Clearly, from the very beginning, she was the one planning to set him up.

Yet in the end she was the one who fell in, her basic ability to think gone. Looking back now, Li Tingyan suddenly bringing her to see the secret room had obviously been a trap, just to lure her in.

But she’d let herself be dazzled by his looks and the seductive trap he laid, and actually slipped up. She was a failure.

Li Tingyan watched her coldly. "Since you already know it was all just a performance before, be honest and tell me where your family’s current gathering place is. What’s your goal?"

Yin Tang leaned back. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Ask."

"This whole new-type steamship project—was it actually fake?"

"Yes, and no." Li Tingyan’s face was expressionless. "The construction plan has long been finalized, but to prevent people like you from targeting and sabotaging it, it’s already been quietly transferred elsewhere. Outwardly, we still say it’s in Jiangcheng."

Yin Tang was completely dumbfounded. So from that early on, everything had just been a setup. And this man had been flawlessly acting the part all this time. He was terrifying, absolutely terrifying. There were actually men this rational in the world?

"How did you know someone would try to sabotage it, and be so sure it would be in Jiangcheng? How did you know our organization was in Jiangcheng?"

Yin Tang really couldn’t figure this out. She clearly hadn’t confessed anything, but from what Li Tingyan was saying...

He seemed to know exactly who the people behind her were. He’d spent nearly a month weaving this trap, all just to wait for them to bite.

Wasn’t that too unbelievable? Was he some kind of prophet?

Anyway, since she was already in his hands, Li Tingyan didn’t bother to hide it. "Last time, that bunch of pirates of yours made trouble and I defeated and captured them. After my interrogation, they confessed that some of your people were in Jiangcheng, planning to come after this island. So I came up with this trap to fish you out. Got it now?"

Yin Tang let out a bitter laugh. "Impressive. Truly a flawless plan. Li Tingyan, you really are a piece of work..."

"I don’t want to hear your nonsense. You’d better confess honestly. Don’t force me to use my methods. You should know, in this world, no one can withstand what I, Li Tingyan, do to them."

Li Tingyan spoke with righteous certainty, and the pent-up frustration in his chest finally eased. He no longer had to pretend; he could finally go all out and deal with this bitch.

Yin Tang stared straight at Li Tingyan. "So all these days—it was all fake? Not a shred of sincerity?"

"You’re overthinking it. There’s only my wife in my heart." Li Tingyan’s face was numb. "Every other woman, in my eyes, is just a slab of pork belly. Especially an old woman like you."

"Old woman?" Yin Tang’s expression turned a bit strange.

Li Tingyan faintly felt he might have miscalculated something, but he forced himself to keep his aura steady, his voice cool. "Isn’t that right? Aren’t you supposed to be Phoenix?"

Yin Tang froze, then burst out laughing. "Li Tingyan, oh Li Tingyan, for all your scheming, you’re still a bit too green. This time I got caught by you because I was stupid, but you haven’t actually won either!"

"What do you mean?" Li Tingyan’s tone went taut.

Yin Tang smiled dazedly. "No wonder Sister Phoenix suddenly assigned me here. So she’d already calculated you’d set a trap for her, and then she gave you a trap within a trap, hahahahaha.