Two in One

Only after entering the soundproof interview room at the very back did Qiao Huan and Qiao Tang finally relax.

Qiao Tang whistled. "Kiddo, nice work this time!"

"So-so," Qiao Huan said, promptly lying flat. "I only went two days without sleep."

"Thanks for all your hard work. Let's have a good rest!"

What followed was the father and son's happiest, coziest...

Debriefing session.

The two mission machines never gave themselves a second of rest.

This whole scheme had slowly taken shape ever since Qiao Huan discovered Shi Xingzhou threatening Yue Lin with videos during the recording of "Deserted Island."

Qiao Huan had immediately switched frequencies and sent the intelligence to Qiao Tang.

Qiao Tang had contacted Yue Lin as quickly as possible, but Yue Lin hadn't dared admit the part Shi Xingzhou had played.

Of course, without a definitive statement, physical evidence was the safest option.

So, without needing to discuss it, father and son had settled on the same objective: find where Shi Xingzhou kept the videos.

After all, they contained the secrets of a sizeable chunk of the entertainment industry, so they had to be somewhere extremely secure.

During the recording of "Deserted Island," Qiao Tang had disguised himself as a cleaner and searched Shi Xingzhou's room, but found nothing.

That made the target clear.

They could only be in the luggage he had left with the Production Team while recording "Deserted Island."

But how were they supposed to get access to the Production Team?

A turning point came on the final day, after filming ended—after Shi Xingzhou had cursed and his public image had collapsed.

Yue Lin suddenly received a message from Shi Xingzhou, who actually wanted him to set up a scheme to get rid of Shi Lianyi and seize production and management control of the entire show!

Arranging contestants' starting locations was one thing, but now he wanted Yue Lin to run someone over...

Yue Lin was so frightened he couldn't sleep. No longer caring about saving face, he sought Qiao Tang out that very night and laid everything on the table.

Qiao Tang was shocked to hear it.

From buying dirt at the start, to having Jin Xiaopeng administer drugs in an attempt to harm Qiao Huan directly, to now being willing to strike at his own relative... Shi Xingzhou's methods of ruining Qiao Huan's reputation had grown more and more brazen!

Who would have thought this young man of only twenty-one could be twisted to such an extent!

Qiao Tang was still wondering how to warn Shi Lianyi when, unexpectedly, the formidable female producer went straight to the police herself.

As it turned out, Yue Lin's arrangements for the starting locations of several Star Radiance contestants, along with all the preferential treatment and instructions Shi Xingzhou had received on the show, had failed to escape Shi Lianyi's sharp eyes.

Shi Lianyi had shown no regard for her colleague's reputation and reported Yue Lin directly to the police.

That was how Qiao Tang and Shi Lianyi finally connected. Once they compared notes, they understood all of Shi Xingzhou's schemes.

And so the two old foxes, together with the terrified Yue Lin, had devised the scheme within a scheme that played out on the later livestream.

Qiao Tang had initially felt it wasn't quite right to use someone else's show like that, but Shi Lianyi readily agreed, saying that if she could do her part to clean up the entertainment industry, she would gladly stake even the money she had saved for her own coffin.

Shi Lianyi also handed over the luggage Shi Xingzhou had left with the Production Team to Qiao Tang. Sure enough, hundreds of videos were on Shi Xingzhou's backup phone, but cracking it took time, so Qiao Tang could only have the technical department make an identical, high-quality replica and return it to Shi Xingzhou's luggage, so as not to beat the grass and startle the snake.

The whole plan had originally been sailing smoothly, but the one unpredictable factor turned out to be Jin Xiaopeng.

Jin Xiaopeng's video was the first to be decrypted, and Qiao Tang used it as the basis for counseling him, but Jin Xiaopeng was somewhat insecure by nature and slow to come around.

So when Jin Xiaopeng failed to show up the day before the livestream, Qiao Tang hadn't initially thought it was too serious, but Qiao Huan insisted that he form a separate team to find him.

At the same time, the officer on duty at the "Qiao Huan Anti-Black Station" had grown increasingly sensitive after this period of "training" and successfully intercepted the middle school dirt spread by the water army Shi Xingzhou had hired. This reminded Qiao Huan why the surname "Bo" sounded familiar: it belonged to a middle school classmate of his. (Bo Yu's appearance and identifying information had naturally been embellished somewhat.)

The Qiao father and son suddenly understood another layer of Shi Xingzhou's scheme: he had also planned to turn around and accuse Qiao Huan of bullying!

As the contents of Shi Xingzhou's phone were gradually decrypted, they made the subsequent operational arrangements to rescue Jin Xiaopeng while investigating Between Life and Death.

The reason Qiao Huan was late to the livestream was that he had been making a final confirmation of Jin Xiaopeng's safety. Otherwise, he wouldn't have provoked Shi Xingzhou into exposing himself.

The original plan had been to end things once Shi Xingzhou was eliminated by his fans and mocked across the internet. That would have given the people at Between Life and Death enough courage to start exposing what they knew.

But under Shi Xingzhou's relentless pressure, Jin Xiaopeng had actually stepped forward at last and bravely exposed what had happened to him and Yue Lin, adding a little drama to the whole plan and speeding up its progress.

The only innocent victim in the whole plan was the editor of "Deserted Island," who had been forced to work overtime and edit two complete versions.

But he received a "Good Citizen" certificate and a bonus on top of his overtime pay, which was at least... some consolation.

After the two finished their debrief, they felt the situation was largely under control.

The case looked so easy to solve, but it had actually taken countless hours of painstaking effort from the father and son and the officers on the special task force.

With time on their hands, father and son began chatting about trainee life, jumping from one topic to another.

Qiao Tang asked with feigned casualness, "You've spent so long with the other three trainees from your class. What do you think of them?"

Qiao Huan's smile faded. He thought for a moment but didn't answer directly:

"There are so many rumors online, and they're not stupid. They probably think things are complicated in my family and want to keep their distance."

Qiao Tang stared at Qiao Huan's expression, stunned for a long moment.

He felt he hadn't raised a son, but a shell.

Exceptionally hard on the outside, as if protecting something within.

"Actually, I don't think they're that sort of people," Qiao Tang said, quietly pressing harder with his hands. "You could try being friends with them. People need friends, you know..."

But before Qiao Huan could answer, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

"Captain, reporting in. Two things!"

Qiao Tang instantly withdrew his massaging hands. "Come in!"

An officer entered and saluted. "First, we just got a call. Luo Mi, the female idol who hanged herself, has woken up. She's in no serious condition, and we can interview her tomorrow!"

Qiao Huan's eyes lit up: !

Who cared about friends or no friends!

If Luo Mi had been harmed by Shi Xingzhou, he could finish his undercover assignment tomorrow, say goodbye to Star Radiance, and welcome graduation!

Then the officer took a slip of paper from his pocket.

"There's also this..."

Qiao Tang and Qiao Huan took the slip and saw that it was densely covered in writing.

Clearly, it was some kind of code.

"I can't understand what it says either," the officer explained. "It's a very old method of encrypted internal communication. If I hadn't seen some old-timers in certain units use it when I was young, I would've thought it was scrap paper..."

"Internal?" Qiao Tang grew alert at once. "Where was it found?"

"Uh... at reception, on the floor by the storage cubbies. In other words, if it doesn't belong to Buffing, then—"

The two followed the officer's gaze and looked outside.

Zhuo Yang, Ye Yiwei, and Bai Jike had all finished giving their statements and were standing outside the room, looking anxiously in.

"—one of them must have dropped it."

#Shi Xingzhou the top malignant tumor in the domestic entertainment industry#

#Unedited photos of Shi Xingzhou's arrest#

#Shi Xingzhou and his fans' prison-worthy moves#

As the trending searches about Shi Xingzhou continued to ferment overnight, more and more appeared. Even though plenty of other revelations implicated other artists, Shi Xingzhou still firmly dominated the top ten trending searches.

Such outstanding results were inseparable from his years of hard work. After ten years of drinking ice, he had finally become a top star.

The internet would always remember you, A-Zhou.

Qiao Huan scrolled through his phone in the ride-hailing car. Reading the various netizens' revelations, both true and false, he felt they knew quite a bit more than he did as a member of the special task force.

But he didn't particularly care.

Because he was about to graduate!

He had specifically asked Pei Dahai for leave, saying he was sick and needed to go to the hospital.

Pei Dahai was unusually accommodating today. He immediately returned Qiao Huan's phone and even told him to be careful on the way.

When he arrived at the hospital entrance, Qiao Huan took a deep breath.

What filled the air wasn't the smell of disinfectant, but the fragrance of a graduation certificate!

However, in the storage room where they met, Captain Qiao greeted him with a beaming smile.

Qiao Huan's heart immediately skipped a beat.

It was over.

Qiao Tang stepped forward and gave Qiao Huan an enthusiastic hug. "Buffing, first, the good news. Luo Mi really isn't in any serious physical condition. She can be discharged very soon!"

Qiao Huan had already anticipated what was coming next. He said calmly, "And?"

"Oh, whose child is this? So clever!" Qiao Tang rubbed his son's face. "We questioned Luo Mi before you came. Guess what? The waters are deeper than we thought!"

Then Qiao Tang's expression turned serious again, and he recounted the whole matter.

Initially, as the city's Criminal Investigation Unit, they had reviewed the entire case immediately upon receiving the report from the police station responsible for Luo Mi's neighborhood.

Luo Mi was a trainee signed to Star Radiance, but half a month ago, she had been invited to a drinking party at a restaurant on the outskirts of City A.

From the restaurant's surveillance footage, Qiao Tang and the others discovered that besides Luo Mi, the participants had been Star Radiance's business department director, its finance department director, and a manager from Qiancheng Capital's industry department. All of them had gone abroad after attending the drinking party, and their whereabouts were unknown.

Half a month later, Luo Mi was found hanged at home. Fortunately, a neighbor had noticed something was wrong, and she was saved.

Based on the various clues, Qiao Tang had initially concluded that this was a sex-for-money transaction between Star Radiance and Qiancheng Capital. Luo Mi's statement just now had also confirmed that the participants in the drinking party were the people listed above.

But things weren't that simple.

Luo Mi said there had been two other people at the party. They had never joined the table, instead sitting on the sofa in the private room the whole time. She hadn't even gotten a clear look at their faces.

And their status, judging from the words of the directors from the two companies present, was clearly extraordinary.

After that, Luo Mi hadn't seen the two men's faces before drinking until she lost consciousness, and didn't even know their names. All she knew was that the next day, she discovered she had been violated. Tormented by the experience, she took the extreme step half a month later.

In short, it had indeed been a sex-for-money transaction, but the two parties weren't Star Radiance and Qiancheng.

Qiancheng and Star Radiance had actually been on the same side, making a deal with those two people.

"That also explains why everyone who attended the drinking party, including Jiang Renbao's father, went abroad afterward," Qiao Tang said, wearing a rare expression of frustration. "We really should have noticed that suspicious detail. If it was a routine transaction, why did they need to run?"

Qiao Huan nodded. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Is Luo Mi doing all right?"

Qiao Tang understood the unspoken meaning behind Qiao Huan's question and answered directly, "I don't think she could answer a question like 'Why were you chosen for this transaction?' so I didn't ask at all."

"Good." Qiao Huan frowned. "That question shouldn't be hers to answer. It should be ours."

Father and son both thought of the biggest question surrounding the transaction.

If the stakes were so high, why had they chosen Luo Mi, someone with so little influence?

Only by starting from that angle would they have a chance of discovering the two mysterious people's identities.

But if Luo Mi hadn't brought up a question like that herself, it meant she didn't know either.

And if the police pressed her, they would surely force Luo Mi, the victim, to think over the traumatic experience again and again, even asking herself questions like, "Was I chosen because something was wrong with me?"

The victim had already been hurt once, and that was enough. Qiao Tang would rather work harder himself than let her live under such a shadow.

"So?" Qiao Tang ventured.

"There's no 'so.' We keep working," Qiao Huan said lazily, leaning against the wall. "Star Radiance and Qiancheng took quite a hit from this business with Shi Xingzhou. Whatever deal they made before, I believe they'll start putting it into motion soon."

"I think the higher-ups at Star Radiance and Qiancheng might not have known about the whole Between Life and Death affair Shi Xingzhou set up himself," Qiao Tang said. "Perhaps he saw someone else doing it and thought he could copy them, or perhaps someone deliberately had him do it to divert attention. But Shi Xingzhou would rather have his sentence increased than give us another statement, so finding the answer is up to you."

"Okay," Qiao Huan said.

"Fortunately, the little fish in the pond have all been fished out. It's time for the big fish to take the bait."

Top floor of the Starlight Entertainment building, president's office.

The air conditioning in the room seemed to be turned up too high. Pei Dahai was actually trembling, losing his composure.

"So, you only found out about Shi Xingzhou yesterday too?"

The person behind the desk didn't look at Pei Dahai, merely gazing quietly at the scenery outside the window. Yet his voice carried such pressure that Pei Dahai, a top agent, didn't dare speak for a moment.

"Hmm?" Shi Bing turned his head, a hint of a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, President Shi! I failed to notice. It was all my negligence!" Pei Dahai's voice trembled. "I-I-I-I'll do everything I can to find the best legal team for your son and get his sentence reduced!"

"No need." Shi Bing took a sip of tea, its cool fragrance wafting through the air. "Let him stay in there. I don't have such a useless son, either."

"...Yes."

"Pei Dahai, you should know that you're the most capable agent I have," Shi Bing said, lifting his eyes. "So, what do you plan to do now?"

"I've already started suppressing the trending searches!" Pei Dahai pulled a stack of documents from inside his jacket. "And here's the plan for our next step. Our internal talent competition isn't over yet, and I know the company is counting entirely on OSOK, so I've made preparations!"

Shi Bing was in no hurry to take the proposal. He merely nodded. "Don't make me question your ability."

Cold sweat poured down Pei Dahai's face. "For this plan, I called in some old contacts. Not only can we directly ride the wave of 'Deserted Island's' popularity, but it's also particularly positive. It'll definitely minimize the negative impact on us caused by your so... by Shi Xingzhou!"

"Oh? May I take a look?"

A cool male voice drifted out from the shadows in the corner.

Pei Dahai was startled.

He hadn't even known someone was standing there!

The man walked over to him, and a decadent yet chilly, sharp scent of woody perfume instantly assailed Pei Dahai's nose.

The man's skin was sickly pale. The fingers that took the proposal had distinct knuckles, and his blue-green veins stood out starkly.

Pei Dahai hesitantly looked toward Shi Bing, but Shi Bing was smiling at the man.

His expression was filled with approval he had never shown anyone else.

"Not bad." The man's eyes swept quickly over the proposal. "Start moving it forward immediately. Today would be best. I'll contact a few people to help you too. It's not a big deal anyway."

Then he gave a cold snort. "Funny, really. My younger brother, who was so determined to enter the entertainment industry and prove himself, ended up in the slammer before evil capitalists like us."

After thinking it over, Qiao Huan and Qiao Tang decided to wait and see what Star Radiance did next before making any specific plans.

In other words, Qiao Huan had to maintain his identity as a trainee.

Qiao Huan didn't show any excessive dissatisfaction with this. Adapting to changing circumstances was normal for undercover work.

He had only forced Qiao Tang to give him another half-hour shoulder and neck massage, that was all.

Once they had finished discussing that matter, Qiao Tang finally found an opportunity to take the slip of paper from his pocket.

"Damn it!" Qiao Tang shook his fist. "This is absolutely infuriating!"

Seeing that his father had crumpled and rubbed the slip for just one night until it looked as though it had been aged to the early Ming dynasty, Qiao Huan asked, "Do you really hate it that much...?"

"Of course! This was clearly a code they used internally in the past, but I asked everyone I knew in the relevant departments, and they all said they hadn't sent anyone undercover!" Qiao Tang's back teeth itched. "But there's definitely something off about one of those three: Zhuo Yang, Ye Yiwei, or Bai Jike! I bet those old geezers are afraid of losing face, so they don't dare admit it!"

"So?"

"So, Buffing, you have to find out who that person is! We've already narrowed it down so much!" Qiao Tang shoved the note into Qiao Huan's hand. "Once you expose this person's identity, I'm going to laugh at those two little old men in charge right to their faces!"

Qiao Huan: "..."

Qiao Huan: "Out with it. How much did you bet them?"

"Uh..." Seeing his act ruthlessly exposed, Qiao Tang immediately put on a fawning smile. "Not much... just that if I don't root out their undercover agent within a month, I'll forfeit my entire pension to those two old geezers. That's all."

Qiao Huan: "???"

Sensing that things were going badly, Qiao Tang immediately ran out of the storeroom, calling back as he ran, "Oh, right, I might have gotten a little carried away when we made the bet, so your pension went into the pot too. Those two old men and I really are fated enemies who can't help crossing paths..."

He ran so fast that the final word even echoed, reverberating mercilessly through the cramped storeroom.

By the time Qiao Huan came to his senses, Captain Qiao, still vigorous despite his age, had already run several hundred meters away.

It wasn't until Qiao Huan returned to Star Radiance that the echo of that final word gradually faded.

Reason and emotion took turns holding sway in his mind.

Reason: How could he possibly root out the other undercover agent with nothing but a note?

Emotion: Once he found the bastard who was the undercover agent, he would, he absolutely would...

Holy shit?

At the sight before him, Qiao Huan wondered for a second whether he had already gone mad.

Could his obsession with finding the undercover agent have grown so deep that it had taken physical form?

On both sides of the corridor where dorm room 404 was located.

Men in training uniforms were everywhere, and they all turned to look at Qiao Huan in unison.

"You're finally back! Are you feeling all right?"

Zhuo Yang's voice, eager yet tinged with concern, weary yet excited, pulled Qiao Huan back to reality.

Qiao Huan pointed at the trainees' outfits. "This is...?"

"The second phase of OSOK's internal audition project!" Zhuo Yang shoved a military pack into Qiao Huan's hands. "We're leaving for the Azure Dragon Base now! The rest of the internal auditions will be held there in the form of a partial military training camp!"

"I have to say, I think this kind of project is extremely educational! Not only can it demonstrate our determination never to swim in the same muddy waters as the likes of Shi Xingzhou, it can also profoundly temper our artists' strength of will and love for their country!"

"Well, A-Huan! Can you feel the call of life in uniform? Aren't you looking forward to it? Doesn't it get your blood pumping? Aren't you excited?"

Qiao Huan quickly recovered his senses.

Yes, his blood was pumping, and he was excited.

Nothing could be more convenient than searching for another undercover agent at a closed-off base.