Li Tianyao’s expression eased slightly. "Do your own business, and don’t pry into things you shouldn’t!"
Having said that, he paid no mind to Li Qingqing’s expression and went straight upstairs.
After returning to the study, Li Tianyao waved his hand, and a virtual screen lit up. Four rooms appeared on the screen, each with a person inside. Soon, soone entered and delivered a brightly colored drink to each of the four rooms.
Li Tianyao took the microphone, his voice sounding simultaneously in all four rooms. "Gu Shifang, drink the beverage!"
In Room One, Su Siming looked up at the surveillance cara in the corner. "I’m not Gu Shifang. I’m Su Siming, the young master of the Su Family in Luocheng. You’ve got the wrong person. Let go quickly, or my dad will definitely not let you get away with this."
Liang Chen in Room Two also looked up at the surveillance cara. "Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong person! My na is Liang Chen, not Gu Shifang."
In Room Three, Ya Zhuo said, "Excuse , you might have mistaken for soone else. My na is Ya Zhuo. I’m a surgeon."
In Room Four, Ling Xiao snapped, "Are you sick or sothing? I’m not Gu Shifang! Hurry up and let out. If you’re too slow and my boss finds out, you’re done for."
Li Tianyao pressed the intercom button for Room Four. "Who is your boss?"
"An... Li Tianyao! Li Tianyao, the head of the Li Family in Shangjing City!" Ling Xiao announced, his face beaming with pride.
Li Tianyao stared at him for a few seconds, then exited the one-on-one communication mode. "Since you say you’re not Gu Shifang, go ahead and drink it!"
None of the four knew the others existed. Hearing Li Tianyao’s words, each man assud the command was directed solely at him. Yet, all four made the sa movent: they retreated.
He was telling them to drink the beverage regardless of whether they were Gu Shifang or not. If there was nothing wrong with it, that would be truly unbelievable!
Seeing that none of the four were drinking, Li Tianyao chuckled. "Drink it, and you’ll get a quick death. But if you don’t..."
Suddenly, projections appeared on the wall: Ice Lake, lava, wolf packs, snake pits! Terrifying images flashed one by one.
"If you don’t drink, I’ll first throw you into the Ice Lake. If you survive that, I’ll toss you onto the lava to roast until you sll appetizing, and then I’ll feed you to the wolf pack!"
"What the hell, you’re a psycho!" Su Siming was the first to shout. "Who the hell are you? If you’ve got any guts, tell your na!"
"You don’t know who I am?"
Su Siming grew angry. "How would I know? You’re just so coward skulking in the shadows! Just you wait. Once I get out of here, I’ll skin you alive!"
Liang Chen in Room Two silently watched the images. "What you’re doing is illegal. Even if you manage to hide, my family will spare no effort to find . Eventually, you will be brought to justice."
In Room Three, Ya Zhuo adjusted his glasses. "May I ask why you chose ? Is it because I resemble that Gu Shifang? If so, I hope you can clearly distinguish that I am Ya Zhuo, not Gu Shifang."
In Room Four, Ling Xiao retorted, "You dare kill one of Li Tianyao’s n? Fine, go ahead and kill ! If I die, Li Tianyao will definitely tear you limb from limb! I’m telling you, I’m one of Li Tianyao’s most valued subordinates!"
Four n, four different personalities, yet their reactions were fundantally the sa: none of them believed they would actually be treated this way.
So then, Li Tianyao pressed a button.
The floors of the four rooms simultaneously collapsed downward, and all four n plunged into the water below. The shockingly cold lake water instantly engulfed them. As soon as they hit the water, all four began to struggle. But the water was freezing, and their clothes, far from thin, quickly beca heavy, slowing their movents.
Then, the bottle was once again lowered in front of each of the four n. Their captor’s intention was clear: drink the poison or freeze to death.
Enraged, Su Siming slapped the bottle of poison away.
Liang Chen pursed his lips, paddling desperately in the water, trying to escape the Ice Lake.
Ya Zhuo and Ling Xiao made the sa choice. They completely ignored the bottle of poison and, without hesitation, swam with all their might.
Not one of the four chose the poison.
Li Tianyao furrowed his brows. Could his judgnt have been wrong? Were none of these four Gu Shifang? After all, if Gu Shifang had died, he could have been reborn in soone else’s body; he wouldn’t need to endure such tornt. Or was there sothing different this ti?
The icy water was bone-chilling. Ling Xiao, exhausted from thrashing about, raised a hand and fumbled with sothing on his arm. It was a prosthetic, one An Yan had fitted for him! It was made from the most advanced materials!
「Half-past ten.」
「Luocheng.」
As An Yan was preparing for bed, she received a ssage on her phone: [Good night.]
It was from Li Tianyao.
She initially wanted to reply, but after so thought, she rembered her current difficult persona. Not replying for no reason was standard procedure for that, wasn’t it?
An Yan placed her phone on the nightstand and turned off the light to sleep.
「The next morning ca.」
At the breakfast table, An Yan didn’t see An Duxuan. "Hasn’t Second Brother woken up yet?"
"He said he had so matters to attend to and left early this morning."
"Oh!" An Yan acknowledged.
After breakfast, An Yaoluo took on the task of taking An Yan to school.
As soon as she entered the classroom, An Yan heard her classmates discussing:
"Have you heard? A journalist from ’dicine Under Heaven’ ca to our school! The principal, professors, and our class advisor all went to the small eting room to et with them."
"Do you think it’s about the paper submissions? After all, both research groups in our class submitted their papers to ’dicine Under Heaven’."
"Could be! ’dicine Under Heaven’ probably sent soone because they received two high-quality papers from our class."
"I suddenly feel so proud of our class! Even though I’m not in one of the research groups."
Other students also congratulated An Yan and An Shing. An Yan thanked them politely, while An Shing deliberately looked away.
The people from ’dicine Under Heaven’ weren’t here because the papers were well-written. It was because the two papers were highly similar, and they needed to determine which one was genuine. Normally, in such situations, the editorial departnt would simply reject both. But they must have considered the papers too valuable, which is why they wanted to investigate. No matter. This had nothing to do with her today! Still, seeing An Yan’s blissfully ignorant happiness, she found herself quite looking forward to what was coming. She couldn’t wait to see An Yan’s reaction when she heard her paper was suspected of plagiarism!
An Yan sat down at her desk, and Mu Enyu imdiately leaned over, excited. "Did you get a notification? Are they here because of our paper?"
An Yan smiled. "I don’t know."
Mu Enyu’s excitent instantly faded. "You don’t know?"
Mu Enyu sensed sothing was wrong. Normally, if their paper had been accepted, the editorial departnt would have contacted them, wouldn’t they? And looking at An Shing’s group—they were usually so flamboyant, but today, none of them were saying a word.
Suddenly, Mu Enyu grabbed An Yan’s hand. "An Yan, I think sothing’s not right. Do you think An Shing and her group are up to sothing?"
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