Chapter 174: Past Ghosts (2), The Woman At The Gate
Morning sunlight spilled through the tall windows of Bellemere Mansion, painting soft gold over the marble floors.
Liam stirred awake in his bed. For a moment, he simply lay there, eyes on the ceiling, listening to the silence. Then, as the weight of the morning settled in, a calm smile spread across his face.
Another day. Another sign-in.
He sat up, stretched lazily, and rolled his shoulders. His body felt light, rested, and his mind clear. He swung his legs off the bed and stood, heading straight for the bathroom.
The water was warm, cascading over his skin, washing away sleep. When he was done, he dried himself, slipped into clean clothes, a simple, dark casual wear, and picked up his phone, and Lucid from the bedside table.
As soon as he put on the device, Lucy’s soft voice chimed in his mind.
"Good morning, Master. You have a new credit alert from Silverstone Realty. Amount: 1.5 million dollars."
Liam paused mid-step, then smiled faintly.
"Mr. Newman works fast," he murmured.
The funds were from the rent for the residential complex building he asked them to manage for him. He pocketed the phone and Lucid, then left the room.
The stairs gleamed as he descended, one hand trailing along the polished mahogany rail. Evelyn was already waiting near the base, as always.
"Good morning, sir," she greeted.
"Good morning, Evelyn," Liam said warmly.
He crossed the hall to the dining area, where the two girls were already preparing the table. The smell of breakfast filled the air.
"Breakfast is ready, sir," Mira said softly, setting down the last dish.
"Thank you." Liam took his seat, and they stepped back quietly.
He ate without rush, his mind turning over the day ahead. There was nothing urgent waiting for him — at least, nothing on Earth. Lucid will be delivered to the tech reviewers in two days time, so nothing on that end.
His main task for the day lay elsewhere: in the Great Yan Empire, where his next sign-in awaited.
He finished up his meal, thanked the girls again, and stood up.
"Thank you girls," he said, before heading back upstairs.
When the door to his room closed, the calm expression on his face didn’t change. In the next instant, he was gone.
He reappeared in the VIP suite of the inn in the Great Yan Empire. He did a light stretch, straightening himself, then said the words.
"System, sign in."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host. You received 50,000 Gold Coins.]
[You received 500 Low Grade Spirit Stones.]
***
"Not bad," he said, a smile spread across his face.
Fifty thousand gold coins — in this world, that was wealth enough to purchase estates. And five hundred spirit stones... even outer disciples of minor sects would take a year to amass that much.
His smile widened as he pocketed the rewards without ceremony. He didn’t think too much about the rewards. What he was focused on, was on tomorrow’s sign-in, which would be his first weekly sign-in in this universe. He wondered what sort of rewards he would receive and he hoped that it would be something that can help him to cultivate.
He left the suite, space rippling around him as he returned to the Dimensional Space.
Liam sighed softly and decided to leave, as he vanished from the suite and appeared in the Dimensional Space.
Immediately, his eyes widened slightly.
Where before there had been nothing but an empty plains, there now stood a sprawling complex — a vast structure that stretched far beyond what he could see from the ground.
Curious, Liam rose into the air, his figure cutting across the horizon.
Below him, hundreds of automated machines worked in perfect coordination — massive construction drones, humanoid bots, and vehicles moving silently. The structure they were building resembled a colossal manufacturing hub, and its design was sleek.
Lucy’s voice echoed in his mind.
"This is the workshop — the manufacturing hub. It will house the molecular assembler and molecular analyzer. And it will be where everything will be built and created in the future."
Liam nodded slowly, as he watched as beams of alloy were welded together by streams of plasma.
"You’re doing good work," he said.
"Thank you, Master."
Satisfied, he descended slowly and returned to his room on Earth. He collapsed back onto his bed, arms folded behind his head, eyes tracing the lines of the ceiling.
A soft ping drew his attention. It was a message in his group chat and Kristopher had tagged him.
"You busy?" He asked.
Liam was about to reply when the faint sound of Evelyn’s footsteps reached his ears, and a knock followed.
"Sir," she said through the door, her tone polite but uncertain. "There’s someone at the gate asking to see you."
Liam frowned lightly. "Who?"
"She didn’t say. An older woman."
Before he could respond, Lucy’s calm voice filled his mind.
"Master, I’ve patched the gate feed to your view."
In his vision, a window flickered open, showing the CCTV footage from the mansion’s front gate. Standing there, under the morning sun, was a woman who looked as if she had come from another world — clothes worn, hair disheveled, eyes sunken but burning with something between desperation and madness.
Liam’s expression froze for a moment, as he recognised the person.
Charlotte. The woman who had given him life and had also abandoned him every sense that mattered.
For a moment, he said nothing. The silence stretched until even Evelyn’s voice seemed hesitant. "Sir?"
Liam’s first instinct was to order Evelyn to send her away. To have her removed from the property and never allowed near him again. But he knew she wouldn’t listen to anyone else.
He stood slowly. "I’ll handle it."
He stepped out of the room, Evelyn falling into step behind him. Downstairs, Mason and Nick were already waiting by the door.
"Someone’s at the gate," Mason said.
"I know," Liam replied. "Let’s go."
The morning air was cool as they walked down the long stone path toward the gates. When they reached the front gate, Liam stopped a few paces away.
The woman lifted her head. Her eyes lit up bright with a trembling, almost feverish light.
"Liam..." she started, her voice breaking. "My son—"
But Liam’s voice cut across hers, calm and cold.
"Turn back," he said quietly. "Go home. Whatever you came here for, forget it. Don’t come back."
Charlotte blinked, her mouth hanging open. "W-What? Liam, I’m your mother. You can’t—"
But he had already turned away. His expression didn’t waver, not even for a second.
She took a step forward, reaching for the gate. "Don’t you dare walk away from me! Liam! I am your mother!"
Her words echoed across the courtyard, shrill and shaking. But Liam didn’t stop. He didn’t shout or argue. He simply kept walking.
When he reached the front steps, he turned slightly, his voice low but firm. "Mason, take care of it. I don’t want to hear her again."
"Yes, sir," Mason said quietly.
Charlotte’s voice rose again, furious and broken. "Liam! You ungrateful—!"
Liam didn’t look back, as he walked through the doors of the mansion, with an unreadable expression on his face.
Inside, Evelyn lingered by the staircase, uncertain whether to speak.
"Evelyn," he said softly.
"Yes, sir?"
"Next time she comes, don’t pay any attention to her."
"Yes, sir."
He walked up the stairs, the light from the tall windows casting long shadows behind him. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, the noise outside had faded entirely.
At the gate, Charlotte’s cries had broken into silence.
And inside, Liam’s world returned to its usual calmness, as though nothing had happened at all.
But deep down, under that calm, something in him had hardened because whatever tie had remained between him and his past, it was gone now.