Morbid Paranoia

They pushed open the door of the club and saw Lin Chang sitting on the floor, frantically pouring alcohol down his throat. Empty bottles surrounded him.

The reporters' eyes widened in disbelief.

Oh ho!

Lin Chang was really here!

And the person who had tipped them off about Lin Chang being at Jialin Club—they’d almost dismissed it as a hoax. But it turned out to be true.

Good thing they came.

Lin Chang, still somewhat sober, noticed the reporters barging in. His heart skipped a beat.

He glared at them, his entire body tense.

"What are you doing here? Get out! Get lost!" Lin Chang roared at the reporters.

"You dare come in? I’ll sue you for trespassing!"

One reporter snapped out of his shock and sneered, "Chairman Lin, this is a club. Even if we barged in, it wouldn’t count as trespassing."

Lin Chang’s face turned ashen.

The reporters immediately thrust their microphones toward him.

"Chairman Lin, you previously incited public backlash against Skyline Group, but now it’s been exposed that your company plagiarized their work. What’s the truth behind this? Do you have anything to say?"

"Chairman Lin, Skyline Group has presented evidence. Can you refute their claims and prove your innocence?"

"Chairman Lin, your prolonged silence—does it mean you have no defense against Skyline Group’s accusations? Have you been hiding all this time?"

The alcohol surged in Lin Chang’s head.

Veins bulged in his neck as he bellowed, "That’s right! That game belongs to Skyline Group! I bribed their lead developer to hand over the design documents to me!"

"I copied their game down to the last detail!"

The reporters’ jaws dropped.

Lin Chang had just admitted—on camera—to plagiarizing Skyline Group’s game.

Breaking news!

This was absolutely explosive!

The reporters buzzed with excitement.

What other bombshells would Lin Chang drop?

"But so what if I copied their game?" Lin Chang shouted. "Lin Xuan is my son! Even if we’ve cut ties, he still carries my blood—that’s something he can never escape!"

"What’s wrong with a father taking what belongs to his son?"

The reporters were stunned by his shameless justification.

They’d never seen someone so brazen.

No wonder Lin Xuan had disowned him.

With a father like this, who wouldn’t run as far as possible?

"And it’s not just the game—Lin Xuan should hand over Skyline Group to Starlight Group!" Lin Chang ranted on.

The reporters watched eagerly.

Keep talking, keep talking.

The more scandalous, the better—higher traffic for their news.

"Ha! That ungrateful brat, Lin Xuan… daring to turn against his own father! I regret not strangling him the moment he was born!"

Splash!

A club attendant suddenly doused Lin Chang’s face with liquor.

"My apologies, my apologies!" The attendant feigned remorse. "I tripped and spilled the drink on you, sir. So sorry."

The alcohol sobered Lin Chang up slightly.

His own words echoed in his mind.

His expression darkened.

He’d just admitted—on record—that his company had plagiarized Skyline Group.

Damn it!

Why had he said all that?

"Chairman Lin," the reporters pressed, microphones in hand, "do you have anything else to add?"

"Chairman Lin, how can you justify demanding Skyline Group merge with Starlight Group?"

"Chairman Lin—"

Their questions drilled into his skull like a curse, throbbing painfully.

"What do you know?" Lin Chang snarled, his face twisted in fury. "You know nothing! Who gave you the right to question me?"

He shoved past the reporters and fled the club.

Satisfied, the reporters returned to their newsrooms with the explosive footage.

Meanwhile, Su Hua was working in the study.

Lin Xuan, seated nearby, scrolled through news about Lin Chang and Starlight Group, eager to see the moment his father got cornered by the press.

#BREAKING: Lin Chang Admits to Plagiarizing Skyline Group’s Game

Lin Xuan clicked the video immediately.

By the end, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

"Pfft—"

Lin Chang had handed him an unexpected gift.

This was perfect.

Hilarious, even.

Hearing his laughter, Su Hua rose from her desk and walked over, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind. She rested her chin on his head.

"What’s got you so amused, Ah Xuan?"

"Lin Chang self-destructed," Lin Xuan replied.

"Oh?" Su Hua’s eyebrows lifted with interest.

"Here, Hua Bao, watch this video. You’ll understand." He replayed the clip for her.

Su Hua’s soft gaze gradually chilled as she watched. A deep unease settled in her chest.

Lin Chang had publicly declared that Ah Xuan was his son.

With the feud between Starlight Group and Skyline Group making headlines, Jiang Yutong—who harbored feelings for Ah Xuan—would undoubtedly be following the news.

She would see this video.

And then she would realize Ah Xuan was her cousin.

She would come to take him away.

Even if they were bound to meet at Lin Li’s family reunion banquet, the later this discovery, the better…

Ah Xuan was hers. She refused to share him—not even with blood relatives.

Su Hua pressed her lips together.

"Hua Bao? What’s wrong?" Lin Xuan asked, sensing her shift in mood.

"Nothing."

She lowered her lashes, masking the obsessive possessiveness in her eyes. "Ah Xuan, I still have work to finish. I’ll get back to it."

"Alright."

Lin Xuan nodded.

Maybe he’d imagined it. Hua Bao seemed fine.

Returning to her desk, Su Hua picked up her phone and sent a message to Jiang Qing.

[Su Corp’s Devil CEO]: Jiang Qing, scrub all online traces of Lin Chang being Ah Xuan’s father from this video.

[Jiang Qing]: Understood, CEO Su.

Jiang Qing immediately mobilized Su Corp’s tech team.

They didn’t need permission from any platform—Su Corp’s technicians hacked in and purged the incriminating segments.

Panicked, Weibo’s staff contacted Lei Hui.

"President Lei, the missing footage wasn’t our doing! Please don’t misunderstand—we didn’t take bribes to censor anything!"

They couldn’t afford misunderstandings.

If Lin Xuan got upset and crashed their app for days, they’d be ruined.

10:30—back home, slept until 6 PM.

Thanks to (dreaming), ItalianPasta, TinyPanda06, LongLiveAuthorFeiFei, and other darlings for the gifts!

UwU

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