The bombing incident was labelled as a high-priority case early on with the authorities treating it not just as a simple case of a crazy, obsessed fan who wanted to kill Iris Long but also as a serious terrorist case. As a result, the police were under a great deal of pressure from both the government and the citizens to solve the case as soon as possible. Now that there was “evidence” pointing at Zhu Ning as the mastermind behind Tian Kong, Iris predicted that people would crucify the woman for her “sins”.
And indeed, a quick search on the internet already resulted in a flood of condemnation towards Zhu Ning. Many of them were from the Black Stars. They remembered how Zhu Ning beat up Wei Lan, insulting her and even threatening to kill to viscountess and her daughter, their beloved Boss Iris Long. To these loyal Black Stars, what Zhu Ning did was unforgivable, especially since there were many of their comrades who were also injured during the bomb incident.
The rumour of a sex video between Zhu Ning and Tian Kong also quickly circulated on the internet, even though there wasn’t any proof of its existence because the authorities didn’t want such explicit material corrupting the people. Nevertheless, just this rumour was enough to make the general public more disgusted of Zhu Ning. The hatred towards her was even more intense compared to Fan Luo’s downfall a year ago.
Iris didn’t know for sure whether Zhu Ning was the real mastermind or not. But truth be told, she highly doubted it.
‘I don’t think Zhu Ning is that smart to plan something as big as the bomb incident. Long Jian certainly didn’t inherit his brains from his mother.’
In addition, there was also the mysterious formidable hacker that Iris just battled. The hacker might be the mastermind or someone who was working for the actual mastermind. She doubted that Zhu Ning had the capability to hire a powerful hacker to work for her. Highly-skilled hackers had their own pride and wouldn’t stoop to working for someone like Zhu Ning. At least, she wouldn’t work for someone like Zhu Ning. Thus, it was clear to Iris that Zhu Ning was being framed for the bombing incident.
Why?
Because Zhu Ning was the most convenient scapegoat. The woman made a spectacle of herself by beating up Wei Lan plus threatening to kill her and Iris in public. Zhu Ning was very easy to hate given her unpleasant personality.
Even though she knew that the woman was being framed, Iris didn’t feel sorry for Zhu Ning at all. Iris was still determined to identify the real mastermind behind Tian Kong but she wouldn’t do anything to help Zhu Ning. Why should she?
Tossing the matter of Zhu Ning out of her mind, Iris continued searching for clues. The hacker was very thorough, not leaving easily-found traces. It was making Iris feel very excited and challenged. She was deeply absorbed in hacking when….
Iris’ swift typing fingers faltered on her customized ergonomic keyboard. “Hmmm… Okay. Five more minutes….” Then she continued typing.
“Mooommyyyyyy!!! Ketchup promised Daddy today to make Mommy stop working and eat lunch! Ketchup wants to always be a good kitty from now on and doesn’t want to be in trouble with Daddy again—he gives super bad punishments! Wuwuwuwuwu!!!” Tears gushed out of the cat AI’s adorably pitiful green eyes and started pooling around her fluffy white butt. “Ketchup doesn’t want to be grounded ever again!!! Wuwuwu!!! So please be good, Mommy, and stop being naughty! Eat lunch or Ketchup will be grounded agaaaaain! Waaaaaah! Poor Ketchup!!! Meeeooow!!! Wuwuwuwu!!!”
Iris couldn’t stop herself from laughing at Ketchup’s dramatics. “Okay, okay. Stop crying, Ketchup. I’ll stop now and eat lunch.”
“Wuwuwu! Mommy is being so mean to Ketchup today! Ketchup is so sad… Meow….”
While Iris was setting up a few of her machines to auto-mode, she mentally took note of her observations about Ketchup. It was still too early to make a final conclusion but it seemed that although Ketchup had retained her usual bubbly and chatty personality, the cat AI had become more cautious and a stickler for instructions, as evident of her “fear” of her daddy’s punishment. Ketchup was still naughty in the way she talked but had lost the impulsiveness of her actions.
‘This is the effect of removing that corrupted part from her system?’ Iris wondered. ‘This is good…right?’
She decided to continue observing and monitoring Ketchup to make sure that the cat AI was no longer affected by corruption. If Ketchup still became corrupted in the end, then Iris would have no choice but to turn her off…forever. A powerful self-learning AI with a fun and dynamic personality like Ketchup was a dream come true for hackers like her, but if this kind of super advanced technology became uncontrollable, then it was better to destroy it than risk her safety and that of her loved ones—even though Ketchup had already become one of her loved ones, as well.
Speaking of corruption, Iris also needed to study the part she removed from Ketchup’s system. She took a quick glance and it was still developing on its own, making her feel extremely intrigued. She ought to destroy it but put it off for now.
Iris continued mulling these thoughts as she exited the computer room. Ice Cream and Popcorn were waiting for her outside the door and hurled themselves towards her. They walked together to the kitchen while the talkative Ketchup excitedly chatted about random things.
[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]
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Two days later, Iris was ready to return to work. She felt a little envious of Jin Chonglin who had already long returned to work, promoting their upcoming next single by himself without her.
He also already left Dragon Palace Home #10 and returned to his own home a few days ago, but not before asking Jin Liwei to recommend skilled bodyguards that he could hire.
Jin Liwei didn’t bother with providing recommendations and just directly gave some of his subordinates to his younger brother. After all, Jin Chonglin was still his brother. If he could spare Wei Lan some of his men, he could do so again for his flesh and blood sibling. Jin Liwei might have started prioritizing Iris after he fell in love with her, but he still wouldn’t easily abandon his flesh and blood family, especially since Jin Chonglin also became traumatized because of the bomb incident, the same one which almost killed his (future) wife.
It took a long time for Iris to persuade Jin Liwei that she was healthy and fit enough to work again. Lu Zihao also didn’t help and told her to stay home for now and focus on resting on the rare occasion that he came home to the mansion. Her big brother clearly sided with Jin Liwei in this matter, making her feel a bit sulky because he always sided with her before this.
She could always defy their wishes and just tell them “To hell with you! I’ll go to work if I want to!” and then go to work but chose to use her charms and skills in persuasion instead. This wasn’t the time to fight. Besides, she knew that her darling and big brother wouldn’t be able to resist her if she continued asking them.
And she was right.
In the end, they could only sigh and “reluctantly” agree to her decision of returning to work. In turn, Lu Zihao warned her not to push herself too hard.
She pursed her lips and sulked while Jin Liwei scowled at his Fifth Brother.
Jin Liwei agreed with Lu Zihao’s reason for concern about her safety but not of his Fifth Brother’s forceful and dominating methods. Knock her out? No way! Nobody was allowed to be forceful to his baby girl!
Well, except for him in bed when she wanted him to do so! She loved it whenever he…Jin Liwei forcefully and regrettably tamped down his wayward thoughts. He took a few deep breaths to calm his sudden half-arousal. Then he made his expression gentle and pulled Iris’ attention to him.
