The next morning, Gu Xue was jolted awake by a ringing phone.
It was an emergency company meeting notice.
Rubbing her temples, she glanced at the name flashing on the screen: Lu Jingze. He was the man who had approached her in the darkness just yesterday, making her fear that she was about to be preyed upon.
Now, however, his voice was calm and strictly professional. "Gu Xue, there's an issue with the marketing department's budget report. Report to the conference room immediately."
"Understood." Suppressing her unease, she hurried to the office.
The atmosphere in the conference room was as tense as a drawn bowstring.
Projected onto the screen was a new proposal from the rival department, "Innovative Planning."
"They've stolen our product theme and used our internal, unpublished data," the assistant manager said anxiously. "This is definitely a leak!"
Gu Xue gasped—only she, Lu Jingze, and a few executives had seen that document.
All eyes turned to her simultaneously.
Lu Jingze remained silent, fixing her with his deep, piercing gaze as if seeing straight into her soul.
After a moment of silence, he slowly asked, "Gu Xue, were you the last one to leave the office last night?"
Her face paled. "You suspect me?"
He smiled faintly. "I never said that."
After the meeting ended, she stormed into his office, furious.
"What do you want from me? You've been targeting me since my first day, and now you want me to take the fall for being a spy?"
Lu Jingze lifted his head from his desk. His tone was calm to the point of being icy. "I just want the truth."
"Then investigate me!" she shouted, unable to control her voice. "But please stop looking at me like that—as if I owe you something!"
He stood up, his shadow stretching long in the sunlight.
When he was mere inches away, a faint scent filled the air—not perfume, but something wild, warm, and forest-like.
She froze. "What...what is that scent on you?"
Lu Jingze's pupils contracted sharply, and he took an instinctive half-step back.
It was a warning, like a beast concealing its instincts.
"That's not your concern," he said coldly, turning to leave. Only a low murmur lingered behind him: "Stay away from me, Gu Xue."
That afternoon, Gu Xue received a tip from her colleague, Xiaoqing. The vice president of Chuangrui Planning and an internal manager frequently met outside the office.
A shock ran through her heart, and she began a covert investigation.
Through email records, she discovered that the "stolen data" had been transmitted precisely on the night of the power outage.
The very night she was trapped in the office face-to-face with Lu Jingze.
Who had the opportunity?
Who acted while the surveillance system was down?
As she pondered this, an anonymous email suddenly arrived.
[The fox's secret is more than you imagine. To learn the truth, return to the place of the blackout tonight at nine."
Her heart skipped a beat.
The fox's secret?
Her instincts screamed that this was no joke.
Night fell.
Gu Xue returned to the deserted office building once more.
Lights flickered on and off, air vents hummed softly, and the entire world seemed to be swallowed by fog.
Her phone vibrated.
A new message appeared on the screen:
[Head east.]
She took a deep breath and moved forward as instructed.
At the end of the corridor, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows.
"Lu Jingze?"
He leaned against the window, and the silver-gray light washed over his face. His expression was calm yet dangerous.
"You shouldn't have come."
"You told me to come!" She gripped her phone tightly.
Lu Jingze's lips curved slightly, though his eyes held a hint of weariness. "No, he made you come."
"He?"
He lifted his head, and a fleeting golden glint flashed in his eyes.
In that instant, she clearly saw his pupils—they were vertical, like a fox's.
Gu Xue gasped and took a step back.
Lu Jingze closed his eyes, as if finally abandoning pretense. "This is the secret you sought. From the day you joined the company, I've been trying to control myself because my blood isn't entirely human."
He slowly extended his hand, its palm emitting a faint glow that revealed silver-white fox markings vaguely.
"That data theft incident had nothing to do with me. But it had everything to do with another me."