Ai Lei blinked.
"Senior, you didn't hesitate to offend Cosmos Group in order to save me. Of course I'll explain the whole story to you, every last detail."
She tested the waters. "But could you first tell me your honored name?"
"No."
Meng Chao refused.
"O-Okay!"
Ai Lei took a deep breath and decided to gamble. "My name is Ai Lei. I'm a reporter for Dragon City Light. You've heard of it, right?"
Of course Meng Chao had heard of Dragon City Light.
It was one of Dragon City's largest media groups.
Its stance had always been impartial. It belonged to neither the Nine Corporations nor any other faction, and its reporting was neutral, rigorous, detailed, and highly credible.
But Meng Chao gave no response.
He merely signaled for Ai Lei to continue with his eyes.
"Half a month ago, Dragon City Light received a tip from an insider. We heard that Cosmos Group's Red Creek Project concealed a shocking scandal—there were numerous illegal operations, benefit transfers, and backroom deals involved. The people implicated were at very high levels. Even quite a few famous members of the Shen family and heroes from the Monster War might have been caught up in it. So they sent me here to investigate."
Ai Lei said, "First, I interviewed Shen Yulin, the person in charge of the Red Creek Project, through public channels, and I discovered that he really did have a guilty conscience.
"After the interview, I secretly returned to Red Creek Gully and tried to infiltrate the crystal warehouse to inspect the actual storage of raw crystals. I hoped to photograph some crucial evidence or obtain testimony from employees at the grassroots level.
"Unexpectedly, just as I approached the crystal warehouse, before I found any clues, the entire warehouse was hit by