Chapter 161 - Interrogate

Finally reaching where Xu Duan has called her, Shi Lian hurriedly steps out of the car wearing a mask for a careful reason. 

Her phone keeps on buzzing but she can't switch it off as well. Zichen has called her more than six times but Shi Lian is unable to take his call. With her heavy breathing and anxious tone, he will definitely know she is up to something. So to prevent him from knowing anything, she decides to pick his call. She can make an excuse later. 

Checking to her left and right as she walks with fast steps, she finds the house Xu Duan has talked about. The area is kind of remote. Not many live here and there aren't many houses built. 

She calls Xu Duan to know where he exactly is. 

"Inside the house. Come up" he says, his voice robotic. "I have caught him. Better hurry."

"I am now outside the house. I'll be there in two minutes." 

Ending the call, she makes her way inside the shabby-looking house. Reaching the front porch, she notices cracks on the wall and the door handle is all rusty. She grimaces pushing the door with her index finger, not wanting to touch it at all. 

The door makes a creaking sound. Entering in, she scandal around the room which is messy. She sees pieces of glasses shattered on the floor, flower vase broken and left as it is. It looks as if there was a fight which she then realizes Xu Duan must have to fight to catch him. 

She passes past the torn green-colored couch and up to the stairs. Her heels make a sound as she takes steps one after another. She calls Xu Duan's name, trying to figure where he is. 

Upon hearing her Xu Duan yells back. "Take right. The first room!"

She makes a face. Why does he have to go inside a room? He could have captured the man and make him sit downstairs. Well, he may be having some plan because Xu Duan does not do anything without thinking twice. 

She goes as he told following his voice. Reaching the room, she gulps softly, and as she takes a step in, she sees the man sitting on a chair, his hands tied behind his back and his face covered with a black cloth. 

She walks forward, her eyes on the man. She sees the man's muscle-flexing and then her eyes go to Xu Duan, who stands by the window, looking outside. He is smoking, exhaling the smoke out as he looks at something outside the room. 

Hearing her footsteps, he turns his head to look at her. "Finally here. Good."

"For how long is he like this?" she asks, her eyes moving to the man again. 

He throws the cigarette outside the window and opens his mouth to speak but the man starts barking. "Who? Who are you? "

"Shut your mouth or else the knife will be right inside your throat" Xu Duan threatens, bringing a knife from his long jacket pocket and putting it near his neck, gently poking. 

Shi Lian sees the man gulping and he stops saying anything. Xu Duan then brings his attention back to Shi Lian. 

"After I gave you a call, fifteen minutes later he came out of his house. He saw me approaching and he ran inside the house again" he glances at the man who seems to listen intently to whatever he is saying. "You must have seen the mess down, we fought, and at last feeding him some punches and kicks, I had a hold on him. I brought him inside the room because I wasn't going to take any risk" he continues. 

"Did he spoke anything?" she questions. Duan shakes his head, shoving his hands inside his pants pockets. 

"You can interrogate him" he insists, his eyes serious. Shi Lian has never done these kinds of things ever before in her life. Even seeing the scenario in front of her gives her goosebumps. 

Duan takes a step further and with one go, he lifts the black cloth like a veil and reveals his face. 

The man winches and shakes his head as the cloth gets lift. He opens him, his face twisted in anger, and looks in front finding Shi Lian. 

Upon seeing her, the man's eyes widen and his expression looks as if he has seen a ghost. "Y-you.... " he blurts, his face pale and she can see the sweat dripping down from his temple, making his way down his neck and inside his shirt. 

"So you know me then" Shi Lian asserts, taking a step further. Since he was the one who did the kidnapping, it's obvious he knows her. 

He gulps again, escaping her hard stare. Anger starts to grow inside her as she remembers how scared and helpless she felt when she was kidnapped. "Why? Why are you not saying anything?" she grits her teeth. 

He looks up again, his eyes narrowed. "How did you know about me?"

Shi Lian wants to laugh. He doesn't even feel a tiny bit of guilt for what he did. "I have my ways" she snarls. 

"Why did you capture me anyway?" he asks. The stupidity he has. When she knows he was involved in her kidnapping, how can she not capture him? 

"You kidnapped me! You tried to kill me!" she accuses him, her voice thundering. 

"It wasn't me!" he denies fiercely.

Xu Duan again outs the sharp edge of his knife on his neck and warns him. "Don't you dare raise your voice?"

The man glares at him but cannot say anything as well. 

"Then who was it?" she demands, her fingers curled into a fist. "Tell me who was it then if it wasn't you planned my kidnapping?"

The man does not open his mouth. His silence is making her more furious. Just as she was expecting, he won't blurt anything that easily since he has been fed well by her uncle. 

"Xu Duan" she calls him, "pass me the knife." Without asking, he walks up to her and passes her the knife. She grips the knife tightly in her hand and then takes some steps towards him. She stops in front of him and bending a little, she brings the knife to his finger and presses the edge of the knife. 

"Say it or prepare to lose your fingers" she threatens, not even flinching. She is brave enough and she knows she cannot act like a coward in the middle of such a situation. 

"You are threatening me?" he scoffs, looking down on her. She presses it more and he can feel the pressure since he yelps out to his surprise. 

"Last chance," she says. The man gets pressurized but still, he isn't saying anything. 

Shi Lian is getting impatient. "Keeping your mouth shut won't prove your loyalty. "

She presses it more but to her surprise, she notices the blood flowing out snd she instantly rises, getting scared. She only wanted to scare him. Hurting him wasn't in her plan. 

But she cannot let the man see through her. She regains herself and clearing her throat, she asks him again. "Still won't say?"

He hesitates and she thought, he will not but he did. "Mo Zheng Yi," he says, his voice low but she hears him crystal clear. 

It still hurts to know that her uncle tries to kill her. "How much did he pay you for that?" she implores, bringing the knife to the same spot again. 

She sees his jaw flexing and he struggles to break free but the ropes are tightly held around his wrist. 

"You know about everything, don't you? Shi Lian?" the man smirks and the blood can be seen on his lower lip. Must be during when they were fighting. 

"You aren't allowed to ask questions!" she bellows, cutting his pinky finger. Blood drips down like uncached water and the yelps in pain. 

"You bitch! Fucking up—" before he can complete, Shi Lian slaps him right on across his face. The sound comes to be loud and the man's head is bent to his left. 

"Answer me" she demands, cupping his chin and turning to face her forcefully. 

He shakes from anger but Shi Lian does not care how much angry he is. "More than 30 million" he answers, baring his teeth at her. 

She let's go of his face and rise. No wonder, the resources kept on decreasing. He spent a lot of money on this stupid bastard and for what? To kill her and also to keep his mouth shut? How disgusting can he be? 

Right at the moment, she hears an unfamiliar ringtone. It isn't hers and it is also not Duan's when he glances at him. "Whose?" she asks. 

Xu Duan moves around the phone, checking from where the sound is coming. Shi Lian guesses, "It's yours, isn't it?" she asks the man. He does not utter anything. 

Duan checks the man's bag and after rummaging inside, he finally pulls out a phone. The screen glows along with the ringtone. He brings the phone to Shi Lian. She narrows her eyes, reading out the name of the recipient. 

It's her uncle.