For three days after returning from Fuli Mountain Resort, He Ye's mind was in a state of turmoil.

Yang Feng had been utterly defeated. He Ye knew he'd never think of retaliating again now that such damning evidence was in Wang Zhuo's hands-the kind that would make him the laughingstock of society and force him to crawl on his knees for life.

Even an ordinary person would live in constant fear after being photographed like this, so how much more so Yang Feng from a noble family?

If those photos leaked out, there'd only be one outcome waiting for Yang Feng: deportation to some obscure Western backwater with just enough settlement money thrown in. His fate was sealed!

Yang Feng feared humiliation but the Yang clan feared it even more.

Only after going through this ordeal did He Ye realize bitterly that all her pride in her intelligence and cunning were nothing but jokes compared to Wang Zhuo or Yang Feng's caliber. Wang had noticed early on, hence his indifferent attitude toward her, while Yang Feng, once he discovered her, had gone for a desperate retaliation whose consequences far exceeded what she could bear.

In the face of such an overwhelming power gap, scheming was sheer madness. Once you provoked their wrath, there'd be no room left to fight back!

Over these three days He Ye reevaluated herself and finally recognized a painful truth: besides her striking appearance, neither her intelligence nor her manipulative skills were actually superior to others. Her so-called schemes had led her to the point where she was forced to lick someone's toes and drink their urine. What kind of scheming was that?!

What good is being valedictorian when this school alone houses at least a hundred academic prodigies? She'd just been lucky in exams, nothing more.

"Wang Zhuo," the queen bee glanced at He Ye who looked visibly thinner and paler, "is there something I can help with?"

Three days had made her face gaunt with dark circles under those eyes. These past few days clearly hadn't been easy on her.

Wang understood how she felt. Anyone would be shaken up by such an experience. The fact that she'd even bothered to clean up and come out was commendable enough.

Pity? There was certainly some of that. Though He Ye had made mistakes and deserved the punishment, Yang Feng's treatment of her went far beyond what should've been acceptable. Fortunately it was stopped in time, or else this girl might have ended up ruined for life.

Noticing Wang wasn't making a show of anger toward her, He Ye relaxed slightly and murmured,"Thanks...for helping me that day."

Wang smirked,"No need to thank me. I just went specifically after Yang Feng and helped you out along the way."

She managed a strained smile before placing an item on the table in front of Wang,"I found some other things in the hidden camera's memory card..."

"I told you to destroy it." Wang furrowed his eyebrows but didn't reach for the SD card.

"I..." He Ye gave an embarrassed chuckle as she explained,"Actually I wanted to use this to prove that Yang Feng forced me into doing those things."

Wang glanced at the card on the table and shook his head,"Is that really necessary?" His intention was twofold-to distance himself from her while also avoiding reopening wounds. But He Ye misinterpreted his aloofness, thinking he'd already written her off as a shameless woman.

Tears immediately welled up in her eyes, dripping down her cheeks. She swallowed hard and asked bitterly,"Wang Zhuo, Yang Feng called me a slut...do you think the same of me too?"

The question caught Wang off guard. Seeing how devastated she looked softened him slightly."Please try not to cry. I just dislike your little schemes, nothing like Yang's disgusting behavior."

"Then will you look at what's on that card?" He Ye choked out.

"Ahhh..." Wang shook his head and thought to himself-Didn't my x-ray vision already see everything? But the performance had to be played out. Fine then, let's just get it over with.

Dragging over a tablet from the other side of the table, he inserted the SD card while casually saying,"Always trying to take shortcuts won't work. You should focus your schemes on important matters if you want to go far in life."

He Ye had spent these three days thinking precisely this thought. She vigorously nodded, feeling her frozen heart warm slightly.

"If I hadn't shown up that day..." Wang trailed off and looked at her before deciding not to finish the sentence.

By now He Ye was already overwhelmed with gratitude. After watching the footage from the hidden camera, she realized Yang Feng's methods far exceeded her imagination-and worse things were yet to come. What had happened that day was just the beginning!

Here it might be necessary to elaborate on how Wang obtained this SD card. That day after "educating" Yang Feng, the young man passed out cold. Wang walked over to the TV cabinet and retrieved a plain-looking men's handbag with one smooth motion.

When they left, He Ye didn't yet understand why Wang had taken that bag. But when their car hit the highway, he opened it and produced the special hidden camera inside, at which point she felt as if the world itself were spinning upside down!

Turns out Yang Feng wasn't just committing those outrageous acts-he'd also secretly set up a camera to record them all along!

At the time Wang had only glanced at the external battery connected to the hidden camera and given it an estimate of six hours' recording capacity before telling He Ye to delete the footage and burn the memory card afterward.

He Ye knew that recording had to disappear, but as she hit the delete button, something made her press cancel instead. She suddenly realized she should let Wang see this video to clear up his misconceptions about her!

Back at school later, Wang took the hidden camera with him while leaving He Ye the memory card. That day she just kept it secreted away, only retrieving it alone that night when no one was around-and discovered by surprise that it was an ultra-capacity SD card containing not just yesterday's footage but many other videos and photos from different dates.

After browsing through a few pictures and three video clips, Wang couldn't stomach watching anymore."Guess I should've beaten him harder," he growled with restrained fury.

Chen Guanxi and the starlets' compromising photos were mutually beneficial. Jinshan Shengyi's videos with teenage girls involved bribes and deception. But what Yang Feng collected here was pure abuse and domination.

The faces on that card belonged to beautiful women and young girls whose looks could make any man swoon, yet they'd all become Yang's toys for his cruel amusement.

Wang did play with women too, but it was about mutual consent. It was part of the game. But Yang treated women like expendable pets, like things he could trample on whenever he pleased!

No one deserved to be punished by having their family used as leverage. Yet Yang had mastered this old trick time and again-and it always worked. These innocent but passionate women were thus coerced into submission, willing to endure any humiliation rather than drag their families down with them!

He Ye gave a bitter smile and said,"If you hadn't saved me that day, I would've definitely committed suicide."

In Yang's collection of videos, some women were forced, others semi-voluntary or even fully voluntary. Yet they all shared the same fate: having golden broth injected up their noses before being compelled to show off to the camera while swallowing it down mouthful by mouthful.

Only after watching this did He Ye realize that Yang's "beer" hadn't been just an empty threat but a genuine plan-to splash it on her face once he'd had his fun!

"This monster has no business existing in this world," Wang said with bone-chilling coldness. When suddenly noticing He Ye's shocked expression, he quickly added with a strained smile,"Don't overthink it. I was just talking nonsense-there's no way I'll do anything to him."

Though he gave that explanation, He Ye clearly saw the icy resolve in his eyes at that moment. She had ample reason to believe Wang had just made up his mind to erase Yang from this world!

Her heart pounded wildly. She knew she'd overstepped by staring intently but damn it-Wang's expression truly terrified her! He wanted to kill Yang!

"Wang...Wang Zhuo," she stammered, trying to dissuade him,"Please don't do anything impulsive."

Wang rolled his eyes internally, thinking this was just a momentary lapse of judgment. There were plenty of ways in this world to make someone wish they'd never been born without needing to commit murder.

"Wang Zhuo...," when she tried again and saw he was getting impatient, she hastily added,"But please believe me-I wasn't trying to play mind games with you."

Wang waved a hand dismissively as if shooing away flies,"Stop it. Don't think I'm going after him." Afraid of provoking his anger, He Ye obediently stayed quiet before tentatively asking,"Then what are your next steps?"

"This card alone is sufficient enough," Wang leaned back on the sofa with a cold chuckle."There are always so many fools in this world who commit crimes yet still leave behind evidence as souvenirs. Hu Zhiyuan was one, Yang Feng another. Don't worry-I'll delete your video segment and decide for myself how to deal with Yang from here."

"Thank you," He Ye said sincerely,"For saving me that day, for understanding my situation, and for helping me take revenge."

Wang gave a faint smile,"It's just doing society a favor. Not exactly taking revenge on your behalf."

Another subtle boundary-drawing act? The thought made her heart ache. Summoning courage, she voiced the bold idea in her mind:"No matter what you think, my life was saved by you. If it weren't for you that day I would've died. So...I want to properly repay you..."

What's this? Wang looked up with a frown, immediately suspecting she wasn't about to offer herself up but instead some new scheme!

"I don't want to stay in this school anymore," He Ye nervously adjusted her already-perfectly-tousled hair and said,"I just want the chance to properly repay you before disappearing from your life forever. Is that acceptable?"

Truth or bluff? Wang watched for the thoughts hidden behind her eyes before suddenly grinning,"Fine by me! Although I'm rather difficult to please, are you sure you're mentally prepared?"

Just then a pleasant doorbell rang out, startling He Ye so badly she shuddered violently.

Who in their right mind would show up at such an inconvenient moment? Through his x-ray vision Wang caught sight of the visitor outside and blinked in surprise.

Standing there was a tall, imposing woman with striking exotic beauty reminiscent of Western Eurasian features. Her cheeks were flushed slightly as if drunk, holding a six-pack of beer in her arms!

Xu Chu? What was she doing showing up here unannounced?!