263: Chapter 262 The Protective Necklace Shattered

Opposite the Qinsheng Building, on the twenty-sixth floor of the Hengtai Center.

As the elevator doors opened, Iris walked out carrying a toolbox.

She wore gray overalls with a temporary maintenance badge hanging on her chest, her cap pulled low, and a repair order in her left hand.

At the end of the corridor, a cleaning lady pushing a cart came toward her and glanced at her.

"Is your property management still doing inspections today?"

Iris stopped and lifted the repair order slightly.

"The network in the top-floor conference room is down; the client is in a hurry."

The cleaning lady frowned.

"There's no conference room on the twenty-sixth floor."

Iris looked up at her, her tone unchanged.

"It was temporarily converted into a model room; someone just moved tables in this morning."

The cleaning lady didn't step aside immediately, her gaze scanning the temporary badge on Iris's chest.

"Let me see your ID badge."

Iris didn't hesitate; she flipped the badge over and handed it over.

The cleaning lady glanced at the photo, then at her, before finally stepping aside.

"Then be quick about it; some leaders are coming this afternoon."

"Thank you."

Iris walked past her, her pace steady.

She didn't go to the office area on the right side of the corridor, but instead turned into the emergency exit.

The moment the door closed, she pulled an access card from her pocket and tapped it against the lock of the fire equipment room.

Beep.

The latch clicked open.

The equipment room was piled with empty cardboard boxes and old network cables, with a narrow window on the outer wall.

Iris closed the door, locked it, and placed the toolbox on the floor.

She didn't rush to open the box.

She first walked to the window and pulled back a slit in the blinds.

The main entrance of the Qinsheng Building across the street came into view.

Revolving doors.

Security post.

Underground garage exit.

And a rolls-royce phantom parked to the left of the main entrance.

Iris watched for three seconds, withdrew her gaze, and laid the toolbox flat.

The lid was lifted.

Inside, there were no wrenches or crimping tools.

Short tubes disassembled into three sections, a folding bipod, a targeting module, and a slender needle dart.

She put on thin gloves, her movements deliberate.

Each catch made only a faint sound as it clicked into place.

Her phone screen lit up.

A message popped up on an anonymous channel.

"Is the target still inside the building?"

Iris glanced at it and replied.

"Yes."

The other side asked.

"Confirming you won't touch Qin Feng?"

Iris connected the gun barrel and typed two words.

"Won't touch."

The other side paused for a few seconds.

"Security around Gu Qianqian has increased; the window is short."

Iris placed her phone face down on a cardboard box.

"Enough."

She lay by the window, propped the bipod under the windowsill, and extended the muzzle half an inch through the gap in the blinds.

The targeting module activated.

The view of the Qinsheng Building's entrance was zoomed in.

There were two more security teams at the entrance than there were this morning.

One stood by the revolving door, and another at the driveway entrance.

Beside the rolls-royce phantom were a driver and two Qinsheng security guards.

Iris scanned their positions.

She didn't frown, nor did she make any unnecessary movements.

Gu Qianqian wouldn't leave through the underground garage.

An external partner was visiting this afternoon; she would see them off at the main entrance.

This kind of person valued rules and appearances.

She wanted the people of Qinsheng to see that she hadn't been suppressed by this morning's turmoil.

Iris rested her finger outside the trigger guard, her breathing suppressed to a steady frequency.

"Qin Feng isn't worth it."

She whispered softly.

"Only you are worth it."

...

The top floor of the Qinsheng Building.

Gu Qianqian closed the supplementary clauses and handed them to the Legal Director.

"Article 7 on the second page: the liability for delayed performance cannot be conceded. Don't back down."

The Legal Director took the documents and nodded.

"Understood."

The entity_type beside her asked in a low voice.

"President Gu, are you still going to see off Director Chen and the others this afternoon?"

Gu Qianqian checked the time.

"Yes."

The entity_type hesitated.

"President Qin instructed before he left that you should try not to go downstairs."

Gu Qianqian's hand paused on the folder.

The office went quiet for a beat.

She looked up at the entity_type.

"President Qin is President Qin, and I am the CEO of Qinsheng."

The entity_type immediately lowered his head.

"I didn't mean it that way."

Gu Qianqian handed the folder to her assistant.

"I know you mean well."

She stood up, her silk shirt tightening along her waistline. A necklace pendant slipped out from her collar, and she raised her hand to tuck it back in.

When her fingertips touched the pendant, she paused.

Qin Feng's words in the study this morning surfaced again.

"It can block once."

At the time, she had been angry that he was keeping things from her.

But now that she was actually wearing it, she felt as if something was weighing on her heart.

This man rarely said anything serious, yet he always handed her a way out before he did anything.

Gu Qianqian took a breath and picked up her coat.

The assistant followed.

"President Gu, security is already waiting downstairs."

"Mm."

The assistant glanced at her again.

"You don't look very well. How about I see them off for you?"

Gu Qianqian tilted her head.

"Will you sign for me too?"

The assistant immediately shut up.

Gu Qianqian walked out, her tone softening slightly.

"Don't be nervous."

The assistant muttered under her breath.

"You should say that to President Qin. He's much more nervous than we are."

Gu Qianqian's footsteps paused for a moment.

"He's nervous?"

The assistant coughed.

"This morning, President Qin sent six messages in a row to the security department. He even asked if someone could hide behind the flower beds at the main entrance."

Gu Qianqian didn't respond.

She stepped into the elevator, and after the doors closed, she lowered her head to touch the necklace.

"Meddlesome."

Her voice was very soft.

Even she didn't realize that her tone wasn't as cold as usual.

...

The twenty-sixth floor of the Hengtai Center.

In Iris's scope, the revolving door of the Qinsheng Building moved.

Two security guards came out first.

Then the entity_type and the assistant.

Finally, Gu Qianqian walked out.

White shirt, black pencil skirt, her coat draped over her arm.

She was tall, and her pace was steady.

The person at the door spoke to her; she only slightly turned her head, still holding documents in her hand.

Iris's crosshairs settled on her chest.

Below her collarbone, that pendant was half-hidden by her shirt.

She saw it.

That wasn't ordinary jewelry.

It had appeared once in the information she received this morning.

Now it was there again.

Iris didn't change her target.

The effective point for the needle dart wasn't the head.

It was the heart.

Once the toxin entered the blood, she would collapse in three seconds; an ambulance wouldn't stand a chance.

She placed her index finger on the trigger.

A low-voiced prompt came through the channel in her earpiece.

"Wind speed?"

Iris didn't answer.

She watched the fluttering at the edge of the curtain herself.

The wind drift wasn't large.

The distance was short enough.

Gu Qianqian had already reached the side of the Rolls-Royce.

The driver pulled open the car door and bowed his head.

The assistant stood to her right rear, saying something.

"President Gu, the call from Inner Mongolia..."

Just as Gu Qianqian was about to reach for her phone.

Iris pulled the trigger.

There was no gunshot.

Only a soft pop as compressed air rushed through the short tube.

The needle dart left the barrel.

Iris didn't look for the result.

After pulling the trigger, she immediately disassembled the targeting module and pulled out the barrel.

Because she had seen it clearly.

The needle dart hadn't strayed.

It hit Gu Qianqian square in the chest.

...

At the entrance of the Qinsheng Building.

Gu Qianqian only felt her chest suddenly being poked by something.

It wasn't an impact.

It was more like a force held a thin needle out just before it could pierce her.

She looked down.

The necklace pendant at her collarbone instantly cracked open.

There was no sound.

Fine powder exploded from the pendant and scattered against her chest.

An invisible barrier rose in front of her shirt; the needle dart slammed into that barrier, its tip coming to a halt.

The next second, the needle dart fell at her feet.

The black short needle rolled half a turn on the ground.

The pendant had shattered into powder, falling down her collar and sticking to her snow-white collarbone and the edge of her clothes.

Gu Qianqian froze in place.

The assistant was the first to see the object on the ground, and her face turned pale instantly.

"President Gu!"

The driver also looked up.

"Don't move!"

The security guards at the door rushed over at the same time. Two blocked the way in front of Gu Qianqian, while another pressed his earpiece.

"Anomaly at the main entrance!"

"President Gu is under attack!"

"Seal the doors! Seal the doors!"

The documents in the entity_type's hands scattered all over the ground.

"What is that?"

The assistant's voice was trembling.

"A needle... it looks like a needle!"

Gu Qianqian didn't retreat.

Her hand pressed against her chest, her fingertips touching the thin chain left after the necklace broke.

The pendant was gone.

Only the chain remained hanging in her palm.

Looking at the needle dart at her feet, her first reaction wasn't fear.

It was Qin Feng.

He hadn't lied to her.

It really could block once.

But once it blocked, it was gone.

Gu Qianqian's throat tightened as she looked up at the building opposite.

"The opposite side."

The security captain immediately turned around.

"Hengtai Center, above the twentieth floor, check the windows!"

The assistant grabbed her arm.

"President Gu, get in the car first!"

Gu Qianqian shook her off.

"Don't touch the needle."

"Have security take photos and seal it."

The assistant was so anxious her eyes were red.

"What time is it? You're still worried about evidence!"

Gu Qianqian glanced at her, her voice low.

"If I don't keep the evidence, did he give me this life for nothing?"

The assistant was stunned.

Gu Qianqian clenched the broken chain in her palm and turned to get into the car.

Before the door closed, she took another look at the building opposite.

There were too many windows.

She couldn't find the person.

The car door closed.

The cabin isolated all the noise from outside.

Gu Qianqian looked down at her hand.

In her palm was the broken chain, with powder embedded in the lines of her fingerprints.

Her hand was shaking.

Slightly, but she couldn't stop it.

She clenched her hand into a fist and pressed it against her knee.

The driver looked over from the rearview mirror.

Gu Qianqian turned her fist over and tucked it under the folds of her skirt.

...

The equipment room at the Hengtai Center.

Iris stuffed the last section of the gun barrel into the toolbox.

As she closed the lid, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

Clean and neat.

Then she heard chaos from downstairs.

It wasn't screams.

It wasn't the siren of an ambulance.

It was people running and shouting.

Iris's hand stopped on the latch.

She walked back to the window and pulled back only a slit in the blinds.

At the entrance of Qinsheng opposite, Gu Qianqian had already been escorted into the car by security.

Someone was crouching on the ground taking photos.

Iris's gaze fell on the position of the needle dart.

It didn't enter the body.

She stared for two seconds. Her hand returned to the toolbox; the latch on the lid wasn't fully fastened, so her fingers went back and clicked it again.

"Blocked?"

Her phone vibrated.

The channel asked.

"Completed?"

Iris didn't reply.

She turned off the phone, took out the card, snapped it, and threw it into the lining of the cardboard box.

The toolbox was closed.

She walked to the door and listened for any movement outside.

Someone was on the phone in the corridor.

"Something seems to have happened opposite Qinsheng; the security guards below are all running out."

Another person asked.

"Does it have anything to do with our building?"

"Don't know, property management told us not to wander around."

Iris opened the door and walked out carrying the toolbox.

The cleaning lady came around the corner again, saw her, and asked.

"Fixed?"

Iris nodded.

"Wiring problem."

"So fast?"

"Client's in a hurry."

The cleaning lady glanced out the window.

"Why are there so many people opposite?"

Iris didn't stop.

"Maybe someone's making a scene."

She stepped into the elevator and pressed the first floor.

...

In the private dining hall on Zijin Mountain.

Chu Weigang held his teacup, his gaze still fixed on Qin Feng's face.

Just as Qin Feng's fingertips touched his teacup, a system prompt suddenly rang in his mind.

[Ding! The Bulletproof Necklace has been triggered, blocking one fatal hit. The item is now destroyed!]

Qin Feng's hand stopped on the rim of the cup.

His fingers twitched, causing the cup to tilt. Tea spilled onto the tabletop, flowing along the wood grain toward the USB drive.