74: Chapter 74: Without shedding a drop of blood, Qin Tianming is stripped of his power and reduced to a stray dog.

"Thump!"

Qin Tianming's legs went weak, and like a pile of mud drained of its spine, he collapsed heavily to his knees before Qin Yuan.

Cold sweat mixed with tears of terror smeared the face that had once been so arrogant.

In his ears, the piercing dial tone from the phone still echoed, along with the screams of Scarface being pinned to the ground by special police.

It was over.

Everything was over.

The foundation he had painstakingly built in the capital over ten years, the connections and underworld forces he prided himself on, were as fragile as a paper joke in front of Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan hadn't even lifted a finger himself.

With just a few phone calls, he had torn all of his trump cards to shreds as easily as crushing dry weeds!

Dimensional reduction strike!

This was a complete and utter dimensional reduction strike!

Qin Yuan looked down at him from above.

There was no anger in his eyes, only the indifference one might show toward trash.

"What's wrong, cousin?"

Qin Yuan's voice slowly echoed through the deathly silent meeting hall, like a dull knife cutting into Qin Tianming's heart.

"Weren't you quite spirited just a moment ago? Didn't you say that when it comes to the rules of the capital, what I say doesn't count?"

"And now?"

Qin Yuan leaned in slightly, a cruel arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, who sets the rules?"

"It… it's you! Young Master Qin! You are the one who calls the shots!"

Qin Tianming shuddered at the look in Qin Yuan's eyes and began to kowtow frantically like a dog.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

His forehead slammed against the hard marble floor, blood streaming down, but he seemed not to feel the pain.

"I was wrong! I truly know I was wrong! I shouldn't have coveted the position of family head, and I shouldn't have colluded with outsiders to plot against you!"

"Considering that we are both descendants of the Qin Family, please be the bigger person and just let me go like a fart!"

"I promise to get out of the capital and never appear before you again!"

To survive, he had abandoned even his last shred of dignity.

In the face of absolute crushing power, pride and ambition were all bullshit!

However, the smile on Qin Yuan's face grew colder.

"Let you go?"

He straightened up and coldly spat out two words.

"In your dreams."

Qin Yuan turned and walked to the purple sandalwood conference table that symbolized the supreme power of the Qin Family.

He picked up the top-secret document compiled by Gu Qianqian, not even glancing at the Qin Family elders who were already trembling with fear.

"Third Grandfather, Fifth Great-Uncle."

Qin Yuan's voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable majesty that spread throughout the entire meeting hall.

"Since you all like my good cousin so much, today, I will settle his accounts right in front of you."

He threw the document into the center of the conference table.

"Over the past five years, Qin Tianming has used his position to embezzle three billion from the family's overseas funds for personal squandering and illegal transactions in underground casinos."

"At the same time, he colluded with the Wang Family of the capital and sold out the secrets of three of the Qin Family's core mines in South Africa, causing the Qin Family losses exceeding ten billion!"

With every crime read out, Qin Tianming's body trembled violently.

And the faces of those Qin Family elders turned as pale as paper.

They knew that Qin Yuan was killing the chicken to warn the monkeys!

"According to the family rules of the Qin Family, what is the punishment for those who betray the family and embezzle family assets?"

Qin Yuan's gaze, like two sharp knives, swept over everyone present.

"What is the penalty?"

"It… it is to be expelled from the family! Confiscate all assets!"

The Third Grandfather, who had been speaking up for Qin Tianming earlier, now trembled and was the first to jump out and state his position.

"Yes, yes, yes! Expel him from the family! Such scum is not worthy of being part of our Qin Family!"

"Young Master Qin is wise! We firmly support your decision!"

When a wall is crumbling, everyone gives it a push.

These old foxes, who knew how to see which way the wind was blowing, after witnessing Qin Yuan's unfathomable methods, didn't hesitate to kick Qin Tianming, now a discarded pawn, into the abyss.

"Very good."

Qin Yuan nodded with satisfaction.

He walked up to Qin Tianming and looked down at him.

"Did you hear that, cousin?"

"This is the unanimous decision of the family elders; I am merely acting according to the rules."

"Qin Yuan! You will die a horrible death! Even if I become a ghost, I won't let you go!"

Qin Tianming knew he was completely finished, so he decided to give up all pretense, roaring frantically at Qin Yuan with bloodshot eyes.

"Become a ghost?"

Qin Yuan sneered with disdain.

"You don't even have the qualifications to be a human anymore, and you still want to become a ghost?"

He turned his head slightly and glanced at Tan Lang, who had been standing behind him like an iron tower.

"Tan Lang."

"Young Master."

Tan Lang stepped forward respectfully.

"Break his legs."

Qin Yuan's voice was cold, without a trace of warmth.

"Confiscate all the bank cards, properties, and cars under his name; don't even let him take a single needle."

"Strip him naked and throw him out of the Qin Family gate like you're throwing out trash!"

"Yes!"

A fierce glint flashed in Tan Lang's eyes as he strode toward Qin Tianming.

"No… don't! Qin Yuan, you can't do this to me!"

Qin Tianming was scared out of his wits and scrambled backward frantically.

But Tan Lang's hand, as large as a palm-leaf fan, had already grabbed his ankle like an iron vice!

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

Two teeth-grinding sounds of bones shattering rang out clearly in the deathly silent meeting hall!

"Aaaahhhh!"

Qin Tianming let out a scream of extreme misery, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out from the pain.

Those few Qin Family elders, watching this bloody scene before them, felt their legs go weak and they all knelt on the ground in unison.

"Spare us, Young Master Qin! Please spare us, Young Master Qin!"

"From now on, we will follow your lead, Young Master Qin! We will never dare to have any disloyal thoughts!"

They kowtowed frantically, fearing that they would be the next ones to have their legs broken.

Qin Yuan didn't even glance at them.

He merely swept his gaze indifferently around the conference room that represented the highest power in China.

From this day forward, this super aircraft carrier named the "Qin Family of the Capital" had completely and undeniably fallen under his control.

All hidden dangers, all discordant noises, had been wiped clean under his unreasonable dimensional reduction strike!

A bloodless victory, with supreme power firmly in his grasp.

...

Half an hour later.

The night sky over the capital was filled with goose-feather snowflakes.

A bone-chilling cold wind whistled through the silent streets.

"Bang!"

The two heavy vermilion-painted gates of the Qin Family compound were pushed open.

Two burly security guards, as if carrying a dead pig, threw a man wearing only a pair of tattered underwear heavily onto the icy garbage heap outside the gate.

"Ah…"

The man let out a faint groan, writhing in pain in the snow and ice.

It was none other than the once glorious Qin Family Young Master who had wielded immense power in the capital's upper circles, Qin Tianming.

His legs were twisted in a grotesque posture, clearly completely crippled.

His whole body had turned purple from the cold, and his teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

He lifted his head with difficulty, watching the towering and magnificent Qin Family gate slowly close amidst the wind and snow.

A tear of despair, mixed with melted snow, flowed into his mouth.

It was bitter to the extreme.

The status he prided himself on, his wealth, his connections—all gone.

He had fallen from the clouds into the lowest mire, turning into a stray dog not even worthy of begging for food.

"Qin Yuan… you are ruthless…"

Qin Tianming dug his fingers into the snow on the ground, his nails peeling back and bleeding.

He knew that he would never be able to turn his life around.

He had become the first sacrifice for Qin Yuan's return to the capital, a tribute to his victory.

Just then, a red Ferrari sports car screeched to a halt in the wind and snow beside the garbage heap.

The window rolled down.

A woman's face, wearing exquisite makeup but revealing a hint of pettiness and snobbery, appeared.

She was a young lady from a second-rate aristocratic family who had once fawned over Qin Tianming at banquets to curry favor with him.

"Yo, isn't this our arrogant Young Master Tianming?"

Looking at Qin Tianming shivering in the garbage heap, the woman covered her mouth and let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

"Why are you in such a state today? Trying out a new lifestyle?"

"Get lost… get out of my sight…"

Qin Tianming gritted his teeth in humiliation, wishing he could crawl into a crack in the ground.

"Hmph! What a piece of trash!"

The woman spat contemptuously.

"A loser kicked out of his family, and you still dare to act tough with me?"

She rolled up the window, stepped on the gas, and the Ferrari roared away, leaving Qin Tianming with nothing but exhaust fumes and the swirling snow.

When a wall is crumbling, everyone gives it a push.

In this circle where interests come first, without power, you are worth even less than a dog.

Qin Tianming closed his eyes in despair.

He knew that his era had completely ended.

Meanwhile, inside the Qin Family compound, behind the slightly ajar carved wooden door, Qin Yuan watched the queen-like woman outside in her pure white haute couture evening gown, her temperament cold and arrogant.

The smile at the corner of his mouth grew deeper.

"Ms. Ye, having watched such a good show for so long, shouldn't you come in and discuss serious business?"

Cold-Blooded Empress Ye Qingcheng took a deep breath, suppressing the unspeakable shock in her heart.

She stepped in her silver high heels and walked slowly into the meeting hall.

In those beautiful eyes, there was a trace of… humiliation and compromise, which even she herself had not realized.

"Young Master Qin, you won."

"My Ye Family… is willing to accept your acquisition terms."