Chapter 86: The Matter Escalates

The person in front of her slowly removed the mask, revealing a face mottled with bruises.

Lu Yao was stunned, unable to recover for quite some time.

“Lu Yao, I was violated. I want you to be my lawyer, to defend me and punish those demons.”

“I…”

Lu Yao gripped her laptop bag tightly, her gaze complex as she looked at Qiao Wan’er’s injured face, unable to describe the feelings churning inside her.

Ye Hua really did dare to use such ruthless violence against even Qiao Wan’er.

“Whether you agree or not, you have to agree, or I’ll have the police arrest you! I was harmed because I drank your special concoction,” Qiao Wan’er stared at Lu Yao with lifeless eyes. The reason she sought out Lu Yao was, first, to test her, and second, to use Lu Yao to find the true culprit who hurt her.

She already had a suspect in mind.

Last night, as she escaped, she happened to overhear the man in the lion mask talking on the phone with her attacker. Her intuition told her the person on the other end was definitely not Lu Yao.

Lu Yao didn’t have the means to hurt her to such an extent.

Lu Yao silently sighed, tugged at the corner of her mouth, and shook her head, refusing softly, “I have too many cases on my plate, I can’t take on any more. Miss Qiao, if you truly wish to seek justice, it’s best to hire a top lawyer experienced in these kinds of cases—you’ll have the greatest chance of winning. After all, gathering evidence for cases like this is far harder than most people imagine.”

“Besides, your father wields tremendous influence in the capital, straddling both sides of the law. Finding the culprit who hurt you shouldn’t be difficult, should it?”

“No, I don’t want my father to know. I want to…”

Before their conversation could finish, a crowd of reporters suddenly rushed over from nearby, overwhelming and surrounding them.

Among them, a tall male reporter reached out and yanked off Qiao Wan’er’s mask and hat, exposing her disheveled state to everyone.

She hurriedly raised her hands to shield her face, shouting, “Stop taking pictures! Get out of my way!”

“Miss Qiao, last night you secretly met with a man with special interests, cheating on your fiancé. Were you always into these kinds of things?”

“The Ye family has officially announced the cancellation of your engagement to Mr. Ye Zehong. Do you have anything to say about it?”

“When Mrs. Ye and Miss Ye were interviewed, they said they never expected someone as seemingly innocent and pure as you to be so wild behind the scenes. Do you have any response to that?”

Faced with the reporters’ barrage of explosive questions, Qiao Wan’er was stunned, frozen in place.

Flashbulbs kept firing at them, the questioning never ceased.

Cheating?

Engagement annulled?

Pretending to be pure, but living wildly?

Lu Yao was the first to catch the sensitive words, reacting instantly. She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately grabbed Qiao Wan’er’s wrist, pushing aside the reporters to pull Qiao Wan’er out of the chaos.

In a deserted corner,

Qiao Wan’er collapsed to the ground, legs weak, despair flooding her voice, “It’s over. Everything is over.”

Suddenly, she erupted in a fit of emotion, screaming, “Why? Why would they do this to me? What did I do wrong? Why must they ruin me like this?”

Lu Yao stood off to the side, watching Qiao Wan’er’s hysterics, her own expression growing darker.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Qiao Wan’er pounded the ground with her fists, screaming wildly, venting her grievances and unwillingness to accept her fate.

Then, she crawled to Lu Yao’s feet, clutching the hem of Lu Yao’s clothes, raising her head with a look of hatred in her eyes, gritting her teeth as she said, “You must help me find the culprit and bring them to justice, or else…”

“I’ll make you suffer the pain I endured. I, Qiao Wan’er, mean what I say!”

(End of chapter)