Release that Man

The camera in the elevator showed no sign of being manipulated, and there was no sign of a struggle on the stairs. With the help of the building management, Han Chu looked at the surveillance footage and noticed that five minutes after Edward received his call, he did appear on the staircase, climbing slowly. However, the man disappeared after reaching a blind spot. Then, there was no more video of him moving up or down the stairs—the surveillance footage became very quiet.

“This is why I hate surveillance blind spots.” Anthony analyzed and viewed the footage through the internet as he grumbled, “Since they’ve installed the cameras, they should ensure that all the corners can be seen, why the need to leave a blind spot? These amateurs have no concept of security at all.”

Han Chu frowned. “Stop wasting time. I just want to know if there’s any possibility of Edward being kidnapped.”

“I don’t think so,” Anthony answered easily. “The footage is very quiet, and there is nothing to suggest video tampering. The blind spots in the video aren’t big, and if he was really kidnapped, the corner of the shirt or part of his body would be shown on screen from the struggle, fainting, or when his body was being dragged away… However, we do not see any of that on the screen at all. It feels as if he walked into a blind spot and opened a door that led to somewhere else.”

“So, is the culprit Doraemon?” Ye Shuang asked seriously.

Han Chu rolled his eyes. “I think we can look at this in a different manner. If we still hold onto the belief that he was kidnapped, then the culprit must be very experienced, and that is the only explanation to why there was no trace.”

From the man’s sudden disappearance, one could assume that Edward had been dragged away unwillingly. Combined with the strange security footage, one could assume that Edward had been kidnapped by the people from the organization. Even though Han Chu did not want to create such a powerful imaginary enemy, if this enemy was real, then the situation was more urgent than ‘Edward must have run into some other accident.’

Han Chu was used to viewing things at the worst possible outcome because he did not need to be cautious of the best possible outcome—that only required waiting. However, once the worst possible outcome became a reality, it would lead to things that no one would expect.

…

To be cautious, Anthony spread his search through the whole of Feng Yuan City’s internet server. Han Chu also started reanalyzing the information that he had on Edward to try to find out if there was any enemy in the man’s past who might do something like this… Then, he discovered with a headache—the number of such people was surprisingly high.

The man already had a grating personality, and he was technically a double agent. In reality, the fact that Edward had managed to survive so far came as a surprise to Han Chu. They worked through the night, and even Ye Shuang had two dark circles under her eyes. Even though she was not the main worker, the number of documents that she was needed to go through was preposterous.

“Brother Han, why don’t we take a break?” At dawn, the first ray shot through the curtain. Ye Shuang saved the document that she was reading and then stood up to brew two cups of coffee. “Since we could not find anything the whole night, even if we find something now, it’ll be too late for us to save him or do anything else.”

Han Chu accepted the cup of coffee while massaging the bridge of his nose and nodded with a grunt. “The internal state of the organization is currently very chaotic. Perhaps someone noticed the anomaly that was Edward and decided to take some countermeasures… I think it’s fine if we cannot find anything temporarily—the man won’t be so easily killed. We can ignore that for now and wipe out all of our communication traces with Edward first.”

Ye Shuang sent the message to Anthony and advised the man to rest after finishing his job. Then, she put down the phone to prepare a simple breakfast. Soon, she came out holding the plate of fried rice. While she prepared some milk, Ye Shuang looked at the time. “This afternoon, Yong An Organization’s Mrs. Huang will go bowling. I plan to go meet her, so will you be okay to sort lunch yourself?”

Han Chu, who had just sat down, was conflicted, and he picked up his phone. “Tony, help me look up the information on Chang He Corps.”

Since the girl was going out to work, how could the guy stay at home to rest? Furthermore, he really wanted to finish this as soon as possible so that he could go do something else.

“I was about to sleep, you know!” The sad Anthony climbed out of bed. Then, the sound of clothes rustling came. Even his voice sounded depressed. “The work through the night yesterday was one thing, and actually, the day before that, I only slept for three hours… Next time, go find someone else to do these simple things.”

“Thank you.” Han Chu ate a spoonful of fried rice and expressed his thanks.

“Hmm? It’s so rare for you to thank me so seriously after using me.” Anthony was quite surprised.

Another spoonful later… “No, actually, I’m very drowsy as well, but after discovering you’ve got it worse than me, my mood is now much better.”

Our friendship is over, goodbye! Anthony pouted.

The tech wiz sent over the information, but Han Chu had not decided the details of his plan. With his personality, wanting Han Chu to go brush up the target’s affection like Ye Shuang was too difficult, so he was still leaning toward finding a cooperation through leverage.

After saying goodbye, Ye Shuang left home. She was about to call a cab when a car stopped before her. The car window rolled down, and Lou Mingxin’s face popped up at the backseat to wave at her. “Xiao Shuang, are you going out?”

Ye Shuang was startled. “Don’t you need to go to the set today, Brother Luo?”

“There has been some issue, and the filming has been pushed back a few days.” Luo Mingxin opened the door and smiled gently. “Today’s weather is not bad, so I have time to wander about the city. Where are you going?”

“I’m going bowling.” Ye Shuang crawled into the car naturally and smiled at the assistant in the driver’s seat. Then she turned to continue chatting with Luo Mingxin. “Brother Luo, you want to come with?”

Even though there was no information that Mrs. Huang was the man’s fan, it would not hurt to bring a celebrity with her—she might even get an unexpected reward.

Luo Mingxin thought about it and then nodded. “Hmm, sure, after all, my schedule is free… But don’t go to a public bowling alley. There is a high chance of an accident if there are too many people.”

Naturally, the place that Mrs. Huang liked to visit was not a place that anyone could enter. One needed to own a member card to enter, and the fee required started at five digits.

Ye Shuang only took a glance at the price list, and she had the urge to change her plan. After all, for someone like herself who did not have this hobby, creating a card just to get close to a married middle-aged lady… the plan had ‘not worth it’ written all over.

“You also like this place?” Fortunately, Luo Mingxin carried a membership card. Just as Ye Shuang was hesitating over registering, the man very naturally took out his card and exchanged two tickets. He handed one to Ye Shuang and said, “I’ve never seen you bowl in the time I’ve known you. I’m surprised you know this place.”

“Brother Luo, you’re paying?” Ye Shuang was embarrassed when she accepted the ticket. “It was me who invited you here, but in the end, it was you who paid.”

“The membership card was sponsored, so you don’t need to thank me.” Luo Mingxin shook the card that the assistant passed back to him. As he led Ye Shuang into the space, he shrugged and said, “Furthermore, I naturally wouldn’t get a girl pay for our outing.”

“Wait, a sponsor… This bowling center is owned by Yong An Organization, right?” Ye Shuang hesitated.

“Huh, looks like you really have been following the news.” Luo Mingxin was shocked. Yes, Ye Shuang had been following these details, but her target was Yong An Organization while Luo Mingxin thought that she was following the news of these bowling alleys and centers.

Ye Shuang smiled in admission. She did not feel the need to explain the harmless misunderstanding. Then she parted from Luo Mingxin as they headed to the gender-separated changing room.

By the time she changed and walked out, Luo Mingxin had already started playing. Ye Shuang walked to look at the television screen. Her name had been keyed in by Luo Mingxin, and there was a row of points that naturally was from Luo Mingxin.

Noticing Ye Shuang’s appearance, Luo Mingxin who made another strike turned around to ask, “Up for a match?”

He cleared the current point system. “Ten balls, shall we play in terms of rounds or score?”

Ye Shuang shrugged. “Either works.”

“Tsk, such big talk.” Luo Mingxin raised his brow and asked in interest, “Am I in the presence of an expert?”

When she was coming out of the changing room earlier, through the window, Ye Shuang had seen Mrs. Huang getting out of the car and walking in. No matter how slow she was moving, at most, she would reach them in another half an hour. This building belonged to Yong An Organization, and as the wife of the CEO, since Luo Mingxin’s membership card was a sponsor, then he had to have met the wife before.

Initially, Ye Shuang had thought of trying to get close to the woman while playing bowling but Luo Mingxin’s presence made this much easier. She only needed to play normally and then wait for Luo Mingxin or Mrs. Huang to notice each other.

With that in mind, Ye Shuang became more relaxed. She picked a ball and jogged to the lane while sending out the ball in a beautiful arc. The heavy ball rolled in a straight line toward the pin and beautifully scored a strike.

Luo Mingxin clapped twice out of courtesy. He picked a ball and walked over. “Not bad, how about the loser pays for the drinks later?”

By then, Mrs. Huang had reached the front door. From her lip movement, she was asking for the ticket, and the expression on her face showed that she was in a good mood. Ye Shuang pulled her gaze silently away from the lobby, and she was feeling as happy as Mrs. Huang, “No problem.”