Shen Wanyin did not call the police... Not only did she not call the police, she also didn't take the medicine Fang Ming had given her.
After getting dressed, she quickly put on her high heels and packed up all the remaining items to take with her... including that torn cheongsam.
She didn't want to leave any traces behind.
As for how to deal with Zhou Zihao's side? She hadn't decided yet for the time being.
About half an hour after Shen Wanyin left the hotel, inside Zhou Zihao's room.
"Mmph... Mmmph!!!"
Zhou Zihao was jolted awake by a muffled whimper and violent shaking.
His head was spinning, with bouts of dull pain coming from the back of his head and abdomen. His mouth was stuffed with something sour, stinking, salty, and fishy that felt rough, making his stomach churn with nausea.
Opening his eyes, he found his clothes stripped off and his hands tied behind his back—bound together with the legs of two other people!
Three grown men, tied up like a bunch of crabs, were curled up back-to-back on the cold, damp tiled floor.
Fragments of memory from last night quickly flooded his mind.
"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!" The rage in his heart made Zhou Zihao struggle even harder.
But they were tied tightly with high-strength nylon rope. With the blood flow to their hands and feet cut off, they were already going numb. Worst of all was the thing in their mouths; that smell hit the roof of the skull, making eyes water uncontrollably.
"Mmph! Mmph!" One bodyguard managed to make a sound, using his bound arms to try and reach the knot on the other bodyguard's wrist.
The other bodyguard understood and began to do the same.
The three of them struggled for over half an hour, their fingers rubbed raw, until one bodyguard finally managed to pick open the first dead knot with his fingernails.
Once there was a breakthrough, the rest went faster. Another twenty minutes passed, and as the last rope loosened, they finally pulled the stinking socks out of their mouths.
"Bleh!!!"
"Pui, pui pui!! What the hell is this? Stinking socks? Bleh!!"
"Young... Young Master Zhou, are you alright?" The two bodyguards ignored the strange taste in their own mouths and hurriedly stepped forward.
"Am I alright? Do I look fucking alright?"
Zhou Zihao cursed angrily but didn't have time to ask about anything else. He quickly got up, went to the nearby sink, and turned on the tap to rinse his mouth.
Shen Wanyin was gone. Not only had the cooked duck flown away, but he had been stripped of his clothes, tied up with his bodyguards like trash, had a mouth full of stinking socks, and slept on a toilet floor all night?
It was a supreme humiliation; it was practically rubbing Young Master Zhou's face into the ground!
"Investigate! Go investigate right now!!" Zhou Zihao stood up unsteadily and kicked over the nearby trash can, spilling garbage everywhere. "What that bastard looks like—carve it into your fucking brains! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find that kid!!"
His chest heaved violently, and his gaze was so vicious it looked like it could drip blood. "Daring to ruin my plans, daring to humiliate me like this... I'm going to chop him into pieces and feed him to the dogs!"
Not only had his prize been snatched away, but he had also been forced to suck on stinking socks all night. As a member of a Yanjing wealthy family, Zhou Zihao naturally couldn't swallow this insult.
However, just like Shen Wanyin, he chose not to call the police.
It wasn't because he was stupid, but because this matter was too damn embarrassing. Plus, regarding last night's events, he was the one who drugged Shen Wanyin first.
Whether the police could catch the other party was uncertain, and he wouldn't be able to explain his own side easily.
Following Zhou Zihao's orders, the bodyguards rinsed their mouths while calling the front desk to send up clothes.
After finishing all this, they began to gather men to check the surveillance footage.
Little did they know, the hotel surveillance had long since been modified through technical means by the hacker on the Soldier King's side. Fang Ming had also been staying directly across from them last night.
Shortly after Shen Wanyin left the hotel, he had already changed his clothes and left the hotel via the fire escape using his own appearance... At nine in the morning, Zhou Zihao was miserably cleaning himself up.
Meanwhile, in the second-floor buffet restaurant of a four-star hotel near the Lu Family's estate villa, the air was filled with the mixed aroma of fried eggs, grilled bacon, and freshly ground coffee.
When Fang Ming walked toward the round table in the corner carrying his tray, Wang Meng was stuffing a fourth fried egg into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.
"Brother Ming, where did you go last night?"
Wang Meng asked indistinctly, grabbing a slice of toasted bread. "We waited until almost eleven and you weren't back, and your phone wouldn't go through."
Fang Ming found an empty seat and sat down, unhurriedly picking up an egg to peel.
"Last night, I went out to buy cigarettes and encountered a couple being bullied."
He took a sip of coffee, his tone flat. "The girl's boyfriend happened to be a high school classmate of mine, so I helped handle it."
"Pfft!!"
Sitting opposite him, Chen Qian almost spat out the orange juice she had just swallowed.
She quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth, her eyes wide. "You can actually run into a high school classmate in Yanjing? That's way too coincidental, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is quite a coincidence."
Fang Ming pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, a faint, indiscernible smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
Who would have thought that in a city as big as Yanjing, he could still run into Lin Chen's aunt?
Was it a coincidence, or was it due to the influence of the protagonist's luck? Fang Ming, who possessed the Chat Group, believed it was the latter.
The members of the Chat Group were all protagonists. Even if he wasn't a protagonist himself, as the group owner, it was only logical for him to be influenced by their luck. Otherwise, there was no way to explain such a coincidental event.
[Ding!]
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "Um... sorry to bother everyone... I have something I want to ask you all..."
Fang Ming was eating his egg and chatting with the others when a message suddenly popped up in the Chat Group.
The message was followed by a cautious emoji of a little bunny shrinking into a corner.
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "It's like this... this morning, people from the Lu Family found me..."
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "They contacted me through a lawyer and said they are willing to give me five million, as long as I am willing to change my statement. They want me to say... say that I went with Lu Chenzhou voluntarily that day, and that the basement thing was a misunderstanding..."
The messages paused there, and the Chat Group fell into a brief silence.
Five million.
For most ordinary people, that was a massive sum of money.
For Gu Bai, who was still a student, and Ye Nuannuan, who had just been rescued and had nothing, it was an astronomical figure!
But in the group, there were always some who didn't care about money.
[Soldier King Lone Wolf]: "Five million? Who are they looking down on?"
[Marvelous Doctor of Chinese Medicine]: "The amount of money is secondary. The main thing is if you agree, that grandson Lu Chenzhou will get off scot-free!"
[Peking University]: "Yeah, sigh... this world."
Fang Ming didn't join the clamor, only replying calmly.
[Nameless Guide]: "@Abusive Novels Naive Flower, what do you think?"
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "I... I don't know..."
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "Five million is really a lot... If I had that much money when my mother was sick, maybe she could have been cured..."
Once this sentence was sent, the Chat Group fell silent once more.
Reality was just that cruel. Sometimes principles and bottom lines seem so pale and weak in the face of survival.
Fang Ming picked up his coffee and took a sip.
[Nameless Guide]: "With your current ability, you can't go head-to-head with a colossus like the Lu Family. If you are very short of money, or have relatives who need protection, it's not impossible to consider it for your own safety and theirs."
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "I don't have any relatives. My father... found a new love when I was very young and never cared about me again."
[Abusive Novels Naive Flower]: "My mother also passed away from illness three years ago..."