Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

Rome, Lupus Castle.

This colossal structure, standing on the banks of the Tiber for centuries, resembles a sleeping beast in the night. Withered vines climb its weathered stone walls, and its towering spires reach for the sky, exuding a sense of oppression and solemnity unique to the Middle Ages.

The master bedroom was filled with a strong smell of disinfectant and a musty odor.

On the enormous four-poster bed, Count Lubbers lay like a dried-up specimen. His body was covered in tubes connected to life support equipment. The monotonous "beep-beep" of the electrocardiogram monitor was the only sign of life in the room.

Sofia stood by the bed, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly.

Before coming, she had imagined countless scenarios for their meeting. She thought she would angrily accuse him, scream hysterically, and even curse him to hell, just like she had done on that phone call.

But she didn't.

"S...Sophia..."

The moment Lupus's cloudy eyes saw Sophia, a startling light suddenly shone through them. He tremblingly reached out his withered, bony hand, wanting to touch Sophia, but he dared not, and it remained suspended in mid-air.

"So much like...so much like..."

Two cloudy tears slid down the old man's cheeks, his voice hoarse and broken, "Your eyes... are exactly like your mother's... Gloria... I'm sorry to her... and I'm sorry to you too..."

Sofia bit her lip, then turned her head away, refusing to look into those pleading eyes.

"You don't need to say these things." Sophia's voice was a little stiff, but she didn't shake off the hand. "I came back not to hear your confession, nor to forgive you. I just... just to take back what belongs to me and my mother."

"I know...I know..." Lupus nodded with difficulty, but a relieved smile appeared on his face. "That's enough...that's enough...as long as you're willing to come back...even if you come to hate me...I'll be content..."

He rambled on, recounting everything from his first encounter to his later cowardice, and then to his regrets over the past twenty years. His voice grew softer and softer, and his logic became somewhat incoherent, like a dying man desperately trying to say everything he had to say about his life.

Sofia listened quietly, and although she still didn't call him "father," she didn't say anything hurtful either.

The hatred remained, but in the face of death, it seemed to become less sharp.

……

Outside the door, in the corridor.

The housekeeper, Giovanni, quietly closed the door, leaving the father and daughter alone.

He turned around, and the kindness on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling, murderous look.

"Three gentlemen."

Giovanni looked at Thomas, David, and Mawby, who were guarding the door, and asked in a serious tone, "What exactly happened on the way to the airport? Who attacked you?"

Thomas leaned against the wall, wiping the sweat from his nerves. "Who else could it be? Lord Mondale, of course! Three Land Rovers, fully armed, wielding submachine guns! If it weren't for my driving skills, you'd be retrieving us from that ditch by now."

"Mondell..."

Giovanni gripped the pocket watch tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white. "How dare he... how dare he lay a hand on the master's only bloodline!"

Giovanni's loyalty as the butler who had served three generations of the Lubbers family was beyond question. In his eyes, Mondale's actions were not merely a struggle for the family fortune, but a trampling on the family's honor.

Just then, Thomas's cell phone rang.

"Hey? Mr. Lu?" Thomas answered the phone.

On the other end of the phone, Lu Chen's voice was calm and swift: "Listen, Thomas, my informants report that Mundell has gone mad. He's gathered all his bodyguards and thugs at the villa, about thirty people, each armed, and they're marching in a massive force towards the castle."

"What?!" Thomas nearly dropped the phone in shock. "More than thirty people? And heavy weapons? What's he planning? To storm the Bastille?"

"It's simple: kill them to silence them, then seize the inheritance," Lu Chen said on the phone. "You're in a very dangerous situation right now. Give the phone to Giovanni, the butler."

Thomas quickly handed the phone to Giovanni. After listening to a few words, Giovanni's face turned ashen, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent.

"Mr. Lu, is your information accurate?"

"Absolutely true! My men saw them load the truck and leave with their own eyes. They're expected to arrive in twenty minutes," Lu Chen said. "Giovanni, it might be too late to call the police now, and besides..."

"Don't call the police."

Giovanni interrupted Lu Chen abruptly, his voice as cold as the Siberian wind, "This is a Lubers family matter; family scandals shouldn't be aired in public. Besides, Mondale has connections in the police department; even if we arrest him, it will just be a case of insufficient evidence. What I want is a permanent solution."

"Great minds think alike!" Lu Chen praised over the phone. "In that case, my men can cooperate with you. They are located outside the castle and can provide support at any time."

"Thank you, Mr. Lu." Giovanni took a deep breath. "Please let them in through the side door. I will prepare the 'tools' for them. As for Mondale... tonight, this castle will be his grave."

After hanging up the phone, Giovanni looked at Thomas and the other two.

"Gentlemen, the situation has changed." Giovanni regained his rigid elegance, but his tone left no room for argument. "Mondale is about to launch a full-scale attack on the castle, and this place is about to become a battlefield. For your safety, please immediately take the master and Miss Sophia with the caregivers and leave through the secret passage."

"A war?" Mobi shrank back. "How about we call the police? I've seen in movies that they would call the police at this point."

"The police can't save us, nor can they judge the devil," Giovanni said coldly. "The only way to deal with wild beasts is with a shotgun."

He clapped his hands.

From the shadows, a dozen or so silent men dressed in black tactical uniforms emerged.

This is the elite guard of the Lubbers family. In Italy, a country rife with the Mafia, top nobles would have been devoured long ago without any private armed forces.

"Have the caregivers lift the old man onto a stretcher; we need to move him."

……

Ten minutes later, in the castle's underground passage.

Several caregivers carried Lupus's stretcher, while Thomas and his companions carried large and small bags of equipment, escorting Sophia quickly through the crowd.

"Isn't Grandpa Giovanni leaving?" Sophia looked back at the dark entrance to the passageway, a little worried about the polite old man.

"He is the butler, and also the guardian of this castle."

On the stretcher, Lupus was weak but still conscious. He held Sophia's hand, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "Since Mondale dared to come, Giovanni will let him know that the Lupus family rules are written in blood. Child, don't be afraid, Mr. Lupus has made arrangements for our safety."

Emerging from the secret passage, one finds oneself in a dense forest.

Several inconspicuous black minivans had been waiting for a long time.

Lu Chen and Ruan Mei stood by the car and immediately went to greet the crowd when they saw them come out.

"Mr. Lu!" Sophia's tense nerves finally relaxed when she saw Lu Chen, and her eyes reddened.

"It's alright now." Lu Chen gently patted her shoulder and gestured for the caregiver to put Lubers into the modified medical vehicle. "We're going to the Sant'Angelo Private Hospital. It's the Earl's territory, and it's the safest place in all of Rome tonight."

"Then...the castle over there..." Sophia hesitated.

"Don't worry." Lu Chen glanced back at the majestic outline of the ancient castle in the distance, a cold smile playing on his lips. "That's a giant rat trap now. The hunters are in position, just waiting for the rats to come in."

……

Lubbers Castle, main hall.

The lights were off; only the moonlight from outside the window shone on the cold, hard marble floor.

Giovanni stood by the second-floor railing, polishing a fine double-barreled shotgun. Behind him stood a line of well-trained family guards.

Meanwhile, in the shadows on the first floor, Tian Yangsheng and his six brothers were quietly lying in wait.

They had just received their gear from Giovanni—a uniform array of HK MP5 submachine guns, along with several Beretta 92F rifles. For these mercenaries, accustomed to using AK47s in the jungle, this superior equipment was a tremendous asset.

"The boss said, leave no survivors," Tian Yangsheng said in a low voice into his earpiece, his voice colder than the night in the ancient castle.

"Understood." Tian Yangyi pushed up his glasses and pulled the bolt.

"boom--!"

A loud bang shattered the silence.

The castle's heavy oak gates were smashed open by a Land Rover. Amidst flying sawdust, Lord Mondale, leading more than thirty of his men, stormed in menacingly.

"Search it for me!"

Mondale, holding the jeweled revolver, his face contorted with madness and greed, shouted, "Find that old bastard and that bastard! Kill everyone else except them!"

Binney (Jet) and Case led the way, leading a group of men armed with guns as they stormed into the hall.

"Why is it so quiet?" Case frowned, looking around the empty hall, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

"Could it be that he was scared away?" Mundell strode into the center of the hall and shouted arrogantly, "Lubbers! My good brother! Where are you? Your little brother has come to see you off on your final journey!"

His voice echoed in the hall, sounding particularly jarring.

"Mondale, you have some nerve."

An old and cold voice came from the second floor.

Mundell suddenly looked up.

Giovanni stood in the shadows on the second floor, looking down at him as if he were a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

"Giovanni? Where's that old geezer?" Mondale pointed his gun at Giovanni. "Speak up! Or I'll blow your head off!"

"The master has gone to rest," Giovanni said, raising his shotgun. "And you, you must go to hell to repent."

As Giovanni finished speaking.

"Da da da da da—!"

The once desolate castle instantly transformed into a boiling volcano.

Behind the hidden doors on the first and second floors, the family guards opened fire simultaneously. A hail of bullets rained down, instantly mowing down a number of Mondale's men standing in the center of the hall.

"There's an ambush! Take cover! Take cover!"

Benny roared, kicked over a heavy long table, and pulled Mondale behind it.

However, the real nightmare has only just begun.

Seven ghostly figures suddenly emerged from behind the side door and pillars on the first floor.

Tian Yangsheng was like the Grim Reaper descending to earth, holding a gun in both hands, moving quickly while firing in bursts. His marksmanship was so accurate that it was outrageous. With each shot, an enemy would fall to the ground, shot between the eyebrows.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

The MP5 player with a silencer emitted a dull sound, reaping lives.

Tian Yangyi, Tian Yangzhi, and others followed closely behind. They cooperated well, forming groups of three and providing cross-cover, cutting into Mondell's formation like butter.

This is the difference between a professional mercenary and a gangster thug.

The men Mundell brought were good at bullying civilians, but they collapsed instantly when faced with a regular army-level attack.

"Ah—! Help!"

"My leg! My leg is broken!"

Screams echoed throughout the room.

Although Benny and Case were skilled, even the best kung fu is no match for a kitchen knife under such a dense hail of bullets, let alone a submachine gun.

Just as Case was about to rush out to retaliate, Tian Yangyong swept off both his legs with a burst of bullets, and he fell to the ground screaming in pain. Seeing that things were going badly, Benny tried to escape through the back door, but ran right into Tian Yangyong, who was already waiting there.

Tian Yangyi didn't even fire a shot; his military dagger, like a viper's tongue, instantly slit Binny's throat.

Less than five minutes.

The battle is over.

The hall reeked of gunpowder and blood. Of the thirty-odd men, only a few were still groaning in pain from their severe wounds; the rest were all corpses.

Mondale cowered behind the long table, trembling uncontrollably, clearly terrified. His jeweled revolver was nowhere to be found.

"No...don't kill me..."

When Giovanni approached him, Mondale knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face. "I am a lord! I am the heir to the Lubbers family! You cannot kill me! I am your master!"

"I have only one master, and that is Count Lubers."

Giovanni stared expressionlessly at the once arrogant second young master.

He waved.

Two guards stepped forward, lifted Mondell up like a dead dog, and dragged him toward the castle’s basement.

"No! Giovanni! For my father's sake! Spare me! I have money! I'll give you all my money!" Mondale's pitiful screams echoed down the corridor.

"That's a good suggestion." Giovanni straightened his neatly tied bow tie and followed. "It can serve as an apology to Miss Sophia for tonight."

What happened in the basement over the next hour, nobody knows.

All that is known is that the most heart-wrenching wail of Mundell's life came from there.

After signing and pressing his bloody fingerprint on a document containing all his overseas account passwords, property transfer documents, and a statement relinquishing his family inheritance rights.

Giovanni picked up a glass of red wine and handed it to Mundell, who was slumped in his chair and barely recognizable as a human.

"Drink up. This is a 1945 vintage Romanée-Conti, a treasured vintage from our family cellar. Haven't you been wanting to drink it?"

Mondale took the glass with trembling hands, his eyes filled with terror: "This is...poisoned wine?"

"No, this is just wine," Giovanni said calmly. "This is what will send you on your way."

He pulled out the double-barreled shotgun and pressed it against Mondale's chest.

"For the honor of the family."

boom--!

The gunshots sounded particularly muffled in the enclosed basement.

Thus ended the life of a lord.

……

Rome, Sant'Angelo Private Hospital.

This is Rome's most upscale private hospital, with tight security and a tranquil environment.

In the lounge outside the special care ward, Lu Chen was sitting on the sofa, holding a cup of hot coffee.

Ruan Mei and Sophia were by Lubers's bedside. After the doctor's emergency treatment, the old count, though exhausted, was in better spirits than when he was at the castle. Perhaps it was because his wish had been fulfilled, or perhaps it was because he saw his daughter's return, that he had a brief respite before death.

Thomas, David, and Mawby sat on a bench in the hallway, all looking tense. Although they were skilled fighters, the impending gunfight still made them uneasy.

"Ring ring ring".

Lu Chen's mobile phone rang.

He answered the phone, and Giovanni's calm and steady voice came from the other end.

"Mr. Lu, I am Giovanni."

"How's the situation?" Lu Chen asked, taking a sip of coffee. His tone was relaxed.

"The big cleaning is over." Giovanni's voice was completely calm, as if he had just finished cleaning. "Lord Mundell... unable to bear the pressure of debt, shot himself in the castle. His men fought over the loot and all of them died."

"A very good script." Lu Chen smiled. "What about the police side?"

"Director Genet has arrived. He will handle the on-site report. All of Mondale's assets have been transferred to Miss Sophia's foundation, totaling approximately fifty million US dollars, excluding real estate."

"Well done, Giovanni."

"It's my duty. Thank you for your help, Mr. Lu." Giovanni paused. "Also, please tell Miss Sophia that the castle has been cleaned and she is welcome to come home anytime."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Chen stood up, walked to the door of the ward, and told everyone the news.

Sophia looked at the text message on her phone, then glanced at Lu Chen's calm face.

She knew what this meant.

This means that from tonight onwards, the entire Lupus family, and even half of Rome's territory, will be free from any obstacles.

She is now a true queen.

"Thanks……"

Sofia closed her eyes, and tears streamed down her face again, but this time, they were no longer from anger or fear, but from relief.

"Don't thank me yet, I also have something to report," Lu Chen smiled and wiped away her tears. "When you take over Prada, help me cover all of Europe with Garreau, then it won't be too late to thank me."

"Don't worry, Boss~" Sophia chuckled and blinked, "I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

The sky outside the window was already showing a hint of dawn.

The dawn has broken in Rome.