The Cannon Fodder Alpha Who Made the Heroine Pregnant - Chapter 46

46: The Loyalty Test

Chu Zhao wasn’t answering her calls. Zhou Lan redialed multiple times, each attempt met with the same hollow ringing before disconnecting.

Just as she was about to try again, Kang Kang, Zhou Xianling’s ever-loyal assistant, approached with urgent steps.

“Miss Zhou, the Chairman requests your immediate return,” he stated formally, though his eyes betrayed a flicker of something more complex.

Zhou Lan waved him off absentmindedly, her fingers massaging her temples where a dull ache was forming. Something about this entire situation felt fundamentally wrong. Had Zhou Xianling really gone through all this trouble—dragging her to exclusive clubs, flaunting obscene displays of wealth—just to tempt her with luxury?

The timing was suspect. Just last night, Chu Zhao had been giving her the cold shoulder, maintaining the same distance she’d carefully preserved throughout their arrangement. Yet today, multiple missed calls from the typically aloof woman? It didn’t add up unless…

A cold realization slithered down Zhou Lan’s spine. Chu Zhao had mentioned they were close to obtaining the decisive evidence to dismantle the Zhou empire. “Close” could mean today. Tomorrow at the latest. Which meant Zhou Xianling’s sudden interest in her wasn’t about inheritance, it was a distraction.

“What exactly is my father planning?” Zhou Lan muttered, mentally replaying their recent interactions for clues.

The more she analyzed his words, the more certain she became, he knew something. Had possibly known for a while.

Her suspicions crystallized when Kang Kang followed her outside the private club’s opulent doors.

“You’ve noticed something amiss,” he observed, studying her troubled expression. Before she could respond, he delivered his message with chilling precision: “The Chairman instructed me to inform you—if you weren’t his biological daughter, you’d perish alongside the others.”

The threat landed like a physical blow. Perish? Her? And who were “the others”? With dawning horror, Zhou Lan’s thoughts immediately flew to Chu Zhao.

“Where is Chu Zhao right now?” She grabbed Kang Kang’s sleeve with enough force to wrinkle the expensive fabric. “Tell me!”

Kang Kang’s expression remained professionally blank.

“I’m afraid that’s classified.”

As he turned to leave, Zhou Lan played her trump card:

“What if I told you I know where your missing sister is?”

The assistant froze mid-step. A decade ago, his ten-year-old sister had vanished without a trace, fracturing his family beyond repair. His father abandoned them, unable to bear his mother’s endless grief. Three years ago, his mother had passed away, her final wish echoing the obsession that had consumed her life—find your sister.

Normally, Kang Kang would dismiss such claims outright. But recently, anonymous tips about his sister’s whereabouts had started appearing.

In the original novel’s timeline, Kang Kang had been a minor character who aided Chu Zhao at a critical juncture. While major plot points had changed since Zhou Lan’s transmigration, certain underlying truths remained.

“She’s being held in the villa adjacent to the Zhou family estate,” Zhou Lan revealed. “Verify it yourself.”

Kang Kang’s mask slipped momentarily before he schooled his features. “Chu Zhao is unharmed,” he conceded. “This is merely her final evaluation—pass, and she’ll be promoted to Vice President on Monday.”

His tone turned clinical as he explained: “Despite her assistance in the Chu family takeover, the Chairman remains suspicious. As a Chu by bl00d, resentment would be natural. Today’s test was designed without your involvement, her loyalty is being assessed.”

Zhou Lan’s grip tightened. “And if she fails?”

Kang Kang’s silence was answer enough.

Before she could press further about the death threat, her phone vibrated with an incoming call—Chu Zhao’s name flashing on the screen.

“Are you hurt?” they asked simultaneously the moment the call connected.

Relief flooded Zhou Lan’s system at the sound of Chu Zhao’s voice. “Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”

The address Chu Zhao provided—Zhou Corporation headquarters on a weekend—confirmed Zhou Lan’s suspicions. The “evaluation” was clearly some sort of staged scenario.

—

The reunion at Zhou Corp’s gleaming lobby was charged with unspoken tension. Chu Zhao stood perfectly composed, but Zhou Lan’s sharp eyes caught the white-knuckled fists hidden at her sides.

“Thank god you’re safe,” Zhou Lan breathed, resisting the impulse to pull her into an embrace.

Chu Zhao’s fingers flexed unconsciously. The day’s events had shaken her more than she cared to admit. Multiple warnings about Zhou Lan being in danger had forced her to act against her better judgment, initiating their endgame prematurely.

What disturbed her most was Zhou Xianling’s ruthlessness, the messages implied he’d genuinely intended harm to his own daughter. This, coupled with her own… complicated physical condition, had created unbearable cognitive dissonance.

She hated Zhou Lan for being the potential cause. Hated herself more for still caring.

—

In the privacy of Chu Zhao’s rarely seen apartment (a concession to their imminent separation), they pieced together Zhou Xianling’s machinations.

“The test-tube pregnancies,” Chu Zhao revealed stiffly. “All terminated last night.”

Zhou Lan’s jaw dropped. “The Sang family?”

A curt nod. “He suspects you orchestrated it to eliminate competition for the inheritance.”

The absurdity almost made Zhou Lan laugh. Zhou Xianling had spent fortunes and energy on creating backup heirs, only for the Sang family’s shadow operative to wipe them out in one night. No wonder he’d been unhinged enough to threaten filicide.

Meanwhile, isolating them had served dual purposes—testing Chu Zhao’s loyalty while preventing them from coordinating against him.

“The investigation team arrives tomorrow,” Chu Zhao said, watching the city lights through her floor-to-ceiling windows. “We should leave Jiangning immediately.”

Zhou Lan agreed wholeheartedly—until Chu Zhao added, “You go first. I have unfinished business.”

The dismissal stung more than expected. Two months of pretending to be lovers, of tacit understanding built through shared schemes—was this really how it ended?

“Let me help,” Zhou Lan offered, hating the pleading note in her voice.

Chu Zhao’s refusal was absolute.

—

Zhou Lan’s elaborate taxi-hopping escape plan was halfway to the city limits when she made her decision.

“Turn around,” she instructed the driver, jaw set.

“Back to downtown.”

However complicated her feelings were, she couldn’t abandon Chu Zhao to Zhou Xianling’s mercy. Not when the old fox had already proven himself capable of anything.