"Young Master, per your exact instructions, both targets have been securely transferred to the Major Crimes Unit."
Adrian strolled out of the neon-lit bar with an air of absolute, aristocratic nonchalance. Yi Zhongtian, who had been waiting silently in the shadows of the alleyway, immediately stepped forward and delivered the whispered report.
Yi Zhongtian—known simply as "Mr. Yi" in the underground—was a legendary figure among the power players of Shanghai. There was practically nothing the man could not accomplish. Much like the omnipotent hacker Xiao Hei in the iPartment complex or the political princeling Yao Bin, Mr. Yi was a highly versatile, terrifyingly effective operative.
Of course, Mr. Yi's operational level vastly exceeded the likes of Yao Bin. After all, he was originally Executive Vice Mayor Xu Guangxi's most lethal undercover fixer!
The moment Adrian had requested a competent shadow operative, Secretary Xu hadn't hesitated; he had immediately dispatched his absolute best, most ruthless henchman to serve as Adrian's personal attack dog.
It is a widely acknowledged, cynical truth: there are no independent organized crime syndicates in this country. Instead, there are simply "gray-area" fixers who operate strictly on the fringes of the law, fully sanctioned by the political elite. And Mr. Yi was the undisputed king of the gray area.
"Remind me, according to the standard penal code, what is the mandatory sentence for the volume they were holding?"
Adrian pulled a small, silver file from his tailored jacket and casually began filing his nails, asking the question as if inquiring about the weather.
"The male suspect already possesses an extensive, violent criminal record. Caught red-handed with a trafficking volume of this magnitude? The firing squad is an absolute certainty," Mr. Yi reported smoothly.
He paused for a fraction of a second, his sharp eyes secretly darting toward Adrian to gauge his reaction.
As Secretary Xu's primary shadow operative, Mr. Yi had committed countless heinous acts throughout his career; the number of lives he had quietly extinguished was known only to the heavens. When Xu Guangxi had initially ordered him to act as a bodyguard for some young kid, Mr. Yi had panicked, assuming he was being permanently discarded by the administration. He had been so terrified he nearly bought a one-way ticket to Greenland that very night.
However, when Secretary Xu had met with him in a secure location and explicitly ordered him to serve "Young Master Li" with his life—and to gently ensure the boy didn't trigger a massive, public media scandal—Mr. Yi immediately understood the assignment.
He was babysitting a supreme, top-tier political heir. It was a job he was incredibly experienced at. He had spent years cleaning up the bloody, drug-fueled messes of wealthy princelings. But for his absolute boss to personally hand down the mandate? It meant this specific Young Master possessed a terrifying, untouchable background.
Wisely, Mr. Yi didn't ask who Adrian was. He knew that poking around classified state secrets was a guaranteed death sentence.
He paused now simply to read the Young Master's micro-expressions. A target's psychological state could easily be judged by how they reacted to death. But clearly, to Adrian Li, whether the scumbag Xi Cheng lived or died was less significant than stepping on an ant. In fact, the bastard should have been put down years ago.
Seeing the utter, sociopathic apathy on Adrian's face, Mr. Yi knew the boy didn't care about Xi Cheng's execution. He seamlessly skipped to the actual puzzle.
"And what should we do with the woman, Young Master? Please give me your instructions."
"Are there viable options?" Adrian looked up, blowing the dust off his nails with genuine, amused curiosity.
"If you wish to keep her permanently as a private pet, I can designate her as a master accomplice and arrange for her to be legally 'executed' on paper. She will cease to exist. If you merely want to take her out and play with her for a while, I can send my men into the holding cell to have a... persuasive conversation with her about her freedom."
"Wait... by 'executed,' you mean the state apparatus can completely erase her identity to cover it up?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised by the sheer, terrifying scope of the offer.
Although he fully understood he had been elevated to the absolute highest tier of the privileged class, the reality of utilizing a provincial government to fake a woman's death just so he could keep her as an undocumented sex slave still felt somewhat surreal.
"Yes, Young Master. Whatever you desire," Mr. Yi replied quickly, forcing a polite, accommodating smile.
"Let me think about that," Adrian mused.
Originally, his tactical plan was to simply let Nan Xiang rot in a terrifying, freezing cell for a few days, completely breaking her spirit, before swooping in to use her freedom as absolute blackmail leverage. But now it seems my imagination was far too mundane! If the problem could be solved permanently by erasing her from the matrix, why bother with the tedious back-and-forth of extortion?
"There is absolutely no rush, sir. Processing a capital case through the bureaucracy takes several days anyway. Simply inform me when you have made your final decision."
"Excellent. By the way, has my main course for the evening arrived yet?"
Nan Xiang's ultimate fate required some strategic consideration. Right now, Adrian felt a dark, burning surge of adrenaline from the night's violent hunt, and he urgently needed a heavy, durable body to vent it on.
"Miss Fan Shengmei has already been intercepted by the driver. She is currently waiting for you at Mansion No. 1," Mr. Yi replied quickly.
To be entirely honest, Mr. Yi could not fathom this Young Master's aesthetic tastes. It was true that the women Adrian had ordered him to investigate over the past two days were undeniably beautiful. But they were just... civilian beautiful! For a pathetic, working-class loser, securing a woman like Fan Shengmei would be a miraculous blessing. But with Adrian's supreme status, he could easily summon A-list actresses and international supermodels to his bed with a single phone call. Why bother with desperate HR drones?
However, Mr. Yi kept his mouth firmly shut. He was a professional; offending a top-tier heir by questioning his sexual fetishes was a rookie mistake.
"Mansion No. 1?" Adrian paused, tilting his head. "Where exactly is this property?"
"Secretary Xu personally arranged the estate for you this afternoon, sir. Your previous townhouse was far too crowded and located in a high-density area. Mansion No. 1 is significantly more... isolated."
"Ah. Take me there immediately."
Upon hearing the explanation, Adrian's predatory mind instantly grasped the logistics.
While the luxury villa he had been occupying was considered a dream home by ordinary citizens, it was structurally inadequate for a man of his new, terrifying status. More importantly, it was a townhouse in a wealthy neighborhood. If he brought screaming women home, or engaged in... unconventional activities, the affluent neighbors might notice the noise.
To put it bluntly: if he actually decided to fake Nan Xiang's execution and keep her chained in a basement, the risk of a domestic worker or neighbor stumbling upon a "dead" woman in a townhouse was entirely unacceptable.
Mansion No. 1, however, was a completely different beast. It was an elite, single-family fortress surrounded by dozens of acres of private, walled gardens. No matter what kind of screams echoed inside those reinforced walls, the outside world would absolutely never hear a single sound.
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