Deep in the Night - Chapter 26

Wang Yu remained rigid for a long while, finally tapping the play button on the mobile screen.

The footage was clearly fast-forwarded and edited. It opened on a brightly lit hospital room. Lu Wenlei was unmistakably in a coma on the bed. Immediately, the door opened, and a person in a white coat and mask, dressed as a doctor, walked in, took a syringe from a pocket, and went straight to Lu Wenlei’s bedside.

Wang Yu stared intensely at the exposed half of the doctor’s face.

—It was his own face!

In the recording, he lifted Lu Wenlei’s gown, plunged the needle into a blood vessel beneath his armpit, completed the injection in a few seconds, quickly restored everything, and silently slipped out.

“…How did you get this?” Wang Yu suddenly fixed his gaze on Fang Jin, asking word by word, “I had already secured the room before I went in, and the hospital footage was completely destroyed afterwards. You couldn’t possibly—”

“The day Lu Wenlei was admitted to the hospital, I knew his life might be in danger. So, I installed a pinhole camera in the ceiling. No one, not even the Young Master, knows about this footage. Also, to ensure his life, I monitored the room for twenty-four hours a day, not daring to close my eyes even at night. I didn’t expect you to still manage it.”

“But fortunately, you only thought to replace the hospital surveillance footage, but you didn’t know I had a backup plan. You were careless.”

Wang Yu said in a low voice: “Are you threatening me?”

Fang Jin was deeply sunk into the sofa, his slender body wrapped in black. He merely raised his chin at the question: “—Keep watching.”

The second clip was clearly older, with a line of yellow text on the bottom right corner indicating a summer night three years ago.

The camera showed the entrance of a high-end villa community in a neighboring city, then switched to a low-angle, hidden-camera view inside one of the villas. A family of three was tied up on the floor in the brightly lit hall, guarded by several bodyguards. In the crowd, Wang Yu walked forward, holding a gleaming knife.

In the terrified gaze of the hostages, he quickly brought the knife down, blood splattered, and he executed them on the spot!

The bodies fell heavily to the ground. Wang Yu casually tossed the knife onto the floor: “Mess up the scene, grab the valuables, disguise it as a home invasion and robbery. Clear out in five minutes.”

The subordinates immediately acknowledged the order and scattered quickly.

“This is the boss of the Zhuqing Gang, you—”

Wang Yu could hardly believe his eyes. He clearly remembered what had happened the day the recording was made: the Gu family had a dispute with the Taiwanese Zhuqing Gang over complicated issues, and the gang attempted to blackmail the Gu family using old collaborative evidence. Gu Mingzong agreed to negotiate that day, but that night, he had the family of three murdered. The police eventually closed the case as a home invasion and robbery.

At the time, Fang Jin was handling other matters in Taiwan. Gu Mingzong had instructed Wang Yu to pick him up and bring him back to G City after the deed was done—the intention was to prevent Fang Jin from witnessing the bloody moment firsthand. However, the situation changed that day, forcing Wang Yu to delay the operation, meaning Fang Jin was also present during the murder.

At the time, Wang Yu did not take the handsome, silent, and unremarkable young man seriously. Although Gu Mingzong seemed to hold high expectations for him, in Wang Yu’s eyes, he was merely a favored little toy. The only special thing about him, if any, was the unusually high degree of favor he received—but that was not enough to make Wang Yu feel even the slightest bit wary of him.

He only remembered that at the scene, Fang Jin seemed to have pleaded for the child’s life, but after being harshly rebuffed, he had shut up, silently watching the family of three collapse in a pool of blood from behind the crowd.

However, he never imagined that Fang Jin was not truly silent—he was recording!

He had kept this footage for a full three years!

“Are you threatening me?!” Wang Yu fiercely deleted the video and slammed the phone onto the table: “Do you think this works? Don’t forget, I was acting under orders! These things don’t threaten me, they threaten the CEO!”

Fang Jin sneered: “The CEO? When the CEO finds out you were recorded twice with your face exposed while murdering people, will he continue to protect you or deal with you himself, hmm?”

Wang Yu suddenly froze.

But then he immediately recovered, shaking his head: “No… If this fell into someone else’s hands, CEO Gu might deal with me, but what if it’s in your hands? You could show it to CEO Gu and say you’re reporting me because you failed to threaten and buy me off? Then you’re the one who will be dealt with!”

“—Naive,” Fang Jin assessed.

He leaned against the sofa, arms folded. That indifferent posture, for some reason, reminded Wang Yu of Gu Mingzong for a fleeting second.

But the feeling was too ridiculous, and he instinctively crushed that absurd notion.

“Gu Mingzong will only protect you if it doesn’t fundamentally affect him. But what if the threat to him is you? What if these two recordings spread across the internet overnight, becoming known to everyone, so much so that even the Gu family’s best efforts can’t cover for you?”

Wang Yu stared intently at Fang Jin, momentarily unable to believe what he was saying.

“…What do you mean?”

“Thank the self-media.” Fang Jin seemed highly amused, saying, “Before I came, I bought a few marketing accounts. If I don’t notify them within half an hour, they’ll post this footage online. Do you think it will hit the trending topics? It’s a real chance to make you truly famous.”

Wang Yu tightly gripped the phone, with such force that his knuckles made a cracking sound.

“…You’re crazy… You want to drag me down with you. The CEO won’t let you get away with this…”

Yet, under his horrified gaze, Fang Jin was unexpectedly calm. He even sighed: “You don’t understand what I mean, Manager Wang.”

“Whether you live or die is not the point. But if I continue to live like this, it’s no different from being dead. So, I have been preparing for this day for a long time. It’s not just about these two videos.”

“Since you became Security Manager two years ago, you have been continuously receiving massive benefits from various internal sources of the corporation, and you have utilized your authority to wash illicit money overseas through the CEO’s accounts. You did this very discreetly, but if the CEO thoroughly audited his accounts, he would certainly find clues, especially the seven million you washed in the form of investment last May, and the over ten million transferred via a trust fund this year…”

Wang Yu cried out in disbelief: “How do you know?!”

“Because I’ve always known,” Fang Jin said flatly. “For the past two years, I was the one secretly providing cover for you.”

Wang Yu froze completely, unable to make a sound.

Because of his high access level, he could indeed access the CEO’s private accounts, and it was feasible to use Gu Mingzong’s channels to launder his own illicit money—yes, the CEO was terrifying, and any internal movement was difficult to hide from his eyes. But he had so many personal accounts! His daily cash flow exceeded a thousand transactions! How could he possibly spot Wang Yu’s particular transaction?

Wang Yu had initially worried, barely comforting himself with the thought, “I’m not taking the CEO’s money, just borrowing his channel to wash my own.” But gradually, he realized that no one seemed to notice his minor actions, and several transactions silently disappeared into the colossal cash flow. Later, his courage grew, and he planned to wash two large amounts and then completely stop. That led to the seven million last year and the over ten million this year.

However, he never expected that he had been under Fang Jin’s observation from the start.

And Fang Jin had never spoken a word, only quietly indulging him, step by step nurturing his greed, until the final moment when he laid all the evidence bare before him!

Wang Yu roared: “What did the CEO ever do wrong to you that you have to betray him?!”

Fang Jin was silent for a moment under Wang Yu’s intense stare. The KTV light was dim; the fluorescent glow of the TV screen shone from one side, outlining strange shadows on his handsome profile.

Half of his face was clearly defined in the fluorescent light; the other half was swallowed by deep darkness, the faint light in his pupils cold and menacing.

“No matter what I say, you won’t understand me, Manager Wang, just as I cannot understand you. But we don’t need to understand each other. You only need to know that I was never truly subservient, so there can be no talk of betrayal.”

There was a chilling calmness in Fang Jin’s voice.

Wang Yu’s chest rose and fell rapidly. After panting for a while, he nodded: “You have a point.”

Silence filled the KTV. After a long time, Wang Yu picked up the phone and slowly offered it forward: “Here, take it back.”

Fang Jin reached out to take it. In that very instant, Wang Yu suddenly grabbed his wrist, twisting it, and his other hand lunged toward Fang Jin’s throat!

—The attack was swift and fierce, arriving in a flash. With Wang Yu’s strength, enough to make a phone screen crackle in his grip, he could easily crush Fang Jin’s windpipe in seconds if he connected.

But in a split second, Fang Jin drew a gun, and Wang Yu froze!

The cold barrel of the gun was pressed tightly against his forehead.

Wang Yu’s eyelids twitched violently, and cold sweat immediately streamed down his face.

“…Where did you get a gun?”

Fang Jin was deeply embedded in the sofa backrest, holding the gun steadily with one hand against the forehead, his trigger finger unwavering: “I stole it.”

Wang Yu raised his hands halfway, slowly retreating to his seat with the gun barrel pressed against him. He saw a hint of a mocking smile flash in Fang Jin’s eyes: “It’s quite easy for me to steal things, do you believe that? Care to personally test if this gun is a toy?”

It was certainly not a toy. Wang Yu had trained with guns for so many years; he could distinguish a real one from a fake one instantly. Moreover, Fang Jin’s grip was correct. Although he wasn’t an expert like himself or Young Master Gu, he had definitely practiced and adjusted, not just pulling out a gun to bluff.

Wang Yu felt the fabric on his back soaking with sweat.

This shouldn’t be happening, he thought.

I’ve been in the underworld for so long, walked through so many life-or-death situations, yet now I’m cornered by a young upstart in his twenties.

Yet, at the same time, his mind conjured up the CEO Gu Mingzong’s strange past expectations and his unconcealed, unreasonable hopes for this young man. A wave of weariness and frustration welled up from deep within him.

“…You might as well kill me now, it would be quicker,” he finally spoke hoarsely. “If I betray CEO Gu and get discovered, I’ll die a fate worse than this. You might as well give me a quick end now.”

Fang Jin smiled: “Why die when you can live well? Who said you had to die?”

He retracted the gun, keeping the muzzle pointed at Wang Yu from a distance, and said casually: “Let’s make a deal. I don’t need you to genuinely betray CEO Gu or expose yourself. You only need to answer a few questions. Once you walk out this door, it’s as if we never met. You’ll still be the Security Manager of the Gu Corporation. I’ll also hand over all the source files of those recordings and the money laundering evidence to you. On top of that, I’ll give you ten million after the deed is done…”

Wang Yu was astonished and suspicious, but Fang Jin continued: “…In short, you just need to answer a few words for me, and all past issues will be wiped clean. Afterwards, you’ll receive a generous reward, enough for you to retire comfortably and live out the rest of your life. How about it?”

“…Where are you getting ten million from?” Wang Yu asked guardedly.

Fang Jin countered: “I even know how many transactions you made to launder money using Gu Mingzong’s personal account. Can’t I raise ten million?”

Under the threat of the gun, Wang Yu swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving violently up and down.

He knew that if he didn’t agree today, he would certainly not walk out that door alive.

Rage and fight back? Kill Fang Jin?

But Fang Jin might not have to pay with his life if he killed Wang Yu, while Wang Yu would definitely die if he killed Fang Jin!

The struggle felt eternally long, and sweat dripped down Wang Yu’s face. After what seemed like an age, he finally moved. His voice was slightly strange due to the tension and numbness in his throat muscles:

“What exactly do you want to ask?”

Fang Jin’s eyes were calm and terrifyingly steady, without a single ripple of surprise. He seemed entirely unsurprised by Wang Yu’s eventual compromise.

This attitude actually deepened Wang Yu’s anger and frustration, but in the face of the other man’s flawless composure, he was utterly helpless.

Holding the gun with one hand, Fang Jin opened his phone, pulled up the photo gallery, and gently slid an old photograph across the table toward Wang Yu. The photo was set against the backdrop of a famous private obstetrics hospital. It showed five people: two couples, one on the left and one on the right, standing close together. Only the man in the middle was somewhat isolated, staring expressionlessly at the camera.

Fang Jin pointed at the man in the center and asked succinctly:

“—Where is Gu Mingda now?”

Wang Yu stared at the screen for a long time, making no movement or even breathing. The air seemed to have solidified.

After a while, he said hoarsely: “…There has never been a person named Gu Mingda in this world.”

“Then who is he?”

Fang Jin held Wang Yu’s gaze tightly. After a long moment, he suddenly saw Wang Yu smile, a smile that was inexplicably strange:

“Why do you need to ask who he is, Assistant Fang?”

“You’ve seen him almost every day since you were little, haven’t you?”