Mu Tian Heng closed his laptop with a snap. His face had turned grim right in the middle of a meeting.
"Mu, what's wrong with you?" A startled Lai De Si asked in confusion.
The various department chiefs were too scared to even squeak and the head of the finance department who was giving his report was sweating bullets.
"Ch, chairman…"
Mu Tian Heng rushed out of the meeting room and punched in the numbers on his phone at the highest speed.
He had installed a high-grade tracker on Mo Di's phone. Even if the phone was switched off or soaked in water, the tracker would still function. Moreover, if there was no movement for more than 150 minutes, it would send a signal directly to his cell phone and laptop.
Unusually, the dormancy signals would only appear when Mo Di was in class or during the night. Both of these situations only happened when he was in school, never outside. This had been a very busy time for Mo Di, he would never spend more than two hours out of school or away from the company.
But at present, the tracker was pointing to a remote street near Jing Da. This was definitely alarming.
Mu Tian Heng called Mo Di's cell. There was a dial tone but no one picked up!
He continued to dial it several more times but to no avail.
A powerful sense of fear surged from his heart. Mu Tian Heng went on to call Mo Di's roommate, Xian Yu Chao.
The phone was picked up after three seconds and Xian Yu Chao's nervous voice was heard.
"B, Boss! Are you calling to ask if Xiao Di has been staying up late? No, no, no. He's been good and always sleeps on time."
"No," Mu Tian Heng got to the point and asked, "It's not about that, is Xiao Di with you?"
"Ah?" Xian Yu Chao quickly answered, "No. Didn't he go to see you? He went out right after class, he's currently not at school. Hello? Hello?!" Xian Yu Chao frowned when Mu Tian Heng hung up on him. What's up with the boss today?
"Postpone the meeting."
Mu Tian Heng ordered Assistant Gao who had followed him out of the conference room and signaled to Lai De Si, "We're going to Jing Da."
Lai De Si had to jog to keep up with Mu Tian Heng. There were so many questions in his head. "What? Jing Da?! Mu, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
"I suspect that something has happened to Mo Di." Mu Tian Heng was getting more distressed by the minute. His complexion was turning pale.
"What? Something happened to Xiao Di?" Lai De Si almost tripped after hearing it.
Mu Tian Heng suppressed the panic in his heart. He increased his pace while making another phone call, "Hello Commissioner Wang. I have an emergency that I really need your help with…"
"…"
After talking with Commissioner Wang, Mu Tian Heng contacted the vice-principal of Jing Da as he made his way to the university at the fastest speed.
The vice-principal personally went to greet Mu Tian Heng at the gate. Seeing his car coming in, he rushed forward to welcome them in a cold sweat. Mentally, he was wondering if Mu Tian Heng was just being paranoid. They have only lost contact with him for three hours, why did he keep insisting that something was wrong?
However, if something did go wrong, there would be dire consequences offending this prominent figure!
"You don't have to be polite. Please take me to the surveillance room."
Mu Tian Heng had a terrible look on his face. The vice principal's heart was beating fast. He prayed for Mo Di to come back soon and if he was really kidnapped, prayed to let nothing happen to him.
"Yes, yes… This way, please. Which area would you like to check first?"
"I want to see the footage of all of your entrances and also Building #1."
With the information he had gathered from Xian Yu Chao and the others, he learned that a student had come to inform Mo Di that the counselor was asking for him, that was why Mo Di had gone to Building #1. But when he spoke to the vice-principal on the phone, he was informed that the counselor had asked for leave and wasn't even on the campus!
"B, B, Building #1's camera was not working," The vice-principal was screaming inside, "I only heard of this a moment ago. The camera had been malfunctioning for several times now…"
The vice-principal could feel his skin burning due to Mu Tian Heng's glare, "It's true! Mr. Mu, if you don't believe me, I can show it to you."
"There's no need. Let's look at the footage at the entrance then. I know principal Yu is busy and couldn't manage every tiny thing," Mu Tian Heng restrained his voice and said without much change in his expression.
Lai De Si was looking at him with some concern. Mu Tian Heng's tolerance was clearly at its peak. If this went on, he was sure to explode.
The surveillance at the entrance was all in working conditions. The group accelerated the playback but could not find Mo Di in any of the frames.
"Could he be inside a car?" Lai De Si asked anxiously.
Mu Tian Heng calmed himself for two seconds then said, "Lai De Si, go through the footage again and record the license plates of all the car numbers that had exited through that gate."
"Got it!"
While watching the playback, Mu Tian Heng called Commissioner Wang again to have him compile a list of vehicles passing through Dahuai Street and Lin An Street.
When all that was done, they compared the records and one vehicle had appeared at both places!
"Trace this car's routes!"
A black Volkswagen had left the school compound and drove past where Mo Di's tracking device had indicated the two hours of immobility. The CCTV had shown it pulling into a small street then stopped for a few seconds before going back to the main road. It drove in a traffic jam for another two hours before stopping at Yan An intersection in the eastern suburbs.
After that, the car was not seen in any of the traffic cameras and the trail disappeared.
"What should we do?!" Seeing that there was no further clue, even Lai De Si was getting anxious.
Mu Tian Heng clenched his fists. He looked at the areas on the map near where the car was last seen.
The car did not show up on the traffic cameras which meant that it did not use the main road or pass through any traffic lights and there was only one road that met those conditions. This road leads to a nursing home right next to a mental hospital!
….
"Don't blame me. If you need someone to blame someone, blame yourself for offending the wrong person."
The storeroom keeper took a few more gulps of wine.
Outside, the man in the yellow shirt took out his cell phone to check the time. It was now 4:23pm.
The little bit of anesthetic in the kid's body should have disappeared by now. It's time to carry out the job.
He went back and opened the door. He spat on the ground then urged the storeroom keeper, "Hurry up!"
"I, I know!" The storeroom keeper swallowed his saliva. He carried a fruit knife of twenty centimeters and walked towards Mo Di.
The man in yellow then turned his back to guard the door.
"Hm!!" Mo Di tried to back away desperately.
The storeroom keeper steeled his nerves. He bit his teeth and charged at Mo Di!
Mo Di backed into a bunch of basketballs. Seeing there was nothing he could do to delay and that the storeroom keeper had made up his mind, Mo Di cast aside all his reservations and focused on staying alive. He nudged a basketball at his feet and aimed at his attacker. Using his elbow as support, Mo Di kicked the ball with all the strength he could muster!
The ball flew up with great force and hit the man in the face!
"AH!"
The storeroom keeper who was not in good physical health immediately fell back. His vision blurred and there was a metallic smell in his mouth.
"F**k!"
The man in yellow heard the noises in the room and was annoyed at how useless the storeroom keeper was. He looked back and saw the storeroom keeper lying on the floor with a bloody nose. He hastily went over, wanting to give him a kick.
As a result, he slipped on his spit and fell forward.
His whole body soared towards the storeroom keeper still sitting on the ground!
"AH!!!" a scream came from the man in yellow right after his fall!
"Ahh… Ah…"
The screams were followed by the storeroom keeper's horrid cries in horror. His hands shook as he tried to push the heavy body away.
The man in yellow had a knife in his chest. The blade was all the way in and the angle was straight. Blood flowed out profusely as he struggled feebly. Eventually, his breathing came to a halt and his eyes were wide open, indicating he did not go in peace.
"Ah …. Ah… Dead, h, he's dead. Ah!"
It was the first time the storeroom keeper saw someone die and even die at his hand. The worst part was that he had no intention of killing this person.
The storeroom keeper was stricken with panic.
Mo Di was also quite surprised at how things turned out but he managed to stay calm. He watched the man moving backward in fear with his back against him. Mo Di moved forward and kicked hard on his head.
The man's head hit the floor and the pain rendered him motionless.
Mo Di struggled to stand up and hopped around the storeroom keeper who was gaining back his focus. He grabbed for Mo Di but missed.
A few more steps and Mo Di had reached the entrance. Looking out, he saw several police officers. The one leading the troops seemed familiar.
The moment they saw Mo Di, Sister Meng immediately rushed to him. The rest of the team saw her running and tried to catch up.
"Quickly call Mr. Mu! Tell him that we've found the hostage where he had told us to look!"