In the silent night, Lin Zhengran once again moved swiftly through the city, making his way to the residence of the two former singers.


    The next morning.


    As the sky gradually brightened, Liu Yong, the Vice President of Pan Cheng Electronics, arrived at the company by car.


    At the entrance, the garbage truck was making its scheduled bi-weekly collection, operated by sanitation workers who mechanically lifted the bins, dumping their contents into the crusher.


    A loud, crunching noise echoed from the truck.


    The sound resembled scrap metal being crushed—because it was.


    Last night, the remains of the safe that Lin Zhengran had destroyed had been thrown into one of those bins.


    Liu Yong ignored the workers and drove into the parking lot.


    At the entrance, a security guard greeted him. "Good morning, Director Liu!"


    Liu Yong briefly paused. "Everything alright last night?"


    The guards reported back, "No issues, Director Liu. Everything was normal."


    "Good."


    Liu Yong had only asked out of routine. Pan Cheng Electronics was a well-known company—even if there were thieves in the city, it was unlikely they’d bother with a corporate office.


    Besides, there wasn’t anything worth stealing.


    With that, Liu Yong parked his car and entered the corporate building.


    Along the way, he greeted several employees before taking the elevator up to the seventh floor—where his office was located.


    He unlocked his office door with his key and stepped inside, humming a tune.


    As he sat down at his computer, he casually checked the New Star Ranking, letting out a cold sneer.


    He powered on his computer, navigated to the blackmail video file location—


    And froze.


    The file was gone.


    At first, he thought he had simply clicked the wrong folder, so he closed and reopened it.


    Still nothing.


    A faint sense of unease crept up his spine.


    He sat up straight, his expression tense, and searched for the file name directly.


    No results.


    He tried again. Still nothing.


    He cursed under his breath, slamming his desk in frustration.


    Fortunately, he still had the USB drive with the original file.


    Getting up, he pulled out his office keys and walked over to his filing cabinet.


    He opened it and reached for his safe to retrieve the USB.


    Except…


    The entire safe was gone.


    "Huh?"


    Liu Yong stood frozen, his eyes widening in disbelief.


    For a moment, he thought he must be seeing things.


    He rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked again.


    The safe was still missing.


    "WHERE THE HELL IS MY SAFE?!"


    His mind went blank.


    The first thought that crossed his mind wasn’t that he had been robbed.


    Because a safe—a big, heavy metal safe—wasn’t something that could just be stolen.


    This was his personal office.


    Even if someone broke in, who could have moved a damn safe without anyone noticing?


    Feeling a growing sense of dread, Liu Yong grabbed his phone and called the administrative department.


    The admin officer sounded just as confused.


    After hanging up, the admin officer cursed under his breath.


    A few minutes later, the admin officer called back, his voice filled with disbelief.


    "WHAT?!"


    Liu Yong stared blankly at his office, feeling an unnatural chill crawl up his spine.


    No—that was ridiculous.


    Wait.


    A horrifying realization struck him.


    If the safe was gone, then the USB drive was gone too.


    If the USB was gone, then the blackmail video was gone.


    Which meant—


    He had lost all leverage over the music studio.


    His hands trembled as he frantically pulled out his phone and dialed the numbers of the two singers he had recruited.


    If he couldn’t use the video, he could still rely on their testimonies and the lawsuit— S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But…


    No one answered.


    His calls went straight to voicemail.


    A bad feeling began sinking deep into his gut.


    Something was very, very wrong.


    Meanwhile…


    That morning, Lin Zhengran took another day off and met up with Jiang Jingshi.


    The two of them, along with Ms. Wang and the young male singer, were currently standing in the storage warehouse of Jiang Jingshi’s music team.


    But the four of them weren’t alone.


    In front of them stood two people—


    The very same two singers that Pan Cheng Electronics had recruited.


    The ones who had betrayed the music studio and falsely accused Ms. Wang of plagiarism.


    Jiang Jingshi and Ms. Wang exchanged glances.


    Then, Jiang Jingshi turned to Lin Zhengran.


    None of them had an answer.


    But this morning, when Jiang Jingshi and Lin Zhengran arrived at the studio, they heard strange noises coming from the warehouse.


    When they went inside to check—


    They found these two just standing there.


    Completely confused.


    So they immediately called Ms. Wang over.


    Now, Ms. Wang looked at them in utter disbelief.


    The two men, pale-faced and trembling, stared back at Ms. Wang.


    Ms. Wang didn’t hesitate.


    One of them shook his head frantically. "We don’t know! When we woke up, we were already locked in here!"


    The fear in their eyes was real.


    They had no clue how they had gotten here.


    But one thing was certain—


    They were traitors.


    And their first instinct was that they had been kidnapped by the very people they betrayed.


    Their voices trembled.


    Ms. Wang’s expression darkened, her anger boiling over.


    One of the men lowered his head.


    Ms. Wang gritted her teeth, hands clenched into fists.


    Just as the argument was heating up, Jiang Jingshi suddenly noticed something behind the two men.


    The two men blinked in confusion and turned around—only now realizing that there was a document folder on the floor behind them.


    Lin Zhengran picked it up, opened it—


    And found their original contract with Pan Cheng Electronics inside.


    Unbelievable.


    Both Jiang Jingshi and Ms. Wang were momentarily stunned.


    Lin Zhengran sighed. "This is just getting ridiculous. What is even happening here?"


    No one had an answer.


    Well—except for Lin Zhengran.


    Because if he didn’t know, then no one could.


    Even in a fictional novel, this kind of scenario would be unbelievable.


    In a romance novel? Completely outrageous.


    In a cultivation novel? At least somewhat reasonable.


    The young male singer, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly realized something.


    He paused—then lit up in excitement.


    His excitement grew.


    Ms. Wang blinked, suddenly realizing the same thing.


    Jiang Jingshi interjected.


    She smirked.


    Both Ms. Wang and the young singer nodded immediately.


    Lin Zhengran added,


    He then turned to the two former singers.


    Ms. Wang still had no idea how any of this was happening.


    But one thing she did know—


    There was no such thing as supernatural phenomena.


    Which meant—


    The only possible explanation was that Jiang Jingshi had orchestrated all of this behind the scenes.


    After all, only someone as powerful as President Jiang could pull off something like this.


    Ms. Wang smiled and bowed slightly.


    She even thanked her twice, just to emphasize her gratitude.


    Then, she turned back to the two trembling men.


    The two men, realizing there was no way out, quickly nodded.


    Without wasting another second, Ms. Wang and her young singer immediately got to work on publicly announcing their relationship and handling the contracts.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Jingshi suddenly broke into laughter.


    She walked over to Lin Zhengran, lowering her voice.


    Lin Zhengran kept a straight face, as if he was just as clueless as her.


    He let out a small laugh.


    Truthfully, if this situation had played out normally, it would have been a long, drawn-out process.


    Ms. Wang would have suffered, or Jiang Jingshi would have had to spend a fortune to settle things.


    Which was why Lin Zhengran had taken matters into his own hands.


    After all—


    What he had done was completely unrealistic.


    In a realistic world, his actions were practically a Deus ex Machina.


    Because—who would ever expect that someone in real life was secretly a cultivator?


    Using his abilities like this was something he preferred to avoid—


    Because if he really wanted to, he could use them to amass unimaginable wealth and power.


    But that kind of shortcut wouldn’t lead to a stable, long-term life.


    Even if he obtained limitless resources, people in power would eventually investigate him.


    And once the authorities started tracking his assets, things would get complicated.


    So, unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn’t like relying on his inhuman abilities to solve his problems.


    Still—


    At this moment, Jiang Jingshi was quietly watching him.


    She didn’t know what had happened—but her instincts told her that this was all Lin Zhengran’s doing.


    The only problem was—


    She couldn’t figure out how he did it.


    She had been watching everything unfold—there were no calls, no external forces, no hired help.


    So how?


    How had he pulled this off?


    The more she thought about it—


    The more curious she became.


    How could she not be curious?


    A slow, knowing smile spread across her lips.


    Lin Zhengran glanced at her and let out a helpless chuckle.