CHAPTER 180: CHAPTER 180: FINDING THE MOLE

"What are you hiding from me?" He demanded, leaning in slightly.

Song Kai’s eyes darkened as he slammed the cup of coffee on the table.

Glaring at Huo Mingjie, Song Kai slowly said, "you need to remember who is in charge. We are not equals. You are my subordinate. Never question me."

Huo Mingjie’s lips tightened. "You don’t get to talk to me like that. No matter what, I am still a Huo and your best bet in destroying Huo Feng." A smug smile coated his lips.

Song Kai’s shoulders trembled with laughter. "You really think ahead of yourself, don’t you?"

"I’ll tell you now. You are nothing. Do you think you’re the only one I’m working with? I suggest you get your facts checked."

Song Kai rose to his feet, glancing at Huo Mingjie whose expression was tight with fury.

"Now, if you’d excuse me. I’d love to see how far my plan has gone."

Song Kai smiled coldly, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes before he walked out.

"Darn it!" Huo Mingjie cursed under his breath, hitting his hand on the arm rest. "I have been played by Song Kai. I let him take advantage of my desperation."

Meanwhile, at the Huo corporation, all hands were on deck.

"Ning Ning," will you be able to check all employees under a really short time.

Yue Ning raised er head up to glance at him. "You don’t need to worry. Are you forgetting about my skills?" There was a proud smile on her face as she answered him.

Huo Feng smiled calmly. He couldn’t doubt her skills even if he wished to do so. She had shown time and time again that she was skillful.

"I am only worried about you. I don’t want you straining your eyes or your back because you want to help me." He admitted, placing his hand on her shoulders.

A flow of sweetness found its way into Yue Ning’s heart. "Thank you for worrying about me, but I want to do this. Let me do this okay?" Yue Ning placed her hand on his, squeezing them softly.

Huo Feng exhaled. He couldn’t convince her otherwise even if he tried to. She was stubborn, he knew this much.

"Fine, if this is what you want." He walked back to his seat, and Yue Ning smiled as her fingers typed away on the keyboard.

"We don’t have much time." Yue Nin communicated with the system.

’Agreed.’

Yue Ning bit her lips as she continued typing. But beneath that white interface of the laptop, a pale hologram appeared. The system hummed softly in her mind as it helped her narrow down the employees close to Huo Mingjie.

Yue Ning looked at the list, and her eyes narrowed.

Her gaze was immediately fixated on a guy, and her brows drew softly together.

"This man," she murmured under her breath, gaining Huo Feng’s attention.

"Did you find something?" He asked, and he immediately shot up to his feet.

He walked to her, and stood behind her.

Yue Ning nodded. This man—" She pointed towards a part on the TV. "—he seems to have a lot of dealings with Huo Mingjie."

"I have every reason to believe that he is the one who tried to break into the basement using Huo Mingjie’s ID card."

Huo Feng’s brows creased as his eyes remained on the man.

"Ah Si." He called out after a few minutes of checking the man out.

Ah Si who had been waiting just right outside the office walked in.

"Do you have any orders, President?" He asked respectfully.

"Yes." Pointing to the man on the screen, Huo Feng instructed. "Find whatever you can find on him. I want him tailed."

Ah Si looked at the man. He was shocked, surprised and filled with doubt. Did the President’s wife just narrow down the suspect?

"What’s wrong? Why are you still here? We don’t have much time." Yue Ning urged him.

"Right! I’ll get to work now." Ah Si immediately said, and basically ran out of the office.

Huo Feng turned his attention to her. "You have done a lot today. I think you go home and rest." He suggested.

"What? No!" Yue Ning rejected him without hesitation. "Until the suspect has been caught, I will remain in this company offering you any sort of help you need."

Yue Ning’s tone left no room for argument. Huo Feng sighed before returning to his seat while Yue Ning lifted her lips triumphantly.

[Countdown: 4 hours, 10 minutes left.]

Yue Ning straightened up instantly at the reminder.

"What’s wrong? You seem tense. Do you need meds?" Huo Feng asked with worry filled in his eyes.

She shook her head in response.

"Are you sure?" Huo Feng insisted.

Yue Ning’s shoulders dropped. "I’m just worried. The suspect is in the dark and we are out in the open. I’m scared of what could happen."

Yue Ning’s face was pale as she uttered her innermost fear.

Huo Feng laughed softly, reaching for her hand which was placed on the table.

He squeezed it softly. "I can assure you, Ning Ning. We are not the ones in the open. You just need to wait for a couple more hours and everything will be sorted. I assure you."

Yue Ning raised her head, her eyes directly meeting with his. "Trust me. I believe you. This will be all over soon."

Ah Si moved fast. Within twenty minutes, he was back in the surveillance room, scanning every camera linked to the restricted floor. His headset buzzed as his team fed him updates.

"Target spotted leaving the parking lot. He’s heading east. Looks nervous."

"Keep a tail on him," Ah Si ordered, his tone clipped. "Don’t engage until I say."

In the office, Yue Ning leaned closer to her screen. Her eyes flicked rapidly over the cascading lines of data, fingers flying across the keyboard.

’He’s not running,’ the system’s voice echoed in her mind, calm yet sharp. ’He’s delivering something.’

Her heart skipped several beats. "Delivering?" she asked silently.

Her gaze swept the feed until she caught a small, encrypted file being uploaded from the man’s laptop at the exact moment he left the building.

Her pulse quickened. "It’s moving to an offsite server, she said aloud, keeping her tone barely calm. "He’s transferring internal project files!

Huo Feng’s brows furrowed. "Which ones?"

Yue Ning’s hands trembled slightly as she typed faster. "Show me the metadata," she instructed mentally.

’Confirmed’, the system replied. ’Government defense contracts’.

Yue Ning’s expression hardened as she met Huo Feng’s eyes. "Those," she said quietly, "if they’re leaked, the consequences will be severe."

Huo Feng’s jaw tightened. "Ah Si," he said into his earpiece, voice low and dangerous, "stop him before that upload completes."

[Countdown: 3 hours, 49 minutes left.]