From Runaway Bride to Global Queen-Chapter 185 - Kidnapping
Chapter 185 -185 Kidnapping
Lu Yanchuan was in a meeting when he received the message. He was taken by surprise when he saw the words “ransom” on his phone and initially thought it was some kind of a prank.
Without giving it much thought, he called Qiao Yi directly, but the only thing he heard was a busy system tone; no one was answering.
Lu Yanchuan felt a sudden sense of dread. Qiao Yi wouldn’t just not answer the phone for no reason. Even if something came up and she couldn’t answer, she would at least send him a message. She definitely wouldn’t just disappear without any sign!
Could it be that something actually happened to Qiao Yi?
With Qiao Yi’s phone unreachable, Lu Yanchuan called Andy’s number.
“Mr. Lu? Is there something you need me for?”
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Although Andy had Lu Yanchuan’s contact information, the two of them had never even had a conversation, let alone a private phone call.
Besides, Lu Yanchuan should know that today she had invited Qiao Yi to attend the Sun Group banquet, and Andy couldn’t figure out why Lu Yanchuan would call her at this time.
“Is Qiao Yi with you?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since we parted in the garden a while ago. Hasn’t Qiao Yi returned home?”
Lu Yanchuan’s question left Andy even more bewildered. She hadn’t seen Qiao Yi since they separated in the garden and assumed Qiao Yi had gone home.
“Qiao Yi hasn’t come home, and no one is answering her phone. I received a message claiming someone has kidnapped Qiao Yi and is demanding a billion-dollar ransom.”
“A billion!”
Andy exclaimed, drawing attention from people around her. She quickly moved to a more secluded spot.
“How could this be possible? How could Qiao Yi be kidnapped!”
“Check the hotel surveillance and inform me immediately when you find something.”
Lu Yanchuan hung up after speaking and stood up, intending to leave. But something made him return to his computer.
The kidnapping of Qiao Yi, with the kidnappers demanding a ransom of a billion, the first person Lu Yanchuan could think of was Lu Ming!
Lu Ming’s financial situation was in dire straits, compounded by Qiao Xin who was busy dealing with their divorce—it wouldn’t be beyond Lu Ming to resort to kidnapping in desperation.
Lu Yanchuan had his subordinates launch an investigation while he himself started to look into Lu Ming’s recent activities.
Disappointingly, there had been nothing unusual about Lu Ming in the past few days; no suspicious contacts whatsoever.
If it wasn’t Lu Ming, then who could it be?
Lu Yanchuan had all his people mobilized and also informed the police, coordinating a search across Capital City for any trace of Qiao Yi.
According to Andy, approximately half an hour after she and Qiao Yi had parted ways to go to the hospital, Lu Yanchuan received the kidnapper’s message. The kidnapper couldn’t have gone far, and might even be hiding in the hotel where the banquet was being held!
“We’ve found it; Qiao Yi was taken away by two people in black clothes who knocked her unconscious. Their faces weren’t captured on the surveillance, and they drove away in a black sedan without a license plate.”
This was clearly a well-prepared plan, with the kidnappers having a comprehensive grasp of Qiao Yi’s movements, ready to abduct her!
Whoever it was that took action was a dead man walking!
Lu Yanchuan’s fingers flew over the keyboard, typing in a series of complicated codes that appeared on the screen. In just a few minutes, Lu Yanchuan’s screen switched to the city surveillance system.
Starting from the moment the unlicensed sedan left the hotel, Lu Yanchuan tracked it, hacking into one surveillance system after another, eventually piecing together a complete escape route.
Found it!
“We’ve located the kidnappers’ current whereabouts and are sending people for the rescue.”
By the time the police sent this message to Lu Yanchuan, he had already arrived near a residential building at the location he had tracked down.
“Abort the destination, that’s a decoy the kidnappers released. Send people to my current coordinates.”
Lu Yanchuan hung up before the police on the other end could object. He moved like a large cat, silently vaulting into the residential complex.
The area was quiet, being a newly developed residential area that had been completed less than a month ago. Most importantly, the developers of this complex were the Sun Group!
Lu Yanchuan crept through the complex at a fast pace, evading the patrolling security guards, and finally stopped in front of a duplex building.
The corridor was quiet and calm. The darkness did not hinder Lu Yanchuan’s progress but served as his camouflage.
As he ascended, Lu Yanchuan slowed down his pace, eventually stopping on the eighth floor.
“You think we put in all this effort just for a girl? Is she even worth the money?”
“Are you still thinking about whether it’s worth it for a no cost business? But I heard from that foreigner that this girl is worth the amount!”
A man held out two hands and waved them in front of his partner, who opened his mouth wide and whispered in a tremulous voice.
“Ten million!!!”
“Bullshit! It’s a billion!”
A gasp of shock followed as if the man’s partner couldn’t grasp the enormity of the number and nearly fainted.
“A billion! That’s a billion! I’ve never seen that much money in my lifetime!”
After a while, the partner spoke up, his voice tinged with indescribable excitement.
“What are you dreaming about? Even if there’s a billion, we wouldn’t get a bit of it. That foreigner is sly. If we can get a million or two, we’d be thanking the heavens!”
The man sensibly gave his partner a knock, and the two of them lost interest in talking. After some rustling of fabric, it seemed the two settled down next to each other.
With a steely gaze, Lu Yanchuan tightened his grip on the stick he had picked up and suddenly strode up the last flight of stairs.
“You are…”
The two men turned to face the sudden appearance of a figure. Before they could yell out, Lu Yanchuan had already knocked them out with a couple of strikes to their heads.
Fortunately, the high-quality sound insulation of the residential area ensured that the sound of the two hitting the ground did not alert anyone else in the building. Lu Yanchuan flexed his wrist and silently pushed open the door next to the two men.
The expected fierce battle did not occur; aside from the two men at the entrance, the living room contained no third person.
Could it be that he was wrong? Lu Yanchuan didn’t dare to lower his vigilance, holding the stick as he crouched and moved quietly inside.
Suddenly, the lights inside the room turned on. A man walked out from the adjacent room in a daze, rubbed his eyes, and headed toward the bathroom, oblivious to the fact that there was now an extra person in the room.
Lu Yanchuan kindly waited until he had finished his business. As the man turned to head back to his room, Lu Yanchuan grabbed him from behind by the neck.
“Speak up, where is the woman you’ve kidnapped!”
Lu Yanchuan’s voice was forced and suppressed, the man’s throat constricted, and he quickly became alert in his once sleepy head.
The man’s hands thumped powerfully on Lu Yanchuan’s hand. Lu Yanchuan eased the pressure slightly, and the man immediately began gasping for air.
“She’s… she’s upstairs…”
