Hayes had sobered up quite a bit during the journey; he cast a hateful glare at Bob.
"You treacherous bastard! How dare you betray ? I should have killed you long ago..."
Bob kicked Hayes square in the stomach, sending him collapsing to the ground, his face contorted in pain.
Bob stepped forward, pressing his foot against Hayes’s face. "You kept around because I was still of use to you—both as Rovar’s grindstone and a ans of restraining his power. But the mont I lose my value, you’d remove without a second thought. So tell , why should I show you any rcy?"
Hayes stared at Bob, the man who used to tread carefully around him, now trampling over his face while speaking contemptuously. His vision blurred, a mix of fury and shock threatening to knock him unconscious.
"Rovar won’t let you off."
Bob sneered coldly. "He should worry about staying alive first."
Hayes suddenly understood sothing, his face turning ashen. "I truly underestimated you before."
"All of this is thanks to the boss."
Bob respectfully looked off in a particular direction.
Hayes followed his gaze.
It was a young woman.
She was the one behind Bob.
Hayes looked over to see Kuli lying motionless on the lawn, his body battered beyond recognition and drenched in blood. At last, Hayes realized belatedly that both he and Kuli had beco helpless prisoners, entirely due to this young woman.
Kuli and Hayes exchanged strained glances, each looking more miserable than the other.
Kuli said, "She’s here to avenge the Shen family."
"The Shen family?" Hayes turned to look at Shen You’an.
"No wonder I thought you looked familiar. You’re Shen Zhilan’s daughter, aren’t you?"
Years ago, the n he sent to hunt down Shen Zhilan had reported back saying she was pregnant. By his calculations, the young woman before him was roughly the right age.
Yet she appeared so youthful that Hayes found it difficult to fully believe.
Kuli answered for her, "She’s Shen Zhilan’s niece."
Hayes screeched, "What niece? Where did Shen Zhilan even get a niece?" He shared the sa question Kuli had earlier.
Kuli pursed his lips and explained, "She has an aunt who married into Hua Country."
Hayes: ...
He scrutinized the girl before him more closely, noting her distinctly Hua Country features.
Hayes’s mood took a steep dive. "That’s impossible. That woman couldn’t have any offspring..."
Shen You’an narrowed her eyes slightly and strode forward. "Sounds like you know sothing."
Hayes shook his head. "No, I don’t know anything."
Shen You’an seized him by the throat, cutting off his air supply in an instant. His face turned a dark shade of blue-purple.
Staring at him was the girl’s exquisitely beautiful yet icy and rciless face. Her pitch-black pupils were darker than the dead of night.
"Speak."
Hayes might have been a ruthless killer, but now that his life depended on soone else’s rcy, the roles were reversed. He knew more than anyone that the young woman standing before him had both the capability and the will to take his life.
That eerily youthful visage was not playing gas with him. She needed only to squeeze her fingers slightly, and Hayes would fall into death’s embrace within monts.
Hayes’s expression twisted into the sa pathetic pleading look his victims once gave him.
"I... I’ll speak." His neck strained to produce the words.
The chokehold was released, and Hayes gasped for breath, coughing violently as he clutched at his throat.
Once his breathing had steadied, under the cold, piercing gaze of the girl across from him, Hayes forced himself to speak reluctantly. "Years ago, Kuli frad Shen Dongqing and tried to pin the bla on . Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to let him manipulate so easily. I knew Kuli had soone powerful behind the scenes, pulling the strings. That led to investigate Shen Dongqing’s sister, who happened to marry into Hua Country."
Hayes discovered that Shen Qiunong had married into a prominent family in Hua Country. Her husband, Yu Yisen, was a renowned physicist. But in that sa year, tragedy struck—there was a fire at their ho, and their son was presud dead. Shortly afterward, Yu Yisen lost both his legs in a lab accident. The consecutive misfortunes dealt a crushing blow to Shen Qiunong, leaving her overwheld and unable to concern herself with her family back ho. What’s more, Kuli had suppressed the news completely, preventing Shen Qiunong from ever learning about the events abroad.
It was also that year that Yu Yisen’s eldest nephew, Yu Fusheng, married Wei Zhuhua. The wedding was extravagant—a celebration that Jingzhou’s elite families all attended. It was hailed as the wedding of the century and marked the Yu family’s peak of prosperity.
Hayes, having the intellect required to rise to the top of White Gloves, deduced that Kuli’s backer must be soone from the Yu family. At the ti, the Yu family patriarch was Yu Yisen’s brother, Yu Yixin. Yu Yixin’s side of the family was basking in glory, while Yu Yisen’s household had been plunged into misery. There was no need for further investigation—the conclusion was clear.
Hayes took the initiative to contact Yu Yixin and directly proposed an alliance. His instincts were correct—Yu Yixin was indeed the one operating behind the scenes with Kuli.
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