“Miss Zhang, knowing too much is not beneficial for you,” the young man shrugged, not answering her question.

When Zhang Xinyu asked this question, she had imagined many possible responses: perhaps they were enemies, perhaps they had ulterior motives, or maybe they were just random criminals with antisocial tendencies… But she never expected to receive such an ambiguous warning.

She finally realized, belatedly, that these people were not who she initially thought they were.

When the door opened, Zhang Xinyu only thought they were a group of desperate robbers, but upon seeing the relaxed young man, she quickly realized something was wrong.

—Except for the young man who casually picked up a bottle of red wine, the group had not touched anything after entering the house. They had not gone to the cabinet in the hallway to take the money as she had mentioned before; instead, they silently blocked all exits, turning the apartment into a heavily guarded prison.

It was like a special ops team from an action movie, but Zhang Xinyu could not figure out what made her worthy of such an elaborate setup.

Oh God, she was just a recently graduated college student, barely surviving by selling her body!

Could it be that Liu Tianlei did something?

Zhang Xinyu’s mind raced, almost hearing the buzzing of her thoughts. In an instant, her pupils widened as she had a new guess.

After Tao Fengche warned her, he said nothing more, leaning casually against the dining table, and his subordinates were exceptionally skilled at concealing their presence. Apart from the faint sound of water from the bathroom, all that could be heard in the room were her increasingly frantic breaths.

In such an environment, Zhang Xinyu felt the psychological pressure was like enduring a long and endless torture. She forced herself to stay calm for a while, but the question escaped her lips.

“Are you… are you here to find him?” She curled up on the sofa, the alpha in a property uniform still holding a gun steadily against her waist. The soft pillows behind her no longer provided comfort, and she continued, “Please, let me go. I really don’t know anything and won’t tell anyone. Don’t kill me, please…!”

By the end of her plea, it was heart-wrenching. Zhang Xinyu could no longer control herself, tears streaming down her face. Then, she remembered their previous demand and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, forcing herself to stifle all her sobs.

She was a mess now, no longer the confident figure from ten minutes ago on the balcony.

“Don’t worry, if you really don’t know anything, we won’t do anything to you,” Tao Fengche said slowly.

Watching a delicate female omega on the verge of breaking down, Tao Fengche did not show any hint of sympathy. He took out a Glock from behind him, disassembled and reassembled it, and after completing the process, he looked at Zhang Xinyu, who had managed to “calm down,” and said with unexpected mercy, “Good job. I’ll give you one question. You can only ask one. After that, stay silent.”

Zhang Xinyu nodded vigorously, took numerous deep breaths to control her emotions, and asked with a trembling voice, “Are you… his son?”

In movies and TV shows, powerful families fight over inheritance, ignoring even their closest relations. Historically, there were cases of fratricide and patricide for power. So, this might explain why they were targeting her—catching a mistress.

Tao Fengche: “…”

Zhang Xinyu had no idea what she had said wrong. In an instant, everyone’s gaze was fixed on her, especially the fully armed alphas, whose expressions were a mix of shock, confusion, and a subtle admiration of “Wow, she actually dared to ask that.”

She shrank her neck, curling up tighter on the sofa.

Tao Fengche paused while disassembling the gun, nearly dropping the parts. He tightened his grip and frowned deeply at Zhang Xinyu, as if examining a single-celled prehistoric creature without a brain.

“Father?” After a moment, Tao Fengche sneered, his tone full of disdain, “Does he even deserve that?”

He stopped using a nonchalant attitude to hide his sharpness. Zhang Xinyu instinctively held her breath and then felt extreme fear, even to the point of wanting to vomit.

Zhang Xinyu had never truly encountered high society. She and her friends were mere scavenging flies on the outskirts. For her, Liu Tianlei was the highest-ranking person she had ever met, and she was always fascinated by his power.

Normally, if someone dared to speak to her like this, she would have ruthlessly mocked their arrogance. But coming from the young man in front of her, it was particularly convincing.

He was sharp and aloof, seemingly born into a world that was unattainable for her and holding the reins of power within it.

Zhang Xinyu finally understood how ridiculous her previous thoughts had been.

—How could such a person be a desperate criminal?

His calm demeanor was because, in his eyes, she was just a negligible ant.

And how could humans, the highest creatures, be afraid of ants?

She wanted to correct herself, to beg desperately, but the person in front of her suddenly returned to his previous leisurely demeanor.

“Alright, Miss Zhang, your chance to ask a question is over,” Tao Fengche shrugged, “Now, stay quiet. Otherwise, I’ll have to get them to find a towel to gag you. Believe me, it won’t be pleasant.”

Zhang Xinyu nodded, curling up on the sofa like a newly hatched quail. Her movements were a bit exaggerated, and since silk had little friction, her loosely tied dark green robe slipped open, revealing a large expanse of white skin on her chest.

Caught off guard, she instinctively gasped and quickly covered herself, but when she looked up, she met several indifferent gazes.

Zhang Xinyu had always been confident in her figure. Even dressed casually, she would often be approached for her contact details. But now, the room full of alphas showed no reaction, their looks as indifferent as if they were examining pork on a cutting board.

Zhang Xinyu adjusted her robe, trying to minimize her presence.

Tao Fengche was satisfied with her discretion. He placed the silenced gun on the table, coldly wiped his military knife, and continued to check his weapons.

…Though he appeared calm and composed, in reality, he was extremely anxious. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be checking his weapons so frequently and treating the female omega with such harshness, which was completely contrary to the gentlemanly education he had received since childhood.

But he had no time to worry about these details now.

It wasn’t the fear of venturing into a tiger’s den alone or facing Liu Tianlei in a fierce battle that made him anxious, but because…

He had sneaked out of the house while his brother Sui Yuesheng was attending a dinner.

After fleeing from the home theater on Wednesday night, Tao Fengche had hidden in the bathroom, taking a nearly half-hour cold shower to calm his inner turmoil. Because of this, he hadn’t dared to step out of the house for the entire night.

The next morning, he had prepared himself mentally, and with courage, he went to the dining room, only to find that Sui Yuesheng had already left for work fifteen minutes earlier.

When he returned home from the research institute that evening and had dinner with Sui Yuesheng, he observed him secretly. The latter’s expression was normal, and his behavior showed no signs of suspicion.

…So it seemed that his brother really didn’t know. After all, if Sui Yuesheng had known, he would have reacted immediately, and it would have been a severe punishment.

Relieved to have escaped a crisis, Tao Fengche let out a sigh but also felt a subtle sense of loss.

Determined to act as if nothing had happened, he stayed in the kitchen, boiling milk and thinking hard about reasons to keep Sui Yuesheng out of the way while he took the bodyguards out on the errand.

When the milk was ready, he instructed Xu Song to bring it upstairs. A few minutes later, Xu Song returned, saying that Young Master Sui was still in the study. Tao Fengche hurried upstairs, mentally rehearsing his excuse, and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Sui Yuesheng, wearing gold-rimmed blue light blocking glasses, had his light gray curls cascading over his shoulders. When he heard the noise, he looked up at the door, his long eyelashes seeming naturally lined, looking breathtakingly beautiful from Tao Fengche’s perspective.

Moreover, there was a trace of milk at the corner of Sui Yuesheng’s lips, probably from drinking too quickly and accidentally spilling it.

Tao Fengche instinctively averted his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

He awkwardly placed his hands behind his back, trying hard to control himself and stay calm. Before he could say his prepared reason, Sui Yuesheng spoke first, “Xiao Che, is something wrong?”

“No, I… just wanted you to look at my homework,” Tao Fengche blurted out.

What happened to the carefully thought-out plan? The well-prepared excuse? Why did he say such a stupid reason?

Tao Fengche was extremely frustrated, but Sui Yuesheng suddenly smiled and said, “Are you still holding a grudge because I check your homework every day? Let’s go over it together in a couple of days. I have some things to take care of right now.”

“I trust you, you must have already finished it,” he added, gesturing with the file in his hand.

Ge! He said! He trusts! Me!

Tao Fengche’s lips tightened, his eyes brightened, and his excitement was no less than when he first accompanied Tao Zhixing to attend a company meeting and successfully answered his father’s questions, earning praise.

His ears turned a little red, and just as he was about to say something more, Sui Yuesheng suddenly asked, “There’s a charity gala at Director Qian’s place tomorrow night. Do you want to go with me?”

“Hmm?” Tao Fengche was stunned.

At any other time, he would definitely go. First, to dispel rumors about the Tao brothers not getting along, and second, because his brother, such a beautiful omega, had plenty of alphas drooling over him. He had to keep a close eye on him; otherwise, he wouldn’t feel at ease.

But this time, it was impossible. He had to go catch Liu Tianlei tomorrow night.

With a bleeding heart, Tao Fengche shook his head and declined Sui Yuesheng’s invitation. The latter didn’t take it to heart, and after chatting for a while, Tao Fengche quietly took his leave.

Even by the time the person left today, Tao Fengche was still immersed in regret. But despite his regret, it didn’t affect his work. In addition to the bodyguards who had previously accompanied him to the production base, he specifically chose a few more discreet ones and secretly took them out without informing Xu Song.

There’s no turning back once the bow is drawn, but how should he explain when he gets home?

Tao Fengche didn’t dare to imagine Sui Yuesheng’s reaction.

“Click.”

As Tao Fengche was feeling troubled, a sound suddenly echoed in the quiet house.

The bathroom door opened.

Liu Tianlei stepped out of the bathroom, naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist, completely unaware. In the next second, he found himself facing two armed bodyguards at the door, their guns aimed directly at him.

Years of walking a tightrope had given Liu Tianlei a strong sixth sense. In the blink of an eye, he realized something was terribly wrong. He immediately tried to kick the door shut and go back to grab his gun, but a lazy voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

“Mr. Liu, if I were you, I wouldn’t move right now.”

Tao Fengche slowly walked over from the direction of the living room, casually playing with a Glock in his hand, as if parting the sea like Moses.

Liu Tianlei was never one to easily comply, but just as he was about to dodge, he froze, stiffening as if he had accidentally looked directly into Medusa’s eyes and turned to stone.

As Tao Fengche spoke calmly, a mischievous red dot appeared in the room, playfully hovering on Liu Tianlei’s nose before moving up to settle on his forehead.

That red dot was all too familiar to Liu Tianlei.

It was the sight of a sniper rifle!