The air in the conference room was stagnant.
The shareholders’ eyes were wide.
It wasn’t Lawyer Zhao they were waiting for. It was Xia Li!
TAP.
The sound of high heels clicking on the floor was crisp and clear.
The shareholders around the long table subconsciously tensed up, like statues frozen in ice.
They were afraid of Xia Li.
If Xia Li hadn’t been gravely ill, they never would have dared to act so brazenly.
Though the woman was only thirty, her vicious methods sent a chill down one’s spine.
No one could forget how she had established her authority when she first took power, how she had dealt with her opponents.
That night, an unknown number of people were taken away by the public security bureau, and an unknown number... died in "accidents."
Xia Li’s gaze swept across the shareholders’ faces, finally landing on the noblewoman.
The noblewoman shivered and swallowed hard.
"You, how are you..."
Xia Li spoke.
"What did you just say?"
Her voice was like a thin, sharp blade, piercing the noblewoman’s heart with precision.
All eyes gathered on her.
Just a moment ago, she was calling the other woman a slut, but now that she was here, she couldn’t even get a single word out.
Her face burned with shame.
The humiliation of being cowed by Xia Li finally erupted!
She stared daggers at Xia Li.
’Xia Li’s ALS and heart condition are real. She’s definitely going to die, and soon!’
’I don’t understand how she can be standing now, but her fate is sealed.’
The noblewoman slammed her hand on the table, shot to her feet, and pointed at Xia Li, cursing furiously.
"You slut!
Stop putting on an act!
Your time is over, you invalid!
World Dream belongs to us, not a dead woman walking!"
Her words jolted the other shareholders back to their senses.
Even if Xia Li could stand again, it was just a fluke, a miracle.
Her illness had already signed her death warrant.
At this thought, the shareholders straightened their spines.
Xia Li said nothing, simply walking toward the noblewoman in her high heels.
The clicks of her heels were crisp and steady, each step landing on the shareholders’ frayed nerves.
Xia Li stood face-to-face with the noblewoman, who deliberately tilted her head back, her eyes full of disdain.
Just as everyone was wondering how Xia Li would handle the situation, something shocking happened.
Xia Li lifted her long, slender leg and drove her knee hard into the noblewoman’s stomach.
The noblewoman’s eyes flew wide in horror. She spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground in pain.
Xia Li lifted her foot, planting her high heel on the noblewoman’s head. Her gaze, as majestic as a queen’s, swept over the other shareholders.
"Your audacity is growing. So much so that it makes me afraid World Dream will be ruined in my hands."
Everyone stared at the scene, their eyes wide with shock.
There was nothing unusual about Xia Li getting physical.
What was unbelievable was that Xia Li clearly wasn’t sick!
Otherwise, where did she get that kind of strength?!
Instantly, everyone’s minds started racing.
’Could it be... Xia Li was never sick?’
’Was this all a setup?’
’Did she want to see what kind of "surprises" the shareholders would offer her while she was supposedly on her deathbed?’
The middle-aged fat man reacted quickly, immediately blurting out:
"President Xia, this has nothing to do with me! It was all their idea!"
The old man, his previous composure gone, hastily explained:
"We were just afraid that World Dream would have no successor, so we asked Lawyer Zhao to figure something out.
Did Lawyer Zhao do something to you? Has there been some misunderstanding?"
Xia Li smiled, but her smile only grew colder.
Everyone’s hearts sank to the pit of their stomachs.
’It’s over.’
A handsome man in his thirties spoke in a low voice.
"President Xia, what’s done is done.
Are you going to have your assassins do away with all of us?"
Xia Li said ominously,
"I’d love to slaughter you all, but why would I tear down all the pillars of World Dream?"
Only then did they understand.
’No matter what we’ve done, can Xia Li really kill us?’
’Without us shareholders, without our resources, World Dream is doomed.’
They had just been intimidated by Xia Li’s aura.
It was like in high school when a big, brawny kid gets slapped by a slender female teacher.
He knows he won’t be beaten to death by a little woman, but he’s still scared out of his mind.
A foreign woman frowned and said,
"There’s a saying in the Xia Kingdom: when things reach an extreme, they reverse.
World Dream has reached its peak. In the future, its downfall is inevitable.
We can’t find any new projects to push World Dream forward.
Right now, dissolving World Dream is the best option!"
Xia Li glanced at her.
"I have already found a good project, but I need everyone to be of one mind."
The shareholders exchanged glances.
’Found a good project?’
’How is that possible?’
’Is it real estate?’
’It can’t be. The real estate industry in the South Sea peaked long ago.’
Xia Li removed her foot from the noblewoman’s head and said,
"My father had two wishes before he died.
First, to find the family photo from my childhood.
Second, for the shareholders of World Dream to be of one mind.
I can’t fulfill the first wish. My grandfather left everything behind when he died, except for that family photo, which is nowhere to be found.
As for the second wish, I didn’t have the power to grant it before. Now, I do."
The shareholders didn’t understand what Xia Li was saying.
The human heart is the easiest thing in this world to corrupt, and the hardest thing to see through.
How did she have the nerve to say something like that?
Then, Xia Li showed them.
Xia Li’s pupils gradually turned scarlet.
A pair of thin, bat-like wings sprouted from her waist.
She bit her finger, and eight drops of blood essence shot from the tip.
The blood essence landed on the foreheads of the still-dazed shareholders and slowly sank in...
"Wh-what is this!"
"Ah... it hurts!"
"My head is going to explode!"
The shareholders fell from their chairs in agony, writhing on the floor in pain.
Their bodies began to change.
Their eyes turned crimson, fangs protruded from their mouths, and their fingernails grew preternaturally sharp.
They watched their own transformations in terror.
’President Xia... is a Vampire!’
’And now she’s turned us into Vampires too!’
’How could this be? How could a mythical creature like a Vampire actually exist?!’
Xia Li had the ability to turn them into Vampires.
This ability was called the Initial Embrace.
The biggest difference between these vampiric descendants and her was that they had no bat wings.
In this world, only the vampiric progenitor who wore the Cain’s Seal possessed the power of flight, a symbol of strength and authority.
Xia Li felt a little weak.
Turning eight people into Vampires at once had taken a great toll on her.
But it had to be done.
She had to unite the shareholders to truly help the Taboo Association.
Taboo Items were the new objective for the World Dream Group.
"President... President Xia... I..."
The old man, having experienced the most in his life, was the quickest to process the change.
Xia Li crossed her long, slender legs, creating an elegant curve.
Having returned to her normal human form, she propped up her lovely face with her long, pale fingers.
"It’s ’Mother.’"
The old man’s body trembled violently, his aged face filled with shock.
An irresistible pressure from their shared bloodline descended upon them all.
They had an intuition.
If they disobeyed this ’Mother,’ they would die in an instant, their very souls ceasing to exist.
The old man, the middle-aged fat man, the noblewoman, the handsome man, the foreign woman, and the other shareholders—eight in total—all fell to their knees with a THUD, kowtowing respectfully.
"Mother."
"Mo... Mother!"
The smirk on Xia Li’s lips grew wider.
Just then, the door was pushed open again.
A red-haired young man entered. His name was Xia Qiming.
He was Xia Li’s younger brother.
Xia Qiming was a playboy through and through. Even knowing that tonight was the night he was supposed to inherit World Dream, he still stayed out at a bar with some girls until he’d had his fill of fun before showing up.
Now, he was greeted by a very strange scene.
The cold, beautiful Female President was sitting in the head seat with her legs crossed, her voluptuous body casually leaning against the back of the chair.
Eight men and women of different ages and genders were kneeling on the floor.
These powerful figures, these gentlemen and ladies of high society, were kowtowing to their queen as if it were some special fetish.
Xia Qiming’s eyes widened.
"Sis! How are you not dead yet!"
Xia Li glanced at Xia Qiming, a flicker of pain in her eyes.
She closed her eyes and said softly,
"Feeling hungry? Your takeout is here."
Only then did the eight shareholders feel a ravenous hunger!
It was a hunger that made every cell in their bodies twitch and ache.
The eight shareholders couldn’t resist. Losing all reason, they rose as one and lunged at Xia Qiming.
Only then did Xia Qiming realize that the shareholders had all turned into monsters!
He couldn’t escape. The noblewoman-turned-vampire had already pinned him to the ground!
Xia Qiming screamed,
"Sister, save me! If I die, the Xia Family line ends with me!"
Xia Li slowly opened her eyes.
The sadness gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable ambition.
Her eyes glittered with excitement as she parted her red lips.
"I am immortal. The Xia Family no longer needs an heir."
Her words—arrogant, domineering—shattered all of Xia Qiming’s hopes.
...
「The next day, just after midnight.」
Han Dafu Street, South Sea East District.
An old man, out early to collect scrap, witnessed a bizarre scene.
A man in a security guard uniform was dragging something, staggering along like a walking corpse.
His eyes were filled with lust, and a lecherous expression was plastered on his face. Every now and then, he would let out a ’hehehe’ laugh.
He left a trail of red and yellow streaks on the ground behind him, which gave off a foul stench.
The old man walked over curiously to take a look, and his cloudy old eyes instantly filled with terror.
"AHHHHHH!!!!!"
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the tranquil dawn.