The air within the opulent confines of the Xiao mansion was thick with tension, a palpable miasma of anger and frustration that seemed to permeate every crevice. Xiao Mingyuan, the head of the notorious Xiao family, paced the length of the lavishly appointed living room, his features twisted into a mask of barely contained fury.
"Fifty million yuan..." he seethed, his voice laced with a venom that sent a shiver racing down the spines of those gathered around him. "Fifty million worth of drugs, burned down just like that."
His wife, Li Mei, a woman who had long since learned to distance herself from the unsavory aspects of her husband's "business," regarded him with a mixture of concern and resignation. "It's not only the drugs that burned there," she murmured, her tone laced with a rare hint of gravity. "The guards, too."