Chapter 71: A Grave Crisis

At 5:45 PM, Fu Rangyi’s flight landed in S City.

Although Zhu Zhixi had not acted abnormally in the past few days, maintaining contact and even proactively reporting the countdown every morning, Fu Rangyi had a faint, bad premonition and ultimately chose to return a day early.

Afraid that Zhu Zhixi wouldn’t agree, he hadn’t told him beforehand.

After landing and turning off airplane mode, he received two messages from Zhu Zhixi. When he saw the second one, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

So he found out after all.

On the way, he called Zhu Zhixi back, but strangely, Zhu Zhixi’s phone was off. When he got home, he noticed two wine glasses on the dining table and sensed the lingering pheromones of Liang Yi’en. He guessed the two of them had been drinking together. The remaining red wine in the glasses hadn’t yet formed stains, so it must have been recent.

So he contacted Liang Yi’en directly.

“Professor Fu?” Liang Yi’en was surprised when he answered the phone. “I’m at the hospital. Granny is awake now, and I’m trying to convince her to have the surgery… Senior Zhixi just said he had to go home for something important.”

“Go home?” Fu Rangyi felt something was very wrong. “His phone is off. I can’t reach him.”

“What?”

“Was he sober when he left?” he asked.

“Yes, more sober than me, and he seemed to be in a good state.”

“If he really went home, there shouldn’t be a situation where he can’t charge his phone…” Fu Rangyi thought for a moment and became more certain. “We’ve encountered a similar situation before. Zhu Zhixi wouldn’t just turn off his phone for no reason.”

“Could something have happened?” Liang Yi’en also became anxious. “Professor, where are you? Xiao Yu and I will come find you.”

On the other end of the line, the old lady’s voice also appeared, anxiously asking if something was wrong. Liang Yi’en quickly reassured her, “It’s nothing. Zhixi ran into a little trouble. I have to go now. Please think about it. Zhixi really hopes you can accept the surgery and recover.”

After saying that, he hurriedly said to Fu Rangyi on the phone, “I’m coming over right now. We…”

“Let’s go to Zhu Zhixi’s family home first,” Fu Rangyi said and hung up.

Half an hour later, Liang Yi’en arrived at Zhu Zhixi’s home by taxi and saw Fu Rangyi leaving through the main gate.

“He’s gone,” Fu Rangyi said with a grave expression, not saying another word. He walked directly to his car and said to Liang Yi’en, “Get in first.”

“Has he been acting strangely recently?” Fu Rangyi selected the museum’s location in the navigation app.

Liang Yi’en sat in the back seat, observing Fu Rangyi’s expression in the rearview mirror. Although he appeared abnormally calm, the tension between his brows revealed an emotion suppressed to its absolute limit.

In the end, Liang Yi’en cast aside Zhu Zhixi’s instructions and sighed. “It’s a long story, Professor Fu. Please pull over for a moment.”

Fu Rangyi did as he was told, stopped the car, and lowered the window. His hand seemed to reach for his coat pocket, but then he gave up.

Liang Yi’en revealed everything about the rapidly decreasing countdown. He cautiously observed Fu Rangyi’s reaction through the rearview mirror, afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle it. But Fu Rangyi was far calmer than he had imagined. There was no daze, no emotional breakdown, not even a tremor in his hands.

He simply reached into his pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter that looked like it had been bought for a few yuan at a counter, tore open the packaging, and pulled out a cigarette.

Fu Rangyi smokes?

“Stay in the car, wait for me,” Fu Rangyi said, then opened the car door, got out, lit the cigarette, held it between his lips, and lowered his head.

The gradually descending night was a deep, rich blue, enveloping everything. The small white light of his phone screen reflected on his glasses, obscured by the grayish-white smoke. He brought the phone to his ear, exhaled a long stream of smoke, and seemed to be on a call with someone.

Unable to contact him, Liang Yi’en was very worried and full of regret. “I shouldn’t have let him go home by himself.”

Xiao Yu poked out of his pocket.

[It’s not your fault. You had to go to the hospital.]

“Where on earth did he go?” Liang Yi’en suddenly thought of something. “Didn’t you say Senior has a soul fragment of Snowball on him? Can’t we use that to locate him?”

[It’s too weak. I’ve already tried. It won’t work. I’ll think of another way.]

Liang Yi’en looked at Xiao Yu in his hamster form, unsure if he had enough energy now. Ever since the countdown collapsed in the hospital garage, he had been in this state. Was he trying to conserve energy, or had he already…

“How much power do you have left? Can you still transform back into a human? Can… can I do anything to help you?”

Xiao Yu did not respond for a long time.

It wasn’t until Fu Rangyi extinguished his cigarette and walked back that he heard Xiao Yu’s thoughts.

[Don’t worry. I promised you that if there’s danger, I will do my best.]

The car door opened. Fu Rangyi returned to the driver’s seat and also switched the call to speakerphone. Liang Yi’en heard a somewhat familiar voice.

“Alright, I’ve got a location.”

“You can locate it even when it’s off?” Fu Rangyi tried to confirm.

“Mhm, that kid turned his phone off last time too. I went to find him in a private helicopter. But this location isn’t that precise, it’s within a three-kilometer radius.”

It was Zhu Zeran.

Soon, a cloned electronic link from the location software was sent over. Fu Rangyi clicked on it, and a map popped up with a glowing blue circle in the center. The area within the circle was the location range Zhu Zeran had mentioned.

“I’ll head that way first.”

“Okay, I’ve already arranged for people to go over, but my flight back won’t take off for another twenty minutes. It’s too late to apply for helicopter approval now…” Although Zhu Zeran usually spoke quickly, this time was different, with a sense of deliberately suppressed anxiety.

Fu Rangyi heard it.

“We will find him,” he said in a firm tone.

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds.

“You have twenty minutes until you board, right?” Fu Rangyi’s expression was composed. He glanced at the time in the upper right corner of the screen and organized his thoughts. “Zhu Zhixi sent me a message before he lost contact, arranging to meet tomorrow night. It’s impossible that he disappeared on his own accord. If something came up, he wouldn’t have turned off his phone. The butler said he came home a while ago, took something, and left, which means he lost contact after leaving home. In this situation, we can’t rule out a kidnapping.”

Then, he asked, “Do you have any enemies or business competitors? Or, has Zhu Zhixi run into any trouble recently and asked you for help?”

After this analysis, Zhu Zeran’s tone on the other end of the line changed immediately. “I know.” He muttered a curse under his breath.

“Know what?” Fu Rangyi asked.

“Zhu Zhixi has been investigating someone recently. He didn’t tell you, did he? It’s that Omega teacher you beat up back in high school.”

With a lurch, the car screeched to a halt. The tires made a harsh sound as they scraped against the ground. Fu Rangyi’s voice was very low: “Xiao Xiang…”

“That’s him,” Zhu Zeran said. “A few days ago, Zhu Zhixi found out he slashed your tires and seemed to have planned a sneak attack, but failed. I even asked someone to go to the police station about it. If it’s a kidnapping, like you said, he’s the only bastard I can think of right now.”

At this moment, that strong premonition was finally confirmed. Fu Rangyi’s fingertips went numb. His mind was still clear, but in that instant, he felt a strong sense of weightlessness.

Why would he go after Zhu Zhixi? Why not come for revenge against me? What is he trying to do? It’s my fault…

At this moment, sitting in the car and hearing this news was not just the present Fu Rangyi. It was also the teenage him, the one who would lose whatever he possessed.

The shadows he thought he had long forgotten and let go of turned into a sharp knife, stabbing fiercely into his skull. Splash—black liquid gushed out, surged out, and drowned him.

The background of the call was noisy, with people coming and going, mixed with airport boarding announcements. Behind him, horns were honking.

“Professor Fu!” Liang Yi’en, sitting in the back, slapped his shoulder hard.

Fu Rangyi snapped back to reality, stepped on the gas, and left the intersection.

At this moment, Zhu Zeran’s voice suddenly came from the other end of the line, urgent, as if he had just thought of something. “Fu Rangyi, I know. I just took a closer look at this location area. There’s an abandoned building project in there called Shui’an Xingdu. Xiao Xiang also bought a property from the same developer before, just outside C City. This developer went bust, and all the undelivered projects were put on hold. It’s very likely he’s holding a grudge and took Zhu Zhixi there.”

“Got it.” Fu Rangyi immediately located the address Zhu Zeran mentioned. “I’m heading over there now.”

A flight attendant’s gentle reminder came from the other end of the line.

[Sir, we are about to take off. Your phone…]

Zhu Zeran said, “I have to take off now. We’ll talk when I land.”

Liang Yi’en had been listening the whole time and had some doubts. He asked, “Since it all went bust and was put on hold, why didn’t this person take Senior to the property he bought? Is it just because he’s in S City now?”

Fu Rangyi: “It might be a smokescreen. Following the usual line of thought, even if we figured it was him and followed this clue, we might only look in C City.” But after saying that, he also felt something was a little strange.

On the other end of the line, Zhu Zeran’s tone suddenly changed. “Wait a minute—”

He was even panting slightly. “I just saw a message from my assistant. This abandoned property was put on the first list for explosive demolition last month.”

Liang Yi’en was stunned. “What? Demolition!”

Fu Rangyi asked in a low voice, “When exactly?”

“February 13th, at 8:30 in the evening,” Zhu Zeran’s voice carried a hint of a daze. “…That’s tonight.”

It was already 7:52 PM. The navigation showed it would take another seventeen minutes.

“I… I’ll arrange for people right now, try to stop the demolition—”

[Sir, sir, you really need to turn off your phone, otherwise it will affect our entire…]

The call was disconnected abruptly.

This news was like a basin of ice-cold water, thrown violently at them.

From head to toe, he was soaked through. Every nerve in his skin was jolted awake by the sharp touch of the ice water.

Water entered his nose as he breathed. Zhu Zhixi choked and woke up with a start. He opened his eyes. An intense feeling of suffocation broke through, but his head was still groggy, a side effect of the sedative.

His eyelashes were completely soaked, his vision blurred. Before him was an oppressive darkness. This space and the night seemed to be fused, without boundaries.

After a few seconds, he realized this wasn’t an ordinary high-rise building, but an unfinished, half-built structure. The walls were a gloomy gray, unpainted. The window in front of him couldn’t even be called a window, just a huge, glassless opening.

And he was only two meters away from this opening. He could even feel the biting night wind, which made his just-drenched body shiver. Not far away was the bustling night view of S City, a sea of stars, so close it felt as if with a slight struggle, he would fall into the night.

In addition, above his field of vision, there was a flashing countdown.

[4 days 18 hours 21 minutes 28 seconds]

Thoroughly woken by the wind, Zhu Zhixi lowered his head and saw the ropes wrapped around his body. So tight, he couldn’t move. His hands were tied behind his back, his wrists unable to break free.

He was tied to a wooden chair.

“You’re awake.”

A strange voice came. Zhu Zhixi turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound. A thin figure walked out of the darkness step by step, like a ghost. His face was gradually illuminated by the light from outside. It was haggard, and he looked to be at least forty-five years old.

Zhu Zhixi’s temples throbbed. Xiao Xiang.

“Young Master Zhu, you should know who I am, right? After all, you’ve already called the police on me.”

It really was him.

Xiao Xiang smiled and walked in front of him, to the edge of the dangerous, empty window. “How is it? The view here is pretty good, isn’t it? The 23rd floor.”

Zhu Zhixi stared at his back. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but he noticed a distinct surgical scar on the back of Xiao Xiang’s neck. Did he have some kind of gland-related surgery?

But before he could get a clearer look, Xiao Xiang turned around and said with a smile, “Of course, it can’t compare to Fu Rangyi’s apartment. After all, that’s in the city center, and on the 36th floor.”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi’s scalp tingled.

He suddenly remembered how he had rushed home after saving the old lady on You’an Street, only to find he couldn’t open his combination lock no matter what.

Could that have been Xiao Xiang’s doing? Did he try too many times, triggering the lock’s self-defense mechanism, which ultimately led to it being forcibly locked?

Zhu Zhixi’s gaze traveled from the lines at the corner of his eyes down to the stick he was clutching in his hand. The end of the stick flashed with a faint green light in the darkness. There was a switch in the middle, and at the top…

He squinted. At the top, there were two very fine silver protrusions. It was a stun baton.

He had encountered several coups in other countries before. At that time, he and a group of ordinary citizens were trapped on the streets, under control. He was very familiar with this thing.

“Why aren’t you talking?” Xiao Xiang walked closer. “Do you think we common folk are not worthy of speaking with a great young master like you?”

Zhu Zhixi immediately looked up at him. In the face of danger, he did his best to calm his emotions and not provoke the other party. “What do you want?”

Xiao Xiang laughed again. His laughter had a neurotic sharpness, like fingernails scratching on an aluminum alloy window frame. It was tormenting.

“What do I want? Take a guess.”

Zhu Zhixi was confused. This kind of kidnapping with an unstated purpose was all the more terrifying. Zhu Zhixi tried to coax information out of him. “You knocked me out, but you didn’t kill me directly. You brought me here. You must have other ideas, right? Money? Or something else?”

He thought about Zhu Zeran’s investigation into this person: lost his job, living in poverty, spent his life savings on a house only to have it all go down the drain, and got sick, undergoing intermittent treatment.

He regulated his breathing and tried to communicate with him as gently as possible. “If it’s money, you can contact my family right now. You can have as much as you want. We don’t have to call the police. This isn’t something we can’t negotiate…”

But the other party cut him off with a cold laugh.

“Money?” Xiao Xiang walked around him to the other side and raised his hand.

Following his movement, Zhu Zhixi noticed that a black tripod was set up to his right, with a phone mounted on it. If the phone screen hadn’t lit up, the tripod would have almost blended into the darkness.

“You think you can just give me some money and get rid of me? The way you rich people think is really different from us ants.” The light from the screen illuminated Xiao Xiang’s face, clearly showing the suppressed distortion and hatred.

“Do you think that just because you have money, power, and status, you can crush a person into a corner like an ant?”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi’s heart sank.

This person probably didn’t really want money. His hatred for the rich was too deep. Was it because Fu Rangyi’s adoptive father had pushed him to a dead end?

“I’ve never thought that,” Zhu Zhixi had not given up. He still had to wait for Fu Rangyi to come back, to propose to him.

“Right, I did call the police, that’s because…” He suddenly felt something was wrong and subconsciously changed his wording. “Because the security at their university investigated the surveillance from before the New Year, found something unusual, but Fu Rangyi was on a business trip and they couldn’t contact him, so they could only contact me.”

Xiao Xiang stared at his face without moving. “Only?” he laughed. “Oh right, I forgot. You’re his newlywed partner.”

“That kid acts so high and mighty, I thought he looked down on everyone,” he said, walking towards Zhu Zhixi. He used the unactivated stun baton to lift his chin, clicking his tongue a few times. “Such a beautiful face, no wonder he fell for you.”

“As for this place, you might not know, but your brother should be very clear. He took over this place not long ago and decided to rebuild it. Simply put, that is…” A “bang” sound came from his dry mouth.

“…to blow it up. These ten buildings, all of them will be blown up.” The stun baton fell. Xiao Xiang pointed to the tripod. “See that?”

“There’s a video plugin installed on this phone. In 20 minutes, the demolition program here will start. The moment the explosion happens, this phone will automatically stop recording and send the video to Fu Rangyi’s phone.”

Xiao Xiang laughed softly. “When the time comes, let Professor Fu come to these ruins himself and dig for your body.”