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The man whom everyone addressed as Mr. Shen could not even be bothered to lift his eyes.
He reclined in a broad teakwood chair, his tall frame resembling a silent mountain. An icy aura surrounded him, warning strangers to keep their distance.
Between his long, powerful fingers, he lazily twirled an old brass lighter.
Click. Click. Click.
The lid snapped open and shut in a slow, steady rhythm.
The ingratiating smile on Master Ba's face was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Just as he was about to speak again, the man's deep, indifferent voice cut through the silence.
"I'm not interested in women."
The blunt rejection showed no concern whatsoever for Master Ba's feelings.
Master Ba's smile froze in place, and a fine sheen of sweat appeared across his forehead.
The distinguished man before him was Shen Yu.
Shen Yu was a commercial titan in Southeast Asia's high-end asset industry.
Under his command were elite security services, asset allocation firms, and family wealth management operations. His network was vast yet discreet, and the true extent of his influence remained beyond anyone's imagination.
He had nothing to do with the lawless chaos of this place, nor did he have the slightest interest in it.
He had come here for one reason only, to negotiate a legitimate business partnership involving one of Master Ba's legally operated gemstone mines.
At that moment, his indifferent gaze slowly swept across the trembling girls lined up before him, as though he were inspecting a row of lifeless objects.
Every girl felt her scalp go numb beneath his scrutiny.
Their bodies stiffened instinctively, and each lowered her head even further, wishing she could simply vanish from existence.
Xia Zhiyao was no exception.
She stared blankly at the tips of her shoes, feeling as though every drop of blood in her body had frozen solid.
She had to distract herself.
Otherwise, she knew she would completely lose control and scream.
Her frightened eyes wandered aimlessly around the room before finally settling on something hanging on the opposite wall.
It was a massive antique map mounted inside a dark wooden frame.
In a place overflowing with violence and disorder, the centuries-old map seemed strangely out of place, carrying an unmistakable sense of history.
Xia Zhiyao had majored in art history, specializing in the study of ancient cartography.
Her academic advisor had once led the class through extensive research on the evolution of historical maps, the craftsmanship behind their creation, and the colonial history concealed within them.
Almost by instinct, an instinct engraved into her bones through years of academic training, Xia Zhiyao found her attention completely drawn to the map.
It had been made from high-quality parchment. After centuries of age, the material had acquired a warm ivory-yellow hue. Its edges were naturally frayed, worn, and curled with time.
The inscriptions were written in elegant English cursive.
Although the ink had faded over the years, every word remained remarkably legible.
The terrain had been rendered using the distinctive hachure technique, with parallel lines of varying lengths illustrating the rise and fall of the landscape.
The slight feathering along the edges of the ink strokes unmistakably identified the pigment as iron gall ink, a medium that only came into widespread use during the late eighteenth century.
Xia Zhiyao's pupils widened slightly.
The professional knowledge that had once been second nature to her had, in this moment, become the only thing keeping her fear at bay.
She recognized it.
It was a Southeast Asian trade route map from the late eighteenth century, drawn by a surveyor of the British East India Company.
Routes marked in different colors clearly traced the shipping lanes used for transporting spices and tea.
The ancient place names, long since lost to history, and the map's drafting techniques, which blended practical navigation with the distinctive artistry of the colonial era, made her forget her fear in an instant.
She even forgot where she was.
For a brief moment, the terror inside her receded like an ebbing tide.
Master Ba.
Mr. Shen.
The armed guards standing watch.
Everything else gradually blurred into the background.
In her world, only the ancient map remained.
It was a map that had witnessed the rise and fall of an entire era.
She became so completely absorbed that she never noticed the man seated in the place of honor lingering on her for half a second.
Shen Yu's gaze had originally swept across the room as nothing more than a routine glance.
To him, all of these women were the same.
Fragile.
Terrified.
Foolish.
Their eyes held only two things, fear and desperate submission.
But this girl was different.
She was trembling too.
Her palm-sized face was deathly pale, making it obvious that she was terrified.
Yet her eyes were unlike anyone else's.
They were neither fixed on him in a desperate attempt to earn his favor nor lowered hopelessly toward the floor.
Instead, her gaze passed over everyone in the room before settling on the wall opposite them.
The fear within those clear eyes gradually faded, replaced by concentration, curiosity, and a fascination that bordered on obsession.
Shen Yu followed her line of sight.
His eyes landed on the old map.
It was nothing more than an antique map.
Several years earlier, he had casually taken it from the residence of a fallen local crime boss. Having no use for it himself, he had handed it to Basai without a second thought. Eager to please him, Basai had proudly framed it and hung it on the wall.
She… was looking at the map?
A girl trapped in such desperate circumstances, with her life hanging by a thread, was actually studying an old map?
Interesting.
The corner of Shen Yu's lips lifted almost imperceptibly.
The faint smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
He withdrew his gaze and gave Master Ba a casual wave.
"Take them all away."
His voice remained as cold and indifferent as ever, as though nothing unusual had happened.
Master Ba felt as though he had been granted a royal pardon.
He immediately waved his hand at the guards.
"Didn't you hear Mr. Shen? Get them out of here!"
The sharp shout jolted Xia Zhiyao back to reality, as though she had awakened from a dream.
Only then did she realize that cold sweat had completely soaked through her thin dress.
What... what had I just done?
She had actually let herself become distracted...
In a place like this?
Not daring to hesitate for even a second, Xia Zhiyao hurried after the other girls, fleeing the terrace as though her life depended on it.
When they returned to the dim, mold-infested room, the girls collapsed onto the floor one after another.
"I was scared to death..." one girl whispered, her voice still trembling. "Who was that man? His presence was terrifying."
"Even Master Ba acted like a servant in front of him. He must be someone unimaginably powerful."
Another girl wiped away her tears.
"I think... I'd rather have been chosen by him. Anything would be better than staying here, waiting without knowing what's going to happen to us..."
Leaning against the damp wall, Xia Zhiyao struggled to catch her breath.
Only now did the fear she had suppressed come crashing back.
A chill spread through her entire body.
That man...
A single glance from him had made her feel as though an invisible hand had wrapped around her throat, leaving her unable to breathe.
He was terrifying.
She absolutely could not fall into the hands of someone like him.
Suddenly, the door swung open again.
The same guard stepped inside.
His eyes swept across the room before stopping on Xia Zhiyao.
"You. Come out."
The color instantly drained from her face.
"Why her?" one of the girls blurted out before she could stop herself.
The guard spat on the floor impatiently.
"Master Ba's orders. Since when do you get to ask questions?"
Without another word, he grabbed Xia Zhiyao by her slender arm and dragged her toward the door.
"N-No... Please don't..."
She struggled desperately, but against the strength of a grown man, she was no more capable of resisting than a helpless chick.
The guard dragged her to a separate room at the end of the hallway before roughly shoving her inside.
Bang!
The door slammed shut behind her.
A moment later came the unmistakable sound of the lock engaging.
Click.
This room was noticeably better than the one where she had been held before.
Although simply furnished, it contained a reasonably clean bed and even a private bathroom that carried a faint smell of urine.
Yet this preferential treatment only deepened Xia Zhiyao's fear.
She couldn't understand it.
That man had clearly said he wasn't interested.
So why...
Why was she being locked up alone?
What she didn't know was that after she had left the terrace—
Master Ba had cautiously approached Shen Yu and asked in a tentative voice,
"Mr. Shen... Didn't any of those girls catch your eye?"
Shen Yu continued idly twirling the brass lighter in his hand without replying.
Master Ba had survived and climbed to his current position because he knew how to read people.
His ability to judge even the slightest change in someone's expression had been the foundation of his success in this region.
Just moments ago, he had clearly noticed it.
Among all the girls, Shen Yu's gaze had lingered on the smallest and fairest one for half a second longer than on anyone else.
Half a second.
That was enough.
You could never presume to guess what a man like Shen Yu was thinking.
But you also couldn't afford not to understand him.
When someone of his status said, "I don't want one," it didn't necessarily mean he truly wanted none.
Perhaps he simply considered it beneath him to speak openly in a place like this.
Or perhaps he had his own reasons.
Whatever the case, if Master Ba had taken those words at face value, he would have been a fool.
"Mr. Shen," Master Ba said, his smile growing even more obsequious.
"The girl who was looking at the map just now is rather interesting. She's a little thin, but she's clean and has a good foundation. Why don't I keep her for you? Once she's been properly trained, I'll send her over."
Click.
The brass lighter snapped shut in Shen Yu's hand.
He slowly lifted his eyes.
There was no trace of emotion in those deep, unreadable pupils as he gave Master Ba a brief, indifferent glance.
"As you wish."
With those three words, he rose from his seat.
Surrounded by his bodyguards, he walked away without looking back.
Master Ba watched his retreating figure until it disappeared from sight.
Only then did he raise a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
A sly, satisfied smile gradually spread across his face.
He had made the right gamble.
That distinguished man had indeed taken a liking to that girl.