"Ding! Female lead Alice has experienced an emotional fluctuation. Congratulations, Host, you've gained +300 Villain Points."
"Ding! Female lead Alice's favorability has increased. Congratulations, Host, you've gained +500 Villain Points."
"..."
Alice lifted her head, her large, watery eyes shimmering with crystalline light.
The man before her—Veil—stood impossibly close. His chiseled features, already striking, seemed to sharpen further, as if enhanced by some boyfriend-filter effect. Around him, a dazzling glow shimmered, making him appear even more unrealistically perfect.
For a moment, Alice's mind was completely occupied by his domineering declaration.
"Bastard! If you've got guts, don't run! If I don't break your damn legs today, I'm not human!"
Pousen's furious roar snapped Alice out of her daydream.
She slapped her cheeks and shook her head vigorously, scolding herself inwardly.
Alice, oh Alice! How shameless can you be?
What nonsense were you imagining just now?!
The young master only cares about the Lancaster family's reputation. He simply doesn't allow a Lancaster housekeeper to be humiliated. That's all!
It's not because of you personally! Don't get carried away!
Yet, even though she had reasoned it out, her heart still felt wrapped in an overwhelming sense of security.
"What are you grinning about?" Veil asked, watching as Alice alternated between smiling foolishly, cupping her cheeks, and pouting in frustration. He couldn't help but find it amusing.
This girl was an open book. Every thought she had was written plainly on her face—pure, like a blank sheet of paper.
Alice shook her head hastily. "N-Nothing, nothing at all! Young Master, we should leave quickly. If the people he called arrive, we won't be able to escape."
"Leave? Why would we leave? He still owes you for that slap." Veil remained standing firmly in place. No matter how Alice tugged at his arm, he didn't budge an inch. Instead, with a slight pull, he effortlessly drew Alice toward him, causing her to crash directly into his chest.
Like a startled little bunny, Alice immediately sprang back, lowering her head in embarrassment.
The intimate contact left her flustered. Having never been this close to a man before, her heart raced uncontrollably.
Veil was more than satisfied with Alice's reaction. Playing hot and cold, coupled with his innate charm—conquering a naive girl like her was almost too easy.
The continuous influx of Villain Points only reinforced his confidence.
He turned his gaze toward Pousen, who was furiously cursing into his phone, and let out a soft chuckle. "Calling for backup? That's all? You think I can't do the same?"
Within ten minutes, both sides had gathered their people.
Onlookers, including curious mall shoppers, had also clustered around to watch the spectacle.
"Oh no, this looks bad! My handsome guy is outnumbered—this doesn't look good!"
"He called for backup too, but why is there only one guy? Just that one dude?"
"Even if he's strong, how can one person take on a whole group? This is suicide!"
A group of young women in the crowd began to panic, fearing they were about to witness their handsome hero get brutally beaten.
Pousen's men, accustomed to handling conflicts with violence at construction sites, were seasoned fighters. He had brought along all his hired thugs—thirteen burly men, each built like a tank.
On Veil's side, however, there was only one man—Kai.
And poor Kai had just returned from carrying Alice's shopping bags to the car.
"Young Master Lancaster, aren't there others at the estate? What if we can't win?" Alice asked nervously. The men across from them looked intimidating, each one seemingly stronger than Kai.
Veil didn't respond. Instead, he simply glanced at Pousen and asked, "That's all? Everyone's here?"
"Let's see how cocky you'll be in a minute!" Pousen sneered viciously, then turned to his thugs. "Take him down! Break one of his arms, and you get ten grand! Break a leg, and I'll pay twenty!"
Money talks.
The thugs roared in excitement and charged at Veil like ravenous wolves.
The fastest among them reached Veil in an instant—
But before he could even throw a punch, Kai moved.
His figure blurred into a streak of motion.
BAM!
The massive thug—nearly 180 pounds of solid muscle—was sent flying several meters like a ragdoll stuffed with gravel.
"Make it quick. Three minutes, tops. Afterward, take the guys out to the club—I'll cover the bill," Veil said casually, patting Kai on the shoulder.
Kai's eyes lit up, and he chuckled. "You said it, Young Master. Three minutes? You're underestimating me."
The moment the words left his mouth, he lunged forward like a beast unchained.
In an instant, the ranks of Pousen's men were torn apart.
This wasn't a fight.
It was a massacre.
Against Kai, these so-called thugs didn't even have a chance to get close. A single knife-hand strike sent one man unconscious. A casual kick sent another flying several meters.
Three minutes?
Not even one.
In less than sixty seconds, all thirteen of Pousen's men were sprawled across the ground, howling in agony.
The entire crowd sucked in a collective breath of shock.
Was he even human?
How could he be this terrifying?!
One man had single-handedly wiped out over a dozen fighters in under a minute?
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed it.
Even Alice was left utterly speechless by Kai's sheer dominance.
Only Veil remained unfazed, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.
After all, if Kai wasn't at least this strong, how could he have exchanged hundreds of blows with Roy?
If Veil's physical stat was twenty-five, Kai's would be somewhere between eighty and ninety. As for Roy? He had to be at least ninety, if not close to a hundred.
Pousen, still reeling from shock, took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Veil. "I'll admit, you've got skills. You even managed to hire a bodyguard like that. Looks like Lusenly Ty. Lancaster is protecting you well."
"But it's too bad for you!" He pointed at the mall's security cameras. "You made a fatal mistake, kid. Society doesn't work like that anymore. Having the biggest fists won't get you out of this! You broke my arm, and your bodyguard just severely injured a dozen men! No matter how much it costs me, I'll make sure you two spend at least a year behind bars!"
Here's the translated passage with smooth, natural prose that reads like a professionally written novel. Let me know if you'd like any refinements!
Pousen had to admit—today, he had lost.
He never expected to fall at the hands of a young man, but that didn't mean he was ready to concede defeat.
On the contrary, he had already prepared a backup plan.
If the thugs he hired managed to cripple Veil, worst case scenario, he could just spend some money to let them serve a short prison sentence—a year or two at most.
As for now…
He would just have to make sure Veil and his bodyguard got locked up instead!
Though he was still fuming inside, the thought of Lusenly Ty.Lancaster soon arriving with his son to kneel and beg for mercy filled him with excitement. He was already imagining the various ways he could humiliate this arrogant upstart!
"Make way, please! Step aside!"
"Don't block the path!"
"What happened here? Why are there so many injured people?"
…
The mall's senior management arrived with a team of security guards, their expressions grim.
Upon seeing them, Pousen's face lit up. Clutching his injured arm, he hurried forward. "Manager Puer, do you remember me?"
Puer frowned as he looked at Pousen, a flicker of disdain flashing in his eyes. "And you are?"
Pousen chuckled sheepishly. "It's me, Pousen! Back when the mall was under construction, I was one of the subcontractors for the earthworks. I even treated you to a meal."
"This is perfect! Since it's you, Manager Puer, this will be much easier. I ran into some trouble today and got beaten up. Would you mind pulling up the surveillance footage for me?"
As the chairman of a company, Pousen shouldn't have had to lower himself before a mere mall manager.
However, Puer was backed by the colossal Don Weiss Group—an empire worth billions. Even a minor manager under them had access to resources that Pousen couldn't possibly match.
Pousen pointed at his broken arm. "Manager Puer, look! My arm's fractured. Help me out here, will you?"
Puer remained expressionless. "The mall's surveillance system malfunctioned. No recordings are available."
Pousen's eyes narrowed. "All the cameras are down?"
Puer's tone was icy. "Yes."
A veteran of the construction industry, Pousen immediately sensed something was off. Then, when he glanced at Veil, who stood casually to the side as if nothing had happened, a deep unease gripped his heart.
"Ah! My leg!" Suddenly, a security guard let out a pained scream, collapsing to the ground. He pointed at one of the men Veil had brought. "He's got a knife hidden in his sleeve! Quick! Subdue them! They're violent criminals!"
The words were shouted with such precision and urgency, as if they had been rehearsed dozens of times. In an instant, Puer's security guards surged forward, engaging in another scuffle with the already-injured thugs.
Pousen was dumbfounded. Even a fool could see that Puer's arrival wasn't a coincidence—he was here to clean up Veil's mess!
Anger flared in his eyes. "Manager Puer, I don't know what connection you have with this kid, but there's no way a mere Ty.Lancaster family would make you stoop so low to humiliate me, Pousen!"
Puer's expression darkened. He leaned in and murmured, just loud enough for only Pousen to hear, "You know he's from the Lancaster family?"
Pousen sneered. "Of course! There's only one Lancaster family in Veyport City. Lusenly still relies on my company to survive!"
Lusenly?
Who?
Puer had no idea who that was, but he immediately realized something—Pousen had completely mistaken Veil's identity.
This guy's an absolute idiot.
"He's not from Veyport City. He's from Luxhaven City."
Bang!
Without another word, Puer kicked Pousen in the stomach, sending him sprawling. As he stomped on Pousen's chest, he raised his voice toward the gathered crowd. "This man is carrying a weapon as well! Someone help restrain him!"
Within moments, two young women in hats rushed out from the crowd, eager to lend a hand. Without hesitation, they started aiming kicks at Pousen's lower body.
Curled up on the ground like a beaten dog, Pousen's mind finally snapped back to reality from the pain.
The Lancaster family…
Not Ty.Lancaster… but the Lancaster family? The one from Luxhaven City?
Pousen's heart pounded violently. Was there even a Lancaster family in Luxhaven's business world? Besides that one figure who frequently appeared on television…
Hiss…
Everything suddenly became clear.
The young master of Don Weiss Group was from Luxhaven. The only one who could manipulate Don Weiss Group into covering up the truth like this—there was only one possibility.
It was him.
It had to be someone from that Lancaster family in Luxhaven!
Only that Lancaster family could force Don Weiss's young master to play along!
Oh, God…
Who had he just offended?
Pousen lay on the ground, peering through the gaps between the two young women's legs, staring at Veil.
At that moment, he wished someone would just beat him to death.
Had he known Veil was from that Lancaster family, he wouldn't have dared to so much as glare at him—let alone break his arm! Even if all four of his limbs were shattered, he wouldn't have had the guts to utter a single harsh word.
But he had made a mistake. He thought Veil was from the Ty.Lancaster family.
The seductive woman who had been screaming "husband" for half a month saw that things were going south. Without hesitation, she twisted her hips and slipped away from the scene.
Alice blinked in confusion and turned to Veil. "Young Master, what's going on with these mall security guards?"
Veil shrugged. "Just some backup. I said I was calling for reinforcements, but I never said I was only calling Kai. Let's go, it's getting late—I've got plans this afternoon."
Alice nodded obediently, trailing beside him. "What would you like for lunch, Young Master?"
"I won't be home for lunch today. Just make something for yourself."
"…Alright."
While Kai went to retrieve the car from the underground parking lot, Veil and Alice waited at the mall's entrance.
Instead of a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce pulled up.
A rotund man, his face beaming like a full moon, stepped out from the back seat. He waddled toward Veil, rubbing his hands together with an ingratiating smile.
"Young Master Lancaster! How are things? Is everything handled? I got your call at home and jumped out of bed immediately to rush over. You're not hurt, are you? Did anything happen to you?"
The man who had just arrived was none other than Visen Don Weiss, the eldest son of the Don Weiss family from Luxhaven City and the chairman of Don Weiss Group. At twenty-eight years old, he had once been a dashing young man, but three years ago, due to certain internal family matters, he made a critical mistake and was subsequently cast out of Luxhaven.
Those who had once mingled in Luxhaven's elite circles naturally had each other's contact information.
However, times had changed.
In the past, Visen Don Weiss might have had the qualifications to stand on somewhat equal footing when speaking with Veil.
But now?
Visen was nothing more than an exile from Luxhaven City, a discarded son of the Don Weiss family. Meanwhile, Veil was the direct heir of the Lancaster family—the only successor to their vast empire.
Their statuses were worlds apart.
"You handled things well. Thanks for that." Veil smiled warmly, his tone carrying a casual elegance.
"This time, I owe you a favor. Next time, when the opportunity arises, I'll be sure to return it."
Visen pulled a face, clearly displeased. "Lancaster, what are you saying? Being able to help you out with something this trivial is an honor for me—I wouldn't even dare think about you owing me a favor. Are you trying to curse me or something?"
"Honestly, this whole situation could've been avoided if you weren't so low-key. If people knew who you really were, none of this would've happened in the first place."
"Actually, the reason I came here today was to personally invite you to the Ruilu Gathering in a few days. It's an exclusive event for Veyport City's upper-class elite. I figured it'd be a good opportunity for them to witness your presence firsthand."