56: Chapter 56: A Red Alert from the AI ​​Summit

The morning sun had just climbed onto the windowsill when Zhang Fan's consciousness was yanked awake by a jarring line of text—it wasn't a dream, but a red alert from the daily intelligence system, branded directly into his mind:

[Liu Mengqi has bribed a banquet waiter, planning to spike Liu Ruyan's drink with 'sleeping pills' during the AI Conference, send her to the room of their partner, President Zhang (a notorious lecher), and take photos to blackmail her.]

His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an icy hand, and his breath hitched. He sat up abruptly, a layer of cold sweat instantly coating his forehead.

AI Conference. President Zhang. Liu Mengqi's trap.

These words exploded in his mind, mixed with the image of how Liu Ruyan had been in the studio these past few days—she was always the first to arrive, quietly cleaning up, focused when helping the art team with photo editing, blushing and lowering her head when praised, eating bread in the stairwell during lunch, yet proposing three optimization plans at the code review meeting that stunned everyone.

She wasn't some kind of troublemaker; she was a girl who hid her talent in silence.

'Fan Zi, are you awake?' Gu Jingshen's call came in, the background noise chaotic. 'I got the invitations sorted, three for the main venue. I even had my mom get an extra one—should I bring one for Ruyan too?'

Zhang Fan gripped his phone, his knuckles turning white. 'Why add one all of a sudden?'

'Think about it,' Gu Jingshen's voice carried a hint of triumph. 'The project director from Liwen Group will be there, too. Ruyan is a great beauty and her technical skills are solid; more people means more opportunities. Singularity is currently lacking resources, so letting her show her face might just help us make a connection.'

Under normal circumstances, Zhang Fan would have clapped him on the shoulder and cheered. But right now, the warning in his mind was like a poisonous thorn, making his breathing tight.

Taking Liu Ruyan would be tantamount to personally sending her into the trap Liu Mengqi had set; not taking her, how could he explain that?

He couldn't just say, 'A voice in my head warned me something would happen to you'—that sounded like the ravings of a madman.

'...We'll see,' he replied vaguely, deliberately avoiding Gu Jingshen's follow-up questions. 'Let's finalize the itinerary for the three of us first.'

After hanging up, he stood by the window looking down at the bustling traffic below, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the window frame.

The system's intelligence had never been wrong. If Liu Mengqi dared to make a move at an event like this, she must have figured out the security loopholes of the conference, and perhaps even uncovered the background of that 'President Zhang.'

Someone considered a partner by the Liu family likely had some connections. If things really escalated, the only one to suffer would be the powerless Liu Ruyan.

He couldn't take her. Once this thought took root, it grew wildly. Even if it seemed deliberate, even if she misunderstood him as being petty, he had to stop her.

At the morning project meeting, Gu Jingshen announced excitedly, 'The AI Conference is tonight. Fan Zi, Sister Zhou, the three of us are going! We'll meet with the people from Liwen Group and try to finalize the framework for the joint development.'

Everyone cheered, but only Liu Ruyan kept her head down, her fingers scratching something on her notebook, her expression not looking good.

After the meeting, she was called over by Zhou Yurou. 'What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?'

Zhou Yurou handed her a mint. 'You looked pale just now.'

Liu Ruyan pinched the candy wrapper, her voice as thin as a mosquito's hum. 'Sister Zhou, I... I might have to go to the AI Conference too.'

Zhou Yurou was stunned for a moment. 'You received an invitation too?'

'No,' Liu Ruyan's shoulders slumped. 'It was Liu Mengqi who called, saying my brother's company was also invited, and she wanted me... she wanted me to go with them. She said... it was my parents' wish.'

She said the last few words very softly, as if afraid of being overheard.

Zhou Yurou looked at her reddened eyes, her heart skipping a beat.

After spending time together recently, she understood Liu Ruyan's personality too well—seemingly timid, but actually stubborn. If she hadn't been backed into a corner, she would never have agreed to see those family members who embarrassed her.

'If you don't want to go, then don't.' Zhou Yurou's voice softened. 'They aren't good to you, so why do you have to accommodate them?'

Liu Ruyan shook her head. 'In the Liu family, my mother is still quite good to me.'

These words were half-true, half-false.

It was the first time Liu Ruyan felt that the word 'warmth' had a concrete shape; it was the temperature of Zhou Yurou's fingertips brushing against the back of her hand when she handed her that bottle of yogurt.

Zhou Yurou's care was like warm light, dispelling the long-standing loneliness that had plagued Liu Ruyan.

Someone starved of love, who had never been treated so gently, opened her heart to Zhou Yurou without reservation, regarding this rare warmth as an anchor, and was willing to share everything with this 'confidante sister.'

However, the first half of Liu Ruyan's life had been far too bitter, practically carved out from the script of a cannon fodder female side character.

That original family where the children were swapped at birth—that is, the home of the current Liu family's eldest daughter, Liu Mengqi's true parents—had collected every imaginable misery in the world.

It was packed with the classic tropes often found in novels and short dramas: 'a gambling father, a sick mother, a younger brother in school, and a broken her.'

The family's livelihood relied entirely on her gritting her teeth and holding on since childhood; it had long since shattered beyond repair.

But misfortune seemed to have latched onto her.

First, her gambling father killed a creditor while in debt, ending up with a life sentence; shortly after, her sick mother passed away upon hearing the terrible news; and her younger brother, while on his way to the funeral in the rain, was involved in a car accident. Tragically, not even a trace of the perpetrator could be found.

Overnight, she had no home left.

The Liu family's estrangement from her was precisely because of this.

After acknowledging her, the Liu family learned of this series of tragedies and regarded her as a 'jinx,' convinced that she 'cursed her relatives and friends.' They were full of coldness and wariness toward her, making her still live like an outsider in what should have been a warm 'homecoming.'

The first half-month after being taken back was the closest she had ever felt to having a 'home' in her life.

Her biological mother touched the needle marks on her arm left from donating blood, eyes reddening as she stuffed two thousand yuan into her hand, and then dragged her to the mall to buy two floral dresses.

For that insignificant bit of warmth, she clung to it like a life-saving straw, desperately trying to prove that she was worthy of being kept.

When Liu Mengqi slandered her for stealing things, stole the credit for helping her brother organize files, or even deliberately splashed dirty water on her, she just endured it silently.

She always felt that if she just endured it, it would be fine. Perhaps if she were a little more obedient, a little more sensible, they would smile at her just as they did at Liu Mengqi.

But she couldn't tell Zhou Yurou about these things.

It was too heavy. Like cotton soaked in water, heavy in her hand, even her breath carried a damp scent. To speak of it wouldn't be an unburdening; it would be dragging the listener into that same quagmire to drown together.

'I can help you talk to President Zhang about work matters.' Zhou Yurou hesitated. 'As for family matters... you are grown up now, you should make your own decisions.'

'I know.' Liu Ruyan smiled weakly. 'Thank you, Sister Zhou.'

What she didn't say was that there was an even more troubling question in her heart: should she tell Zhang Fan? At the meeting this morning, he had explicitly said 'no one else from the company is attending,' and if she suddenly went, would it seem like she was deliberately trying to climb the social ladder?