The staff quarters were a far cry from the luxury of the "Serenity Spire." The air smelled of Gary's cheap cologne and the faint, industrial scent of adhesive from the mountain of anti-slip mats piled in the corner. Chen Feng sat on a creaky wooden bunk, staring at a flickering lightbulb, his mind adrift in the sea of his own long life.
As he sat in the dim light, Chen Feng's thoughts drifted back to his previous incarnations. He had lived for eons, often performing the "Reset" when the world became too heavy with karma.
The Empress of the Jade Peaks: He remembered a woman who had once challenged him to a duel for his heart, a battle that leveled three mountain ranges. He had let her win, only to leave her a week later because her "high-energy lifestyle" was too exhausting for his Salted Fish soul.
The Silent Saint: He recalled the one who waited three hundred years outside his cave just to bring him a bowl of porridge. He had ignored her, fearing the "responsibility" of her devotion.
In all those lives, he had never felt this specific, modern brand of awkwardness. Back then, relationships were about power, cultivation, or destiny. Now, it was about a high schooler in a crimson slip, a "slippery shower," and the crushing weight of a girl's first love.
"Boss," Gary interrupted his brooding, tossing a neon-orange rubber mat onto the pile.
"You've got that 'I'm thinking about the collapse of the universe' look again. Is it about the kid?"
"I'm a Sovereign, Gary," Chen Feng muttered, not looking up. "I've survived the heat death of stars. Why am I sweating because a teenage girl looks at me like I'm her entire world?"
"Because," Gary said, uncharacteristically serious, "you didn't just save her life this time. You entered it. That's a karma you can't just 'Reset' away."
Across the resort, in the heavily guarded "Recovery Suite," Lin Xia lay on a velvet chaise lounge. She was surrounded by the "Big Four," but the atmosphere had suddenly shifted from protective to frantic.
Su Meiling was pacing, dictating orders into her phone about a sudden hostile takeover in the textile sector.
Lin Xuerui was staring at a flickering tablet, her face pale as her family's main server bank suffered a massive cyber-attack.
Principal Ye had just received a panicked call from the Ministry of Education regarding a "spatial anomaly" appearing on school grounds.
Mu Ronghuan watched her phone vibrate with news of a sudden, inexplicable financial collapse of her family's offshore holdings.
The emergencies were hitting all at once. It was a perfect storm of worldly chaos, demanding the immediate attention of the city's most powerful women.
"I have to go," Meiling snapped, her eyes flashing with fury. "If I don't sign these papers in person by morning, the Su Group is gone."
"My family's security is failing," Xuerui added, looking at Xia with a mixture of protectiveness and deep regret. "Xia, stay here. Don't leave this room. I'll send a private jet for you tomorrow."
One by one, the powerful women who had stood as a wall between Chen Feng and Xia were forced to retreat. Their helicopters and private speedboats roared into the night, leaving the resort eerily quiet.
Xia watched them leave from the balcony. Her heart fluttered. She was finally "free" from her protectors, but the weight of her secret with Chen Feng felt heavier in the silence. She looked down at her hands, which still carried the faint, golden hum of his energy.
She knew she couldn't walk properly yet—her legs were still weak, a constant reminder of the "ordeal"—but she found herself standing up anyway, gripping the railing. She didn't want the safety of the Big Four. She wanted the man who was currently sitting on a pile of rubber mats, probably trying to figure out how to avoid her forever.
In the shadows of the resort's palm trees, a figure watched the last helicopter disappear. This wasn't a bumbling Director Zhao or a loud Master Tie. This was a High-Level Remnant, an ancient entity who had survived the Reset by hiding in the folds of space.
"The flowers have left the garden," the figure whispered, their voice like dry parchment. "The Sovereign is alone with the girl. And the girl is... saturated with his essence. She is the perfect vessel."