Chapter 294

Chapter 294

“Who are you? What have you done to Pan Xiaorou?”

As I questioned the stranger on the phone, Song Xiaotian and I entered my room and closed the door.

“Don’t worry. President Pan is perfectly fine at the moment.”

The stranger laughed. “Whether she remains that way is another matter.”

Song Xiaotian’s face was livid. Seeing that he was emotionally unstable, I quickly asked, “What do you want? Do you know who Pan Xiaorou is? How dare you touch her!”

The stranger laughed. “Of course I know. She’s a major businesswoman in Lanjiang City and the chairwoman of Jiangling Group. Unfortunately, this isn’t Lanjiang City. This is Lincheng.”

I drew a breath and forced myself to calm down. “Just tell me what you want in exchange for releasing her. Money?”

“Heh. I don’t need that little bit of money.”

“My name is Jiang Dahai. Now you know who I am, don’t you?”

Jiang Dahai?

Who the fuck was that?

Song Xiaotian reminded me, “The developer.”

I instantly remembered. That bastard!

He was the one who had ordered objects buried at the construction site and caused Seventh Master’s injuries. He had also sent men to kill Anning and me in Xujia Village.

“Boss Jiang, this is a business dispute, and you’re resorting to kidnapping? Do you think you’re above the law?” I shouted angrily.

Jiang Dahai replied coldly, “I won’t waste time with you. Bring your people over so we can talk. If the conversation goes well, I’ll release President Pan. But I’m warning you, don’t call Lin Jinhua unless you want President Pan dead.”

I could not resist cursing. “This is between you and Lin Jinhua. What does it have to do with us? He only hired us to do a job. Why the fuck do you keep targeting us? If you have the nerve, go after him!”

Song Xiaotian snatched the phone from me and threatened, “I’m Pan Xiaorou’s man. I’m coming right now. Listen carefully. If even one hair on her head is harmed, I’ll make you regret ever being born. I’ll fucking kill your whole family!”

The other side ended the call and sent us a text message.

It contained an address in the suburbs, among a cluster of abandoned unfinished buildings.

“What do we do? They’ll definitely have an ambush waiting.”

In a situation like this, I had to defer to Song Xiaotian.

Jiang Dahai had clearly kidnapped Pan Xiaorou to target us.

Unable to defeat Boss Lin directly, he had resorted to dirty tricks to keep Boss Lin’s construction project from proceeding. Then Boss Lin hired us to solve the site’s problem, so Jiang Dahai turned his attention to us.

He could hardly be luring us there for a friendly conversation.

“We go, ambush or not.” Song Xiaotian’s face was dark, and he said nothing more.

He might claim he did not like Pan Xiaorou, but the moment something happened to her, he worried more than anyone.

“Are we really not asking Boss Lin for help?” I asked.

“Didn’t you hear him? If we notify Lin Jinhua, something will happen to Xiaorou.”

Song Xiaotian clenched his fists and ground his teeth. “A local tyrant like that definitely has blood on his hands. People like him will do anything. We can’t gamble on whether he has the nerve.”

At this point, our only option was to attend the meeting as Jiang Dahai demanded.

As we left the room, Song Xiaotian cursed and slapped himself across the face, probably regretting that he had refused to accompany Pan Xiaorou.

We quickly called Meng Yifan and Anning out and told them Pan Xiaorou had been kidnapped.

Their faces changed dramatically when they heard.

Pan Xiaorou was the chairwoman of Jiangling Group, while we were merely a group of nobodies. If the people at Jiangling Group learned she had come to harm because of us, how could we possibly bear the consequences?
More importantly, Song Xiaotian was deeply worried about Pan Xiaorou.

I told Anning to wait at the hotel for news. If we had not returned by dawn, she was to call Seventh Master.

But Anning insisted on coming with us. She said the other side was bound to have a large number of people, while there were too few of us.

I asked what a woman like her could possibly do there.

She shot back, “What can you do there? You’re even more useless than I am.”

I was speechless.

In the end, all four of us got into the car and drove toward the address Jiang Dahai had provided.

On the way, I called Seventh Master and told him Pan Xiaorou had been kidnapped.

Seventh Master was stunned for a long time before sighing. “Jiang Dahai will definitely have an ambush waiting. Once you arrive, you do the talking. Don’t let Xiaotian speak. Keep your heads down and don’t confront him.”

“If he tells you to stay out of Lin Jinhua’s affairs, agree. Whatever happens, your safety matters most. The Luo Mansion has already waited a century. A little longer won’t matter.”

That was what I thought too.

After ending the call, I watched Song Xiaotian.

His emotions were unstable, so none of us dared let him drive.

When this man became angry, he could practically destroy Heaven and Earth. I only feared that once we arrived, a single offensive remark from Jiang Dahai would ignite the bomb that was Song Xiaotian.

We drove for nearly an hour before reaching the abandoned development.

No one lived within two kilometers. A person could be murdered there without anyone hearing their cries for help.

The surroundings made my skin crawl.

We parked outside. After getting out, we switched on our phone flashlights and walked into the development.

It had been intended as a neighborhood of villas, but construction stopped before completion. The place had been abandoned for at least seven or eight years.

As we walked, I suddenly sensed that something was wrong. Looking around, I realized Anning was gone.

“Fuck! Where’s Anning?” I jumped in fright.

Song Xiaotian said expressionlessly, “She might have gotten scared and returned to the car. It’s better if she doesn’t go inside.”

We had only just entered, so I figured she must have gone back to the car rather than encountered trouble.

Song Xiaotian was right. It was better for her to stay outside. If a fight broke out, she could be injured.

At that moment, a light flashed twice in the darkness ahead.

We immediately ran toward it and soon found a man holding a flashlight. He had been signaling us.

True to form, Song Xiaotian attacked without a word. He grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “Where is Pan Xiaorou? Where is she?”

Terrified, the man raised both hands. “Calm down. The beautiful lady is fine. Our boss only invited you here for a conversation. Don’t attack me.”

Meng Yifan and I hurriedly pulled Song Xiaotian away and ordered the man to lead us inside.

Walking ahead, he soon guided us into one of the unfinished buildings.

We saw Pan Xiaorou. She was unharmed, tied to a chair with her clothes intact, though she had clearly suffered a fright.

She had seen enough of the world not to cry. But when she saw Song Xiaotian, her eyes reddened slightly. “Xiaotian!”

Song Xiaotian suppressed his rage and reassured her. “It’s all right. Don’t be afraid. I’ll take you home soon.”

We counted the people present. There were not actually that many, only a dozen or so, but every one held a knife.

I did not know which of them was Jiang Dahai, but I recognized one man.

Assistant He!

He was here too!