Chapter 877 — The Kidnappers' Demands

So Wei Zhao thought it over at length and finally ruled out the Yu family. That left only one possibility: Zhen Yingjun.

Wei Zhao had no idea what sort of background Zhen Yingjun came from, but if Zhen Yingjun truly had the means to call in hired hands of that caliber, then what had just happened became entirely plausible. First, though Zhen Yingjun bore a grudge against him, that grudge had not been formed with him—it had been formed with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

It was Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu who had made him lose face in the billiard room, and though Wei Zhao had secretly lent a hand, Zhen Yingjun was unaware of it. Later, at the billiard room's entrance, the one who had actually punished him was Wei Zhao, but it was Shen Yushu who had demanded that punishment.

So if the kidnappers were Zhen Yingjun's men, everything fell neatly into place. Yet at the thought that Zhen Yingjun was behind it, unease coiled in Wei Zhao's chest once more. Zhen Yingjun had long lusted after Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. This kidnapping—would he do something vile to them?

Liu Wangli's deduction had been correct. At a concealed spot the kidnappers switched vehicles. Two identical Land Rovers on the road would draw too much attention and might alert the police, so in a deserted alley the men in black and Ma Zhu took Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu into an older-model Toyota Previa van that had been waiting for them.

The Previa, also known as the Grand Hiace, was an early-model commercial van with a huge presence on the market, so once they had changed cars, the group drew no notice at all and looked utterly ordinary.

As for the two Land Rovers, the men who came to meet them quickly stripped off the false plates and fitted the real ones, then drove off one man to a car, each going a separate way. That way no one would grow suspicious.

Once aboard, one of the men in black called Zhen Yingjun. "Young Master Jun, the hostages are secured. We've changed cars without incident."

"Oh? Excellent! You've done well—I'll call Gu Pengzhan right now!" Hearing that the plan had gone off without a hitch, Zhen Yingjun was so delighted he was practically dancing. "Right, how is things on Master Ma's end?"

"Master Ma did as you instructed—he didn't beat Li Fu to death outright. He left him a breath of life. If Wei Zhao wants to save him, he'll have to expend a great deal of true qi, and by then his strength will surely be diminished and no longer worth fearing," the man in black reported.

"Good, very good! Then hurry over, I can hardly wait!" Zhen Yingjun said, nodding again and again.

Earlier, to ensure they could kill Wei Zhao smoothly, Zhen Yingjun had specifically told Ma Zhu not to beat Uncle Qing to death—he must leave him a breath of life. Wasn't Wei Zhao a doctor? If he wanted Uncle Qing to live, he would have to burn through a vast amount of true qi.

This was a stratagem Zhen Yingjun had devised from watching the Medicine King treat his own illness. If Uncle Qing's injuries could be used to tie Wei Zhao down, draining him of great quantities of true qi, then no matter how skilled he was, he would be no match for Ma Zhu and the firelock squad.

That a skilled physician must expend vast true qi to heal a patient—this too had been confirmed by Ma Zhu himself. Hence the earlier scene; otherwise Ma Zhu would never have needed to make such a fuss, wasting words to tell Uncle Qing that he was leaving him a breath of life. That had been solely to resolve his doubts—it was merely a ploy to confuse Uncle Qing so he could not guess Ma Zhu's true purpose. Otherwise Ma Zhu would never have had the leisure to bandy words with Uncle Qing at all.

Gu Pengzhan sat on the sofa waiting for the kidnappers' call, yet he could not shake a feeling of restlessness; he simply could not settle his mind. He glanced at Wei Zhao, who sat with eyes closed, nurturing his spirit, then abruptly rose to his feet. He felt he had to do something—but once he was standing, he had no idea what.

Wei Zhao sat with eyes closed, but he was not idle; in his mind he was weighing countermeasures. Zhen Yingjun's actions had crossed Wei Zhao's bottom line. He was thinking that if his strength recovered after a while and the kidnappers still had not called, he would go straight to the Zhen family and dig them out even if he had to turn the earth upside down.

Gu Pengzhan had barely risen when the phone in his pocket rang abruptly. He hurriedly pulled it out and glanced at the caller display—a concealed number, showing nothing but a string of zeros.

"Hello, this is Gu Pengzhan!" He was already all but certain that the caller must be the kidnapper. After all, ordinary people had no need to hide their numbers when making a call.

"Mr. Gu, hello there. First meeting—what an honor!" The voice on the phone was grating, clearly run through a voice changer and somewhat distorted, and its false, forced politeness made it all the more uncomfortable to hear.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Gu Pengzhan asked, frowning.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is—do you want to know where your daughter and her best friend are? I happen to be someone in the know, wahahahaha!" The man on the phone was brazen, utterly unbridled.

"My daughter and Xiaoshu were kidnapped by you? What do you want?" At this Gu Pengzhan was entirely certain of the caller's identity—it must be the kidnapper. Yet this actually calmed him somewhat! So long as the kidnapper was willing to contact him on his own initiative, that was good news. Gu Pengzhan was not afraid of the other side making demands; what he feared was a foe who asked for nothing and simply took his daughter away in silence, then vanished.

"Mr. Gu, that's not the right way to put it! What do you mean, kidnapped by me? I'm merely someone in the know." The man spoke with shameless effrontery. "I only heard that Mr. Gu has offered a reward of two hundred million to anyone who provides a lead. Is that so?"

Gu Pengzhan was furious at the caller. Truly, he wanted to keep his chastity while building a memorial arch—clearly he wanted ransom money, yet he dressed it up as a reward.

"Yes!" Gu Pengzhan knew he could not provoke the kidnapper, so he could only nod and answer, "That's right. You want two hundred million, I can give it to you. But you must guarantee the safety of my daughter and Xiaoshu. If they suffer the slightest harm, I will not give you a cent!"

Two hundred million was no small sum. Gu Pengzhan's entire personal fortune amounted to no more than five hundred million or so, and that was counting his shares in the company and his real estate. In terms of liquid cash, two hundred million was very nearly the absolute limit of what he could produce! It seemed the other party had investigated him beforehand and knew exactly how much cash he could lay his hands on. That figure of two hundred million was likely no idle number tossed out at random!