"Chairwoman, I..."
"I'm not interested in your excuses. I'll give you twelve hours to find and bring back Xiao Lin. You best pray that no harm has befallen upon her, else the consequences will be dire. Out!"
As he left the office, Ling Chen could only smile bitterly. How was twelve hours enough time to find Su Lin? One would need a miracle to do so in the allocated time frame.
Walking downstairs, he saw Zhong Wei and the rest of the squad assembled. Even Squad 2 was present, so there were more than twenty people over there.
"Captain Zhong."
As Ling Chen walked over, Zhong Wei's face darkened considerably.
"Ling Chen, after we find Miss Su, hand in your resignation of your own accord. My squad has no need for irresponsible team members."
Ling Chen did not say anything in rebuttal. After all, he was indeed the one at fault here.
He walked down to the underground car park and drove out the Santiana, gingerly navigating his car onto the road and began searching for Su Lin's whereabouts.
As time slowly trickled, midnight arrived in the blink of an eye.
More than six hours had passed, yet Ling Chen was still clueless as to where Su Lin was. Initially, he wanted to contact Zhong Wei and ask about the latter's progress. However, thinking back to Zhong Wei's dismissive attitude, that line of thought was quickly abandoned. He directly gave Wei Jun a call, hoping to get some information out of him.
Shortly afterwards, Wei Jun returned his call, giving him the status update. Zhong Wei similarly had no luck finding Su Lin. Furthermore, Nanrong Wanqing had already filed a police report, preparing to enlist the help of the cops.
After searching the roads for two more hours, Ling Chen noticed that it was almost nine o'clock and his stomach was growling incessantly. He stopped his car beside a roadside stall and intended to order a generous serving of egg fried rice to fill his belly, before continuing the search.
Not even a few minutes later, the bowl brimming with fried rice had been wiped clean.
Patting his bulging stomach, Ling Chen wiped off the grease from the corners of his lips and stood up, feeling blissful and satisfied after the meal.
Right at that instant, a white Maserati that was parked by the roadside grabbed his attention. Ling Chen was delighted. To think that Su Lin was actually in a place like this. Indeed, the heavens reward the diligent. All the hours I spent searching for her did not come to nought!
He excitedly dashed towards the white Maserati, but after noticing that there was no one inside the car, he swept his gaze around the surroundings. Very swiftly, his gaze was drawn to a bar that was located not too far away.
As he entered the bar, booming DJ music bombarded his ears. There were even a few youngsters smoking at the entrance, puffing out white fumes of smoke, the entire venue was extremely chaotic.
Ling Chen scanned the venue and noticed Su Lin unsteadily sitting on a barstool. One of her hands was cupping her cheek and looking to be somewhat dazed. Her entire face was flushed from intoxication, with a glass of freshly-poured wine placed in front of her.
Watching as Su Lin raised the glass and prepared to down it in one gulp, he rushed over to her side and grabbed her wrist, snatching the glass out of her hand.
"Miss Su, stop drinking. Let's go home."
"Who are you? Why the fuck should I care about what you say. Go awaaay." She hiccupped.
Su Lin struggled against Ling Chen's grip, stretching out her hand to snatch back the glass of wine from him. However, as she was in an unstable position when sitting, she instantly toppled against Ling Chen's body, her head nestled in Ling Chen's embrace. Her bright red lips landed against his neck, leaving a faint lipstick mark.
"Ling Chen, you bastard! You men are nothing good!"
Hearing Su Lin scolding him loudly while being dead to her surroundings, Ling Chen could only give a hapless smile. He supported her shoulders with one hand and prepared to carry her out of the bar forcibly.
"Let go of me, you bastard!"
Su Lin struggled violently, both her hands hitting Ling Chen's body vigorously, wanting to break free from Ling Chen. However, she was simply too weak compared to Ling Chen. No matter how hard she struggled, it was to no avail and only served to tousle the clothes she was wearing.
At that time, the scent of perfume whiffed over, and there was another person who appeared beside Ling Chen.
"Let go of her."
Noticing the woman who suddenly popped up before his eyes, Ling Chen was taken aback.
This woman had nearly perfect proportions and was the hottest woman he had seen in his life. Moreover, her facial features could rival that of Su Lin who was nestled in his embrace and was definitely a great beauty.
Turning his ogling gaze away from a particular eye-catching part of her body with much difficulty, he looked towards her. "Beauty, can you repeat yourself?"
"Let go of her."
"Do you know her?"
"No, I don't. But I do recognise what kind of person you are. One of those lowly scums who only know how to prey on ladies who have just fallen out of love and get them drunk. Unfortunately, you met me today, so you're out of luck today."
As she spoke, she suspiciously looked at Su Lin, who was in Ling Chen's arms and a trace of astonishment flashed in her eyes.
What kind of person was Ling Chen? With his acute sense, he instantly noticed the strange glint in the other party's eyes, and uneasiness welled up in his heart.
The gaze that this woman directed towards Su Lin was quite weird, as though… how a man would view a woman. Thinking of this point, his eyes immediately widened.
Could this woman be...?
Noticing that Ling Chen refused to release his grip on Su Lin, the woman creased her eyebrows.
"I told you to let go of her, did you hear me?"
"Beauty, there seems to be some kind of misunderstanding here. She is my friend, and I was preparing to send her home."
"Is that true?"
The woman's gaze, as she stared at him, was still swimming with doubt, and she instantly directed a question to Su Lin. "Do you know him?"
"I don't. I don't recognise this scumbag. Get his hands off me!"
Ling Chen hurriedly supplemented, "She's too drunk to think clearly now. Don't listen to her ramblings."
"I think you're the one spouting nonsense here. Hurry up and get your hands off her, else don't blame me for getting nasty with you!"
Ling Chen was speechless. He only heard tales of heroes rescuing damsels in distress, but the scene playing out now of a beauty rescuing the damsel was something that he had never seen before.
The overbearing attitude of the woman left him feeling annoyed, and he could not afford to waste any more time here. I still need to rush back to save my own skin!
With that thought in mind, he ignored the warning of the woman and hurried towards the exit, while carrying Su Lin.
Ignoring me, huh? The woman coldly snorted, and she lashed out her leg into a high kick, aiming for Ling Chen's back.
Sensing a powerful gust of wind from behind him, Ling Chen did not say anything else and forcefully twisted his body. His hand was as swift as lightning and accurately grabbed onto the other party's ankle, giving it a light shove. The woman instantly lost her balance and unsteadily retreated a few steps.
"Lass, I'm not accustomed to hitting women, especially a beauty like yourself. You best don't overstep your boundaries, don't not force my hand."
"I'm afraid that I can't listen to you."
The woman dashed forward again, making a posture as though she was about to make a move.
Right at that instant, a large crowd swarmed into the bar, with Zhong Wei standing at the forefront. It was not only Zhong Wei, but Nanrong Wanqing was present as well.
"Captain Zhong, over here." Ling Chen waved towards the crowd who just entered.
Zhong Wei took a giant step forward towards Ling Chen and noticed the drunk Su Lin in Ling Chen's embrace. He immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
At that moment, with the entrance of Nanrong Wanqing and her entourage, the initially chaotic bar instantly quietened down. The gaze of all the other customers in the bar was fixed on Nanrong Wanqing, unable to move away for a long time.
"Chairwoman, Miss Su is fine. You can put your heart at ease now."
Looking at Su Lin, with her dishevelled clothes, Nanrong Wanqing's face stiffened, and she turned her gaze to Ling Chen. Noticing the faint lipstick mark on his neck, her eyes gleamed with doubt and exuded a freezing killing intent.
"Liang Zhaohui, bring some men to take Miss Su back first."
"Yes, Chairwoman."
"Hold it right there!"