Chapter 262: A Moment of Dread

Yu Donghua chuckled, “Ah, at the peak of life and not to enjoy it, wouldn’t that be too dull?”

“Oh, so this is the peak of life? No wonder you blatantly dismissed Xu Xiaoxiao. Everyone’s all about new faces and no one cares for the tears of the old,” Du Qiu’s words were dripping with sarcasm.

“Bro, you don’t know the half of it. Ever since Wisdom Technology took off, Xu Xiaoxiao guarded against me as if I were a thief, and always said I owe my success to her family. So I left her to see if I’m really riding on her coattails…”

Du Qiu had always been busy; beyond a few significant video conferences, he hadn’t chatted with him like this. Today he came out swinging at Yu Donghua’s personal life, naturally eliciting a need in Yu Donghua to spill his grievances.

“Hold on, I’m not here to meddle in your domestic affairs. There’s something important I need to remind you about,” Du Qiu interjected.

Yu Donghua was startled, whispering, “Should I find somewhere else to talk? Do I need to step away, go backstage? The concert is almost over anyway.”

“Good, head backstage now.”

Upon hearing Du Qiu’s instruction, Yu Donghua gestured his assistant, Sun Jing, that he was leaving, and rose from the VIP seating to make his way toward the backstage corridor.

Sun Jing followed closely behind, all the way to a rest room backstage.

“Guard the door. Don’t let anyone disturb me,” Yu Donghua instructed Sun Jing as he entered the lounge, she closed the door diligently and stood guard outside.

Curiosity itched at her: Doctor Du, who had initially visited the company in its early days and then went to America, was suddenly on the phone tonight?

Within the lounge, Yu Donghua sank his corpulent, diet-trimmed body into the sofa, then said, “All right, you can speak, no one’s around.”

“Big Fish, do you realize you’ve become a big fish caught in another’s net? Part of Wisdom Technology’s peripheral technology has been stolen.”

Yu Donghua stiffened and immediately denied, “Impossible! The security system you installed never sounded an alert, no tech data could have possibly leaked.”

Du Qiu questioned, “Haven’t you reviewed some peripheral tech patents at home?”

Yu Donghua confirmed with a nod, “Yep, you said not to worry about hackers with the security system in place. I might not understand the stuff, but I had to clarify what to file for patents. Otherwise, I’d be clueless if you asked me about it. Did I do something wrong?”

“Of course not, but you never thought you had a spy right beside you, did you?”

Following Imanka’s leak about a U.S. informant in Shanghai, Star Ocean had placed their Operative II at play, adding to that the Operative II laid by Du Qiu around friends and subordinates to counteract potential hostile actions by the U.S. against his firm, Dream Technology. The confluence of actions surfaced Yan Liusu and unraveled her entire spy network through Operative II—a jarring revelation for Du Qiu.

While handing over the evidence to Director Mo with an imminent arrest for Yan Liusu planned post-concert, Du Qiu also reached out to his old friend to prevent further exploitation by her.

“You mean Yan Liusu is an intelligence operative?” Yu Donghua was astounded and seething with anger.

Thinking back, Yu Donghua had genuinely fallen for Yan Liusu, otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up divorcing Xu Xiaoxiao. Knowing he had been used by Yan Liusu now fueled an uncontrollable fury.

“Do you think I would lie to you? And don’t rush off to confront her. Security forces will pick her up after the show. Just don’t make a scene, and you have to help clear things up with the security department.”

Standing, Yu Donghua was already headed to confront Yan Liusu but slumped back into the sofa at the urgency in Du Qiu’s voice, deflated.

“Brother, I must have made a spectacle of myself.”

“I’ve seen your spectacles since we were kids, what’ve you got to hide from me?”

“Du Qiu, you’re rubbing salt in my wound,” Yu Donghua lamented.

“Big Fish, don’t dwell on it. I’m giving you a heads-up. I plan to transfer shares from Wisdom Technology and Dream Technology domestically. Prepare yourself, and see which relatives, friends, and subordinates are willing to join you. Come to the Tanga Federation as soon as possible.”

“What do you mean? Wasn’t it said Wisdom Technology and Dream Technology would remain and not merge with Dream Technology? What’s with the sudden change?” Yu Donghua inquired, puzzled.

“Plans can’t keep up with changes. Earth may face an unprecedented catastrophe, and we’re trying to get our people to the Heaven Realm.”

“What catastrophe? Can’t we stop it?” Yu Donghua was thoroughly shocked.

He knew of Dream Technology’s advanced tech but couldn’t it stop a disaster on Earth?

Du Qiu sighed, “Earth’s nations are a mess, and no one wants to believe in a disaster at its start; we can only look after our own. Once everyone faces reality, we’ll do whatever we can to save people.”

“I understand, I’ll start preparing. My shares will be transferred too, but during a disaster, what use is money to me?”

“Your shares, like mine, will be exchanged for resources in China, which I’ll credit as your shares in Dream Technology. Handle negotiations personally and quickly.”

“I got it.”

No sooner had the call ended when a knock came at the door and Sun Jing called out, “Boss, Miss Yan’s concert is over, she’s here.”

“Let her in.”

As the door opened, Yan Liusu sauntered in, the elegance of her performance attire exuding a striking feminine allure.

Yu Donghua eyed the woman with a detached gaze, struggling to comprehend why someone of her stature in the entertainment circle would partake in shadowy intelligence work. Uncertain when security would arrive, he thought best to pacify her—who knew if she had the skills from the movies to cause harm.

“Tired?”

Yan Liusu approached Yu Donghua, wrapping her arms around his neck with a coquettish tone, “Of course I’m tired, look, I’m soaked through with sweat.”

Yu Donghua’s throat went dry at the sight, normally he’d have taken the bait. However, he remarked, “If you’re tired, let’s head home for a good bath.”

He patted her back, signaling her to help him stand.

A flicker of surprise crossed Yan Liusu’s eyes. Something about Yu Donghua’s behavior seemed off, but instead of stepping away, she probed, “I heard from Secretary Sun that you received a call, who was it? You didn’t even finish watching my performance.”

Yu Donghua’s neck cooled with the stroke of her hand lingering around his thick nape.

“Just the wife, talking about the divorce—it’s always about money.”

Wiping his forehead, Yan Liusu asked, “Why are you sweating?”

“The air conditioning here is insufficient,” he rushed to explain.

“Is it?” Yan Liusu teased, touching Yu Donghua and laughing, “Didn’t you already give her a hefty share? Still not content?”

Relieved by her laughter, Yu Donghua replied, “Exactly. Don’t worry about her, you look exhausted, let’s go.”

Hoisting Yan Liusu up, they stood together.

Kissing Yu Donghua’s cheek, Yan Liusu whispered, “We need to keep our distance, the press will have a field day if they see us together.”

“Haha, you’re right.”