With Lin Jiayan’s persistent efforts, the thick hemp rope was finally cut. Bian Yiqiu immediately felt a sense of relief, but he still couldn’t get up.

Lin Jiayan didn’t notice this. He put away his dagger and walked to the door. Peering through the small vent in the door, he lowered his voice and said, “There are two people guarding you, but there’s one more following me. I’ll go out first, take the one following me with me, and then you can go out. No problem, right?”

He spoke in a declarative tone, clearly confident in Bian Yiqiu’s abilities.

Bian Yiqiu sat in the chair, trying to move his legs. He made a bigger movement than expected, but it was still quite a distance from being able to take down the person by the door.

He teased, “You should get me a gun.”

“Are you joking? Where am I supposed to get you a gun?”

“Aren’t there guns everywhere here?”

Lin Jiayan turned back to look at Bian Yiqiu in surprise, then frowned, thinking seriously.

Indeed, the person guarding the door had a gun, and beyond that door, there were countless more doors, each guarded by someone. Without a gun, Bian Yiqiu would probably be turned into a pincushion before he could even make it out of the warehouse.

He really needed to figure out how to get him a gun.

Lin Jiayan had already imagined an entire action-packed gunfight scene in his head, just waiting to make his move.

Bian Yiqiu sighed helplessly. “Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. I can’t move right now.”

“Can’t move without a gun? Aren’t you tough? Now you’re backing down?” Lin Jiayan clearly misunderstood him.

If he could, Bian Yiqiu really wanted to facepalm.

“I got a muscle relaxant from your dear Young Master Qian, and now I can’t move at all.”

“What?” Lin Jiayan was so shocked he completely missed the part where Bian Yiqiu described Qian Ying, “Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

Bian Yiqiu looked innocent. “The rope is just too uncomfortable.”

So, after all that, he was just trying to get him to untie the ropes?

Lin Jiayan was so angry that he turned around and walked off. “Well, I’ve already saved you, so the matter with the photos is settled.”

“Wait a minute,” Bian Yiqiu called out just in time. “What photos are you talking about?”

“The photos I sent to Ruan Chengjie…” Lin Jiayan turned back. “You didn’t know?”

“So it was you who sent them.” Bian Yiqiu squinted his eyes.

Lin Jiayan wanted to curse himself for being so stupid—admitting it without being asked, really foolish.

He glared at Bian Yiqiu with a nervous expression. “So what if I sent them?”

“You won’t be in trouble,” Bian Yiqiu said, gritting his teeth and showing a strange smile. “But Ke Mingxuan is as good as dead.”

Lin Jiayan rolled his eyes. “You better make sure you don’t die first.”

“Since you don’t want me to die, then help me all the way through.”

“I can’t take you out.” Lin Jiayan refused directly without hesitation. “I can’t do it.”

“With your scrawny frame, I know you can’t,” Bian Yiqiu said with a look of contempt, glancing at him. “It’s just a phone call…”

“I’m not calling the police.” As for the reason, he didn’t want to think about it for now.

“I just want you to call my men. Gangsters has their own way of handling things, they won’t call the police.”

Lin Jiayan stared at him. “I thought you’d want me to call Mingxuan Ge.”

“I don’t want him coming here.” Because it’s too dangerous.

Although he didn’t say the next sentence, looking at Bian Yiqiu’s unprecedented serious expression, Lin Jiayan felt like he could guess what was on his mind. After a long pause, he nodded. But just as he was about to unlock his phone to dial the number, the door behind him was kicked open.

Qian Ying’s exaggerated voice rang out, “Baby, looks like I’ve given you too much freedom.”

Lin Jiayan took two steps back, holding his phone, and Bian Yiqiu couldn’t help but feel tense. Although he knew Qian Ying and Lin Jiayan had a close relationship, he wasn’t sure how Qian Ying felt about Lin Jiayan. If it was just a casual fling, then Lin Jiayan helping him could make things really dangerous for himself.

Qian Ying walked up to Lin Jiayan, gently pulled him into an embrace, and skillfully took the phone from his hand. “551, who is this?”

Lin Jiayan’s heart skipped a beat. Did he accidentally dial a number in his panic just now?

Qian Ying smiled. “No matter who this is, it doesn’t matter.” After saying that, he immediately pressed the power button, turned off the phone, and handed it to his underling while pulling Lin Jiayan out the door.

“Qian Ying, this has nothing to do with him, don’t do anything reckless!” Bian Yiqiu, worried about Lin Jiayan’s safety, couldn’t help but speak up.

Qian Ying stopped in his tracks, turned to Bian Yiqiu with a raised eyebrow, and, holding Lin Jiayan’s chin, gave him a quick kiss. “He’s my baby, you should worry about yourself first.”

Lin Jiayan shoved him away. “Stay away from me!” He wiped his lips angrily and turned to leave.

Bian Yiqiu watched as Lin Jiayan walked out, proud like a white swan, while Qian Ying didn’t show the slightest sign of anger. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes inwardly.

Great, looks like he didn’t have to worry after all.

As Lin Jiayan reached the door, he turned back to look at Bian Yiqiu. Bian Yiqiu thought he was going to say something like, “I can’t help you anymore, good luck,” but what Lin Jiayan actually wanted to say was, “I think I accidentally dialed Mingxuan Ge”—clearly, these two had no real chemistry.

Meanwhile, the Qian family was still surrounded by the police. Gu Ling, along with his subordinates, was questioning Old Qian. But the old fox, used to dealing with danger, remained calm and collected, showing no signs of panic. He answered every question the officers asked, appearing very cooperative, but upon closer inspection, none of the information he provided was useful.

When asked about Qian Ying, Old Qian sighed and showed a face full of fatherly helplessness. “My son is a disappointment. He’s probably out there partying with his good-for-nothing friends. I haven’t seen him in days.”

Gu Ling put on a serious face and tried to act cool. “Then give him a call. We have a case that requires his cooperation.”

Old Qian nodded. “Alright.” He then motioned for his butler, Uncle Sun, to bring him his phone.

After dialing the number, a soft female voice soon came through. “Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable…”

Old Qian smiled even more helplessly. “Captain Gu, you see, even as his father, it’s not easy to get in touch with him.”

Gu Ling ignored him and directly handed Qian Ying’s phone number to the tech department, instructing them to locate Qian Ying’s position before his phone was turned off.

Technician Xiao Guo quickly responded, saying the last known location of the number before it was powered off was at the Maple Leaf Restaurant on Wuzhou Road. However, that had been before 2 p.m.

Of course, Gu Ling knew that Qian Ying likely had more than one phone number, but Old Qian would never disclose any other numbers. So, feeling irritated, he got up and left to see if the tech team had intercepted any other signals.

Ke Mingxuan sat in the tech van, filled with a mess of equipment, frowning as he looked seriously at Officer Xiao Guo, who was in charge of the signal tracking. His phone vibrated lightly, but he didn’t notice it.

“Nothing at all from the outgoing call?”

Although they had surrounded the Qian family, aside from Gu Ling making a show of arresting a few armed bodyguards and thugs and using that as an excuse to control Old Qian, no surveillance was placed on the other people inside the house. The purpose of making such a big fuss yet leaving this loophole was to allow someone to contact Qian Ying. As long as anyone made contact with him, the police’s technical team would be able to pinpoint his location.

Officer Xiao Guo said, “Since we took control of Old Qian, there have been 12 outgoing calls, but after monitoring and tracking, none of them were made to Qian Ying’s number, and the conversations were all trivial matters with no important leads.”

Ke Mingxuan spun his phone in his hand, squinting as he thought for a moment. “Has the butler, that Mr. Sun, made any calls?”

“Yes, ten minutes after Old Qian was taken into custody, old Mr. Sun made a call to his son, gave a few instructions about family matters, but nothing seemed particularly special.”

“Play it for me.”

Officer Xiao Guo played the call from the butler’s phone tap, and Ke Mingxuan leaned back in his chair. Soon, a middle-aged man’s slightly anxious voice came through the audio.

“Xiao Wu, something’s happened at the Qian family. I can’t go back for now. Your uncle’s restaurant caught fire this afternoon, and some customers were injured. Go over and see if there’s anything that needs help.”

“Fire? How could something like this happen?” The young man responded while it sounded like he was getting dressed, then the sound of a door opening and closing was heard. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll go check it out right away and update you if I hear anything.”

After finishing the call, the phone was hung up. From the literal meaning, it seemed like there was no connection to Qian Ying at all.

But the butler, Mr. Sun, had been straightforward in saying that something had happened at the Qian family and he couldn’t return. His son’s surprised reaction upon receiving the call, as well as his quick rush to get dressed and leave, added credibility to the conversation, making it hard to suspect there was any deeper meaning behind their words.

However, Ke Mingxuan still felt something was off. If the fire happened in the afternoon, why wait until now to notify someone? And if help was truly needed, why call the over-sixty-year-old butler instead of the strong, young son?

Ke Mingxuan’s pupils contracted slightly, and the next second, he stood up from his chair. “Xiao Guo, track the son’s phone right now.”

Although he didn’t understand what code the father and son were using, Ke Mingxuan was 100% certain that this call was problematic.

Xiao Guo immediately began tracking the signal, but found that the other party was using an internet phone, making it impossible to detect the number or locate the position.

Ke Mingxuan gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. “Damn it, this is forcing me to go find the military zone.”

Just then, his phone suddenly rang wildly. He answered it, and it was He Xu’s voice on the other end.

“Young Master Ke, our guys found Lin Jiayan’s car in the highway surveillance footage outside the city!”

Ke Mingxuan froze.

“Lin Jiayan? What does he have to do with this?”

“Didn’t the boss tell you? He’s been getting really close to Qian Ying, close enough… probably like your relationship.”

Ke Mingxuan quickly recalled what Bian Yiqiu had hesitated to say a few days ago.

That “not-so-good” person was actually Qian Ying?

Lin Jiayan and Qian Ying were in cahoots to kidnap Bian Yiqiu?

Ke Mingxuan was shocked by this possibility. After a few seconds, he forced himself to calm down and said to He Xu on the other end of the line, “Alright, I understand.”

After the call ended, a text message appeared on Ke Mingxuan’s phone. Sender: Lin Jiayan.

— The message that Young Master Lin had accidentally sent earlier wasn’t a phone call, but a text. Of course, since it was entirely an unconscious mistake, the message contained only a few random letters.

Ke Mingxuan stared at his phone. The letters on the screen made no sense, as though his fingers had accidentally touched the screen and jumbled them together.

After a moment, he gave up on trying to figure it out and handed the phone to Xiao Guo, telling him to immediately try to locate Lin Jiayan’s position.

“The phone signal disappeared five minutes ago.”

“What does that mean?”

“It was either turned off, or the phone was damaged.”

“Track the location before it was turned off.”

“Got it.” Xiao Guo spoke as he manipulated the equipment for satellite positioning.

The message was sent exactly five minutes ago.

Ke Mingxuan felt like a handful of chicken feathers had been stuffed into his chest. He couldn’t believe that the Lin Jiayan he had watched grow up would go so far as to collaborate with a gang to kidnap Bian Yiqiu. But if… if…

“Got the location! East longitude 114°37′17, North latitude 22°35′19.”

“Speak plainly!”

“It’s the area west of Wuye Mountain and south of Qinghe Reservoir, in that patch of primeval forest. But since the signal was lost, it’s possible the target has moved…”

Before Xiao Guo could finish his sentence, Ke Mingxuan had already hopped out of the car and bumped into Gu Ling, who was walking out of the villa.

“Any updates?” Gu Ling asked.

“Wuye Mountain!” Ke Mingxuan said as he pulled open the door of his Bentley and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, speeding off ahead.

“Young Master Ke, let me enjoy your few-million-dollar luxury car too… Damn, that was fast!” Gu Ling cursed as he was hit with the luxurious exhaust fumes from the Bentley, then quickly signaled his subordinates to follow.