The Tycoon's Odyssey

The video that played depicted the scene of a basement, its oppressive atmosphere almost tangible.

The air in the basement seemed to reek of decay and despair, a suffocating blend of filth and hopelessness. Overhead, dim, flickering lights barely illuminated the sprawling, cavernous space, casting long, distorting shadows on the damp, cracked walls. The faint sound of dripping water echoed through the eerie silence, only to be shattered by the heart-wrenching cries that followed—the cries of children.

Dozens of them, frail and filthy, were huddled together into rusted cages along the walls. Their small bodies trembled in fear, their ragged clothes clinging to them, soaked with sweat and tears.

Some clung to each other, whispering broken prayers, while others sat motionless, curled into themselves, rocking back and forth as though trying to retreat from the nightmare, nonetheless, their cries were lost in the cacophony of misery.

At the center of the room, cylindrical chambers filled with an ominous green fluid glowed faintly, their swirling contents seemingly alive with sinister energy. Guards dragged the children who were kicking and screaming, to the tanks. The moment their fragile bodies were submerged into the viscous fluid, their cries turned into guttural roars of pain.

The children trashed violently as the fluid seeped into their flesh. Within moments, their veins began to visibly pulse with an unnatural light. Their skin blistered and reddened as they writhed violently and clawed desperately at the glass, their agony palpable.

Amid the horrific scene, Fabiano stood near the edge of the room, his arms crossed, like a god passing judgment, his pristine suit and polished shoes contrasted grotesquely against the filth around him. His expression remained impassive as he watched the scene unfold with cold detachment before finally speaking, his voice chillingly calm.

"Discard the failures," he commanded. "Burn them. Make sure no trace remains."

The sight of innocent children suffering, their lives deemed disposable, was too much. Evan's vision blurred with rage. The ground beneath him began to tremble.

The room was silent except for the faint hum of the screen playing the video. Evan stood frozen, his eyes locked on the horrifying footage. The dirty, decrepit basement filled with children's desperate cries echoed in his ears. Their pain-etched faces, their small bodies writhing in agony while the fluid consumed them, the sound of their scream—all reverberated through his mind, sharp and unrelenting.

On the screen, Fabiano's cold, unfeeling voice carried over the chaos. "Discard those trashed… Burn them. Make sure no remains are left."

As the words echoed in his ears, Evan's fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white. His breath grew shallow, and uneven as his chest rose and fell rapidly. The emotions he'd been trying to suppress surged forward, his anger boiling into an uncontrollable rage. His mind screamed for him to remain calm, but the images of those children flashed before his eyes—begging, crying, and dying—burning into his soul.

Suddenly, the air around him grew dense and heavy with a force that seemed to pulse from nowhere. The floor beneath him trembled, and cracks started spidering across it like veins. Lights flickered violently, throwing erratic shadows against the walls.

Fabiano, seated across the table, flinched as the ground began to sway. The chair he was sitting on jerked slightly, forcing him to grip the table to steady himself. "What the—" he stammered, startled, his once smug composure replaced by a growing unease.

Evan's shoulders quivered as he tried to contain his power, but the force within him had taken on a life of its own.

Objects in the room began to rise—papers fluttered into the air, chairs scraped against the floor as if being dragged by unseen hands, and the table between them groaned under the mounting pressure of the energy radiating from him.

Fabiano leapt to his feet, his face pale as he felt the room around him shift unnaturally. "Evan… control yourself!" he barked, though the tremor in his voice betrayed his fear.

Evan's gaze snapped toward him, his eyes burning with an unnatural light. "Control me?" His voice was low, venomous, trembling with unrestrained fury. "You dare stand there and lecture me about control while you experiment on children screaming for mercy in your laboratories?"

The force intensified, and the entire room seemed to lift for a moment before slamming back down with a deafening thud. Fabiano stumbled, barely managing to keep his footing as the room continued to quake. His confidence, his usual air of superiority, was gone. "Evan, stop this! You're going to bring the entire building down!"

Seeing things getting out of control, Fabiano lunged forward to strike, but Evan moved like a blur and in an instant appeared before him and punched his gut.

BOOM!

RIPPPPP!

The back of his coat ripped, followed by a terrifying shockwave rippling across the room, wreaking havoc.

"GAAAH…"

Fabiano quivered and rolled down on the ground while gritting his teeth.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Evan didn't respond. His body trembled as he struggled to contain the storm raging inside him. The echoes of children's cries replayed in his mind over and over again, each anguished note pushing him closer to the edge.

Fabiano's voice faltered as the pressure in the room grew unbearable, almost suffocating. Unable to move, he struggled to reason with Evan.

"Damn it… listen to me!" he shouted, desperation creeping into his tone. "You're endangering everyone here!"

Evan closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath as he tried to wrestle his emotions back under control. The room trembled one final time, and then, as suddenly as it began, the chaos subsided. The objects suspended mid-air crashed to the ground, and the oppressive energy dissipated, leaving the room eerily still.

Fabiano stood frozen, beads of sweat dotting his forehead, his breath coming in shallow gasps. "What the hell are you?" he muttered, his voice barely audible.

Evan finally opened his eyes, their unnatural glow fading as his cold, calculating demeanor returned. His voice was cold, silencing through the silence like a blade. "I'm the one thing you should have never underestimated."

Fabiano swallowed hard, his earlier confidence shattered. For the first time, he grasped the magnitude of Evan's power—and just how dangerous he could be when pushed to his limits.

Evan's piercing eyes bore into Fabiano. His voice dripped with venom, each word a lash of contempt. "You pieces of fucking trash. Using innocent children for experiments and discarding them as you please." His expression was filled with disgust, each word like a blade cutting through the tense air.