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墨書 Inktalez
The voice was sharp and electronic, unmistakably altered by a voice changer. At that moment, Mary was operating software I couldn't understand, trying to locate the kidnapper's address.
Almost within seconds, the office projector displayed the situation inside Liu Yinyan's villa, seemingly in real-time.
Gu Chen and Liu Yinyan were sitting on the sofa, with Liu Yinyan tightly gripping his phone. Gu Chen had a microphone in his ear, directly connected to the office. One of Gu Chen's hands rested on Liu Yinyan's shoulder, signaling him to remain calm. Liu sat beside him, his expression serious.
Captain Shao decisively spoke into the phone, "Tell Liu Yinyan to buy time with the kidnappers. No matter what demands they have, he must delay as much as possible and never agree immediately."
As Captain Shao spoke, Gu Chen relayed the message to Liu Yinyan.
"Who are you? What have you done to my daughter? What do you want?" Liu Yinyan fired off these three questions succinctly, clearly contradicting Captain Shao's earlier advice.
Captain Shao shrugged, his face grave. Liu Yinyan was indeed decisive, but often, thoughtless decisiveness could lead to recklessness.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" the sharp voice responded. "Whatever you do, stay calm. This is what you love, right? Your daughter Liu Fei'er is in our hands. Would you like to hear her voice?"
Before Captain Shao could respond, Liu Yinyan hurriedly said, "As long as my daughter is safe, I will agree to your terms. I will give you any amount of money; I only have one condition: do not harm her! Now, let me hear my daughter's voice!"
"No, no, no," the sharp voice interrupted. "You've lost your chance. When I asked if you wanted to listen earlier, why did you waste time with your nonsense? The police can locate my address within three minutes. So you've missed this opportunity. And why do you think I would want money?"
Hearing the kidnapper's words caused everyone present to change their expressions. I frowned and tugged at my hair. The kidnapper's statement was completely unexpected and clearly caught everyone off guard. Logically speaking, kidnappers usually demanded ransom; if their goal wasn't money, then what were they after?
"What do you mean by that?" Liu Yinyan clearly hadn't anticipated this and hurriedly asked.
The man laughed heartily; the altered voice made his laughter even sharper and more grating, echoing as if it came from all directions.
After laughing, he began speaking again: "Can you guarantee that you've never done anything wrong in your life? You know what you've done! I'll be in touch again after some time. And you need to think carefully about this. Goodbye, brave venture capitalist; I wish you a pleasant day."
"Who are you people?" Liu Yinyan nearly shouted into the phone.
The person across the table smiled and said, "Why so serious? Lighten up a bit, okay? The game has just begun."
With that, the kidnapper hung up the phone.
The call was kept under two minutes, and Mary did not manage to pinpoint the exact location of this person.
The call ended, but from the projector, it was clear that Liu Yinyan's phone had slipped from his hand and fallen to the ground. He leaned helplessly against the sand, his expression one of weariness and confusion.
Gu Chen remained silent as he picked up the phone from the ground and walked aside, asking us, "What should we do next?"
Captain Shao sat back down in his chair and said to Gu Chen, "Just remember to calm Liu Yinyan down. These kidnappers are definitely not as simple as we imagine. With Liu Fei'er’s life hanging in the balance and the kidnappers appearing indifferent, keep a close watch on Liu Yinyan. I'm afraid he might do something reckless."
"Understood," Gu Chen replied.
"By the way," Captain Shao continued, "what about Detective Jesse and the others? Where have they gone?"
Gu Chen shook his head. "I'm not sure. They left before the call came in and haven't returned yet. There's no news."
"Then let's leave it at that for now," Captain Shao said. "Wu Meng and the others will be over to investigate shortly. You and Liu should wait here."
After hanging up, Captain Shao turned to me and asked, "Did you catch anything from what the kidnappers said?"
I nodded and pulled a chair closer to sit down. "There was quite a lot of information packed into just a few words from the kidnappers. First off, it seems they must know Liu Yinyan. When they said, 'No matter what you do, stay calm; that's what you love,' it clearly indicates they are familiar with him. Even if they don't know him personally, they've likely done extensive research."
Captain Shao grinned slightly and said, "Exactly. Moreover, the kidnappers didn't ask for money; instead, they told Liu Yinyan to think carefully about what he's done. This clearly shows that they are aware of Liu Yinyan's past—perhaps they know it themselves or were informed by whoever hired them. So what exactly has Liu Yinyan done?"
I didn’t respond directly to Captain Shao but instead looked at the four people on the whiteboard. After a moment, I spoke up, "Well, Zhao Dong and Cao Jie have been Liu Yinyan's long-time rivals and have been suppressed by him for decades; even a clay figurine would have some temper. Moreover, based on the data we've gathered, Liu Yinyan isn't known for being broad-minded; he might have done something drastic."
Captain Shao picked up his teacup and said, "Yeah, but thinking about how Liu Yinyan got to where he is today, it’s not surprising. A person who invests in their own business with their own kidneys must have a rather stubborn temperament. But at sixty years old, he still carries such a heavy air of resentment; it really suits his name."
"Indeed, he's like a fire," I replied, turning to Guan Zengbin. "Let’s go take a trip and ask Liu Yinyan what he has done before."
"Sister Mao, you stay here for now. If there’s any news, let us know," I said to Sister Mao.
Sister Mao understood my intention and looked at me gratefully.
Guan Zengbin and I drove to the villa area where Liu Yinyan lived. Outside the villa, we could vaguely see some reporters waiting for developments. When they spotted our car, they all gathered around. However, we ignored them and drove straight into the villa area. Just as we parked the car, we heard Liu Yinyan's voice before we even saw him.
"What? You found nothing?" Liu Yinyan's voice carried far: "I called you here to help me find my daughter, not to take a vacation! You can't even find her location; what good are you? It's been three days—three days! Have you found even a shred of information? With this kind of efficiency, what are taxpayers' money being used for? Is it all just for public spending?"
From a distance, we saw a group of people standing at the entrance, shouting loudly.
At that moment, Liu Yinyan was pointing his finger at Gu Chen, cursing him out. Seeing Gu Chen's flushed face, I knew this situation was about to escalate. Gu Chen was already unhappy about the large number of personnel assigned to investigate this case; he felt it was very unfair. Now being publicly berated in front of so many people—how could a man with pride endure that?
"Gu Chen!" I hurriedly called out, hoping he wouldn’t do something foolish.
But no matter how much I tried to stop him, Gu Chen wouldn’t be restrained. He pointed directly at Liu Yinyan's nose and said, "Out of respect, I call you Liu Lao, but don’t think you can bully me just because you're older. I earn my salary honestly and feel good about it. But you? Just because you think you're rich makes you superior? Bossing everyone around?"
"I believe every penny I earn is justified by my conscience; what about you?" Gu Chen repeated. "Look into your own heart—have you ever done anything shameful? Do you feel every penny you've earned is justified by your conscience?"
After turning thirty, no one had dared to point at Liu Yinyan like that again—especially not a young man forty years his junior. Liu Yinyan was momentarily taken aback, staring blankly at Gu Chen.
Seeing that things were getting out of hand, Liu quickly stepped in to intervene.
"Liu Lao, please don’t be angry; he’s just young and doesn’t understand many things. But he’s anxious because the case isn’t progressing," Liu hurriedly tried to mediate between both sides. "Please don’t take it personally; Gu Chen, hold your tongue."
Gu Chen completely disregarded Liu Mianzi and said, "Liu Kai! Stop pretending to be a good person here. This world has become what it is because of too many people like you who curry favor. Look at you, buying lottery tickets like that—are you blinded by money?"
Liu Yinyan couldn't hold back upon hearing this: "Fine, get out! Is this how you train the People's Police in the Police Force? Let me tell you, this matter isn't over! Once my daughter's situation is resolved, I'll make sure you can't stay in the precinct."
Gu Chen smiled lightly and replied, "I'll be waiting for you to strip me of my clothes."
With that, he turned and walked out without looking back.
I hadn't expected things to escalate to this point, so I hurried to catch up with Gu Chen. When he saw me, he forced a smile that looked more painful than crying. I approached and patted his shoulder, saying, "It's okay; leave this matter to me. You drive to the City Bureau first and don't let it get to you. Compared to the kidnappers, Liu Yinyan is a much bigger good guy."
Gu Chen was still fuming but had calmed down somewhat. He simply said, "I was a bit harsh with Liu earlier; please apologize for me. I'm heading back now."
I nodded in agreement.
Liu Yinyan spotted me and directed his anger toward me: "What kind of team do you have? Is this the quality you're working with?"
I waved my hand to interrupt him: "This isn't the time for that. Don't forget your daughter is still in the hands of the kidnappers. If you want to find her quickly, you'll need to cooperate with us. Have you done something wrong or played dirty behind the scenes?"
Liu Yinyan glared at Gu Chen as he drove away and then took my cue: "No, I haven't done anything wrong. I don't know what the kidnappers are thinking; you should focus on my daughter instead of bringing up my personal matters."
There seemed to be some issues at play.
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