The giant projector screens turned to absolute pitch-black darkness.
Then, a massive electronic pop echoed through the ceiling.
Every single crystal chandelier in the grand ballroom of the Royal Crystal Hotel went completely dead.
The entire giant room was plunged into absolute, terrifying darkness.
The five hundred wealthy guests shrieked in sudden panic.
Women screamed in their expensive dresses, and elite billionaires knocked over heavy mahogany chairs as they scrambled toward the exit doors in the dark.
Up on the grand VIP balcony, Julian Sterling dropped his silver microphone.
It hit the marble floor with a loud metallic thud.
Julian Sterling did not care about the green light anymore.
He knew that the sudden power surge meant something had gone horribly wrong at the Ross estate.
Julian Sterling turned his body quickly, trying to run toward the private balcony exit doors.
But he only took two fast steps before a blinding beam of light hit him directly in the eyes.
A powerful tactical flashlight pinned Julian Sterling against the wall.
Then, five more bright tactical lights turned on, completely surrounding Julian Sterling.
Captain Leo Chang, the chief of Damien Vance’s elite shadow-guard, stood in the doorway.
Captain Leo Chang wore a black tactical vest, and his face was cold and expressionless.
Behind him stood four massive security guards with their hands resting heavily on their holstered weapons.
Captain Leo Chang spoke in a deep, chilling voice, “Mr.
Sterling.
You are not going anywhere.”
Down on the main ballroom floor, Damien Vance did not look up at the bright flashlights.
Damien Vance deeply pulled Evelyn Vance closer against his chest, shielding her body from the frantic, rushing crowd.
Damien Vance looked at Captain Leo Chang on the balcony and gave a cold, single nod.
Damien Vance said into his wrist communicator, “Tie him up.
If he moves a single inch, break his legs.”
Damien Vance did not waste another second.
He turned Evelyn Vance around and walked her swiftly through a private kitchen exit, completely avoiding the screaming crowd.
Within thirty seconds, they were outside the hotel.
Damien Vance’s armored black Maybach tore around the corner, stopping directly in front of them.
The heavy bulletproof door flew open.
The driver slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
The powerful engine roared like a wild beast as the Maybach tore through the midnight streets toward the Ross family estate.
Inside the quiet, luxurious back seat, Evelyn Vance was trembling violently.
Her hands were still ice-cold.
She looked out the tinted window at the dark city skyline, but her mind was filled with the image of that terrifying green light.
Evelyn Vance looked at Damien Vance with wide, fearful eyes.
She asked, “Damien…
what was that light?
What did my mother bury under our home?”
Damien Vance reached out and took Evelyn Vance’s freezing hands into his large, warm palms.
His dark eyes were filled with an intense, deadly focus.
Damien Vance said, “Evelyn, your mother was not just a regular woman from high society.
Dr.
Diana Ross was the world’s leading quantum geologist.
Before she married your father, she discovered something hidden deep beneath the earth.
It is a legendary, multi-trillion-dollar raw clean-energy mineral called Verdant Jade-9.”
Evelyn Vance gasped softly, her lips parting in pure shock.
Damien Vance continued, “A single cubic inch of that glowing green crystal can power an entire mega-city for a hundred years without a single drop of pollution.
It is worth five trillion dollars.
The global corporate syndicates would start a world war just to possess it.
Your mother knew this.
So, she built a massive underground shield made of compressed titanium and lead to bury it two hundred feet deep.”
Damien Vance’s jaw clenched tightly.
“Julian Sterling thought he was drilling into ordinary soil.
But his industrial drill just violently crashed into your mother’s titanium shield.
That green laser beam was a pressurized energy flare.
If his machines drill just one meter deeper, they will breach the core—and cause an explosion that will wipe this entire city off the map.”
The heavy armored Maybach smashed straight through the broken iron gates of the Ross family estate.
The vehicle came to a violent stop at the edge of the property.
Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance stepped out of the car.
The beautiful green grass of her childhood home was completely gone, torn to pieces by heavy yellow bulldozers.
In the center of the ruined land was a massive, smoking black crater.
From the very bottom of the deep hole, the brilliant green light pulsed rhythmically, casting an eerie, radioactive glow over the entire landscape.
Suddenly, Evelyn Vance felt a strange, intense heat pressing against her throat.
The platinum choker necklace that her mother had left her in her legal will began to shine.
The central emerald stone on the choker pulsed with the exact same vibrant green light as the deep crater.
Before Evelyn Vance could even speak, a loud, heavy mechanical noise shook the air from high above.
WHIRR-WHIRR-WHIRR!
The deafening sound of heavy helicopter blades filled the midnight sky.
Three massive, unmarked black stealth helicopters descended from the dark clouds like giant predatory birds.
Powerful, blinding searchlights snapped on, pinning Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance in the center of the glowing crater.
Dozens of highly armed mercenaries wearing black high-tech armor began to slide down heavy ropes from the helicopters, aiming their red laser-sighted rifles directly at Damien Vance’s chest.
Suddenly, a cold, computerized voice echoed loudly from a hidden speaker inside the pulsing crater.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
The robotic voice announced: “Warning.
Titanium shield integrity compromised by hostile force.
Bio-resonance lock is now active.
Self-destruct sequence initiated.
You have sixty seconds to scan the DNA of the Direct Descendant, or the energy core will detonate.”
The armed mercenaries surrounded them, their weapons clicked and ready.
A mercenary leader stepped forward, his voice cold behind his black helmet: “Damien Vance, step away from the girl.
Hand over the descendant, or you die right here.”
Damien Vance looked at the red laser dots painting his chest.
Then, he stepped directly in front of Evelyn Vance, blocking her completely from the weapons.
A deadly, terrifying smile slowly spread across Damien Vance’s handsome face.
The real war had just officially begun.