Chapter 671: The Misfortune of Being a Tool

Seeing Lu Qi charging at Lin Dongxue, Chen Shi ran and jumped onto Lu Qi’s back, digging his fingers into Lu Qi’s eyes.

Lu Qi screamed in pain and slammed Chen Shi against the wall. It felt like being run over by a steamroller, and Chen Shi coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to the ground weakly.

Lu Qi, like a frenzied lion, turned and kicked at Chen Shi. His vision still blurred, the kick missed its mark and hit the wall, dislodging a large chunk of plaster.

Despite the agony, Chen Shi crawled away quickly. Lu Qi’s vision slowly cleared, his bloodshot eyes gleaming with a cruel smile. “Look at you, like a dog,” he taunted.

At that moment, reinforcements arrived. Several detectives burst in, guns pointed at Lu Qi. He snarled and dashed into the manager’s office. The officers chased him, only to see him standing on the desk, shielding his face with his arms, and jumping through the window.

With a crash, the glass shattered as his hulking body hurtled out, landing on a police car below, crushing it.

Lin Qiupu leaned out the window, firing three shots into the air. “Stop that man!” he shouted.

The police surrounded Lu Qi below. Riddled with bullets and weakened from the fall, Lu Qi was finally cornered. His eyes, wild and terrifying, scanned the surrounding officers as he panted heavily.

Upstairs, Lin Dongxue helped Chen Shi to his feet. The impact had broken several of his ribs, and every step was excruciating. He peered out the window, watching the trapped Lu Qi, now resembling a defeated dog.

Realizing his situation was hopeless, Lu Qi knelt and raised his arms to the sky, shouting, “Heavens, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me?!”

His voice echoed through the streets, shaking the hearts of those nearby. The glass in the surrounding shop windows cracked from the force of his cry.

In his final shout, Lu Qi’s eyes widened as if swallowing something. His ferocious face froze in anger before he collapsed, eyes staring blankly.

It took the police a while to approach him, only to find he had stopped breathing.

Cleaning up the scene took hours. With one dead and two injured employees and a manager who had lost a leg in a gruesome attack, even the doctors were shocked. The police initially suspected Lu Qi of committing suicide out of guilt, but the autopsy revealed a startling truth: he had died from a ruptured blood vessel, caused by his extreme emotional outburst and his thunderous shouts.

Peng Siyue, who had performed many autopsies, had never seen a death like this.

However, questions remained. Why had Lu Qi suddenly attacked Starshine Company? What was the video he mentioned? Searching his home, the police found a video, seemingly filmed secretly, of Su Chan and an engineer discussing how the body was too large to fit in the rocket and they had to leave part of it behind.

Upon verification, it was discovered that the engineer in the video didn’t exist. The video was a fabrication by Su Chan, designed for her own ends.

It seemed Su Chan had taken inspiration from the police’s own hypothesis, though the police never found Dong Xiao’s body.

The engineer in the video bore a slight resemblance to Cao Man. It appeared that Su Chan and Cao Man, both commercial spies, had staged the entire charade, driving Lu Qi to madness upon realizing the betrayal.

The police never found Su Chan. After Lu Qi’s death, she vanished, leaving behind only forged identities. The case thus reached an inconclusive end.

As the New Year approached, in a sanatorium on the outskirts of Long’an, an old man sat in a wheelchair, watching koi in a temperature-controlled pond. Su Chan, dressed in black, approached from behind, placing a USB drive on the stone table before him. “Father, I got it,” she said.

The old man grasped her hand, patting it gently. “Well done. Not only did you secure the core technology, but you also dealt a devastating blow to the Zhuoyuan Company. We will soon rise again.”

Thinking of the years of enduring hardships to revive Han Jie, the old man’s eyes glistened with tears.

Amidst his triumphant thoughts, Su Chan interrupted, “Father, may I rest for a while?”

“Rest? For how long?” the old man scoffed. “Youth is fleeting. If you don’t make the most of it now, you’ll regret it later.”

His cold, pragmatic words filled Su Chan’s eyes with tears. She knelt, gripping his knees. “I don’t want this life anymore! I don’t want to lie, deceive, and manipulate feelings. I want a normal life, please, Father… I can work in your company, just as a regular employee!”

The old man lifted her chin with his withered hand. Compared to his wrinkled, age-spotted skin, hers was smooth and radiant, like fine silk. “My dear daughter, you were born with unparalleled beauty. This beauty is like a congenital disability, making your life anything but ordinary. No matter your humble beginnings, you are what men dream of. You must learn to use it, to secure your place in this male-dominated world!”

Her tears fell onto his aged hand. Her heart had been shattered countless times to fulfill her missions. She longed for simple, ordinary things.

Anger flared within her, and she grabbed an ashtray, raising it towards the USB drive. “I’ve sacrificed too much for this!”

“Don’t you dare!” the old man growled, his murky eyes blazing like a furnace.

Unable to defy his gaze, Su Chan smashed the ashtray against her own head instead, repeatedly. This self-destructive act brought her a strange pleasure, and she laughed maniacally.

Eventually, she collapsed, bleeding into the pool, the water turning crimson and scattering the koi.

Aides rushed over, and the old man calmly ordered, “Treat her wounds and give her a new identity. I have a new mission for her! The Liu Group in the south is rising and will soon threaten Han Jie’s market. Get her close to President Liu as a spy.”

One aide, unable to hide his concern, suggested, “Miss Su just returned. Let her rest a bit. This work is too tormenting.”

“You sympathize with her?!” the old man’s glare silenced him. Pointing to the pool, he asked, “Is it beautiful?”

In the pool, Su Chan’s floating body, surrounded by a blood-red aura, looked like a hauntingly beautiful painting. The aide swallowed hard and nodded, “Miss Su is truly stunning.”

“She’s so beautiful that it obscures her true value. That’s her misfortune. Because of that…” the old man’s eyes turned cold again, “She will always be a tool, and tools don’t deserve sympathy.”

His gaze drifted to the gloomy sky. Since the advent of smartphones, the market had been chaotic. In such turbulence, an individual’s fate seemed insignificant.

Even he was just a stepping stone for others.