Chapter 289: Professional Ethics

Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Professional Ethics

Investigating cases was police work, and Feng Ling had no intention of getting involved.

But she thought that if she could leverage this publicity stunt, she’d have a perfectly legitimate reason to go to Jinnan City.

Feng Ling went into the Central Building alone to discuss things with Ye Zheng.

The moment she stepped inside, she felt a chill on her neck. Feng Ling ducked and lunged forward! The limbs on her back unfurled completely as she spun around to face her attacker!

Ye Zheng leaped down from above. "Quick reaction this time," he said.

"Don’t you have anything better to do?!" Feng Ling yelled, kicking up the substrate covering the floor!

A fan-shaped spray of rainforest soil and shredded dry sphagnum moss flew at Ye Zheng.

Ye Zheng sidestepped nimbly, and after dodging the spray, said coolly, "Danger can come at any moment, from any direction. I don’t consider this boring."

"If it were me beating you up, I wouldn’t be bored either." Feng Ling retracted her limbs and walked over, handing her phone to Ye Zheng. "Look at this news story. The one that reporter wrote last night. What do you think of her?"

Ye Zheng frowned, taking the phone to scan the article. "Are we really picking someone already? You’re not going to consider anyone else?"

"We’re not an emperor picking his concubines. As long as she’s useful, she’ll do," Feng Ling said.

Ye Zheng skimmed through the article, his frown deepening the more he read. "She’s a slick operator."

Feng Ling smiled. "Right? I think so too. She’s a bit like Pei Xianjue. They’re both very goal-oriented people."

Ye Zheng returned the phone to her. "Goal-oriented people are easier to work with. As long as you know what they want, you can reach an agreement."

Feng Ling nodded. "Right now, I need a reason to go to Jinnan City that seems unrelated to the Star Association. That way, Xing Guang won’t get spooked and run the moment it finds out I’m in Jinnan City. I’m not afraid I can’t beat them; I’m afraid they’ll run. If I push them too hard and they go offline again, all my effort will be for nothing."

Xing Guang was extremely cautious, and Ye Zheng knew it. Last time in Guangshan City, Xing Guang had anticipated that Feng Ling would find them and went offline ahead of time.

Ye Zheng warned Feng Ling, "We have to be fully prepared this time. We can’t give it another chance to go offline."

"Of course I know. That’s why I need to figure out a way to lure it out. If I go looking for it, it’ll definitely run!" Feng Ling said. "My current idea is this: I’m forced to go to Jinnan City for some reason, then I have an ’accident,’ get seriously injured, and am on the brink of death! I refuse to believe Xing Guang wouldn’t be tempted!"

Ye Zheng shook his head. "That’s not enough. We need to up the ante."

Feng Ling blinked. "How so?"

...

An hour later, Feng Ling returned to the sales office, her head spinning.

She used to get annoyed that Ye Zheng was always picking fights with her, but now she realized he was far more terrifying when he was using his brain.

The two of them had been in a tactical meeting for a solid hour!

Feng Ling felt like her brain cells were completely fried!

But she couldn’t rest. Until they actually reached Jinnan City, all her and Ye Zheng’s plans were just hypothetical.

Feng Ling sat on the sofa, rubbing her temples as she scrolled through her contacts for Sang Yin’s number and made the call.

Sang Yin answered quickly. "Hello, who is this, please?"

Her voice sounded crisp and efficient. ’It’s hard to believe this is the same woman who could supposedly faint at any second.’

Feng Ling said, "Hello, this is Feng Ling."

"You’re Feng—! Er... Oh! Oh, hello..."

Her extremely excited tone was awkwardly reined in, shifting from shrill to a moderate, steady pitch. This was followed by the rapid TAP-TAP-TAP of high heels scurrying away. A few seconds later, Sang Yin’s voice came through the phone again—

"Hello, have you considered accepting my interview?" Sang Yin asked cautiously, having ducked into an empty meeting room.

Feng Ling said, "When do you get off work? Let’s meet and talk."

Sang Yin grew even more excited. "I don’t have to be in the office! We can meet right now!"

"Alright, come to the Central Building." Feng Ling paused, then said, "Come alone. Don’t let anyone else know."

Sang Yin’s heart sank.

’Alone? And I can’t let anyone else know?’

’Could it be that Feng Ling wasn’t happy with the article I published today, so she wants to teach me a lesson? ... No, that can’t be right...’

When Feng Ling heard no response, she asked, "What, is it inconvenient? Then just send me an address. I can come find you instead."

"No, no, that’s not necessary! I’ll come to you!" Sang Yin replied hastily. "I’m on my way now!"

"Okay, I’ll be waiting for you~"

As Feng Ling hung up, the feeling that her plan was now in motion eased her headache slightly.

’I hope this reporter, Sang Yin, doesn’t disappoint me.’

...

Sang Yin arrived quickly.

Outside the sales office, workers were walking back and forth from time to time. Feng Ling didn’t want to be disturbed, so she took Sang Yin to the second floor.

Sang Yin looked left and right the entire way, chattering, "I never thought the second floor of the sales office would look like this. The rooms must have been renovated later, right? Can you do this level of renovation yourself? Do you not need to apply for a permit? Was the decor decided based on your preferences? Who lives in the other rooms? I see there are quite a few rooms here. Do you have plans to form a team in the future..."

"Stop—" Feng Ling cut her off. She stopped walking, opened the door to one of the rooms, and then looked at Sang Yin with a hint of resignation. "After you."

Sang Yin smiled sheepishly and stepped inside.

The room was nothing special, just your run-of-the-mill hotel decor.

But Sang Yin didn’t miss a single detail. Her gaze swept greedily over every object in the room, convinced that the room Feng Ling lived in had to have some extraordinary secrets.

Feng Ling walked to the fridge, took out a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to Sang Yin. Then, she tilted her head, looked the reporter up and down, and asked, "Did you bring one of those things?"

Sang Yin faltered. "What kind of thing?"

"You know... a voice recorder, that sort of thing," Feng Ling gestured with her hand, looking at her with a wry smile. "You’re not going to secretly record our private conversation and post it online, are you?"

"Of course not!" Sang Yin’s eyes went wide as she rushed to explain. "Carrying a voice recorder is just a habit for my job, but we always get the interviewee’s consent before we record anything! We have professional ethics!"

Feng Ling had to suppress a laugh at the phrase "professional ethics."

"I’ll cut to the chase," she said, leaning against the edge of a desk. "For certain reasons, I have to go to Jinnan City. And I need to go in a way that’s big, that everyone knows about. So I need a reporter to help me. Just like those articles you wrote—I don’t care if the news is positive or negative. In short, I want everyone to know I’ve gone to Jinnan City. Can you do that?"

"That’s not a problem," Sang Yin agreed at once. "So, may I ask your reason for going to Jinnan City?"

"You’re going to invent the reason for me," Feng Ling said.

Sang Yin froze at her words, but her mind worked fast, and she instantly understood what Feng Ling was implying.

"You need to go to Jinnan City, but you don’t want anyone to know your real objective, so you need another reason as a cover? Is that right?" A thrill of excitement grew in Sang Yin’s heart. She could smell a blockbuster story.

"Yes." Feng Ling nodded. "I heard there was a dismemberment case in Jinnan City before. I think we can use that to create a story. If you have a better idea, that’s fine too. As long as it gets done... what do you want?"

"An exclusive interview!" Sang Yin’s eyes lit up.