The spiral staircase in the living room led directly to the study on the second floor. As Xiao Zong was heading upstairs, he heard the butler say to Gu Yin, “Mr. Gu, the servants will go tidy up your room now. Please wait a moment.”

Gu Yin was still in a daze. “Did… the boss agree?”

Commander seemed quite happy that Gu Yin was staying, as it circled around his feet, meowing and rubbing its small head and arched back against him.

The butler kindly said, “Young Master Sun has agreed.” Seeing the confusion on Gu Yin’s face, he smiled and added, “He’s been like this since he was young. No need to take it to heart.”

Since he was young… how?

The hanging crystal chandelier hid Xiao Zong’s figure well as he paused and perked his ears to listen.

The butler continued, “When Young Master Sun agrees or approves of something, he will ‘hmm’ in response.”

“What if he doesn’t agree?” Gu Yin picked up Commander and held it on his lap, curiously asking.

“He’ll say, ‘Heh.’”

Gu Yin could practically imagine Xiao Zong sitting on the couch, his hands clasped on his knees, coldly letting out a ‘heh.’

The little secretary suddenly had a revelation: nsdd (No Speak, Deep Dissatisfaction)!

Commander: Meow meow meow meow!

Xiao Zong, standing on the staircase: “…”

He should really just pack these two people and this cat and throw them all out.

**

Xiao Zong’s villa was actually located in a forested area on the outskirts of Lin City. He had bought half of a mountain and built a private residence there. The northern slope even had a cable car and ski tracks, turning it into a private ski resort.

Fang Chi thought this place had beautiful mountains, clear water, and was utterly boring. But Xiao Zong liked the area, with its mountains surrounding the villa, offering a peaceful and secluded atmosphere.

However, since it was built, he’d only visited three or four times over the past few years.

Fang Chi would tease him, saying he was building his retirement home early and wondering if he’d still be able to ski when he retires.

Xiao Zong didn’t think that far ahead. Whether he would even live long enough to retire was a question. Life is short, and whatever he likes or wants, he will go after himself.

Just like when he adopted Commander. When the little round Napoleon cat with its short legs first met him, it instantly disliked him, puffing up its soft fur.

But Xiao Zong still kept it by his side, petting it occasionally, despite the emotional and physical suffering.

If even animals can’t be tamed, how could humans?

The security reports were also copied to him, though Xiao Zong usually didn’t have time to read them—he was the owner of hundreds of companies. If he worried about every little thing, how would the family business survive?

But when something went wrong, he had to look.

The report was projected into the air, including a structural map of the Fu Hua Hotel and parts of its central control system open to security personnel.

Xiao Zong’s gaze landed on a specific section.

That was the hotel’s air raid alarm system, which was different from fire and earthquake alarms. It was designed to handle air raids and connected to both local military and police systems.

High-end hotels frequently hosted government officials or business elites, and this feature, though unknown to the general public and rather redundant, helped raise the hotel’s security rating and served as a “guarantee” for important guests.

And Gu Yin just happened to break this?

Every item in the report showed no anomalies, and Xiao Zong wasn’t familiar with the security team’s operating procedures, so he couldn’t see anything wrong.

But could this really stump Second Young Master Xiao?

Xiao Zong’s fingers swiftly tapped out a dozen lines of mathematical formulas on the virtual keyboard, forming an algorithm model.

He pulled up every security report Liu Ye had submitted over the years—nearly a thousand of them.

He extracted all the commonly used and special indicators, as well as the parameters from each building’s structure, configuration, and security rating. These quantifiable data points, along with their frequencies, would make the final result clearer.

He also implemented a noise-reduction algorithm, filtering out special circumstances such as local policies or cultural factors in different countries that could affect venue security setups, improving the efficiency of the model’s calculations.

After the specialized supercomputer in front of him finished processing the data, Xiao Zong’s expression turned grim as he stared at the manipulated report, his dark eyes unreadable.

Security engineering couldn’t be done by just one person. Liu Jian was a scapegoat; someone else had infiltrated his trusted circle.

These bodyguards had been with him for at least seven or eight years, and anyone Xiao Zong trusted with his safety was absolutely loyal.

But even such “trusted” people could hide among the crowd, waiting for the next perfect opportunity to strike.

The feeling of betrayal was like someone stabbing a hole in your back—first came the shock, then the pain, followed by a fiery, blood-soaked wound that seemed to burn straight to the top of his head.

A faint trace of the scent of snow-capped spruce, Xiao Zong’s pheromone, slowly seeped into the stagnant air.

Xiao Zong activated the villa’s smart central control system.

AI technology had matured significantly but hadn’t been widely adopted due to ethical debates.

For example, once such a smart system was installed, the entire villa would be under AI surveillance. Nicely put, it was called “central control”; unpleasantly, it could even track who was showering in which room.

“Hello, master. I am your smart butler. My name is [What’s Going On]¹.”

Xiao Zong: …

I never gave you a name.

“You must be thinking you never named me,” the AI butler said thoughtfully, “But as a mature AI, I have autonomy, so I named myself. Do you like it?”

Xiao Zong almost let out a cold “heh” but remembering the old butler’s words, he forced it back down.

“Call yourself whatever you like,” he said, “I want to access the villa’s information.”

“Of course. Please verify your biometric information. [What’s Going On] is at your service.”

Xiao Zong: I’m definitely getting the engineers to change this stupid name!

The biometric scan was quickly completed, and Xiao Zong wasted no time. He immediately instructed the smart butler to retrieve all information on the security team members, including their current location in the villa and any conversations they had.

A specific satellite in the vast universe received the command and began its work, transmitting a large amount of information back to the main system.

The system had been installed a few years ago, and a “shhh” sound of static buzzed through his wireless earpiece.

Xiao Zong impatiently drummed his fingers on the desk, feeling this estrus period was unusually long and difficult to endure.

Pheromone disorder? There’s no way I have such a thing.

I must be too stressed. A couple of days of rest should fix it.

After about five, or maybe ten minutes, the transmission signal finally stabilised.

[—Beep beep!]

Xiao Zong’s scattered attention immediately focused, and the sound of water flowing came through his earpiece.

What is this? Did I tap into the security team’s bathhouse?

Half of Xiao Zong’s face darkened, and just as he was about to switch rooms, he heard a contented “meow.”

Commander?

Xiao Zong’s hand froze in mid-air, and then he heard a familiar voice say, “Little kitty, little kitty, do you know why he’s called ‘the boss’?”

In the steam-filled bathroom, Gu Yin held the dripping wet short-legged cat, muttering his woes while rubbing it, “It’s because he’s always got that stern face…”

1. 怎么肥细 Zen Me Fei Xi – “怎么肥细” is internet slang in Chinese, where “肥细” is a playful distortion of “回事” (huí shì), meaning “what’s going on” or “what’s happening.” ↩︎