Ten years ago, Chen Nian, a teacher at a prestigious middle school, refused to give Zhao Rui, the son of a family facing demolition, extra points in violation of the rules. In retaliation, he barged into her home with a gang of thugs.
That night, she lost her unborn child, had her left hand broken, and was falsely accused of extortion and driven out of the teaching profession. Her father died with resentment in his heart.
Ten years later, Chen Nian returned.
She was no longer a teacher standing at the lectern, but a lowly cleaner at the sales office of Ruifeng Real Estate.
In this glittering world of fame and fortune, Zhao Rui had become the all-powerful Mr. Zhao through violent demolitions and collusion between officials and businesspeople.
He had forgotten that rainy night. He had forgotten the woman who begged for mercy.
Or rather, he simply didn't care.
Chen Nian didn't care either.
She didn't care how powerful Zhao Rui was now, or how many bodyguards he had around him.
She cared about only one thing: the countdown.
Using her expertise in architecture, she infiltrated Zhao Rui's business empire like a ghost.
She incited a feud between Zhao's uncle and nephew, exploited loopholes in home-buying contracts to trigger a crisis over unfinished buildings, and even sent the officials who had taken bribes back then tumbling one by one into the abyss.
“I'm not going to kill you, Zhao Rui.”
“I want you to watch with your own eyes as the mountain of gold you built with your dirty tricks crumbles inch by inch.”
This was a war without gunfire.
No superpowers, only carefully calculated acts of getting others to do the killing.
No all-seeing perspective, only the rules of survival forged through struggle in the mire.
When the countdown reached zero, Chen Nian sat atop the teetering unfinished building and watched Zhao Rui howl in the mud like a dog.
