Chapter 874 — A Message from Qiu Lingshan

The shrill wail of sirens rose into the air as police cars and an ambulance arrived almost at the same moment. Their response time, it had to be said, was remarkably fast—it was only that Ma Zhu's movements had been faster still. It was the owner of the stationery store who had called the police; the scene he had just witnessed had left him stunned.

He had not heard 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—shocking, outrageous, beyond all comprehension.

Internal organs and breastbone shattered; there was essentially no hope left. Such was the medics' conclusion. There was no longer time to get him to a hospital—emergency measures could only be taken inside the ambulance.

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

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

"Captain Song, it was the stationery store owner who called it in. He's the eyewitness to the whole affair. According to his statement, the case is a roadside kidnapping..." One of the patrolmen reported to Qiu Lingshan at once, laying out the full sequence of events for her.

"Have you identified the hostages and the injured man?" Qiu Lingshan asked once she had heard the account.

"The plate number on the car left at the scene shows the Bentley belongs to the Gu Group, and the driver—the injured man—is Li Fu, driver to Gu Pengzhan, chairman of the Gu Group. From his identity, the kidnapped hostages should be Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu," the patrolman 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 Li Fu—Gu Pengzhan's driver and bodyguard. And Uncle Qing's strength was on record at the bureau: an external-school expert at the peak of late Yellow Rank. How could anyone have beaten him half to death, past all saving?

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

But Wei Zhao was the bodyguard 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 if her impression of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu was none too good—those two girls were forever set against her—business was business and private life was private, and Qiu Lingshan kept the two firmly apart.

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

When Wei Zhao tried to reach Uncle Qing and found that no one answered, the unease in his heart deepened. Both the young miss's phone and Xiaoshu's were switched off, and Uncle Qing would not pick up either. What did that mean? It meant something had happened to all three of them!

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

"You... go and take a look, hurry... before anything happens..." Tang Yun said after a moment's hesitation.

"Then take the breakfast and eat it in the car." Wei Zhao was deeply anxious about Gu Mengyao's safety. In theory, with Uncle Qing there, nothing could happen to Gu Mengyao—but there are exceptions to everything. What if another expert like Yukun had appeared?

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

"That... all right." Wei Zhao smiled at Tang Yun, grateful for her understanding, and clasped her hand. "Then be careful."

"What do I have to be careful about? You're the one who should be careful!" Going to school on her own held no danger for Tang Yun; it was Wei Zhao she was worried about.

"I'll be careful." Wei Zhao nodded and strode out of the breakfast shop, then drove off in the direction of the road that led from the villa to the school. He would search along that route for 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?" Anxious over Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, Wei Zhao was in no mood for small talk and asked curtly.

"Wei Zhao, something has happened to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu—they've been kidnapped. Li Fu was beaten severely too. He's in emergency treatment now, but I'm afraid his chances are slim." Qiu Lingshan paid no mind to his tone; she was long accustomed to it.

Just as he had feared! Wei Zhao's heart lurched. Something had indeed happened. Yet he had not expected Qiu Lingshan's side to respond so quickly—she was probably already at the scene. From Gu Mengyao's call to him until now, barely ten minutes had passed!

"Where are you now? I'll be right over. Have you notified Uncle Chu?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I've already sent someone to inform Chairman Chu," Qiu Lingshan said. "I'm on Judian Road, at the entrance of Mingliang Stationery Store. You'll see it the moment you arrive—there are plenty of police cars, and the scene has already been cordoned off."

"All right, I'm on my way!" Wei Zhao hung up and pushed the car to its limit. Though the early morning roads were busy, the Beetle's compact size and his own skilled handling let the car thread through the traffic like a veritable beetle.

Wei Zhao darted into every gap he saw without slowing: now the bus lane, now the wrong-way lane, now up onto the sidewalk. As long as it was safe, he broke every traffic rule it was possible to break.

But at this moment 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, what worried Wei Zhao most was Uncle Qing. After all, the young miss's and Xiaoshu's situation could wait a little, but Uncle Qing's injuries could not be delayed for even a moment. Wei Zhao wished he could fly the car like an airplane.

At last, within five minutes, Wei Zhao reached Judian Road and saw several police cars parked at the roadside, their lights flashing, while a squad of officers had strung up a cordon to keep passersby away.

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

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

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