Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Yan Zhuo didn't fall for the taunt, narrowing his eyes dangerously as he leaned in closer to Ruan Yunchu.

"I don't think that's what the young master meant, but if you really say the word, I'll do it."

He was too close, crossing the line of what Ruan Yunchu could tolerate, making his expression shift involuntarily.

Seeing the annoyance in those eyes, Yan Zhuo curled his lips into a smirk and gently swept his finger across that smooth, sharp jawline. "Who sent him?" he murmured.

Ruan Yunchu looked up at him and suddenly smiled. "You're not dumb after all."

Yan Zhuo snorted. "Even if he's not, if you told me to kill him, I'd still do it."

"You're so disrespectful, Yan Zhuo."

Ruan Yunchu's fingers lightly traced his brow, slowly sliding down the bridge of his straight, high nose until they stopped at those thin, cold lips.

He watched the emotions in his eyes deepen and darken, but pulled his hand back before the other could speak.

"Take a guess."

Yan Zhuo fought down the desire inside him, a name appearing in his mind. "The Luo family?"

In District A, the Luo family and the Ruan family had always been rivals. Both started in energy development and had been competing for cooperation opportunities with the Alliance for years. Now that the Ruan family had fallen and the young master had sold the company at a high price—bypassing the Luo family, who had also expressed interest—it was natural they would hold a grudge.

"Have you ever crossed paths with them?" Ruan Yunchu asked.

Yan Zhuo shook his head. "I've heard of them, but never met them. Word is they have really bad character."

Ruan Yunchu smiled and crooked his finger at him. Yan Zhuo's heart stirred, and he leaned in, totally obedient. Ruan Yunchu pressed his lips to his ear and whispered: "The person I was supposed to marry was almost a Luo. Guess why it fell through in the end?"

Yan Zhuo furrowed his brow tightly, his expression visibly changing. "I wouldn't know."

"You're so dumb." Ruan Yunchu chuckled lightly. "Of course, I didn't agree."

But then his attention shifted. "So you were pretty satisfied with Qin Jingli back then?"

"..."

"Yes, what about it?"

Yan Zhuo could tell he was deliberately trying to piss him off, but couldn't help the fierce jealousy that welled up inside him.

"No matter how much you liked him, he's in prison now."

Ruan Yunchu: "I have you to thank for that."

Yan Zhuo saw him close his eyes wearily again, knowing it was pointless to dwell on this topic, so he pivoted back to the question the young master had brought up himself.

"Why didn't you pick the Luo guy?"

"I don't feel like talking about it now."

Yan Zhuo sensed something was off. "You can tell me. How about I take care of him for you?"

"Do you have what it takes?"

"You should know that better than me, young master."

Otherwise, why would the young master have brought it up?

For some reason, even though Ruan Yunchu hadn't said anything specific, Yan Zhuo felt like what he was about to say was no ordinary thing—at least, it must mean a great deal to the young master.

Ruan Yunchu turned his head to look out the window, seeming lost in thought.

After what felt like a long time, Yan Zhuo finally heard him speak again.

"Can you really do it?"

Without hesitation or exaggeration, Yan Zhuo said directly: "I'll do whatever you want me to do. If my ability falls short, I'll give my life to get it done for you."

Ruan Yunchu laughed softly and turned back. "Then what if you die?"

"He'll die before I do." A cold glint flashed in Yan Zhuo's eyes.

It was an absolutely determined stance.

Something seemed to get to him. Ruan Yunchu leaned back in his chair and said quietly: "Luo Peng has some stuff he thinks he can use to threaten me—a few old recordings from years ago. They won't really do anything to me, but it's still a risk to leave them in his hands."

"What are they?"

Ruan Yunchu lowered his eyes. "I don't really remember anymore. If you find them, you can see for yourself."

Saying this, he curled the corner of his mouth into a smile, his eyes holding a hint of teasing as he looked at Yan Zhuo.

"I know you'll get curious."

Yan Zhuo's eyes darkened slightly. "I won't look. I'll destroy them."

"If you truly manage that, I'll grant you a wish." Ruan Yunchu said calmly. "No limits this time. Whatever you ask, I'll say yes."

"You said it yourself."

"Yes, I did."

As expected, Ruan Yunchu didn't see Yan Zhuo again in the next few days.

-

Chen Quan had initially been upset that Yan Zhuo had thrown the beta they'd gone to so much trouble to find out of the yard, but when he learned Yan Zhuo was on a secret mission, his anger fizzled out.

But when he asked again if the young master needed to find another suitable beta, he was turned down.

Ruan Yunchu didn't say it in absolute terms. After calculating the dates in his head, he only said: "If nothing unexpected happens, there won't be any need to look again."

Chen Quan couldn't quite grasp what he was implying. He had some guesses but wasn't sure.

...

Late at night, the Luo family's patrol guard robots roamed slowly. A figure that had been waiting for several nights in the dark finally moved.

Releasing a brief jamming pulse, Yan Zhuo took advantage of the two-second window when the robots were down to quickly slip through the window and silently climb to the second floor.

Hearing footsteps outside the door, a detailed floor plan formed in his mind.

From his observations over the past few days, he was pretty sure those items were not in Luo Peng's office or on him.

The most likely place was this residence, the one he came back to most often.

Outside the door, unsteady footsteps passed by—it was a drunk Luo Peng heading back to his room after a work dinner. Only after the sound faded away did Yan Zhuo quietly open the door and follow him.

Luo Peng entered the room and went to the bathroom to wash up. The room reeked of smoke and booze. Yan Zhuo scanned the messy room, couldn't help feeling disgusted, but still had to rummage through everything to find what he needed.

Cracking the safe was a piece of cake for him. He listened to the sounds coming from the bathroom while working out the safe's combination. It didn't take long before he opened it, but the contents made his face darkened.

They were all valuable items, nothing confidential.

The sound of water from the bathroom stopped. He had no choice but to close the safe, put everything back in its place, and slip out of the window.

Unexpectedly, Luo Peng, after coming out in his bathrobe, didn't go to rest but instead leisurely grabbed a bottle of wine from the basement and walked straight into the underground screening room.

As he approached, Yan Zhuo had a sinking feeling. He slipped through the half-open door in the dark, only to see the screen in front of him light up.

The screen covered the entire wall, making the image incredibly clear.

"How do you feel now?"

A man's voice came from the player, and the shaky camera was pointing at a frail teenage boy in the empty room.

When Yan Zhuo recognized that dazed, flushed face, he felt like he'd been hit by lightning.

That was...

On the screen, the boy was barely conscious, but he still curled into himself and shook his head, clearly trying to make the person in front of him back away.

But instead of backing off, they moved even closer.

The machine let out a shrill alarm, and the man sighed. "It's still off the charts. His condition isn't good. The inhibitor injection didn't work. Go tell Mr. Ruan."

Footsteps faded away, and soon someone approached again.

The camera turned to a stern-faced middle-aged man.

Only then did Yan Zhuo realize the recording device was clipped to the doctor's coat.

"What's the situation?"

"Not good. Did you prepare the alternative plan we recommended earlier?" the doctor said, then added, "But for something like this, you should ask the young master for his consent, or he'll have a very hard time."

"No need. He can't make decisions right now. Tell Luo Peng to come up."

As he finished speaking and was about to leave, someone hurried in to stop him. "Mr. Ruan, the young master already said before he passed out that he wouldn't accept the pre-marking treatment. If you go ahead with this—"

"Chen Quan, since when do you call the shots in the Ruan family?"

Ruan Jing's eyes were icy cold, his gaze at the butler dripping with contempt.

A younger Luo Peng, by a few years, hurried in, his face beaming with anticipation. Under the doctor's guidance, he entered the room.

"Release your pheromones and try to hold him. He's in a bad state right now, but it's okay—your compatibility is high, so..."

On the screen, the young boy showed clear resistance the moment Luo Peng appeared, violently pushing his hand away. But he was grabbed tightly, his innocent and beautiful face twisted in pain, and he started struggling violently.

Luo Peng held him against his will, tried to kiss his face, but the boy struggled even harder. Meanwhile, the machine tracking the room's pheromone level started to spike.

But before Luo Peng could do anything, the machine let out a sharp alarm. The doctor rushed in, pulled Luo Peng away, and gave the desperately struggling boy a sedative shot.

"What's going on?" Ruan Jing's displeased voice sounded.

The doctor was breathing heavily, still shaken. "Mr. Ruan, it's not going to work. The young master can't accept it. He almost... used his mental power to destroy his own gland."

The recording went black.

Back in the room outside the player, Luo Peng restarted the video, rewinding to the part where he held the boy. He parted his bathrobe, breathing heavily, staring at that face—still stunningly beautiful despite the blurry struggle.

Yan Zhuo abruptly clenched his fists, charged into the screening room, and with a single punch sent the unprepared Luo Peng crashing to the floor.

Luo Peng let out a curse and tried to get up, but his swinging fist was caught in a vice grip. His wrist gave a sickening crunch, and the next second, it was broken cleanly.

As a top-tier alpha, Luo Peng had never felt so powerless. The man before him was silent, exuding an aura of dominance, as if he could easily snap his limbs and make him disappear without a trace.

Who the hell is this?

In agony, he was slammed into the coffee table, his head feeling like it was about to explode.

He let out a groan, and his hand touched something—he pressed it without a second thought.

The next second, alarms blared throughout the entire house.

Yan Zhuo watched him lying on the floor like a dead dog. Even though he wanted to make him disappear off the face of the earth, hearing the rapid footsteps outside, he quickly got up, found the videotape, and destroyed it completely.

The door, which had been locked early, was pounded loudly. The people outside realized something was wrong and started taking other measures.

Yan Zhuo didn't have much time. He smashed everything in the room, then returned to the sofa, picked up the battered Luo Peng, and pressed a pulse gun against his temple.

"A military pulse gun. One shot and your brains will splatter. Tell me, do you have any backups of this?"

Luo Peng's head was ringing, his eyes swollen almost shut, but he still felt the oppressive near-death presence.

He trembled uncontrollably and quickly shook his head.

"No, I don't. Really."

"It better be that way. If you ever dare to covet him again, no matter where you hide, I will find you and make you wish you were dead."

The gloomy, icy voice seemed to come from the depths of hell. Luo Peng's breathing grew rapid, and he could only nod in agreement.

With a bang, Yan Zhuo slammed him back onto the sofa. He put on a mask and threw a smoke bomb.

The next second, the door opened and the rushing guards began coughing violently. A gust of wind cut through, and by the time they sprinted to the spot, the man was gone.