Chapter 12 Pandora's Box
——"A dividing line =_="
Since that night's "jealousy" incident, Su Yan has become more "obedient." He no longer tests his abilities, but instead works even harder to play the role of the tamed canary, burying his resentment and schemes even deeper in his heart.
Huo Shen seemed pleased with his "understanding" and occasionally took him to some non-core business occasions, euphemistically calling it "seeing the world." This allowed Su Yan to come into contact with some marginal figures in Huo Shen's business empire. He quietly observed and took note of their attitudes toward Huo Shen, whether they were in awe or flattery.
He discovered that Huo Shen had a very trusted deputy named Zhao, who was mainly responsible for some overseas business and seemed to be striving for a crucial multinational project recently. Su Yan had "accidentally" seen the code name of this project on Huo Shen's desk - "Prometheus".
His intuition told him that this project was extremely important to Huo Shen.
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The days seemed to pass peacefully until one afternoon when Huo Shen suddenly returned home early. His face was unusually gloomy, and the pressure around him was frighteningly low. He didn't even glance at Su Yan, but walked straight into the study and slammed the door shut.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of something being smashed and Huo Shen's suppressed roar of anger were heard from the study.
Su Yan stood in the living room, terrified. He had never seen Huo Shen lose his composure like this before. What had happened? Was there something wrong with the Prometheus project? Or...
He didn't dare to get close and could only wait anxiously.
After a while, Assistant Zhou hurried in and entered the study. The conversation inside was very low, but the tense feeling of impending storm permeated the entire apartment.
After a long while, the study door finally opened. Assistant Zhou left with a solemn expression, while Huo Shen stood at the study door, his eyes as sharp as a knife falling on Su Yan.
"Come here." His voice was hoarse, with a hint of imperceptible fatigue.
Su Yan walked over cautiously.
Huo Shen pulled him into the study. It was a mess, with documents scattered all over the floor and the shards of an expensive antique vase scattered everywhere. Huo Shen pressed Su Yan onto the only intact sofa, loosening his tie impatiently and pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Someone has leaked the core data of Prometheus." Huo Shen suddenly stopped and stared at Su Yan with a sharp gaze, as if he wanted to see through him from the inside out. "Our competitor has got our trump card."
Su Yan's heart sank. Industrial espionage? Such a core secret leak must have been done by an insider! Was Huo Shen... doubting him?
"I... I don't know..." Su Yan's face turned pale, and he subconsciously defended himself. Although he wanted to collect information, he absolutely did not have the ability or the channels to access such a level of confidentiality.
Huo Shen stared at him for a few seconds, the suspicion in his eyes seeming to dissipate a little, replaced by a deeper, almost violent irritation. He leaned over, his hands resting on the back of the sofa on either side of Su Yan's body, imprisoning him in this small space.
"It better not be you." Huo Shen's voice was low and coldly threatening. "If I find out it's you... you won't be able to bear the consequences."
Su Yan was so scared that he held his breath and shook his head desperately.
Huo Shen didn't seem to expect to get an answer from him. He stood up suddenly, walked to the desk, opened a rarely used encrypted drawer, and took out a document in a brown paper bag that looked a bit old.
He held the document with a frown, as if he was making a difficult decision.
Su Yan's eyes were involuntarily drawn to the document. What was it? Why was it brought out at this time?
Huo Shen stared at the document for a long while, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he did not open it. Instead, he took it and strode towards the old-fashioned, heavy safe in the corner of the study that required a physical key to open.
Su Yan's heartbeat quickened involuntarily. He had a strong premonition that the safe contained Huo Shen's most core secrets, perhaps also his weaknesses.
Huo Shen had his back to him, blocking the unlocking motion with his body. But from Su Yan's angle, he could see that when the safe door opened, there seemed to be several similar brown paper bags placed side by side inside, as well as some things that looked like old photos.
Just as Huo Shen put the newly taken out document into the safe and was about to close the door, perhaps because his quick movement brought up the wind, or perhaps it was coincidence, a photo that was sandwiched on the edge of the old document slipped out lightly and fell on the carpet.
Huo Shen's attention was focused on the documents in his hands and he didn't seem to notice.
And Su Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.
The photo showed a boy with a bright smile, who looked no more than a teenager. And the boy's eyebrows and eyes were surprisingly similar to his—Su Yan!
The background of the photo seems to be a school playground.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Su Yan stared at the photo intently, his mind going blank.
Huo Shen closed the safe and turned the key, making a crisp "click" sound.
He turned around and prepared to walk towards Su Yan.
His eyes casually swept across the ground——
Then, it froze on the photo that accidentally slipped off.
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