CH 61

At four o’clock in the afternoon, heavy snow was swirling around the city of Nanga.

The sun had set, and the sky was a pale gray.

At this moment, nearly three hours have passed since Xu Xinghe lost contact.

The northern S48 military airport is more than 90 kilometers away from Nanga City.

As soon as the silver-gray hatch opened, Ling Changfeng, wearing a military coat, strode out.

A subordinate immediately greeted him and reported as he walked: “Sir, we urgently called the S48 military airport according to your order, and at the same time ordered a temporary martial law at all major gates in the northern hemisphere. All goods leaving Capital Star must be unpacked and inspected, and a temporary ban will take effect for 24 hours. Here are the documents, please sign for approval.”

Ling Changfeng glanced down and signed as he walked.

Then he turned to look at the captain of the local guard, Major Jonathan, who had been waiting for a long time. “Does anyone have any clues?”

Major Jonathan is a middle-aged officer with no ambition. He was obviously very uneasy about the disappearance of the Marshal’s spouse in his own jurisdiction. Although he tried to straighten his back to answer, his voice still trembled a little: “Report, reporting to the marshal. I’ve urgently dispatched additional staff to the surrounding area. We will investigate at all major gates! In addition, Mr. Xu’s facial recognition and fingerprint information has also been entered into the network-wide monitoring system. Once discovered, we will report it to you immediately!”

Adjutant Qin followed Ling Changfeng, holding his work terminal and bowing his head to reply to various departments. Upon hearing this, he didn’t feel like it was enough.

Sure enough, Ling Changfeng frowned. He snapped, “Answer my question head-on, Major! Am I asking you about your mere solutions?”

Major Jonathan shuddered: “Report, sir! No clues have been found yet. This subordinate has organized a comprehensive search and rescue to find Mr. Xu as soon as possible!”

Qin Yuan took two steps forward calmly to stand beside Ling Changfeng. He said in a low voice, “Sir, a confidential line and temporary conference room have been prepared for you. Let’s go in to talk.”

Ling Changfeng turned his head and gave Jonathan a few words with a cold face, and then followed his adjutant to enter the room.

After entering the room, Marshal Ling tore off the military coat on his shoulders, threw it on the chair, raised his head and said to Qin Yuan, “Report the information we have so far.”

Adjutant Qin stood at attention and said, “The place where Xinghe disappeared is In an escape room on the outskirts of Nanga City. The building was already empty when the guards rushed in, and found a few comatose Ark staff. The one who disappeared with Xinghe is Ark’s new intern, Gu Nai. This person was born in the Gamma galaxy’s Pelpa star, was adopted at the age of fourteen, and went to the Alpha galaxy after that. He did not return to the Gamma galaxy until he took the postgraduate entrance examination to Capital University two years ago. He is currently a graduate student at Capital University. He was recruited as an intern at Ark this summer, and the deputy general manager of the Personnel Department who arranged for him to enter Ark resigned half a month ago and is now missing. The Security Bureau is trying their best to search for his whereabouts.”

Qin Yuan said this in one breath, paused slightly, and then continued: “Judging from the current situation, the possibility of Xu Xinghe being kidnapped by Gu Nai is much higher than the possibility that the two of them were accidentally kidnapped together. And this Gu Nai must have accomplices. For this group of people to kidnap a living person while avoiding all surveillance along the way, indicates that there must be someone behind them, and this person—”

Qin Yuan raised his eyes and said solemnly, “This person is most likely targeting you.”

Ling Changfeng listened, but his expression did not change. From the moment Xu Xinghe could not be reached, his expression had frozen into a piece of ice. He simply said solemnly, “It’s not unusual to target me. As long as I stay in this position for a day, there will always be countless pairs of eyes staring around.”

He got up and commanded: “The main task at present is to find Xinghe as soon as possible, and then think about how to prevent this from happening again in the future. As for the person behind this case, no matter who it is…”

A sharp cold light flashed in Marshal Ling’s eyes as he solemnly vowed: “I will uproot them.”

Since returning to the capital from the frontier battlefield, Qin Yuan has rarely seen such a look on the faces of his boss. He couldn’t help feeling refreshed. “Yes!”

Ling Changfeng took two steps inside the room with his hands behind his back, like a grumpy lion.

He asked: “How is the investigation on vehicles going?”

Qin Yuan replied: “People from the Intelligence Department are now tracking and retrieving the whereabouts of all the vehicles that left Nanga in the past three hours, but so far they have not found anything suspicious. Because Nanga is located in the extreme north, with vast land and sparsely populated areas, the suburbs are not fully covered by surveillance, making it difficult to investigate.”

Ling Changfeng frowned and asked, “Have we received any threats or extortion emails?”

Qin Yuan sighed and said, “No, we haven’t received any threats or extortion emails so far – this is not good news, it shows that the gangsters are not here for money. If this group of people is here for you, they will definitely reach out at the right time.”

Ling Changfeng nodded: “No news at this stage is good news. The more long-term their plan is, the less likely they will hurt him.”

After this sentence the room fell into silence.

Qin Yuan took a deep breath and finally spoke up: “Sir, I have to remind you that your temporary trip this time has not been reported by the Military Commission, and you have only brought about twenty people with you. This is completely inconsistent with the travel safety guidelines of an officer of your level. In addition, you originally had two video conferences this afternoon. I’ve already helped you cancel them, but the meeting with Marshal Ouyang tomorrow afternoon should not be pushed further…”

Before he finished speaking, Ling Changfeng had already turned his head and cast unhappy eyes on his adjutant.

Qin Yuan raised his head and calmly met the gaze of his boss. “It is my duty as adjutant to help you handle military affairs, and it is also my duty to say some harsh words. I can understand your current mood, but please also believe we have and will do our best to organize search and rescue… It is useless to spend your time here, please return to Nebula City as soon as possible.”

After a pause, he said, “With Xinghe.”

Ling Changfeng’s thin lips narrowed, and opened again after a few seconds of silence. “I see.”

Then, when Qin Yuan was about to retire, he said again, “You’ve worked hard.”

——–

Seeing Gu Nai urging those men to get the sleeping pills, Xu Xinghe’s heart sank.

Everything is completely out of his control.

He knew that in the next few hours, he would fall asleep inside the container and lose consciousness.

But he doesn’t know where he will be or what he’ll face when he opens his eyes again.

Will he be on Capital Star, or wake up on a completely unfamiliar planet?

Will he be successfully rescued, or will he fall completely into enemy’s hands?

Faced with a completely unknown fate, the young person in his twenties was inevitably terrified and flustered.

In his panicked state, Ling Changfeng’s face flashed in his mind involuntarily. He was suddenly a little curious, what kind of mood would the man with mismatched pupils, his legal spouse in name, be feeling at this moment?

“If you tied me up to threaten Ling Changfeng, then you really tied the wrong person.” Xu Xinghe said suddenly, expressionless. “My relationship with him is not that good, at most it can be mutual respect. Trust me, with Ling Changfeng’s indifferent temperament, I’m afraid he won’t give you what you want.”

Gu Nai hooked his lips, and a bit of mockery flashed in the black eyes behind the lens. “Such an indifferent person has already ordered martial law across the northern hemisphere. This how is Marshal Ling draws a line between public and personal affairs?”

Xu Xinghe thought for a moment and explained: ”In the end, we’re an arranged match. How can kidnapping me on Capital star be considered a personal affair? Even if my spouse is Mu Qingyun, he won’t let such a blatant kidnapping go unnoticed.”

Gu Nai shook his head after listening, but did not intend to argue with him any more. “Team Leader Xu, I have to say, these are not the words of a smart person. At this time, you should not emphasize Ling Changfeng’s indifference to you. On the contrary, you should reflect on your own value. You know, if a meal ticket has no value, we’d just tear up the meal ticket.”

After a while, he said, “Besides, who told you that we tied you up for…”

Gu Nai didn’t finish a word, and suddenly trailed off. He hurriedly shut up, and said nothing more.

Xu Xinghe’s heart moved.

What’s the meaning? Didn’t they tie him up to threaten Ling Changfeng?

Just as he was about to ask more questions, the door behind the flap was opened.

Following a few thumping footsteps, an indifferent man with scars crossed the barrier and walked in front of Xu Xinghe.

As soon as Xu Xinghe saw him, he stepped back subconsciously.

This scarred man seemed to be filled with a bloody aura, like a desperado in a spy war movie, which made people very uncomfortable.

Gu Nai frowned and asked in a low voice, “Why are you here? Where are the sleeping pills?”

The scarred man tossed a bottle over.

Gu Nai caught it, frowning even tighter: “This is…”

“Mute medicine, give it to him.” The scarred man said solemnly.

As soon as the words fell, Gu Nai and Xu Xinghe were stunned.

Gu Nai’s face was not very good, and he seemed to have an ominous premonition: “What do you mean? Are we not taking him?”

“Yes. The plan has changed, and now that the ports are under full martial law, there is no way to ship him out in a box.” The scarred man said. “Change into Steven’s clothes, put on eyeglasses, and a fingerprint cover, and let him disguise as Steven to leave the airport with us.”

When Gu Nai heard the words, his face changed completely.

The scarred man continued indifferently: “As for you and Steven, you should stay here first, and the master will find a way to send someone to meet you.”

Xu Xinghe’s eyes flashed slightly after hearing this.

Who is the “master” in this scarred man’s mouth?

Also, did he mean to abandon Gu Nai and that unfortunate man named Steven? If they stay at this time, there is a high probability that they will not be able to leave.

Xu Xinghe turned his head to look at Gu Nai. The latter’s face was ashen, but he did not refute and instead gritted his teeth to ask, “Is Steven still alive?”

The scarred man smiled coldly. “Why do you ask so much? You should go accompany him. I asked the master before, and because they cherish you as a talent, they won’t let me do anything to you. As for whether you can escape this disaster by staying here depends on your good luck.”

Then he “kindly” reminded: “Don’t worry, the master will send someone to take good care of your mother.”

Gu Nai was silent for a while, and squeezed out the word “fine”.

Xu Xinghe lowered his head, thinking about it in his heart.

He knew that Gu Nai is now being wanted across the planet, and will not be able to enter or leave the airport freely.

As for the man with scars, as long as he does not have a criminal record in the system, he can leave the country freely from the airport as ordinary tourists.

They can even make things like fake pupil lenses or fingerprint skins at any time, which means their preparations are perfect.

It’s just that it’s too risky to do this.

Do these people think that as long as he takes mute medicine and can’t speak, they can take him to the airport and go through security??

If he calls for help then, aren’t they afraid of being caught on the spot?

Thinking of this, Xu Xinghe’s nervousness gradually calmed down, and he even saw a glimmer of hope.

On the surface, he lowered his head silently, but in his heart he was already thinking about how to call out to the outside world for help.

It must not be too obvious, otherwise, once these few desperadoes are anxious, they may really make a move and kill him.

However, whenever there is a chance…

Just thinking about it, a pair of black leather boots suddenly appeared in front of him.

The next moment, Xu Xinghe felt a pain in his scalp, and was suddenly pulled up by the hair, and slammed into the iron wall.

Xu Xinghe’s hands and feet were tied, so he couldn’t resist. There was a bang, and a sharp pain on his back. Lights danced in his eyes, feeling as though his body was torn apart.

“Nnn…” Xu Xinghe had almost never been treated so savagely before. He couldn’t help letting out a pained cry, but immediately swallowed it back.

But before he could recover, his hair was pulled again, and his head was forcefully raised up.

In front of him is the cruel and indifferent face of the scarred man: “As for you, don’t take any chances. I hope you understand that I will be by your side the whole time, but if I find out you’ve made any small actions at the airport, it will be a big deal. Believe me, my knife will be faster than your rescuers.”

The drama continues…

Want faster releases for SMM? Get faster updates by buying a ko-fi~ Progress towards add’l releases, and to see other ongoing projects, are tracked on my ko-fi page.