Chapter 67
Lu Wanqing looked at him quietly and nodded slightly.
The moment he agreed, a thought moved in Shu Ci’s mind. Driven by his will, the long whip swung toward Lu Wanqing with wind-breaking speed.
However, just as it was about to land, the force was somehow dissolved.
The whip tail, which had originally carried the wind, suddenly seemed to turn into a cat’s tail, wrapping softly and gently around Lu Wanqing’s wrist.
The Alpha brushed his hand back through the void, patting the long whip along its energy tremors.
It was like an intimate touch between lovers.
Shu Ci’s ear tips instantly turned red.
He had overestimated himself, thinking that just because Gu Lanzhu had been helpless against him, he could do whatever he wanted.
When it came to duels and combat, Lu Wanqing was battle-hardened.
He had seen through Shu Ci’s oversights and flaws almost at a glance, invisibly suppressing several points of exertion, causing the control that had become familiar to his will to stagnate in an instant.
Win against Lu Wanqing? Hope to hit him?
It was a bit of wishful thinking.
“You don’t have to make surpassing me your goal,” Lu Wanqing spoke.
With several lifetimes of combat experience, facing anyone was like cheating for him.
He carefully withdrew his fingertips from the energy at the whip’s tail and lowered his eyes. “Your current strength is already powerful enough to live independently.”
He had never forgotten Shu Ci’s original wish—financial independence and the ability to protect himself. Now, both elements were complete.
He could propose a divorce at any time, could part ways with him at any moment.
“Congratulations,” he said with some difficulty.
There was even a hint of a forced smile hidden in his eyes.
Lu Wanqing had long expected this day to come, but he hadn’t expected it to come so quickly.
It was clearly he who had personally suspended the blade over his own head and handed it to Shu Ci.
Now, he felt afraid for no reason.
He was afraid that having tasted a little sweetness, he would be reluctant to let go, and afraid that he would use despicable means to kidnap Shu Ci into making a choice that went against his heart.
He could endure the pain of being together with a 1% compatibility on his own; after all, he was someone who had suffered through lifetime after lifetime.
But he didn’t want Shu Ci to suffer with him.
“Not enough.” Shu Ci, unaware of the thousand thoughts turning in Lu Wanqing’s mind in those few short seconds, shook his head solemnly.
“I just feel that Gu Lanzhu shouldn’t have been so easily manipulated by me.”
But he truly hadn’t felt a trace of the plot’s blessing or resistance on Gu Lanzhu. Without the protagonist’s halo, it was like a bloated person losing their confidence.
Just moments ago, Yu Xingxing had been held in place by the plot, so there was no reason for Shu Ci to be so arrogant in front of Gu Lanzhu.
This was really… a bit unfathomable.
Knock, knock—
A knock on the door interrupted the two men’s diverging trains of thought.
They retracted their pheromones in unison. Lu Wanqing draped a jacket over Shu Ci and went to open the door.
Yu Xingxing gave a military salute and smiled brightly. “Boss.”
Lu Wanqing rolled his eyes at him. “I don’t have a subordinate with such a loud voice.”
Just now on the deck, he was the one who got carried away, shouting Lu Wanqing’s identity as if acting in a sitcom. Yu Xingxing perfectly interpreted what it meant for him not to be embarrassed, but for everyone else to be embarrassed for him.
“Don’t blame me,” Yu Xingxing walked in, shaking his head and standing beside Shu Ci. “Other Generals are famous far and wide, but what about you? After being promoted to General, apart from our Seventh District, others don’t really know you.”
If he hadn’t bragged about Lu Wanqing to his retired father every day and persuaded Marshal He to transfer him and the elite of the Seventh District for the secret mission of dealing with mutated creatures, he, Yu Xingxing, might still be moving bricks silently in the Seventh District with the boss.
Lu Wanqing didn’t answer. The plot had given him the setting of an ignored passerby character, something he couldn’t explain to anyone but Shu Ci.
Receiving no response, Yu Xingxing had to look at Shu Ci. “Brother Ci definitely thinks I’m right. You also don’t want the boss to be an unknown person, right?”
Shu Ci laughed. “So sure?”
Yu Xingxing raised an eyebrow. “Just now on the deck, with the boss’s character, he could have protected the others without us noticing at all, but he didn’t.”
Shu Ci gave him a meaningful look. “Not bad.”
Yu Xingxing was right. The moment Gu Lanzhu went crazy, Lu Wanqing had prepared to release his pheromones to stop him from rampaging.
—It was Shu Ci who had held Lu Wanqing’s hand down.
Lu Wanqing, this person, had lived up to the words “Golden Shield” from the original book to the fullest extent.
He moved forward silently alone in the dark, carrying the pressure of the shameless plot while silently doing his utmost to protect everyone.
But people don’t all possess ideal warmth.
Living their own lives indifferently, treating matters as irrelevant to themselves, seemed to be the norm. They wouldn’t feel gratitude for kindness they hadn’t perceived.
The more silent Lu Wanqing was, the less he would be seen.
And the less he was seen, the more he would be forgotten.
“Isn’t that right?” Yu Xingxing put his hands on his hips proudly. “I just heard them all talking about you two. As long as they are praising the boss and you, and there are still people scolding Gu Lanzhu.”
Shu Ci sighed. “Actually, I didn’t expect them to be very grateful.”
He just saw the plot’s immense influence on Gu Lanzhu and increasingly suspected that the shackles of the passerby persona still remained on Lu Wanqing.
Lu Wanqing might not care, but he cared deeply.
“I just want them to remember him and rely on him like I do, even if just for a moment.”
The mountain was there, standing for the common people.
He only hoped they could cast even a little bit of their gaze toward him.
Shu Ci confessed softly, his stance casual, unaware that he had dropped a small pebble into Lu Wanqing’s heart, causing ripples.
Ripple after ripple washed over his already tormented heart.
He wanted so badly to pull him into his arms, to hold him regardless of everything, to kiss him deeply, to mark him as his own.
“Are you very free? You came here just to say these things?”
Lu Wanqing looked up to see Yu Xingxing standing beside Shu Ci gossiping, and asked impatiently.
“Oh, damn! I forgot because I was busy!” Yu Xingxing immediately slapped his own forehead and looked at Shu Ci. “That phone with the broken screen you brought from the boat last night, I’m afraid we can’t return it to you.”
“Why?” Shu Ci frowned.
“After the technicians repaired it, to find the owner, they extracted the fingerprints on it and found… Jin Li’s.”
“Did you verify it was hers, or someone else’s?”
Hearing this, Lu Wanqing instantly put away those romantic thoughts and walked quickly to Yu Xingxing.
“Unlocking it with her facial data was successful,” Yu Xingxing confirmed.
” calculating her time of death, it was when you were in the warship, so you two are currently the only people on the entire cruise ship who can be confirmed as having no suspicion.”
Director Shu, who had once filmed suspense genres, shook his head heavily. “You can’t say it so absolutely.”
Yu Xingxing looked at him blankly.
“How do you know we aren’t a murderer couple, deliberately covering up the true time of death to create an alibi or using a delay device? Besides, just seeing the bloodstains on Bai Yue’s body, you decided he killed her? Has the possibility of Jin Li committing suicide been ruled out?”
As a victim of the Omega selection confirmed by Shen Lin, not everyone was like his soul from another world, unrestrained by secular customs and unconstrained by concepts of chastity.
How had Jin Li spent tonight? What if she was desperate enough to have no way out?
Shu Ci dared not think about it in detail.
“Boss,” Yu Xingxing touched the tip of his nose, tilting his head and lowering his voice. “Your wife is so amazing; when he gets fierce, he even scolds you guys.”
“…You keep being glib.” Lu Wanqing raised his foot to kick his calf.
“Hey, hey, I’m still growing, don’t kick!”
“I noted it, I noted it!” Yu Xingxing scrambled far away before saying, “One more thing, there’s an encrypted file in Jin Li’s phone. The technicians are still deciphering it.”
Lu Wanqing narrowed his eyes, meeting Shu Ci’s gaze.
“I’ll go find Shen Lin.”
“Call Shen Lin over.”
The two spoke in unison.
“…”
Yu Xingxing backed to the door, scratching his head.
Are these two really looking for Councilor Shen? How dare someone use such a tone of summoning and dismissing a Councilor?
“You don’t know how she died either? If you didn’t play her to death, who else could it be?! Useless trash—”
Zhao Qian hurried to the Gu Corporation’s exclusive floor. Just as he pushed the door open, he saw Gu Chuang kick the chest of the person in front of him. The person who had been kneeling caught off guard, fell to the floor.
He lowered his gaze and bowed slightly.
After all, they are father and son, he thought. Even their tempers and habits when angry seem carved from the same mold.
“Enough,” Gu Yan spoke, his falcon-like gaze sweeping over.
Gu Chuang took a step back, yielding the open view to his brother.
Gu Yan stood up and approached.
Slowly squatting down, he reached out and pinched the chin of the prostrate Alpha. “What about that phone? You must have gotten the phone, right?”
The Alpha lowered his head, trembling, his face flushed red from holding back, squeezing words out like toothpaste. “No… didn’t possess.”
Gu Yan tightened his fingertips. “Didn’t possess, or didn’t find?”
The other’s breathing became increasingly rapid. “Didn’t… find.”
The person lying next to him saw Gu Yan’s expression was wrong and quickly lowered his head. “Councilor, p-please don’t be angry. How could an Omega who only knows how to show off her charm understand these things? Maybe the phone was fake, deliberately used to intimidate us, wanting to blackmail us.”
Gu Chuang saw his brother pinch his temple and kicked each of them once. “Get lost for now—if anyone investigates, keep your mouths shut tight. You are not allowed to say anything.”
“Yes!” The two scrambled out of the oppressive room.
The words Gu Chuang wanted to discuss with Gu Yan swirled in his mouth, but seeing Zhao Qian out of the corner of his eye, he stopped abruptly.
Only then did he ask, “You’re not staying by Ah Zhu’s side, what are you doing here?”
Zhao Qian bowed even lower, so low his face couldn’t be seen.
He kept his voice low. “Young Master Bai Yue ran out covered in blood and was arrested as a suspect. He said he was with President Gu at the time of the incident, so President Gu also…”
The rest of the words were automatically swallowed.
Beside them, Chen Gui’s eyes widened. “Xiao Yue and Jin Li never even met face to face; they have no grievances or enmity. He couldn’t possibly do such a thing!”
Gu Chuang was in disbelief. “Ah Zhu was also taken away?”
He knew his son’s character best. How could he just be taken away like that!?
Zhao Qian took out his phone and found the video from the deck.
His lens had been on Gu Lanzhu the whole time, not capturing Shu Ci and Lu Wanqing at all. “President Gu was temporarily detained for committing acts of pheromone violence in a public place.”
Crack—
The silent Gu Yan crushed the cup in his hand. He hadn’t used pheromones for protection, and blood instantly welled up from his fingertips.
“Is it starting already?”
Gu Yan gritted his teeth. “Shen, Lin!”
“Chen Gui, contact the media on the ship. Have them continue to hurry and find a signal. No matter what method is used, the first news must be sent out.”
“Councilor Gu,” Zhao Qian spoke up. “The military has fully taken over the cruise ship’s return voyage. To prevent the murderer from destroying evidence or confusing the public, and to avoid the socialization of negative news, all non-navigational signals and communications on the cruise ship have been blocked.”
“…”
Gu Chuang walked up to Zhao Qian. “Go convene an emergency meeting of the Councilors’ people. The military can’t interfere on this pretext. Also, contact Lieutenant Yu to apply for negotiation.”
“Okay.”
Thus, the smokeless competition and game between the Gu and Shen sides officially unfolded on this cruise ship.
During the return trip over several days, neither side felt anything but pressure and tension.
While waiting for various experts to connect communications, they nervously inquired about the investigation and interrogation results.
Meanwhile, the thousands of passengers on the ship became the frontline of public opinion, consuming new gossip fed by people from different camps every day.
In the morning, it was Gu Lanzhu being framed; in the afternoon, it was Bai Yue suspecting that Jin Li wouldn’t completely retire and having a dispute with her over resources; today it was a crime of passion, tomorrow it was said there was a scandalous insider story involving a superior.
Whether confirmed or not, people discussed it with gusto.
These few days were even more tormenting for Gu Yan.
His moves were ruthless, but he hadn’t expected Shen Lin to always be one step ahead. While countering his moves, Shen Lin also returned those dangerous and vicious tactics.
The secrets of his subordinates were being shaken out bit by bit by Shen Lin.
In contrast, the leverage he held against Shen Lin was truly insignificant.
Half-truths often made people believe more deeply, but what puzzled him was how these deeply hidden matters were discovered by Shen Lin.
Gu Yan’s smooth-sailing life had never been as difficult as it was today. He had to start suspecting if there was a mole by his side.
Gu Yan couldn’t be blamed for overthinking.
When he inserted his own people into the major Far-flung Districts, he had planted countless moles.
He began to become suspicious and sensitive, so much so that even Gu Chuang, the younger brother who had devoted his life to assisting him, was struggling to cope.
Late at night, Gu Yan stepped onto the observation deck of the cruise ship alone.
He lit a cigarette. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a young man standing a few meters away. He took a second look and recognized him as the Omega he had seen on the day of boarding.
“Shen Lin feels safe leaving his person outside? And an Omega at that.” Gu Yan narrowed his eyes and flicked the cigarette butt into the sea.
Shu Ci watched the sparks of the cigarette butt fall and retracted his gaze.
He adjusted his earring and said softly, “Is there a possibility that he is safe?”
Gu Yan raised an eyebrow. “I remember now. The person they said made Ah Zhu unable to take care of himself—that was you.”
Zhao Qian’s video hadn’t captured it, but other stubborn people had.
“I thought that after destroying those research materials and researchers, no Omega would learn to this extent.”
Gu Yan pondered, scrutinizing Shu Ci under the night sky.
Under the curtain of night, that red hair hid its dazzling luster. For a moment, a vague sense of déjà vu popped into his mind.
“Who taught you? Zhou Wen? Chu Renxiao? Or Si Huai?”
“Sorry, I don’t know any of them.” Shu Ci maintained a smile. “But, are they the vengeful spirits under your command?”
Gu Yan maintained good breeding and wasn’t enraged by Shu Ci, but his gaze turned sinister as he walked toward Shu Ci step by step.
“What did Shen Lin promise you? If I can offer conditions that move you, would you be willing to stand on my side?”
Shu Ci pointed to the sea in front of him. “The condition I can agree to is—make those vengeful spirits buried by you and the Chen family come back to life. Can you do that?”
“I was wondering where the familiarity came from.”
Gu Yan sneered. “What is Song Zhiyuan to you?”
As he spoke, his fingers curled at his side, ready to silently resolve the threat before him right here.
Shu Ci looked at the faint city lights in the distance and shook his head lightly.
“I advise you not to worry about me right now.” He took out his phone, swiped twice, and turned the screen to face Gu Yan.
“Councilor Shen’s public live stream has already begun.”
Author’s Note:
Director Shu’s mission to stall for time is complete.
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