Chapter 138

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The Chen Family had long since descended into chaos.

Chen Congyu's phone calls reached all the way to the Municipal Party Committee, but influence was ultimately just influence, not personal involvement; it was always half a beat too slow.

By the time they located Chen Guoliang, who was still out of town, and mobilized a larger-scale manhunt, thirty minutes had already elapsed.

At this point, they still had not found a single clue.

No one connected the virus to the Floating Mountain Platform affair, so the Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of the case slapped his hand down and classified it as an ordinary kidnapping for ransom, deploying forces left and right, preparing to wait for the other side to call with a demand.

A tiny error leads to a massive mistake; Chen Yi understood clearly: Little Sister was the ransom they wanted.

In other words, the negotiation experts waiting at home for a call, the police combing for Little Sister's trail — nearly all of them were doing useless work.

No one would come asking for ransom.

But explaining this to his father, Chen Congyu only gave verbal praise; his answer was: "Being prepared is always better than being unprepared. What if they do call…"

Apparently, he still didn't believe Little Sister's computer talent surpassed even the Floating Mountain Platform's designers. He believed even less that someone would plan a kidnapping over a virtual network.

Words exhausted, Chen Yi simply shut his mouth and didn't tell his father about the email discovered in the mailbox.

It was merely a single headless, tailless sentence: "2 PM, meet at Jianshe Road." If Chen Congyu knew, at most he would notify the police; without anyone pressing them, the police would nine times out of ten stick to their kidnapping theory and send a few officers to ask around — purely the equivalent of beating the grass to startle the snake.

On the other hand, Chen Yi couldn't fully explain to the police Little Sister's computer talent and the virus she created — if the police believed him, who knew whether they would shift the goal from finding Little Sister to capturing the criminals alive, or finding the virus and making Little Sister's safety a secondary objective — prioritizing whoever is more important is standard police procedure, and human nature.

After a moment, Zhu Guangliang said: "We've set up a double-layer cordon with the police; they can't escape Jiangning."

Zhu Guangliang counted as the Old Master's men, so he still followed Chen Yi.

In the entire Jiangning security system, his rank was low; by now a Joint Investigation Group had been formed above him, yet he still followed Chen Yi.

This was both because the Old Master hadn't spoken, and because Zhu Guangliang trusted Chen Yi's judgment.

This trust perhaps stemmed from Chen Yi's readiness to spend tens of millions of dollars without blinking, perhaps from the swiftness of breaching the Dragon Boat Server, perhaps from the evidence pointing the way.

But Chen Yi didn't notice this; without turning his head, he fiddled with the notebook and said: "Good, many thanks."

He attempted to trace the sender through that email.

Zhu Guangliang cursed inwardly: Most hate these aristocratic scions. Yet he still had to ask: "Time is tight; we have to head to Jianshe Road now."

"Are your people there?"

"They're there."

"I trust their professionalism. They say China has the best agents in the world; prove it to me." Chen Yi merely glanced back at Zhu Guangliang, yet it gave the latter a feeling of being locked in place.

That was not only the aura cultivated over the long term, but the latent eruption of Source Energy.

On the battlefield, when a Knight rages, the common man cowers.

Kingdom Knights roam the sand field, coming and going on the frontier at will, relying not purely on martial force, but on that layer upon layer of pressure from power embedded in their bones.

Only to hear Chen Yi continue: "Xiao Liang and I will stay here. I will trace these people's origins, identities, photos and footage… Chen Rongxi's abduction is related to computer hackers."

"Understood." Zhu Guangliang gripped his phone, said "Contact me anytime," and hurried out.

Once outside, recalling the obedient scene just now, he comforted himself: Good or bad, he couldn't let himself be despised by a good-for-nothing aristocratic scion, right?

Liu Xinyu watched Zhu Guangliang leave and asked Chen Yi: "You have a disciple too? What about him then?"

"If he survives this tribulation, I'll give him what he wants. If he doesn't… count him unlucky." Chen Yi suppressed the surging morality in his heart and added: "Ceng Yi hasn't reached the point of daring to kill; that Naked Bear will probably only suffer some flesh wounds."

The bureau's security expert, Professor Xiao Liang, stared at Chen Yi's screen for half a day, then suddenly asked: "Is this real?"

"What's real?"

"Is this a real case? Was someone really kidnapped?"

"Nonsense." Chen Yi glared at him irritably, his main focus still on the notebook before him; he had already breached three email systems and still hadn't found what he wanted.

Xiao Liang clapped his hands hard, didn't dare laugh out loud, but still said in a cheerful tone: "This is the first time I've participated in a real case since joining the bureau, it's simply too… too…"

Chen Yi's gaze made his blood run cold; he didn't dare speak nonsense again.

Next, Chen Yi breached another server, searching the logs for clues.

"Your speed is really fast. What computer are you using?" Xiao Liang consciously sat beside Chen Yi and asked curiously.

"Move aside." Liu Xinyu pushed him away.

Professor Xiao Liang, wearing a bathrobe, stood up aggrieved and said: "I can help."

Chen Yi didn't make a sound; his copied skills came from Professor Xiao Liang, but memory and thought processes — those things cannot be copied.

So his method was constant cracking; while attempting to trace the final line, he also invaded Little Sister's various chat tools, trying to find their previous contact methods for comparison.

At this moment Xiao Liang pointed at the page: "Their domain name is Arabian."

"Arabs?"

"Several domain names traced to the end all lead to Arabian gateways, but in my experience, nine times out of ten it's Arabs…"

Chen Yi stood up with a "huff" and said: "That's enough. Foreigners on Jianshe Road — we'll be able to get something out of them no matter what."

He tucked the notebook under one arm, grabbed Professor Xiao Liang with the other, and said: "We'll keep investigating on the way; hope it's not some terrorists."

Speaking, he tossed his phone to Liu Xinyu and said: "Call Zhu Guangliang."

The people hadn't arrived, but the Raptor 150 started up first.

None of the three noticed; the little lizard blurted out: "I bet you want to drive fast, so let me warm up the engine first, more comfortable that way, otherwise you'll drive too fast…"

Before the words fell, the accelerator was floored.

The little lizard let out an "Oh yeah" with a long trailing note.

Everyone was pressed back by inertia; Chen Yi still madly spun the steering wheel.

"Notified." Liu Xinyu stuffed the mobile phone back into Chen Yi's pocket.

The latter looked at the car mirror and said, "Your expression looks strange. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"What did you think of?" Chen Yi turned to look at Liu Xinyu.

Xiao Liang's face turned white with fright as he shouted, "Look ahead, there's a car ahead, ah……"

The little lizard turned itself around, using the steering wheel to twist Chen Yi's hand toward the other side.

It can't crash itself to death, after all.

"Awesome." Xiao Liang looked on with an expression of worship. A professor in his twenties, besides being smart, must endure the ivory tower's abuse day and night; once grown up, they're thick below and thin above—let alone participating in street racing, they've never even seen it.

Not looking at the road while turning—could it be some F1 skill as magical as passing a basketball without looking at the person?

The Raptor bravely and fearlessly committed traffic violations.

Chen Yi had long told the little lizard to change the license plate; now on the road, even if surveillance cameras caught them, he wasn't afraid. Aristocratic scions aren't necessarily above the law, but they are certainly protected by the law—usually speaking, with ironclad evidence, things naturally proceed as they should; but without solid evidence, arresting people based on mere speculation can only be used against ordinary commoners.

Ceng Yi fell precisely because Bureau Chief Yan personally led the men, using absolutely strict procedure to nail the case down to the evidence.

China doesn't trust witness testimony; it recognizes physical evidence.

Liu Xinyu remained silent throughout.

Chen Yi had to pay attention to the direction—since the little lizard didn't know the way—and also keep an eye on Professor Xiao Liang's notebook in his hand; he truly had no time to ask.

But as they neared Jianshe Road, he finally found time to urge, "Liu Xinyu, say whatever you've thought of now—this isn't a small matter."

Seeming to feel it wasn't serious enough, he turned his head again and said, "Whether Little Sister or you is more important goes without saying. If you dare hide anything, I won't let you off when we get back."

Xiao Liang, the nearsighted man who came out of the ivory tower, glared with eyes wide and bright. A woman as beautiful as Liu Xinyu, no matter who she followed, should be held in the palm of the hand, afraid to crush her, kept in the mouth, afraid to melt her—yet Chen Yi described her like this, and she didn't resist—truly a national treasure.

He didn't know why he thought of this word, but psychologically he first stood on Liu Xinyu's side.

Unfortunately, the beauty believed Chen Yi could do what he said.

So after a brief hesitation, he said, "I heard that……Song Yuan has some Arabian friends."

"How would he find Little Sister?"

"I can't figure it out either." Liu Xinyu said weakly, "Judging by the timing, it shouldn't be."

Chen Yi silently thought: Could it just be a chance encounter?

Only he knew here that Little Sister's virus was designed through researching sirens, and its value far exceeded Floating Mountain itself.

If Song Yuan's Arabian friends discovered it, or if Song Yuan discovered it, it was also possible for it to exist as an independent event.

"Call Jin Douna." As soon as Chen Yi finished speaking, the Raptor braked hard and turned right.

He, not wearing a car belt, nearly hit the steering wheel; the little lizard hurriedly explained, "Someone forcibly occupied the lane."

Actually, even without him saying so, Chen Yi had seen it too.

On the left, in a red sports car traveling alongside them, Ceng Yi raised his middle finger and shouted, "Kid, you're a bit late. Dare to race? Just bet your car."

He then gave a thumbs-up, flipped it upside down twice toward Chen Yi, then pointed behind and said, "Your disciple is in the trunk; be careful not to send him to his death."

Ceng Yi shouted twice, laughed heartily, and drove off in a cloud of dust.

"Chase him? Race him?" Xiao Liang's hands turned white with nervousness.

Chen Yi stepped on the car accelerator, leaned out to look, and said, "Seven kilometers from Jianshe Road; he's courting death."

He was speaking to the little lizard.

……

(The following five chapters are gone due to river-crab issues.) (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to come to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)