"...Good morning." Captain Mu muttered with a sigh. He waved to his equally disgruntled team, and they got to work, carrying the tied up bodies of the kidnappers down the truck and depositing them at his feet for his inspection.
"Oh we're here!" One of them woke up with a loud yawn, looking more like a child on a holiday than any hardened criminal. "Hi, do you mind getting us a doctor? We are kind of injured here…"
Captain Mu raised an eyebrow as he looked them over - the one that spoke wasn't that badly off, even if he did look a little pale. His companions with bandages around their heads hadn't even stirred when carried.
If he didn't know any better, he'd think they were the poor victims instead!
But of course he knew better. He raised his head, and met the slow, warning gaze of Li Yue Niang. He purposely kept himself calm, not willing to show the slightest hint of fear.
"Captain Mu. Good on you for helping us." Li Yue Niang said.
"It's my job." Captain Mu replied evenly.
"Speaking of jobs, catch!" Yue Niang threw the phone at him without warning. Captain Mu caught it with his stellar reflexes as his entire team tensed, prepared for a threat that wasn't coming.
"What's this?" Captain Mu asked, looking at the phone in his hand.
"You can start by tracing the contact from this phone so that we can get some progress on the way."
"Fair enough," Captain Mu said, pocketing it. Meanwhile his men bristled at how their leader was spoken to by some woman from the countryside! The nerve of her to disrespect him after he came all this way for her!
"Captain Mu, sorry for my Mom's behaviour." Xue Ning said in embarrassment, watching as her mom stalked off to the plane without any need for an escort, as though this was her own plane. "She's usually not this rude."
"Really? I couldn't tell." Captain Mu replied blandly. Xue Ning winced.
"And here are two other phones from the rest of the kidnappers." She continued, handing them over.
? "The ones on the plane?"
"No. These are from the dead ones." Xue Ning clarified. "There were three of them. My dad took care of them."
"...I see." Captain Mu said, his eyes darting to Li Tai Cheng who was trying to insist on carrying his own suitcase while the staff refused to let it go. He didn't look like a man capable of such a feat, but stranger things have happened. "We'll investigate it further. How are the rest of the men?"
Captain Mu asked, raising his voice at the end to ensure that his team heard his question.
"Sir, the two of them are shivering." His men reported. "There's another one with a broken nose - he's one of ours, Sir."
Captain Mu reminded himself to cut off Wei Yan's access. He was now fired! As for the rest…
"Very well, let the paramedics take a look at them first before they get on the plane. The rest of you, please quickly make your way to the plane. There will be breakfast provided. We'll be departing shortly."
"There's breakfast? Thank you very much!" Xin Yu said enthusiastically. She looked quite well-rested for someone who just went for an impromptu road trip.
However, her husband was another story altogether! Li Tai Xuan was nearly dead on his feet, yawning continuously behind his hand. He had not slept the whole night after all, since he was driving the whole way.
"I don't care about food now," Tai Xuan grumbled. "Let me on the plane. I want to sleep."
With that, the entire party made their way to the plane. Xin Yu cheerfully dragged the body of her lethargic husband up the steps of the private plane, her excitement giving her increased energy. This was a once in a lifetime experience!
Meanwhile, the staff trailed behind them, easily carrying their multiple luggages. Xin Yu dumped Tai Xuan on the first empty seat she could see, and her poor husband was so tired that he passed out immediately!
Meanwhile, she marvelled at the luxurious plane interior. The leather seats were so soft! There was so much leg room! Even the tables were marbled!
"Mom, Dad, isn't this amazing?" Xin Yu commented wonderingly, her hand stroking the smooth leather hand rest.
"It's alright," Yue Niang said, casting a wary look around, looking for hidden cameras. Xin Yu stared at her in confusion - how was her mother-in-law so nonchalant about this? None of them had ever experienced such luxury!
"It was very generous of Sun Jingwei to provide us a ride to Shanghai on such short notice," Tai Cheng said more diplomatically, to distract her. "Thank you once again, Jingwei."
"No problem!" Jingwei said as he guided Xue Ning to her seat. "Do let the staff know if you need anything! I want a nice glass of wine."
=====
As the passengers (injured or otherwise) happily dug into their meal, a more sombre conversation was happening at the helm of the plane.
"Captain Mu, we couldn't find anything on Miss Li's parents." A team member whispered to his captain. "Maybe if we had more time…"
"When you say you can't find anything, do you mean nothing useful?" Captain Mu demanded.
"Yes Captain. We have birth records, school records, and work information, but when we take a closer look, we realise that all the information provided are places that don't exist." The member said, shaking his head. "The addresses don't match anything given. It's like someone just -"
"Just made up many details to fake their identity." Captain Mu finished glumly. That complicated matters. He took a deep breath and wished that he could down a glass of wine. But alas, he was on duty.
"Yes Sir. Exactly," The other man nodded. "Do you wish to continue digging?"
"Of course. But the main priority is still tracking the phone signal." Captain Mu said. "We need to see if it's related to him, or another random opportunistic bastard that wanted a ransom, or had a grudge to bear. The planned burning of the restaurant is highly irregular."
"Yes Sir." The man nodded, preparing to leave, but Captain Mu stopped him with one last request.
"Get Ming Guang to come here, I need to question him."
"Yes Sir."