Chapter 15

“Mama, I’m scared.”

“Rest assured, I’ll promise to meet all your monetary demands as long as you don’t harm my daughter. I’ll even throw in my company’s shares if you wish.” Money could be earned again, but should anything happen to Ceng Rou’s most prized possession, her daughter, she would lose all will to live.

“Mrs. Cheng, please calm down. We won’t hurt you, and as long as you cooperate with us, we assure you that no harm will come to you or your daughter.” The man in black stared lecherously at Ceng Rou, and his eyes darted back and forth around Ceng Rou’s body.

Ceng Rou’s body figure could only be described as the best among the best, and her originally whopping figure was polished even further by the clothes she wore.

There were people whose choice of attire dictated their appearance; wearing cheap clothing would degrade them into a mere commoner, yet there were those like Ceng Rou that dictated the value of the clothing because they were wearing it.

Xia Tian observed the van swerving to the side, and from it, he finally understood where the kidnappers were heading towards. Should the van proceed straight ahead, they would reach a suburb. If anyone asked Xia Tian how he was so sure of it, he would give a curt reply, saying that this was where his house was.

“Brother Xu, can you lend me your coat and cap?” Xia Tian was aware that the people from Quicksand were constantly tailing him. Furthermore, if he were to head out normally now, he would definitely continue to be tracked by the Quicksand personnel. As such, he decided to carry out the old’ switcheroo.

By doing so, he would be able to throw off the Quicksand.

“Be careful.” Worry was written all over Ye Qingxue’s face.

The car slowly stopped by the roadside, and immediately after Xia Tian had alighted, the car left. Xia Tian then proceeded to hide himself, and it was then that he noticed an average-looking vehicle driven by the Quicksand members tailing the BMW from behind. Had it not been for his X-ray vision, Xia Tian would definitely not have known that the car belonged to Quicksand.

Quicksand’s tailing methods were well-honed; even though Xia Tian was certain that Quicksand was tailing him, he had never noticed them, until now. After shaking off Quicksand, Xia Tian headed towards the bridge and ran down the slope. This was a shortcut to the suburbs.

There was no one who knew this route better than Xia Tian as he had relied almost exclusively on his pair of legs to walk through the shortcut during his younger days.

After driving the van into an abandoned warehouse within the suburbs, the four men in black dragged Ceng Rou out along with her daughter, who was wrapped in her embrace and had been drugged earlier. It was clear that the warehouse had been in disuse for quite some time, as everything within it was covered with a layer of dust.

The giant metal gates creaked open, and a gust of wind that blew past the warehouse emitted a demon-like shriek.

Anyone who had been brought here would feel helpless, and Ceng Rou was no exception.

“What are you planning to do? You can divulge your plans now, right?” Ceng Rou hugged her daughter even tighter, as she feared that the men would take her daughter away. Although she was quivering in her boots right now, she still willed herself to stay strong.

“Nothing much, really. All we ask is for Ms. Ceng to act in a movie with us. This movie would be one of those intimate ones, and I’ll be taking the role of the male lead, whereas you’ll be taking the role of the female lead.” The man in black’s gaze was fixated to Ceng Rou, and his eyes were constantly ogling Ceng Rou’s body.

As for the other three men, they had already whipped out their video cameras. It was at this point that Ceng Rou had finally understood what their intention was.

“I’ll give you guys money! As much as you wish!” Ceng Rou began to backpedal with her daughter still in her arms, whereas the man was inching closer and closer to Ceng Rou whilst maintaining his lustful gaze.

Seeing these men clad in black in front of her, Ceng Rou was now certain that someone was out to get her. Furthermore, she was sure that the certain someone was definitely from the Ceng Household. Without a doubt, the person was planning to threaten her with the video, so that she would give out her share of the company to that particular person.

By doing so, the particular person would be able to avoid plenty of trouble, for if they had killed Ceng Rou instead, the police would definitely be all over her case since she was an esteemed individual. Besides that, if Ceng Rou were to perish, many would have something to say about her company shares, and if the shares were to be evenly split among the family’s members, no one would stand to gain much.

That was before they had even considered the plunge in the household’s stock prices.

“Don’t you dare approach me! Otherwise, I’ll bite my tongue out and commit suicide!” After figuring all this out, Ceng Rou decided to leverage her death to her advantage.

“Mrs. Ceng, I’d advise you from doing so. Think about your daughter. Don’t forget, once you die, your daughter would become an orphan, and there are many sons of b*tches out there. I can’t be certain that no harm would come to your daughter should that happen.” Alas, the man in black was already prepared for Ceng Rou’s threat, which was also one of the reasons that he had chosen to capture both mother and daughter together.

He knew that Ceng Rou’s weakness was her daughter, and as long as her daughter was in danger, he could force Ceng Rou into submission.

‘Save me! Someone, please save me!’ Cries of help echoed ceaselessly within Ceng Rou’s mind. No matter how strong she usually seemed, she was currently at her weakest point in life and all she wished now was for a man to step up and beat down these baddies for her.

However, nothing changed. The man in black had already grabbed hold of her arm, and she dared not resist. Besides that, her daughter in her arms had also received a massive scare.

With a single hand, the man in black tore off the sleeves of Ceng Rou’s clothes. Ceng Rou had already shut her eyes and she had already given up. A single streak of her tears glided down her cheeks and landed on the ground, splintering off into multiple directions before finally settling into the coat of dust.

“Why don’t you guys pick on somebody your own size?” A cheery voice reverberated from the entrance of the warehouse.

“Who goes there?” The three lackeys trained their guns at Xia Tian’s position. Just as everyone had placed their sights at the metal gates, a scrawny-looking figure appeared before the crowd.

“It’s you!” The moment Ceng Rou learned of her savior’s identity, her heart leaped with excitement and dread. She was elated, there was finally someone here to save her, but she dreaded what awaited him. After all, there had only been one person to her rescue, whereas there were four captors here, and each was armed with a gun.

“Name yourself!, Don’t make a move, we’ll shoot otherwise!” The man in black cautiously observed Xia Tian. He did not understand why Xia Tian was here. Even though the suburb was a living area to some people, the particular warehouse they were in was quite a distance away from the residential area. Furthermore, it was currently in the dead of the night, and as such, there was almost no possibility of anyone appearing at such a place.

“I assure you, once you fire off the gun, the police would arrive within half an hour. If that were to happen, you’ll definitely have no means to escape.” Xia Tian smirked. In actuality, however, Xia Tian was actually quite worried. He feared that the thugs would ignore his warning and flee immediately after disposing of him.

“Hmph, I don’t care who you are, but as long as you stay there obediently, I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, prepare to meet your end.” From his tone, it was clear that the man in black wanted no unnecessary trouble. After all, their captive was no ordinary person, and should this event blow up, they would truly have no means of escape.

Xia Tian was now certain that he had made the right call.

“Well, I don’t have a death wish, but seeing as you’ve taken my woman from me, can you blame me for facing you head-on?” Xia Tian’s lips curled up into a mischievous smile.

“Your woman? What nonsense! She’s THE Ceng Rou of the Ceng Corporation, and ever since her husband passed away, she has remained a pure maiden. So, tell me, what kind of nonsense are you trying to pull,” scorned the man in black at Xia Tian.

At that instant, Ceng Rou could feel her heart warming up. Mustering the courage to declare herself as his woman in such a perilous situation was no simple matter, and from this statement, she finally realized how rudely she had treated Xia Tian back then.

Without uttering a single word, Xia Tian dashed straight ahead. Noticing that Xia Tian had made his move, the three lackeys then raised their guns, but it was at this moment that a cloud of dust rained down on their heads. This was courtesy of Xia Tian, as he was already within the warehouse by the time the men in black had arrived. Earlier, he had sneakily packed the lime behind the warehouse into plastic bags and then set them up on the warehouse’s ceiling.

Later on, he sprinkled water onto the lime. Upon making contact with water, the lime produced a chemical reaction, which caused the oxidized metal rods on the ceiling to be completely corroded. With that, massive amounts of lime began to rain down on the people below, which coincidentally, were the three lackeys.

Seizing the opportune moment, Xia Tian activated his Insight and immediately located the weak spots of the three lackeys. With utmost haste, he quickly dispatched of them with a single hit. It all happened way too quickly, and by the time Xia Tian was done, the remaining man in black hastily whipped out his gun.

Xia Tian swiftly moved behind a pillar, whereas Ceng Rou began to flee while carrying her daughter.

The man in black was unable to locate Xia Tian, and as a result, he pointed his gun at Ceng Rou instead. Although matters would become more complicated with Ceng Rou gone, he would become dead meat if he allowed Ceng Rou to escape. As such, he needed to dispose of Ceng Rou post-haste.

Xia Tian understood the man in black’s intention almost immediately, and he frantically bolted towards Ceng Rou’s. However, the bullet had already been fired by then.

Bang!!

A streak of fresh blood flicked through the air. Ceng Rou had been successfully been pushed away by Xia Tian, at the cost of his own body. This familiar scene had caused tears to stream from Ceng Rou’s eyes, and seeing Xia Tian lying on the ground like that filled her with boundless remorse.

Last time, Xia Tian had thrown all caution to the wind just to rescue her own daughter, but in return, she ridiculed Xia Tian’s pride with money. This time, Xia Tian had once again risked his own life to save herself and her daughter, and she was now even more indebted to Xia Tian.

Xia Tian was the one who appeared during her daughter’s time of need; and again, it was also Xia Tian who had appeared just as she was experiencing the bleakest moment in her life.

“Haha, God’s on my side! This is the best possible result!” The man in black trudged towards Ceng Rou with a smug grin. Xia Tian’s impeccable timing had originally caused the man in black to think of him as some kind of messiah.

However, even the greatest of saints were not bullet-proof. Now that he had gotten rid of Xia Tian, the beauty that was Ceng Rou was now his for the taking. This time, he would be able to fully savor this exquisite beauty, and there was no longer anyone who would stand in his way.

The man in black grabbed onto Ceng Rou’s tattered clothes. “Let go of your child and strip down your clothes. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee your daughter’s safety.”

Ceng Rou felt as if the sky had crumbled, and what little hope that she had regained had now vanished. She had once again fallen into the pits of despair.

“Hah, to think someone as careless as you would try to attempt a kidnapping.” A voice that reeked of death rang out from behind the man in black, followed shortly by the man in black collapsing. Even as he fell, however, a look of disbelief still hung on the man in black’s face.