Chapter 94: She Was Unaware

The moment Mu Ting saw them, terror had already seized her.

A faint awareness of something being wrong had begun to dawn on her.

But the men had already reached her. With grave expressions, several military inspectors said, “We have received confidential intelligence that you, Mu Ting, a reporter attached to the Tenth Military District, are suspected of leaking the personal identity information of senior military officials. You are to cooperate with our investigation.”

Mu Ting’s face changed at once.

In an instant, it drained of all color.

“What are you talking about?”

How could that be?

She had clearly never leaked anything about Lu Yunzhou’s identity.

And in the post she had published, all she had done was upload a photograph of that female student from Capital University.

“Did you make a mistake?” Fear rose in Mu Ting’s heart.

Her first instinct was to assume they had the wrong person.

That had to be it.

But the faces of the inspectors remained stern. They had no extra words for her.

“Reporter Mu, if you have anything to say, you can come back with us and say it there.”

“No…” Mu Ting took a step back without thinking, shaking her head.

She still could not believe it.

There were actually people from the military inspection bureau standing before her.

She knew exactly what that meant.

She could not go with them.

And yet, as Mu Ting thought on it, her face suddenly went pale, panic flashing in her eyes.

“Is it Lu Yunzhou?”

“Lu Yunzhou—!”

“Where is Lu Yunzhou?”

“I want to see him!”

It suddenly came to her.

Lu Yunzhou’s identity.

So it was very possible that he had used the convenience of his position to deliberately take revenge on her.

“He can’t do this!”

“He can’t treat me like this.”

For all these years, it had been Lu Yunzhou who supported her.

Helped her.

And now, all at once, he had turned on her.

Mu Ting simply could not accept it.

“This is abuse of power. He wants to put me in prison. I’m going to report him. I’m going to report him!”

In Mu Ting’s eyes, she could not understand why the people from military supervision had come for her.

So she assumed Lu Yunzhou had abused his authority and wanted to send her in.

Little did she know that the person who had reported her was standing right before her.

The girl lifted her eyes.

Her gaze was cold and unmoving.

Mu Ting tried to run.

But they would not give her the chance.

Several soldiers moved in, cuffed her, and pinned her shoulders.

Mu Ting was terrified.

Then another young soldier, having secured her, straightened and walked to Shen Zhaoxi. His expression was solemn.

He saluted her.

Mu Ting frowned, staring in disbelief at the scene before her.

“What?”

She was shaken to the core.

Everyone in military oversight was no ordinary person.

They belonged to the General Command’s direct military intelligence bureau, and their status was far from low.

How could they possibly, for no reason at all, be saluting Shen Zhaoxi?

The girl standing not far away raised her eyes, her expression indifferent, her lips pressing together faintly.

She did not speak.

Yet her silence carried authority.

Her skin was pale.

She looked slight, almost too slender, the plain dress she wore today doing nothing to reveal the sharp, hard grace hidden beneath that delicate frame.

Her bearing was cool to the extreme.

When the soldier finished his salute and lowered his hand, Shen Zhaoxi’s gaze sharpened with a blade-like chill.

“Now,” she said quietly, “can you figure out what you have done?”

Her voice was cool and calm, carrying a trace of casual indifference.

She was nothing like the girl Mu Ting had seen earlier in the officers’ dining hall.

The girl sitting across from Lu Yunzhou at lunch had been entirely different.

In her eyes now was a proud, glacial coldness.

It was the sort of instinctive authority formed by long years in the military district, from constantly facing the troops under one’s command.

Even without speaking, even with only the faintest press of her lips, she radiated an overwhelming force that came from within.

It surpassed any spoken word.

Mu Ting was completely stunned.

She stared at Shen Zhaoxi.

“You…!”

A soft laugh escaped Shen Zhaoxi.

She knew Mu Ting had guessed she was connected to the military.

But this was classified.

There was no way Mu Ting could truly know.

“So, the one who sent you in was me.”

Her smile was light, her eyes carrying a proud chill, her tone loose and unhurried, as though mocking someone’s ignorance and stupidity.

“It has nothing to do with Lu Yunzhou.”

That is to say, the version Mu Ting had imagined, that Lu Yunzhou was using his identity and authority to get back at her, simply did not exist.

Shen Zhaoxi let out another faint laugh. “He may be willing to forgive you for your brother’s sake.”

“But I won’t.”

“And the discipline and law of the military will not allow it either!”

Her face was utterly cold.

When she finished speaking, she no longer cared to look at Mu Ting.

Mu Ting’s pupils contracted.

With her hands cuffed, she was in total panic.

“You can’t arrest me!”

“I didn’t know…” She shook her head.

“I really didn’t know anything beforehand.”

If she had known Shen Zhaoxi was someone from the military district, she would never have done this.

There had been a reason. She had been unaware.

But none of that was enough to excuse her guilt.

In the end, Mu Ting could only be taken away by the military inspectors.

As the saying goes, the sky may change without warning. One should do fewer wicked things.

Even heaven could not stand it.

The sky, which had been clear a moment ago, suddenly darkened.

Heavy clouds gathered overhead, casting the surroundings into a grim, lifeless gloom.

The worse the weather became, the more frightened Mu Ting felt.

“I want to see Lu Yunzhou.”

She did not know what would happen to her once she was taken away by the military.

And that made her panic.

“I want to see Lu Yunzhou!”

As they led her off, Mu Ting still desperately insisted to the soldiers, “He’ll help me.”

“He is the commander of the military district. He can definitely help me!”

Yes, Lu Yunzhou was the commander of the district.

He had power.

He would surely be able to help her.

But the people from military supervision were all cold-blooded and merciless. Who would pay her any mind?

Only after she had been taken away and the car door closed did Mu Ting continue clinging to the hope that Lu Yunzhou would come to save her.

Seeing this scene, anyone else would have been shocked to see military personnel in uniform arriving here, and would still not have understood what had happened.

But Xiao Xiao, watching from the side, seemed used to such scenes.

Not a single ripple of emotion touched her face.

Only after Mu Ting had been taken away did Xiao Xiao walk up to Shen Zhaoxi, lower her eyes, and say, “Miss, it’s all taken care of.”

“Mm.” Shen Zhaoxi gave a faint nod.

As for her, she had never been the saintly type.

Let alone someone like Jiang Qiqi, already a grown adult and a university student.

Even if she had been underage, once she did something wrong, she would still have to pay the price.

So when the Capital University freshman training team saw those military vehicles drive into the base, Jiang Qiqi, who was still gossiping with the girl beside her, was summoned by the school.

“What?”

Jiang Qiqi was struck dumb with fear.

“Expulsion.”

“Counselor, could you please look into this again? My daughter couldn’t possibly be suspected of spreading rumors about a soldier.”

Jiang Qiqi’s parents were, in fact, only grassroots-level officials.

They had worked so hard for their daughter to get into a good university and come study there.

And before she had even officially enrolled, she was already about to be expelled.

How could they not be worried?

“Mrs. Jiang, it is not that we have failed to investigate properly. The higher-ups have issued clear instructions. There is evidence that your daughter spread false information and caused public opinion to spiral.”

“Look at this…”

Mrs. Jiang looked as though she had aged ten years in an instant.

“Is there really no other way?”

“I’ll pay.” She was still trying desperately to seek leniency. “We are willing to pay. As long as the school can give her another chance to turn over a new leaf, just let her—”

But before she could finish, the school administrator cut her off.

“Mrs. Jiang, this is not a matter of money. This case runs much deeper than that.”

There was nothing the school could do.

“What about Gu Wan?” Jiang Qiqi suddenly asked, forcing down the pain in her heart as she looked at the school administrator.

“Gu Wan?”