Chapter 176: Stolen Footage

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Wang Zhu barely managed to send off the endlessly grateful Huang Hongbo when he was locked out of his room by Guan Yingying, who demanded he leave immediately.

Peering through the door, he noticed this woman had changed into a completely unflattering sportswear set at some point. Calculating coldly, Wang Zhu realized there'd be no action tonight and reluctantly retreated to his own apartment.

After aimlessly browsing online until the early hours of morning, Wang Zhu finally returned home for sleep. He drifted in half-conscious slumber, dreaming alternately of King Xiang's rendezvous with a goddess on Mount Wu and Baoyu's ethereal encounter with Qinshigong.

Just as he was imagining himself sandwiched between the two women on an expansive bed, greedily enjoying both sides simultaneously, his damned phone rang again.

A soaring dream instantly turned to ash. With a dramatic leap from his bed like a carp breaking water, Wang Zhu snatched up his phone, furious to know who dared disturb him at such a critical moment.

Seeing the caller ID read "Qi Fei," Wang Zhu muttered - tonight he'd make her so exhausted she couldn't speak for days in retaliation.

"Wang Zhu, are you home?"

The anxiety and panic in Qi Fei's voice sent an instant chill through Wang Zhu's spine.

"Good, I'm coming right over. Wait for me."

Before hanging up, she added: "If anyone else is there, find a way to send them away first."

Puzzled by the sudden crisis, Wang Zhu wondered what urgent matter could be so serious.

Over twenty minutes later, Qi Fei arrived at the apartment complex. After confirming Wang Zhu was alone through a call from downstairs, she rushed upstairs in obvious distress.

Opening the door to let her in, Wang Zhu noticed how tightly she clutched a handbag with thief-like furtiveness. He half-joked about finding a pregnancy test inside - that would really be disastrous.

Regarding contraception measures, Wang Zhu had experimented briefly. The emergency pill Yuting was supposedly harmful, so he only reluctantly used it when absolutely necessary. Oral pills always felt unreliable to him. Even the imported Okamoto condoms with claimed 0.02mm ultra-thinness hadn't impressed - after one use he'd discarded them, later realizing their synthetic lubricant paled in comparison to natural secretions as senior netizens had warned. Now he strictly practiced withdrawal method, which while less pleasurable was far more reliable than calculating safe periods.

He was still musing about these matters when Qi Fei sat on the couch, setting down her handbag and quickly unzipping it to produce a rigid courier envelope from within.

"We've been blackmailed," she said urgently, upturning the envelope to reveal a small transparent plastic case - exactly the kind used for storing flash drives.

"Cheng Moyan?" Wang Zhu's brows furrowed instantly as he recognized the fingernail-sized black flash drive inside. Identical to that one they'd destroyed before.

"No," Qi Fei sighed, "but it's worse than being blackmailed by him. Where's your computer?"

Inserting the drive into his laptop, a single executable file with .exe extension appeared. As Qi Fei moved to double-click, Wang Zhu hastily stopped her:

"Could this program have a virus?"

"We don't have time for that," she said, "Your system has backups right? Let's just look."

Wang Zhu nodded his agreement.

After launching the file, a password prompt appeared. As Qi Fei typed in the sequence, she explained:

"This package arrived at our studio yesterday evening through an employee who signed it while we were away. This morning some stranger called me to provide this program's password, saying if we don't follow its instructions exactly, I'll achieve overnight fame."

Unlocking the file revealed a folder with dozens of images, four video files and one document - all displayed in a resource manager-like interface.

Wang Zhu muttered curses under his breath. Why were these always intimate recordings? Couldn't they at least offer something fresh?

The photos contained both secured studio portraits from locked online albums, company work archives stored on computers, and even surreptitious long-distance telephoto shots resembling those infamous Apple Daily paparazzi photos. The perpetrators had clearly gone to great lengths collecting this material.

The four videos proved even more damning - recordings taken inside a hotel room they'd once occupied together. One captured bathroom activity while two different angles filmed the bedroom, and another focused on the living area sofa. Each video spanned an entire four hours from their arrival until sleep, recording every second without missing anything. The timestamp read 2046, but Wang Zhu recalled it was actually last week's events.

"This is incredible..."

Wang Zhu scrolled through the timeline with smug admiration of his own performance before Qi Fei elbowed him sharply in annoyance.

"You're still showing off? I'm about to die from humiliation!" she snapped.

Taking her hand and kissing it, Wang Zhu shrugged: "Since it's already happened, anger won't help. Let's focus on solutions first - how much do they want?"

"Right here," Qi Fei opened the document with a grim smile, "Fifty thousand yuan... They specifically said not to report this to police, and will notify us separately about payment methods."

"This is just the beginning," Wang Zhu concluded, "Once you give them fifty thousand, it'll be one hundred thousand next. Unlike kidnappings where they need physical hostages and face-to-face negotiations, these extortionists just make threats by phone and keep escalating demands until they're satisfied. They won't stop easily."

"I was thinking exactly the same," Qi Fei nodded solemnly, "Otherwise I'd just pay them fifty thousand right now."

"Actually paying them?" Wang Zhu snorted, "You'd better break both their legs if they dare threaten you using my reputation. That's suicidal behavior for anyone with half a brain."

"What should we do then? Wang Zhu, I don't want to involve police..."

Influenced by Wang Zhu's skepticism about authorities, Qi Fei now shared his distrust of law enforcement.

"This situation definitely needs the police," Wang Zhu mused before rising, "Regardless, I need to visit the scene first. You should remain here and handle anything else - call me immediately if there are developments."

Looking up at this sturdy little man who provided such reliable support, Qi Fei suddenly felt calmed despite the threat of "overnight fame." With a warm embrace and lingering kiss during which his powerful hands had already slipped under her shirt past the straps to caress those full mounds... When their lips parted leaving behind glistening saliva trails, they locked eyes. Sliding down his pajama pants, the woman instinctively pushed back the chair for her kneeling service...

After brief but intense intimacy, Qi Fei quickly cleaned up and reapplied lip balm in the bathroom before departing.

Wang Zhu didn't even bother showering, merely rinsing away moisture with water before calling Hei Long.

"Me? Of course I'm attending class right now! For our first life drawing session as freshmen students, wouldn't you expect the human anatomy expert Mr. Hei Long to skip?"

"What? Need my help? Oh brother, why does this have to happen at such a crucial moment during my life drawing class of all times! You know how significant that is right?"

"Ha ha, just kidding. Didn't you hear me moving around back there? I've already left the classroom and hopped into a taxi!"

True to his word, Hei Long arrived within twenty minutes at Wang Zhu's apartment - an impressive speed for someone with his weight who had sprinted part of the way through the complex.

"Brother, what's up?"

Panting from exertion after running indoors, Hei Long asked directly.

"I need your help dealing with a problem," Wang Zhu wasted no time with pleasantries, "Since it involves certain personal information, if I don't tell you something specifically, don't ask questions. Got it?"

"Sure sure!" Hei Long responded excitedly and flattered - his friend had clearly grown into another realm entirely if he needed help from him now.

"Let's discuss while walking," Wang Zhu tossed a bottle of mineral water to him before leading the way out.

Starting up the car, Wang Zhu asked: "I have some technical questions that are very important. You must answer honestly without exaggeration or speculation."

"You got it," Hei Long nodded solemnly.

"About pinhole cameras - how long can they record for? Are there remote control models? Wireless transmission capabilities?"

Hei Long's eyes suddenly lit up, "Brother, who exactly are you trying to film now?"

Wang Zhu glared fiercely. Nervously sticking out his tongue, Hei Long quickly replied: "Those ordinary ones only last about an hour before the battery dies - my camera pen works similarly. As for remote control models... I heard Cheng Tianri say he could make mobile phone controlled versions where you program it first and then call a fixed number to start recording."

So powerful? Wang Zhu asked next, "If you replace the camera with C4 explosives, wouldn't that just become a remote-controlled bomb?"

Hei Long shrugged humorously, "Hence why science and technology is our primary combat force!"

So Cheng Tianri had terrorist potential too. Shaking off these thoughts, Wang Zhu pressed: "Then wireless transmission would also be possible?"

"You mean transmitting the footage remotely?" Hei Long clearly knew more than Wang Zhu about this field, smirking as he explained, "Of course - digital signals are easier to transmit. But most commercial models use analog signals which degrade with interference and lose clarity."