You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

The meeting room was deathly silent.

Those corporate executives with net worths exceeding 100 million were all sitting upright like elementary school students, even deliberately slowing their breathing, looking at the young man standing in front of Ye Qingcheng with awe.

Jack and his seven so-called elite bodyguards lowered their heads, wishing they could disappear into the ground.

That brief minute of darkness has become an eternal nightmare and a source of shame for their professional careers.

Ye Qingcheng's chest heaved violently.

Those phoenix eyes, which always seemed to see through everything, were now filled with emotions of extreme complexity.

Shock, horror, apprehension... and a hint of fear of an unknown power that she herself was unaware of.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the barely perceptible tremor in her fingertips, and regained her queenly composure.

"Get out, everyone."

Her voice regained its cool tone, but it lacked some of its previous arrogance.

As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if he had been granted a pardon.

The executives and bodyguards fled the suffocating conference room as if they were escaping.

As Jack passed by Lin Chen, his body stiffened instinctively. He then gave Lin Chen a complex look, a mixture of fear and humiliation, before slinking away with his men.

Soon, only Lin Chen and Ye Qingcheng remained in the huge conference room.

Ye Qingcheng walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looked down at the traffic flowing like matchboxes, and remained silent for a long time.

She needs time to process what just happened and rebuild her worldview, which had already been shattered.

a long time.

She turned around and gestured for Lin Chen to proceed.

"Consultant Lin, please come to my office to talk."

……

The CEO's office.

There are no ostentatious gold and silver decorations here, only a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf covering an entire wall and a modern ink painting with sharp brushstrokes, showcasing the owner's restrained yet powerful control.

A faint, cool fragrance, belonging to Ye Qingcheng, filled the air.

Lin Chen unceremoniously sank into the expensive leather sofa, curiously looking around.

What happened next would probably shock the employees of the Ye Group.

Their queen, Ye Qingcheng, who never delegated anything to others and valued time above all else, actually went to the bar herself, took out her treasured Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao tea, and used an exquisite set of purple clay teaware to personally brew a cup of tea for Lin Chen.

She carried the teacup, walked up to Lin Chen, bent down slightly, and placed the teacup on the coffee table in front of him.

This gesture carries a sense of solemnity, as if one has humbled oneself.

"Advisor Lin, I was presumptuous before."

Ye Qingcheng's voice carried a sincere apology.

"I apologize for my previous rudeness and arrogance."

The strong only respect the stronger.

In just forty seconds, Lin Chen earned the utmost respect from this queen of Jiangcheng.

Lin Chen picked up the teacup, blew on it to cool it down, and drank it all in one gulp.

He smacked his lips.

"Good tea."

His casual attitude caused Ye Qingcheng's lips to twitch almost imperceptibly, but she ultimately said nothing.

She picked up a black envelope from the desk and handed it over with a solemn expression.

"This is what I received three days ago."

Lin Chen took the envelope.

The envelope was pure black with a unique texture; it felt cool and slippery to the touch.

He didn't rush to open it, but first brought the envelope to his nose and took a gentle sniff.

[Divine Insight], now activated!

Countless pieces of information, down to the molecular level, flooded into his brain.

He opened the envelope and took out the only card inside.

The card was also black, with a bizarre clown mask painted in blood-red paint in the very center.

The mask's mouth was exaggeratedly split all the way to the ears, as if it were laughing silently, exuding a deep-seated madness and evil.

Below the mask was a line of emotionless Song typeface text.

Tonight at midnight, I will retrieve "Tears of the Angel".

The signature consisted of only one word.

【Joker】

When Ye Qingcheng saw the mask, a deep sense of disgust and apprehension flashed in her eyes.

She stretched out her slender finger and pointed to her snow-white, long neck.

There, she wore a necklace made of countless tiny pink diamonds.

The necklace pendant is an enormous, perfectly teardrop-shaped, top-quality pink diamond.

Under the light, the pink diamond refracted a dreamlike luster, as if it had truly condensed a tear from an angel.

"This is the 'Tears of an Angel,' a family heirloom of the Ye family and a symbol of the Ye Group."

Ye Qingcheng's voice carried a chill.

"It was once valued at over 300 million US dollars at Christie's auction house in London, making it priceless."

"I'm certain that this madman called 'The Joker' is targeting it tonight."

She looked at Lin Chen with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Consultant Lin, do you have a way to stop him?"

However, Lin Chen seemed not to hear her question.

His gaze remained fixed on the black card, his eyes growing sharper and deeper with each passing moment.

It's as if you want to pierce through that thin paper and see the truth hidden behind it.

He put down the card and shook his head.

"Mr. Ye, you're wrong."

"What?"

Ye Qingcheng was puzzled.

Lin Chen stood up and paced around the office. His demeanor instantly changed from lazy to oppressive.

He held up two fingers and picked up the card.

"First, besides the smell of the paper itself, there is a very faint, almost imperceptible bitter almond scent on this letter paper."

"Bitter almonds?"

Ye Qingcheng frowned slightly, clearly not understanding what this meant.

Lin Chen's eyes turned cold.

"In the field of criminal investigation, the bitter almond smell is the signature odor of cyanide."

"This is a highly toxic substance that can kill a person within seconds."

Ye Qingcheng's face paled instantly.

Lin Chen's finger pointed to the clown mask again.

"Secondly, the red pigment used to paint this mask, and the ink used to print the line of text below, are also quite unique."

He paused, lowering his voice even further.

"This ink contains excessive levels of lead and mercury, and is usually only used in one place—small workshops that specialize in printing 'death notices' or yellow paper for sacrificial rites."

"As for the fishy smell mixed in with the ink smell, which is extremely difficult to distinguish, it is the smell of deep-sea fish oil."

"Many top assassins have a habit of taking high-purity deep-sea fish oil for a long time in order to maintain their nerve reaction speed and eyesight."

Cyanide!

Death notice!

Top assassin!

Every word struck Ye Qingcheng's heart like a hammer blow!

She felt her breathing becoming difficult.

Lin Chen slowly turned around, step by step approaching her until he stood in front of her.

The two were less than half a meter apart, and Lin Chen could even smell the cool fragrance on her.

He stared intently at Ye Qingcheng's phoenix eyes, which were slightly widened in shock, and said, word by word:

"Third, and most importantly."

"The code name 'Joker' is classified as S-level danger on Interpol's Red Notice list. There are at least eighty to a hundred politicians and wealthy businessmen who have died at his hands."

"He's an assassin, not a thief."

Lin Chen's voice delivered the final conclusion in the empty office.

"So, Mr. Ye."

"What he's going to take tonight isn't the necklace around your neck at all."

"What he wants to take..."

"It's your fate!"