Chapter 479: Mom, Dad Has Already Given You Up

As for the person in the driver's seat, it was unclear when they became a substitute driver, and the back seat and the trunk were both empty; Ke Zhongyu was not very surprised.

When he heard Gu Zhiyan say that Gu Yinxue's assistant might be a mercenary, he knew the matter would not be that simple.

Jiang Lai was startled for a moment, then gradually came to her senses.

Gu Yinxue's body was weak, not her mind; when the Gu family decided to abandon her and the warrant was issued, she was already thinking of ways to escape, merely testing whether the plan could work.

Gu Yinxue, however, grew up in the Gu family, and the contacts and resources she accessed were not ones ordinary people could encounter; in this rapidly developing technological age, the real gap between people is the information gap—the speed and channels of acquiring information.

Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu exchanged a silent glance and quickly relayed the information to their own people and the police.

Soon, Gu Zhiyan's car pulled up beside them; after stepping out with a long stride, he frowned, first surveying the low‑key black sedan his father had prepared—no one inside—then looked at the two of them with a complicated expression and asked, "What's going on? Where are the people?"

Ke Zhongyu was too lazy to bother Gu Zhiyan, not understanding how he had followed, even unaware that the car had switched drivers, and the four living adults had simply vanished.

"Gu Yinxue changed cars," Jiang Lai said to Gu Zhiyan, "Didn't you see them switch vehicles?"

Gu Zhiyan frowned, "I lost them at an intersection; after looping around I finally saw them."

Ke Zhongyu asked which intersection.

Gu Zhiyan gave the intersection's name; Ke Zhongyu made a phone call, ordering someone to retrieve the surveillance near that intersection and check all of it.

Ke Zhongyu suddenly asked Gu Zhiyan, "What do you think she'll do?"

Gu Zhiyan pursed his lips, unable to speak.

He didn't know what Gu Yinxue would do, because he never understood her; even if he had, he wouldn't have been kept in the dark, and today, seeing Gu Yinxue press a kitchen knife to her mother's throat, he was still shocked.

It was the father who remained calm and composed.

But the father was not here and had lost contact.

Jiang Lai stared at the boundless night and said to Ke Zhongyu, "She can't go to any place that requires information registration, nor to crowded spots, but she wants to leave. We guess she'll take a water route; if she doesn't, is there any other place?"

Gu Zhiyan: "Her goal is to exit the country."

Ke Zhongyu chewed over the words "exit the country": "Exit?"

Jiang Lai met Ke Zhongyu's gaze: "Under what circumstances would one use 'exit the country' instead of 'go abroad'?"

Ke Zhongyu's lips curled: "The border line; she wants to head toward the border, and the maritime border near B City is the closest."

Jiang Lai: "We guess she'll take the water route; she can also guess that we'll focus on the maritime border, so it's very likely the land border."

Ke Zhongyu: "The northern land border is too vast."

Jiang Lai: "The southern land border is a rainforest easy to hide in."

The two exchanged remarks and already had an answer.

Gu Zhiyan could not interject, but thought the analysis very reasonable, though he still had a doubt: "Is the south too far? Mid‑journey rest, vehicle change, refueling—all increase exposure risk."

Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu agreed Gu Zhiyan's point wasn't without merit, but urgency was useless now; they could only convey these conjectures to the police.

For a fugitive like Gu Yinxue, who holds two hostages with an assistant, only the public security network's wanted‑person tracking system can achieve comprehensive precise tracking.

Gu Zhiyan felt anxious: "Both parents are in their hands."

Ke Zhongyu said coldly, "What's the use of being urgent? It's still the thing you pampered into existence."

Gu Zhiyan choked.

Ke Zhongyu wrapped his arm around Jiang Lai's shoulder, gently rubbing her arm, worried she might be cold; in fact Jiang Lai wore a thick coat and didn't feel cold.

"Rest assured, Gu Yinxue only wants to exit the country, leave the mainland. She needs Uncle Gu's help, won't hurt people lightly; but if she were to bear a real person's life on her back, that would truly be the end."

Gu Zhiyan looked at Ke Zhongyu with a hard‑to‑express feeling; this guy, whose mouth was stained with vermilion, appeared pleasant in front of his own sister, as if something had possessed him.

Jiang Lai nodded slightly, "Ah Yu, let's go back first."

"Okay," Ke Zhongyu opened the car door for Jiang Lai to sit down, noticing she was a bit absent‑minded; bending down to fasten her seatbelt, he gently cradled the back of her head and kissed her forehead.

He went around the front of the car, opened the driver's door, got in, started the engine, and drove away.

Gu Zhiyan also got into a car and turned back.

The two squads hidden at the neighboring city's dock had not withdrawn; they remained on standby in the shadows.

……

In fact, Gu Yinxue was in the neighboring city, in an abandoned factory on the outskirts.

According to the plan she should have headed to the southern border line, but she overlooked Jiang Lai's influence; she didn't expect the police to deploy so many forces, nor that the father would truly disregard the mother's safety and collude with Jiang Lai and the others in advance.

If it weren't for Lu Si's keen sense that something was wrong and forcibly searching the father, they would already have walked into a tiger's mouth.

Having narrowly escaped disaster, Gu Yinxue could not relax; instead she grew more nervous.

Now there are still two options: go straight to the dock and gamble, or hide and head south.

The former is likely to lose, the latter involves the father and mother as uncontrolled hostages; the operation's scope is too large, and if she abandons the hostages, police will instantly obtain her recent movement route.

Gu Yinxue glared angrily at Gu Sen: "You truly gave up your own wife and your own life for Jiang Lai; do you think doing this will earn Jiang Lai's forgiveness?"

Gu Sen was unmoved, closing his eyes to compose himself.

Lu Si kicked Gu Sen, sending him sprawling to the ground; Gu Sen calmly brushed off the dust and settled back onto the pillar.

Song Shiwei, gradually regaining mobility, crawled toward Gu Sen, eyes watery, trying to ask if he was okay; unable to speak, she could only convey worry and panic.

Gu Sen gave Song Shiwei a gentle push.

Song Shiwei's hand froze mid‑air.

Gu Yinxue couldn't help but laugh, "Mom, come with me; dad has already given you up."

After speaking, disregarding Song Shiwei's limp, pale state, she asked Lu Si what should be done now, which road to choose; Lu Si replied with three words: "Wait a bit longer."

He would, at first light tomorrow, go to the dock to scout the situation.

It seemed they could only spend the night here.

Gu Yinxue was resentful, but now she was a fugitive; a little grievance was just a grievance.

Lu Si carried many tools, including hemp rope; he tied Song Shiwei and Gu Sen to the same stone pillar with the rope, each on opposite sides—able to speak but unable to see each other.

Song Shiwei wept silently throughout the night.

Gu Sen closed his eyes, showing a calm acceptance of "what has come, let it be," as if he had already fallen asleep.

Only in the deep night did Gu Sen slowly open his eyes; his fingers pinched at his cuff, twisting bit by bit, until he finally felt a tempered-glass sealed pouch the size of a grain of rice hidden in the lining.

The police told him it was a liquid-contact positioning beacon; before activation the circuit is open, so radios and signal detectors cannot detect it.

Only when external force or human disassembly cracks the casing, allowing moisture or liquid to seep inside and act as an electrolyte to complete the circuit, will the BeiDou and LBS positioning functions be awakened, after which it sends real-time coordinates.

However, it is one-way; once the stored energy is exhausted, it permanently fails.

Gu Sen pressed his wrist against the cuff, rubbing it back and forth on the sharp stones on the ground until the signal beacon ruptured and sent its message.

Since it's not feasible to make an arrest in the crowded, chaotic hospital, this desolate, remote factory will do.