Chapter 53: His Fortress, Her Weakness

"Clack—"

The laptop slipped from her fingertips, and its dull thud against the hardwood floor felt like a heavy hammer striking Xu Yuan straight in the heart.

In a single instant, the world lost all sound and color.

Only that infinitely magnified photograph remained, spinning and plunging endlessly before her eyes like an invitation card sent straight from hell.

In the photograph was her mother.

The woman who always smiled at her and said, "Mom is fine, just take good care of yourself," was sitting all alone on a hospital bench, her gaze hollow and her face deeply haggard.

The newspaper caught in the wind on her lap displayed a date that read like a massive, malicious sneer.

[Today].

So, while she had been completely unaware, while she had believed that everything was gradually getting better, her mother had already been silently enduring all of this, all by herself.

And she had known nothing.

"Yuan Yuan!"

Lin Feifei's panicked scream seemed to come from a distant world as she lunged forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Xu Yuan's instantly ice-cold and rigid body.

"Don't look! Don't believe it! This is definitely photoshopped! That bastard intentionally photoshopped it to provoke you!"

Lin Feifei stammered incoherently in comfort, not daring to look at the photograph herself for fear that she wouldn't be able to hold back and would rush out right this second to fight Wen Ran to the death.

Xu Yuan did not react.

She was like a puppet whose soul had been extracted, letting Lin Feifei hold her while all the light in her pretty almond-shaped eyes extinguished.

"Buzz—Buzz—"

The phone discarded to the side suddenly vibrated persistently.

Dancing across the screen was a name she knew better than anyone else.

[Jiang Yi]

Xu Yuan's pupils finally registered a trace of faint fluctuation. As if scalded, she abruptly pushed Lin Feifei away, scrambling with hands and knees to grab the phone.

Her fingers trembled violently, swiping several times before she finally managed to answer the call.

"I'm downstairs."

Jiang Yi's voice came through the electrical currents, deep and steady, carrying a power capable of instantly soothing the human heart.

He didn't ask what had happened.

He simply used the simplest and most direct way to tell her that he was here.

"Jiang Yi..."

Xu Yuan began, her voice broken beyond recognition as tears gushed out uncontrollably, falling like broken beads.

"My mom..."

She managed only these three words before she could speak no further, leaving behind only muffled, heartbreaking sobs she could no longer suppress.

On the other end of the line, a dead silence fell.

A few seconds later, Jiang Yi's voice sounded once again, resolute and without a shred of hesitation: "Put on your coat and come down. I'm waiting for you downstairs."

Ending the call as if she had found her backbone, Xu Yuan hastily wiped her face, snatched a coat from the wardrobe and slipped it on, then pulled an equally worried Lin Feifei toward the door.

...

In the dead of night, the air downstairs at the women's dormitory was chillingly cold.

Jiang Yi stood beneath the massive camphor tree at the dormitory entrance, his figure somewhat fractured by the mottled streetlights. He wasn't leaning against anything, standing rigidly upright instead, like a sharp sword about to be unsheathed, radiating a restless and dangerous aura.

The moment he saw Xu Yuan and Lin Feifei rush out of the dormitory building, he strode forward to meet them.

When he saw Xu Yuan's bloodless, tear-soaked face, his entire aura instantly turned ice-cold, and a terrifying storm churned within his bottomless eyes.

He asked nothing, merely removing his own coat and wrapping it unconditionally around Xu Yuan's slender frame.

"Get in the car!" Lin Feifei reacted swiftly, pressing the unlock button on her red sports car as the headlights flashed twice in the distance. She pulled open the driver's side door first, "I'll drive!"

Without hesitation, Jiang Yi pulled open the rear door, gently shielding the still-dazed Xu Yuan into the back seat before climbing in after her, securely enclosing her between himself and the door in an absolute posture of protection.

Inside the car, Jiang Yi immediately dialed Lu Xingyu's number and pressed speakerphone.

The call was answered almost instantaneously.

"Boss?" Lu Xingyu's voice still carried a trace of sleepiness from just being woken up.

"Something's happened." Jiang Yi's voice was as cold as ice. "Wen Ran has found Xu Yuan's mother."

On the other end of the line, Lu Xingyu's breathing instantly vanished, replaced a few seconds later by a flurry of rapid keystrokes.

"Clack-clack-clack—"

The sound was like the prelude to a battle hymn, urgent and resolute.

Sitting in the back seat, half-enveloped in Jiang Yi's embrace, Xu Yuan looked at the anger-filled profile of Lin Feifei in the driver's seat and felt Jiang Yi's steady heartbeat and reassuring warmth beside her. The heart once filled with fear and despair finally welcomed a trace of warmth.

She was not alone.

She had them.

"I need to know Wen Ran's current location." Xu Yuan spoke, her voice hoarse, devoid of crying now and left with only an icy composure.

"Received." Lu Xingyu's voice came through the earpiece, the keystrokes growing even faster.

Less than a minute passed.

"Found him." Lu Xingyu's voice arrived through the receiver, calm and precise. "Binhai University, South Campus, Star Lake Club. He went in half an hour ago, alone, driving a white Maserati, license plate number..."

"That's enough." Jiang Yi interrupted him coldly.

Ignoring Lin Feifei in the driver's seat, he turned his head slightly, his gaze locked firmly onto the face of Xu Yuan beside him, his eyes asking a question while seeking confirmation.

"I'm going to find him." Xu Yuan met his gaze, pronouncing every single word clearly and resolutely.

Jiang Yi raised his head, looked at Lin Feifei ahead, and uttered a single word: "Let's go."

Without another word, Lin Feifei slammed her foot down on the gas pedal.

The red sports car emitted a high-pitched engine roar, streaking like lightning that tore through the night sky as it sped toward the Star Lake Club.

...

The club's massive doors, crafted from pure copper and engraved with intricate patterns, slowly opened before them.

Warm lighting, melodious classical music, and the upper-class atmosphere in the air mixing the scents of cigars and red wine rushed forward to greet them.

Xu Yuan walked at the very front, with Jiang Yi trailing half a step behind her.

Her gaze, acting like a precision radar, rapidly swept across the entire hall before locking firmly onto the booth by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the lake.

Wen Ran was sitting right there.

Dressed in a well-tailored white suit and holding a glass of red wine, he was gently swirling it with effortless elegance.

He seemed to have anticipated their arrival long ago, and a faint, gentle smile even lingered on his face.

Just like that, across half the hall from a distance, he raised his glass toward them.

Like a hunter holding all the winning cards, admiring the foolish prey that had voluntarily delivered itself to his doorstep.

Xu Yuan withdrew her gaze, lifted her feet, and walked straight toward him.

Her high heels clicked rhythmically against the pristine marble floor in a crisp, determined tattoo.

Every single step felt as though it were treading on the heartbeat of everyone present.

Finally, Xu Yuan stopped directly in front of Wen Ran.

Looking down at the man who had destroyed everything she had, she spoke.