Chapter 043: The Fatal Kind

Chapter 043: The Fatal Kind

“Fine. Got it.” Wu Chen hung up as he said it, without asking more. He could already guess—something serious at the company, most likely, and right now nothing mattered to Li Ruobing more than the company. Its fate was her fate.

“Something’s come up. Let’s call it here for today.” Wu Chen pocketed his phone, stood, and headed out.

Wang Zhuangyuan said nothing, just pulled out his wallet, tossed a hundred yuan on the table, and followed him.

“Need a car, Mr. Wu?” Wang Zhuangyuan hurried to catch up, already pulling the Lamborghini key from his pocket. Wu Chen glanced at it and took it.

Wang Zhuangyuan followed him out of the alley.

Wu Chen spotted the Lamborghini—and the row of cars parked behind it. A few men stood smoking near one of the SUVs; seeing Wang Zhuangyuan emerge, they nodded and called out, “Boss.”

“What’s this supposed to be?” Wu Chen turned to him.

The question wasn’t out of nowhere.

Because there were two Lamborghinis now.

Not just Wang Zhuangyuan’s white one—there was also a blue Aventador, the newest generation, released only last year.

Wang Zhuangyuan’s own car was a smuggled import running fake plates, an older model he’d driven for years.

“Mr. Wu, I really am sorry for the misunderstanding. Take it as an apology. The car’s yours to drive—any problems, I’ll handle them. What do you say?” Wang Zhuangyuan said.

He was lying.

Wu Chen knew it too. It was barely past seven in the morning—the car couldn’t have been bought in the middle of the night. Even Donghai’s Lamborghini 4S dealership didn’t open in the middle of the night.

And even with connections strong enough to pull a car out after hours, there was no getting proper registration done overnight. Driving a plateless car for his own fun was one thing. Handing one over as a gift was another entirely.

So the car had to have been bought yesterday.

He couldn’t have known in advance that Wu Chen would call.

Which meant the real story was this: yesterday morning, right after leaving Crown Entertainment, Wang Zhuangyuan had decided to court a connection with Wu Chen. He’d put men on him, and because Wu Chen had once driven off in his own Lamborghini, he’d assumed the man had a taste for them.

So he’d bought one—waiting for a moment to hand it over, tailored to what he thought Wu Chen wanted.

“Sure.” Wu Chen said only that.

He pressed the key. The blue Lamborghini flashed its lights in response.

He got in, started the engine.

As it came to life, Wu Chen took in the interior. Newest model, no question—buying it off the lot meant no extra options, but this was still an Aventador, the “Big Bull,” as people called it. On-road price alone would clear eight million yuan.

The price itself didn’t much interest Wu Chen.

But that Wang Zhuangyuan had decided, on the spot yesterday, to drop eight million on a car meant as a gift—that kind of nerve explained plenty about how he’d climbed this high.

As Wu Chen pulled away, Wang Zhuangyuan raised a hand from the curb. “Safe travels, Mr. Wu.”

Wu Chen nodded back through the window, expression unreadable.

—

A little over half an hour later.

Wu Chen parked in the underground lot beneath CBD Building Seven. Glancing around, he spotted several cars belonging to Huancai Fashion, and Li Ruobing’s among them.

She’d beaten him here.

He rode the elevator up, swiping the employee card he’d been issued the day before during onboarding—it sat in his suit pocket now.

He reached the thirty-first floor, then took the stairs up to the thirty-third.

Li Ruobing’s bodyguards were stationed everywhere up there. None of them stopped him—they all knew who he was—and each greeted him as he passed: “Mr. Wu.”

He walked into Li Ruobing’s office.

She stood by the window on the phone, pacing without seeming to notice, visibly on edge.

“Did they manage to save her? How bad is it, exactly… Mm. Mm. How many months? So she’s out for the launch, is what you’re telling me. Mm… I understand. All…