The two took the elevator to the security department chief's office on the seventh floor.
This surprised Li Chonglou greatly.
This Lu Dong was actually the chief of the security department of Xingzhi Group. Why was he looking for him?
Did they discover his whereabouts and were they looking to settle accounts?
No!
If they had discovered his whereabouts, their attitude wouldn't be like this. They would have directly apprehended him downstairs, which would have been the natural course of action.
Since that wasn't the case, there was nothing to worry about.
Li Chonglou remained calm and surveyed Lu Dong's office.
The setup was very simple, with only a desk and chairs and no extra furnishings, giving off a strong aura of austerity.
Even his own chair was made of wood, not the leather executive chairs found in other offices.
"Sit." Lu Dong returned to his wooden chair and gestured for Li Chonglou to sit opposite him.
After Li Chonglou sat down, they met eyes, and he showed no weakness.
They simply stared at each other silently.
Neither subservient nor overbearing.
A hint of surprise flashed in Lu Dong's eyes as he asked, "Aren't you curious about why I asked you here?"
"I am, but you'll tell me yourself," Li Chonglou replied with a smile.
Lu Dong's eyes were like an abyss, unfathomable, making it impossible to discern his thoughts.
It reminded Li Chonglou of someone.
Li Hanlong!
That's right, although Lu Dong's gaze wasn't as fierce as Li Hanlong's, it was equally deep.
Ding...
Lu Dong picked up the teacup in his hand and lightly tapped its body with his finger, producing a pleasant, low hum.
He said, "As the chief of the security department of Xingzhi Group, I am responsible for vetting every employee."
"I was on a business trip a while ago, so I wasn't here when you joined the company."
"I just returned today, and I must have a talk with you."
His voice was flat, with no fluctuations in intonation, as if whispering into someone's ear, combined with a magnetic timbre.
It made people feel comfortable and unwilling to resist.
Ding...
As he spoke, he tapped the teacup again.
"Ask whatever you want to ask," Li Chonglou said, a hint of imperceptible caution rising in his eyes.
This was not normal, very not normal.
At his level of mental state, everyone looked pretty much the same, unless personal emotions were involved.
People like his master and senior sister, he felt a natural sense of closeness upon meeting them.
Ordinary people, like Qi Yu whom he met at the nightclub last night, were not disliked but not particularly close either; a certain distance was maintained psychologically.
This was also due to his understanding of human nature.
But this Lu Dong, however, made him feel a sense of good impression.
This was almost impossible.
Figures like Ning Lang, whom he met for the first time, had also been the ones to take the lead, and it was only after mutual benefit and eventual approval that a sense of closeness developed.
In other words, this feeling was too abrupt, coming too quickly.
Without deep understanding, or exceptionally high downward compatibility and emotional intelligence, such a situation couldn't occur.
Yet Lu Dong hadn't even spoken a few words to him, so how could he exhibit downward compatibility?
"I've seen your file and heard that your father is Li Shi. Given your family background and resources, you could earn more by setting up your own business. Why did you come to Xingzhi Group?" Lu Dong went straight to the point, appearing very candid.
Lu Dong was, of course, aware of the batch of bronzes from Han tombs that Li Chonglou had cooperated with the company on.
"I need to gain experience, and I'll start my own business later," Li Chonglou replied calmly.
"What are your thoughts on our Xingzhi Group?" Lu Dong continued without any reaction.
Ding...
As he asked this, he tapped the teacup again.
With this tap, Li Chonglou suddenly felt a bit disoriented.
It was as if time and space were distorted, the world was spinning, and his mind went blank.
In front of him, colorful striped patterns were moving rapidly, resembling the time-travel scenes commonly seen in sci-fi movies.
A low, seductive melody echoed in the vast space.
Hum!
Suddenly, the colorful stripes instantly stopped, Li Chonglou's body jolted, and he was abruptly pulled back to reality.
Nothing had changed in front of him; Lu Dong looked at him with a smiling face.
His fingers were rhythmically tapping the teacup.
Hypnosis?
Li Chonglou suddenly realized that from the moment he sat down, Lu Dong had been trying to hypnotize him with his methods.
Until now, with the third tap of the teacup, he had been pulled into the depths of his soul.
But his soul was completely different from that of ordinary people, being a fusion of new and old. Therefore, this hypnotic method had failed on him.
This Lu Dong's methods were extraordinary.
But why would he want to hypnotize him?
Li Chonglou decided to play along and probe his background in return.
In his previous life, he knew a hypnotist and had experienced being hypnotized. At that time, he was seeking treatment for inner trauma.
Therefore, he was quite familiar with the process and signs of hypnosis.
To prevent Lu Dong from seeing through his facade, he deliberately made his eyes appear vacant and slowly replied, "Xingzhi Group's management is chaotic, but its security measures are very strict."
"I don't like it very much, and the work environment isn't free enough; I can only perform under surveillance, which is very uncomfortable..."
He deliberately revealed his true feelings about Xingzhi Group over the past few days.
The purpose was to gain Lu Dong's trust.
As expected, a confident smile appeared on Lu Dong's face, and he nodded.
Then he prompted, "Very good, you're very honest."
"I know you have something. That item concerns the fate of many important figures; it's an electronic document, an account statement."
"Who have you given it to? How many original and copied versions are there?"
Upon hearing this, Li Chonglou didn't answer immediately. Instead, his expression twisted, and his eyes began to flicker.
This was a manifestation of resistance from someone under hypnosis.
Everyone has their limits; hypnosis is not omnipotent, it can only be used as a guiding method.
It was clear that Li Chonglou was very resistant to this question.
In fact, Li Chonglou was indeed experiencing inner turmoil at that moment.
He never expected Lu Dong to ask him for the electronic document that determined the fate of influential figures.
He only had one electronic document, which was the copied account statement with an immense amount of involved funds that he had given to Fan Da.
How would Xingzhi Group know about this item?
Could it be...
A terrible guess exploded in his mind.
Lu Dong asking this question meant that his identity was already transparent within Xingzhi Group.
But he had also tested Tong Zhaolin, and it was true that he still didn't know his true identity. However, General Manager Kong Mo was likely just pretending to be oblivious.
In an instant, a sense of immense crisis enveloped him.
The previous uneasy feeling intensified.
Therefore, the resistance he displayed wasn't entirely fake; it had some genuine feeling behind it.
Lu Dong knew what this indicated and frowned slightly, quickly placating him, "Don't be afraid, I have no ill intentions."
"It's just that we need to be honest with each other. You tell me your secret, and I'll tell you mine."
"Tell me, who have you given that electronic document to?"
Under his appeasement, Li Chonglou's resistance gradually disappeared.
He replied, "I haven't copied it to anyone. The original is in my cloud drive."
"This matter is too serious. I dare not spread it, nor dare I drag anyone down."
At this point, the truthfulness of his words was highest.
Originally, Lu Dong was interrogating him, but he used this opportunity to gain Lu Dong's trust.
The people at Xingzhi Group must have some connection with that important figure, which is why they knew that document was in his hands.
He might as well use Lu Dong's hand to temporarily alleviate this conflict.
At the very least, he had to dispel that important figure's vigilance and make him believe he was harmless.
Lu Dong's eyes lit up. Suppressing his inner excitement, he stood up, walked to Li Chonglou's side, and gently took out his phone.
"Password?"
"181001."
This was Li Chonglou's wedding anniversary with Jiang Yuxin.
Lu Dong opened the phone, opened the cloud drive, and saw that there was indeed an account document.
After opening it and glancing at it, his eyes became startled.
He quickly closed the document and deleted it permanently, then let out a long sigh of relief.
Returning to the desktop, he noticed that Li Chonglou didn't even have common communication software like WeChat or QQ.
Even the phone call records only showed a few entries.
He asked in confusion, "Why don't you use WeChat and QQ?"
"What I do is illegal, and I can't let anyone know, so I don't dare to use them," Li Chonglou said, half-truthfully and half-falsely.
In fact, after arriving in Zhonghai, he had canceled his original WeChat account and uninstalled the app along with it.
This was to avoid unnecessary trouble.
As expected, it came in handy here.
"You are quite cautious," Lu Dong said, walking behind Li Chonglou. After thoroughly inspecting the phone again, he confirmed that Li Chonglou wasn't lying.
Then he coldly snorted, "I have to say, you are a talent. I rather admire you."
"However, keeping you around is too risky. Since the item has been recovered."
"I'll send you on your way!"
As he spoke, a cold glint flashed in his hand, and a short dagger appeared out of nowhere.
He cleanly and swiftly slashed towards Li Chonglou's neck.
This dagger had at least a dozen lives on it; adding one more to Li Chonglou's name wouldn't make much difference.
Upon completing this mission, their Xingzhi Group would undoubtedly have a significant safeguard.
And he, Lu Dong, would be highly valued by the vice president.
Crack!
The moment the dagger's blade touched Li Chonglou's neck, before the chill on the blade could make his skin erupt with goosebumps, he had already moved.
He gently grabbed Lu Dong's hand and twisted it inward abruptly.
A spine-chilling sound of bones cracking, accompanied by Lu Dong's pained scream, echoed through the office.
The dagger instantly fell into Li Chonglou's hand.
Lu Dong writhed in pain, stumbling back four or five steps, his eyes filled with a ghastly horror.
Beads of sweat dotted his forehead as he gritted his teeth and asked, "You... you weren't hypnotized by me?"
"You think you can hypnotize me?" Li Chonglou sneered, "I originally planned to play dumb and get rid of you to see what Kong Mo was up to."
"I didn't expect you to try and kill me to silence me, so I can't keep up the act anymore."
*Snap!*
As he spoke, he snapped the dagger in his hand in two.
Lu Dong was petrified.
How could he have known that Li Chonglou possessed such formidable strength? He had completely treated him as an ordinary person.
"I warn you, this is Xingzhi Group. No matter how powerful you are, you can't escape. Surrender obediently!" Lu Dong's expression changed drastically as he threatened.
"Surrendering is a dead end. Killing you might give me a slim chance of survival," Li Chonglou said with a faint smile, his eyes brimming with killing intent.