At night, the car sped along smoothly. The taxi that Cheng Ji was in reached the Ring City Expressway within ten minutes, heading toward the Fourth People’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, back in Room 388 at the Moonlight Villa, Qi Beisong finally managed to untie the ropes on his hands within the allotted thirty minutes.

As soon as he urgently pulled his underwear up to his knees, there was a knock at the door from the front desk attendant, delivering “warmth.” Fortunately, his bodyguards were vigilant and didn’t let anyone in, preserving his last shred of dignity.

“Beisong,” Bodyguard A cautiously asked from outside, “someone delivered a piece of clothing. It looks kind of familiar to me.”

“Bring it here,” Qi Beisong snapped while pulling on his pants.

Bodyguard A acknowledged obediently, “Got it.”

But Bodyguard B, less tactful, asked curiously, “Young Master Qi, how did your clothes end up outside?”

Qi Beisong zipped up his pants, threw on a bathrobe, and yanked open the door.

The front desk attendant was a seasoned worker, accustomed to seeing all sorts of handsome men, but her eyes still lit up when she saw Qi Beisong. Customers were common, but someone as breathtaking as him was not.

With a dark expression, Qi Beisong scanned the three people at the door. “Come in.”

The front desk attendant pointed at herself in surprise. “Including me?”

“Including you.”

She hesitated briefly but, recalling that Qi Beisong was rumored to have no interest in women and emboldened by her curiosity, followed Bodyguards A and B into the room.

Once inside, the bodyguards noticed something odd—it seemed as though only Qi Beisong was in the room. They were puzzled, wondering where the bartender who had entered earlier had gone.

Bodyguard A, familiar with Qi Beisong’s temperament, figured he must have locked the person up somewhere. Despite his mischief, Qi Beisong rarely went too far.

Bodyguard B, who was new and a bit dim-witted, immediately turned pale. He internally panicked, thinking, This is it! Someone’s dead! Three months into the job, and I already have to help my boss deal with a corpse! What bad luck!

The front desk attendant, meanwhile, was busy admiring Qi Beisong’s face, thinking to herself, Damn, how can someone be this stunningly attractive? It’s practically sinful.

“Shut the door,” Qi Beisong ordered.

Bodyguard A coughed lightly and asked, “Should I call Mr. Wu?”

Mr. Wu was a slick-looking man, likely indulging himself in another room at the time.

“Don’t mention him!” Qi Beisong roared.

He was fuming with hatred for that bastard Wu, who had initially driven Cheng Ji and Manager Zhou out of the room. If Cheng Ji had stayed, Qi Beisong wouldn’t have had to endure so much torment afterward.

Though, in truth, Qi Beisong’s logic was a mess. Even if Cheng Ji had stayed, he would have still been beaten—and likely worse. Cheng Ji was known to use only half his strength when protecting someone else, but he used every ounce of it when defending himself. Qi Beisong might have ended up with a broken neck.

As a side note, “naked chokeholds” can be applied from both the back and the front. The front version, known as the “guillotine choke,” primarily targets the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck, leading to rapid unconsciousness.

“Lock the door,” Qi Beisong demanded.

Bodyguard A immediately complied.

Qi Beisong threw himself onto the sofa, draping his arms over the backrest. His chest heaved with anger, his eyes red, veins bulging on his forehead.

The three people behind him had no idea what had happened, so they held their breath, silently waiting for him to speak.

After a moment, Qi Beisong calmed his breathing and turned to the front desk attendant. “How did the clothes end up in your hands?”

The attendant replied, “A young man dropped them off earlier and told me to deliver them to Room 388 in half an hour.”

“What kind of young man?” Qi Beisong asked.

The front desk attendant said, “Just one of our employees, someone who does that kind of job here. He stole your clothes.”

Qi Beisong asked, “Do you know his name?”

The attendant shook her head. She didn’t know because it was Cheng Ji’s first day on the job, and his face was unfamiliar. She only remembered the storage number he gave when collecting his things.

At Moonlight Villa, employees came and went frequently. Aside from a few permanent executives and managers, most staff rotated every few months—especially those in roles like Cheng Ji’s. To ensure a steady stream of guests, the old staff were replaced regularly with new ones.

Qi Beisong asked, “If you see him again, will you recognize him?”

The attendant hesitated. “Not necessarily. He had heavy makeup on, and if he washes his face, I might not recognize him anymore.”

Seeing Qi Beisong’s displeasure, she quickly added, “But I remember a distinguishing feature!”

“What feature?”

The attendant said, “He has a mole on the back of his neck. It’s hidden under his hair, but you can see it when he lowers his head.”

Qi Beisong hadn’t noticed any mole on Cheng Ji. Then again, he didn’t have the chance to look—he was busy getting beaten up.

“Anything else?” he asked.

The attendant honestly replied, “Nothing else.”

“Pull up the surveillance footage,” Qi Beisong ordered.

“Huh?” the attendant asked, unsure.

“Pull up the internal surveillance footage for the villa,” he commanded.

Bodyguard A, Lei Jing, asked cautiously, “Beisong, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Qi Beisong said brusquely. “Lei Jing, go with her to review the footage and find the person she described.”

Lei Jing was momentarily stunned but nodded, “Understood.”

Turning to Bodyguard B, Wang Beifeng, Qi Beisong asked, “What’s your problem? Why are you shaking?”

Pale-faced, Wang Beifeng stammered, “Young Master Qi, don’t worry! I’ll handle the aftermath perfectly and make sure there’s no evidence left behind.”

Wang Beifeng was already imagining the worst. The body must be in the bathtub. Should I move it out whole or cut it into pieces for easier disposal? Oh, no! When the crime is discovered, will I be treated as an accomplice?

Wait, no—nobody dares to touch Qi Beisong. I’ll probably be the scapegoat thrown under the bus! Damn, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have submitted my resume three months ago.

Qi Beisong glanced at him strangely, thinking, This guy’s built like an ox, yet he’s always hesitant and jittery. Ignoring him, Qi Beisong fumed in silence.

Over the next half hour, Qi Beisong downed several glasses of red wine to drown his frustration. Meanwhile, Wang Beifeng was still trying to figure out where the body might be hidden. Lei Jing finally returned from reviewing the surveillance footage.

Qi Beisong asked, “Did you find him?”

Lei Jing replied, “Beisong, I think you’ve encountered someone extremely cunning.”

“What do you mean?”

“He knows how to avoid cameras,” Lei Jing explained. “Despite all the high-resolution infrared cameras at Moonlight Villa, not one managed to capture his face.”

“What about the camera at the front desk? That one always faces people, doesn’t it?”

“There’s a camera at the front desk, but he stood right in its blind spot. All it caught was a third of the back of his head,” Lei Jing said.

Qi Beisong took another sip of his wine and asked, “Lei Jing, Wang Beifeng, did you guys train in combat when you were in the military?”

“We did,” Lei Jing answered.

Qi Beisong asked, “Was it traditional techniques or unconventional ones?”

Lei Jing replied, “It was mostly traditional techniques.”

“Does anyone train in unconventional combat?”

“Yes, some do,” Lei Jing said.

“What kind of people?”

“Usually, it’s those who need to engage in real-life, no-holds-barred combat,” Lei Jing explained.

“Are there many of them?”

“Very few. If they exist, they’re usually in special forces. Some reconnaissance soldiers might also fit the description.”

Qi Beisong thought to himself, Even the world’s special forces wouldn’t have someone this punk—someone flashy enough to blind people’s eyes. So, it must not be one of them.

“Aside from special forces, who else would train in unconventional combat?”

Lei Jing replied, “A small number of mobile personnel in the special police, specifically those who handle emergencies.”

That guy in fishnet stockings didn’t seem like a special police officer.

“Anyone else?” Qi Beisong asked.

Lei Jing thought for a moment. “There are also underground organizations—those involved in criminal activity, terrorism, or assassins trained abroad.”

Qi Beisong still didn’t think it matched.

“The rest would either be mixed martial arts fighters,” Lei Jing added.

Qi Beisong thought to himself, That guy? Mixed martial arts? With that frail frame, he’d get booed off the stage before even entering the ring. And how could someone switch from selling themselves one minute to stepping into the octagon the next?

Actually, Cheng Ji wasn’t that short—he was at least 175 cm. But his thin build, burdened by internal and external struggles, made him seem frail.

Qi Beisong buried his head in silence before letting out a cold laugh. “Forget it. We’ll have to startle the snake. Go get that manager surnamed Zhou for me.”

Lei Jing left again. Finally, Wang Beifeng couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “Young Master Qi, where’s the body?”

Qi Beisong snapped, “What body? I almost became a body, do you understand?”

Wang Beifeng stammered, “The… the bar server who just came in to deliver the wine!”

“Who?”

The series of unexpected events nearly made Qi Beisong forget Shen Zimo entirely. “Oh, him? He ran away.”

“Ran away?” Wang Beifeng exclaimed. “How? From where?”

“Someone helped him escape.”

Wang Beifeng suddenly understood. “Oh, was it that guy who couldn’t even be caught on the cameras?”

“Shut up,” Qi Beisong barked, the thought making his temper flare again.

Suddenly, he remembered something and hurriedly instructed Wang Beifeng, “Check the room. I think that guy left behind a shoe.”

Though Wang Beifeng wasn’t the brightest, he was surprisingly good at finding things. In no time, he found a sneaker that Cheng Ji had left under the sink in the bathroom.

“A woman’s shoe?” he asked Qi Beisong.

Qi Beisong scolded, “You think a shoe this big belongs to a woman? I’ve been dealing with a lunatic. Can’t you tell?”

Wang Beifeng quipped, “Pretty romantic for a lunatic. Should we go door-to-door with this shoe to find him?”

“Get lost,” Qi Beisong roared.

---

At Fourth People’s Hospital, Cheng Ji jumped out of the taxi and headed straight for the inpatient building, making his way to Ward 12.

It was close to midnight, and the glass doors near the elevator had already been locked. Though he didn’t want to draw attention, he had no choice but to knock on the glass to get the attention of the nurse on duty.

The nurse was startled by his appearance and took a moment before coming over. “Cheng? Is that you? What happened to your face?”

Cheng Ji replied, “I performed at a company event today. I was afraid it would run late, so I didn’t take off my makeup before rushing back. Did I scare you? Sorry.”

The nurse said, “No worries. I have some face wash here; you can use it later.”

Cheng Ji thanked her and asked casually, “How’s my mom doing today?”

“Same as usual,” the nurse replied. “Oh, by the way, once you’re cleaned up, head over to the doctor’s office. Dr. Zhu is on night duty and hasn’t gone to sleep yet. He asked if you were back because he has something to tell you.”

“Got it,” Cheng Ji nodded, taking the face wash.

To steady his nerves, he lingered at the nurse’s station for a few extra seconds, scanning the surroundings. He quickly spotted a sign pointing to the water room and decided to head there first.

The water room had a hot water boiler, sinks, and an old mirror.

Cheng Ji scrubbed his face several times to remove the thick foundation, but the waterproof mascara was stubborn. The more he rubbed, the darker his eye circles became, leaving him momentarily at a loss.

Finally seeing his own face clearly, he realized he was objectively good-looking. But his thin frame, pale complexion, dark under-eye circles, messy hair, and overall dejected demeanor still made him look like a ghost.

Left with no other choice, he went to find Dr. Zhu as he was.