The tension in the air was drawn taut like a wire. Yet Chi Zhan, deep in sleep, remained blissfully unaware. He mumbled a few incoherent words in his dreams, rolled over, and wrapped his arms around the blanket.
“I’ve checked him. Nothing serious happened,” Cen Chi said calmly. “Whoever it was only tied his hands—no real harm was done. If we’re going to investigate, tonight’s our last chance.”
Everyone on this yacht was a high-profile figure or social elite. Not even Zhou Yanxing could force them to stay onboard for questioning. And once the ship docked, their window of opportunity would close for good.
Zhou Yanxing gave Chi Zhan another lingering glance before turning and walking out of the room.
“Talk. What evidence do you have?” Zhou asked, his voice once again composed and level.
“I don’t have—”
“Don’t feed me that ‘nothing’ bullshit.” Zhou’s voice cut him off sharply. “You really think I’d believe that? After all these years, you should know—I’m not like those gullible idiots you toy with. I won’t be so easily fooled. You can run that act on outsiders, I don’t care. But Chi Zhan is different. He’s a hell of a lot smarter than you think. If you see him as prey, you’re going to get burned.”
Cen Chi gave a soft laugh and shook his head.
“You really are good at playing dumb. I thought you couldn’t see through me.”
He opened his hand to reveal a small, golden paperclip.
“The answer’s right here.”
“What is this?” Zhou took it, turning it over in his hand. “You planted a tracker on him?!”
“Just a precaution. With so many shady people on this boat, it’s better to be careful. The moment I heard you were looking for someone, I rushed over. Unfortunately, the guy had already fled. There’s a listening device embedded in this chip. But it’ll need a professional to decode. It’ll take about an hour.”
Zhou’s face darkened.
“Don’t ever put crap like this on him again. No—don’t go near him at all. If you just want a human shield, there are plenty of people you can use. But Chi Zhan isn’t one of them,” Zhou said, his tone brooking no argument. “He’s not someone you get to toy with.”
Zhou Yanxing had been fed up with Cen Chi for a long time.
He didn’t like watching Cen Chi bait Chi Zhan. And he sure as hell didn’t like the way Cen Chi looked at him.
“So you’ve seen through me after all,” Cen Chi sighed. “Honestly, I never wanted to compete with you. We’re friends, after all. But some things… are beyond my control.”
That sentence carried a weight of implications.
Cen Chi always spoke in half-truths. What he said wasn’t always false, but it was never the whole story either. Truth and lies, hopelessly tangled.
To someone who didn’t overthink things, dealing with him was effortless.
But once you started reading into every word, the interpretations could spiral endlessly.
Then again, what else would you expect from someone who majored in psychology?
Psych majors always loved their mind games.
Still, nothing beat the clarity of blunt, straightforward honesty.
“If Chi Zhan had to choose between us,” Cen Chi suddenly asked, revisiting their earlier topic, “who do you think he’d pick?”
Zhou gave a short laugh, as if recalling something from before.
“He already made his choice. Obviously, it’s me.”
“You sure about that?” Cen Chi’s smile was faint. “If he had to choose again, it wouldn’t be you.”
“You still haven’t given up?” Zhou’s voice sharpened. “That stupid bet was a waste of time from the start. Cen Chi, what the hell do you even want? Still not done playing your ‘one-day boyfriend’ game?”
If it had been anyone else, Zhou wouldn’t give a damn. But when it came to Chi Zhan, he refused to budge an inch.
Zhou utterly disapproved of Cen Chi’s ways. Their views on relationships were polar opposites. Zhou treated blind dates like an obligation—just go through the motions. But Cen Chi approached every romantic encounter with the façade of perfection. At least on the surface.
In short, Cen Chi was the type to date, not marry.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” Cen Chi said coolly, “but this isn’t something I can just hand over to you. Zhou Yanxing, I admit it—I like Chi Zhan. From now on, we’re competing against each other.”
***
When Chi Zhan awoke, his head felt fuzzy and his limbs heavy, like he was floating. But there was something he hadn’t finished… something important.
He scanned his surroundings. The room was pitch-black. The curtains had been drawn tight, not a sliver of light seeping through—an ideal setup for sleep.
Sitting up, he stared blankly into space for a few seconds before fragments of memory slowly pieced themselves together.
He’d gotten drunk at the party. Went to the bathroom to splash water on his face and sober up—only to be ambushed by someone and forcibly taken away, with demands to see Zhou Yanxing.
Shit.
Chi Zhan immediately flung off the covers and swung his legs off the bed. As he moved, his hand instinctively groped for his phone on the nightstand.
He did find a phone—but the moment the screen lit up, he knew something was wrong.
This… wasn’t his phone.
Neither the model, the weight, nor the lock screen image looked familiar. Everything about it was strange.
The timestamp showed that three or four hours had passed since he left the banquet hall.
He remembered now—Cen Chi had been the one who brought him back.
Not wanting to pry into someone else’s privacy, Chi Zhan set the phone down and was about to leave when the door swung open.
The room was too dark, and the sudden glare from outside made his eyes instinctively squeeze shut.
A voice tinged with surprise spoke.
“You’re awake?”
It was Cen Chi. Then Zhou Yanxing’s voice followed immediately after.
“Finally. Secretary Chi, do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you?”
Chi Zhan opened his eyes. Zhou Yanxing stood before him, his expression unreadable but clearly not pleased. Lips pressed into a thin line, he regarded him coldly.
Chi Zhan’s heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what he’d done to piss him off—but there was something more urgent.
“President Zhou, this ship isn’t safe. Someone wanted to see you, but I didn’t catch their identity…”
“I already know,” Zhou interrupted, frowning slightly as he gave Chi Zhan a once-over. “You seem perfectly fine now. Didn’t Cen Chi say you were on the verge of tears earlier?”
