What stirred Lin Chen's heart was that Amy couldn't accompany him on this business trip because she had to handle another urgent company project. Accompanying him were only a new, seemingly honest and simple-minded middle-aged male assistant, Lao Zhou, and a temporary hairstylist.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
The night before departure, Lin Chen barely slept. He meticulously planned everything. He memorized Su Yuqing's business card number, then wrapped the card in layers of plastic bags and stuffed it into the corner of the toilet tank in his apartment bathroom. He dared not carry anything that might reveal his intentions.
The next day, on the way to the airport, he pretended to casually fiddle with the company-issued phone, but was actually familiarizing himself with its functions and potential monitoring backend. He noticed that while Lao Zhou was responsible, he was far less shrewd and vigilant than Amy, spending most of his time focused on driving or scrolling through his phone.
Arriving in the neighboring province city, checking into the hotel, everything went smoothly. The event was the following morning. There were no plans for that evening. Old Zhou told him not to wander off before returning to his room. The temporary stylist had already gone out to meet some local friends.
The opportunity had arrived!
Lin Chen took a deep breath, put on his hat and mask, and instead of taking the elevator, walked down several floors via the fire escape before finally taking the elevator to the hotel lobby. He didn't go out, but instead found a relatively hidden coin-operated public phone booth inside the hotel—he had researched this beforehand; this old-fashioned hotel still retained this almost obsolete facility.
He inserted a coin and dialed. Listening to the "beep...beep..." sound from the receiver, his heart pounded like a drum.
"Hello?" Su Yuqing's voice came through, calm and clear.
"Reporter Su, it's me, Lin Chen." He lowered his voice, his speech a little rapid due to nervousness, "I'll get to the point. I'm in X City in a neighboring province, returning tomorrow afternoon. I'm using a public phone."
There was a pause on the other end of the line, as if confirming his identity and surroundings. "Go on," Su Yuqing's voice remained steady, carrying a reassuring strength.
Lin Chen took a deep breath and spoke as concisely as possible about the core fears and discoveries he had suppressed for so long: the veiled conversation about capital operations and money laundering he overheard at Lu Tianyu's secret gathering; Dr. Xu's "psychological counseling" aimed at mind control; Xiao Yao's betrayal and the company's omnipresent surveillance; and what he heard from Chen Kai about Lu Tianyu's bloody history of accumulating wealth.
He didn't dwell on his emotions, simply stating the facts, but his voice inevitably trembled.
Su Yuqing listened quietly, without interrupting, until he finished.
"The information you provided is very important, especially the details of the closed-room conversation and Chen Kai's testimony. They are strongly connected to the direction of my investigation," Su Yuqing said with professional caution. "Xingyao Entertainment is indeed suspected of engaging in profit transfer and money laundering activities through complex film and television project investments and related transactions. Lu Tianyu has a deep background and close ties with certain forces. Your situation is extremely dangerous."
Her words confirmed Lin Chen's worst suspicions, sending a chill down his spine.
"I… what should I do?" he asked almost instinctively.