Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Following Chu Li’s simple discussion with the rest, Ross would investigate Count Henry as he was British royalty and nobody knowing his association with the First Terrorist Organization would make investigations a tad easier. Chu Li instinctively knew that Count Henry was inevitably related to the situation. Black J would look up artifacts that recently cleared customs whereas Jason and Bai Ye would investigate Ye Wei and Eleven’s traces. Chu Li would command from headquarters.

  In previous incidents, except for Rong Yan being held hostage by Prince William, Chu Li was always behind the scenes. This time, almost all the elites in the organization were mobilized to locate Ye Wei and Eleven. Everybody knew that Henry, Mo Jue, and the artifacts were clues that led to Ye Wei and Eleven’s whereabouts, which was the most important. With Ye Wei in Mo Jue’s clutches, Chu Li was extremely worried about Ye Wei’s fate. He was most worried about Eleven’s disappearance.

  Once everyone was assigned their missions, they quickly got down to work. Only Rong Yan and Chu Li were left in the conference hall. Chu Li, departing from his previous calmness, became angry and sinister-looking. He grabbed Rong Yan who was about to leave and coldly asked, “Where are you going?”


  He sounded sinister and his voice even had a few hints of bloodlust. Rong Yan smiled. He seemed to become even more easily provoked by her. She did not know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but she loved him flying into a rage as it made him seem livelier.

  She calmly looked at Chu Li, who had dark hair, clear eyes, and an Oriental suaveness. Chu Li was not as casual-looking as Bai Ye but had his own streak. His hidden domineering streak was not something that could be cultivated overnight. She remembered that when she first knew him, her first impression of him was a handsome man who was ruthless but lacked that intimidating authority.

  “I’m going home!” Rong Yan plainly replied as she tried to break free from him and leave. Chu Li, however, held her tightly and she could not move. She could not help but smile and ask, “Could you just afford me that personal freedom, please?”


  Chu Li looked at her angrily and thinned his lips into a straight line. “Don’t you know how dangerous it was to go to the castle with Ye Wei and Eleven? You only know some fancy moves and some fencing at best. There are so many mercenaries there. What were you doing there? Do you have a freaking death wish?”


  Since they were all around, he could afford the anger he had long suppressed in him to act up. The more he recalled, the more he was terrified because he knew what kind of person Mo Jue was. He had also been slightly careless and assumed that Ye Wei and Eleven were partners forever and would not bring anybody along. If Mo Jue knew that there was also a Rong Yan present, Rong Yan would have never made it back alive.

  As Chu Li thought about it, he was terrified, fearful, and then angry. He was angry at how she did not know her limits and put herself in such a dangerous situation. Knowing his own anger was not to be sniffed at, he quietly said to himself earlier that he really wanted to strangle her.

  Rong Yan was the only person who could send him into such a flying rage and invoke all his emotions.

  “I insisted on going myself, and Ye Wei and Eleven were alone in the castle. What’s wrong with me being their getaway driver? Besides, I was hidden in the woods and simply could not be seen in the night. I still came back in one piece, so where is this ‘danger’ that you are rambling about?” Rong Yan softly defended herself. She admitted that she had taken a slight risk, and she was also thankful that nobody discovered her. If not…


  She naturally knew what Chu Li was angry about, and she felt even more smug and sweet as he scolded her. Rong Yan could not help but mock herself for being such a masochistic freak that had been hurt and abandoned by Scheming Chu these past few years. It was afraid she would become the legendary cockroach that would survive everything that was thrown at it, becoming the badass female lead who became stronger with abuse.

  “What if?” Chu Li could not help but roar. Zhou Zheng, who was standing at the door, broke into a smile as he heard his boss roar. Ever since Rong Yan left, he had never heard his boss roar and was really not quite used to it.

  “There are very few what-ifs. Besides, I am already back. That said, if I weren’t there, you all wouldn’t know whether Wei Wei and Eleven have met with trouble and ought to thank me.” Rong Yan plainly smiled.

  Chu Li felt he was talking to a wall, and his face became even more sullen.

  “I will not allow you to do this next time.” Chu Li retracted his anger and tried to calm himself down. His words that followed were not as calm. “If you dare to take such a risk again, I will break your legs.”


  “I am even more certain that you are really violent.” Rong Yan callously smiled and pushed him as she walked away. “I am going home.”


  Chu Li took a few steps forward and grabbed her. “You will stay here and not go anywhere.”


  “Oh. If that’s the case, where shall I sleep?” Rong Yan raised her eyebrows. Her calm and beautiful eyes had a hint of mockery. “Are you sure that you really welcome my presence? Are you sure you have no other women on your bed?”


  As she recalled that terrible scene, her heart ached and her eyes became even colder. Him having the gall to hug Fang Ying on their bed hurt her even more than anybody else, and it hurt her even more when he exchanged her for Fang Ying.

  “Chu Li, did you overestimate me? Do you think that I will bear whatever you are doing just simply because I can bear it?”


  She had her own threshold, and while the threshold could be discussed, whatever that fell below it was a no-go.

  She felt even more terrible thinking about it and tried to break free from him. She wanted to leave. She did not want to appear scorned before him. Chu Li, however, tightly hugged her and shouted, “Rong Yan!”


  When she calmed down, Chu Li exhaled. He said through gritted teeth, “I did not touch her!”


  Rong Yan was stunned and then bitterly smiled. She clearly saw it with her own eyes. How dared he lie to her? She bit her lip to the point it almost bled. While Chu Li was one who rarely explained such things, she was also not as narrow-minded. It was not as though he had not touched women before, but Fang Ying… And he still wanted to lie to her? She could not stand that the most.

  “You don’t believe me?” Chu Li’s angry eyes cooled down and became calm.

  As Rong Yan quietly watched on, he calmly smiled and pulled out a gun from his chest and flipped its safety off. Rong Yan was shocked, panicked, and pressed on his hands. She angrily said, “What are you up to?”


  “If you don’t believe me, you can cripple me.” Chu Li put the gun in Rong Yan’s hands and had her aim at his manhood. Such a move, while comical, was said and done by Chu Li with a poker face that had a few hints of anger.

  Rong Yan was utterly shocked. He should not humor her in such a way. Was he acting tough because he knew she would never shoot?

  “You know how to fire a gun, right? I’ve seen you fire a gun, and not too shabbily, so just pull the trigger.” Chu Li gently instructed Rong Yan. Rong Yan flipped the safety of the gun on and laughingly scolded him. “Are you crazy enough?”


  “No!” Chu Li replied righteously. His stern, authoritative face seemed to arrogantly say, ‘Do you have a problem with me acting tough?’


  “If you are not keeping this game up, I am calling it a day.” Rong Yan smiled and was about to leave when Chu Li grabbed her and hugged her from behind. He rested his head on her shoulders and said pitifully, “Yan Yan, just believe me once more, okay?”


  A massive battle waged on in Rong Yan’s heart. Honestly speaking, she did see something that day, but it was not complete. She did see him and Fang Ying tangle on the bed… While she wanted to quietly enter, Chen Yang stopped her and dragged her to the central atrium downstairs. She did not have the courage to face them and left the castle in a rage. She did not know what happened later.

  Should she believe him?

  She chided herself at how she cheapened herself so badly. Even if she did not see how it ended, he and Fang Ying had indeed… Although he really wanted to but did not give in to his physical desires, his heart was lost. She minded the latter the most.

  “Yan Yan…” Chu Li could not help but soften his voice. He understood Rong Yan and he knew that she had not completely given up hope on him. If she had completely given up hope on him, she would not have come back. Prince William was the precedent.

  This woman was one who never turned back.

  “Ah Li, I’ll ask you this again. Before I was captured by Brother Tian, did you have sex with Fang Ying?”


  “I said I did not.”


  “You lied! I clearly saw it!” Rong Yan could not help but roar. She did not want to lose her cool, but she did not want him to deceive her again.

  “Rong Yan, I’ll say it once again. I did not—wait, do you mean the night before you went missing?” Chu Li flatly asked. Rong Yan nodded stiffly. He could not help twist her ear and said, “I was at a banquet at the Port of London that day, damn it. I only rushed back when I received Zhou Zheng’s call. When did you see me having sex with Fang Ying?”


  When he finished roaring, he lapsed into deep thought and then asked, “You did see it?”


  Rong Yan nodded and described what she saw that day. Chu Li’s face sunk and scolded Chen Yang in his heart. He could not keep that rascal by his side anymore since he was capable of such a thing.

  “I’ll explain to you what happened. My turn now. Do you believe your eyes or me?” Chu Li coldly asked her.

  She actually believed him, and that knot and conflicting feelings in her heart inevitably lifted. This incident was the reason she was most disappointed in him, and she would have had a much better impression of him had that incident not happened.

  “You can take it that I believe you.”


  “Oh, you still sound a little aggrieved. Since that is the case, just don’t believe me and take it that I have something going on with her.”


  “Please don’t tell me that didn’t cross your mind? When she returned, who was the person who looked to the skies, the moon, the stars, and hoped she would be happy? Who was the person who accompanied her day in and day out? You even slept with her.”


  “Are you out to settle the score?”


  “So what if I am out to settle the score? You have done one too many things that could not be forgiven. If I had been that bit meaner, you would never have seen me again. Ask yourself, hand to heart, whether the things you did to me were overboard, will you?”


  “Believe me or not, we are talking about this incident now.”


  “Chu Li, please do not be nice just because I have been nice to you.”


  “Who was the first to run out of words?”


  “Are you picking a fight?” Rong Yan coolly looked at him with arms akimbo.

  Chu Li coldly harrumphed. He was not so stupid. She was finally happy, and he would be foolish to do something akin to shooting himself in the foot. He could not help but retort. “You might as well gouge this pair of eyes of yours since they are useless.”


  Rong Yan coolly looked at his lower half and said, “You might as well cut off your little brother since it’s useless too.”


  Chu Li, without changing his face, replied, “How could it be useless? It will make you extremely happy.”


  “Hmmph!” Rong Yan harrumphed. That jerkass.

  Taking advantage of the situation was something Chu Li often did to Rong Yan. When Rong Yan smiled, he immediately cupped her face and kissed her lips. He hungrily nipped at the sweetness that belonged to him while Rong Yan allowed him to. Chu Li and Fang Ying were thorns in her heart, and what could she do about it since she was in love with him? He had to choose. And while she was uncomfortable between the ambiguity between Fang Ying and him, she…


  Could not bear to leave him however much she wanted to.

  Although she did think of leaving Chu Li, it was even more so after he treated her that way. Her heart, however, did not follow her mind. If one was deeply in love with a person, she may have been willing enough to die in his hands.

  “Yan Yan…” Chu Li looked at her deeply. “Stop being difficult and sulking with me, please?”


  As they had never talked like this in a long time, the atmosphere was really good. Rong Yan could not help but miss it and deceived herself by not mentioning Fang Ying. She knew that he was unhappy every time he mentioned Fang Ying. She was the demon in his heart.

  “If you are not saying anything, I’ll take it as a yes.” Chu Li smiled as he brought her out of the conference hall. Chu Li said to Zhou Zheng, who was still around, “Ah Zheng, go check on Chen Yang, that chap.”


  “On it!”


  Chu Li brought Rong Yan back to his room on the third floor. Many people were staying there, and each room was similar to an apartment, each with their own kitchen. Once Chu Li brought Rong Yan back to his room, they straightaway headed for the kitchen.

  Rong Yan was baffled. What was he up to?

  “For what?”


  “What else can you do in the kitchen? Cook of course!”


  “…” Rong Yan was almost unable to catch her breath. To cook? At this hour? She looked at her watch. It was one in the morning…”Do you even have the heart to ask me to cook for you at this hour?”


  Chu Li became aggrieved and said, “Can’t you see that I have become skinnier? I did not eat well when you weren’t around.”


  Rong Yan looked at him from top to bottom. He had indeed become skinner, but… Was it of her concern? Who of the sane mind would make food at this hour? Was she present to fill his tummy?

  Rong Yan stared at Chu Li angrily while the latter turned away and opened the fridge. There was nothing else but eggs in the fridge. He paused for a moment and kissed Rong Yan’s face. “Yan Yan, I’ll get some ingredients from Bai Ye. Wait for me.”


  Before Rong Yan could reply, Chu Li disappeared. Rong Yan kicked the fridge violently, and the eggs in the fridge rattled. To think that Scheming Chu could think of getting ingredients from Bai Ye!

  As she sulked, the doorbell rang. The door should be locked from the inside. She frowned.

  “Brother Chu, I…” She opened the door to see Fang Ying, and Fang Ying, likewise, saw her. Fang Ying stopped mid-sentence and her face changed…