Chapter 33

Chapter 33 Chapter 33: Whales in the Game (Pay-to-Win Players).

“It's over.”

After the kidnappers sat back down near the door again—where they could observe the outside situation—the bespectacled Gao Zixuan lying on the ground stared at the dusty cement floor and muttered in despair:

“I’m so jealous of Yuan Qian.”

Even such a big commotion earlier hadn’t woken her up. Meanwhile, he had nearly been scared half to death.

“You go shake her,” Xu Hao reminded him, his gaze fixed tightly on the warehouse’s only exit. “She drank more than half a cup of that drink, and only had an ice cream cone left. Too much sleeping pills can kill someone.”

Gao Zixuan’s heart pounded violently.

After Li Ming and Song An’an were taken away one after another, he had become the closest person to Yuan Qian. Rolling over carefully twice, Gao Zixuan tried hard to touch her with his bound hands.

Then, in a tearful voice: “She’s cold.”

Xu Hao: “…That’s because your hands are numb.”

“Check her breathing or pulse, can you be a bit reliable.”

Trembling, Gao Zixuan leaned closer to Yuan Qian’s ear and called out twice like a mosquito. There was no response—but the girl’s nostrils were indeed moving faintly.

This made him collapse back onto the ground again.

Looking helplessly toward the dirty “skylight” and the sky beyond it, Gao Zixuan was terrified:

“What about Song An’an…”

He had clearly seen blood on the bald kidnapper’s hands. Although he didn’t know how they decided the order, at this rate, it would eventually be his turn too.

Xu Hao said firmly: “They should just be taking her to the bathroom.”

Since they had already decided to kill them, the kidnappers hadn’t bothered hiding their conversations. Xu Hao could tell that these three people—especially Red Sister—felt some level of guilt toward Song An’an.

Even just a little guilt might bring hope of survival at some point.

“…That Red Sister’s daughter seems…” Gao Zixuan hesitated, afraid of touching the kidnappers’ trigger point. “Do you really trust your brother that much?”

Xu Hao nodded: “Don’t you trust your parents?”

Gao Zixuan looked blank. “I don’t know.”

In his memory, his family had never shown any signs of financial trouble. So why would they suddenly be involved in an unfinished building case?

“But thinking about it carefully, there was a period when my parents did get quite close to Li Ming’s parents.” Otherwise he and Li Ming wouldn’t have been friends since elementary school.

“In fact, Li Ming wasn’t always this annoying,” Gao Zixuan said as the conversation opened up, sniffing as if recalling his life flashing before his eyes. “Everyone in class used to like him.”

“Later, as his family made more and more money, he also became more and more like his parents. I thought he was just a bit arrogant—I didn’t expect him to openly bully Song An’an.”

After middle school, he and Li Ming were always in the same school but different classes. They only met on weekends. Maybe because the parents of their circle of friends all had some money, Gao Zixuan never realized that Li Ming looked down on poor people from the bottom of his heart—even though Song An’an was an innocent and gentle girl, it still didn’t stop him from insulting her.

“Since we’ve already been kidnapped, there’s no need for them to act in front of us,” Gao Zixuan said resignedly, closing his eyes. “Maybe my parents really did something wrong…”

Xu Hao said bitterly: “If I can still get out alive, I’m definitely going to learn boxing from my brother.” Beat the bad guys down in a few moves instead of lying here like a dead fish.

“What’s the use,” Gao Zixuan sighed. “With a knife at Yuan Qian’s neck and the car door locked, are we just going to watch her get killed?”

“…But honestly, I kind of regret it.”

If he had called the police recklessly back then, or tried to grab the steering wheel no matter what, whatever the outcome, it would still be better than slowly waiting for death like this.

Like a butterfly disturbed by the wind, gently—Yuan Qian, who had been facing away from the two of them, her eyelashes trembled.

“Go inside.”

The rusty iron door was pushed open repeatedly. After several attempts, the piercing screeching noise finally stopped. Song An’an, wearing Red Sister’s jacket, had her legs pressed together and bounced back in like a rabbit.

Xu Hao’s guess was correct.

She was completely clean—aside from her bound hands and feet, there wasn’t the slightest sign of abuse.

The windows of this warehouse were high enough that even if one could stand up, it would still be impossible to smash the glass and escape. Staring absentmindedly at Red Sister’s face blurred by the light, Xu Hao suddenly said:

“Hey.”

“Don’t you think she looks familiar?”

“Shi Hong, female, 42 years old. After her husband cheated during her pregnancy, she chose to divorce. She ran a small restaurant on her own, and six years ago used up all her savings to make the down payment for Leiao New City.”

After clearing out all the parents, He Linfeng held a brief intelligence briefing:

“Two years ago, Shi Hong’s daughter developed a malignant brain tumor. The surgery costs required for treatment—this was also the period when her rights protection activities were most frequent.” Monthly loan repayments, restaurant rent, and medical expenses were enough to crush most ordinary families in this city.

Especially for a single mother without spousal support.

But clearly, people like Li Guojian and the others knew nothing about this. In fact, if the police hadn’t pressed them, they probably wouldn’t even have paid attention to the name Shi Hong at all.

Let alone the life that was destroyed by the unfinished building.

“One year ago, Shi Hong’s daughter passed away from illness. After handling the funeral, she closed her restaurant and, through connections, took a job as a janitor at Beijiang No. 1 Middle School.”

“Shi Hong owns no vehicle. According to surveillance and records, the minibus that took the children away near the amusement park belongs to a man named Zhao Gang.”

“He is also a nominal property owner of Leiao New City. He was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer half a year ago.”

Across the video call, Yan Qiuyu’s expression was grave. From the background, she and Zhou Shan had already entered the pitch-black unfinished building:

“The hostages’ phones were found—four of them. They were scattered in different locations and contained no fingerprints.”

It was clearly a deliberate attempt to stall time and toy with the police.

“Many homeless people used to live inside. They voluntarily abandoned this place with the strongest sense of ‘ritual,’ probably because they were afraid someone would accidentally break in and expose them.”

After all, what the kidnappers valued was not only killing, but also venting resentment. Phone calls, countdowns, videos—all of it existed to make the parents suffer more, to prolong their torment.

He Linfeng nodded:

“The minibus left the city. Wang Lai and Xiaotong are checking surveillance. Chief Zhao has already ordered checkpoints to tighten inspections to ensure they remain within Beijiang.”

“If possible, I want Li Guojian and the others to publicly admit fault via video.”

Since Shi Hong and Zhao Gang clearly intended to stir up public opinion, they would definitely release new videos. If they could seize the moment to “interact across space,” even if it didn’t reduce the kidnappers’ hatred, it could provoke a reaction and shift the situation from passive to active.

Yan Qiuyu frowned.

Normally, the police rarely handle kidnapping cases so openly. Moreover, opportunity and risk coexist—no one could guarantee that after achieving their so-called “victory,” Shi Hong and Zhao Gang would either surrender obediently or kill the hostages and flee immediately.

“They kidnapped innocent children. Once people are blinded by hatred, they are capable of anything,” she analyzed the clues objectively and refused. “I’ll consider it further.”

No matter how tragic Shi Hong and Zhao Gang’s past might be, at this moment, in the eyes of the police, they were only criminals.

She could not gamble on a criminal’s conscience.

However, He Linfeng believed that a mother who had staked her future to avenge her daughter would, upon seeing a girl like Song An’an—also a daughter of a single-parent family working hard to support her mother—be inevitably moved.

Yang Chen’s disfigurement case aimed to escalate matters in order to create panic.

Shi Hong was different.

At least on the surface, what she and Zhao Gang were seeking was justice.

They were not the type who enjoyed committing crimes. Before a real murder happened, there was still room to turn back.

He Linfeng also understood that Yan Qiuyu’s refusal was actually for his sake—if things did not develop according to his prediction, the responsibility would fall on him.

But He Linfeng still felt he should try.

Time ticked away. There were only forty minutes left until the kidnappers’ first death deadline. He Linfeng pushed open the office door and walked out, when suddenly someone grabbed his sleeve.

With his usual cold expression, Jian Qing let go the moment the man turned around:

“Don’t do something stupid.”

He Linfeng shook his head: “Once the three hours are up, Li Guojian will definitely not cooperate.” After more than ten minutes of contact, he had already seen the underlying nature of this couple.

Selfish and hypocritical.

Just like how Li Ming was ranked first in priority—they would not reflect on the reasons behind it, only blame Jian Qing, who was also a victim but placed at the end.

“I have a way.” Jian Qing turned on his phone and held the screen out.

It was a trending topic that had been forcefully pushed to the top with money:

#Huge Reward for Beloved Minibus#

Below the tag was Zhao Gang’s “minibus” license plate number.

The reward was generous enough to make people’s eyes burn. Regardless of whether the information was used, once verified as true, one could privately message the company’s official account to receive a cash red envelope.

The ultimate finder of the vehicle could even take a seven-digit “grand prize.”

He Linfeng raised an eyebrow: “Pay-to-win player?”

Xu Hao’s disappearance had not yet been made public, so no one had connected this to a kidnapping. In the comments section, people were speculating what kind of romantic partner the young man had fallen for, to the point that he used the company account as a confession wall.

Of course, there were also netizens criticizing the Jian Corporation for doxxing and invading privacy, but in such urgent circumstances, Jian Qing neither could nor wanted to explain each one.

Surprised that the other person still had the mood to joke at a time like this, he paused helplessly before explaining his reason for coming to He Linfeng:

“There are too many private messages. I need someone to help distinguish them.”

He Linfeng: “Easy.”

Jian Qing generously handed over his phone.

Life-and-death speed.

The entire Beijiang Public Security system was mobilized around this kidnapping case.

Outside the window were vast stretches of cornfields. At the far edge of the city, more than a dozen households were scattered sparsely. Their land had neither been expropriated nor developed into high-rise buildings. Their household registration was in Beijiang, but their living conditions were no different from the countryside—stuck in between, neither fully urban nor rural.

It was Friday two days ago, and the children who usually stayed in the city for school had already been carpooling home in groups.

“Beijing A637…”

Suddenly startled, the boy who had been scrolling videos under his blanket shot upright like a corpse.

He jumped barefoot out of bed, eyes shining, and rushed into the living room. He bent down and shook his mother, who had fallen asleep while watching TV:

“Mom? Mom!”

“Doesn’t my uncle have a minibus?”