DLWAV CH123

“What’s going on? This is already 2022. There are surveillance cameras everywhere on the streets, and yet there’s still a gang of killers roaming around committing crimes?”

“The key point is that so many days have already passed, and the government still hasn’t caught even a single criminal.”

Inside Qibao Pavilion, Boss Li couldn’t help saying a few extra words about the matter.

Hearing this, the others also chimed in one after another: “Exactly. I heard the death toll is already close to three hundred, and there have even been cases where entire families of more than ten people, including their bodyguards, were all killed.”

“The internet is in an uproar now, and other countries are laughing at us too, especially those in Europe and America. I just hope the government can catch all the murderers as soon as possible.”

That said, aside from strengthening security at home a bit, they didn’t take the matter too seriously.

But what they never expected was that things would only continue to escalate.

A week later, Li Province, where the case was most severe, actually ignored opposition from both higher authorities and the public and forcibly began implementing a strict curfew.

As soon as the news came out, Chinese society was thrown into an uproar.

But the more perceptive people had already realized that something was wrong.

With so many people investigating the matter all at once, even if the government wanted to keep it under wraps, it couldn’t anymore.

“What? All those victims died because every drop of blood in their bodies was drained, and they all had two puncture holes in their necks?”

“Two holes? Could zombies have done it?”

“There are actually this many zombies hidden in China?”

“No, it was vampires. Someone saw those murderers turn into bats and fly away after killing people.”

“What? So it really was those foreign bat freaks?”

“Damn it, no wonder those Europeans and Americans have been acting so smug lately. They probably already knew it was vampires causing trouble in our Huaxia.”

“They really think our Huaxia is easy to bully, huh?”

“The Special Affairs Department must be tied up with something right now. Just wait, once they free up their hands, those bat freaks definitely won’t be coming back alive.”

Sun Jianhong slapped the table and said.

Ao Ruize, however, said, “I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.”

“What?”

Sun Jianhong and the others were immediately stunned.

In their eyes, Ao Ruize was already incredibly powerful, so for him to say something like this meant the situation was probably far more serious than they had imagined.

“Brother Zhang, do you know some inside information too?”

“Mm.”

Ao Ruize picked up his teacup. Seeing this, Boss Li quickly grabbed the kettle nearby and refilled it with some hot water for him: “I’ve calculated a few things.”

“For example, the reason these vampires have suddenly become so rampant is because the Prince of the Brujah clan, the strongest of the thirteen vampire clans they belong to, has been revived.”

“What?”

Sun Jianhong and the others’ faces changed instantly.

A vampire prince?

Even if they didn’t know exactly how powerful a vampire prince was, it was obvious enough that if he weren’t formidable, those vampires wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to revive him.

Ao Ruize said, “Judging from the current situation, his first target after reviving should be Huaxia.”

“Oh, right. That Southeast tycoon, Zongzheng Ge, is a spy planted in Huaxia by the Brujah clan.”

“The vampires causing trouble in Huaxia during this time are Zongzheng Ge and his subordinates.”

Ao Ruize simply felt that it was time to give the Huaxia government a warning.

In the past, Zongzheng Ge and his subordinates had to keep their heads down for fear of being discovered by the Huaxia government.

But now they believed it was only a matter of time before they became the uncrowned rulers of this world, so of course they had all grown arrogant.

As a result, most of the people they had killed during this period were those who had offended them in the past: corrupt officials who greedily extorted bribes from them again and again, as well as treacherous businessmen who had once colluded with them but later betrayed them over uneven profit-sharing…

But if they were allowed to continue their rampage, innocent civilians would soon be dragged into it too.

Zongzheng Ge?

How could they not be familiar with that name?

After all, during this time, the Yan family had publicly declared more than once that the only daughter-in-law they acknowledged was Qian Shanjing, the lifesaver of Southeast tycoon Zongzheng Ge.

So if they didn’t know Ao Ruize’s character, they might even have suspected he was deliberately framing Zongzheng Ge.

Sun Jianhong and the others immediately couldn’t sit still anymore: “I’ll go find Governor Wu right now…”

It was also at that moment that Ao Ruize’s phone suddenly rang.

The call was from Zhang Qingyan.

She said, “Yan Qi and I broke up.”

Just now.

After she deleted all of Yan Qi’s contact information that night, he had come to find her again early the next morning.

He apologized to her over and over.

At first, she wasn’t moved at all.

But as Yan Qi kept coming to her company every single day, and half a month ago he even got caught in a heavy rain on the way there and nearly developed a 39-degree fever, she softened again.

And yet just now, they still broke up.

This time, Yan Qi was the one who brought it up.

Because word had spread that he was running to her place every day begging for forgiveness.

Now even more people were mocking him and the Yan family.

Father Yan became even more furious and was determined to teach Yan Qi a lesson.

He arranged for two of his illegitimate sons to enter the company and stripped Yan Qi of his position as deputy general manager.

Unexpectedly, those two illegitimate sons were actually somewhat capable, and because they knew perfectly well that as long as Yan Qi, the legitimate son, didn’t fall, they would never have a chance to rise, they directly chose to join forces and bring him down first.

Because of them, in less than half a month, Yan Qi had already ruined three projects.

And precisely because of that, Father Yan became increasingly dissatisfied with him and increasingly pleased with those two illegitimate sons.

Yan Qi’s instincts told him that if things kept going like this, his position as the Yan family heir would truly be lost.

And he could think of only one solution.

That was to break up with Zhang Qingyan first. Once Father Yan’s anger subsided and he secured his position as heir to the Yan family, they could get back together.

For a moment, Zhang Qingyan didn’t know whether she should say Yan Qi had backbone or call him a coward.

If you said he had backbone, then yes, he had dared to go against Father and Mother Yan’s wishes and had firmly wanted to stay with her.

But if you said he was a coward, then he had never had the courage to completely fall out with the Yan family, give up the family fortune, and go build his own future from scratch.

Then again, that made sense. Something he could have obtained just by reaching out his hand was now supposed to be handed over to others, and worse, to an illegitimate son with no standing, while he himself would have to swallow his pride and go struggle and fight for a future all over again. How could he possibly accept that?

But none of that mattered anymore.

What mattered was that she was tired of it, and she had finally seen him clearly.

Tired of the Yan family’s aggressiveness, and clear now on Yan Qi’s true nature.

She also understood that there was no longer any possibility between her and Yan Qi.

So she agreed without the slightest hesitation.

She only added one final sentence: “As for getting back together after your father’s anger cools and after you’ve secured your place as heir to the Yan family, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Then she hung up directly.

After hearing all that, Ao Ruize only said, “Is that so?”

“Congratulations.”

“Just so happens I’m in Qian City today. Want to come out tonight and have some grilled fish together to celebrate?”

Zhang Qingyan had originally thought she would be very sad, but when the moment truly came, she instead felt a sense of relief.

Probably because her personality had always been rather strong, and most importantly, she had already mentally prepared herself long before this.

So when Ao Ruize said that, she actually laughed: “Sure.”

Almost at the same time, at the Yan family home.

When Mother Yan learned that Yan Qi had already broken up with Zhang Qingyan, she was delighted beyond measure.

She had said it before: in less than a month, Yan Qi would break up with Zhang Qingyan, and now he really had.

But that matter was no longer important. What mattered most now was how to salvage the situation.

Thinking of those two illegitimate sons who were thriving in the Yan Corporation, Mother Yan hated them so much her teeth itched.

She immediately said, “Ah Qi, call Shanjing right now and invite her to dinner at our house tomorrow night.”

But Yan Qi didn’t move at all.

If he really wanted to live off a woman, then he would never have thought of first breaking up with Zhang Qingyan, because wasn’t Zhang Qingyan’s relationship as Ao Ruize’s real sister more reliable than Qian Shanjing merely being Zongzheng Ge’s lifesaver?

So using Zhang Qingyan’s connection was obviously much easier than using Qian Shanjing’s.

And it was easy to imagine that if word got out, the rumors that he was vain, pretentious, and actually stupid despite thinking himself clever would be completely confirmed.

Most importantly, he knew very well that if he turned around and pursued Qian Shanjing now, then things between him and Zhang Qingyan would truly be over forever.

How could Mother Yan not guess what he was thinking? She immediately snapped in disappointment, “Ah Qi, things have already come to this point. What do you still have to worry about?”

“Once you become the master of the Yan Corporation and carry it to even greater heights, who would still dare mock you? They’ll only envy you.”

“And if you really let those two illegitimate sons snatch away your position as heir to the Yan family, then you truly will become the biggest joke in Qian City’s upper-class society.”

“Besides, what’s wrong with Shanjing? Even though you already had a girlfriend, she still remained devoted to you.”

“Isn’t that far better than that Zhang Qingyan, who has been playing you from beginning to end?”

That’s right.

In what way was Qian Shanjing inferior to Zhang Qingyan?

Qian Shanjing was clearly ten thousand times better than Zhang Qingyan.

Didn’t Zhang Qingyan look down on him?

Then he would make sure to live well, live even more happily and completely than she did.

Thinking that, Yan Qi gritted his teeth and took out his phone.

Sure enough, the moment Qian Shanjing heard that Yan Qi was inviting her to his house for dinner, she immediately agreed in high spirits and even promised she would definitely arrive on time.

“Alright.”

After hanging up, Mother Yan couldn’t help clapping her hands and laughing.

“With Qian Shanjing and Zongzheng Ge helping us, are we still supposed to be afraid we can’t deal with those two illegitimate sons?”

Hearing that, perhaps because he had already crossed that psychological threshold, Yan Qi also couldn’t help revealing a faint smile.

Who would have thought that the next day, even after the sun had set, Qian Shanjing still hadn’t arrived.

Seeing that the kitchen had practically finished preparing dinner, Father Yan couldn’t help frowning.

Seeing this, Mother Yan hurriedly said, “Shanjing is probably busy with her makeup and got delayed a bit, that’s why she still hasn’t arrived… After all, she likes Ah Qi so much. She must want to dress herself up beautifully before appearing in front of him.”

Father Yan’s tightly knit brows immediately relaxed a fair bit.

But who would have guessed that ten minutes passed, then half an hour, then a full hour, and Qian Shanjing still hadn’t come.

Looking at how the dishes on the table were about to turn cold, Mother Yan finally couldn’t sit still anymore, so she urged Yan Qi to call Qian Shanjing again.

“Shanjing, why aren’t you here yet?”

Who would have thought that the voice on the other end was no longer the gentle, obedient voice from before, but instead a careless tone laced with mockery: “What?”

“Oh, I remember now. Dinner at your house, right.”

“Sorry.”

She said, “I made plans to go soak in some hot springs tonight with Miss Chen and the others, so I can’t come to your house for dinner.”

The expressions on Yan Qi and the others’ faces froze instantly.

But they still asked, “Shanjing, what do you mean by this?”

She had clearly agreed to them, only to turn around and make plans with someone else to go to the hot springs. Most importantly, she hadn’t even informed them in advance. Wasn’t Qian Shanjing just toying with them?

As if she had guessed exactly what they were thinking, Qian Shanjing suddenly laughed: “That’s right, I am toying with you.”

“When I was chasing after you, you couldn’t care less about me. You even thought I was vain and greedy for status. Heh.”

“Now that I think about it, my skin was much thinner back then than yours is now. Otherwise, how could you possibly think that after Yan Qi already got himself a girlfriend and shoved my face straight into the dirt, I would still like him?”

Yan Qi and the others’ expressions completely shattered.

“Qian Shanjing, you—”

But Qian Shanjing directly hung up.

Then she couldn’t help laughing.

After all, hadn’t she spent all this time pretending to get along with the Yan family precisely for this very moment?

It was easy enough to imagine what utter chaos the Yan family was in by now.

Most importantly, once word of this spread, the Yan family would become a complete and utter laughingstock.

Of course, there was no way she was going to let the Yan family off so easily.

Just wait. Once the Yan family had completely lost face and once her own reputation improved again, she would send the Yan family off for good.

After all, now that she had Zongzheng Ge backing her, dealing with a mere Yan family would be effortless.

Thinking of Zongzheng Ge, she couldn’t help revealing a trace of tenderness.

But what she didn’t expect was that at that very moment, her phone rang.

The call was from her father, and his voice was panicked beyond measure: “Shanjing, something happened, something happened…”

Qian Shanjing’s brows furrowed immediately: “What happened?”

Father Qian said, “The military has surrounded the Zongzheng residence. They say Zongzheng Ge is suspected of treason, and now the two sides have already started fighting…”

It was also at that moment that another voice came through Father Qian’s phone: “Qian Cheng, you are under arrest on suspicion of colluding with the traitor Zongzheng Ge…”

Qian Shanjing’s expression completely broke apart too.