Chapter Thirty: The Hostage

Thud!

The men in black suits slammed into the iron door of the fire exit, but it wouldn't budge. Through the gap, they could see the door handle bound tightly with a fire hose.

The leader of the group whipped his head around to glare at Wei Caiyan, who stood with her hands in her pockets, tilting her head and whistling, looking entirely unconcerned.

"Tsk."

The man in the suit spat in annoyance, signaled his companions to step back, and delivered a powerful kick to the door.

With strength far exceeding that of an ordinary person, the door was sent flying. It tumbled down the stairwell with a loud, clattering crash.

The massive noise caused people on both sides of the hallway to push open their private room doors to peek out.

"Who’s making all that noise..."

Han Letian, still clutching his microphone, frowned as he stepped out to investigate, only to see a group of men in black suits hurrying up the fire escape.

"Are these guys cosplaying 'The Matrix'? By the way, where did Brother Sheng and Shao Wangshu go?"

The two people Han Letian was wondering about had already reached the top floor, pushed open the door, and stepped onto the building’s rooftop.

The view was wide and open, with a gentle breeze blowing. High above, an airplane traced an arched white line across the sky, looking just like a smiling face.

*Tap-tap-tap-tap.*

Densely packed footsteps echoed from below. The flustered men in black suits pushed through the door, nearly colliding with one another.

"Do you trust me?" Li Sheng turned to look at the young girl, asking with earnest eyes.

Shao Wangshu took a deep breath and nodded firmly. "Yes!"

In that case.

To the girl’s gasp of surprise, Li Sheng swept her into his arms. He broke into a sprint, stepped onto the low railing, and leaped off the rooftop.

The men in black felt their blood run cold as they rushed to the edge. They saw Li Sheng landing lightly on the rooftop of a shorter adjacent building while still holding Shao Wangshu in a bridal carry, his knees bending sharply to absorb the impact.

He set Shao Wangshu down, waved at the men in black, and then pulled her along to keep running, heading down through the rooftop entrance—thanks to fire safety regulations, rooftops in high-rise buildings were never allowed to be locked.

"Dammit."

The lead man slammed his hand against the railing. He turned to Wei Caiyan, who still had her hands in her pockets, and said in a hostile tone, "Why didn't you help stop them just now?"

As fellow guards for the Shao family, the leader’s supernatural powers were too overt; if he used them, he would have to ask the Special Affairs Bureau to wipe security footage and scrub the memories of civilians, which was a massive hassle. Wei Caiyan’s powers, however, were far more subtle.

"Me? I was afraid I’d make a mistake and hurt them." She shrugged, her attitude indifferent.

"You..." The man’s eyelid twitched. He suppressed his anger, and as he headed downstairs, he spoke into his headset to give orders to his subordinates below: "Miss Wangshu has been taken. Target is male, seventeen, short hair, wearing a brown hoodie and blue jeans..."

*Bang!*

Li Sheng pushed open the door to exit the building, pulled Shao Wangshu onto his bicycle, and turned to head toward the west side of the city.

The men in black, now trailing behind, either rushed to their cars to give chase or frantically checked maps, trying to find a route to cut them off.

***

Sitting on the back of the bike, the panic, anxiety, and guilt in Shao Wangshu’s heart were gradually dispelled by the evening breeze blowing against her face. Unconsciously, she tightened her arms around Li Sheng’s waist.

"Remember that drone you gave me?"

Li Sheng tilted his head slightly, smiled, and pulled the drone—roughly the size of a large power bank—from his pocket. He pressed the start button, activated the follow mode, and released it into the air.

He then put on one side of his Bluetooth headset and dialed Yuan Zhixia.

"Hey? Do me a favor. I’m being 'hunted,' and I need directions." Li Sheng spoke rapidly, like a machine gun: "I’ve released a drone, serial number XGAZS1894651, the password is..."

The roar of an engine erupted ahead as an SUV suddenly swerved out from a side street, blocking the way.

Li Sheng yanked the handlebars, swerving into a narrow alley.

"I’m busy too, you know. I’m not Doraemon, available on call."

From the other end of the headset came the crunching sound of Yuan Zhixia eating potato chips, accompanied by the slow, rhythmic clicking of a computer mouse.

"Next time the school newspaper needs an interview, I’ll ask for leave again," Li Sheng said helplessly.

"Deal."

Lying on her bed, playing with her laptop and munching on snacks, Yuan Zhixia tossed aside the chip bag, licked the seasoning off her fingertips, and began typing rapidly.

She connected to the drone, adjusted its altitude, and expanded the field of vision; she hacked into traffic cameras along the route to identify their exact location and the number of pursuers; she opened map software, calculated real-time traffic congestion, and plotted an escape route.

"Ride forward for two minutes, take a left at the second intersection. There’s a residential complex there with stone bollards at the entrance."

Yuan Zhixia’s voice was steady. "There’s a car blocking the intersection a hundred meters ahead. Pass the bollards, turn right into the parking lot, exit from the six o'clock position, ride for another two minutes, and then head under the bridge..."

The men in black driving in pursuit felt as though the bicycle ahead was a slippery loach. Every time they were about to cut them off, the bike would find a new path, using traffic lights, congestion, and pedestrians to constantly break free from their encirclement. It was on the verge of disappearing from their sight.

In the passenger seat of an SUV, the lead man’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably, and flames flickered on the back of his hand.

"Boss, should we activate the Shadow Realm?" the driver asked weakly, seeing his expression.

"..." The man was deeply conflicted.

Opening a Shadow Realm in the bustling city center was incredibly dangerous. Not only would they have to explain the situation to the Special Affairs Bureau afterward and file reams of paperwork, but it was also likely to attract some unclean things.

Fortunately, the voice of the middle-aged man on the other end of the phone interrupted his hesitation: "Is the person who took Wangshu a classmate of hers?"

"Yes," the man in the suit said in a low voice. "She looks very happy."

"..."

There was a long silence on the other end before the voice finally said, "I understand. Stop the chase. Just keep following them from a distance."

All the vehicles slowed down in unison, trailing behind the bicycle at a leisurely pace.

"Stopped chasing? Boring."

Through the perspective of the drone and street surveillance cameras, Yuan Zhixia saw the change in the pursuers and clicked her tongue in boredom—she had just gotten into the flow, and she hadn't had enough fun yet.

***

"Don't forget to ask for leave for the next school newspaper event."

She gave a final instruction before controlling the drone to descend and fly back into the basket at the front of the bicycle.

The call ended, and the Bluetooth headset automatically started playing music. Li Sheng felt a stir in his heart and handed the other earbud to Shao Wangshu.

*“Felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders”*

*“Pressure to break or retreat at every turn”*

*“Facing the fear that the truth had discovered”*

*“No telling how, all these will work out”*

*“But I’ve come too far to go back now”*

*“I am looking for freedom”*

*“Looking for freedom”*

...

As the sun set, Li Sheng carried Shao Wangshu up a mountain road and stopped on a flat patch of land halfway up She Mountain.

The two got off the bike, walked over to a pavilion, and leaned against the stone pillars, gazing out at the city in the distance.

The sunset faded, dyeing the concrete jungle in gold. Dense streams of vehicles moved through the elevated roads, highways, and bridges, looking like red blood cells coursing through the veins of a giant, or perhaps like ants, toiling all day before returning to their nests.

*Swish.*

The black vehicles rolled slowly over the gravel and killed their engines some distance away. The men in black and Wei Caiyan stepped out of their cars in unspoken agreement, watching the two people in the distance who were chatting and laughing. They did not approach.

It wasn't until the sun had fully set and the streetlights along the mountain road flickered to life that Shao Wangshu left the pavilion. She waved goodbye to Li Sheng and got into the SUV.

The man in the suit walked over at the right moment. He held a pyramid-shaped device that projected a 3D hologram of a dignified, middle-aged man—the voice, it seemed, belonged to Shao Wangshu’s father.

"So, you’re the classmate of Wangshu’s," the middle-aged man said, studying Li Sheng. Suddenly, he added, "Thank you."

Thank him for what? For helping the Shao family discover a security loophole? Or for keeping Shao Wangshu company on a day that made her happy?

Li Sheng had no intention of engaging in small talk. He simply waved his hand and watched the motorcade drive away.