In the cold room, the "tap-tap" of footsteps was so clear, echoing in the ears of the three men like the whispers of a ghost. The temperature on the wall thermometer continued to drop, soon plunging below zero. Due to the rapid loss of body heat, the skin of the three men took on an unnatural, bruised purple hue. It felt as if it were no longer blood flowing through their veins, but poison, as a slight itching sensation spread across their entire bodies.
No one spoke first. They simply sat with trembling bodies, heads bowed in silence. Xu Xiaoyou spoke with a hint of helplessness:
"Why are you all so quiet now? Weren't you quite the smooth talkers when you were finding ways to force my Little Blue Bird to sign these contracts?"
"This one, the 'Artist Resource Tilting Mutual Aid Agreement', and this one, the 'Equity Transfer Agreement', the 'Curtain Promotion Service Agreement', the 'Corporate Culture Cooperation Promotion Agreement', and the 'Rising Star Artist Exchange Training and Guidance Agreement'."
"I have to hand it to you. It must have taken quite a bit of effort to come up with so many glamorous-sounding names, hasn't it?"
Xu Xiaoyou knew very well that after she left, the original "angel investors" had torn off their hypocritical disguises to reveal their true demonic faces, banding together to pressure the blue-haired girl.
Any ordinary person suddenly faced with such an overwhelming influx of information would surely be helpless. The difficulty of picking out a relatively safe stream from the waves of malice, hypocrisy, and traps could only be imagined.
She had originally prepared herself to return and overturn everything to start anew, yet she found that the high tower of "Dream-Chaser" still stood unyieldingly in the dark night, emitting a faint glow.
It was hard to imagine the sheer pressure Tang Xin had shouldered alone at the center of the vortex, or how much maneuvering and fighting she had done to barely maintain the company's normal operations and guarantee the basic livelihoods of over a hundred artists.
If it weren't for Tang Xin, she feared all her previous efforts would have gone to waste.
And this was the result even after Tang Xin's struggles. These vampires.
"Let me think. Mr. Chen, you were always the one boasting the most at the dinner table, saying how loyal you were to Rongsen Media and how many contributions you made with such painstaking effort. You've been missing for nearly ten hours now; why hasn't there been any movement from that side?"
"Ten hours?" Upon hearing this, the man's pupils shrunk as he looked up. "That... that's impossible!"
"We all have trackers on us. If we lose contact, the company would notify the chord official immediately..."
One of them realized something: "We're right under the city, aren't we!"
"Help!" that man screamed.
"Someone come quickly! Can anyone hear me? This woman is crazy, she's gone mad!"
Xu Xiaoyou just sat silently in her seat, listening until the man's voice went hoarse. Standing beside her, a masked brute could no longer stand it. He abruptly punched the man in the stomach, nearly knocking out the sardine salad the man had eaten yesterday.
Seeing this, the remaining two became honest, realizing that their cries could never reach the surface and that struggle was futile.
Xu Xiaoyou held up her teacup and blew out a breath.
"Do you think you can force us to compromise with such barbaric methods? If you have the nerve, then keep us here. If the executives of three companies die here and it's traced back to you, do you think you can escape!" the executive from Linglan tried to persuade the blonde girl this way.
"Exactly! Release us this instant, or this won't end well! I dare you to never let us out!"
"Miss Xu, to think I actually admired you before. Now I see you're no different from those greedy fools!"
The three had clearly reached a tacit understanding, forming a united front.
Xu Xiaoyou didn't respond to their words. She simply tossed a stack of photos in front of the Linglan executive and took a sip of hot tea.
The man looked down at the photos. In them, he was entangled in bed with a glamorous woman. The camera angle was extremely tricky; an ordinary person could never have discovered a pinhole camera in that location.
"Mr. Lin, you should be very familiar with this photo, shouldn't you?"
Lin Yong gave a cold laugh. "Ridiculous. You think I care about you threatening me with something like this?"
"I heard there are some minor cracks in your marriage. I can understand; it's normal for couples to have gaps between them. But if this photo reached her hands and she filed for divorce now, a very large slice of that sweet cake known as the assets under your name would be cut away."
"You!" Obviously, Xu Xiaoyou's words hit Lin Yong's sore spot. He hadn't expected her to have such a clear grasp of his current family situation. What he could least endure was the idea of the career he had painstakingly built for half his life benefiting someone else.
After taking a moment to calm down and think, Lin Yong scoffed:
"I have no knowledge of this. Such surreptitiously taken photos don't constitute decisive evidence. Do you think I don't know the law at all?"
"Then what about these?" Xu Xiaoyou tossed several more stacks of photos. They were all of Lin Yong with various women, and even some explicit shots with a male veela.
"With this many, there's bound to be some you can't explain away, and they're enough to constitute evidence in terms of timing. You can use your connections to bribe a chord official, but only the Chord Ensemble has the authority to determine objective facts. Do you need me to read the regulations of the 【Starry Movement】 to you one by one?"
"If Mr. Lin had been a bit more decent in his conduct, he wouldn't have fallen to this state today."
"When did you plant your people around me!" Lin Yong's eyes looked ready to burst.
"Damn it, Lin Yong! Why is he in this photo!" Chen Wei shouted a question from the side.
On top of the pile of photos on the table, the veela with starry eyes, an androgynous appearance, and a slender build stimulated everyone's vision.
Listening to two grown men start arguing over a male veela, Xu Xiaoyou's lips twitched slightly. She couldn't help but feel that men really did understand men best; this guy had them hooked line and sinker.
Seeing that the small group of three was about to fall apart, the one who had remained silent the whole time could no longer sit still. With a dark face, he asked: "What exactly do you want!"
"It seems you still haven't figured out the situation," Xu Xiaoyou said.
"You know perfectly well how many things you've done that you should be ashamed of regarding me. Now, it's not about what I want to do, but what you should proactively offer to do for me to save yourselves as much as possible."
"I still have plenty of evidence of you misappropriating public funds, occupational embezzlement, corruption, and using hidden rules on the artists under you."
"It's enough to send all of you to hell."
"Dead people are meaningless to me," Xu Xiaoyou said. "They would only slow down my progress."
Within the next two days, she was going to clear all obstacles from Tang Xin's path.
Xu Xiaoyou placed a small bell for a three-minute timer on the table and lightly pressed it.
"Let's cooperate again, just like before. You have three minutes. I hope you can offer chips that interest me."
1:27 PM
After leaving the Tree of Eternal Life Club, Tang Xin hurried back to Dream-Chaser Media without stopping. A bodyguard in a suit opened the car door for her, holding a black umbrella to shield her from the afternoon sun.
"Miss Tang."
"Help me prepare a car. I need to go to the Keyboard District in an hour. Please tell the driver that I'll be troubling him," Tang Xin said with a nod. She quickly followed the person beside her into the company's first-floor lobby, where many artists greeted her warmly along the way.
As usual, she brewed herself a cup of black coffee and unexpectedly saw the fish-man girl. For some reason, the other girl seemed flustered the moment she saw her, not daring to look her in the eye.
"Good afternoon, Miss Fren," Tang Xin said with a smile, her voice slightly hoarse from the coffee.
"G-Good afternoon," the fish-man girl said, her gaze darting away.
"About what happened before..."
"I'm sorry."
"It was... it was very wrong of me. I've been too afraid to apologize to you all this time, I..."
Tang Xin was slightly stunned for a moment. She gave a light laugh but said nothing, taking a magazine with Marilynn on the cover from the magazine rack and placing it in the fish-man girl's hands.
"You still have to perform on stage this afternoon, don't you? Don't be nervous, Miss Fren."
With that, Tang Xin turned and left, leaving Fren standing there awkwardly, twirling her hair with her fingers, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Two girls dressed as trainees were chirping and discussing nearby.
"Miss Tang has such a good temper. She's so methodical in everything she does; I've never seen her angry."
"I heard someone blundered into the top-floor office last time. That was the first time Miss Tang showed any sign of being upset."
"The top-floor office? Could it be..."
Arriving at the door of the conference room, Tang Xin pushed it open and walked in. She saw several company representatives sitting there. Jim was sitting on the table as usual, making two ladies burst into laughter with his witty remarks. The moment he spotted the figure at the door, his expression turned to one of profound respect.
"Miss, you've arrived."
The girl at the door was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress. What should have been a pure outfit took on a sense of dignified holiness on her, like a modest white iris in the middle of winter.
"Sevia, good afternoon."
"Amanda, good afternoon," Tang Xin asked, getting straight to the point. "How is the situation?"
"The situation is quite good. The family has agreed to these cooperation requests. Well, it's only logical. We've been at odds with the Kieferis branch for a long time. Plus, with the recent situation of the Withered-Flower family, everyone is eager to get a piece of that big cake. It's only natural that the cooperation went through."
"As for the various details of the cooperation, we came here specifically to discuss them with you, Sevia."
Tang Xin nodded. "That was my intention as well."
An hour later, after finalizing many matters, Tang Xin did not stay to have afternoon tea with her family members. She pushed open the conference room door with characteristic efficiency and walked outside.
Jim quickly followed her with the documents in his arms. "Miss, isn't this a bit too rushed? Although the Angsatin line has had a long-standing grudge with the Kieferis branch and they can't stand each other, that side is also a den of vipers."
"You haven't closed your eyes for over forty hours. I think the matters with the CCA can be put aside for now..."
"Jim." Tang Xin turned around.
"Are the matters regarding Victor handled?"
"He should be discharged from the hospital this afternoon, shouldn't he? The matters with the Kieferis branch must be handled steadily. Don't leave any leverage for them. Don't let things get too strained; leave some room for negotiation."
"If the Angsatins try anything funny later, we'll still need to find a way to use the Kieferis branch to keep them in check."
At the mention of Victor, Jim's eyes darted away. Tang Xin noticed the change in his expression and frowned slightly. "What is it? Don't hide anything from me."
"It's nothing, eldest miss."
He tried to organize his words, finally saying cautiously, "Old Quel... he might have defected."
Tang Xin was puzzled. "Defected? Did Ayin order him to go back?"
"No. He didn't betray you; he betrayed Mr. Ayin."
"What?"
"He killed one of the trusted aides beside Mr. Ayin and is currently a fugitive. The family is sending people to hunt him down. This matter is known by everyone in the family."
"Why are you only telling me such an important thing now?" Tang Xin's brow furrowed deeper.
"Where is he now?"
Jim shrunk his shoulders. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him since this morning."
Tang Xin rubbed her temples, indicating she understood, and steadied her mind. "Have someone investigate the aide Old Quel killed. By tonight, I want to know why it had to be him."
Jim hadn't expected the girl to give this answer. After a moment of hesitation, he found her staring intently at him. Jim felt uncomfortable under her gaze; he swallowed hard and repeatedly promised to do so.
"Jim, tell Lyanna to arrange the matters for the Absinthe Foundation tomorrow. With the status of a member of the Tree of Eternal Life Club, I don't think they will refuse my joining."
Jim visibly froze. "Miss, I wasn't aware of this."
"Perhaps there are many things you don't know."
Tang Xin took out an old-fashioned flip phone. Jim quickly searched his own person. Upon discovering what he had lost, and looking again at Tang Xin's calm smile, a nameless chill climbed up his spine at that moment. He suddenly felt the blue-haired girl before him was a stranger.
This was the phone he used to contact Ayin privately.
He hadn't noticed at all when this phone had fallen into the girl's hands. Had she placed an informant by his side?
But he had always been performing his role as a strategist with all his might and had never done anything out of line. When had she started suspecting him?
"I haven't opened this phone, nor do I want to know its contents. Here, take it back, Mr. Jim."
Tang Xin's tone was sincere, and her words were not overbearing. "I am willing to believe in you."
"So please, can you give me a little more trust?"
Jim hurriedly took the phone Tang Xin handed over. After confirming there were no signs of it being opened, many past memories of being suspected, marginalized, and questioned surfaced. His heart was momentarily filled with a mix of emotions.
Looking at the girl walking further and further away, Jim made up his mind and quickly followed.
"Miss, I believe your current roots are still shallow. Developing connections in deep-water factions like the City Monitoring Association, the Human Rights Association, and the foundations this early isn't a clear choice. Listen to me as I analyze them one by one for you..."
"Rather than those, you could try starting with Life Daybreak's Education Union. They currently need a sufficiently bright person to serve as an image ambassador. I don't think there's a more suitable candidate than you."
Rate on N.U.
