My Perfect Female CEO

Chapter 1563 The Death of Cheng Mu

As long as a person still retains some humanity, there will always be a few fragile places that cannot be spoken of to outsiders—those are secrets hidden away at the deepest level.

As long as this secret is not deliberately exploited and controlled by others, then it is not a weakness.

Otherwise, it becomes a weakness.

Cheng Mu also had a weakness; this was something Ye Fan could discern.

Otherwise, Cheng Mu would never have chosen to sit and wait for the people from Hunter Cat to come murder her, while she remained indifferent, even willingly thinking of going to her death.

There was only one explanation: Cheng Mu wanted to use her own death to spare innocent people from being dragged into this, and that was precisely where her weakness lay.

She believed, and was certain, that as long as she died, everything would return to calm.

Otherwise, this world would end up with several more corpses for no reason.

This was an outcome she would rather die than see.

Without exaggeration, Cheng Mu had a weakness, yet it was also equivalent to having no weakness.

Because this weakness could not possibly be grasped by Ye Fan; even if there were a chance to learn of it, there was no time left.

In this pressing situation, there simply wasn’t enough time to investigate Cheng Mu’s background thoroughly.

"I advise you to give up on whatever plans you’re laying on me. They’re useless to you," Cheng Mu said seriously.

"I can see that, and I won’t coerce you. But there’s one matter I need to ask you about carefully," Ye Fan said with grave seriousness.

"What is it?" Cheng Mu showed a curious expression.

"I’ve heard that behind Hunter Cat there is another hidden force, in a competitive relationship with Hunter Cat. Both Hunter Cat and this force take orders from the same organization," Ye Fan said.

"I didn’t expect that. Truly unexpected." Cheng Mu’s eyes flashed with astonishment as she said meaningfully, "You even know about this? Perhaps one of Zhao Gongming or Wu Dayong told you. Only they would have had the chance to leak such a secret. No, Zhao Gongming couldn’t possibly know about this; it must have been Wu Dayong."

Ye Fan nodded, effectively acknowledging Cheng Mu’s guess.

"It’s not impossible to tell you this piece of information. That hidden force is represented by someone called Mr. Jin. As for who Mr. Jin really is, no one knows. Even Hunter Cat spent considerable effort trying to investigate Mr. Jin’s identity, but unfortunately came up empty-handed."

Cheng Mu stated truthfully, "In a certain sense, Hunter Cat and Mr. Jin are enemies. Calling it a competitive relationship is putting it politely. To be blunt, they’re mortal foes who would draw blades upon seeing each other."

"This so-called Mr. Jin, has he really never shown his face? Or is it that you’ve never had any contact with him at all?" Ye Fan was slightly curious.

"No one has ever seen Mr. Jin, so naturally no one has had any contact with him." Cheng Mu said bitterly, "Ever since Hunter Cat took on this assignment, we understood very well that Mr. Jin was secretly overseeing and monitoring from the shadows. At first, Hunter Cat started from within, thoroughly checking whether there were problems among its own subordinates. Unfortunately, nothing turned up. Trying to investigate Mr. Jin from the outside was even more impossible; there was simply no trail to follow."

On the matter of Mr. Jin, Cheng Mu did not conceal anything; she told Ye Fan all the limited information she knew.

Ye Fan could only learn this much. Compared to what Wu Dayong had told him, there was a slight advance at least: he now knew of the existence of this Mr. Jin.

He knew that he could no longer obtain any valuable information from Cheng Mu’s mouth, so he did not waste effort by continuing to press her.

The Institute and the Action Group were now linked together, working in a reasonable and efficient coordination.

Zhang Lu personally took charge of all matters at the Institute, remaining there in person except under special circumstances.

Li Tong held full responsibility for the Action Group, while Cheng Mu, Zhao Gongming, and Wu Dayong were all imprisoned in the Action Group’s interrogation room.

"Poison Cheng Mu. The poison is at the usual spot." A certain middle-aged man inside the Action Group received such a message, an order coming from the outside.

This man bore an important role within the Action Group, overseeing all logistical support.

In fact, he had another identity: he was a Field Mouse ranked under Hunter Cat’s command.

The "eyes" of the Action Group, Niu Ben, was actually Field Mouse’s decoy; he was the real Field Mouse.

At this moment, Field Mouse stared at the message, his expression flickering, dark and heavy, as if he were enduring some major choice and torment.

"Ever since Niu Ben was exposed, I knew that sooner or later, this day would come for me too. I just didn’t expect it to come so quickly." Field Mouse muttered to himself, his face pale.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally made his choice, saying harshly, "Cheng Mu must die. Maybe the next one to die unjustly will be me. It’s all an inevitable outcome."

The Action Group was on high alert, as if facing a great enemy.

If Hunter Cat tried to invade from outside the Action Group, its defenses, without exaggeration, were airtight.

But now, the crisis within the Action Group had arisen from the inside. This was a fatal hidden danger.

Taking advantage of his position, Field Mouse was extremely familiar with every person and every room in the Action Group.

Thus, there was no need to spend effort probing where Cheng Mu and the others were being held; he could easily guess the general location.

After retrieving the poison from a supermarket cabinet outside the Action Group, Field Mouse was ready to act.

Li Tong had assigned four people to shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting Cheng Mu. Xiao Liu was in charge of delivering her food and drink, while the other three monitored Xiao Liu’s every move, as well as anyone who came into contact with Xiao Liu, and kept watch on Cheng Mu’s condition.

The three took turns resting, keeping their unbroken, intense watch on Cheng Mu.

Ye Fan, Li Tong, and the others could not possibly keep their eyes on the interrogation room every second of every day.

Thus, Xiao Liu and the other three became the four people in closest contact with Cheng Mu and the others, and also the ones with very little contact or connection with the outside world.

They stood on the front line, grinding through time as they carried out their mission.

Three whole days passed in a flash.

That day, Ye Fan went to the Institute.

Field Mouse finally made his move.

The first person he approached was Xiao Liu. Using idle chatter to distract Xiao Liu’s attention, he slipped the prepared poison into the meal that was about to be delivered to Cheng Mu.

After Field Mouse left him, Xiao Liu, as usual, carried the food to Cheng Mu.

"My life is over. Once I take this step, I’m as good as dead. I won’t be able to escape the investigation; there will be no path to survive and no retreat left." Field Mouse murmured, his expression full of complexity.

Walking along the corridor, Xiao Liu kept in touch with the monitoring room. After opening one gate after another, he delivered the food to Cheng Mu.

Just like on normal days, Cheng Mu ate the meal Xiao Liu had brought her. Before she could finish, she collapsed onto the ground.

Instantly, her face turned ashen, and blood seeped from her ears and eyes.

Cheng Mu lay on the floor convulsing.

Xiao Liu turned pale with fright, flustered and panicked for a moment, then shouted at the monitors, "Something’s happened, something’s happened!"

The people in the monitoring room were stunned.

The entire Action Group was jolted.

Cheng Mu had been poisoned to death, just like that.