Chapter 453 - My Kind of Welcome

Qing Chen decided to keep the matters in the family. The information need not to be passed down to the last member of Enigma. Nobody had to know that someone was already on the move on the Qings.

It didn't even take Qing Lok an hour before they were able to access all of the contents of Chi Mi's cellphone. It was mostly empty save for the downloaded doc.u.ments about her invention. It was a new model and it could not have been avoided.

On her call list, they tracked every single number until they were able to determine all of them. Except one. 

"That's a burner phone," Qing Lok said, pointing the tip of a pen on his screen. There it showed an unusual number. "It's untraceable unless you're connected on a call." They tried calling it but it was no longer connected. "It's been disposed already."

It was in the middle of the night. After the whole presentation of The King's Artificer, they all took a break and had a deep breath before getting started again with their lives. 

Feng Xuan and Qing Chen stayed home, away from all the work calls, binge-watched sappy dramas on a streaming platform and stuffed their faces with take-out food. Qing Lok had accompanied Liu Meilien to a shoot for a car commercial. Addison had been enjoying some time with herself, going through grocery lists and shopping lists, and swiping credit cards at furniture stores (Wuming's stolen house was not that well furnished).

Now, they all retreated back to the Qing's Mansion. Their parents offered their appearance and presence but Qing Chen only waved them away and told them that he would handle everything. They both went back to their room.

Also, in the two-day break that they took, Chi Mi had been wiped off the grid.

"It's just La Hiena, of course," said Qing Lok. "He's trying to find a way in here."

They already heard word from the smaller mafias—or as they liked to call it, gangs. These gangs were trying to get on the good side of Enigma, reporting every message and contact that La Hiena sent them, trying to earn some goodie points and announcing their alliance with the Qings again.

Qing Chen smiled a little. 

"What should we do?" Qing Lok asked.

"Just leave him be for a while. Let's see who will bend first. Now we know who'll stick with us or bite us in the ass." Qing Lok leaned against on the table, studying the screen. "Is there really not a way for us to know who had been calling Chi Mi?"

"I can try," said Qing Lok, "but it's not going to be promising. Even on a call near a tower, burner phones are hard to track."

Feng Xuan slid her hand on Qing Chen's shoulder. "If they are that persistent, I'm sure that we will be able to find whoever it was. They'll show up again soon enough."

Qing Chen's eyebrow twitched. As much as he would like to know whoever it was that went as far as contacting an inventor to do their dirty deed, there was no choice at the moment. "You're all going to visit Chi Mi's team members once the news about her skipping town is made knowns. They are probably the only ones who know about it."

He knew it. There was something suspicious about her. It made his skin crawl. To think that she was associated with someone powerful enough that they dared touch their family…

Before Qing Chen could finish his line of thought, a red light started blinking on and off the ceiling.

It was a silent way to let them know that one of their alarms had been tripped.

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Everyone almost moved at a lightning speed. Guns and knives and different kinds of weapons littered and were hidden on crevices of the house. A moment later, all of them had a weapon on their palms.

Qing Chen flicked a switch disguised as one of the light's and the red light stopped blinking. With hand signals, he divided the teams. He directed Qing Lok and Liu Meilien up the stairs to the parents. He directed Addison to the east. Feng Xuan on the west. Then he was going to take the back.

None of their servants had tripped a trap in years! Besides, the traps were put in inconspicuous spaces—spaces that only intruders would dare try to get into.

Qing Chen's eyes scanned the from corner to corner, walking silently on the carpet. Nothing missed his eyes on the windows. The small pistol comfortable in his hand. He was so quiet that he could hear the beat of his heart. He opened the door and saw where the insistent flashing light was begging to be turned off. It was placed behind a plant on the ground.

It had been buried to the soft earth from when it had been stepped on. Qing Chen quickly pressed a button and whipped so fast when he caught something from the corner of his eye. 

There it was!

Someone in black, hulking and huge, was trying to pry open one of their windows. 

Qing Chen was bolting a second later. By the time that the person noticed that he was coming, it had been too late. Qing Chen barreled to him, the wooden frame of the window snapping, and the pieces of glass showered them like small diamonds.

Qing Chen got the gun on the face of the intruder, until the man started laughing.

Qing Chen was heaving and he punched the space right beside his brother's face. "What the f—, Wuming?!"

His knuckles hurt but not to the point that he would need ice. He got off his brother and stood up. With the sound of something breaking, everyone had been summoned. They were near the kitchen. Rushed footsteps.

Wuming was still on the floor when they entered. He lifted his head. "Oh wow, my kind of welcome."