After Xu Ke finished organizing the evidence, he immediately dialed Ye Chong's number.

He had to record this call.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"Hello, Xu Ke, what's up?"

Ye Chong's voice still sounded weak. He hadn't fully recovered from the previous day's injuries.

Xu Ke said, "Just calling to check in on you."

"Cut the crap."

Xu Ke smiled. "Fine. When are you giving me what you owe me?"

But Ye Chong's tone turned strange. "What are you talking about?"

"Young Master Chong, are you thinking of reneging?" Xu Ke raised an eyebrow.

Ye Chong chuckled, his voice tinged with irony. "I'm not trying to go back on my word. It's just that after a night of sober reflection, I've realized something."

"I originally thought I could stay out of this matter. But on further reflection, since everything happened at the Golden K Bar, how could anyone believe I was uninvolved, even if the truth got out and I was technically innocent?"

As he finished speaking, Xu Ke's eyes darkened slightly.

Ye Chong was being deliberately vague because he feared Xu Ke was recording the call. He spoke ambiguously on purpose, making his words seem unrelated to the actual facts.

In other words: Ye Chong had originally thought he could hand over the recording and blame it on Yuk Dalong, letting him take the fall. But the Golden K Bar was his territory. How could he claim not to know his own turf had been bugged? No one would find that convincing.

"So, Young Master Chong, you're not willing to cooperate with me anymore?" Xu Ke asked indifferently.

Hearing the shift in Xu Ke's tone, Ye Chong's smugness only grew, though his words were conciliatory. "Of course not. I'm very sincere about cooperating with all my peers from the six great families. That includes you, of course, Mister Xu."

"However, when it comes to cooperation... it certainly can't come at the expense of my own interests. Wouldn't you agree, Mister Xu?"

Xu Ke laughed. "Well said, Young Master Chong. So, do you plan on continuing to play second fiddle?"

"I'm not in any hurry. For someone with my limited abilities, being content to take a back seat is actually a good thing," Ye Chong said, a gleeful smile on his face.

He was immensely pleased with himself.

Xu Ke is just trying to provoke me, implying I'm inferior to Ye Fan. So what? He's the one I just played for a fool. He even helped me increase my strength by accident. What does it matter if I let the outwitted loser get in a few verbal jabs?

Xu Ke nodded. "Not bad. Young Master Chong certainly knows his own limits."

Ye Chong replied, completely unbothered, "Indeed."

"Alright, then. See you next time."

"Sure."

The call ended.

***

「In an apartment in Tianhai」

After hanging up the phone, Ye Chong looked out at the sun, a sneer on his lips. "Xu Ke, what now? My strength is increasing, while you couldn't even get a recording. You worked all night for nothing. Are you happy now?"

"Hahahaha..." His mood improved immensely.

"Xu Ke must be hopping mad right now," Ye Dexian said with a smug smile. "I've always said that if you let a low-class person have too much success, they get arrogant. Did he really think that just because he could get the better of Ye Fan and Ye Chen, he could get the better of you too?"

"Grandpa Jiu, we shouldn't speak ill of our dear Young Master Xu," Ye Chong said with a laugh, his words dripping with sarcasm. "He worked so hard, breaking me down just so I could rebuild stronger. I really ought to thank him for that."

"Hahaha." Ye Dexian also burst into hearty laughter, then his smile faded. "Luckily, we realized something was off when Ye Fan called yesterday. Otherwise, if we'd handed over the recording today, Xu Ke would've definitely used it to get rid of both us and Ye Fan."

"Exactly." A cold smile touched Ye Chong's lips.

When Ye Fan called last night to ask what happened, Ye Chong was ready with an excuse. He recounted the conflict in detail, including how he had lured Wang Qiya and how Xu Ke had managed to escape.

However, he omitted the part where Xu Ke had destroyed his Dantian only to heal it afterward.

Ye Fan, who valued his bond with his brother and trusted Ye Chong implicitly, believed the story. He even spent part of the call cursing Xu Ke out.

Seeing this, Ye Chong felt the matter was smoothly resolved.

But a single sentence from Ye Fan made his heart leap into his throat.

Ye Fan had said, "It's best to keep the fact that Xu Ke safely left your territory a secret. Otherwise, if that bastard Ye Feng finds out, he could easily use it as leverage against you. I've already lost our fourth brother; I can't afford to lose you too."

Ye Fan said this for Ye Chong's sake, as he didn't want Ye Feng to profit from the situation. The person he was concerned about was Ye Feng, the third son of the Ye Family's direct line. Known as the "Ye Family's Adopted Son," he was someone who avoided family politics to focus solely on his martial arts.

But what Ye Fan didn't expect was that his warning served as a harsh wake-up call for Ye Chong.

Only then did he realize that if the bugged recording leaked, he could never fully extricate himself, even if Yuk Dalong took the blame. At that point, Ye Fan would face repercussions from the Martial Alliance and lose his standing within the family. But Ye Chong, branded a traitor, would end up in an even worse position.

At that moment, both Ye Chong and Ye Dexian broke out in a cold sweat.

So that was Xu Ke's real plan! He wanted to get both me and Ye Fan taken down at the same time!

And that was why, today, Ye Chong decided to abandon his cooperation with Xu Ke.

He considered this an absolutely brilliant decision.

The only thing was... that flicker of guilt he'd felt last night. It was because of Ye Fan's unconditional kindness toward him.

But he quickly extinguished that pang of guilt.

There are no true feelings in the great families. All I need is the position of Family Head, not the bonds of brotherhood!

***

After ending the call, Xu Ke fell silent.

Last night's gambit had failed.

This was his oversight. If not for the incident with Sun Luo and Wong Liqing last night, he would have struck while the iron was hot and gotten the recording from Ye Chong then. He wouldn't have given Ye Chong enough time to discover the flaw in the plan.

Wang Wu, who stood beside him, had heard The Dialogue clearly but said nothing. He thought it was good for Xu Ke to experience a failure.

No one's journey is perfectly smooth.

Wang Jiangnian was like that.

Wong Qifu was like that.

And Xu Ke was no exception.

However, despite the temporary setback, Xu Ke had no regrets.

He had faced failure many times before. He wasn't someone who put all his eggs in one basket. If Ye Chong didn't want to cooperate, he would just find someone else.

There would always be someone willing to take the bait.

He then searched his pockets, pulled out a recording pen, and shook his head helplessly.

I really didn't want to use this, but for the backup plan, I have no choice.

When Wang Wu saw Xu Ke take out the recording pen, he was stunned.

Mister Xu... this doesn't look like he's failed at all...

Xu Ke pressed the playback button on the recording pen, and a voice sounded.

"Just give me the recording."

"What recording?"

"The bug you planted yourself, ring any bells?"

"How did you know?"

"..."

"Why are you helping me?"

This was all from The Dialogue the two of them had in the room.

Wang Wu listened, completely astonished. "Mister Xu, you had this planned from the very beginning?!"

He never imagined that Xu Ke had recorded those parts of their conversation as well.

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