Chapter 47: A Gentle Declaration of War

The doctor’s words—“that will trigger acute myocardial infarction”—were like a venom-coated, ice-cold key, instantly unlocking the door to the hell Xu Yuan had never dared to touch in the depths of her mind.

All the clues snapped together in a frenzy at this very moment.

Wen Ran’s pointed reference to "Plan B" during the trial.

The phone call inquiring about her father just before the celebration banquet.

And now, this sudden and bizarre heart attack.

This was no accident, no coincidence. This was murder.

A silent murder orchestrated by Wen Ran.

He didn't even need to dirty his own hands. All he had to do was bribe a prison guard or a fellow inmate to slip those two seemingly harmless drugs into her father’s food or water.

Then, he could sit gracefully in some high-end café just like this, smiling as he watched her and Jiang Yi plunge into the abyss of eternal damnation.

He wasn't just aiming to break Jiang Yi's heart—he was going to use the life of the person she loved most to break hers!

"Ah—!"

An unprecedented, icy fury erupted like a volcano from the depths of Xu Yuan's chest. She violently pushed Jiang Yi away, turning like a lioness driven to the desperate edge, and spun around to charge out of the hospital.

She was going to find Wen Ran! She was going to kill that bastard!

Yet before she could take two steps, she was grabbed from behind by a pair of iron-vise hands.

"Let go of me!" She struggled frantically, her voice sharp and hoarse with rage and grief. "Jiang Yi! Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

"Calm down!" Jiang Yi embraced her tightly from behind, imprisoning her within his arms. His voice was steady and forceful with an intensity never heard before. "Xu Yuan! What can you possibly do if you go to him now?!"

"What can I do?!" Xu Yuan's tears poured forth as she pounded hysterically against Jiang Yi's chest with her fists. "I can't do anything! I can only stand by and watch my father lie in there! I can only watch that scumbag get away with it! I'm completely useless! I can't even protect my own father!"

All of her strength and pretense completely crumbled away in this instant.

She wept like a lost child.

Jiang Yi said nothing more. He simply let her vent and beat against him, then drew her closer into his arms with a gesture akin to an embrace.

His chest was lean yet warm, acting like a harbor capable of withstanding the winds and snows of the entire world.

After who knows how long, Xu Yuan finally cried herself out of strength and screamed herself hoarse.

She leaned limply against Jiang Yi's chest, her whole body still trembling uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry..." She buried her face in his chest, her voice muffled and thick with nasal resonance. "I... I lost control."

"It's fine." Jiang Yi looked down at the crown of fluffy hair resting against him, a tenderness slipping into his voice that even he hadn't noticed. "I know that feeling."

"Because ten years ago, I wanted to kill the people who destroyed my family, just like you do now."

Xu Yuan’s body stiffened abruptly.

Slowly, she raised her head to look at him.

In those eyes of his, usually covered in frost, there now surged a profound pain and a shared, empathetic sorrow she had never witnessed before.

"But Xu Yuan," he looked directly into her eyes, speaking every single word with utmost earnestness, "anger cannot kill a demon."

"Only by being calmer, smarter, and more ruthless than him can you send him straight to hell with your own hands."

His words struck like a thunderbolt, violently crashing into the ruins of Xu Yuan's mind, which had already been burned to ashes by hatred.

That's right, how could she have forgotten?

She was not alone. She still had him—this boy who had once been driven to the very edge of desperation just like her.

"Leader! Junior!"

At that moment, Lin Feifei and Lu Xingyu came running over, out of breath.

Seeing the two of them locked in an embrace, they tacitly came to a halt.

"How is the situation?" Lin Feifei asked, looking at Xu Yuan’s red, swollen eyes with a gaze full of worry.

Xu Yuan slowly straightened up from Jiang Yi's arms.

Wiping away her tears, she recounted the doctor's words to them word for word.

"What?! Drug-induced?!" Lu Xingyu was the first to leap up. "That is damn well murder!"

"Call the police! We're calling the police right now!" Lin Feifei trembled with rage.

"It's useless." Jiang Yi shook his head, his voice having returned to an icy calmness. "There is no evidence. We don't even know who administered the drugs."

"Then... what do we do?" Lu Xingyu panicked. "Are we just going to let it go?"

"Of course we aren't going to let it go."

Xu Yuan spoke up.

Her voice remained hoarse, yet every trace of trembling had vanished, replaced by a spine-chilling, icy composure.

She raised her head, her gaze passing through the cold glass door and landing on her father lying in the hospital bed.

Then she turned to look at Jiang Yi, at Lin Feifei, and at Lu Xingyu.

She looked at this small, makeshift team of hers.

"Lin Feifei," she looked at Lin Feifei first, issuing her initial command, "I need you to use every single connection your family has to help me track down that middle-aged woman who called me. I want to know who she is, who her husband is, and whether they have any connection to Wen Ran."

"Leave it to me!" Lin Feifei patted her chest, an unprecedented seriousness on her face. "If my brother won't help me, I'll tell my sister-in-law where he hides his secret stash of money!"

"Lu Xingyu," Xu Yuan turned her sharp gaze to him next. "I need you to immediately build a secure internal information-sharing platform and write a data-correlation analysis program. Every bit of information Feifei digs up will be transmitted to you first. I need you to find the most hidden thread connecting seemingly unrelated people and events."

"No problem!" Lu Xingyu nodded instantly, his eyes flashing with excitement and fighting spirit. "Give me half a day! I guarantee I'll build you a military-grade confidential system!"

Finally, Xu Yuan's gaze settled on Jiang Yi.

She looked into those dark, fathomless eyes of his.

"Jiang Yi," she said, enunciating each word clearly, "I need you to do one thing for me."

"A thing that only you can do."

The lighting in the hospital corridor was cold and glaring, casting a distorted glow upon everyone's faces.

Xu Yuan's declaration—"a thing that only you can do"—acted like a stone tossed into a deep lake, stirring ripples through the dead silence of the air.

Lin Feifei and Lu Xingyu both held their breath, fixing their gaze on her and Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi looked back at her. Those dark, bottomless eyes held not a shred of surprise, only a profound, unfathomable tranquility, as if saying: Speak, I am listening.

"Wen Ran's weak point isn't us; it's his father, Wen Zhenghua." Xu Yuan's voice was as calm as an unruffled pool, like a general analyzing a battlefield. "Wen Zhenghua is a star entrepreneur and philanthropist in Binhai City. What he values most is his reputation and his flawless heir, Wen Ran."