CH 27

Chapter 27

When the host announced the end of Boshen Charity Night, Gu Zecheng's eyes swept across a certain empty spot on the stars table in the front row, and he could not help frowning.

He admitted that he was unusually indecisive and passive in dealing with Lin Zixi.

This little star, who was originally two worlds apart from him, broke into his life in a manner that could be said to be a typhoon landing, setting off ripples in the spring water pool and forcibly pushing Big Boss Gu, a man whom appeared to not know much about the world, into a dilemma without any way out.

For Gu Zecheng, Lin Zixi was like a flower that was about to bloom in the abyss, very good but unsuited. He stared down from the edge of the cliff for a long time and finally made up his mind to turn around and walk back to his original avenue across the sky.

Gu Zecheng had already made a decision to terminate the contract between him and Lin Zixi, which was absurd to begin with, and he had even prepared a step-by-step contingency plan for how to deal with the aftermath.

Gu Zecheng planned to cut the Gordian knot at his appointment with Lin Zixi tonight after the charity night ended, but he did not expect that the other party suddenly left and did not return, putting him aside.

Gu Zecheng waited until almost all the stars, guests, and media had left but still didn’t see the young man come back. He called Lin Zixi three times but no one answered.

Did he maybe get entangled by someone or something? While thinking about it, Gu Zecheng got up from his seat and started to walk out of the venue.

Gu Zecheng had a faint and indescribable anxiety and restlessness in his heart. Such feelings made him feel that he was ridiculous.

Lin Zixi was already an adult, and it was fine if he left without saying goodbye. Maybe he ran into someone else tonight and forgot about him…. Thinking of this possibility, Big Boss Gu instantly felt that he seemed to be even more jittery.

At this moment, Jiang Youliang, the president of Fengcheng Entertainment, was trotting in Gu Zecheng’s direction and halted his steps after seeing him, "President Gu, have you seen our President Feng?"

Gu Zecheng had met Jiang Youliang once at the wine table when he was looking for an acting teacher for Lin Zixi, so he naturally knew that Jiang Youliang was asking about Feng Yuan, "Your President Feng? I haven’t seen him. Why? Has he disappeared too?"

"Yes!" Jiang Youliang was anxious and did not notice the word ‘too’ in Gu Zecheng's words. He said in one breath like a machine gun, "President Feng said he’s going out to take a breath an hour before the event ended, but he hasn't come back until now. I just went to the parking lot and saw that his car was still there. I don't know where he went. I called him several times, but he didn't answer..."

Gu Zecheng's expression changed when he heard the time Feng Yuan left the venue. In the end, his face was solemn, "Do you know where the monitoring room of the stadium is?"

"What? I don't know..." Jiang Youliang was a little confused when asked, "President Feng should still be in the stadium. I'll just look for him again. Do you still need to check the monitoring?"

While Gu Zecheng walked quickly to the hall where the map of the stadium was placed, he took out his mobile phone and dialed a phone number, "Officer Wang? I'm really sorry to disturb you by calling so late. A friend of mine may have something wrong at the city stadium... That’s right, it's at the venue of Boshen Charity Night... Please do me a favor by telling the brothers on duty here to help me check the surveillance video at the stadium... Okay, I'm on my way to the monitoring room, thank you..."

When Gu Zecheng arrived at the monitoring room on the second floor, in addition to the stadium’s security guards, there were already two people in police uniforms waiting inside.

After a very brief exchange of greetings, Gu Zecheng asked the security guard to call up the surveillance footage at 10 o'clock and play it at eight times the speed. It did not take long for Lin Zixi's figure to appear on the surveillance screen at the D side door of the main stadium.

On a different screen, Gu Zecheng watched him go to the toilet before leaving together with Feng Yuan, whom had also disappeared without a trace, and going to the VIP lounge that was on the same floor but had no surveillance cameras. He pursed his lips unconsciously and did not relax until he saw Lin Zixi leave the VIP room alone.

Gu Zecheng's attention was always on Lin Zixi, but some of the police officers and security guards present already discovered that a third man had entered the VIP room. That man then held Feng Yuan, who was clearly already unconscious, and carried him out towards the stairwell, which was another camera blind spot.

"Captain Zhang, Captain Zhang, we’ve found a suspected kidnapping case, please come to the monitoring room." The taller police officer stared at the surveillance footage of the stairhead on the first and second floor while using the walkie-talkie to call his superior. When he saw Lin Zixi enter the stairwell on the first floor, he added a sentence, "There may be a case of vicious wounding too."

Gu Zecheng's right hand suddenly clenched into a fist.

Be all right, be all right; Lin Zixi, you must be all right…. He kept praying in his heart.

But in reality, he could only watch this man, whom shone in the bottomless abyss, appear behind the half-opened stairwell door for less than a second before being dragged back.

On the silent monitoring screen, the stairhead where no trace of people could be seen looked calm and peaceful, but Gu Zecheng's heart was beating violently, feeling like the earth was splitting and the sky was collapsing.

Before the other people present could react, he had already started running towards the stairwell with all his strength. But he had to stop because the door that had witnessed Lin Zixi's failure to escape the tragedy was locked from the inside.

"Do you have the key to this door?" The quickest-to-react police officer who followed turned his head and asked the stadium security guard a few meters away.

"In, in the control room. I'll go back..." 

The security guard replied while turning around to run back, but before he could finish his words, Gu Zecheng already kicked the door open.

Behind the opened door, there were a faint smell of blood and Lin Zixi, who was lying on the ground covering his neck with a hand that was already dyed red with blood.

Gu Zecheng's pupils instantly shrank. He staggered and knelt down beside Lin Zixi. He pressed both his hands on Lin Zixi's hand, which had already lost its strength, and kept repeating to this man whose consciousness was already fading, "It's alright, Lin Zixi. Hold on, the ambulance will be here soon, and you'll be fine…. Lin Zixi, don't sleep, hold on…. Hold on, I beg you…. As long as you're alive, everything can be said..."

Lin Zixi, who was on the verge of giving up in the very long wait, struggled to open his eyes during the repeated calls of his name. Seeing his dad's face with a rare terrified expression but still looking handsome, a saying floated into his mind like an angel flying from heaven—my father was a peerless hero, and one day he would come to save me stepping on the seven-colored clouds.

It was great. Lin Zixi thought in his mind.

It was great that my peerless hero had come to save me.