78: Chapter 78: Lin Chen Steps in to Save the Day! He Overwhelms Thorne with Evidence

The number of people surrounding them grew, and Sophia gripped her knife tightly.

Downstairs at the private club in the west of the city, the noise was deafening, like a pot boiling over. Thorne's men brandished steel pipes and machetes in the dim light, the blades flickering with a cold, sharp gleam.

The old streetlamp at the entrance had long been shattered, its glass shards scattered across the ground. When occasionally illuminated by passing car headlights, they reflected a fine, blinding light, and the air was thick with a tense, gunpowder-like atmosphere.

Sophia leaned against the second-floor stairwell, clutching a silver dagger so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Behind her stood three trusted aides, all wearing grave expressions. They held weapons in their hands, yet could not hide the exhaustion in their eyes—having been besieged for half a day, they were already out of resources and could only hold on by sheer willpower.

"Sophia! If you know what's good for you, hand over the family ledger, and I might spare your life!"

Thorne stood in the center of the downstairs lobby, wearing a black leather jacket, his hair slicked back, his face full of arrogance and a domineering air.

He raised a foot and kicked over an abandoned stool beside him; with a loud "clang," it hit the wall and shattered into pieces.

"In your dreams!" Sophia's voice, cold and firm, came from the stairwell. "The ledger is the foundation of the Sophia Family; it is absolutely impossible to hand it over to a traitor like you who colludes with outside enemies and betrays the family!"

"Traitor?" Thorne sneered, his eyes turning sinister. "I am the eldest son of the Sophia Family; I should have been the one in power all along! You've occupied the position for so long; you should have stepped down for me ages ago!"

He turned his head to look at the Black Bear Gang Boss Julio beside him and waved his hand. "Brothers, charge! Take down Sophia, seize the ledger, and there will be heavy rewards!"

"Charge!"

More than thirty people immediately swarmed forward, waving their weapons as they charged toward the stairwell.

Sophia's eyes narrowed, and she was the first to meet them. Her dagger unsheathed, a cold light flashed as she directly blocked the steel pipe of the person in the front.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal colliding was harsh and unpleasant. Sophia used the momentum to step back, standing firmly, and shouted to her trusted aides behind her, "Hold the stairwell! Don't let them come up!"

"Yes!"

Both sides instantly engaged in a brawl. The shouts of battle, the sound of metal clashing, and screams mixed together, echoing throughout the entire club.

Sophia was agile; every swing of her dagger precisely avoided vital areas while still managing to render her opponents unable to fight back, displaying her spirited decisiveness.

But the opposition was numerous, and with Black Bear Gang experts holding their ground, within ten minutes, all her trusted aides were injured, and they gradually fell into a disadvantage.

A Black Bear Gang thug seized the opportunity to sneak an attack from the side, a steel pipe swinging straight toward Sophia's back.

Just at this moment, a loud, resounding shout suddenly came from the entrance of the club: "Stop!"

Everyone paused in their actions and turned to look.

Li Wei, carrying a wooden club, rushed in from outside. His form was as agile as a leopard; before the thug could react, he struck his wrist with the club.

"Ah—!" The thug screamed, the steel pipe slipping from his hand and falling to the ground, his wrist instantly swelling red.

Li Wei followed through by raising his foot and kicking the man away, sending him crashing into the wall, unable to get back up.

He stood guard at the stairwell, his eyes cold and sharp, staring intently at the crowd before him. "Who dares to move again? Just try it."

Thorne frowned, eyeing Li Wei with a sinister gaze. "Who are you? How dare you meddle in the affairs of the Sophia Family?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that you colluded with the Black Bear Gang and betrayed the family. It's time to settle this account."

A calm, deep voice came, and Lin Chen slowly walked in from outside.

He wore an ordinary black jacket, his hands in his pockets, his expression calm yet carrying an inherent, powerful sense of oppression. He walked step by step to Li Wei's side, his gaze fixed directly on Thorne.

"It's you?!" Thorne recognized Lin Chen, and his face instantly darkened. "Lin Chen, what does my family's internal strife have to do with you? You dare to meddle; do you believe I won't take care of you too?"

"Take care of me?" Lin Chen sneered, raising his hand to pull a tablet from his pocket. With a tap of his finger, the screen immediately displayed dense text and photos. "You colluded with the Black Bear Gang, embezzled family funds to provide them with resources, and I have all the evidence—recordings and photos of your private transactions—right here in my hands."

He held the tablet up in front of Thorne, his tone icy. "Tell me, if I hand this evidence over to the elders of the Sophia Family and send it to the police, do you think you'll still have your life, let alone power?"

Thorne's gaze fell on the tablet, his face turning pale bit by bit, his body trembling slightly, his eyes filled with dread and panic—he knew better than anyone that colluding with outside enemies was a major taboo in the family. Once this evidence was exposed, let alone holding power, whether he could even survive was a question.

"You... how do you have this evidence?" Thorne's voice trembled, his tone lacking its previous arrogance and filled with more panic.

"It isn't hard to catch you in the act." Lin Chen put away the tablet, his tone resolute. "Now, either take your people and get out, or I'll send this evidence out right now, and we'll go down together."

Sophia stood at the stairwell, watching the scene before her, her eyes flickering slightly. She hadn't expected that Lin Chen would really step in to help her, and that he would produce such fatal evidence, instantly seizing Thorne's Achilles' heel.

Thorne clenched his fists tightly, his nails almost digging into his flesh, his face turning alternating shades of green and white. He looked at Lin Chen's cold gaze, then at Sophia at the stairwell, knowing clearly in his heart that if he insisted on forcing it today, he would only suffer a greater loss.

The Black Bear Gang Boss Julio leaned close to Thorne and advised in a low voice, "Boss, don't be impulsive! If that evidence is exposed, we will be implicated too!"

Thorne gritted his teeth, his eyes full of unwillingness, but he had no other choice. He knew that Lin Chen meant what he said; once the evidence was really sent out, he would be completely finished.

After a few seconds of silence, Thorne suddenly looked up and roared at his men, "Retreat! Everyone retreat!"