Chapter 536

Chapter 536 I Don’t Need a Reason to Beat You Up!

Hearing Stadtmeyer’s words, Su Rui’s face turned completely dark.

“I slept with Danielle Sharp? How is that even possible? I wouldn’t want a woman like that even if she threw herself at me!”

Stadtmeyer said nothing, wearing an expression that clearly said “yeah, right.”

“You’re such a bastard.”

Su Rui cursed at Stadtmeyer in frustration, then turned to Lin Aoxue and said, “You know me better than anyone, right? How could I possibly do something like that?”

Lin Aoxue simply turned away. Su Rui’s personal life was genuinely messy, and honestly, she wasn’t entirely convinced there was truly nothing going on between Su Rui and Danielle — after all, that woman was strikingly beautiful.

Still, from Stadtmeyer’s words, Lin Aoxue had caught a rather familiar name — Zeus.

From that book, “Chronicles of the Western Dark World,” Lin Aoxue had already gained some understanding of that mysterious and shadowy world, and the name Zeus was nothing short of legendary.

When Danielle Sharp had caused a scene in Bikang’s conference room, Lin Aoxue had already learned her identity. Now, with two of the dark world’s supreme figures right beside her, and words like “Zeus” being thrown around, Lin Aoxue suddenly felt she was impossibly close to that world.

“The mistress of the Temple of the Sun?”

Lin Aoxue silently repeated those words in her mind, a trace of longing flickering deep in her eyes.

But since Su Rui and Stadtmeyer were quietly chatting about something, neither of them noticed anything unusual about Lin Aoxue.

…………

Ouyang Bingyuan had not left. Instead, he stood in the hotel’s surveillance room, having taken in every detail of what had just unfolded in the banquet hall.

He never could have imagined that Su Rui would be on such close terms with the big boss of Europe’s Alpine Investment Bank.

This was far beyond anything he had anticipated.

Thinking about all of this, Ouyang Bingyuan’s expression grew heavy. He took out his phone and said into it, “How is your contact with Lin Aoxue going?”

“She seems open to cooperation, but further negotiations will be needed. Young Master, please rest assured — we will do our best to persuade her.”

“Good. As long as you get this done, lock Bikang’s funds firmly overseas, and make Lin Aoxue come crawling to me in tears, our future will be limitless.”

“We heed your command, Young Master! We are forever vassals of the Ouyang family!”

“Not vassals of the Ouyang family — vassals of mine. You’d better be clear on that.”

Ouyang Bingyuan said coldly.

The person on the other end of the line couldn’t help but shudder upon hearing this, then apologized repeatedly, “Young Master, it was a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue. We have always followed only you!”

“Good.”

With that, Ouyang Bingyuan coldly ended the call.

For some reason he couldn’t quite explain, he found himself thinking of the throat-slitting gesture Su Rui had made toward him earlier, and a creeping chill slowly spread through his entire body.

He didn’t understand why Su Rui would target him. They had never openly clashed, and there was no real enmity to speak of — at most, he had sent people to kill Su Rui and they had been killed instead. After that assassination attempt, he had already silenced the operatives involved. There shouldn’t be any loose ends, so what was going on?

Perhaps only Su Rui knew the answer.

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Ouyang Bingyuan simply stopped thinking altogether and looked up at the surveillance screens — only to find that Su Rui was nowhere to be seen.

“Just left like that?” Ouyang Bingyuan muttered to himself, brow tightly furrowed.

“No, I haven’t left.”

At that moment, the door to the surveillance room was suddenly pushed open, and Su Rui appeared in the doorway with a cold smirk on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Ouyang Bingyuan said, forcing a calm expression to mask the surprise he felt inside.

“You’re nervous.” Su Rui walked over step by step, a playful smile on his face.

“Nervous? Why would I be nervous?” Ouyang Bingyuan said coldly. “What exactly do you want?”

“You’re definitely nervous. Don’t try to deny it — that much is easy enough to tell.”

Su Rui’s eyes carried a playful gleam. “You’ve got a guilty conscience. That’s why you’re nervous.”

“A guilty conscience? What a joke!” Ouyang Bingyuan said coldly. “Su Rui, don’t go around making false accusations and talking nonsense!”

“Heaven sees all that people do.” Su Rui’s face was equally cold as he took another step forward.

That single simple step was enough to make Ouyang Bingyuan’s entire body tense up.

His nerves were stretched to the absolute limit.

Why was Su Rui targeting him? Why had he shown up here? Why had this guy made that throat-slitting gesture at him?

Could it be that he had been careless somewhere and left a loose end?

In those brief moments, Ouyang Bingyuan’s mind raced as he searched for any misstep he might have made.

“There shouldn’t be any loose ends. Absolutely none.”

After quickly running through every detail in his mind, Ouyang Bingyuan still couldn’t figure out why Su Rui was targeting him.

“Look at that — you’re so nervous you’re sweating.” Su Rui actually handed Ouyang Bingyuan a towel.

“Is that so? It’s probably just the heat.”

Ouyang Bingyuan took it without thinking and wiped his face, almost as if by reflex.

Su Rui said with a grin, “Actually, I was just messing with you.”

“Is that right? That joke wasn’t funny at all.” Even as Ouyang Bingyuan said this, he felt a wave of relief wash over him inside.

He had done many things behind the scenes to undermine Su Rui and Lin Aoxue, but no matter what, he could not let any of it come to light. Otherwise, things would get very dangerous.

“Still not going to admit it?”

The smile on Su Rui’s face vanished in an instant.

“Admit what? What am I supposed to admit?”

Watching Su Rui’s expression, Ouyang Bingyuan’s heart lurched.

“Stubborn to the end!”

“That towel is something I grabbed off the washbasin in the restroom by the entrance. It looks like a cleaning rag, and yet you didn’t even glance at it before wiping your face with it.” Su Rui said.

“What?”

Only then did Ouyang Bingyuan notice what the thing in his hand actually looked like — it appeared to have some stains on it.

At the sight of it, a wave of indescribable disgust surged up from within him. Almost instinctively, he flung the towel aside. Goosebumps had already spread across his back.

There was only one thing he wanted to do right now — wash his face.

“Don’t think I don’t know — you have a thing about cleanliness, don’t you?”

“I don’t have any such thing.”

“You desperately want to go wash your face right now, don’t you? And if you can’t, it’s driving you absolutely crazy, isn’t it?”

Ouyang Bingyuan said nothing, his fists clenched tight.

That was exactly how he felt right now — as if countless tiny insects were crawling across his face. A serious case of germaphobia, without a doubt.

Su Rui said with a cold laugh, “From your shirt to your shoes, there isn’t a speck of dust on you anywhere — and yet you carelessly wiped your face with a bathroom cleaning rag without a second thought. If that isn’t panic, what is?”

Ouyang Bingyuan’s face went pale with fury as he said coldly, “You’re reading way too much into things. You’re worse than those TV drama writers.”

“So what exactly are you hiding?”

“That’s entirely your own imagination!”

“Your excuses have absolutely no convincing power.”

Su Rui put his hands on his hips and said, “Give me an explanation. What’s really going on here?”

“I have nothing to explain. You’re being paranoid, and it’s really quite tiresome.”

Unable to explain himself and unwilling to try any further, Ouyang Bingyuan stared coldly at Su Rui and said, “I hope you understand one thing — you took my brother’s fiancée. There is no way you and I will ever be friends.”

“So you really do care about your brother’s situation? Funny, because I always got the sense that the two of you were never all that close.”

Su Rui let out a light laugh, but those words stopped Ouyang Bingyuan in his tracks, his expression darkening like storm clouds rolling in.

“Did I get that wrong? Ouyang Xinghai was left a broken mess because of me, and you smoothly stepped up to become the Ouyang family’s first-in-line heir. Shouldn’t you actually be thanking me?” Su Rui said with a playful smirk.

“Su Rui, I’m warning you — you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t just say whatever you want!” Ouyang Bingyuan’s face flushed red.

That slightly twisted expression on his normally pale and elegant face looked deeply unsettling.

“Is that so? The fact that you’re this worked up only proves I’m right.”

Su Rui shifted a couple of steps to the side, positioning himself directly in front of Ouyang Bingyuan, and said, “How about you don’t leave tonight, and we have a proper talk?”

Ouyang Bingyuan said coldly, “I have things to attend to. I have nothing to talk to you about. Get out of my way!”

“Whether I move or not isn’t up to you.”

Su Rui smiled faintly, then reached behind him and locked the surveillance room’s heavy security door.

At the hollow sound of the door closing, Ouyang Bingyuan felt as though his heart skipped a beat.

“What are you trying to do?” Ouyang Bingyuan stepped back, trying hard to keep himself composed.

Even so, an unmistakably bad feeling was rising in his chest.

Meeting Su Rui’s gaze — the look of a hunter sizing up its prey — Ouyang Bingyuan suddenly remembered that the man standing before him was the very same person who, single-handedly, had caused the bloody night in the capital five years ago.

One man against all the top fighters of the five great families, breaking through layer after layer of defenses, crippling five heirs in a single night — earning the name of a god of slaughter in one fell swoop.

“I want to get to know you a little better.”

With that, Su Rui swung his hand back and slapped Ouyang Bingyuan hard across the face.

Crack!

The sound of the slap rang out sharp and clear.

Ouyang Bingyuan staggered from the blow, five vivid crimson finger marks appearing on his face almost instantly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Before he could say a word, Su Rui had already stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, raised his right hand high, and brought it down hard.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sound of slaps echoed through the empty surveillance room, sending a chill down the spine.

Forehand, backhand, one after another in rapid succession.

After more than a dozen slaps, Su Rui felt a thoroughly satisfying sense of release.

As for Ouyang Bingyuan — his face had swollen up like a pig’s head.

His cheeks were layered with bloody handprints stacked on top of one another, his entire face covered in blood, with no trace left of that refined and elegant young gentleman.

His head was spinning, his mind a blur, countless bees buzzing wildly inside his skull — his consciousness was already fading.

“You’re dying to know why I’m hitting you like this, aren’t you?”

Su Rui laughed coldly and drove his fist straight into Ouyang Bingyuan’s nose. Under the force of that punch, the latter’s fragile nasal bridge shattered without question.

“The answer is simple — because I just love beating the hell out of self-important, pretentious guys like you.”