Chapter Nineteen: Unraveling the Threads

Zhou Yi shook his head.

“I was in a car accident and fell into the river. My phone got soaked so I couldn’t take leave in time. I had no choice but to take a taxi back first—after all, I need to hand over my current work before I go deal with the car.”

Zhou Yi didn’t respond as passively as usual, silently accepting whatever the boss said.

The boss was taken aback, looking Zhou Yi up and down, clearly trying to judge the truth of his words.

“Fell into the river, did you? I wouldn’t mind throwing myself in too. Stop making excuses about leave or private matters. Just get that money back for me! I’ll give you one week—if you can’t recover it, don’t bother coming back to work!”

Zhou Yi pressed his lips tight.

He tore off his work badge in one decisive motion, about to throw it down before the boss and stride out with a bold “I quit!”

But his gaze was caught by two photographs in the scattered documents. One of them was clearly a Hummer, with a tiger head logo pasted on the passenger’s door.

Zhou Yi quickly grabbed the file and flipped through it carefully. The information inside showed that the photo was just a surveillance screenshot from in front of their company, timestamped yesterday afternoon.

“I’ll go chase the money right now. But boss, you’ll need to give me a car—mine won’t be fixed for a few days, and it’s really inconvenient getting around.”

The boss was momentarily stunned, not expecting Zhou Yi to agree so readily. Blinking, he took a moment to react, then grabbed a car key from the desk and tossed it to Zhou Yi.

Wasting no time, Zhou Yi strode out, packed both laptops, his tablet, spare phone, power bank, and all his things into a backpack, slung it over his shoulder, tucked the file under his arm, and left.

His young apprentice watched in surprise, looking at Zhou Yi’s retreating figure with rising anxiety, then glanced timidly at the boss.

“Boss, did Master just get fired?”

The boss’s eyes bulged in fury. He hurled a file at the apprentice’s head.

“If you can’t say anything useful, then shut up! Fired? All of you are ancestors here—only after you bring back the debt can you get your salary. Anyone who keeps yapping can go collect debts too!”

Instantly, everyone who had been waiting for drama scattered, returning to their tasks.

Zhou Yi left the lobby, went downstairs, and got into the car.

He glanced at his clothes and, being meticulous, used two large bags to cover the driver’s seat, drove home to change, dried his hair, then went out to buy a pile of food and drinks before heading for the real estate company listed in the file.

He didn’t get out immediately, but opened his laptop and reviewed the file.

There wasn’t anything special—just that their company had built an internal network and developed several management apps, a total project of over two million, but seventy percent of the balance was still unpaid. Previous attempts to collect had all been blocked by this Wang Shengyu.

Clearly, the other party’s credibility was questionable, and their own contract wasn’t airtight either.

After analyzing the situation, Zhou Yi formulated a plan, eating as he installed a little “extra” in the backend of one of the apps, then dialed the phone number.

After more than ten rings, someone picked up, voice distinctly impatient.

“Who is this?”

“Hello, Mr. Wang. I’m an engineer from Jiangsu Xin Technology Software Company. We just traced activity from your computer to our backend—someone’s attacking your system. Could you have someone log in and check?”

From the other end came the rustling of clothes; then, Wang Shengyu seemed to say something to a woman. He hadn’t covered the phone well, so Zhou Yi caught a word or two.

A glance at the clock showed it was 2:22 PM—well into the afternoon. The sounds spoke for themselves: Mr. Wang’s post-lunch hours were quite enjoyable, flirting in the office with a beauty—a true master of time management.

Soon, Wang Shengyu returned to the call.

“Hello? Are you still there? You’d better get someone here immediately. We’re really under attack—most of our company’s computers are down! Do you know how much money we lose every minute? Send someone to fix it now!”

Zhou Yi remained unruffled, adjusting his Bluetooth headset—such shouting was really quite jarring.

“Mr. Wang, the attacks are very targeted. There have been over a hundred in the last twenty minutes. Have you offended anyone? It’s extremely specific.”

As soon as Zhou Yi said this, there was a loud clatter from the other end, then the call was abruptly disconnected.

He didn’t hurry, but kept eating his bread and milk. He had to enter the company in person; only by meeting Wang Shengyu could he determine if he owned the Hummer with the tiger head logo.

Only by finding the car and running forensic checks could he confirm if it was the hit-and-run vehicle.

Of course, that was the proper way. But even if the traffic police confirmed the vehicle belonged to Wang Shengyu, with his and his father’s influence, it wouldn’t be hard for them to find someone to take the fall.

If it really came to that, Zhou Yi would have to seek revenge himself. The cost might be spending a lifetime behind bars—but so what?

He closed his eyes, swallowed the last bite, and just then his phone rang. Seeing the number, Zhou Yi felt perfectly calm.

He waited a dozen seconds before picking up.

“Hello, Mr. Wang!”

Wang Shengyu cut him off.

“You’re Engineer Zhou from that tech company, right? Come to our office immediately! Our network’s been attacked and most computers are infected. What kind of garbage system did you build? If you can’t fix this, I’m not paying the rest!”

Zhou Yi responded with a calm “Alright,” his speech as unhurried as ever.

“Even if we come, we might not be able to fully resolve it. This is a malicious attack. At least if I’m at your office, I can help defend against it, and maybe even track down who’s behind it.”

That caught Wang Shengyu’s interest—clearly, he believed Zhou Yi. Everything had been fine until today, and now the whole network had crashed; someone must be targeting them.

“Hurry and find out who’s messing with me! And come clear this up—the whole internal network’s down.”

“Alright. I’ll investigate first. I’ll be at your company in half an hour to help restore the network and clean up the virus. In the meantime, I suggest nobody use the computers, or the damage could get worse.”

Wang Shengyu agreed and hung up.

Zhou Yi smiled faintly, put on his headphones, opened his laptop, and logged into the company’s intranet to check Wang Shengyu’s spending records.

As he scrolled through, Zhou Yi rubbed his chin. Most of the transactions were for hotel rooms—clearly, the man led a lavish lifestyle. He then found records for two car purchases.

One was a Maybach, the other a Hummer, both bought on June third.

Zhou Yi paused, opened the details: the Maybach was registered to Wang Shengyu, while the Hummer belonged to Jiang Yushan, whose ID showed she was from Zhenjiang and only twenty-one years old.

Zhou Yi’s brows furrowed. Could it be that Wang Shengyu hadn’t been driving this morning?

Then who was this Jiang Yushan?

He quickly searched for her information, and soon discovered that Jiang Yushan was one of Wang Shengyu’s secretaries, listed in the company’s HR records, though she hadn’t even graduated yet—a university student still in school.

Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Zhou Yi realized things were getting more tangled. Even if the Hummer was the culprit vehicle, who would bear responsibility was far from clear.

He closed the laptop, checked the time, grabbed his bulging backpack, and got out.

At the entrance, he was stopped by the receptionist. Zhou Yi showed his company badge.

“I just arranged with your boss to come fix your internal network.”

The receptionist wore a formulaic smile and shook her head. “Without an appointment, you can’t go up. Please schedule with the secretaries’ office first.”

Zhou Yi paused.

“Oh? Then I’ll be leaving. Let your boss know I came and wasn’t allowed in.”