Chapter 874 — A Message from Qiu Lingshan

The shrill wail of sirens rose as the police cars and the ambulance arrived almost at the same moment. Their response time, it had to be said, was quick enough—Ma Zhu's movements had simply been quicker. The alarm had been raised by the owner of the stationery store, who was still frozen in shock by what he had just witnessed.

He had not caught the exchange between Ma Zhu and Uncle Qing, but he had seen Ma Zhu send Uncle Qing flying with a single palm—to an ordinary man, that was like something out of a movie, outrageous and utterly beyond belief.

The internal organs and the sternum were shattered; there was basically no hope left. Such was the conclusion the paramedics reached. There was no longer time to get him to a hospital—the only thing to be done was emergency treatment in the back of the ambulance.

Qiu Lingshan arrived a step behind. The first responders had been patrol officers, but once they saw that this was a vicious kidnapping and assault case, they had immediately notified the criminal investigation unit.

"What's the situation?" Qiu Lingshan got out of the car and came running over quickly.

"Captain Song, the alarm was raised by the owner of the stationery store—he's an eyewitness to the whole thing. His statement indicates that this entire case is an ambush kidnapping..." One of the patrol officers immediately reported to Qiu Lingshan, laying out the full sequence of events for her.

"Have the identities of the hostage and the injured man been established?" Qiu Lingshan asked once she had heard the account.

"The license plate left at the scene shows that the Bentley belongs to the Gu Group, and the driver—that is, the injured man—is Li Fu, driver for Gu Pengzhan, chairman of the Gu Group. Judging by his identity, the hostages are most likely Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu," the patrol officer said.

"What! Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu?" Qiu Lingshan's eyes went wide. What startled her, of course, was not only the identity of the hostages but the injured man, Li Fu. She knew about Li Fu—Gu Pengzhan's driver and close guard—and Uncle Qing's strength was on file at the station: an external martial artist at the peak of the late Yellow Rank. How could anyone have beaten him into critical condition, to the point that he was already gone?

What kind of strength did this kidnapper have? And according to the eyewitness, the stationery store owner, the man had sent Uncle Qing flying with a single palm—that put him at least at the Mystic Rank. When had such a formidable fighter come to Songshan City? And why would he want to kidnap Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu?

Still, Wei Zhao was the close guard of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, so the first person Qiu Lingshan thought of was Wei Zhao. She had to inform him of this at once. Even though she did not think highly of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu—those two girls were always working against her—business was business and personal was personal, and Qiu Lingshan drew that line very clearly.

So Qiu Lingshan sent her subordinate Liu Wangli to notify Gu Pengzhan, while she herself dialed Wei Zhao's number.

After Wei Zhao tried to reach Uncle Qing and found that no one answered, his unease only deepened. Both the young miss's phone and Xiaoshu's were switched off, and Uncle Qing was not picking up either. What did that mean? It meant something must have happened to all three of them.

"Uncle Qing isn't answering either..." Wei Zhao frowned and said to Tang Zhi.

"You... you should go and take a look... make sure nothing has happened..." Tang Zhi hesitated a moment before speaking.

"Then take the breakfast and eat it in the car." Wei Zhao was frantic with worry over Gu Mengyao's safety. In theory, with Uncle Qing there, nothing could happen to Gu Mengyao—but there were exceptions to everything. What if another fighter like Yu Kun turned up?

"Don't worry about me. I won't go—I'll eat and then head to school myself!" Tang Zhi shook her head. She knew this was no time for jealousy. If something really had happened to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, going along with Wei Zhao would only get in his way, so Tang Zhi would not add to the trouble.

"This... all right." Wei Zhao smiled at Tang Zhi, grateful for her understanding, and gave her hand a squeeze. "Then be careful on your own."

"What do I have to be careful about? You're the one who needs to be careful!" Going to school by herself, Tang Zhi would be in no danger—it was Wei Zhao she was worried about.

"I'll be careful." Wei Zhao nodded, strode quickly out of the breakfast shop, and drove off toward the road that led from the villa to the school. He meant to follow that route in search of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

He had not driven far when his phone rang. Wei Zhao glanced at the caller ID—it was Qiu Lingshan.

"Hello? What is it?" Wei Zhao was anxious about Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu and in no mood for small talk with Qiu Lingshan, so he asked bluntly.

"Wei Zhao, something has happened to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu—they've been kidnapped. Li Fu was beaten badly too and is in emergency treatment now, but I'm afraid the odds are not good." Qiu Lingshan paid no mind to his tone; she was long used to it.

Just as he had feared! Wei Zhao's heart lurched—something had indeed happened! But he had not expected Qiu Lingshan's side to respond so quickly; she had probably already reached the scene. From the call Gu Mengyao had made to him until now, barely more than ten minutes had passed.

"Where are you now? I'll come right away! Have you notified Uncle Chu?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I've already had someone notify Chairman Chu," Qiu Lingshan said. "I'm at Judian Road, at the entrance to the Mingliang Culture and Education Store. Come over and you'll see it—there are plenty of police cars, and the scene's already cordoned off!"

"All right, I'm on my way!" Wei Zhao hung up and pushed the car to its limit. Though the roads were fairly busy at this early hour, the Beetle's compact size and Wei Zhao's practiced handling let the car weave through the traffic like an actual beetle.

Wei Zhao darted into every gap he saw without slowing down—now the bus lane, now the oncoming lane, now the sidewalk. So long as it was safe, he broke every traffic law there was to break.

But Wei Zhao no longer cared about any of that. Gu Pengzhan would settle the tickets afterward; right now the safety of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu came first! Beyond that, of course, what worried Wei Zhao most was Uncle Qing. The matter of the young lady and Xiaoshu could wait a little, but Uncle Qing's injuries could not. Wei Zhao wished he could fly the car like an airplane.

At last Wei Zhao reached Judian Road within five minutes. Several police cars stood by the roadside with their lights flashing, and a squad of officers had already strung up a cordon to keep passersby away.

Wei Zhao drove quickly over, parked beside the cordon, and got out of the car.

"Sir, you can't park here! A case has occurred here—please move your car at once!" A policeman saw Wei Zhao park beside the cordon and hurried over to tell him.