After Big Boss took the laptop, he didn’t open it right away, but instead swept a suspicious glance over Ye Xunhuan and Zuo En.
"See for yourself." Ye Xunhuan picked up his teacup and slowly brought it to his lips, drinking at leisure.
Seeing this, Big Boss said nothing more and directly opened the laptop.
The laptop wasn’t locked; just a light swipe was enough to unlock it.
Once it was open and he saw what was on the screen, Big Boss’s expression immediately changed.
"You... you..."
"Did you really think my intel team in Europe was just a bunch of useless freeloaders?" Ye Xunhuan said softly. "They can work too. It just depends on whether I feel like using them or not."
"Everyone on that list didn’t show up. They’re missing." Ye Xunhuan stared at Big Boss and enunciated each word: "As long as I grab, one by one, the people impersonating them—or eliminate them—then my side is secure."
"And you’re a smart man. You should understand what it means for me to put this in front of you, right?"
"You... you killed them all?"
"I’m actually not that bloodthirsty." A slow smile appeared on Ye Xunhuan’s face. "Besides, they never laid a hand on me, and they didn’t do anything heinous under my nose. There’s no need for me to kill them."
"But they can’t do much here anyway—unless they’re all looking to die."
"Marshal, I have to admit, I underestimated you before." Big Boss let out a muffled breath, fixing Ye Xunhuan with a hard stare. "But Marshal, even if you’ve uncovered them, you really think that means you can kill me?"
"And once you make a move, if I manage to walk out of here alive, what follows will be your doomsday." Big Boss said heavily, "You don’t want to forge such a massive grudge, do you?"
"Big Boss—the mastermind behind Shadow." Ye Xunhuan smiled broadly. "Am I right?"
Big Boss’s face changed again. "You..."
"You’re wondering how I know, aren’t you?" The smile on Ye Xunhuan’s face grew thicker, with a hint of playful amusement.
Big Boss didn’t respond, but his expression grew darker.
He had never imagined Ye Xunhuan would know this much—down to the fact that Shadow was his man.
After a brief silence, Big Boss slowly spoke. "You’re right. I really am curious—how exactly did you figure it out?"
"Earlier, when Shadow saw you, his eyes kept dodging, and for a split second he even spaced out." Ye Xunhuan said evenly. "Clearly, you two know each other."
"Then, after you killed Louis III, you suddenly turned on Shadow—and you were just as swift and ruthless."
"Of course, you can tell me you only wanted to kill Shadow, that you two had some personal grudge. But what you might not know is, I can read lips."
Lip reading is the skill of interpreting what someone says by watching the movement of their lips; it’s a very difficult technique that requires a great deal of practice. Some people with hearing impairments use it to communicate with others.
At the same time, lip reading is also a mandatory skill for certain intelligence departments.
"When you killed Shadow, his lips clearly moved twice, and what he said was ’why’, wasn’t it?"
Big Boss stayed silent. His face was growing uglier by the second, and even his iron fists clenched tightly at this moment.
He suddenly realized that this Ye Xunhuan was far more formidable than he’d imagined—and far harder to deal with.
"Impressive. The underground world’s mighty Marshal actually knows lip reading."
Big Boss understood how hard lip reading was. Even he didn’t know it. Of course, if he wanted to learn, he could definitely pick it up—and faster than most people.
But he simply never had the time to study something like that.
"That’s because you don’t know—I used to be one of the Hidden Dragons of Huaxia." Ye Xunhuan explained. "Lip reading is a compulsory skill for us. It makes communication easier and also makes our operations smoother."
"So that’s how it is." A look of realization slowly appeared on Big Boss’s face. "You’re right. I am indeed the Big Boss behind Shadow."
At this moment, Big Boss stopped hiding anything and admitted it outright.
At this point, even if he refused to admit it, it would be meaningless. After all, Ye Xunhuan had already caught on.
Right now, Big Boss genuinely admired Ye Xunhuan’s keen powers of observation. In a situation like that, he still had the presence of mind to observe everything around him.
He couldn’t help but respect that. At the same time, Big Boss finally understood that Ye Xunhuan’s rise to this point was no accident—it was inevitable.
"Good. As long as you admit it." Ye Xunhuan seemed to have already anticipated Big Boss’s confession. He wasn’t the least bit surprised and remained utterly calm.
"Since you’re Big Boss, why did you kill Shadow? Were you afraid he’d expose you?"
"No." Big Boss said mildly. "Even if he fell into your hands, he’d never betray me."
"Then I don’t get it. Why did you kill him?"
"If someone keeps paying you lip service while defying you behind your back, would you let him live?"
Big Boss slowly lifted his head and fixed his gaze on Ye Xunhuan.
"Depends on what he’s done."
"You can make that distinction. I can’t." Big Boss said with absolute seriousness. "The thing I hate most is being lied to, having someone play both sides with me. Anyone who lies to me, who pretends obedience while defying me—they all deserve to die."
"I’m really curious—what did he actually do that made you ruthless enough to kill such a top-tier fighter?"
Shadow was no ordinary man, and certainly no ordinary fighter. He had once been a hegemon. Though he’d stepped down and let King Kong succeed him, his strength was still there—especially that peerless speed of his. If he went to ambush someone or carry out an assassination mission, he’d be a first-rate operative.
"I didn’t want to kill you, but he defied me and tried to take your life—more than once." Big Boss stared at Ye Xunhuan and spoke each word clearly. "So he had to die."
A look of surprise slowly appeared on Ye Xunhuan’s face.
He had considered many possibilities in his mind, but he had never thought that the reason Big Boss killed Shadow was because Shadow disobeyed his orders and tried to kill him.
Didn’t that mean this Big Boss standing in front of him had never intended to kill him from beginning to end?