Chapter 3

The run-down rental house on the slum’s edge was small, cramped and shabby to the extreme, barely enough to fit a single bed, a worn sofa and a rickety wooden table. The single dim hanging bulb on the ceiling flickered constantly, its faulty aging electrical wires emitting faint sizzling sparks with every erratic flicker, casting twisted shifting shadows across the peeling damp walls and cracked cold concrete floor. Damp mold clung to every dark corner of the tiny room, the cold stagnant air thick with the smell of rainwater rot, mildew, poverty and silent unspeakable sorrow hanging heavy over the entire space.

Kane laid the feverish little Lila carefully onto his sturdy military camp bed—the tough army-green canvas bed still clearly stamped with the official emblem of Northern Frontier Command, carrying the faint lingering scent of snow, cold iron and battlefield smoke from years of war. The four-year-old’s small cheeks burned bright red with a dangerous high fever, her forehead scalding hot to the touch. She mumbled the word “Mommy” over and over in her delirious half-asleep state, her tiny cold hand clutching tightly to a half-rotted moldy biscuit she had hidden away like a precious treasure, her only small comfort through endless days of cold and hunger.

Just as Kane turned around to fetch cold water, medicine and a wet towel to cool his sick daughter’s burning forehead, his blood ran cold in his veins. Elara stood motionless against the damp moldy wall, a sharp craft blade gripped tightly in her trembling white hand, the cold sharp edge already pressed firmly against her soft fragile wrist, ready to end all her pain and shame with one quick slice.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the blade sliced clean through her skin in a thin straight line. Bright red blood welled up rapidly from the fresh wound, dripping drop by drop onto the cold concrete floor like scattered red beans broken loose from a string, staining the gray ground with dark crimson spreading spots.

“Don’t you dare die like this and run away from your fate.” Kane stepped forward in an instant, his large vice-like grip snatching her trembling wrist tightly, the scorching heat of her fresh wound searing his calloused battle-worn fingertips. “You owe me three years of lost time and lonely waiting. You owe my mother her unrepaid regret and unfilial parting. You owe Lila a mother’s warmth, care and protection that she has never truly known for a single day. You will pay every last debt slowly, painfully, with every breath you take—you are not allowed to escape the punishment you deserve through cowardly death.”

Elara let out a bitter broken hysterical laugh, hot burning tears streaming down her cheeks to mix with the blood seeping from her wrist wound, dripping into her trembling parted mouth with a taste of iron and despair.

“Pay back? How could I ever possibly pay you back for all of this endless pain and ruin?” Her voice was raw, broken and hoarse, filled with endless self-loathing, shame and utter despair. “While you were fighting bloody wars on the Northern Frontier, winning glorious military medals and legendary fame on the battlefield, I was forced to pour liquor and entertain lecherous old wealthy men in this sinful lounge night after night. While your poor mother lay cold and lifeless in the city morgue, passing away alone without her beloved son by her side, I was being pinned down and violated by the ruthless gangster Boss Rook inside that filthy private suite… What can I ever do to atone for all this sin, shame and irreparable damage to our family?”

“That is exactly why you must stay alive and endure every bit of your punishment.” Kane’s expression turned cold, unyielding and merciless. He reached into his heavy military backpack and pulled out a thick black iron chain—forged exclusively from rare obsidian metal mined deep in the frozen Northern Frontier mountain ranges, completely indestructible, heavy enough to bind and restrain the fiercest ice wolves and savage giant beast warriors of the frozen barren wastelands. Now this legendary unbreakable chain was wrapped tightly around the slender delicate ankle of Elara, the once elegant pure concert pianist who had once dreamed of a perfect quiet life filled with piano melodies and silver moonlight.

“From today onward, every lounge guest you serve, every hour you spend trapped inside Nightfall Lounge, every dollar you earn from this humiliating degrading life—I will know every single detail, every exact number, every wasted moment of your days.”

The harsh scraping drag of the heavy obsidian chain trailing across the rough concrete floor woke Lila abruptly from her feverish restless slumber. The little girl quietly climbed out of the warm camp bed and peeked through the narrow crack of the wooden door, her big innocent eyes wide with childlike confusion and quiet fear as she watched her father dab antiseptic medicine gently onto the countless cigarette burns, old bruises and fresh scars covering her mother’s back.

Elara’s slender shoulders trembled violently with suppressed silent sobs she tried her hardest to hold back, not wanting Lila to see her crying in despair. Meanwhile Kane’s breathing grew heavier, deeper and more restrained by the second, like a ferocious ancient dragon beast slowly stirring awake from centuries of deep slumber, his deep eyes glinting with a dark possessive dangerous light the young child could not understand, could never possibly comprehend with her innocent little mind.

The old clock on the cracked wall ticked slowly past three o’clock in the morning, the dead quiet of the rainy night broken only by the monotonous ticking and the faint sound of Lila’s labored fevered breathing. Suddenly, Kane’s military high-frequency encrypted communication device blared to life with an ear-splitting urgent shrill tone, cutting sharply through the heavy suffocating silence of the tiny room.

He answered the call immediately, his expression shifting slightly yet his voice remaining calm, deep and authoritative as always. His lieutenant’s panicked thunderous roar blasted loudly through the speaker, filled with desperation, battlefield chaos and overwhelming crisis.

“Lord Dragon General! The barbarian alien hordes have completely shattered our Northern Frontier defensive line! The entire left flank elite legion has been completely wiped out, thousands of our loyal warriors dead on the frozen snow battlefield! The frontier fortress is on the verge of total collapse—we need you to return immediately to lead the counterattack and hold the line for the entire Western Alliance!”

Kane’s cold gaze drifted slowly to Elara, curled up weakly on the tattered old sofa in the corner of the room, three heavy loops of the unbreakable obsidian chain coiled tightly around her pale ankle. The chain’s sole key hung securely against his chest, attached firmly to his military steel dog tag, resting directly over his heart, never to leave his personal possession for even a moment. A cold mocking smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he spoke into the communicator in an unshakable commanding tone that left no room for argument or questioning.

“Issue my supreme military order at once.” His voice carried the overwhelming authority of a supreme warlord, cutting straight through the lieutenant’s frantic chaos and panic. “Recall all ten thousand elite warriors of my Dragon Legion immediately, withdraw all troops from the Northern Frontier outposts at full marching speed. Our new marching destination is not the collapsing Northern Frontier battlefield…”

“Sir! What are you saying? The frontier is falling apart! If we abandon our sacred military post, the barbarian army will sweep down unopposed into the entire Western Alliance, burning cities, slaughtering innocent civilians and destroying everything in their path! We cannot abandon our duty as defenders!” The lieutenant shouted in utter disbelief, completely confused and horrified by his general’s bizarre reckless order.

“Obey your supreme order without question. No further discussion permitted.” Kane ended the communication call abruptly with a single press of his finger, his fingertips slowly tracing the carved ancient dragon emblem on his metal dog tag. The bitter freezing blizzards and endless bloody battles of the Northern Frontier were nothing compared to the raging fire of rage, twisted love, possession and revenge burning fiercely inside his chest right now.

He turned his cold unfathomable gaze back to Elara, trapped and broken on the sofa, chained like a helpless prisoner in their tiny shabby home. Ten thousand of the Western Alliance’s deadliest, most loyal, battle-hardened elite soldiers were already abandoning the life-or-death frontier war, marching full speed toward Nightfall Lounge under his direct personal command. They were not coming to fight barbarian invaders, not coming to defend national borders—they were coming to flood the lounge with endless unlimited wealth, to boost Elara’s performance to astronomical record heights, to surround her with their utmost respectful presence… and to watch the once pure graceful piano beauty trapped in his iron chains crumble slowly, piece by piece, under his ruthless cold control.

But the terrifying hidden secret and deadly threat no one yet knows? Kane is far more than just an ordinary human war general—he is the true inherited Dragon Lord of the ancient supernatural hidden realm, bearing the purest royal dragon bloodline passed down for thousands of generations. The barbarian horde’s sudden massive invasion of the Northern Frontier was never a random accidental raid. It was a carefully laid deadly trap set by his ancient mortal enemies, the Shadow Demon Clan, who have lusted after his supreme dragon power and bloodline for centuries. They deliberately launched the full-scale war to lure him away from his family, planning to destroy his only loved ones, break his spirit completely, and weaken his dragon bloodline until he is vulnerable enough to kill.

Right at this very moment, while his ten thousand Dragon Legion marches toward Nightfall Lounge to carry out his mysterious order, the Shadow Demon Clan’s hidden elite assassin forces have already silently infiltrated the slum under the cover of rain and darkness. They are closing in rapidly on this shabby rental house, their cold demonic eyes fixed firmly on two fatal targets: kidnap little Lila to use as eternal blackmail leverage against Kane, and eliminate the broken vulnerable Elara before the first light of dawn breaks over the city. Kane has saved his wife and daughter from mortal physical suffering—but now an invisible supernatural death threat creeps silently toward them in the rain, and he has no idea the apocalyptic storm that is about to crash down on his family. Readers must unlock paid chapters to see how Kane faces demon assassins, protects his daughter, and dominates the entire city with his ten thousand soldiers.