Chapter 68
A City, Cui Residence.
Shen Ti tossed a couple of pieces of clothing into the box, directing people to pack up, ignoring Cui You standing upright at the door. He sat there, prepared to move out and live separately.
An emergency ringtone suddenly sounded.
“Young Master Shen, the Councilor just logged into his account unexpectedly and is preparing for a live stream!”
This live stream platform was controlled by the Shen family. The moment the signal connection was detected, Shen Ti received a notification.
He heard the voice on the other end, and his wrist paused.
Something was wrong. Shen Ti frowned.
He hadn’t been with Shen Lin for long, but he knew clearly that Shen Lin was a man of extreme planning. The charity cruise trip would take a whole week, and before boarding, he had synchronized his work schedule for the week with him.
This was the first unplanned action.
Without advance notice, without pre-heating, and without the TV media promotion typical for a candidate’s live stream, he was opening it on the official account he never logged into himself.
An unexpected live stream… Could it be that an accident happened on the cruise ship?
“Immediately adjust the algorithm and push the live stream notification to all users who have recently followed the election situation,” Shen Ti ordered decisively.
Shen Lin had given him great authority as a family member before leaving. He had thought it was just a contingency arrangement, but he didn’t expect a situation to actually arise.
“Set up notification reminders, the more obvious the better. Adjust the weight of search terms related to the live stream as soon as possible. The public opinion team should keep a close eye on any small moves from Councilor Gu’s side.”
Shen Ti couldn’t care less about packing at this moment.
He turned his head and instructed the helper, “Pack whatever, I’m leaving first.”
Cui You instinctively reached out to stop him.
“If you have time to stop me, you might as well go contact Marshal He.” Shen Ti pulled his arm away, walked quickly out of the garden, and jumped into the car. “Back to the main family residence.”
As the car merged into the traffic on the main road, Shen Ti finally had time to open the live stream.
In the lens, Shen Lin was wearing a black suit, and his tie had been changed to black as well, completely different from his usual approachable and gentle attire.
Hidden within his calm expression was a current of sorrow.
As soon as one entered the live stream room, one could feel a chill of exhaustion and grief from those golden eyes. It was obvious that the lighting wasn’t professional, and the shadows under his eyes gave him an inexplicably broken look.
Shen Lin had never played the emotional card during the entire election cycle. At this moment, it seemed more like a genuine revealing of feelings, making people involuntarily feel a bit of heartache and confusion.
What on earth happened?
He sat upright in front of the camera. When the viewer count broke ten thousand, he cleared his throat, stood up, and bowed earnestly.
“Hello everyone, I am Shen Lin, participating in the charity cruise on the Moon Shadow. I apologize for disturbing everyone at this time.”
Official live streams usually turned off the comments section and bullet screen functions, but Shen Lin didn’t. He scanned the lines of greetings and confusion, lowering his eyes.
“The original intention of the charity cruise was for us, representing major families and descendants of dukes and counts, to shoulder our due responsibility to society, dedicate our love and assistance, and fulfill the mission of helping the weak and relieving the poor.
“It aligns with my philosophy, which was also my consideration when confirming my boarding after repeated invitations from Councilor Gu and the Chen Group.”
“However, I blame myself greatly that our voyage did not realize its due value. Instead, a heartbreaking event occurred on the way—
“A few days ago, a murder occurred on this cruise ship carrying hope.”
Shen Ti’s eyelid twitched. He minimized the screen, opened the work group with the executives of several major media outlets under the Shen family, and notified them to convey a rigorous and impartial stance while ensuring they grabbed the first release rights to the news.
Then he sent a message to Shu Ci, looking nervously at Shen Lin’s somewhat pale face.
“After days of joint investigation by the cruise ship’s police team and the Far-flung Seventh District, which came to support from a nearby mission, we need to announce the investigation results to everyone as soon as possible.”
He turned the camera, and Yu Xingxing entered the frame.
The golden epaulets on his ink-blue uniform flashed in the lens.
After introducing himself, Yu Xingxing straightened his face. “According to our confirmed investigation, this is a suicide case caused by collective sexual violence from a group of Alphas.”
The live stream room paused for a moment, then frantically spammed question marks.
“Tests show that the deceased had pheromone residues and intrusion from at least five Alphas on her body. Currently, the police team has controlled the suspects in the cabin for isolation. We ask the police to be in place at the port as soon as possible after receiving contact.
“In addition, we have uncovered clues and evidence of even more serious cases from the mobile phone left by the deceased, suspected to involve many key officials.”
On the deck, Gu Yan looked at the screen in Shu Ci’s hand, his brows gradually knitting together.
He had been monitoring Shen Lin’s people closely enough these days, but he was still caught off guard. When did they even arrest people?!
He looked at Shu Ci, suppressed the rage in his heart, and flicked his sleeves to leave.
Before entering the cabin, Gu Yan’s steps paused.
He narrowed his eyes, suddenly noticing an Alpha hidden in a dark corner.
The Alpha slowly and methodically retracted his pheromones, looked straight ahead, and brushed past him.
Wasn’t this Shu Ci’s husband, that General from the Seventh District?
Gu Yan recognized him and was shocked.
Having watched the video of this couple publicly humiliating his son on the ship, he had thoroughly remembered this Lu Wanqing.
He asked himself countless times why he hadn’t noticed him when the General of the Seventh District changed. His son’s assistant said that his son had even investigated this Lu Wanqing but found nothing.
Gu Yan only started to take Lu Wanqing seriously in the last few days. An Alpha who could maintain such mystery under his nose was not to be underestimated.
Even so, tonight he still felt a trace of panic, like being driven to a dead end.
How could he not detect any energy fluctuations from this person at all?
Was it that he was old and had become dull?
If he had made a move on Shu Ci just now, would he have died without a burial place in the next second?!
Gu Yan walked away quickly, his fingers curling up one by one, making creaking sounds.
Lu Wanqing walked up to Shu Ci, saw his thin shirt, frowned, took off his own jacket, and draped it over him.
Shu Ci was too lazy to extend his arms, so he leaned back.
He nestled his whole body into Lu Wanqing’s embrace, his back pressing tightly against the warmth inside the jacket.
Lu Wanqing’s hand stiffened.
The tips of Shu Ci’s hair brushed against his jaw, restlessly sweeping over his lips.
“Didn’t Yu Xingxing bring people to pick you up? How come there are such amazing technical personnel?” Shu Ci looked up, his eyes shining as he looked at him.
Lu Wanqing supported his soft shoulders with both hands, lowered his eyes, looked at his fluttering lips, and suppressed the desire in his heart.
“Just standard configuration.” There was an indescribable magnetism in his voice.
“Got it. It’s your ‘standard’ that is too non-standard.” Shu Ci’s heart beat a little faster under his gaze.
He looked away and continued watching the live stream.
Yu Xingxing was concisely expressing the attitude of this live stream: “…To avoid our stance being criticized or falling into conspiracy theories, after communicating with Councilor Shen, we chose to disclose directly to everyone in this way. The progress of the related case investigation will receive supervision from all voters. We hope those involved in the case will voluntarily surrender or cooperate with the investigation.”
The comments and bullet screen boiled over instantly.
People heard the implied meaning in these words.
Clearly, both Councilor Shen and Councilor Gu were on board, so why was only Councilor Shen starting a live stream? Could it be that there was also a relationship between the related case and Councilor Gu?
Yu Xingxing moved the camera to Shen Lin.
Shen Lin projected a simple screen behind him. His sharp gaze fell on the lens, as if making eye contact with every viewer.
“According to the process, we should indeed explain to everyone when the whole truth comes out and the dust settles.
“However, in a closed space like a cruise ship, under circumstances of poor communication at sea, all evidence is liable to be destroyed at any time, and the truth is liable to be submerged at any time. Time is an incomparable luxury for the victim.
“On the other hand, blatantly committing these acts on an occasion where so many key officials and noble families are gathered is tantamount to contempt for the rule of law. Therefore, we decided to make it public in this way.”
Shen Lin’s voice echoed in the closed space, and his solemn expression plunged the entire live stream room into silence.
“When my staff requested the family of the deceased to disclose details related to her death, we discovered that since her divorce, the deceased had no legal relatives left. The only emergency contact she left in the system was her mentor.”
Shu Ci looked deeply toward the cabin.
On the day of Jin Li’s death, Wen Yuan had hurried over from the economy class, her face full of sorrow.
Under Yu Xingxing’s supervision, she changed Jin Li out of her shattered dress. The next night, she was found drunk on the deck by patrolmen.
Shu Ci took her from Yu Xingxing’s subordinates, and Wen Yuan dragged him to talk all night.
She talked about how she discovered such a promising talent in the acting department;
She talked about accompanying Jin Li to the peak of glory;
She said she couldn’t understand why she would hide her marriage to an Alpha with a tendency for domestic violence.
Shen Lin’s live stream today gave her the answer—
“We saw a saved page of a closed private forum on the victim’s phone. This forum was called the ‘Dessert Trading Market.’ And she was not a user who entered the forum, but a so-called ‘dessert’ being traded.”
Immediately after, Shen Lin disclosed the content of the private forum.
He displayed each page very slowly. At this moment, all viewers seemed to transform into investigators, analyzing every conversation on it.
Soon, people were horrified to discover that they didn’t even need to think carefully to piece together a group of people with extremely high status and positions from these conversations.
Sweet and soft Omegas were their prey and playthings.
Some had just entered society, still naive from campus life; others had decent professions or happy families. But in the eyes of these Alphas, they were all “food” with clearly marked prices.
In their mouths, disobedient Omegas had their glands destroyed, unable to be marked for life, serving only for their entertainment.
Obedient and well-behaved Omegas became the link for their transactions with other dignitaries, becoming bargaining chips or sacrifices on their road to promotion.
Jin Li was the latter.
Late one night, unable to sleep after being humiliated, she quietly left behind this trembling and heinous evidence.
She once longed to walk out of hell, so she gave up resisting her family and married the Alpha they decided on.
But she was wrong. She just walked from one hell into another.
“I hope that our viewers, every citizen capable of rational thought, will not focus too much on whether the victim herself was perfect.”
Shen Lin looked at the various speculations and doubts in the live stream room and darkened his face.
“The victim was a brave and great Omega. Even when the last line of defense in her heart collapsed, she still left precious evidence. She told us that perhaps in places we cannot see, there are countless Omegas in such dire straits.
“In addition, she also left a retrospective of her entire victimization experience, reflecting on why she was treated as a member of the ‘trading market’.”
Shen Lin paused and raised his hand to project another picture.
“And her answer was an Omega partner selection event held by a certain family for their child—and this is also the reason why I opened a separate live stream.”
In the picture was Gu Lanzhu, mosaic-ed but seemingly not mosaic-ed at all.
The bullet screen in the live stream room swarmed in, exploding in an instant so that no words could be seen clearly.
“The Chief Executive is a sacred and solemn position. It allows for personal flaws, but it cannot tolerate personal trampling and bullying of life.”
Shen Lin didn’t mention Gu Yan by name, but every word seemed to accuse his competitor of not being open and aboveboard enough.
“This battle is considered secure.” Shu Ci let out a long sigh of relief.
He closed the live stream room and turned to look at Lu Wanqing, only to see that he didn’t seem to be listening carefully, his gaze fixed on him the whole time.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Lu Wanqing came back to his senses, his eyes flickering slightly.
He was just thinking of a terrible possibility.
If Shu Ci’s compatibility with Gu Lanzhu wasn’t 100%, if he wasn’t the protagonist selected by that damned plot…
Would he have encountered the same experience as Jin Li?
Becoming prey exchanged from hand to hand in the trading market?
Lu Wanqing subconsciously tightened his arms.
Shu Ci was stunned, wrapped in his jacket and encircled in his embrace.
Lu Wanqing looked into the distance. The port was brightly lit, and the hustle and bustle of the coastal city was approaching.
The long journey at sea was coming to an end.
After going ashore, it would be a new starting point, a new beginning. A beginning where he could leave him at any time.
“Shu Ci.”
“Hmm?”
Lu Wanqing rested his chin on the top of the person in his arms, his dark eyes gazing at Shu Ci’s slightly upturned lips.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
He had tried his best to give him the most perfect respect and the most decent reliance, but he still couldn’t suppress the surging demons deep in his heart—
He wanted to hug him, wanted to possess him.
He wanted to kiss him regardless of the 1% cuts and bruises all over his body.
Even if such an offense… would mean losing him.
Lu Wanqing’s fingertips lightly clasped the back of his neck, his thumb pressed behind his ear, tilting his head up slightly.
Leaning down, he pressed his lips toward that touch of pale red.
Recommended Reads
