Q District of C City, one of the central urban areas, was also the fastest-developing district in the decades since economic reform and opening up.
As the location of the municipal government, Q District had unique geographical advantages and was part of the "west expensive" in the old saying "east poor, west expensive, south rich, north chaotic." With rapid economic development, more and more social elites were concentrating in Q District, followed by high-end real estate development, making it one of the districts with the highest housing prices.
As night fell, a luxury SUV slowly drove into a top-tier villa complex and stopped outside the largest central detached villa.
The young man carried his suit jacket, cigarette dangling from his mouth, and walked through the main hall as if no one else existed, heading toward the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.
In the main hall sat a portly man over sixty, wearing summer casual pure linen Tang-style clothing, playing with two walnuts in his hands.
"Zhong Jing, have you been staying at that office of yours again these past few days?"
Seeing his son pass by, the Tang-suited old man removed his reading glasses and frowned slightly: "Your older brother was injured during a mission at the end of last month and is currently hospitalized. Find time to visit him for me."
The young man stopped, turned around, and looked puzzled as if he had misheard: "Heh, Dad, you don't even visit him yourself, so why are you asking me to go? It's nothing new that he looks down on me, and besides, you've never really cared about him either. Why the sudden change of heart today?"
The young man was somewhat impolite, just snorted with laughter, and went upstairs.
The old man picked up the flower tea in front of him, blew on it, and said nothing more. Looking at the empty villa main hall, his expression was somewhat unnatural.
"Really, Xiao Jing rarely comes home, and you say such dampening things."
A beautiful lady who was obviously well-maintained and looked at most forty despite her age walked gracefully from a side hall: "The eldest has long since grown independent. After all these years, it's one thing for him not to acknowledge me as his stepmother, but he rarely even gets close to you, his biological father. What are you worrying about?"
The old husband and young wife sat side by side on the sofa, the lady's face full of cold mockery.
"Sigh... you just spoil him rotten. Always fooling around every day. Those who don't know might think the Zhong family is planning to raise a playboy."
Zhong Hai put down the ornamental walnuts in his palm, his face showing displeasure.
"Hehe, he's my biological son. If I don't care about him, who will? Xiao Jing will take over your position in the future. If he doesn't build his social network properly now, are you going to hand him a basket of business cards later? As for that bastard... uh..."
Zhong Hai's expression changed, and he slowly turned to look at his wife.
Realizing she had spoken too quickly and let something slip, the lady quickly shut her mouth.
...
The office building where the consulting office was located had temporarily closed due to fire safety inspections, so Zhong Jing had no choice but to return home.
Back in his exclusive personal study, he directly activated the electronic lock on the door. Soft lighting illuminated this luxurious room of over forty square meters.
Glass display cabinets surrounded two entire walls, densely packed with anime figures and model merchandise of various sizes arranged at different heights. On another wall were posters and photo prints of 2D anime girls of various sizes.
By the window sat a desk even more luxurious than the one at his office, with five or six computer screens of different sizes mounted on the surface.
Opening one of the computers, he pulled out a USB drive from his pocket, inserted it, and opened a preliminary edited video file. Zhong Jing lit up a cigarette.
The video showed Zhong Jing meeting with a certain mysterious girl a week ago, displaying the girl's various behaviors and mannerisms from multiple camera angles. These past few days, whenever Zhong Jing had free time, he would study it for a while.
"Good figure and appearance, but many of her movements and bearing are quite different from other girls... Is she too nervous, or is this just how she naturally is..."
As he watched, a smile appeared at the corner of Zhong Jing's mouth, and there was even a flash of amazement in his eyes.
There were more analysis results yet to come, but Zhong Jing had a premonition that this time, he had probably encountered the most valuable new vampire.
Ignoring the flashing social communication software on the computer screen, Zhong Jing closed the video and opened a news webpage, beginning to input keywords for searches.
Three days ago, Tiantang Agricultural Trade, a large agricultural product wholesaler headquartered in D City with business throughout S Province, was jointly investigated by relevant departments in multiple locations for long-term withholding of payments to upstream farmers and serious tax issues. The company's legal representative was confirmed missing.
Ten days ago, a fire broke out at a large factory site in D City, triggering an explosion of hazardous materials. A major safety accident investigation was currently underway, with relevant responsible parties under subsequent investigation and processing.
"D City? The Tang Family? A nest of old turtles who haven't stirred up any waves in decades, and they actually jumped out and ran into the Shadow Arrow Force's crosshairs this time. What exactly are they doing..."
The time when big brother was injured was around then too... Another coincidence. Is he really just an ordinary military officer?
Zhong Jing extracted clues from countless online news reports and fell into deep thought.
...
...
Late at night, in the rental apartment.
Jiang Yan wasn't in good condition and had fallen into a deep sleep shortly after dinner. Jiang Yao was organizing various clothes for washing.
While sorting through Jiang Yan's pants, she pulled out the phone that she absolutely wouldn't let her touch from the pocket. Jiang Yao's eyes gradually brightened.
"Hehe, it's been so many days of hiding here and there, feeling like I've lost the whole world. If I don't go online soon, they'll all forget about me!"
Carelessly stuffing the clothes into the washing machine in the bathroom, Jiang Yao returned to the living room with the phone, skillfully opened the app store, and downloaded the mobile game she had been playing before.
Time passed to after 1 AM, and Jiang Yao was still playing with great interest.
In the bedroom, Jiang Yan in pajamas groggily woke up, feeling severely parched. She struggled to get up, fumbled her way out of bed, and headed toward the living room, planning to get some water.
Before her eyes, the light blonde-haired girl was curled up with her legs folded, small feet perched on the edge of the sofa, body leaning back against the sofa back, holding her phone and playing as if the world had disappeared.
Jiang Yan felt her blood boiling, an inexplicable fire rising from her chest and abdomen straight to the top of her head, as if entering a blood-boiling state.
"Ah! Brother!"
Amid Jiang Yao's shocked cry, Jiang Yan snatched the already hot phone from her hands, quickly closed the game application, then turned off the phone.
"Do you want to die?!"
Jiang Yan lowered her voice, trembling all over with anger, and even slapped Jiang Yao across the face.
"How many times have I told you, how many times! Now the internet requires real-name registration for everything! The moment you log onto the network with your old identity account, the Shadow Arrow Force's intelligence department's central analysis system can receive it! You idiot, you're already twenty years old!"
Jiang Yan's face was ashen, spouting uncharacteristically harsh words. Enduring her physical discomfort, she walked directly toward the corner of the living room, pulled out the suitcase, and called back with a trembling voice: "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pack! We're moving now!"
Jiang Yao, with a red mark on her face, bit her lip and said nothing, slightly lowering her head.
"That was an account that former online friends gave me when they stopped playing, it's not mine..."
With a sour nose, Jiang Yao lifted her elbow to wipe away tears with her arm and turned to walk into the bedroom.
I wrongly blamed Xiao Yao... The half-opened suitcase slowly closed again. Jiang Yan slowly stood up and looked down at her palm.
Walking to the bedroom doorway, in the dim light, Jiang Yao was sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze, occasionally wiping her face with her elbow.
"Xiao Yao... I'm sorry."
Sitting down next to Jiang Yao, Jiang Yan didn't know what to say. Her raised hand hesitated for a long time before finally resting on her shoulder.