Lu Ziming was dragged into a dimly lit private room, the stench of smoke and cheap liquor from the underground casino clinging to his clothes. Under Li Sijue's cold gaze, the swaggering arrogance that had once charmed and deceived Bai Chenxi shattered instantly. Faced with damning evidence and suffocating pressure, his composure collapsed. He dropped to his knees, blubbering like a broken man.
"Yes—it was me! I just—I couldn't stand it! She got that role, those resources… while I was left behind!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as he clutched at the hem of Li Sijue's trouser leg like a drowning man. "I only wanted to ruin her reputation, scare her! That note about the child—it was just to spook her. I didn't touch the harness, I swear! I didn't know about that!"
Li Sijue's expression didn't change. He stood like a blade drawn, silent, waiting.
Lu Ziming's voice cracked further, desperation gnawing away at the last of his pride. "It—it was Zhao Qian! She's the one who kept whispering in my ear, saying Bai Chenxi must have crawled into bed with someone powerful to get ahead… She pushed me, told me she deserved the spotlight, not that washed-up has-been!"
Bai Chenxi's hands clenched so tightly her nails cut crescents into her palms. "Zhao Qian…" She savored the name like poison on her tongue, hatred twisting deeper. Yet even as fury burned, doubt coiled in her gut. Did Zhao Qian really have the skill—or the audacity—to orchestrate something as precise and lethal as the harness sabotage?
Li Sijue gave a faint flick of his wrist. The guards seized Lu Ziming, dragging his quivering, sobbing form out of the room. His fate didn't need to be spoken aloud.
Turning back, Li Sijue's gaze settled on Bai Chenxi. "Zhao Qian, I'll deal with. But she's not working alone."
He reached for his tablet, tapped it awake, and slid it across the table. A file glowed on the screen—an internal profile, complete with headshot. A man with slicked-back hair and gold-rimmed glasses.
Bai Chenxi's heart jolted. "It's him…" She remembered too clearly—the vice president from Xingyao Media, the very man who had questioned her "background risks" during the audition.
"Vice President Wang," Li Sijue confirmed, his tone clipped. "Recently, Zhao Qian has been seen in his company far too often."
Bai Chenxi frowned, confusion slicing through her anger. "But why? I've never crossed him. Why would he target me?"
Li Sijue's expression darkened, his voice edged with steel. "This isn't about you. Xingyao is riddled with factions. My arrival—my authority—hasn't pleased everyone. You're the actress I elevated, against all odds. To break you… is to challenge me."
The realization struck cold. Bai Chenxi drew a sharp breath. She wasn't just a casualty of petty rivalry anymore—she was a pawn, caught in the crosshairs of a power struggle that reached into the marrow of the industry itself.
As the weight of this truth settled, Li Sijue's chief aide rushed in, his face pale. In his hand, a sealed envelope. He placed it into Li Sijue's grip with the gravity of delivering a verdict.
"President Li. We've found something—about the Bojue Hotel, Room 1028." His voice was taut. "Three years ago, that night… the surveillance was deliberately tampered with. A blackout window, carefully engineered."
Li Sijue's eyes narrowed as he scanned the report, his usual composure cracking into a flash of lethal sharpness. His grip on the paper tightened, the edges crumpling.
"There's more," the aide pressed on. "In cross-checking the guest lists before and after that blackout, one name stands out. A name you know."
Bai Chenxi's breath caught in her throat as she watched his face shift.
Li Sijue lifted his gaze to hers, his expression layered, unreadable—sharp as a blade, heavy as thunder. His voice, when it came, was low, deliberate.
"Zhao Qian was there. She was at the Bojue Hotel that night."