Chapter 95: The Runaway

2022-05-20

Guan Zengbin and I shared a glance before she let out a sigh. “Let’s go. There’s a good chance they’ll call again soon. Xiao Liu can’t leave, so let’s retrieve that finger for analysis.”

I didn’t say a word, just followed behind Guan Zengbin. No one needed to spell it out—everyone knew whose finger it was.

I couldn’t help picturing it: in a dim basement, a young girl tied to a chair, her face streaked with tears as she begged them to let her go. But instead, they severed one of her fingers clean off. Her agonized screams echoed through that underground room.

Liu Feier was still being tortured. We needed to move faster.

What exactly did they want from Liu Yinyan? Had he done something so unforgivable in his life? Was this all some twisted, unknown revenge? Could we really save Liu Feier?

Who are the most terrifying people in the world? Those who don’t play by the rules. Like in chess, when your opponent’s cannon jumps four pieces to blast your king and then claims their cannon is a special wild card.

That’s how I felt now. Two calls, and it seemed they just wanted to toy with Liu Yinyan—no panic for ransom, not the hysterics of vengeance. They moved with maddening calm, and they already knew we were investigating.

They didn’t vanish quietly—they made a show of it. No wonder Team Leader Shao said long ago that this had ceased to be just about Liu Yinyan and Liu Feier.

We rushed to the villa. I asked around and found out Liu Yinyan was still bedridden, so weak he couldn’t even stand. The housekeeper had already stored Liu Feier’s severed finger in the freezer, hoping it might be reattached someday.

Xiao Liu was in the living room fiddling with the toy plane they’d found.

Guan Zengbin pulled the finger out of the freezer and told the housekeeper, “Let me take custody of this. I’ll keep it safer than anyone else can. As long as too much time hasn’t passed, there’s still a chance it could be reattached.”

The housekeeper sighed. “Comrade, please… you must find Feier as soon as possible. We don’t care about money or shares. This time they just cut off a finger. Who knows what they’ll do next?”

Guan Zengbin took a small piece of skin from the finger and returned the rest to the freezer. “I’ll take it with me when I leave, but first I need to run a DNA test.”

With that, she set about working with her kit.

I went over to Xiao Liu to study the remote-control plane.

For such a small plane, range was an issue. Where had it come from? The best way to find out was to buy another just like it. I snapped a photo and sent it to Mary through WeChat, asking her to help us get an exact match.

A moment later, Guan Zengbin called from across the room. “DNA results confirm the finger belongs to Liu Feier. Comparing with her photos, it’s likely the middle finger of her left hand. The wound is clean and the bone cut precisely—whoever did this used a very sharp blade. At the very least, she was alive when her finger was cut off. I’ll need to do more digging to get the full picture.”

She packed the ice and the finger into her case.

The housekeeper stared blankly.

“Housekeeper.” I called softly. “I’m going upstairs to check on Mr. Liu.”

“All right, but don’t mention Feier. In his state, he can’t take any more shocks.” The housekeeper led the way, voice low. “Mr. Liu is a good man. He loves deeply and hates deeply. If someone treats him poorly, he returns it double. But if you’re good to him, he gives back even more.”

“Didn’t seem like it to me,” I admitted. I hadn’t exactly had the best impression of Liu Yinyan.

The housekeeper shook his head. “Back when I was young, I worked in the same factory as him. One time he broke a leg—I just brought him food every day, nothing special. But after he made it big, he put me on a salary: twenty thousand a month, just to watch the gate. How many gatekeepers get paid like that?”

“Really? Even now?” I kept pace as we walked.

“Yes. I’ve been with him for decades. Not long ago, he even helped my son buy a house here in Dongxing City. Tell me, why would fate treat such a good man so cruelly? He’s only got this one daughter,” the housekeeper said.

“He doesn’t treat everyone that well,” I replied, half-joking.

He waved a hand at me. “You only see how he treats others. You don’t see how they treated him first. He’s told me more than once about braving a storm to deliver a report to Director Zhao Dongfa after crunching the numbers for a month. And Zhao? He made Liu Yinyan wait outside while he went on a date.”

“He stood in the rain all night.” The housekeeper’s voice was tight with anger. “That night changed him—he swore he’d make something of himself. And that very report earned Rongding Group its first real profit. Confucius said, ‘Repay kindness with kindness, and injury with uprightness.'”

We reached Liu Yinyan’s room. The housekeeper knocked softly, then turned to me. “Mr. Liu always lived by those words.”

Repay injury with uprightness, and kindness with kindness.

I pressed my lips together, thinking those words had a point. No wonder the old man, even at sixty, felt like he was at odds with the world. I’d thought he just naturally bristled at everyone, but at least for those who’d helped him, Liu Yinyan could be surprisingly decent.

He struggled to rise from bed when I entered. His cane rested beside him—he gripped it tightly in his right hand, hunched over, looking more like an eighty-year-old than a titan of venture capital.

Just a few days ago, this exhausted old man was still a dominating force in the investment world.

Liu Yinyan’s face was drawn and weary. His voice was hoarse. “Any leads?”

Seeing him like this, I couldn’t bring myself to dash his hopes. “There are some clues, but the key is still you. It’s not about money or revenge—these calls, it’s like they’re playing a game with you. If you remember anything, anything at all, don’t keep it to yourself.”

He nodded, then shook his head. “I’ll think. I’ll really think about it. If I remember, you’ll be the first to know!”

He shuffled around his room, leaning on his cane, deep in thought.

I didn’t disturb him further, but something didn’t feel right. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

As I walked downstairs, Xiao Liu called out, “Wu Meng, get down here! Mary already found the same model plane for us!”

“That fast?” I asked, surprised.

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“Yeah!” Xiao Liu grinned. “Mary’s got some real skills.”

Half an hour later, the remote-control plane was delivered. Comparing it to the old one, it was an exact match, right down to the color. I had to admit, Mary was a miracle worker.

Xiao Liu and I climbed to the villa roof to test-fly the plane. Handling it was simple enough—not hard to operate at all.

“Let’s see how far it goes,” I said. “Once we know the range, we can figure out where they launched it from. I’ll fly—you follow it and see how far we get before signal’s lost.”

“So I get all the dirty work,” Xiao Liu joked, but he was already heading out.

Forty minutes later, we finished the test.

The plane’s max range was fifteen hundred meters. Cross that line and it dropped from the sky, unresponsive. The housekeeper had said the plane glided gently to a stop by the villa gate, so it had to have been flown in from within fifteen hundred meters.

And since they could park it right at the villa gate, they must’ve had a clear sightline. There weren’t any tall buildings nearby—had to be someone up the mountain. But the mountain was huge. Where do we even start?

They’d planned this well. If we went looking, we’d be searching forever.

I shook my head. Just found a new lead, and it was already this much trouble.

My phone rang—Gu Chen was calling. “Wu Meng, you need to get over here. I think I’ve found who made that homemade tobacco.”

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Another runaway—his name’s Lin Dafa. He’s forty-two,” Gu Chen rattled off. “I’ve already asked Mary to run a full background check on him. But the guy who runs that underground shop told me Lin Dafa bought that same mixed tobacco from him—just yesterday!”

My heart skipped a beat. “Yesterday?”

“That’s right, so you really should come over.” Gu Chen insisted.

Lin Dafa—why was everyone in this group on the run? Chen Lin, who’d died before, had been too. Were they picked because people like them aren’t bound by fear, because there’s nothing holding them back?

Death doesn’t scare them. For those who stare at it long enough, they become numb.

Yeah, I needed to check this out myself.