I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

……

Before me was a long corridor, the floor of which was covered with soft Persian carpets.

The light shines through the exquisitely crafted crystal chandelier onto the magnificent interior decoration, making the corridor adorned with the portraits of the fourteen kings appear extremely noble.

The paintings hanging on the wall are portraits of the Asai family heads since the establishment of the Triangle Group. These heads all have the same deep eyes and straight noses.

Just like the girl standing under the portrait at this moment.

These ancestral genetic traits, which appear somewhat weak on their own faces, add a touch of aloofness to this young girl's delicate features, making them even more fitting.

"Miss Asai! Miss Asai!"

She heard a man panting behind her. Asai Ruriko, wearing a long dress, turned around and saw a man with a receding hairline running towards her through the corridor.

He was short and stout with short legs, making it very difficult for him to run.

“Miss Asai,” the man finally ran up to her, put his hand on his knee, and took a while to catch his breath.

A woman in a suit standing next to Ruriko Asai stepped forward and used her body to separate her from the man.

The woman had short black hair and was dressed neatly in a black suit, with white gloves on her hands, even though the weather wasn't particularly cold.

Upon seeing the woman's attire, the man couldn't help but shudder, for an absurd thought popped into his mind—

This outfit means that even after killing someone, all you need to do is burn the clothes, and you won't leave any clues.

Ruriko Asai's eyes sparkled as she glanced at the man and then asked:

"You are... Shinjiro's secretary?"

“Yes, you have a good memory. You even remember someone as insignificant as me.” Kasahara nodded and bowed repeatedly. “My name is Kasahara Makoto.”

Liuli said coldly, "What do you want by stopping me? You should know that people who dare to waste my time usually don't end up well."

After only two sentences, Kasahara was already sweating profusely. He quickly pulled a letter from his clothes and said, "I have something to give you."

Ruriko Asai didn't reach out. The woman in the suit next to her took the envelope from him, squeezed it all over to make sure there were no dangerous items inside, and then slowly opened it.

Kasahara watched from the side, his mind racing. This method was quite professional; some terrorists would put anthrax or something similar in the envelopes, which would be released into the air when the envelopes were torn open, causing infection.

The fact that Ruriko Asai is under such tight security suggests that the internal power struggle within the Triangle Group has reached an extremely intense stage.

After confirming that there were no problems, the woman in the suit handed the letter to Asai Ruriko, but Ruriko didn't even glance at it.

"Who sent you to bring this?"

Kasahara tensed up.

He had rehearsed in his mind many times what lines he should say in this situation, but when the moment came, he was still extremely nervous.

If a nobody like him were killed right here by the woman next to Ruriko Asai, his wife would receive news the next day that he had hanged himself in his office, and it wouldn't cause any stir in society.

“Yes, yes… it’s a…” Kasahara said with difficulty, “a Chinese man who asked me to deliver this letter to you.”

Upon hearing "Chinese," both Ruriko and the woman in the suit beside her were moved.

In that instant, the woman in the suit made her move, and the next second, Kasahara's head was pinned to the ground by a knee.

"I can't breathe! I'm just a deliveryman! I was forced into this!"

"Xiao Wu, let him go," Liu Li Zi said.

Kasahara's burden was immediately lightened considerably, but he still lay on the ground, not daring to stand up.

From this angle, all you can see are Asai Ruriko's black leather shoes. The high-top design has extremely thick soles with deep treads; stepping on them would definitely be excruciating.

Ruriko held the envelope with her slender fingers, glanced at it quickly, folded it, and put it inside her coat, saying:

What else did he say?

"He..." Kasahara Makoto, lying on the ground, racked his brains, trying his best to recall what else Chen Ya had told him, but ultimately found no valuable information.

He could only blurt out whatever came to mind:

“He asked me to meet him at a coffee shop in Shibuya. I asked him why he returned to Tokyo and whether he knew he was wanted by the corporation. He forced me to bring this letter to you, but I feel he can still contact me. If you want to arrest him, I can…”

"Click, click—"

The crisp sound of the shutter rang out, and Kasahara Makoto looked up in surprise, just in time to see Asai Ruriko with a cruel and smug smile on her face, snapping photos of him with her camera.

“Ms. Asai! You!” Kasahara Makoto looked incredulous.

Ruriko Asai laughed and said, "What's wrong? Keep talking! It looks really fun. I'm going to post the photos in the family group chat."

Large beads of sweat rolled down Kasahara Makoto's forehead.

He waited several days specifically to intercept Ruriko Asai in this corridor because there were no security cameras there.

If the photos were to reach Shinjiro Asai's nose, he would be unable to defend himself when confronted!

Kasahara knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "Miss Asai, I'm just a lowly part-time worker. I have to rely on this job to support my family. I have a daughter who is still in elementary school. Please spare my life!"

"Oh dear, why didn't you say so earlier? I had already sent it." There was not a trace of pity in Asai Ruriko's voice.

After saying that, she put away her phone and said to the woman in the suit beside her:

"Dance, let's go."

The two left quickly, leaving Kasahara Makoto on the ground whimpering like a dog.

……

Ruriko clutched the envelope, feeling the paper inside her coat lining gradually warming up.

Chen Ya arrived even faster than she had imagined.

Despite her repeated instructions in the letters she left behind not to come, he still came.

She guessed it.

The so-called relationship between "hostages and kidnappers" is actually just a fragile facade.

When he chased after them, he probably wasn't thinking about how to get the hostages back, but rather, "Who can tolerate their wife running away?"

Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on her face.

Her lips curled slightly upwards, and even when she had no expression, she looked like she was smiling. When she smiled, it had a mischievous, triumphant quality to it.

The letter contained only one line: "Contact us as before."

Given her current status, she certainly can't make phone calls directly; two years ago, they communicated online.

However, she does not plan to contact Chen Ya.

As she said when she left, this was her own business, and this time she wanted to handle it herself.

...Let's talk to him again when we can't solve the problem.

He deliberately framed Makoto Kasahara not simply because he enjoyed playing pranks.

Chen Ya specifically contacted her through Li Yuan to give her leverage, hoping to frame him and create suspicion within the local camp so she could profit from it.

The clever Ruriko had already calculated everything.

Mai Yayoi followed behind Ruriko Asai, remaining silent.

Besides being proficient in combat and firearms, her greatest strength is her "silence".

Ruriko Asai didn't know why she was teasing that man, but there must be a reason.

"Is the secret room ready?"

“Ready,” Mai Yayoi replied, bowing her head.

“Very good, take me there,” Asai Ruriko commanded.

Mai Yayoi pushed open a hidden door in the wall, and the two of them disappeared into it. A few minutes later, they appeared in a windowless room.

The room contained only a single high-backed sofa, a coffee table with red wine and a tablet, and a white projection screen hanging on the wall.

The next room was a simple server room, equipped with electromagnetic shielding devices, and the mainframes contained various virtual machines.

With layers of security, there is only one purpose: to ensure the absolute security of the network signal here. Apart from personally breaking in, there is no other technical means to detect what is being played here.

After sitting down on the sofa, Ruriko Asai picked up the tablet and started operating it. Soon, an image appeared on the screen.

This is a Chinese website, filled with Chinese characters that Yayoi Mai can't understand, and it seems to be live streaming.

The people in the video seem to be on some kind of show. There are four women and one man as guests. All the women are beautiful and have high looks. They are all chatting in Chinese, which she cannot understand.

Judging from the visuals alone, the interactions between the guests are so convincing that those unaware of the truth would envy the man, while for otaku, it's like science fiction.

After a long while, she finally couldn't help but ask:

"Miss, what is this?"

“A Chinese variety show,” Ruriko Asai stared at the screen with a dark expression.

Mai Yayoi couldn't help but ask, "What's the secret behind this program?"

"There's no mystery to it, it's just a pure entertainment program."

In the video, a girl is nudging the man with her elbow while laughing and joking.

Judging from Ruriko Asai's expression, she seemed even more serious.

Mai Yayoi, who had been holding back for a long time, finally couldn't contain herself and said:

"Miss, you went to all this trouble, making such a meticulous arrangement, just to see this?"

The cost of this escape room is around 2600 million yen. If you're only going to watch this show, that's incredibly extravagant.

Furthermore, what I don't understand about Yayoi Mai is how a young lady who was abducted to China for a year or two suddenly became so fascinated by Chinese culture. Can't this kind of program be watched in Japanese?

Just as I was wondering what was going on, Liuli suddenly stood up, pointed at the screen, and yelled:

"Too deceiving!"

"So you've expanded your harem to Tokyo, huh!"

"It's only been a few days, how come there are so many unfamiliar girls?!"

She was getting anxious. Yayoi had never seen Ruriko so anxious before, not even after she had gone through the initial struggles with Shinjiro and his wife and finally gained a foothold.

She was now quite curious—what exactly had the young lady gone through in the past two years?

……

Chapter 430 Who is the Real Clown?

Chen Ya and his group entered the NIX training center and happened to see Japanese trainees rehearsing.

There's a lyric in "The Queen of Kabukicho":

"Exiting JR Shinjuku Station from the east exit, there lies my garden, the grand amusement park Kabukicho..."

In fact, Shiina Ringo, who calls herself a "Shinjuku-style singer," never went to Kabukicho Ichiban-gai when she wrote this song.

At this very moment, in this arena soaked in tears and alcohol, in this new era's idol training ground, the trainees are giving this place a new meaning in this era with the liquid called sweat.

They leap, they sway, they lean against the Iron Mountain.

At this moment, they truly resembled the queens of Kabukicho.

Although they are all men.

Yu Xiaoxiao covered her mouth:

"So there are so many trainees in the training center!"

“That’s not all,” said the talent scout who brought them. “Our training center has 48 people still in the trainee stage, and this is just a small part of them.”

"Where are the others?" Yu Xiaoxiao asked.

“A group of them have already started working in sales,” the talent scout said. “A few others have taken leave, like Long Fan. That kid was so upset about being eliminated that he’s bedridden now, haha!”

Qin Yunshang stretched out her finger and ran it across the window of the dance studio. She noticed that there was a layer of condensation on the inside of the glass.

It must be because it was too hot indoors, causing condensation. You can imagine how hard these trainees work.

"They're just like parts in a factory," Lu Chujiu whispered from the side.

Qin Yunshang smiled and asked, "What kind of work do you usually do?"

The talent scout next to him replied, "There are bar performances, street performances, or small-scale underground commercial shows. They don't make much money, but for aspiring idols, they are important ways to make a living."