Chapter 22
The cold, brilliant smile on Gu Jing's face, like a poisoned ice flower, suddenly blossomed in the luxurious yet blood-scented study. His fingertips slowly brushed across Qin Yu's warm blood on his cheek, his movements evoking a sinister elegance that made one's scalp tingle.
"Mr. Qin," he said, his voice was not loud, but it was like cold glass scratching across everyone's eardrums, "Now... I'm here to play with you."
The entire study fell into an eerie silence in an instant.
The alarm continued to waile in vain. A bodyguard lay groaning in pain on the ground. Qin Yu curled unconscious at the corner of the table, blood slowly seeping from beneath him. And Gu Jing, the one at the center of all this chaos, was like a demon who had suddenly taken off his mask, emitting a calm yet insane chill.
The look of surprise on Qin Zhengfeng's face lasted only a brief moment before it was replaced by a deeper, more interested sharpness. He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if reassessing a precious collection that had suddenly bared its fangs.
"Oh?" Qin Zhengfeng drawled out his words, waving his hand to the stunned bodyguards to calm down. He walked forward and looked at Gu Jing with interest, his gaze like a scalpel across his bloodied face and cold, resolute eyes.
"Play?" Qin Zhengfeng sneered, his voice condescending. "What do you want to play? Just you? A little thing that can't even protect itself and has only survived to this day by relying on others?"
His humiliation was naked and cruel.
Gu Jing was not moved at all. The smile on his face even deepened a little, but there was a desolate coldness in his eyes.
"Just because of me." His tone was calm, but with a desperate determination, "Just because I know that what you really want is never just the Gu family's assets, nor is it just... the pleasure of torturing your son."
Qin Zhengfeng's eyes flickered slightly.
Gu Jing continued slowly, his voice clear and calm, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with him: "What you wanted was a perfect, obedient heir who could inherit all your 'businesses'. Unfortunately, Qin Yu disappointed you. He turned rebellious."
His eyes swept over the unconscious Qin Yu on the ground with an almost cruel indifference.
"So, you need a new...work." Gu Jing's gaze met Qin Zhengfeng again, "One that is younger than him, easier to control, and has the Gu Group as a 'dowry' behind it. Isn't that right?"
The playful expression on Qin Zhengfeng's face gradually faded, replaced by a genuine, cold scrutiny. He neither admitted nor denied it.
Gu Jing knew he had guessed correctly. From the recordings his father had left behind, from the look in Qin Zhengfeng's eyes, and from the ever-increasing pressure of the situation, he pieced together the twisted mind of this old monster.
"Whatever Qin Yu can give you, I can give you." Gu Jing took a small step forward, ignoring the bodyguards around him who were watching him closely, and looked directly at Qin Zhengfeng. "What he can't give you, such as... absolute 'loyalty' and 'obedience', I can also give you."
He tilted his head slightly, revealing an almost innocent yet spine-chilling smile: "As long as you can offer... the right price."
"Price?" Qin Zhengfeng seemed amused by his boldness. "What price do you want?"
"It's very simple." Gu Jing's tone was understated, but his words were powerful. "First, Gu's will be operated independently. I want absolute control and you are not allowed to interfere. Second, all shares and debts related to Gu's under Qin Yu's name will be transferred to me unconditionally. Third..."
He paused, his gaze falling on the unconscious Qin Yu. His expression was complicated for a moment, then became extremely cold and cruel.
"...Leave him to me."
He spoke the last five words softly and slowly, but with a chilling tone.
Even Qin Zhengfeng raised his eyebrows slightly, with a hint of genuine surprise and...admiration flashing in his eyes.
"Leave it to you?" He repeated with a playful tone, "How do you want to deal with it? Kill him? Or... slowly kill him?" He seemed to be happy to see this "dog-eat-dog" situation.
Gu Jing twitched his lips, but didn't answer directly. He just said, "That's my business. Anyway, I will make him disappear completely and never get in your way again. That way, you can get the 'new work' you want while also eliminating future troubles. A very good deal, isn't it?"
The study fell into silence again.
Qin Zhengfeng stared at Gu Jing, as if weighing the truth in his words and evaluating the value and risks of this sudden "surrender."
The young man in front of him seemed to have suddenly been forced to reveal all his hidden cruelty and scheming. He became strange and dangerous, but also... more attractive.
A beautiful puppet who can push his savior and crazy admirer into the abyss with his own hands seems to be much more interesting than that stubborn son.
After a long time, Qin Zhengfeng suddenly laughed, not with the sarcasm as before, but with a kind of joy as if he had discovered a new toy.
"Very good." He clapped his hands softly. "Very good. Gu Jing, you always surprise me."
He walked to the desk, picked up the internal phone, and said in a deep voice, "The alarm is clear. Call a doctor to treat the wound. Drag that rebellious son... to the basement and keep him under guard."
After giving the order, he put down the phone and looked at Gu Jing. The mask of a gentle elder returned to his face, but the coldness and calculation in his eyes did not diminish at all.
"I can consider your conditions," he said slowly, "but your sincerity needs to be proven."
He pointed at Qin Yu who was lying unconscious on the ground.
"The first pledge of allegiance," he said with a smile, his tone unquestionable, "will be signed by you... yourself."
Gu Jing's heart felt like it was pierced by an ice needle, but there was no abnormality on his face. He just asked calmly: "How do you want me to prove it?"
Qin Zhengfeng took out a palm-sized black metal box from the desk drawer and opened it.
There were two syringes placed side by side inside, one filled with a clear liquid, the other a strange, dark blue.
"Blue," Qin Zhengfeng picked up the dark blue syringe and handed it to Gu Jing with a warm smile, "It can keep him quiet for a while, and by the way... teach him a lesson. Don't worry, he won't die."
Gu Jing looked at the syringe that was shining with a strange luster under the light, and his fingers curled up almost imperceptibly.
The air was so thick that it was suffocating.
All eyes were on him.
He knew this wasn't a choice. It was a test. It was the first step into the abyss.
He slowly reached out and took the cold and heavy syringe.
His fingertips trembled slightly, not because of fear, but because of a huge, cold determination.
He walked towards the unconscious Qin Yu.
Every step feels like walking on the edge of a knife.
He squatted down beside Qin Yu. The man's face was pale, his brows furrowed in pain even in his coma, his lips were stained with blood, and his breathing was weak.
Gu Jing looked at him, and his mind flashed back to the desperate protection in the factory ruins, the dying whispers in the darkness of the sanatorium, and the crazy look of him rushing in recklessly and using his body to protect himself just now...
Hate? Fear?
Maybe both.
But more often than not, it is a kind of equally twisted and crazy symbiosis that grows out of the ruins after being forced into a desperate situation by fate.
He raised his hand and lightly brushed Qin Yu's cold cheek with his fingertips, his movements almost gentle.
Then, without hesitation, he raised his hand holding the syringe, aimed it at the blood vessel on the side of Qin Yu's neck, and stabbed it hard!
The fingertips pushed the piston, and the dark blue liquid was injected into Qin Yu's body little by little.
Even in his coma, Qin Yu's body twitched violently. He let out an extremely faint and painful groan from his throat, and then collapsed completely. His face turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his breathing was almost undetectable.
Gu Jing pulled out the needle and threw it on the ground.
He stood up, turned around, and faced Qin Zhengfeng. His face was expressionless, only as calm as dead water, as if he had just done something insignificant.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked, his voice calm.
Qin Zhengfeng looked at him, at his blood-stained white suit, at his cold and calm eyes, at the person at his feet who had just been injected with unknown drugs and who once "loved" him deeply, and finally revealed a truly happy and cruel smile.
"Very good." He nodded. "From today on, you are my...godson, Qin Zhengfeng."
He walked forward and patted Gu Jing's shoulder as if he were a precious possession.
"The doctor will treat your wound. Get some rest. Tomorrow, I'll take you to see... the Qin family's real 'business'."
After saying that, he looked at Gu Jing meaningfully, turned around and left the study.
The bodyguards carried the unconscious Qin Yu away as if he were dragging away a piece of trash.
Soon, only Gu Jing and a doctor who walked over with a medical kit and an expressionless face were left in the study.
Gu Jing stood there, motionless.
Until everyone left, the study door was gently closed.
He lowered his head very slowly and spread out the hand that had just held the syringe.
Deep in the palm of his hand, due to excessive force, four deep nail marks almost broke the skin and flesh, and blood oozed out.
And that dark blue syringe... was now quietly and tightly hidden in the secret pocket inside his suit jacket.
What he had just inserted into the side of Qin Yu's neck was just a transparent liquid, probably saline or glucose.
Substituting one thing for another. In full view of the public, under the nose of that old fox Qin Zhengfeng.
A gamble with life at stake.
Only at this moment did he realize that cold sweat had soaked his back.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the dark night outside the window. The cold dead water in his eyes gradually faded away, and two dark and crazy flames ignited.
The game has just begun.
His dear...adoptive father.
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