“Mission accomplished perfectly.”

“I called him exactly on time. Even through the screen, I could feel Yang Xun’s fury—like he wanted to dig up my ancestors’ graves and bury me alive. I definitely got under his skin, but… did I overdo it? Could this backfire?”

After all, not only did she call at the perfect moment, but she also hung up immediately after showing off and even turned off her phone to avoid any retaliation. In an era without block features, she had to rely on the most primitive method.

“Heh.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t backfire. Yang Xun is arrogant, stubborn, and ruthless in achieving his goals. After suffering a setback, he won’t give up easily. He’ll definitely find another way to achieve what he wants.”

Meng Suihuan was surprised. When had he gotten to know Yang Xun so well?

As if sensing her thoughts, he added, “After all, he’s part of the plan. I did a simple investigation on him before.”

“You call that a simple investigation?” She thought of the time she accidentally saw Shen Jin’s dossier, which was nearly as thick as half a book. She couldn’t bring herself to believe him.

Lu Linshen chuckled. “Just a basic understanding of his personality, family background, and experiences.”

Meng Suihuan: “…”

Suddenly, a fleeting thought crossed her mind. Though brief, she caught onto it.

“Lu Linshen, be honest. I don’t secretly get this kind of five-star treatment behind my back, do I?”

The mere thought of such a possibility made her want to curl up in embarrassment.

After two seconds of silence, she heard him reply, somewhat awkwardly, “…No.”

“If you want it, I can start preparing now—”

Before he could finish, she cut him off decisively. “Stop, stop! I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously!”

The investigation results were out, and Meng Suihuan naturally wanted to inform everyone of the situation. However, just as she began to speak, she received a string of urgent calls from Jiang Chengxuan.

Unless it was a critical matter, Xiao Jiang was typically very measured and rarely acted this way. She offered an apologetic smile to the group. “Apologies, I need to take an urgent call.”

Finding a corner, she answered, “Xiao Jiang, what’s going on?”

“President Meng, Shoucheng Group has poached several of our suppliers. A number of them are now looking to terminate contracts with us. And the companies, projects, and properties you recently considered for investment? Shoucheng got there first…”

Previously, Shoucheng had been discreetly engaging in small, underhanded tactics. Now, they were openly snatching her resources and creating obstacles. It seemed Lu Linshen’s judgment was spot on—Yang Xun was indeed a petty and vindictive person. After taking a hit from her, he wasted no time trying to recover his pride.

“Meng Jie, Shoucheng’s blatant robbery isn’t just disrupting our plans; it’s a clear attempt to target us. It’s outrageous! Should we retaliate and use their own tactics against them by poaching their projects?”

“We can’t outcompete them in that way,” Meng Suihuan said calmly, stating the reality. “Shoucheng is an established company in Ning City. Their foundation and financial strength surpass ours.”

Although Jiang Chengxuan had to accept the truth, he couldn’t hide his frustration. “Then what do we do? Let them walk all over us?”

“Of course not!”

“If they’re determined to take our resources, we’ll use this as an opportunity to employ diversion tactics. Confuse them and make them waste their money on dead ends!”

Since the lab team was still waiting for her, she didn’t go into detail. After instructing Xiao Jiang to keep a close eye on Shoucheng’s actions, she ended the call and began walking back.

She had barely taken a few steps when her phone rang again. This time, it was Yang Xun.

She remembered his number well from the previous day when she had been timing her moves while keeping an eye on this exact contact. It wasn’t hard to guess his purpose for calling now, but she was in no mood to entertain him. Without hesitation, she declined the call.

The phone rang again. Decline. Ring. Decline.

After a few back-and-forth attempts, Yang Xun finally gave up and stopped calling. Not long after, she received a text message:

“President Meng, did you receive my gift? Are you satisfied?”

In the meantime, the gossip in the office was running wild.

“So it was Liu Ge. How ironic! He was one of the top figures at Feiyun Group back then, and now he’s fallen so far…”

“No wonder he was splurging money recently—always wearing the trendiest military coats and eating out at fancy restaurants. Turns out this was why.”

Meng Suihuan had only disclosed the identity of the mole and hadn’t yet shared other details, but gossip was the one thing people never lacked.

Initially, the conversation revolved around their impressions of Liu Ge and their opinions on the incident. As they continued, they delved deeper, even turning into armchair detectives.

“I saw him sneaking out a few times recently. I thought he was up to no good. Looking back, he was probably meeting with people from Shoucheng in secret. If only I’d known sooner…”

“Alright, alright, stop bragging. If you were so good at predicting the future, why didn’t you expose him earlier and prevent him from taking the core technology and running?”

“The damage is done. Talking about it won’t help. My concern now is whether we can continue the experiments after losing the core technology.”

“Hey, Gangzi, weren’t you just boasting about how you saw through Liu Ge? Why don’t you predict whether we’ll keep our jobs now?”

Caught off guard, Gangzi awkwardly scratched his head, at a loss. “Uh… well…”

He had just been boasting casually earlier—how could he actually know?

Just as he was scrambling for a response, he spotted his savior. His eyes lit up, and he quickly shouted to divert attention, “President Meng is here! President Meng is here!”

The thunderous energy startled Meng Suihuan, causing her to jump. She steadied herself and chuckled lightly, saying, “I just took a phone call. There’s no need to get this worked up, is there?”

With Meng Suihuan present, the group naturally let Gangzi off the hook.

“President Meng, we’ve caught the thief, but since the project’s technology has been leaked, is there still any point in continuing our research?”

“Can you give us a definitive answer?”

So that’s what was worrying them. After all, this job had excellent benefits and wasn’t overly demanding. They knew they wouldn’t find another job this good outside, so it was no wonder they reacted so strongly.

“Of course, we’ll continue! Not only that, but we also need to make up for the delays from the past two days!”

“As for the leaked core data, it’s already been destroyed and poses no threat to us. Everyone can rest easy and focus on their work.”

Hearing that the core data had been destroyed, the group cheered excitedly. Their shouts of joy echoed through the room.

The only exception was Shen Jin, whose dark eyes flashed briefly before he sighed in relief.

—

Meanwhile, on Liu Ge’s side, after handing over the core technology to Shoucheng, he expected to live the high life. Who could have guessed that woman, Meng Suihuan, would call the police?

Now, the streets were crawling with people hunting him down. He had been hiding for days, desperate to seek Yang Xun’s help, but he couldn’t even get through the door.

Finally, seizing an opportunity to sneak in, he went straight to Yang Xun to demand justice.

“President Yang, we had an agreement. I do the job, and you guarantee my wealth and safety. Now the police are after me every day. Is this how you keep your promises?”

“And you are?” Yang Xun asked with a doubtful expression.

Liu Ge: “…”

Enraged, Liu Ge shouted, “I just stole the core technology for you, and now you’re pretending not to know me? Yang, I’m warning you. If you don’t protect me, I’ll drag you down with me. We’ll see who suffers more—”

“Oh, it’s you!” Yang Xun’s expression darkened, and he immediately ordered, “Security, tie this man up!”

The security team moved with lightning speed, binding Liu Ge in no time.

Liu Ge struggled desperately, throwing out threats. “Yang, you think I came alone? I’ve hidden the evidence! If you don’t let me go, I’ll make sure all of Shoucheng’s dirty secrets are exposed tomorrow!”

Yang Xun grabbed his face, leaned in close, and tightened his grip. His voice was icy as he sneered, “You’re threatening me?”

He released his grip slightly and instructed, “Teach him a lesson. Let him wake up and recognize his place!”

“You—” Liu Ge couldn’t even finish the word before a series of heavy punches rained down on him.

“Ahhh—” His screams gradually weakened until he was left on the floor, battered and barely able to speak.

Only then did Yang Xun order them to stop. He stepped forward, pressing his foot on Liu Ge’s face, causing him to scream in pain.

“Do you know why I hit you?” he asked coldly.

When Liu Ge didn’t respond, Yang Xun pressed harder with his foot.

“Mother…” Liu Ge stammered weakly.

Yang Xun crouched down and explained Meng Suihuan’s scheme with mockery in his voice. “Not only did you botch the job, but you also let me get played by a woman and lose face. I haven’t even settled the score with you, and you dare show up here threatening me? Tell me, do you deserve to be beaten?”

Seeing Liu Ge’s shocked expression, Yang Xun lost interest in further conversation. He stood up and ordered coldly, “I don’t want to see him again. Take him somewhere and deal with him.”

He added sharply, “And do it cleanly. Leave no trace!”

Just as he was about to leave, something blocked his path. Looking down, he saw a bloodstained hand clutching his pants leg, smearing dirt and blood on the light-colored fabric.

In the face of impending death, Liu Ge’s survival instincts kicked in. Ignoring the pain and the cuts on his fingers, he gripped Yang Xun’s pants tightly.

As Yang Xun paused and looked down at him, Liu Ge seized his last chance, speaking in a garbled, blood-filled voice.

“President Yang… evidence… I know… where it is… let me go…”