Chapter 3210 — Pleading Once More

"All you have to do is cooperate with us. What we intend to do is none of your concern—just tell me whether you agree or not!" In truth, Kang Jingming could simply have taken Liu Tianli away by force, but he feared alarming the people outside and tipping off Wei Zhao, so he had decided to trick Liu Tianli into coming along.

"You want to kidnap me and use me to threaten Jingjing, isn't that right?" Liu Tianli was no fool. A man who had once ruled the business world, he brooded for only a moment before he grasped Kang Jingming's design.

After all, Kang Jingming had previously brought him along to steal the trade secrets of Liu Jinghan's company. Now it seemed that route had failed, and so he had hit upon kidnapping Liu Tianli—though this kidnapping was to be accomplished by luring him, not by force.

"Clever!" Kang Jingming nodded. "You are a straightforward man, Mr. Liu. Since you already understand, will you cooperate or not?"

"If I say no, you'll drag me off anyway, won't you?" Liu Tianli glanced at the little man beside Kang Jingming. "This fellow at your side—he's a skilled hand, isn't he? Even if I refused to go, you'd force me to. It's just that you're afraid of tipping anyone off, isn't that so?"

"Since you've guessed it, I won't waste words!" Kang Jingming nodded. "Come with us!"

"...Very well!" Liu Tianli sighed. Deep down he felt utterly ashamed, knowing he was betraying Liu Jinghan—but the lure of the drug made his legs rise of their own accord. Having taken the drug, he had lost himself; the temptation of it outweighed all else.

With Liu Tianli's cooperation, and without rousing the guards outside, Kang Jingming and Xiao Yi led him out of the villa and away from the sanatorium, vanishing into the vast night.

Fearing complications, Kang Jingming brought Liu Tianli back to the Five Luminaries Sect that very night. Only within the Five Luminaries Sect did he feel safe; the last time Wei Zhao had come knocking, he had been frightened half to death—had the skilled hands of the You family not held out for a while, he would nearly have lost his life.

And this time, only after he had reached the Five Luminaries Sect did he dial Liu Jinghan's number. Her phone number was no secret—one had only to ask Liu Tianli.

Late at night, Liu Jinghan sat on her bed, designing something on a tablet, when suddenly the phone rang. She picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number. At first she assumed it was a wrong number or a nuisance call, but the phone kept ringing and ringing, so she answered.

"Hello, this is Liu Jinghan," she said into the phone.

"Miss Liu, hello. Allow me to introduce myself—my humble name is Kang Jingming. I trust it has long been ringing in your ears, and that my modest reputation precedes me?" Here Kang Jingming laughed with great self-importance. "Hahahaha!"

"Kang Jingming? What do you want?" Liu Jinghan frowned slightly. She knew well enough what sort of creature Kang Jingming was; it was he who had stirred up the previous affair, though she had had no way to take her revenge.

"Miss Liu, your father enjoys taking drugs—so why not let him take them? Why keep him from it?" Kang Jingming said.

"You called me just to say this?" Liu Jinghan asked, somewhat puzzled. "What are you trying to do?"

"Nothing much—just telling you that your father truly is a man who loves his drugs. He's taking them right beside me now. Ha, he's enjoying them thoroughly. But this drug—take too much and it kills you!" Kang Jingming said blandly.

"What exactly do you want?" Liu Jinghan's voice carried a note of fury. "Kang Jingming, what have you done with my father? How is he with you?"

"Why, I've invited him to be my guest, of course. Though from the looks of it, he's rather fond of this place!" Kang Jingming laughed. "Miss Liu, I suggest you buy a coffin now and prepare to collect his corpse. I estimate he'll have drugged himself to death within three to five days."

"Kang Jingming, if there's something you want, just say it plainly. There's no need for this useless talk," Liu Jinghan said coldly. In her heart she was furious—her father truly was impossible. Kang Jingming clearly meant him harm, yet he still went along and took the drugs?

Of course, addicts could not be judged by ordinary reasoning; that they could not resist the lure of drugs was only to be expected.

"Good, straightforward. Liu Jinghan, I won't waste your time. Here's the deal: send me all the manufacturing data for the peripherals of the Grade-One Automatic Medicinal Cauldron and the server's programs, along with the content slated for the next upgrade, all of it in one go. Then I'll consider letting your father return. Otherwise, I'll entertain him here with drugs until he croaks," Kang Jingming said.

Liu Jinghan was seething with rage at his words, yet there was nothing she could do but sigh and say, "These matters are not mine to decide. I'll have to ask Wei Zhao..."

"Heh heh, suit yourself. But you'd best hurry—otherwise, when your father dies, don't blame me for not warning you!" Kang Jingming said.

"Fine. I'll contact you as soon as I can." Angry as she was, Liu Jinghan still agreed. After all, he was her father—she could not simply abandon him!

"Heh heh, in that case, I shall await your good news, Miss Liu," Kang Jingming said.

Late as it was, the moment Liu Jinghan hung up she quickly dialed Wei Zhao's number. Wei Zhao was in the midst of cultivation; when the phone rang and he saw it was Liu Jinghan's number, he answered at once.

"Jinghan, why are you calling me in the middle of the night? Has something happened?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Brother Wei Zhao, my father has been abducted by Kang Jingming. He means to use him as leverage to force me to hand over the manufacturing data for the peripherals of the Grade-One Automatic Medicinal Cauldron and the server's source code programs," Liu Jinghan said.

"What?!" Wei Zhao's brow furrowed at once. Why was it Liu Tianli causing trouble again? Why did this Liu Tianli always run into problems? Still, for the sake of appearances, Wei Zhao reined in his impatience and asked, "What happened? Tell me in detail—when did this occur?"

"Just now..." Liu Jinghan held nothing back, recounting the whole course of events and everything Kang Jingming had said on the phone.

"Oh? So then, it was Liu Tianli who willingly cooperated with Kang Jingming and left? He wasn't actually kidnapped by Kang Jingming?" Wei Zhao asked lightly.