Chapter 166: One Hundred Million Shiba Inu Coins
Under the pale light of the convenience store, Yu Ling stood frozen in place, the nuclear-level message Su Xiao continuously pouring out on her phone screen—"The Godfather Behind the Global Security Giant"! Every word pierced her chaotic mind.
Zhao Chen's hand, which had just been resting on her shoulder with a soothing warmth, now felt cold and empty. He was holding the plastic bag with the "XX Pet Supermarket" logo printed on it, and inside it rustled the new dog food bags he had bought for Wangcai.
"Honey, Wangcai seems to be picky about his food again. The owner of the pet supermarket said he might not like this new salmon formula. How about we try another store?"
Zhao Chen's voice remained gentle, with a hint of resignation in his smile. He leaned slightly to the side, motioning Yu Ling to leave this "troubled place" with him.
This extreme calmness and understatement was like a bucket of boiling oil, poured onto the fire in Yu Ling's heart that was ignited by fear, anger and a huge sense of absurdity!
"Zhao Chen!" Yu Ling took a sudden step back, her back slamming heavily against the cold glass window with a dull thud. She held up her phone, and on the screen, Su Xiao was still excitedly pointing at the terrifying security company logos. Her voice was sharp, "Lingzi! Did you hear that? He's..."
“Enough!” Yu Ling almost yelled, interrupting Lidya Su, her voice torn by excitement, “Stop talking!”
She clicked off the video call! Lidya Su’s face, distorted with shock, instantly disappeared from the screen.
The only sounds in the convenience store were the low hum of the automatic refrigerator, the suppressed gasps of the cashier, and the extremely weak groaning of the drunk man in the green belt, like a dying worm.
Yu Ling's chest heaved violently. She looked at Zhao Chen, who stood a few steps away, holding dog food and looking like he was worried about the dog's picky eating. A sense of powerlessness and a cold rage of being manipulated threatened to consume her. Question? Roar? Tear off his perfect facade?
It's useless! Isn't Su Xiao's evidence solid enough? He's the controlling shareholder of the world's top security company! What's the result? All they get is "exchange for dog food"!
She felt like a madman punching a solid wall, all her strength hitting nothing, and the recoil left her covered in bruises.
A deep sense of exhaustion and despair gripped her. She didn't want to ask anymore. She didn't want to guess anymore. She didn't want to be fooled by those bizarre yet "reasonable" explanations anymore.
She just wanted to... just wanted to grasp a little bit of truth. Even if it was just a vague acknowledgement.
Yu Ling lowered her head, her fingers trembling slightly from the exertion. She unlocked her phone, the screen's light illuminating her pale, dazed face. She opened her address book, her finger lingering for a long time on a contact marked "Old Number (Disabled?)."
This was a number Zhao Chen had used before. He had contacted her several times during the early days of their flash marriage. Later, he said the company had switched to new numbers, and the old one was deactivated. Yu Ling hadn't deleted it.
Her fingertips hovered over the name, trembling slightly. Finally, with a desperate, almost desperate attempt, she opened the text message interface and slowly and heavily typed a few words on the virtual keyboard:
"Thank you... whoever you are."
No name, no question. Just a vague, incoherent thank you. Was it to the ghostly "Shiba Inu security guard" at the convenience store? Or to the man who had been secretly protecting her, hidden in the vast shadow of the "WowWow Group"?
She didn't know. She just wanted to throw a small stone into the unfathomable fog to see if there would be a ripple.
Her fingertips hovered over the send button for a few seconds. Yu Ling took a deep breath, and as if using up all her strength, she pressed it hard!
With a soft "whoosh" sound, the message was sent successfully.
The little send icon spun around the screen and turned into a gray "Delivered".
And then... nothing happened.
Time passes by every second.
The convenience store freezers were still humming.
The cashier girl secretly poked her head out and then retracted it.
The moans in the green belt seemed a little weaker.
Zhao Chen, holding a bag of dog food, stood quietly a few steps away, looking at her calmly, without urging or asking, as if he was patiently waiting for her to deal with her "little emotions".
The phone screen stubbornly dimmed. No new messages. No response.
That lonely "Thank you...whoever you are." was like a stone thrown into the bottomless abyss, without even a trace of echo.
Cold.
A chill more biting than the cold air from a convenience store's air conditioner instantly enveloped Yu Ling. The last shred of her faint, unrealistic hope was completely extinguished by the dead silence.
It turned out to be just my wishful thinking.
Yu Ling twitched her lips, revealing a self-deprecating expression that was uglier than tears. She put away her phone, stopped looking at Zhao Chen, and ignored the drunk in the green belt.
Like a puppet with its soul drained out, she walked around Zhao Chen in a daze and walked towards the convenience store door with unsteady steps.
The automatic door dinged open, and the cool night air rushed in, making her shiver.
"Lingling!" Zhao Chen's voice sounded behind him, with a barely perceptible hint of urgency.
Yu Ling paused, but didn't turn back. She simply waved her hand wearily, her voice hoarse, "I'm tired... I want to be alone... Don't follow me."
She pushed open the door and her figure blended into the night outside.
Zhao Chen stood there, watching Yu Ling's thin figure disappear into the night. His fingers gripping the bag of dog food silently tightened, his knuckles turning slightly white. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were as calm as a deep pool, yet swirling with indescribable complex emotions.
He tilted his head slightly, and whispered to the air in a voice only he could hear:
"receive."
The streets of Haicheng were empty and desolate in the early morning, the dim streetlights casting long and thin shadows on the trees along the road.
Yu Ling walked aimlessly, the night wind blowing against her face, bringing a damp, cold breeze, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in her heart. She clutched her phone tightly in her hand, the cold metal casing rubbing against her palm.
She didn't know where to go. Back to Cloud Top Villa? That "home" filled with lies and a huge shadow? She felt suffocated. Back to the house she had just rented? She just wanted to be alone, to process the overwhelming absurdity and the anger that had nowhere to vent.
“Buzz…buzz…buzz…”
The phone in my pocket suddenly vibrated wildly! It was Lidya Su! She persevered and made another video call request!
Yu Ling didn't want to answer the call, but her fingers seemed to have a will of their own and she clicked the answer button.
Su Xiao's face filled the screen again. This time, her expression was no longer simply one of excitement, but a mixture of extreme shock, fanaticism, and an almost insane excitement of discovering a shocking secret!
"Lingzi!!! Lingzi!!! Answer the phone! Quick!!! Look at this!!! Look!!!" Su Xiao's voice was hoarse and sharp due to extreme excitement, and the background was the rapidly scrolling, dazzling codes and complex blockchain transaction maps on her computer screen!
"What are you looking at?" Yu Ling's voice was tired and numb. She didn't even have the strength to raise the phone to her eyes. She just let her hands hang down, leaving Su Xiao's face facing the ground.
"Link! I've sent you the encrypted link! Click it! Quick!!!" Su Xiao practically screamed, "'Wangwang Group'! It's an offshore account! Just now! Half a minute ago!!!"
Su Xiao's voice broke due to extreme excitement, and every word shot out like a quenched bullet:
"It's been transferred out! A full 100 million! Shiba Inu Coins (SHIB)!!!"
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