The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

Shangguan Jinghong put down the screwdriver in his hand and leaned against the edge of the desk, arms crossed. "Ma Jinli. The property manager of Keda Hotel, nominally from Qian Property, but actually a henchman of Zuo Ning, responsible for dirty work."

The stalking, surveillance, threats, intimidation, and protection money collection on Zuo Ning's side were all managed by this guy surnamed Ma. He kept a group of thugs under his command, and the fat guy and the skinny guy were two of them.

Lin Feng then reviewed the text message and WeChat chat history. The conversation between the skinny guy and Ma Jinli was very simple, mostly consisting of instructions such as "location," "follow," and "don't lose them," with a few candid photos occasionally interspersed.

Lin Feng found no record of sending the video or the flash photo in any of the chat logs.

The last message was sent this evening. The skinny guy said, "They went into the hot spring resort, and we're waiting outside." Ma Jinli replied, "Keep an eye on them."

"It didn't go through." Lin Feng put his phone on the table and let out a long sigh.

Nearly an hour has passed since the skinny guy took the photos. If he really did send them out, there would be traces in the chat history.

He followed Ye Qinghan's car all the way to the unfinished building and secretly filmed the whole process, but before he could send the results to anyone, Lin Feng caught up with him and killed him.

"Give me your phone." Shangguan Jinghong held out her hand. Lin Feng handed her the phone, and she walked to a metal cabinet in the corner of the office, opened the cabinet door, and took out a palm-sized strong magnet.

I rubbed the magnet against the back of the phone for a few minutes, then pressed the power button, but the screen didn't respond at all; the phone was completely bricked.

Then she took a screwdriver from the toolbox, disassembled the phone case, removed the motherboard, and used a heat gun to blow on the memory chip for a while until the chip surface started to smoke and deform. Then she turned off the heat gun and threw the remains into a glass of water.

"Have Kui Zi take this chip to the junkyard tomorrow and shred it up with a bunch of electronic waste. Even if Zuo Ning's people have incredible skills, they won't be able to recover a single byte of data from it. You can message Director Ye now."

Lin Feng leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

So much happened that day: the thrilling incident at the hot spring resort, Shen Qianqian's belated birthday celebration, the erotic and terrifying scene at the unfinished building, the dull thud of a brick being smashed, and the pungent smell of mud when Kui Zi washed away the blood.

These images flooded back, making his temples throb. He took a deep breath to suppress the jumbled thoughts in his mind, took out his phone, and sent a message to Ye Qinghan: "The photos have been processed and have not been leaked. We'll discuss the details later. Get some rest." After sending the message, he put his phone back in his pocket, and when he stood up, the pain from the wound on the sole of his foot made him gasp.

"Here's the first-aid kit. Sit down." Shangguan Jinghong took out a white plastic first-aid kit from his desk drawer. Inside, there was iodine, cotton swabs, gauze, and bandages.

She pulled Lin Feng to sit on the sofa, squatted down, lifted his foot and placed it on her knee, and gently wiped the wound on the sole of his foot with a cotton swab dipped in iodine.

Her movements were very light and slow, a stark contrast to her usual cold tone. The skin on the soles of her feet was cut in several places by gravel, the deepest cut being on her heel, with the skin turned outwards and the edges already turning white.

"This was truly a case of carelessness," Lin Feng said, his voice ringing out clearly in the now quiet office. "I never expected this kid to be so bold, daring to follow us to such a remote place all by himself. Even more unexpected was that he brought professional equipment. Night vision, optical zoom—it's better than any camera I've ever seen. This equipment isn't something a small-time thug could get on his own; it must have been provided by Zuo Ning. If he hadn't forgotten to turn off the flash, we wouldn't even know we were being filmed. If this gets into Zuo Ning's hands, Ye Qinghan is finished, and so am I. Dragon Scale is just starting out; it can't withstand this kind of impact."

Shangguan Jinghong bandaged the wound on the sole of his foot with gauze, and then gently put his foot back on the ground.

He closed the first-aid kit and put it back in the drawer, then sat down next to her, crossing his legs and tapping his fingers lightly on his knees. "It's good that you're aware of this. When people are in good times for too long, their vigilance naturally decreases. The billiard hall made money, the logistics company stabilized, and things calmed down with Zuo Ning for a few days, so you thought everything was on track. This incident is a wake-up call—Zuo Ning hasn't given up; he's just waiting for an opportunity. His men have disappeared this time, and he'll find out soon enough. He'll either send more people or change his strategy. Whatever he does, we can't give him another chance."

"What are your plans for dealing with Zuo Ning?"

"Let's not alert them yet." Shangguan Jinghong's fingers paused on his knee. "Ma Jinli will notice the skinny guy's disappearance by tomorrow at the latest. If a living person suddenly becomes unreachable and the car he was following disappears, he definitely knows something's happened. But he has no evidence—the body will be burned tonight, the car will be crushed to scrap metal tomorrow, and the phone will be a pile of fragments. He can only guess, he can't figure out the truth. The more calm and collected we remain, the less they'll know about us."

She stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, turning her back to Lin Feng, and looked at the night view of Hehai City outside the window.

The lights of ships on the river moved slowly in the night, and the outline of the bridge spanning the river appeared and disappeared in the mist in the distance. "But this matter can't be left like this. Zuo Ning sent people to follow you and take photos of you, and almost got hold of your and Ye Qinghan's secrets. This is no longer a test; it's an attack on our lifeline. I thought we could slowly fight him, testing each other and wearing each other down. Now I don't want to wait anymore. Since he crossed the line first, we should let him taste the same bitterness."

Lin Feng stood up from the sofa and walked behind her. His foot, bandaged, didn't hurt as much on the carpet, but he still walked with a limp.

Looking at Shangguan Jinghong's reflection in the glass, his pale face, cold expression, and black long-sleeved shirt wrapped tightly around his body.

But there was something very familiar shining in the pupils beneath those single eyelids.

"Should we investigate Ma Jinli's background first?"

"Smart." Shangguan Jinghong turned around, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window. "Ma Jinli is Zuo Ning's confidant, and he's in charge of things that can't be done in the light of day."

How many people does he employ? What shady dealings does the Keda Hotel engage in? Does he have any incriminating evidence against him?

These all need to be understood clearly.

I'll arrange this; Kui Zi and Biao Ge will handle it. We'll decide how to proceed once we've thoroughly investigated his background.

Until then, you only need to do one thing: protect yourself.

Lin Feng looked down at the bandage on his foot. "I'll be careful."

After saying that, I turned to look at Sister Hong and said, "My hands are shaking so badly right now. Is there any way to relieve it?"

The main problem is that this is the first time he has encountered something like this, and right now his mind is filled with images of a thin, bloody face. He was still too tense to react.

This will be especially intense!

Hongjie seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. She slowly walked forward, hugged him from the front, and said, "Stay here tonight! I'll stay with you..."