The air was thick with smoke as the last remnants of the battle died away. The warehouse lay in ruins, debris scattered across the floor, and the bodies of Quân’s men motionless, a haunting silence filling the space. Hùng stood amidst the wreckage, his chest heaving, sweat trickling down his face as he stared at Quân’s unconscious form lying at his feet.

For a moment, Hùng’s eyes glazed over as a wave of exhaustion washed over him. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the toll of the fight had begun to catch up with him. But this wasn’t the time to rest. He knew better. Linh’s footsteps echoed softly as she approached him, wiping the blood from her face.

“We did it,” she said quietly, her voice almost surprised. “Quân is down.”

Hùng gave a slow nod, but his face remained impassive. There was no sense of victory, no relief from the weight that had been pressing on him for so long. This moment had always felt inevitable, and yet standing over Quân didn’t fill him with the satisfaction he had imagined. Instead, it left him hollow, staring into the face of a man who had shaped the horrors of his new life.

“He’s not dead yet,” Hùng muttered under his breath, stepping closer to Quân. “We need answers.”

As he crouched down, ready to drag Quân to his feet, Linh put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“Hùng… what now?” Her eyes searched his face, seeing the turmoil beneath his cold exterior. “This won’t end just because Quân is defeated. His empire, his men… they’ll come for us. You need to think about what’s next.”

“I know,” Hùng replied, his voice laced with frustration. “But this was never just about Quân. There’s more at stake.”

He could feel the memories pushing their way to the surface, fragments of a life he’d tried to bury. A life where he’d had a family, where he had loved and lost everything in one cruel twist of fate. He wasn’t Tấn—he was Hùng, a man wronged and reborn with a mission. But no one could ever know. Not yet.

The Past Haunts

As the sun began to rise, casting a pale light through the broken windows of the warehouse, Hùng’s thoughts drifted back to the beginning—to the night that had sealed his fate. He remembered the betrayal, the pain, and the helplessness that had consumed him as his wife and her lover conspired to destroy his life. And then… darkness.

Waking up in a new body, with a new name, had been disorienting. The man known as Tấn had been nobody—a petty criminal with no future, a body discarded by society. But it had given Hùng a chance. A chance to get close to Quân, to infiltrate his organization, and eventually to bring it all down.

But now, as he stood at the edge of that cliff, he realized the price of vengeance was far higher than he had expected. His new identity, his life as Tấn, had come with sacrifices—friendships he had betrayed, and people he had hurt in his relentless pursuit of revenge.

“Do you regret it?” Linh’s voice pulled him back to the present.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He glanced at her, her face hard but curious. Linh had always been an enigma—a partner in crime, a fighter, but never someone who asked too many questions. Yet now, after all the bloodshed, she seemed to be seeking something more from him.

“Regret?” Hùng echoed, shaking his head. “No. I couldn’t afford to regret it. Not then. Not now.”

But even as he spoke the words, he wasn’t sure if he believed them. There was a part of him that longed for peace, for the chance to start over, but that life felt unreachable.

Linh’s eyes softened, but she remained silent, sensing that there was more to his words than he was willing to admit.

The Interrogation

The groan of metal against concrete broke the silence as Quân stirred, his body twitching back to consciousness. Hùng snapped back into focus, his jaw clenched as he yanked Quân up by his collar.

“We’re not done,” Hùng growled, the venom in his voice making it clear that there was no room for mercy.

Quân’s eyes fluttered open, swollen and bloodshot, and for the first time, Hùng saw something unfamiliar in his enemy’s expression—fear. The man who had once commanded armies of ruthless criminals now looked vulnerable, broken.

“You think this will change anything?” Quân croaked, his voice hoarse from the beating. “You kill me, and another will rise. You can’t fight what I’ve built.”

Hùng’s fingers tightened around Quân’s collar, pulling him closer, his voice low and dangerous. “I don’t care about what you’ve built. I care about what you took from me.”

Quân’s lips twisted into a weak smile. “Still clinging to the past, are we? You’re no different from me.”

“I’m nothing like you,” Hùng hissed, the words burning on his tongue. “You destroyed lives for power. I’m here to make sure you never get the chance to do it again.”

Linh stepped forward, her gun trained on Quân, her voice cold and devoid of emotion. “Where’s the ledger? The one that lists all of your associates, your accounts?”

Quân’s eyes flickered with recognition, but he remained silent, his jaw tightening. Hùng could see the calculation in his eyes, the wheels turning as Quân weighed his options. He still thought he had the upper hand, that somehow he could outplay them.

“Where is it?” Linh pressed, her tone sharp.

Quân chuckled weakly, spitting blood onto the ground. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t live long enough to use it. They’re already coming for you.”

Hùng slammed Quân against the wall, fury flashing in his eyes. “You’re going to tell us, or I’ll make sure your death is slow.”

But Quân’s grin widened, his defiance clear even in his weakened state. “I’m not afraid to die.”

A Choice to Make

The room went silent. Hùng felt the weight of Quân’s words hanging in the air. He knew that killing Quân would be the easy choice—the final nail in the coffin of his old life. But something deep inside him hesitated. Would killing him really bring the closure he so desperately sought?

Linh, ever practical, moved closer, her gun still aimed at Quân’s head. “We don’t have time for this. Either we kill him, or we get the information and move. Your call.”

Hùng looked at Linh, then back at Quân, his mind racing. In that moment, he realized that this wasn’t about Quân anymore. This was about who he was becoming—whether he would allow the darkness to consume him fully or find another way.

He released his grip on Quân, stepping back. “We’re not killing him. Not yet.”

Linh frowned, her confusion clear. “What do you mean? He’s a liability.”

“I need him alive,” Hùng said, his voice resolute. “He’s the only one who can give us the information we need. And he’s going to talk, one way or another.”

Quân’s laughter echoed through the warehouse, weak but mocking. “You really think you can break me?”

Hùng’s gaze hardened. “You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of.”

As the sun continued to rise, casting long shadows through the warehouse, Hùng stood over his fallen enemy, the weight of the next steps pressing heavily on him. He knew that the road ahead would only grow darker, but he was ready for whatever came.

Because in the end, there was no going back.