Chapter 310: A Blackmail Letter

Inside the Care Sanatorium.

"Jiang Jiu" sprinted the entire way, finally rushing back into her office.

The moment she entered, she slammed the door shut and firmly locked it.

She leaned back against the door, gasping for air as sweat poured down her face.

It took several minutes for her to recover her wits. She walked step by step toward the desk in the room, wanting to grab a cup to drink some purified water.

But when she reached for it, her hand shook so violently she couldn't steady her grip.

"Damn it!"

Seemingly ashamed of her uncontrollable trembling, "Jiang Jiu" snatched the cup and smashed it against the floor.

The expensive ceramic shattered into countless pieces, scattering everywhere.

"He's already dead! He's dead! Chen Xiaojing, calm down!"

She kept muttering to herself until she managed to suppress a fraction of the terror in her heart.

Knock, knock, knock!

Just then, a heavy knocking echoed from the door, shocking another full-body shudder out of her.

Before she could respond, the knocking grew more urgent.

Knock, knock, knock!

Knock, knock, knock!

Every strike felt like a death knell hammering against her heart.

"Jiang Jiu" hid under the desk, clutching her head, not daring to move a muscle.

Then, a familiar voice drifted in from outside.

"Director, are you all right?"

It was Doctor Li.

"Jiang Jiu" breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly scrambled out from under the desk and called out.

"I—I'm fine. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," the doctor replied. "I just heard footsteps outside, and then a noise from your room. I was worried something had happened to you."

"I'm fine."

"Jiang Jiu" tried her best to keep her voice steady.

She smoothed out her sweat-matted hair, pulled open a desk drawer, and took out a hand mirror.

Staring at the deathly pale face reflected in the glass, she knew she couldn't open the door right now.

There were even several smeared streaks of blood trailing across her cheek.

"All right," Doctor Li said softly.

Soon, the footsteps outside faded away. "Jiang Jiu" let out a long breath.

She sat down with the mirror, grabbed a bottle of purified water from the desk, and began carefully wiping her face clean.

A few minutes later, she changed her clothes. Only after confirming her appearance wouldn't attract any unwanted attention did she hail a car through her information component and hurry out of the hospital.

When she passed the intersection leading to the alleyway from earlier, her heart trembled again, and she unconsciously quickened her pace.

Once in the car, she initiated a call.

Inside a movie theater.

A man in a wine-red suit embraced a stunning mechanical species.

They were the only two in the entire screening room. The man hadn't just booked the room; he had given the entire theater staff a holiday.

This theater was his exclusive domain. The seat beneath him could function as either a sofa or a bed.

But just as he was preparing to enjoy some steely tenderness, the information component on his right wrist suddenly rang.

He frowned.

To avoid interruptions, he had already blocked anyone unimportant. A call coming through now meant the person had to be important.

So he pushed away the mechanical species leaning in for a kiss and checked the information component.

Immediately, he saw Chen Xiaojing's name.

The call connected.

"Hello? What is it?"

"I'm busy," he said calmly.

"Zhou Mo, where are you?"

Chen Xiaojing leveled her voice as much as possible to mask her inner turmoil.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm watching a movie with a gorgeous girl today."

Zhou Mo placed his finger on the mechanical species's earlobe and gently stroked it as he spoke.

"What movie?" Chen Xiaojing asked.

Zhou Mo glanced up at the massive screen. It was long past the opening credits, so he replied expressionlessly, "No idea."

...

Chen Xiaojing helplessly massaged her forehead. "I lost money at a casino. Can you bring some people over to help me handle it?"

Zhou Mo took a deep breath. "I thought you went out tonight to handle that nuisance."

"I changed my mind," Chen Xiaojing said coolly. "A restless guy like Mao Si doesn't need me to lift a finger. He'll end up dead sooner or later anyway."

...

Looking at the mechanical species in his arms, Zhou Mo irritably ran a hand through his bangs. "Send me the address."

A short while later, a group of Enforcers arrived at the address Chen Xiaojing had provided. They arrested everyone gambling there, leaving only her untouched.

The official charge was operating an unlicensed casino.

Over a dozen people were hauled away at once.

Watching their retreating figures, Chen Xiaojing finally let out a sigh of relief.

She held the hospital surveillance footage in her own hands, and with her usual lackeys providing false testimonies, she was completely clear of this mess.

Even if Mao Si's body was discovered tomorrow, no one would connect her to him.

The crucial issue now was...

She had to cover up the death of the Fifth Tier expert assigned to her.

Just as her thoughts were racing, a voice beside her made her jump.

"How much did you lose?"

Now wearing a dark purple suit, Zhou Mo looked at the slightly manic-looking Chen Xiaojing.

"Me? Not much. Around forty or fifty thousand eerie points—"

Chen Xiaojing quickly suppressed the fluttering in her chest. "Why are you here? Weren't you watching a movie?"

"It finished." Zhou Mo smiled. "Mechanical species really are different from other species. Extremely tight. I highly recommend you try one next time."

He knew that Chen Xiaojing didn't like men.

"Thanks." Chen Xiaojing's expression remained neutral; she clearly didn't want to dwell on the topic.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Mo suddenly leaned his face close to hers. They were barely an inch apart, close enough to feel each other's breath.

"Something's off with you, Chen Xiaojing."

"What's wrong with me?"

Chen Xiaojing kept her expression as natural as possible.

"Looking at that gambling ring... it seems like some of your people are in there." Zhou Mo chuckled.

"Really? You must be mistaken."

Chen Xiaojing pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and tapped one out toward him. "Everyone has secrets, don't they? The key is whether there's evidence."

...

They locked eyes, and Zhou Mo started laughing.

"You're absolutely right."

He took the cigarette she offered, rubbing the tip gently between his fingers until a wisp of blue smoke drifted into the air.

"Everyone has secrets."

It was precisely because Chen Xiaojing held a secret of his that he was willing to help her clean up these messes.

They finished smoking in silence.

Chen Xiaojing waved a hand. "I'm leaving."

She walked away without looking back.

Zhou Mo smiled and headed toward his newly bought sports car.

Everyone had secrets. That was why the Four Masters Society maintained its state of balance.

So, when would that balance be broken?

He was looking forward to it.

Chen Xiaojing returned home, collapsed into bed, and slept straight until ten o'clock the next morning.

The first thing she did upon waking was check her information component.

She wanted to see if there was any related news.

Unsurprisingly, someone had discovered the bodies in the alleyway at seven o'clock that morning.

They included a pulped, gray-skinned humanoid corpse and a feline animal species corpse.

Neither had undergone genetic matching yet.

Chen Xiaojing let out a breath and then burst out laughing.

She laughed so hard she rolled around on the bed until tears leaked from her eyes. After she calmed down, she looked at the new message on her information component. It was from Zhou Mo.

[Was that Mao Si?]

She raised an eyebrow and sent a reply back.

She told him to have the Enforcers swap out Mao Si's genetic record with a random animal species.

[After this, the two of us are even.]

She knew Zhou Mo would definitely agree.

One secret for another. It was perfectly fair.

[Who was the other one?]

Seeing the message, Chen Xiaojing's smile faded slightly. [Don't worry about it.]

After she sent that reply, no further messages came through.

Chen Xiaojing completely set her worries aside. She went back to doing her volunteer work at the hospital as usual, spending her nights partying with the other three, living an incredibly carefree life.

Until two days later.

She received word from her subordinates that a corporation was seeking a partnership with her.

"A corporation?"

Chen Xiaojing found it a bit strange.

First, her assets only consisted of a few private hospitals. Normally, apart from biopharmaceutical companies, very few people sought her out for a partnership.

Even weirder, if a small-scale company came asking, her subordinates would usually filter them out for her.

"Is it some major company?"

She looked at the secretary standing across from her.

"No, it's a name I haven't heard before," the pseudo-native species secretary, who looked to be in her early twenties, said timidly.

A second later, a file folder flew across the room and smashed into her head. The sharp corner scraped away a layer of synthetic skin, immediately drawing blood.

Chen Xiaojing's face darkened. "Has it been so long since I lost my temper that you've forgotten how to do your job?"

"No... No, that's not it..."

Without even daring to cover her wound, the secretary hurriedly explained, "It's because the other party said—"

"They know your real name, and they know about your volunteer work—"

!

Chen Xiaojing's pupils abruptly shrank.

Her volunteering at the hospital was essentially a secret. Aside from her subordinates and a few close friends, hardly anyone knew about it.

It was, in a way, her final layer of disguise.

If the other party knew this, they definitely had serious backing.

At this thought, several names rapidly flashed through her mind. She took a deep breath. "What did they say?"

"They—they just told me to hand this to you."

The secretary shakily handed an information storage chip over to Chen Xiaojing, then backed away to the side.

Chen Xiaojing stared at the chip. "Has this been scanned for viruses?"

"Everything was checked," the secretary said.

"What's on it?"

"I didn't look. I didn't look at it at all."

Receiving a satisfactory answer, Chen Xiaojing finally tapped the chip against the information component on her right wrist.

Immediately, a digital business card popped up.

"Tianque Comprehensive Service Co., Ltd."

"Mr. Luo"

"Dear Miss Chen, I have a video I would like to show you. Please watch it in its entirety before considering the demands I outline next."

Chen Xiaojing looked suspiciously at the pitch-black video playback window below the message, a sudden sense of foreboding blooming in her chest.

"Get out first."

She dismissed the secretary.

Then, taking a deep breath, she pressed play.

In the video, a woman's silhouette appeared in the dark lighting. Despite the dim surroundings, her face was perfectly clear under the high-definition lens.

The moment she saw the video, Chen Xiaojing's face instantly twisted in terror.

Her whole body shuddered, and she nearly slid out of her chair.

A second later, the woman in the video raised the scalpel in her hand and viciously stabbed Mao Si, who lay on the ground. Stab after stab.

Bright red blood splattered across her hideous, twisted face.

She looked just like an evil ghost.