Chapter 96 is sour

The screeching sound of tires rubbing against the bridge surface and the sharp tearing sound followed as the man jerked the steering wheel, sending the car tracing an extremely dangerous arc along the guardrail of the Dadu River Bridge.

The screeching sound of the car drifting, mixed with the smell of burning tires, hit the car in the face. The black sedan following behind had no time to react and its front end crashed heavily into the guardrail, sending parts flying everywhere.

In the rearview mirror, two other cars collided due to sudden braking, and huge bursts of flame exploded in the setting sun.

Fu Jingchen stepped on the gas, the engine roared, and the car shot across the bridge like an arrow.

Until they completely broke free of the encirclement.

Pei Lian, sitting in the passenger seat, swiped his finger across the screen, which displayed the basic information he had just gathered from the investigation.

An urgent call came in, and the hands-free mode was turned on.

"Mr. Fu, we've found some of the information."

"The people surrounding you are private armed forces belonging to Blackstone International."

The person reporting on the other end of the phone spoke very quickly.

“Given the circumstances in Country M, it’s not surprising that a military company like this would be legally armed, given the scale of the operation just now. Let’s get to the point.” Pei Lian frowned, his voice urging.

The assistant quickly added, "We expedited the screening of Blackstone's close partners, and one of their partners and funding sources points to a company called Zenit & Yield."

Fu Jingchen frowned slightly, pondered for a few seconds, and then spoke.

"Never heard of it."

He knew the other party was very strong, but he had never heard of this name before.

Fu Jingchen glanced at Pei Lian quickly, and judging from Pei Lian's expression, they were thinking the same thing.

"Yes, they never appear in public."

The assistant's voice carried an undisguised seriousness.

“Z&Y’s parent company’s core business is network security architecture. It is said that their technical level is exceptionally high, even to the point of being exaggerated, but they never do brand promotion.”

“The other party only accepts ‘bounty missions’ through encrypted channels, such as erasing traces, building barriers, and even reverse tracking of opponents’ data… The outside world can’t even find out their office address, let alone their core team.”

No one answered. Pei Lian tapped his knuckles lightly on the phone screen and broke the silence.

"No wonder the previous investigations always ended at crucial points."

They only found out about this through a data breach at Blackstone, which means they were all played by the kid they thought they were kidding.

The report on the other end of the phone was still ongoing.

"Z&Y has seventeen subsidiaries, which are not large in scale but have a very wide range of operations, including cross-border payments, data collection, and dark web transactions..."

"But most of them are gray-area industries, registered in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, thus avoiding the regulatory red lines of most countries."

Pei Lian scoffed, his tone icy.

"A prodigy? You're just as talented as me."

Fu Jingchen glanced at Pei Lian, and the car gradually slowed down. The landmark of their destination was already faintly visible in the distance.

"He is indeed talented."

Fu Jingchen paused, his tone turning serious.

"I just used it in the wrong place. The path I took may have been roundabout, but I never crossed the bottom line."

"The absolute red lines that businessmen should abide by seem to not exist for him. Only by repeatedly crossing the line can he have managed to connect with private armed companies in such a short period of time and become a dark giant."

Pei Lian chuckled softly, his tone laced with mocking ridicule.

"Isn't he quite capable? Hmm... it seems like someone's just being sarcastic."

The man in the passenger seat didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with crossing the line. His fingertips rubbed the edge of his phone, and a barely perceptible hint of interest flashed in his eyes.

Upon hearing this, Fu Jingchen glanced at the person beside him with an icy look out of the corner of his eye, said nothing, and simply narrowed his eyes.

He had known Pei Lian for many years and naturally knew Pei Lian's personality, but he did not expect that Pei Lian would so openly approve of such unscrupulous ways of doing things.

That look in his eyes suddenly struck him as incredibly similar; that malevolent aura was very much like Gu Zhi's.

It seems that he was less wary of Pei Lian.

"I definitely need to be more careful in the future."

Fu Jingchen withdrew his gaze, his tone growing even colder, filled with undisguised disdain.

"Skill? It's nothing more than using the red line as a stepping stone, taking shortcuts while treading on risks."

He had considered similar ideas before, but some bottom lines, once crossed, would lead to utter ruin.

Gu Zhi is quite something; he's willing to do anything to achieve his goals, treating violations as a daily routine and overstepping boundaries as a shortcut. No wonder he would do such a despicable thing to Ruan Yi.

At this point, Fu Jingchen let out a very soft sneer.

"Ha... Me, being sarcastic? That's a crooked way of thinking."

Pei Lian suddenly chuckled softly, tapping his knee lightly with his fingertips as he spoke, "What's with the stubbornness?"

His tone was tinged with a nonchalant cruelty as he spoke, “But he truly kept Ruan Yi by his side, isn’t that what you failed to do?”

But as soon as he finished speaking, the playfulness in his eyes suddenly vanished, and the turmoil surging within them was almost impossible to conceal.

Of course, he couldn't do it either.

"But that doesn't mean we can't do it in the future."

If only he had met Ruan Yi a few years earlier, if only he had Gu Zhi's uniquely advantageous "family" status.

He would be even more ruthless than Gu Zhi, and would never give Ruan Yi the chance to reveal anything to others.

Upon hearing Pei Lian's words, Fu Jingchen's hand gripping the steering wheel tightened abruptly, his knuckles turning white, as if his undeniable weakness had been precisely struck.

He turned his head to the side, his gaze calmly sweeping over Pei Lian, his tone carrying an undisguised sharpness.

"If we're talking about Xiaoyi, aren't you jealous?"

The few words, spoken lightly, felt like a slap in the face, instantly freezing Pei Lian's smile.

His rebuttal caught in his throat, and he was speechless for a moment.

Fu Jingchen watched his "good brother" freeze, a slight smile playing on his lips, and his mood brightened.

He wasn't stupid. Pei Lian was always indifferent to other people's affairs, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.

However, Pei Lian always seemed to be the first to catch wind of Ruan Yi's affairs, and he would repeatedly meddle uninvited. His obvious intentions were simply something he didn't bother to point out.

The carriage suddenly fell into dead silence.

There were no humans left in the car at this moment, only two incredibly sour lemons.

Neither of them spoke again; their gazes met, revealing only undisguised hostility.

A silent exchange of blows and probing, the air thick with danger, as if an explosion could erupt at any moment.

However, the object of their constant rivalry is enjoying itself at a high-end hot spring resort.

Ruan Yi had planned to catch up on sleep during her rare day off, but the fatigue from the past few days made it difficult for her to even open her eyes.

But Gu Zhi, who was beside her, was like a piece of rice cake that she couldn't shake off, sticking to her side and pestering her relentlessly.

Inside a large, single-level apartment.

Ruan Yi slumped on the sofa, dozing off while listening to the background music of a stand-up comedy show.

"Sister, let's go to the hot springs? You'll need to relax so you'll have the energy to handle work." Gu Zhi deliberately softened his tone.

Before Ruan Yi could even utter a word of refusal, the man swept her up in his arms.

"Sister, please go, please go, okay?"

The man walked out while coaxing her in a low voice. His words were as soft as cotton, but his actions were so forceful that he couldn't refuse.

Whether Ruan Yitong agreed or not was no longer important; she had already been carried out of the house.

That's why we're in this situation now.

The girl, her cheeks flushed with a healthy blush, lay lazily on the tatami mat after soaking in the hot spring.

Gu Zhizheng was using a hairdryer to dry her hair, gently running his fingertips through her wet hair.

After blow-drying, Ruan Yi's hair was fluffy and loose, slightly sticking up due to static electricity, like a small brown sea urchin.

"My sister looks like a little fluffy ball~"

The man couldn't help but chuckle softly, his eyes almost overflowing with tenderness.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ruan Yi raised her hand and slapped him.

The man obediently accepted it, picked up a comb and began to comb her hair. The comb brushed against her hair, his movements were incredibly meticulous.

After combing her hair, he gently brushed it to one side, placed his warm palm on her shoulder, and was about to massage the soreness in her neck and shoulders.

"Bang--!"

The door was flung open, and a tall, imposing man stormed in with a menacing aura.

The man was followed by a group of panicked service staff who kept apologizing in English.

"Sorry! We can't stop this guest!"