Chapter 180 I envy you
As Qi Yu listened to the man coming up step by step, his heart felt like a drum.
He closed his eyes and pretended to still be passed out. As the other party approached, the smell of motor oil mixed with sweat hit his face. Then, a pair of hands began to grope him.
Qi Yu was horrified. After a while, he opened his eyes and saw a burly man with a shaved head. He was about forty years old, with pockmarked cheeks.
The two looked at each other and then reckless man cursed “Fuck”. While still fumbling in Qi Yu’s clothes pocket, he roared harshly, “Apart from the phone and watch, what else do you have on you that was a tracker?”
“Nothing,” Qi Yu gulped and asked in a low voice, “Dage, who are you? Why did you tie us up? If you want money, we can talk…”
“Stop talking shit!” The flat-headed man took out a steel knife from his back pocket and put it against Qi Yu’s neck. He asked sullenly, “If you want to make it out of here alive then don’t lie to me. What else did you bring? Don’t make me do a strip search on you!”
The cold touch made Qi Yu’s heart rise to his throat. Cold sweat, barely visible, slipped down from his temples. He looked straight at him and compromised, “The left trousers pocket…”
The boorish man was surprised. He immediately retracted his knife and put his hand into his trousers pocket, fumbling deep into it. Sure enough, he found an object.
The reckless man shouted to his companion downstairs. “I found it! A small pendant had been hidden in this kid’s trousers pocket. Damn, who did the body search just now? How could he not have found this!?”
The boorish man held the pendant in his hand. He seemed very angry that Qi Yu had lied to him just now but wanted to hurriedly get rid of it. While glaring at Qi Yu, he shouted to the one downstairs. “Lao San, what the f*ck kind of knockout drugs did you use? It’s only been how many hours? Both of them are already awake. Hurry up and bring some of that sh*t up here. Knock this guy out!”
Saying so, he turned around and headed down. Qi Yu heard that the person downstairs tell someone to drive away with the pendant, lead away their pursuers. The glimmer of hope in Qi Yu’s eyes slowly disappeared.
After a while, a different lanky man came up, holding a piece. He walked straight to Qi Yu and covered Qi Yu’s nose and mouth with the cloth. Qi Yu struggled for a while, refusing to breathe it in. In the end, he couldn’t hold on. He could withstand the effects of the drug and soon lost consciousness again.
***
At 0:30 midnight, Fu Yan boarded Ma Jundong’s plane. Fortunately, there was a signal for his phone on the private plane and he kept a constant watch on Qi Yu’s position.
He saw the little red dot stay for half an hour in Wuxing County in Z Province, bordering Haicheng to the north. The red dot then headed east and then started to go south again. After forty minutes, it stayed near Songnan County for about ten minutes and then continued south. It almost bypassed Jiangzhen. At around 2:40 am, it got on the expressway and started to drive in the direction of Hangcheng.
Fu Yansheng kept frowning as he observed this path. He couldn’t understand it.
If he were a kidnapper, he would definitely find somewhere to hide in the shortest possible time, instead of going around in circles in the middle of the night with two hostages in tow.
He called Xiao Qian to ask about the situation. Xiao Qian said, “I just met up with my buddies from the Xingshi Municipal Bureau. F*ck, they’re being were sent running about like a bunch of headless flies. They’ve been hot on the trail of that tracker for almost two hours. I’ve already talked with the police captain. Since they’re on the expressway, we’ll intercept the target at the next intersection.”
Fu Yansheng urged: “The hostages may still be in the car. Pay attention to their safety!”
Xiao Qian: “I don’t need you telling me that!”
Meanwhile, Qi Yuancheng, who was in Haicheng, also learned from Ye Qinru that Qi Yu had gone missing. – The son of the chairman of the group might be in danger. Ye Qinru did not dare not report it.
Qi Yuancheng had already gone to lie down with Jiang Ying at about ten o’clock. In the middle of the night, he sat up in the bed, alarmed by what Ye Qinru had just told him. He couldn’t believe it. “What did you say!?”
Unexpectedly, his voice and movement woke up Jiang Ying as well. Seeing his face ashen, Jiang Ying hurriedly asked what was going on. Qi Yuancheng felt concerned because of his wife’s pregnancy but he still, in a trembling voice, told her what was happening. Jiang Ying’s soul almost left her body.
Husband and wife lost all thoughts of sleep. They hurriedly changed clothes, called the driver and went out to meet Ye Qinru.
The participants in the hotel in Jiangzhen had already learned that Qi Yu and Zhang Chengxuan had been abducted from the hotel. Everything was thrown into chaos. Two VIPs from tow major companies had gone missing. New Bird was afraid of being made the target of public opinion. So while they tried to suppress news of it going out, they were also investigating the responsibility of the hotel’s security.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Xu Jing learned that Qi Yu had disappeared after seeing him. He was filled with remorse and distress. Hearing from Ye Qinru that they had a tracker on Qi Yu, he immediately borrowed a car from Lin Huan, wanting to go out with them to search. Seeing all the excitement, Lin Huan decided to follow along.
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“F*ck, they gave us the slip again. We just stopped the car with the tracker. It’s a courier truck going from Xingshi to Hangzhou. After a long time searching, the tracker was under the driver’s seat. When they asked the driver if he had opened the car window somewhere or if he had contact with anyone after he set off from Xingshi, he said that he had stopped at a gas station in the south of Xingshi an hour ago to refuel and use the toilet. Except for the gas station staff, he didn’t have any contact with anyone. When we looked at the gas station’s surveillance, sure enough, the kidnappers ditched the tracker in the truck at that time…”
When Fu Yansheng heard Xiao Qian’s report, his hands trembled involuntarily.
The tracker appeared in an unrelated car, which meant that within a period of time after kidnapping Qi Yu, the kidnappers had realized that their location had been exposed. They must have searched Qi Yu again or even tortured Qi Yu during their interrogation.
Fu Yansheng gripped his phone. He forced himself to stop thinking of those unbearable possibilities, forcing himself to calm down. “From ten o’clock to just an hour ago, there were four hours in total. If I remember correctly, the tracker was stayed in the southern part of Xingshi City’s Zhongling County, at the plastic factory in Wuxing County in the northern part of Province Z and at the gas station in the southern part of Xingshi City. I suggest focusing on the areas where the tracker stopped for more than ten minutes…”
Xiao Qian: “I know. Actually, the police have already checked the factory near Haicheng. They said that they found nothing. Now, we’ve lost their location. If the kidnappers take the hostages to another location, to some abandoned building or crowded residential area, we’ll have no choice but to wait for them to contact us to get another shot at their location…”
Fu Yansheng added, “Since you guys have come up empty over there, I won’t go there anymore. Right now, I’m the closest to Wuxing County, so I’ll go there directly.”
Xiao Qian was taken aback. “On your own?”
Fu Yansheng: “Don’t worry, if I find the kidnappers, I’ll make sure to stay hidden.”
Xiao Qian: “I’ll go over there and meet up with you. We’ll move out together.”
Fu Yansheng: “Alright…”
After hanging up, Fu Yansheng opened the map and glanced at it. He said to the driver, “Go to Wuxing County, the open road by Hongbin Creek.”
The locator stayed there for the longest time. Fu Yansheng had a strange sense of intuition that Qi Yu was still there.
***
Qi Yu woke up from unconsciousness once again. His hands and feet had gone numb due to being tied up for so long. Knockout drops had been used on him twice and the chest tightness and nausea had worsened.
Qi Yu tried moving a little and the blocked blood started flowing; his entire body felt pained, like he was being electrocuted.
He took a couple of deep breaths. He saw that everything was still pitch black in front of him but the darkness this time was different from the last time – He found that he’d been blindfolded.
Qi Yu blinked a few times, trying to dislodge the cover but it was in vain. The blindfold has tied tight, but the smell of rubber made Qi Yu realize that he still seemed to be in the old abandoned factory.
This didn’t make him feel any more at ease though. His inability to see actually deepened his fear…
His surroundings were not only dark, but also quiet. He didn’t know where the kidnappers and Zhang Chengxuan had gone.
Were they all asleep? Or were they all gone, leaving him here alone?
With the tracker gone, would anyone still come find him?
Would he ever be found?
……
No, no…
The kidnappers wouldn’t have kidnapped him just to kill him. So long has they had something they wanted, there was a chance he’d get out of here alive.
Besides, although the pendant had taken away, at least it had followed him here. The police would definitely be able to search for him by following its trajectory.
Qi Yu huddled in the dark, constantly mentally comforting himself to resist the fear.
After some time, he managed to vaguely make out the kidnapper’s voice coming from outside, but the voice was far away.
Knowing that those people were still guarding him, that they hadn’t just left him tied up to fend for himself, Qi Yu was slightly relieved.
He gradually calmed down and began to recall some details before he’d been abducted.
He remembered that the stairwell had been very open. If Zhang Chengxuan had gone in before him; he definitely would have found the kidnappers if they’d been hiding in there. Also, based on where Zhang Chengxuan had been standing at the time, he must have seen the kidnappers suddenly attack from behind him.
Therefore, it was impossible that Zhang Chengxuan had been like him — kidnapped in completely ignorance. Either he had already been caught by those kidnappers and forced to deceive him into going there or he was an accomplice.
……
He also blamed himself for being so careless. Jing Ge had already told him that there was infighting within the Zhang Family. Securing this cooperation this time was very important to the Lizao Group. That he would actually meet with Zhang Chengxuan alone at that time was…
Besides, the Tianbao Group’s investment had obviously been something that Fu Yansheng had helped arrange through his contacts. How could it be a trap?
Did he really think nothing could possibly happen just because the hotel had surveillance had security, and the stairwell was next to the elevator?
This was all f*cking all stereotyped thinking! Had he forgotten how he had almost been kidnapped in the Fengmao underground parking lot last year!?
Qi Yu did some self-reflection and regretted it so much that he wished he could kick himself in the mouth!
At this moment, there was the sound of sudden movement somewhere near him, accompanied by a “hiss”. Qi Yu’s heart clenched!
Was it Zhang Chengxuan by his side? ?
“… Zhang Chengxuan?” Qi Yu called out in a low voice.
The people next to him didn’t respond. Maybe he hadn’t regained consciousness yet. The movement continued for a while, mixed with faint moans. Qi Yu gritted his teeth and ventured a guess again, “Zhang Chengxuan?”
“…Qi Yu?”
The other party finally responded, it was indeed Zhang Chengxuan!
The other party’s pained groans didn’t seem to be fake. The kidnappers’ beatings and scolding of Zhang Chengxuan had also seemed very real.
This was somewhat puzzling to Qi Yu. If Zhang Chengxuan was also a victim like himself, he shouldn’t resent the other party for tricking him into the stairwell. After all, under threat, few people could sacrifice themselves for some irrelevant classmate.
The only mistake was his lack of vigilance.
But if Zhang Chengxuan wasn’t a victim…
He frowned slightly, asking tentatively, “Are you… alright? Can you see me?”
“I can…” Zhang Chengxuan said in a hoarse voice. He seemed to adjust his position and then calmed down.
Qi Yu had been waiting for him to speak, but apart from that “I can”, Zhang Chengxuan didn’t take the initiative to make any other comment. Not only did he not ask any questions, he didn’t make any attempt at an explanation for as to why he called Qi Yu to the stairwell. He didn’t even try to discuss the current situation with Qi Yu.
——He really didn’t seem like someone who was in the same predicament as Qi Yu.
Qi Yu’s heart sank. He couldn’t help asking, “Do you know what happened?”
Zhang Chengxuan said dryly, “We…were kidnapped.”
Qi Yu asked, “What did you want to tell me when you called me to the stairwell? How do you know about the Tianbao Group?”
Zhang Chengxuan: “Wang Zhendong has a secretary who’s actually a spy for us…”
Qi Yu suddenly understood. His father said that he was going to talk to Wang Zhendong on the morning of the 26th so the Zhang family immediately found out about the Tianbao Group.
He then asked, “What recording were you going to have me listen to?”
Zhang Chengxuan was silent and did not answer.
Qi Yu was extremely annoyed. Sure enough, Lizao didn’t know anything. They were just luring him with a false information about “Tianbao Group”.
“You know… this is a trap, right?” Qi Yu asked, unresigned.
Zhang Chengxuan remained silent. Qi Yu couldn’t even hear his breathing; it was like he was dead.
Qi Yu’s heart grew cold. He gritted his teeth and said, “Zhang Chengxuan, I almost, almost, truly regarded you as a friend…”
Zhang Chengxuan: “You said, we couldn’t be friends.”
Qi Yu angrily retorted, “So this is what you call a ‘respectable opponent’?”
After a long time, Zhang Chengxuan said, barely audible, “I’m sorry…”
……Wait a minute.
What was the purpose behind kidnapping Zhang Chengxuan along with him? Wasn’t it to deceive him, deceive the outside world and make everyone think that he was also one of the victims?
But since Zhang Chengxuan had apologized to him, it meant he didn’t really want to deceive Qi Yu.
To a certain extent, this signaled extreme danger — you didn’t need to worry about dead people knowing the truth — but from another perspective, it showed that the other party hadn’t lost all sense of human decency.
……
Qi Yu’s heart began to beat faster. He quickly stabilized his emotions, and said solemnly, “Don’t tell me ‘sorry’. I just want to ask you. Were you forced?”
Zhang Chengxuan said softly, “Is this important?”
“As long as you answer me honestly, yes or no,” Qi Yu said against his will, “If you say ‘yes’, I will continue to believe you…”
Zhang Chengxuan took a sharp inhale. After a few minutes, his desperate voice sounded in the empty factory. “Qi Yu, you once said that we could not be friends, but you have given me more than a friend could give. You seem cold and unapproachable but your heart is warm and sincere; like a light; it’s so bright I can’t bear to look straight at it…You don’t know how much I envy you, everything you have seems so unattainable for me. Sometimes, I yearn to be a person like you, but there is still a dark villain in my heart who wants to pull you down from the clouds and experience the darkness where I am… I’m sorry, I can’t give you the answer to your question…Don’t trust me anymore…”
————
【Little Theater】
Teacher Fu: Stop pouring chicken soup! Let me out to save my wife! QAQ
Author: I think want to too but what should be written still has to be finished! (〒_〒)
thanks for the chapter!
Wow Zhang Chengxuan is really disappointing 😔 I understand how his envy and admiration for Qi Yu can eventually turn into malicious intent but I had always hoped they could both treat each other with the same amount of respect. I think this is definitely a foolish decision he has already come to regret. Regardless, thank you for the chapter! 🥰
Why do I feel like there’s more to it than meets the eyes…