Jiang Dao doesn't care about what people say about him on the Internet at all. Even though he knows that rumors are more ferocious than a tiger, he remains unmoved. Because he doesn't need to rely on the praise of those people to survive. Living in this world is too easy for him.
But... Qin Xiao's last sentence actually made Jiang Dao a little scared.
For no reason, a wave of panic rose in his heart, and trembling instantly spread to every part of his body, making him suddenly remember that sunny afternoon when he woke up on the battlefield, with silence in his ears, and he had lost all his comrades around him.
...So, this time, what important thing is he going to lose?
Qin Xiao was still saying something with a sneer on the phone, but Jiang Dao didn't want to listen anymore.
He cut off the call without hesitation. His fingers trembled slightly, but he still dialed Chu Yinlong's number and called.
The other side picked up almost immediately.
Jiang Dao was suddenly speechless.
What should he say?
Explain that you didn't bribe the director?
But that thing... was most likely really done by "him", and it was a crime he had to bear for the original owner.
For a long time, neither side of the phone spoke.
Even their breathing was extremely light, as if the slightest force would break something precious and fragile between them.
Finally, Jiang Dao called out softly: "...Teacher Chu."
Chu Yinlong asked: "Is it true?"
Jiang Dao couldn't answer.
But his silence itself is the answer.
After a moment of silence, Chu Yinlong said, "I understand. There is one more thing, tell the truth."
Jiang Dao: “You ask.”
Chu Yinlong: "Did he really return the money to you?"
Jiang Dao was sure of this: "No."
Chu Yinlong exhaled slowly and said, "I will find someone to handle this matter. You stay in the apartment, don't go out for the next two days, and don't go to the studio."
Jiang Dao: “Okay.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Yinlong hung up the phone.
Jiang Dao sat down on the edge of the bed, and the panic in his heart still showed no sign of easing.
The sky outside the window gradually darkened. He did not turn on the lights. He just sat motionless in the dim room, with his eyelashes drooping, showing no emotion either sad or happy.
Until someone suddenly knocked on the door, and the assistant Xiao Yang's voice rang out: "Are you home? I brought you food. I'll open the door."
A moment after the voice fell, the combination lock beeped a few times, and someone came in and turned on the light.
"Don't worry too much, PR will take care of it." The assistant put the lunch box on the table. "Even if you don't trust us, you have to trust our boss! Come on, eat."
Jiang Dao quickly adjusted his expression and gave his assistant an impeccable smile: "I'm fine. Of course I believe him."
However, just as he sat down at the dining table and put his phone aside, the text message alert sounded and a picture message popped up.
Seeing that the number came from Qin Xiao, Jiang Dao frowned and clicked it.
In the picture, there are documents with the "Chu Yinlong Studio" logo and a "Confidential" label on the upper left corner of the document.
"Brother Yang, look at this!" Jiang Dao stood up suddenly and handed the phone to his assistant.
The assistant took it, took a look, and his face immediately turned pale: "This, this is... This is our endorsement letter of intent, and a few planning proposals... and a script! They are all signed confidentiality... How could he have it?!"
Jiang Dao looked serious: "Can you confirm the authenticity?"
The assistant hurriedly opened his tablet and searched for a moment. His face turned grim: "The internal document numbers all match. It should... be real. At least the cover is real!"
At this time, Qin Xiao called again.
Jiang Dao made a silencing gesture to his assistant and put the phone on speakerphone.
The assistant understood very well and immediately started recording.
On the phone, Qin Xiao smiled and asked, "Did you see the things I sent you?"
Jiang Dao took a breath, as if he was very nervous: "What do you want to do?"
Unexpectedly, when it comes to stealing trade secrets, Qin Xiao actually becomes cautious and no longer speaks directly.
"Oh, isn't that what you want to do?" He spoke slowly, seeming to enjoy teasing his opponent. "You took pictures of his studio's stuff for me and asked me what I wanted to do? In order to make your father recognize your ability, you wanted to use this to strike a blow against Longqi Entertainment, to make his studio pay a huge penalty for breach of contract and have its credit destroyed, right?"
Jiang Dao tightly clenched the hands hanging by his side, without showing any expression on his face.
He looked up at his assistant and found that his brows were tightly furrowed. Fortunately, there was no suspicion of him in his eyes.
After a long while without a reply, Qin Xiao said again: "Since you've worked so hard, I'll give you a chance. Come to me and we can talk face to face."
Jiang Dao asked: "Where are you?"
Qin Xiao said: "Tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, Yanxi Jingshan Villa. But please... don't be late."
The communication was disconnected.
The assistant immediately stood up: "I have to go back to the studio!"
This matter cannot be taken lightly, he must deal with it as soon as possible.
Before leaving, he glanced at Jiang Dao worriedly and added, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. Don't go out tomorrow either. The boss is already on the plane and will be back tomorrow morning. You must wait for him!"
Jiang Dao said nothing and just glanced at him calmly.
The assistant thought this was a tacit agreement, breathed a sigh of relief, and hurried away with his bag.
Jiang Dao's face showed no emotion.
He calmly took the lunch box and ate the nutritious meal inside slowly.
Then he stood up and walked to the closet, carefully selected a few pieces of clothes, changed them, stood in front of the floor-length mirror, and tidied his trouser legs and cuffs very neatly, and tied his leather boots meticulously.
He raised his head and looked at the big boy with delicate face and slender figure in the mirror.
His face was expressionless, his eyes were dull, there was only an empty, silent darkness.
Five minutes later, a car drove out of the apartment complex and rushed into the slightly chilly early autumn night.
…
Chu Yinlong frowned and opened his eyes.
The screen showed that less than three hours had passed since takeoff.
He had obviously not slept the whole night, but for some reason he felt a little upset at this moment. His brain was obviously very sleepy, but he just couldn't fall asleep.
After several unsuccessful attempts, he opened the in-flight entertainment interface on the screen, picked a movie at random, put on headphones, and tried to fall asleep.
This is a war movie.
The old soldier looked at the sky with rolling clouds and sighed, "This war cannot be won."
Beside him, the young man was confused: "Why? We also have powerful artillery, powerful spearmen, and the most fearless warriors. Why can't we win?"
The old soldier shook his head gently, raised his hand and stroked the boy's head: "Kid, you have to understand that in war, in addition to strength, there is another thing that can determine victory or defeat, and that is-"
"--information."
…
Jiang Dao parked the car outside a hot spring hotel somewhere at the foot of Yanxi Jingshan Mountain.
He confirmed the address of the villa under Qin Xiao's name again, and it was correct. Then he turned around, walked around the outer wall of the hotel, followed the blind spot of the surveillance camera, climbed over the forest fence, and sneaked into the jungle all over the mountains.
At midnight, in a villa area in Jingshan, Yanxi.
A black shadow, with the help of the trees inside and outside the wall, lightly crossed the high-voltage safety net on the top of the wall, like a cat, and landed silently into the lush green landscape of the villa area.
With the cover of the green belt, Jiang Dao scoured the villa area for another two hours, figuring out the locations of all the surveillance cameras and the security patrol routes, before he circled around and approached the villa where Qin Xiao was.
He jumped into the yard gracefully, and the two mastiffs in the yard were immediately startled. They barked twice and rushed towards Jiangdao.
Jiang Dao narrowed his eyes slightly, lowered his body, and prepared to counterattack.
Result - the two mastiffs suddenly braked a few meters away from Jiangdao, stopped barking, turned around and ran with their tails between their legs, and finally got into a large cage in the corner of the yard, never to be seen again.
Jiang Dao breathed a sigh of relief silently, hiding himself in the shadow of the back wall of the villa, listening to the heavy breathing and screaming from the window gradually subsiding.
…
After watching a movie, Chu Yinlong raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows, but he still couldn't sleep.
He forced himself to close his eyes and silently recited Buddhist scriptures, but there were still some lingering fragments in his mind.
The movie just now was full of Country A’s usual personal heroism.
The boy grew up quickly through the experience of battle, and finally, he became a top special forces soldier, capable of reconnaissance, infiltration, assassination, stealing intelligence... He was always at the forefront of obtaining war information, and brought the ultimate victory to his army.
In a daze, Chu Yinlong felt that he was waking up from a dream. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone holding a knife against his neck. The man was wearing the clothes of a reconnaissance special forces soldier in the movies. He appeared in front of his bed silently and wanted to take his life.
A light flashed outside the window, and Chu Yinlong looked at the person's face in shock.
I suddenly opened my eyes, the roar of the plane engine was still in my ears.
Chu Yinlong exhaled and couldn't help laughing: This dream really doesn't make sense. He actually dreamed that Jiang Dao was a special forces soldier and came to kill him?
Maybe I've read too many scripts.
…
The person on the bed was sleeping soundly.
Next to him, there was a naked boy.
In the darkness, Jiang Dao stared at the two sleeping people for a long time, then turned around and left quietly.
As he walked towards the door, he took off his leather gloves, stuffed them into his jacket pocket, then took out a pair of thin silk gloves and slowly put them on.
He opened the door and went out without making a sound.
Like a ghost, Jiang Dao wandered around the villa for more than two hours.
When the sky turned slightly gray-blue, he returned to an uninhabited room on the second floor. His eyes swept across the lights and cameras in the room, and his gaze fell on a small open space surrounded by them.
In the open space, there was a strangely shaped chair with a series of buckled leather belts arranged on the back and armrests of the chair.
Jiang Dao walked forward and sat in the chair, with his legs spread out and resting on the armrests on both sides.
Then he closed his eyes and began to rest.
…
Yanshi time, 7:30 in the morning.
The plane Chu Yinlong was on landed smoothly.
While the plane was still taxiing, he couldn't wait to turn on his cell phone. Sure enough, a series of messages popped up and the push interface kept scrolling.
Chu Yinlong clicked on the articles one by one and his expression grew gloomier the more he read.
He closed the message interface and called Jiang Dao directly - the call could not be connected.
Chu Yinlong unbuckled his seat belt, picked up his luggage and walked towards the cabin door, but was stopped by a panic-stricken stewardess: "Sir! The plane is still taxiing, please go back to your seat and fasten your seat belt!"
Raising his hand and pinching his eyebrows, Chu Yinlong took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and returned to his seat.
He called his assistant Xiao Yang and asked, "Have you found him?"
The assistant's voice trembled a little, but he still tried to remain calm: "The most likely possibility is to go find Qin Xiao. We just found out the address of Qin Xiao's villa in Yanxi Jingshan. Should we... call the police? Mr. Lu said he'll wait for your decision."
Chu Yinlong gritted his teeth, struggled for a long time, and finally said: "Contact...Officer Xing."
The assistant immediately responded: "Understood!"
Chu Yinlong quickly added: "Wait! Let him bring plainclothes officers, not a police car. Try not to make a big deal about this matter... No, please, please don't make it a big deal!"
…
Qin Xiao asked the driver to send away the teenagers who had played together last night and return to the restaurant.
In the restaurant, four men, some with greasy hair and some with big bellies, were chewing their breakfast. Seeing Qin Xiao coming back, someone immediately smiled flatteringly and said, "The model that Mr. Qin found is really good. Tsk tsk, that waist, those legs, that scream, oh my, it really made me tired!"
Qin Xiao sat down at the table, picked up the black tea elegantly and took a sip.
"They are just a few little models," he said with a smile, "The main event of the day has not yet come."
One of the fat guys wiped his mouth and asked with a smile, "Can you really call that little guy over?"
Qin Xiao raised his eyebrows.
"Of course I don't mean to doubt you!" The fat man laughed, "I just think that the little fellow is too pretty, with such shiny and smooth skin that he will definitely turn red if pinched..."
Hearing this, Qin Xiao smiled and said, "Then, President Zhu will come first?"
The fat man immediately waved his hands: "Hey, how can this be done! I don't like too much noise, let's wait for Mr. Wang to tame him, and then I will come later, haha, I will come later..."
Qin Xiao glanced at the clock and said, "It's almost time, and it's time to get ready."
Jiang Dao slowly opened his eyes, unhooked his legs from the armrests of the restraint chair, stood up and walked to the door.
The door was not completely closed, and through the tiny gap could be heard the obscene words of the men downstairs and the sound of wine glasses clinking.
"Tsk, what a good wine. It's a shame to use it for drugs."
"It's just a waste of one cup... Besides, how can it be a waste if it's used in the right place?"
"Hahahaha, that makes sense!"
Jiang Dao opened the door and went out, slowly strolling along the corridor on the second floor, looking over the railing at the men sitting in the high-ceilinged living room.
"What's going on? It's already eight o'clock, where are the people?"
"Will they be stopped by the community security?"
"Impossible. I told him that he was my guest and the guard would be able to recognize him."
"Could it be that he was frightened and didn't dare to come?"
Jiang Dao stepped forward, supported himself on the railing with both hands, and stood right above Qin Xiao.
Qin Xiao sneered: "Him? Ha, if he dares not to come, do you really think I won't take action against Longqi Entertainment and the Chu family? It will be a little troublesome, but would I be afraid of an entertainment company? Ha, what a joke!"
Jiang Dao looked down at him expressionlessly, "Really?"
Suddenly, there was silence in the room.
The next moment, all five men present jumped up from the sofa, staring in amazement at the young man in black who suddenly appeared in the corridor on the second floor.
Jiang Dao rolled over and landed lightly on the sofa in the living room from the second floor. He bent his legs, then used the force to jump to the ground. He took two steps forward and sat in the armchair opposite Qin Xiao.
He leaned his arms on the armrest, his chin resting on his hand, his face expressionless, his pair of black pupils lifeless, like a deadly blunt knife, scraping across several men one by one.
Then he said, "Please take a seat, everyone."
None of the five men were spared, and they all sat down like puppets, following his instructions.
As soon as he sat down, Qin Xiao immediately realized what he had done. His face suddenly twisted and he looked at Jiang Dao with gritted teeth. He was about to curse, but when he was stared at by those eyes, he shut up unconsciously.
"I heard the wine is good." Jiang Dao stretched out his hand, brushed his fingers over the glasses of wine on the table, and asked, "Which one is for me?"
Before they could answer, he saw three of the men's throats rolling. So he picked up the glass of wine under his finger, stood up, stared at Qin Xiao with a ruthless look in his eyes, and walked over step by step: "Brother, I toast you a glass."
Qin Xiao felt as if he was being stared at by a poisonous snake. His face turned pale with fear. When he saw Jiang Dao walking towards him, he suddenly hid in the sofa, his voice trembling: "How did you get in?! What... are you going to do? Don't come over here! Get out! This is my home! You, get out! Get out!"
Jiang Dao looked at him expressionlessly, as if he was looking at some lifeless, useless object: "Didn't my brother ask me to come?"
Qin Xiao was so frightened by Jiang Dao's aura that he trembled all over: "Don't come over here! You...you are not, you are not Jiang Dao! You are not him at all - who are you?!"
At this moment, a fat man closest to the door suddenly jumped up and fled towards the villa gate with agility that was extremely disproportionate to his body size.
Jiang Dao turned around and caught up with him, raised his hand and grabbed the back of his neck, but without him using any force, the man suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious, with a wet mark under his body.
And not a drop of the wine in Jiangdao's hand was spilled.
In the living room, several other men who were originally ready to make a move sat back in their seats obediently, not daring to move.
Jiang Dao didn't even look at the man he knocked down. He calmly walked back to Qin Xiao, raised his hand to press the back of the man's neck, and handed the wine glass to his mouth.
With his fatal point in someone's hand, Qin Xiao was trembling all over, breathing rapidly, his eyes full of fear, staring at Jiang Dao's face, his voice stretched into a thin line: "You, you don't dare to touch me... You don't dare to touch me! You, you don't touch me!"
"Drink it." Jiang Dao said expressionlessly.
"No..." Qin Xiao shook his head, "No, no...can't..."
Jiang Dao turned his wrist to avoid Qin Xiao's hand that was swinging to knock over the wine glass, and then his other hand seemed to lightly wipe off Qin Xiao's arm joints.
Qin Xiao let out a sharp cry of pain, and tears immediately flowed down his face.
On the sofa, the remaining three men shrank their shoulders and acted as obedient as little chickens.
Jiang Dao once again passed the wine glass to Qin Xiao's lips, and moved closer to him. He rubbed the back of Qin Xiao's neck with his fingers through a layer of black silk gloves. His voice was low and gloomy, as if it came from the abyss: "Drink it. Otherwise, next time you will not remove your arm."
As he spoke, he applied a little force to the fingers on the back of Qin Xiao's neck.
“I’ll drink! I, I’ll drink!” Qin Xiao’s voice was so frightened that it changed into a distorted tone. He cried as he leaned over to the edge of the glass, and with Jiang Dao’s hand, he drank the entire glass of wine obediently. Then he cried even harder, “Let me go! Please let me go… I won’t touch you anymore! I promise!”
Jiang Dao reached out and gently stroked the top of his head.
Qin Xiao shrank back, sobbing and not daring to move.
"It's fine for me." Jiang Dao whispered in his ear, his voice cold, "But for the people around me, try again."
"No, I won't move!" Qin Xiao cried, "I, I saved those documents and photos in the USB flash drive in the study, the blue one! You can just take it away! I don't have any backup, really!"
His skin flushed strangely, his breathing became rapid, and his speech became incoherent: "Shima, Jiangdao...uh, can you, can you let me go..."
"No hurry." Jiang Dao said casually, "The venue for the second game has been set up. Let's go take a look."
As soon as he finished speaking, he flipped his wrist and put Qin Xiao's dislocated arm back in place.
Qin Xiao let out a strange cry of pain, beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and his breathing became more rapid.
Jiang Dao stood up and walked over to the remaining men.
The person he was staring at had his teeth chattering and trembling: “You you you you, uh uh uh…”
"You two, take Mr. Qin and go upstairs." Jiang Dao's voice was inorganically cold.
"Hey, hey! Okay!" One of them turned over swiftly and held up one of Qin Xiao's arms.
The other person was trembling with fear, his legs too weak to stand up. Jiang Dao walked forward without saying a word and knocked him unconscious, then his eyes glanced at the last person on the field.
The man jumped up, grabbed Qin Xiao's other arm, and ran upstairs carrying him.
Sure enough, without Jiang Dao's reminder, the two men carried the limp Qin Xiao to the room with the restraint chair and tied him to the chair very considerately.
Qin Xiao was already confused at this time, with a sticky cry coming from his throat and gibberish. He begged for mercy and for a hug, his face covered with tears and snot.
Jiang Dao stepped forward, took out a jade pendant from his pocket and hung it around Qin Xiao's neck.
Seeing this scene, the two men standing next to them trembled like sieves - they knew that this pendant was worn by the little model who slept with Qin Xiao last night. He cried when he found it lost this morning, saying that he never took off the pendant when he slept, so there was no reason for it to be lost. They searched the living room, bathroom and bedroom but couldn't find it... How come it was in Jiang Dao's hands?
When did he get it?
While they sleep?
Then - could he also take their lives quietly while they slept? !
As if he could see through their thoughts, Jiang Dao glanced back and said, "Zhu Chunlai, the founder of Duoji Technology. Wang Zhong, the current CEO of Haiyao Venture Capital. They both have great backgrounds, and their habits in bed are also quite strange."
As expected, he sneaked in last night!
No one noticed!
Zhu Wang and the other man knelt down on the ground at the same time as if they had agreed to do so. Cold sweat dripped onto the ground, and they were unable to utter a word.
Jiang Dao continued, "If Qin Xiao wants to do anything again, please persuade him."
As they were talking, a dog barking suddenly sounded downstairs in the villa.
Then the sound gradually faded away, and then there was a knock on the door of the villa: "Open the door, courier!"
Zhu Wang and the other man looked at each other, and just as a glimmer of hope rose in their hearts, they saw Jiang Dao's gaze fall on them, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curled up and he smiled.
At that moment, they seemed to see the smile of death.
Wang Zhong could no longer bear the stimulation, his eyes rolled back and he passed out.
Jiang Dao raised his chin towards Zhu Chunlai and said, "Go open the door."
Zhu Chunlai: “…Ah?”
Jiang Dao smiled and said, "Open the door."
Zhu Chunlai jumped up suddenly, and was so frightened that he couldn't walk in a straight line. However, he still tenaciously crawled down the stairs, bumped into the door of the villa, pressed the handle, and then finally used up all his courage and fainted in the arms of the visitor.
Seeing the scene in the living room, Officer Xing frowned.
Chu Yinlong suddenly lost color.
His eyes turned red, and he pushed Officer Xing away, rushed up the stairs, and ran towards the room on the second floor where the sticky crying sound came from.
The author has something to say: ※All of Kojima’s actions in this chapter serve the plot, and the author does not advocate such behavior!
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