Inside the room, the air was thick with the scent of withered pomelo blossoms and heavy cigarette smoke. Shen Zhe sat at a weathered wooden desk, his gaze as sharp and cold as a razor blade. Under the flickering, jaundiced light, what lay before him were not the blueprints of warm, family homes like before, but the detailed drafts of the "Centerpoint" mega-project—the lucrative bait that Lu Phong was desperate to seize at any cost.
Shen Zhe had stopped drawing dream houses. The hands that once created architectural masterpieces were now meticulously sketching a lethal trap.
"Come here, Yan," he said, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly rasp that carried the authority of a ruler in the shadows.
Lin Yan approached, her soft hands gently kneading his shoulders, but her eyes were glued to the frantic lines on the blueprint. Shen Zhe grabbed her wrist, placing a draft filled with cryptic symbols—those only a genius could decipher—into her small palm.
"This design has a hidden structural flaw in the foundation—a fatal vulnerability that only I can recognize. If built according to this, the building will look magnificent for the first two years, but after that, the entire structure will suffer a severe, irreversible collapse. I want you to find a way to approach Lu Phong. Play the role of a grieving 'widow' who managed to steal this secret from my office before I... died."
Lin Yan tilted her head, a smile on her lips that was both enchanting and provocative. "Do you trust me that much, Zhe? Aren't you afraid I'll take this blueprint and run away with Lu Phong, leaving you behind in this godforsaken hole?"
Shen Zhe abruptly pulled her into his lap, his hand tightening around her waist until she let out a soft gasp. He stared directly into her eyes, his gaze brimming with manic possessiveness and absolute understanding.
"You won't go anywhere. Because the world out there is too dull for you. Aside from me, no one can satisfy the madness inside you. And aside from you, there is no one else left on this earth who truly considers a 'dead' man like me to be alive."
Lin Yan let out a laugh, her kiss on his forehead as burning as an unholy vow. "You're right. We are two halves of one rotten soul."
The next day, the charade officially began. Lin Yan dressed magnificently in a mysterious black gown, her makeup glamorous yet retaining the fragile, melancholy air of a woman who had just lost everything. She met Lu Phong at a secluded café tucked deep within a deserted alley.
Back in the darkened room, Shen Zhe wore headphones, all his senses focused on the listening device hidden on Lin Yan's person. He heard Lu Phong's hurried footsteps; he heard the man's vile voice pouring honeyed words into her ear, promising a regal life to lure her away from that "wretched room."
Every word Lu Phong uttered was like a lit match thrown into a powder keg within Shen Zhe's heart. He slammed his hand onto the desk, his teeth grinding with an audible creak. A cocktail of jealousy mixed with the dark euphoria of imminent revenge made his blood boil.
"You're doing great, Yan..." he whispered into the micro-receiver clipped to her ear, his voice like a demon's murmur. "Now, cry. Let him believe he is your one and only savior."
Through the earpiece, Shen Zhe heard Lin Yan's dramatic sobbing, followed immediately by the rustle of fabric—it seemed Lu Phong couldn't resist pulling her close to comfort her.
Shen Zhe closed his eyes, imagining himself breaking each of Lu Phong's fingers one by one once the man met his downfall. He realized with horror that he was enjoying this in a morbid way. He loved how Lin Yan went out to "hunt" for him, and loved even more how she always returned to his side every night to report her spoils like a loyal hound.
That evening, Lin Yan returned with a radiant, triumphant glow. She tossed a thick stack of deposit money from Lu Phong onto the bed as if it were mere trash.
"He took the bait completely, Zhe. He thinks he just bought the whole world for the measly price of a coward's soul."
Shen Zhe didn't glance at the money for even a second. He roughly pulled her down, beginning to strip away every piece of jewelry and every layer of clothing that Lu Phong might have touched. He wanted to use his own warmth and possessive scent to scrub away every trace of the other man from her body. That night, in the darkness, Lin Yan's laughter and Shen Zhe's ragged breaths intertwined, composing a funeral march for their approaching enemy.