9: Chapter 9: The Collapse of the Professional Defense Line, Red Phoenix's Personal Involvement

As three chilled bottles of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque and exquisite wasabi octopus were served, the heavy, soundproof door of the private room slowly closed once again.

Just as the three women had initially sensed, the situation that followed turned into a completely one-sided, overwhelming domination.

Shen Du casually took off his dark grey cashmere coat and tossed it aside.

He rolled up the cuffs of his white shirt to his forearms, naturally taking control of the rhythm in the entire private room.

For two whole hours, the crisp sound of dice cups clashing and the laughter of drinking games barely ceased.

Whether it was playing the most basic "Liar's Dice," singing karaoke, drinking games, or the Truth or Dare games filled with risqué questions and traps, Shen Du was at ease the entire time.

Not only was his tolerance for alcohol bottomless, but the techniques he had honed at the capitalistic banquet tables of his past life left these three battle-hardened women with no way to defend themselves.

Whenever they tried to use subtle tactics, or used "Truth or Dare" as an excuse to steer the conversation toward Shen Du's family background and social circle, Shen Du was always able to deflect the questions with effortless ease.

He would then seize the initiative, smiling as he penalized them with drink after drink.

His extremely high win rate, combined with an unrefusable, composed aura, left the three women with no room to catch their breath.

After two hours, not only had they failed to extract any useful information from Shen Du, but they had also been plied with strong liquor, leaving their cheeks flushed and their eyes hazy.

Under Shen Du's flawless control of the pace, even their most basic professional defenses gradually crumbled under the numbing effect of the alcohol. Once their defenses loosened, the floodgates opened.

The sexy woman leaned most of her body softly against Shen Du's arm, her eyes unfocused. With a hint of drunkenness and grievance, she complained without any caution:

"Young Master Shen, your lips are sealed too tight... Young Master Wei spent a lot of money and gave us strict instructions to probe your background. Yet, here we are, completely drunk from your drinks, and we haven't managed to get a single useful word out of you..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Du keenly felt the pure-looking woman, who was snuggled in his arms pouring drinks, give a violent shudder. The remnants of her rationality were clearly shocked awake by those words, and a layer of cold sweat seeped onto her back. She immediately realized that her companion had actually revealed the patron's hand!

The air in the private room seemed to freeze in that instant. The other two women also suddenly snapped to their senses, the drunkenness on their faces largely replaced by fear. The three sat stiffly in place, their breathing unconsciously growing shallow. Only the background music flowing from the speakers remained.

Taking money only to turn around and sell out the patron was a major taboo in their line of work. Yet, facing this sudden "confession," Shen Du's expression remained unchanged. He picked up his wine glass, took a light sip of Perrier-Jouët, and broke the awkward silence unhurriedly:

"School just started, and Young Master Wei and I haven't had much interaction. It's only natural that he would want to probe my background."

Shen Du's gaze swept calmly over the three stiff women. His tone was level, yet every word carried an undeniable sense of oppression:

"After all, we aren't standing at the same level, so there won't be much interaction in the future. However, Young Master Wei did put a lot of effort into making sure I had a good time today. While we won't be on the same stage in the future, I will at least give him a hand when the time comes."

Hearing these words that made no attempt to hide the gap in social standing, the pure-looking woman who had just been sitting in Shen Du's arms pouring drinks turned completely pale. This woman knew all too well: this kind of natural, condescending confidence was definitely not something that nouveau riche flaunting their luxury cars could fake. This time, they hadn't just kicked an iron plate; they had completely botched the job.

A strong sense of panic made her unable to sit still any longer. She stood up abruptly, forcing a smile that was drier than tears onto her face, and said with a trembling voice:

"Young... Young Master Shen... I'm going to the restroom, I'll be right back!"

She made up a clumsy excuse. She didn't even dare to meet Shen Du's gaze. Pushing open the heavy carved wooden door of the private room, she stumbled out in her high heels. The cold air in the hallway made the girl shiver, sobering her up slightly. She couldn't even bother to fix her hair, which was messy from being plied with drinks. She ran all the way to the exclusive VIP lounge where Sister Hong was.

Pushing open the door, the pure-looking woman didn't even dare to breathe loudly, and quickly walked to Sister Hong, who was sitting upright on the sofa. She bowed her head deeply, her voice filled with irrepressible panic and frustration, as she laid out the disastrous situation in the private room:

"Sister Hong, I'm sorry... For these two hours, not only did we fail to extract any useful information, but we were led by the nose by him, and accidentally... leaked the fact that Young Master Wei paid us to probe his background."

After hearing this report, the air in the lounge was quiet for a few seconds. However, the expected scathing rebuke did not come. Sister Hong leaned back on the leather sofa, not even a trace of shock on her face.

Back on the third-floor hallway, the moment she locked eyes with that young man, she had already anticipated this outcome. That gaze, which seemed to see through the entire gambling table, how could it possibly have been easily pried open by a few women from the pleasure quarters?

"What are you panicking about?"

Sister Hong picked up the bone china teacup beside her and gently skimmed the tea leaves. Her tone was ordinary, with no intention of blaming her subordinate for messing up the task. She placed the teacup back on the table with a soft click.

She then raised her eyes, looked at the shivering girl in front of her, and posed the only question she cared about at the moment:

"I'll only ask one thing: did Young Master Shen have fun tonight?"

Hearing that Sister Hong wasn't angry, the pure-looking woman felt as if she had been granted amnesty. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded repeatedly, her tone filled with a sense of urgent confirmation:

"He did! He was in a great mood the whole time, ordered three bottles of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque directly. He didn't lose his temper once, and he drank very happily."

After receiving this affirmative result, the slightly furrowed brows of Sister Hong relaxed.

"In our line of work, the guest's happiness is always the top priority. As for failing to complete Young Master Wei's task..."

Sister Hong chuckled, her tone filled with the composure of someone who had seen through the game:

"This was within my expectations. A person of that level is not someone you few can probe."

She stood up, reached out to smooth the slight wrinkles on her purple cheongsam, and her tone deepened. She decisively set the rule for damage control:

"However, since you couldn't even keep the rules and leaked the patron's objective, I, Red Phoenix, cannot collect a single cent of the hundred-thousand-plus table fee from Young Master Wei."

But this did not mean Sister Hong intended to just take the loss. In this vanity fair of Magic City, having lost over a hundred thousand in hard cash, she had to recoup it with interest from elsewhere. And that "Young Master Shen" upstairs, whom even the Scarred Manager had to try so hard to befriend, was definitely a much more valuable "dragon crossing the river" than Young Master Wei.

Sister Hong looked at the pure-looking woman who was still bowing her head, not daring to breathe, and issued a new instruction:

"Go, call those two embarrassing ones back here."

She tidied the stray hair at her temples, her eyes becoming calm:

"In a while, I will go meet this Young Master Shen personally and entertain him properly."

Hearing that her boss was actually going to enter the game herself, the pure-looking woman felt her heart tremble violently. How could she dare to disobey in the slightest? She immediately bowed her head, took a step back, respectfully acknowledged the order, and turned to quickly execute the instruction.