The 40% Bleed

{TW Guns, vilolence}

The last night at the beach house didn't taste like salt and relaxation; it tasted like shitty copper and goddamn gunpowder. The "Family Dinner" was less of a meal and more of a fucking tactical briefing, held over a spread of expensive takeout that ShaYou had flown in because he "didn't trust the local infrastructure to handle Gao Tu’s cravings."

"Okay, listen up, you beautiful disasters," ShaYou barked, slapping a tablet down onto the mahogany table.

The screen flickered with a list of names—the surviving members of the Old Associates. "The trial starts in seventy-two hours. These fossils think they’re going to walk because 'technicalities' and 'lack of evidence.' They think we’re just four kids who got fucking lucky."

Wenlang leaned back, his new Enigma-senses picking up the low-frequency hum of the tablet and the frantic, jagged pulse of ShaYou’s excitement. "They think we’re still playing by their shitty rules," Wenlang grunted, his gold eyes flashing. "They don't realize the rules burned down with the lab."

"The evidence isn't the problem," Hua Yong rumbled, his voice like a tectonic plate shifting. He was sitting next to Wenlang, his violet presence acting like a goddamn anchor for the room.

"The problem is the judge. Judge Vane. He’s been on the Associates' payroll since before I was born. If he presides, the Reaper's testimony won't mean a goddamn thing."

Gao Tu, who was methodically dismantling a plate of dumplings, looked up with a cold, sharp precision. "Vane has a weakness. His grandson is an un-marked Alpha with a penchant for high-stakes gambling and shitty underground clubs. I’ve already secured the debt records. If Vane doesn't recuse himself, I’ll leak the files and have the kid in a cage before the first gavel hits."

"That's my secretary!" ShaYou cackled, reaching over to try and ruffle Gao Tu’s hair, only to have his hand swatted away with a fork. "See? We don't need a courtroom. We need a goddamn leverage-fest."

Wenlang felt the 40% power humming in his veins, a dark, violet-gold static. "We go back tomorrow. No more hiding. We walk into that city like we own the pavement, because we goddamn do."

The next morning, the private jet touched down at the city’s private terminal, and the air hit them like a fucking physical blow. It was thick with smog, noise, and the familiar, electric scent of a city on the verge of a goddamn nervous breakdown.

The "truce" was officially over. The "Family" was now a "Firing Squad."

The hangar doors slid open, and the paparazzi—tipped off by ShaYou for maximum psychological impact—were already waiting behind the security line.

ShaYou stepped out first, looking every inch the billionaire CEO in a suit that cost more than a goddamn house. Behind him, Gao Tu moved with a lethal, silent grace, his hand resting casually near the concealed holster at his waist. They looked like a goddamn power couple from a dystopian future.

But it was the second pair that made the cameras stop clicking for a heartbeat of pure, unadulterated terror.

Wenlang walked down the ramp, his gold eyes glowing with a new, terrifyingly deep intensity. He wasn't just the "King of the Underground" anymore; he was a biological anomaly, his pheromones hitting the air with the weight of a goddamn freight train. The 40% Enigma bleed was palpable, a dark, shimmering aura that made the Alphas in the crowd instinctively drop their gazes. And beside him, the Reaper.

Hua Yong didn't look like a twenty-three-year-old kid today. He looked like an Enigma King. His violet eyes were twin stars of cold, calculating power, his hand resting firmly on the small of Wenlang’s back—a claim, a promise, and a goddamn threat all rolled into one.

"Look at them," Wenlang muttered, a slow, dangerous smirk spreading across his face as he scanned the sea of cameras. "They're fucking terrified."

"They should be," Hua Yong rumbled, his voice carrying that jagged, low-frequency command that made the security guards at the perimeter snap to attention without knowing why. "We aren't here to testify, Wenlang. We're here to take our fucking throne."

ShaYou turned back, flashing a blinding, grin at the two of them. "Welcome home, pricks! Let’s go show these fossils how a real S-Tier takeover fucking looks!"

As they climbed into the fleet of blacked-out SUVs, the "closed circuit" between Wenlang and Hua Yong snapped shut, stronger than it had ever been at the beach. The vacation was a memory. The war was the reality. And the city was about to find out exactly what happened when a King and a Reaper finally decided to stop playing fucking nice.

The blacked-out SUVs pulled up to the rear entrance of the courthouse like a goddamn funeral procession for the Old World. The air in the city was fucking humid, smelling of exhaust and the desperate, sour sweat of the "fossils" who thought they still ran the fucking show.

Wenlang stepped out of the vehicle, his boots hitting the pavement with a heavy, S-Tier thud. His new Enigma-senses were screaming; he could feel the heartbeats of the snipers on the roof, the nervous twitching of the bailiffs inside, and the massive, rotting pheromone cloud of the Old Associates waiting in the wings.

"Ready to break some hearts, Chairman?" Wenlang rasped, adjusting his leather jacket. His gold eyes were shimmering with a violet tint that made the nearest security guard stumble back in fear.

"I'm ready to break more than hearts, Wenlang," Hua Yong rumbled, his voice a low-frequency growl that vibrated in the very foundation of the building.

They didn't wait for the trial to start. They bypassed the lobby, the metal detectors, and the red tape, walking straight into Judge Vane’s private chambers. ShaYou kicked the double doors open with high-octane grin, while Gao Tu followed like a silent shadow of death.

Judge Vane looked up from his desk, his face turning the color of goddamn curdled milk. "What is the meaning of this? This is a private—" "Shut the fuck up, Vane," ShaYou barked, tossing a thick, encrypted file onto the desk. "We’re skipping the pleasantries. We know about the gambling debts. We know about your grandson’s 'extracurricular' activities in the red-light district. And we know exactly how much the Associates paid you to throw this case."

Vane’s eyes darted toward the door, looking for security that wasn't coming. "You have no proof—" "I am the proof," Hua Yong stepped forward, his violet eyes flaring with a light so intense it made the lamps on the desk flicker and die. He slammed his palms onto the desk, leaning into the judge’s space. "I am the kid you let them experiment on for twenty years. I am the 'asset' you helped hide. And now, I’m the one holding your goddamn leash."

Wenlang felt the power boiling over. He stepped up beside Hua Yong, letting his 40% Enigma aura fucking bleed out into the room. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and cold, hard iron.

"Look a us," Wenlang commanded. The Enigma-laced voice hit Vane like a physical blow. The old man’s head snapped up, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks as he stared into the combined, fucking terrifying power of the King and the Reaper.

"You’re going to recuse yourself," Wenlang hissed, his teeth bared in a dangerous smirk. "You’re going to cite 'health reasons,' and then you’re going to take your shitty, bribed-out life and disappear. Because if you set foot in that courtroom today, I’m going to let my boyfriend here show you exactly what happens to people who touch his family."

Gao Tu leaned against the doorframe, checking his watch with a cold, bored expression. "You have sixty seconds to sign the recusal, Vane. After that, I hit 'send' on the debt records, and your grandson becomes a permanent resident of the city’s harshest debt-collection pit."

Vane’s hands were shaking so hard he could barely grip his fountain pen. He looked at ShaYou’s shark-like grin, at Gao Tu’s icy stare, and then back at the two monsters standing over his desk—the Alpha-Enigma hybrid and the Reaper.

He signed the paper.

"Good choice, prick," ShaYou cackled, snatching the document before the ink was even dry. "Vacation’s over for you, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they walked back out into the hallway, they came face-to-face with the three lead members of the Old Associates—shriveled, suit-wearing fossils who had spent decades playing fucking god with S-Tier lives.

The lead fossil, a man named Elder Sheng, sneered at them. "You think a new judge changes anything? We built this city. We own the law."

Wenlang stepped into Sheng’s space, his gold eyes burning with a violet fire. He didn't even use his hands. He just let his presence expand, a crushing, S-Tier weight that made the old men gasp for fucking air.

"You didn't build shit," Wenlang spat. "You stole it. And now, the bill is due."

Hua Yong stood behind Wenlang, his massive frame casting a shadow that seemed to swallow the entire hallway. "Go home," he rumbled, the Command so powerful that the three elders actually scrambled backward, nearly tripping over their own expensive shoes. "Enjoy you're last night of freedom. Because tomorrow we burn your legacy to the goddamn ground."

They walked past the trembling fossils without another word, their footsteps echoing through the marble halls like the sound of an approaching shitty storm.

ShaYou slung an arm around Gao Tu’s shoulders, looking back at Wenlang and Hua Yong with a satisfied cackle.   

"God, I missed this! The beach was nice, but nothing beats the smell of old men shitting themselves in the morning!"

Wenlang looked at Hua Yong, feeling the "closed circuit" thrumming with a dark, victorious heat. The trial hadn't even started, and they’d already won.

"Let's go get some goddamn lunch," Wenlang grinned. "I’m starving, and apparently, I’m eating for two frequencies now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The victory in the judge’s chambers felt like a goddamn shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. Watching Vane’s hand tremble as he signed away his career was the best appetizer Wenlang could have asked for, but the main course was still waiting behind the heavy oak doors of the fucking courtroom.

They didn't head for lunch. Not yet. There was too much goddamn electricity in the air, a buzzing, violet-gold static that made the hair on Wenlang’s arms stand up.

"They’re not just going to sit there and take it," Gao Tu muttered, his eyes scanning the balcony of the rotunda as they walked. His hand hadn't left the grip of his piece. "Sheng and his cronies are backed into a corner. And a cornered fossil is a goddamn desperate one."

"Let them be desperate," ShaYou chirped, though his eyes were sharp, darting toward every shadow. "I’ve got the city’s grid on lockdown. If one of their shitty hit-squads even sneezes within three blocks of here, I’ll know the exact velocity of the snot."

Wenlang felt a sudden, sharp spike in his new senses—a jagged, cold needle of intent cutting through the hum of the courthouse. It wasn't just a feeling; it was the 40% Enigma bleed-over giving him a goddamn radar for malice.

"Down!" Wenlang roared.

He didn't wait for them to react. He reached out, grabbing ShaYou and Gao Tu by their collars and yanking them behind a massive marble pillar just as a suppressed round shattered the floor where they’d been standing a second ago.

Pfft. Pfft.

The sound of the shots was almost nothing, but the impact against the marble sent a spray of white dust into the fucking air.

"Goddamn it!" ShaYou hissed, pulling a compact submachine gun from under his designer blazer. "I literally just said I had the grid locked down! Who the fuck is bypassing my security?"

"Shadow Alphas," Hua Yong rumbled, his voice dropping into a register that made the floorboards vibrate. He stepped out from behind the pillar, his violet eyes glowing with a lethal, predatory light. "The Associates' personal cleanup crew. They don't have digital signatures, ShaYou. They’re ghosts."

"Then let's turn them into goddamn corpses," Wenlang spat.

He felt the power inside him surging, a dark, liquid fire that wanted to tear the room apart. He looked at Hua Yong, and for a split second, the "closed circuit" between them became a literal bridge. Wenlang could see what Hua Yong saw—three heat signatures perched in the rafters of the rotunda, their heartbeats slow, cold, and professional.

"Left, two hundred feet up," Wenlang whispered, his voice echoing with that jagged Enigma weight.

Hua Yong didn't even look. He raised his hand, and the air around the first sniper didn't just ripple—it imploded.

The Enigma's raw command over the environment sent the man crashing through the railing, falling sixty feet to the marble floor with a sickening, heavy thud.

"My turn," Wenlang grinned. He focused on the second signature. He didn't have Hua Yong’s telekinetic grip yet, but he had the Command. He filled his lungs with that violet-gold air and let it rip.

"Fall."

The word hit the rafters like a goddamn wrecking ball. The second sniper, a high-level Alpha trained to resist almost anything, felt his entire nervous system collapse. He didn't just fall; he fucking threw himself off the ledge, his body obeying Wenlang’s voice before his brain could even fucking register the fear.

The third sniper turned to run, but Gao Tu was already there. The secretary had vanished into the shadows the second the first shot was fired, and now he reappeared behind the last ghost, the barrel of his suppressed pistol pressed against the back of the man’s skull.

Thwip.

One shot. Clean. Efficient. Gao Tu didn't even look at the body as it slumped over the railing. He just holstered his weapon and adjusted his tie. "Hazard removed. Can we go eat now? The kid is hungry, and ShaYou’s panic-sweat is ruining the atmosphere."

ShaYou let out a shaky, jagged laugh, wiping a smudge of marble dust off his sleeve. "I wasn't panicking! I was... strategically vibrating! And for the record, Wenlang, that 'Fall' command was a goddamn ten out of ten. Very dramatic. Very King-like."

Wenlang felt the rush of the power receding, leaving him breathless but energized. He looked at Hua Yong, who was watching him with a look of pure, unadulterated pride.

"You're learning fast," Hua Yong rumbled, stepping close to brush a stray bit of dust off Wenlang’s cheek.

"The 40% suits you."

"Everything you give me suits me," Wenlang countered, leaning in for a quick, hard kiss that tasted like adrenaline and fucking victory.

They walked out of the courthouse, stepping over the crumpled bodies of the "ghosts" like they were nothing more than trash on the sidewalk. The Old Associates had sent their best, and their best hadn't even lasted three goddamn minutes.

As they piled back into the SUVs, Wenlang looked at the towering skyscrapers of the city. He could feel the pulse of the streets, the fear of the fossils, and the growing, inevitable strength of the family he was building.

"Lunch first," Wenlang said, his gold eyes glowing. "Then tomorrow, we finish the job. We don't just win the trial. We erase fucking them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The safe-house was a goddamn fortress hidden behind the facade of a boring-as-hell boutique hotel in the heart of the corporate district. The walls were reinforced lead and the glass was thick enough to stop a fucking tank shell, but it still wasn't enough to contain ShaYou’s spiraling anxiety.

As soon as the heavy steel door hissed shut, ShaYou fucking lost it.

"Did you see that?! Did you fucking see that?!" he yelled, pacing a jagged line across the designer rug. "Snipers in the goddamn rotunda! They’re shooting at us in broad daylight! Gao Tu, you are not leaving this room. I’m moving the entire trial to a Zoom call. I’m buying the courthouse and turning it into a goddamn terrarium!"

Gao Tu sat at the kitchen island, calmly unwrapping a burger with the same surgical precision he used to dismantle a firearm. "ShaYou, sit down. You're spiking the room temperature with your bullshit."

"I am not sitting! My pregnant partner was just used for target practice!" ShaYou slammed his hands onto the counter, his gold eyes vibrating. "Wenlang, tell him! Tell him this city is a goddamn deathtrap!"

Wenlang was busy raiding the fridge for anything with high protein. He popped a lid off a container of cold steak and looked over his shoulder.

"It’s a city, ShaYou. People shoot at us. It’s a Tuesday. Relax."

"Relax?! You just shouted a man off a balcony!"

"And I'd do it again," Wenlang shrugged, taking a massive bite of steak. "The kid is fine, Gao Tu is fine, and I’ve never felt better. Now shut up and eat your overpriced salad before I use the 'Kneel' command on you just so we can have some goddamn peace."

ShaYou let out a frustrated groan, but he finally slumped into the chair next to Gao Tu, his hand immediately reaching out to rest on Gao Tu’s stomach like a protective shield.

"Fine. But I’m ordering two more armored divisions for the morning. And a helicopter. We’re not taking the street level tomorrow. I’m done with the street level."

Later that night, the safe-house fell into a heavy, artificial silence. The city lights hummed outside the reinforced windows, but inside their suite, the air was thick with a different kind of pressure.

Wenlang was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. The "update" was glitching. Now that the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, the 40% Enigma bleed was hitting him like a goddamn freight train. Every sound was too sharp; every scent was a riot. He could hear the hum of the building's elevator six floors down, and it felt like a drill in his ear.

"It's too much," Wenlang rasped, his gold eyes flickering with violet sparks. "I can't... I can't shut it out."

Hua Yong appeared in front of him, a silent, massive shadow of calm. He didn't say a word. He just sat on the floor between Wenlang’s knees and took his hands. The second their skin met, the "closed circuit" snapped into place, but this time, it wasn't a roar—it was a fucking vacuum.

Hua Yong began to pull.

He was acting as a biological grounding wire, siphoning off the excess Enigma energy that Wenlang’s Alpha core couldn't process yet.

Wenlang let out a long, shuddering breath as the static in his brain began to clear, replaced by the cool, deep sandalwood scent of the man he loved.

"Focus on the anchor, Wenlang," Hua Yong rumbled, his violet eyes locked onto Wenlang’s. "Don't fight the expansion. Just let it flow through me. We’re one system now."

Wenlang leaned down, resting his forehead against Hua Yong’s. "Goddamn. Is this what it's like for you all the time? Hearing everything? Feeling every shitty intention in the room?"

"It used to be a curse," Hua Yong whispered, his large hands squeezing Wenlang’s. "But with you... it’s just data. We process it together."

They stayed like that for a long time, two S-Tier anomalies stabilizing in the dark. The King and the Reaper, the Alpha and the Enigma, finally balanced.

"Tomorrow," Wenlang murmured, his voice finally steady. "We end them." "Tomorrow," Hua Yong agreed, his voice a promise of absolute destruction. "We burn it all down and build something better."

Wenlang pulled him up into the bed, and as they drifted into a deep, synchronized sleep, the city outside waited in terrified silence for the sun to rise on the end of an era.