Wang Qiong took out a slim cigarette, lit it, and blew a smoke ring.
The taboo surrounding their identities always brought a different kind of thrill and pleasure, drawing people into its spell.
But to her, that thrill and pleasure amounted to nothing more than a vulgar indulgence.
Something far more sophisticated, far more irresistible, was a game called power!
Only apex predators like her, Zhou Yi, and Fu Xueqian qualified to play that game.
Whether they were officials in Qingning's Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government or people like Xiang Qiushi, Chu Yuzhen, and Xiang Yicong, they were nothing more than pawns to be commanded, traded, and sacrificed.
And now, she intended to use those pawns to provoke a dispute between Zhou Yi and Fu Xueqian and intensify their conflict.
Zhou Yi had come to Qingning with a mandate to oversee and restrain Fu Xueqian. Given Fu Xueqian's domineering nature, he would never meekly submit to someone else's oversight. The two were already at odds.
All she needed to do now was fan the flames once or twice, and Zhou Yi and Fu Xueqian would fight each other to the death.
Ultimately, her family still called the shots in Qingning!
Zhou Yi soon received a report from Xu Jin, Deputy Detachment Captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. Xiang Yicong had been found, but when questioned, he merely said that his father's arrest had devastated him, so he had shut himself away in the villa on the mountain. His stepmother had been looking after him for the past month, and his supposed disappearance was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
Zhou Yi frowned, picked up the phone, and called Chen Zeyu, the Municipal Party Secretary's principal secretary. "Hello, Secretary Chen. Sorry for the trouble, but could you check whether Secretary