldn't bear to destroy completely. Double pay for half the risk, stationed safely away from the darker aspects of their operation. A place where a man could support his family without staining his hands too deeply in blood.
Li Hua knew this truth intimately, had created this sanctuary beneath the guise of practicality.
"Yes, Master." Anna cupped her hands and bowed slightly.
Li Hua watched her leave, remembering how many times she'd made similar choices in the past. She'd learned to hide these moments of mercy behind a mask of cold calculation, justifying each decision with carefully crafted reasoning about resource allocation and operational efficiency. But deep down, she knew these choices were fragments of her humanity refusing to die, echoes of the person she might have been in another life.