Chapter 64: The Stage Is Set

Ye Sangsang's sudden action and the way she opened the door caught Zhang Xiaoxiao completely off guard. Zhang stood frozen in place, and it wasn't until Ye Sangsang had already pushed the door open that she finally reacted to what was happening.

Following that came utter disbelief. To expose the other person so directly—did she have no fear of retaliation?

Was this truly Lawyer Qin Qi, renowned for his caution and composure? This move was far too impulsive!

Unfortunately, the system did not prompt Ye Sangsang that she had violated her character setting (OOC). The hyper-intelligence of the game instance remained completely silent.

"You... you've been outside the door this whole time?" Wang Ziyang, startled to his feet, took a step back with a guilty conscience.

Realizing he could not afford to lose the upper hand, he puffed out his chest slightly and leaned forward involuntarily, adopting a confident posture directed at Ye Sangsang in an attempt to win back the psychological advantage.

Ye Sangsang looked at him with a profound gaze. After a long moment, her expression softened, and she nodded slowly as she watched him. "Yes. Every single word of what just happened outside, I heard completely, without missing a single syllable."

"What do you want?" Wang Ziyang swallowed hard, lowering his voice.

Ye Sangsang simply stared at him in silence, keeping her eyes locked onto his.

Her unblinking gaze made Wang Ziyang's skin crawl. He kept darting his eyes away, unable to understand why she was looking at him with such an expression.

Observing his reaction, Ye Sangsang finally withdrew her intense gaze. "It's fine. Don't be afraid. I won't do anything to you."

Her tone was ambiguous, tinged with an indiscernible indulgence.

It gave the eerie illusion that no matter what he did, she would never act against his interests.

A heavy silence descended upon the room. This was a development none of them had anticipated, completely transcending everyone's imagination.

Even Zhang Xiaoxiao stood with her mouth wide open and an expression of utter disbelief, signaling that all of this had far surpassed her wildest expectations.

[Damn, oh damn. If I were Zhang Xiaoxiao, I'd probably be flown straight into orbit by this sheer absurdity...]

[Sister Sang, this is my first time admiring your acting skills. Why haven't you entered the entertainment industry? This vague, hazy affection you're portraying gives me the creeps and makes my skin crawl, yet somehow it doesn't feel out of character at all.]

[Sister Sang's move has completely flattened Zhang Xiaoxiao, hahahaha. But since the game system hasn't given an OOC warning, I'll just assume this is all reasonable. Still, I have to ask—Sister Sang, where on earth did you deduce this from?! Why couldn't I taste even a hint that it would develop this way?]

The live streaming room was flooded with viewers reacting to Ye Sangsang's stunt, and the stream's popularity skyrocketed.

The crucial point was that with a move this outrageous, the game's hyper-intelligence should have triggered an OOC warning. Strangely, however, the system remained completely dormant.

And what did total silence mean? It meant the system considered Ye Sangsang's actions entirely rational.

The game system had never experienced bugs in this regard, so the audience chose to trust it.

Therefore, the viewers were left wondering: why on earth was it developing this way?

After a prolonged silence in the room, someone finally spoke.

It was Wang Ziyang. A look of sudden realization crossed his eyes as he stared at Ye Sangsang. "How did you find out..."

"An eyewitness," Ye Sangsang replied.

That was merely a reason.

In truth, ever since their very first meeting at the detention center, she had recognized that the young man was deliberately trying to seduce her.

The calculated lowering of the head, followed by raising it to reveal a handsome face, accompanied by the fluttering ripples in his gaze—

Every single detail spoke of deliberate enticement.

It was just that at the time, she hadn't been certain whether he was genuinely trying to seduce a middle-aged man, because it all seemed rather absurd.

Not until she confirmed Qin Qi's homosexuality and worked backward did she understand his motive for seducing him.

It was nothing more than an attempt to clear his name through Qin Qi's hands, step by step washing away his suspicion until he could walk out of the detention center completely blameless.

All Ye Sangsang had done was go with the flow, beginning her investigation while waiting for the eyewitness arranged by the other party to step onto the stage.

Realizing that she was expected to play along with the performance, Ye Sangsang chose to cooperate.

Once she successfully brought him out, she obtained the truth just as she wished.

As for why she stepped forward personally, that remained her secret.

She did not know every single detail, but she knew this was the right way to act.

Ye Sangsang's words made Wang Ziyang's heart leap into his throat. He looked at her with suspicion. "Whatever your purpose is, or if you have any demands, just name them."

"No demands. Just that from now on, I'll be your lawyer, and we can meet up from time to time," Ye Sangsang said with a smile, adding, "You have to trust me."

Wang Ziyang's expression shifted slightly. Only then did he truly perceive what her actual objective was.

A trace of dread flickered across his face, for he was not a homosexual, and he simply could not accept the person before him.

Seeing this, Ye Sangsang offered reassurance: "We'll just be friends. I really like you as a friend."

At the same time, an expression of infatuation and adoration flashed across her face.

Beneath his lowered eyelids, a flash of disgust crossed Wang Ziyang's eyes, yet he dared not cross Ye Sangsang.

Moreover, her status as a lawyer could genuinely help him immensely.

Qin Qi was a person of immense utility.

Most importantly, the other party was willing to be utilized by him of her own free will, even knowing full well that he was the actual perpetrator of the car accident.

Such a useful tool should certainly not be discarded.

After weighing the pros and cons slightly, he forced a smile at Ye Sangsang, gratitude appearing on his face.

"Thank you. Aside from my parents, you're the first person who has ever been this good to me." His eyes brimmed with happiness, and his words sounded thoroughly sincere.

As for how much of it was genuine, only he himself knew.

Ye Sangsang said nothing more, merely gazing at him. "It's fine. You can completely trust me, after all..."

With that, her gaze once again drifted uncontrollably toward his face, laden with infatuation.

Wang Ziyang stiffened momentarily under her gaze, but forced himself to endure it without a word.

"Let's continue drinking," Wang Ziyang said after a moment, taking the initiative to break the awkwardness.

Ye Sangsang shook her head, adopting the mild gentleness of an elder. "No, I should head back first. There are still some matters left to attend to. Once you have free time, we can get together again."

"Alright," Wang Ziyang replied, an uncontainable hint of eagerness creeping into his voice.

Ye Sangsang turned and walked away, taking Zhang Xiaoxiao with her.

Unable to believe everything that had just transpired, Zhang Xiaoxiao alternated her gaze between Ye Sangsang and Wang Ziyang.

Before the private room door behind them could even close, she eagerly blurted out in a loud voice, "Lawyer Qin, to think you actually like someone like this, and you're even shielding him! I am so disappointed in you. How could you be this kind of person..."

Behind her, the hand reaching to close the door paused at those words, and then pulled the door shut with a slightly firmer tug.

Ye Sangsang continued walking forward without stopping for a second because of those words.

It wasn't until she got into the car and sat in the passenger seat that she looked at Zhang Xiaoxiao, who was lingering outside.

"Are you not getting in? Or do you want me to drive drunk as well?" she asked in a cold, indifferent tone.

Zhang Xiaoxiao felt a surge of anger upon hearing this, followed by a sudden realization of what had just happened.

She remembered that this was her job, and coupled with how harshly she had just criticized Ye Sangsang—coming back to her senses now, she realized she had just chewed out her own boss, and her boss held the absolute power of life and death over her career!

The terrifying thought that she might be fired washed over her, replacing her anger with an awkward, miserable expression.

Climbing into the car, she recalled Wang Ziyang's supremely arrogant demeanor from moments ago.

Thinking of her impending unemployment, her anger flared anew until she finally couldn't hold it in any longer. "Lawyer Qin, are you really planning to let him off? Wang Ziyang is absolute scum."

She would never have imagined that Qin Qi could actually be so blinded by love!

If not for the fact that she was still an intern and they maintained a professional superior-subordinate relationship, she would have loved to scream at her: Please have some better standards!

"You're sticking your nose into things that don't concern you. The case is already settled, with both human and physical evidence complete. Even if I went and said something now, what difference would it make? You're a lawyer, not a police officer; you need to learn to turn a blind eye to certain things." Though her voice was cold, the meaning behind her words made it clear: she was determined to protect Wang Ziyang to the end.

Zhang Xiaoxiao was utterly shocked by Ye Sangsang's shamelessness. She simply could not believe this was the renowned Qin Qi she had worshiped for so long within the industry.

Her voice trembled as she asked, "Lawyer Qin, I... I truly never expected that you could actually be this kind of person."

"What kind of person? In this cesspool of fame and fortune, isn't everyone this kind of person?" Ye Sangsang raised her eyes, looking at Zhang Xiaoxiao's reflection, her expression mysterious and unfathomable.

Zhang Xiaoxiao's eyes turned red with fury, and she clamped her mouth shut without uttering another word.

[Putting myself in Zhang Xiaoxiao's shoes, I'd be furious to death. This is no different from an idol's reputation collapsing.]

[Actually, whether it's celebrities or anyone else, it's best not to get too close. Once you get close, the rose-tinted glasses shatter for sure.]

[I don't know why Sister Sang is doing this, but I have a strong feeling there's a huge plot twist coming later.]

Ye Sangsang remained expressionless, offering no further remarks.

As for Zhang Xiaoxiao's words, they carried zero lethality to her.

She did not skip the timeline; instead, she chose to return to Qin Qi's apartment.

Looking around the immaculate, spotless room, a sudden thought struck her: did Qin Qi own more than just this one property?

This apartment lacked personal touches; it felt like a venue prepared purely for a specific purpose.

With that thought, Ye Sangsang began searching through Qin Qi's belongings.

As a senior law firm partner, Qin Qi, just as Ye Sangsang suspected, owned another residence listed in her asset documents.

Located roughly ten kilometers away, the distance wasn't particularly far.

The amount of alcohol she had consumed earlier was negligible and far from enough to make her drunk, so Ye Sangsang decided to hail a taxi and go take a look.

The taxi ride took about half an hour to cover the ten-odd kilometers, and by the time Ye Sangsang arrived, it was already nine-thirty in the evening.

Looking up at the residential complex, she found it to be a relatively older neighborhood consisting entirely of walk-up apartment buildings.

She paused for a moment, then walked inside following the system's prompts.

The address was on the fourth floor. With steady strides, Ye Sangsang climbed up to the fourth floor in one breath.

The door was secured with a digital keypad; all she needed to do was punch in the code.

Checking the password, Ye Sangsang entered it with practiced familiarity.

The interior of the apartment was pitch black. She felt around for the light switch in the spot where ordinary families usually placed them, and successfully flicked it on.

With a few crisp clicks, the entire apartment illuminated.

Unlike the cold, sterile perfection of the large luxury flat, this place clearly possessed a much stronger sense of domestic life.

Perhaps because it had been left empty for a couple of weeks, a thin layer of dust covered the furniture.

Ye Sangsang closed the door behind her and walked in slowly. The apartment was packed with various items, its decor leaning toward warm yellow tones.

It was a modest three-bedroom, one-living-room unit. The living room was compact, entirely visible at a single glance.

She proceeded to check the other areas; the bedrooms still contained made beds.

There were no signs of anything abnormal.

Finally, she stepped into the apartment's study.

Compared to the tidy, sparse study in the large flat, this one was cluttered with various documents scattered in a disorderly fashion.

She guessed that this must have been home back when she first started practicing law.

Ye Sangsang sat down and began meticulously searching through the desk and drawers piece by piece.

Up to this point, none of the full-immersion game instances had ever been simple. They all possessed a certain degree of difficulty, some astonishingly so. And Ye Sangsang's current mission in this instance was to uncover the true culprit behind the "Truth" case.