Capítulo 77: Chapter 77 I Want Some Time Alone
"This beautiful girl, you don't need to be nervous. We won't hurt you, I swear... Actually, I know you were threatened into framing Mr. Chu, right? It's understandable; I can sympathize with your situation... D*mn it, Park Bo-Seong, maybe you should loosen your grip; she looks like she's about to suffocate."
In the fire escape, Fourth Brother had Qinglu's neck pinned against the wall, her hands desperately clawing at his wrists, eyes rolling back. Fifth Brother's words prompted the expressionless Fourth Brother to finally release his hold, staring coldly at Qinglu.
Qinglu began coughing violently, gasping for air afterward as she looked at the two foreigners with terror, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
"Hey, listen," Fifth Brother fiddled with Qinglu's phone, opened a virus-laden message he had just sent, deleted it within seconds, and handed the phone back to her, saying, "I hope you understand that since we could find you and trick you into coming down here, it means we have ways to deal with you. But I know you're actually a good person, right? So, we didn't choose to disturb your family; we just want to have a calm conversation with you."
"First, I apologize for my friend's rough behavior earlier, uh... and then, I need you to help clear Mr. Chu's name, okay? You must know, Mr. Chu is very rich. As long as you restore his reputation, you can name your price, and I promise you'll get it, alright?"
Qinglu's face was a mix of bruises and fear, looking pitiable. Despite the foreigner's poor pronunciation, it was clear enough for her to understand. But she was already on a path of no return. Could she really turn back now? Besides, this was never about the money for her; it was about... that unspeakable, haunting trauma that she would never be able to erase from her memory.
Seeing her bow her head in silence, Fifth Brother continued, trying to persuade her, "Don't worry, we won't hold your previous actions against you as long as you help us now... or, you can tell me, what's the deal with those photos? Maybe I can help. You can guess, I'm a hacker. Destroying some data is easy for me. Trust me, okay?"
Qinglu bit her lip, looking extremely conflicted. As the seconds ticked by, Fifth Brother forced himself to remain patient, while Fourth Brother kept rubbing the cross on his chest. After a long pause, Qinglu slowly raised her head and, trembling, said, "I... I did frame Mr. Chu... but they..."
Before she could finish, a security guard and a maintenance worker suddenly entered the stairwell, carrying a ladder, probably to fix the voice-activated lights in the hallway. Seeing the bruises on Qinglu's face, the guard immediately became wary, instinctively stepping in front of her and asking the two men, "What are you doing here?"
Fourth Brother glanced at Fifth Brother, sending him a questioning look. Fifth Brother opened his mouth to speak, but Qinglu quickly interjected, "They're my friends."
As she said this, Qinglu took the opportunity to step out of the stairwell. After a brief pause, she turned back and said, "You two should leave now. I want some time alone."
The two brothers returned to their car, where Fourth Brother immediately pulled a gun from under the seat and prepared to go back upstairs.
"Hey! Are you crazy?" Fifth Brother quickly grabbed him.
Fourth Brother calmly replied, "We need to force her to act."
Fifth Brother hesitated, "Wait! I think she's hesitating... Listen to me, we can't let anything happen to her right now, nor can we force her. Let her cool off first. We have more important things to do—let's go find that agent."
Fourth Brother glanced up at the building, "Waiting could change everything."
"It won't, I promise!" Fifth Brother said confidently, "Her phone is hacked; I'll know immediately if there's any news. If she still refuses to help us, we'll use your method then, okay?"
Fourth Brother blinked, then put the gun back, saying nothing.
The two drove towards the police station, contacting their legal advisor on the way to update Chu Yuxuan on the situation. At that moment, the legal advisor had just left the station. Upon meeting them, he said, "Mr. Chu instructed not to push Qinglu, but to find a way for her to speak on her own. Also, he wants someone to keep an eye on that Mr. Jin, and he emphasized being careful not to get caught... And, keep a close watch on Gao Ning. There's a good chance he's behind Xia Zhu's death. We can't let the police get to him. Oh, and we must find Xia Zhu's agent."
Meanwhile, at the Qingya PR department, Zhao Yanan and several employees watched in grim silence as Xiao Ze cried her heart out in a live broadcast.
"Mr. Chu kissed me forcefully many times in the company, even cornered me in the bathroom to strip off my clothes..."
"And he forced me more than once to go out drinking with him..."
"Everyone, I'm now suffering from depression because of him. Here's my diagnosis..."
The PR director glanced at Zhao Yanan, hesitated for a moment, then cut the broadcast feed and pulled up a different video. "Ms. Zhao, this is a self-recorded video Xiao Ze uploaded early this morning accusing Mr. Chu. It already has over forty million views... And this—"
The director played another video, this one secretly filmed in a bar, showing Chu Yuxuan holding Qinglu in an intimate manner, while Xiao Ze sat nearby with a melancholic expression. At the time, everyone thought the influencer was just jealous, but now it had become solid evidence of Chu Yuxuan forcing her to drink.
"This influencer is playing the victim card perfectly, garnering a lot of sympathy. Her follower count is skyrocketing and has already surpassed twenty million," the director added.
Zhao Yanan took a deep breath, remained silent for a moment, then asked, "Is there still no sign of Xia Zhu's agent?"
"None... The entire admin department is searching for her right now."
"Why on earth is she missing?" Zhao Yanan muttered. After a brief pause, she instructed, "Pull more people to the search; we must find her!"
Just then, an employee from the legal department knocked on the door, "Ms. Zhao, Mr. Jin from the ad agency had his assistant deliver a compensation claim. He says Qingya's turmoil has severely damaged their company and its partners."
Zhao Yanan interrupted coldly, "Stall them for now; I don't have time to deal with this."
Zhao Yanan had anticipated this situation long ago. It was inevitable. But she couldn't understand Mr. Jin's motives—what was he after?
After weighing the situation, she couldn't hold back any longer and called Chu Zhiqing. However, Chu Zhiqing was in no position to answer the phone.
At that moment, this business tycoon was in an interrogation room at the Ministry of Public Security, facing round after round of questioning from a group of unfamiliar faces.
In fact, Chu Zhiqing had guessed that the supervisory group was targeting him the moment he learned the authorities were looking for him. Otherwise, with his extensive network in Jiangcheng, how could he not have gotten wind of it?
Looking at the thick stack of criminal records on the table, the calm expression on Chu Zhiqing's face was gone, but he didn't appear flustered either. No matter what the interrogators asked, his answers were the same: "How should I know? … What does this have to do with me? … I've been cooperating with you all along!"
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder