After receiving the call, Gao Min immediately went to find Fang Yaqiong. The two arranged to meet near the university district.
However, when Gao Min arrived at the agreed location and waited for about five minutes, Fang Yaqiong was nowhere to be seen.
Being a police officer, a sense of foreboding instantly welled up in her heart. She immediately took out her phone and dialed Fang Yaqiong's number.
"Hello, the number you have dialed is powered off."
Powered off?
Fang Yaqiong should have kept her phone on at a time like this. How could it be off?
Could something have happened?
Gao Min scanned her surroundings. The university district was bustling with people. Could someone really be bold enough to attempt a kidnapping in broad daylight?
Without wasting any time, she quickly ran to a nearby convenience store, described Fang Yaqiong's appearance to the cashier, and asked if they had seen a girl matching that description. Not getting the information she wanted, she immediately turned and ran towards the gate of Fang Yaqiong's university.
As she ran, she tried calling Fang Yaqiong's phone again. It was still off.
Next, she dialed Liu Yutong's number.
"Yutong, Fang Yaqiong might be in trouble. We agreed to meet, but she didn't show up, and her phone is off!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Yutong on the other end of the line couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Sis, what exactly happened?"
Gao Min quickly recounted the events at a rapid pace.
It turned out that Fang Yaqiong had earlier received a call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be one of Brother Long's men, said they had Lin Bin, and demanded that Fang Yaqiong hand over something Lin Bin had stolen, or they would kill him.
Fang Yaqiong had even heard Lin Bin's screams over the phone. In her panic, she thought of Gao Min, as she later found out Gao Min was a police officer.
"Does Fang Yaqiong know where the item is?"
"She said she doesn't know. Lin Bin never told her. But the other party didn't believe her and threatened that if she didn't hand it over, Lin Bin would die. Then the call was cut off, and when I tried calling back, it was switched off. I suspect they used Lin Bin to threaten her into acting alone and forced her to turn off her phone to prevent her from calling the police."
"Of course, it's also possible she was kidnapped by Brother Long's people."
"Right now, I'm heading to her university first, then to the police station. But with her phone off, I have no target. It'll be hard to find her quickly."
After listening, Liu Yutong on the phone suddenly remembered the information she had just obtained.
Perhaps this was a good opportunity.
"Sis, Nan City isn't that big. I guess they're holding Lin Bin in one of their establishments. Why not just go and look?"
"It's not as easy as you say. Without confirmation, it's hard to get a search warrant. Even with one, without a clear target, where do we start searching? And what if he's not in one of their places? Wouldn't that just tip them off?"
"What can we do? Tough luck for them, then."
"What do you mean?"
"Ah, don't worry about that. Who says you need a search warrant to search? Leave it to me."
"Yutong, you..."
Before Gao Min could finish, Liu Yutong hung up the phone.
Gao Min stared at her phone emitting the dial tone, her mind growing increasingly chaotic.
"What does my sister mean?"
"Could she be planning to take people and turn their establishments upside down? That would be illegal! Would I have to arrest her then...?"
She was conflicted.
Of course, she still hoped her sister Liu Yutong wouldn't use such violent methods; otherwise, she would truly be in a difficult position.
Gao Min's guess was completely correct. Liu Yutong indeed planned to directly take people and turn over all of Brother Long's—more accurately, Master Jiu's—establishments.
Of course, she intended to do it reasonably and legally.
Her real goal was to confirm whether Master Jiu had actually obtained the key, and incidentally, see if she could rescue Lin Bin.
The reason she suspected the key might be with Master Jiu was that she had received a plea for help from Liu Hao's underling, saying his boss was cornered.
Liu Yutong had found it strange at the time. Why was Master Jiu targeting Liu Hao so intensely? He had already taken Liu Hao's territory. Was it necessary to drive him to the brink?
That didn't make sense.
Later, she learned from that green-haired underling that Master Jiu wanted to seize an antique key that Liu Hao had somehow acquired from some unlucky fellow.
Talk about a coincidence.
If that key was really the one she was looking for, it would be a huge windfall.
Even if it wasn't, using the Lin Bin incident, coupled with the evidence of crimes she already had on Master Jiu's gang, she could take them down in one fell swoop.
After hanging up on her sister, Liu Yutong directly said to her assistant, Su Mansu, "Tell Jesse to wait."
Before Gao Min called her, Su Mansu had relayed a message that a foreigner named Jesse wanted to pay her a visit.
The referrer was Manager Li from Pearl City, the true owner of that emblem.
If Liu Yutong had been half-convinced about the emblem's origins before, now, between the key possibly appearing in Liu Hao's possession and this Jesse wanting to visit her, she was almost certain the rumors were probably true.
"Okay, boss." Su Mansu went to notify him.
Just as Liu Yutong stepped out of the hotel entrance and headed towards her parked car, a slightly urgent voice came from the side.
"Miss Liu, wait!"
Liu Yutong paused and looked at the newcomer.
It was Jesse, a young foreign man with blond hair and blue eyes, his face clearly showing anxiety.
"Wait, Miss Liu, just give me a few minutes..."
Su Mansu quickly stepped forward, blocking Jesse. "Mr. Jesse, I'm sorry, the boss doesn't have time right now."
But Jesse was persistent, still trying to get past, only to be blocked again by Su Mansu. "Mr. Jesse, the boss is unavailable now. Please..."
Just then, a sudden change occurred.
A hotel doorman, taking advantage of everyone's attention being diverted by Jesse, suddenly launched an attack!
A cold glint flashed from his sleeve as he pulled out a dagger, aiming straight for Liu Yutong's back!
Seeing this, Su Mansu couldn't help but cry out, "Look out!"
Yun Cheng and the others reacted instantly, moving to intercept.
Jesse's reaction was a beat slower. Just as the assassin struck, he happened to have gotten around Su Mansu and was rushing towards Liu Yutong.
His mind was completely focused on wanting to get that emblem.
But just as he coincidentally ran up to Liu Yutong, Su Mansu suddenly shouted. He instinctively turned his head to look back and saw a gleaming dagger coming straight for him, now less than ten centimeters away.
He wanted to dodge, but it was too late.
Three Chinese characters involuntarily flashed in his mind: I'm done for!
