I agreed to be a kept man, but I'm still being punished by the system.

The Volvo S90 smoothly merged into the afternoon traffic, and the interior was completely silent.

The feeling of being so full and bloated after the meal was replaced by a growing sense of tension.

Su Man didn't look at him, but turned her head to the side, gazing at the tall buildings rushing past outside the window. Her cold and beautiful profile looked somewhat unpredictable in the sunlight.

The vehicle entered the underground parking lot of Junfu Hotel, and Lin Yang skillfully found an empty space and parked.

The two took the elevator directly to the magnificent hotel lobby.

The crystal chandelier casts its light onto the gleaming marble floor, while the air is filled with the scent of a luxurious fragrance.

A slightly overweight middle-aged man in a suit and vest was already waiting at the lobby entrance. Upon seeing Su Man, his face immediately lit up with a warm smile, and he quickly came forward to greet her.

"Ms. Su, hello. I'm Luo De, the lobby manager."

Su Man simply nodded slightly, indicating her purpose.

"Mr. Wang has already given me instructions." Lobby Manager Luo De bowed slightly, adopting an extremely humble posture. "I'll take you to the security department's monitoring room right away. The technicians are already waiting there."

"Um."

Manager Luo led the way, and the three of them walked through the lobby and headed towards the employee-only passage.

The security department's monitoring room is located on the basement level, with strict access control.

Upon entering the room, a smell mixed with the heat from electronic devices and dust hit you. Dozens of screens displayed real-time images of various corners of the hotel, and several server hosts emitted a low hum.

"This is Xiao Wang, a technician from our security department," Manager Luo introduced, pointing to a tall, thin young man sitting in front of a computer. "This is General Manager Su. Xiao Wang, just do as General Manager Su asks."

"Okay, Manager Luo."

Xiao Wang immediately stood up and nodded somewhat awkwardly to Su Man.

"Hello, Mr. Su."

Suman didn't offer any further pleasantries.

"Hello. Let's begin."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wang immediately sat back down at the computer, placed his hands on the keyboard, and waited for instructions.

"Mr. Su, which time period of surveillance footage would you like to check?"

At this moment, Lin Yang, who had been standing behind Su Man, spoke up. His voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet monitoring room.

"Excuse me... Brother Wang, I'd like to ask, does this surveillance footage cover all areas of the hotel?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wang subconsciously glanced at the man who was clearly younger than him, yet stood next to the female CEO.

Su Man immediately spoke, her tone calm yet leaving no room for argument.

"This is my assistant, Kobayashi. He's quite professional. You can do things his way."

"Mr. Lin, you can just call me Xiao Wang." Xiao Wang immediately understood and became even more respectful. "This system can only monitor the hotel's public areas, such as corridors, elevator lobbies, and the lobby. The guest rooms are the guests' private areas, and we do not have the right to monitor them."

Lin Yang nodded and continued asking questions, each one hitting the nail on the head.

"Can this surveillance video be deleted or modified?"

Xiao Wang shook his head and explained, "Our hotel's security system is directly connected to and registered with the police system. All surveillance footage is encrypted and backed up to the cloud. Without official authorization from the police station, no one can delete or modify the video; otherwise, an alarm will be triggered immediately."

Lin Yang felt more confident.

Great, this rules out the possibility that the video itself was tampered with.

"Brother Wang, thank you for your explanation."

Lin Yang's voice calmed down as he began to issue instructions.

"Please help me check the surveillance footage of the corridor outside room 1725. The time was after 2 a.m. on the 29th of last month."

"OK."

Xiao Wang's fingers flew across the keyboard, the screen switching rapidly before finally settling on the 17th-floor corridor. He precisely dragged the timeline to the specified date and time.

"Can you speed it up?"

"Can."

Xiao Wang activated the playback speed function, and the timeline on the screen began to scroll rapidly.

The corridor was deserted in the early hours of the morning, with only motion-sensor lights flickering on and off as the scene shifted.

The entire space was so quiet that only the hum of the server and the soft breathing of a few people could be heard.

Just as the timeline scrolled to 3:20 a.m., an anomaly appeared in the video.

The elevator doors opened, and two people dressed in black hoodies and black masks stepped out. It was impossible to tell whether they were male or female. They went straight to room 1725, and one of them took out a room card and swiped it to open the door.

A few seconds later, the two men carried out a young man wearing a white shirt who had lost consciousness.

That man was Lin Yang himself.

He was flanked by two people, his feet dragging on the ground, his head drooping limply, completely a shell to be manipulated.

"stop!"

Lin Yang gave a low shout.

Xiao Wang immediately pressed the pause button.

The image freezes, and Lin Yang stares at his unconscious self on the screen, a cold glint in his eyes.

He turned his head to look at Su Man beside him.

Su Man frowned, carefully examining the figures of the two men in black on the screen, and finally shook her head.

"I don't know him."

Lin Yang understood and continued to say to Xiao Wang, "Brother Wang, please help me retrieve the surveillance footage from the corridor outside room 2610 on the same day, starting at 3:20 AM."

Xiao Wang performed another series of operations, and soon, the image of the 26th-floor corridor appeared on another screen.

The same timeline, the same fast-forwarding.

Just five minutes later, the elevator doors opened again.

The two men in black, carrying the unconscious Lin Yang, appeared in the corridor on the 26th floor. They used the same method to open the door to room 2610 and dragged Lin Yang inside.

Less than five minutes later, two men in black came out of the room, but instead of leaving immediately, they stood guard at the doorway, one on the left and one on the right, like door gods.

What are they waiting for?

Lin Yang's heart tightened.

The timeline scrolled forward another ten minutes.

The elevator doors opened a second time, and a figure stepped out.

It was a woman wearing a large black round hat with the brim pulled low, black sunglasses that almost covered half her face, and a matching mask. She was wearing a beige dress.

She walked to the door of room 2610, and two men in black immediately opened the door for her.

The woman went inside.

She came out of there in less than five minutes.

Two men in black immediately followed behind her, and the three of them walked towards the elevator together.

As she passed under the camera and was about to leave the surveillance area, the woman seemed to raise her head slightly.

"stop!"

Lin Yang shouted again.

He stared intently at the enlarged, blurry figure on the screen.

The other person's disguise was too perfect. A black round hat, large sunglasses, and a black mask completely covered her face. The only way to tell that she was a woman was by her figure and clothing.

He looked at Su Man, whose gaze was also fixed on the screen, her eyes filled with doubt.

After a long while, she still shook her head.

"I don't know him."

Lin Yang's heart sank again.