Chapter 2606 — Hypnosis

"Xinyan, what's the matter?" Wei Zhao picked up Wang Xinyan's call. If it wasn't something important, Wang Xinyan would certainly never take the initiative to phone Wei Zhao; she was always a little shy and awkward, unable to let herself go.

"Wei Zhao, this is bad—Jingjing has been abducted!" Wang Xinyan said urgently. "It was a black Lexus SUV, no license plate on the rear, and I couldn't make out the front one clearly..."

"What? Jingjing has been abducted?" Wei Zhao was stunned. He had just been about to find Han Jingyi so she could send the materials to Section Chief Bai, but who would have thought Han Jingyi would be abducted! Why abduction again? Could it be An Liwen's doing once more?

At that thought, Wei Zhao was seized with fury, but he still comforted her: "Xinyan, don't panic yet. Where are you? I'll come find you right now!"

"I'm on the road from the classroom building to the cafeteria, right by the flowerbed along the way!" Wang Xinyan said.

"The flowerbed? All right, I've got it!" Wei Zhao frowned. There were two routes from the classroom building to the cafeteria: one was the proper road, crowded with people, while the one Wang Xinyan and Han Jingyi had taken was a small path. The going there was rough, full of potholes and sunken patches, but it was winter now and hard to do any construction work; it would have to wait until next spring to be repaired. So during the day few people came this way, and only at night did a few couples come here for dates—though it was winter now, and even the couples were scarce.

Still, this stretch of road could only be driven up by an off-road vehicle. It seemed the abductors had come prepared. Though in this, Wei Zhao was mistaken: Little One and Little Eleven had rushed in from out of town and had traveled mostly mountain roads, so an SUV was simply more convenient—it wasn't as though they had chosen it specifically to abduct Han Jingyi!

"Wei Zhao, what's happened?" Section Chief Bai had caught words like "abducted," and as soon as Wei Zhao hung up, he asked hurriedly.

"Han Jingyi has been abducted. I'll go deal with it first, Teacher Bai. Once this is over, I'll get the materials to you," Wei Zhao said quickly.

"All right, the materials can wait. Go save her first—that's what matters. Do you need any help?" Section Chief Bai's expression turned grave as well.

"Not for now. I'll contact you if I need anything!" Wei Zhao said.

"Fine, then keep in touch at all times," Section Chief Bai said with a nod.

Wei Zhao rushed out of Section Chief Bai's office, and as he walked he dialed An Liwen's cell phone!

At that moment, An Liwen was discussing with the branch leader and elders of the Fire Wolf Gang's northern branch how to move against Guan Doctor Pharmaceuticals—and then Wei Zhao's call came in! At the sight of the caller ID on his phone, An Liwen was startled half out of his wits!

Why was it Wei Zhao? Could it be that Wei Zhao already knew of their plans? Impossible—they had only just begun discussing and studying the matter, and hadn't even set anything in motion. How could Wei Zhao know?

So An Liwen hurriedly made a gesture for silence and said, "It's a call from Wei Zhao."

The branch leader and the elders changed color as well. The branch leader said, "Answer it. Ask him what it's about before we say anything."

An Liwen nodded and picked up the call: "Leader Wei Zhao, what's the matter? How is it you're so free as to call me all of a sudden?"

"An Liwen, I don't have time to waste words with you. I'm only asking you one thing—have you started kidnapping people again?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Kidnapping?" An Liwen was taken aback, and at the same time felt relieved. "No, I haven't done any kidnapping for a long time. What I'm doing now is legitimate business—running a casino!"

That An Liwen could call running a casino "legitimate business" left Wei Zhao somewhat speechless—though compared with the things An Liwen had done before, it was at least the most respectable of the lot.

"Are you sure you haven't?" Wei Zhao asked. "A friend of mine was just abducted! Right inside the school!"

"No, Leader Wei Zhao—don't you know me by now? Even if I were going to kidnap someone, I'd never kidnap someone close to you. I haven't lived long enough yet!" An Liwen said with a bitter smile. "You can kill even a Heaven-rank expert in a single blow. A few elders from our Fire Wolf Gang branch together are no match for you. Do you really think I'd offend you over a few ransom payments?"

"Fine, I'll take your word for it." From An Liwen's tone, Wei Zhao judged that this business really had nothing to do with him. He was right—there was no reason for him to offend Wei Zhao over a few ransoms, unless some far greater profit could make him take such a risk.

But if it wasn't An Liwen's doing, then who could it be? Wei Zhao decided to go find Wang Xinyan first and take it from there...

Little One had gotten the information he wanted. What he wanted to do now was have Sun Jingyan lure Wei Zhao out, and then he could simply kill Wei Zhao and go back to report. Sun Jingyan had told him everything she had to tell; Little One did not believe Wei Zhao could reveal anything more. Rather than waste time, he might as well just kill Wei Zhao outright.

Otherwise—Little Eleven had already seized one of Section Chief Bai's students. If he seized another, and Section Chief Bai came looking for them, that would be troublesome! Section Chief Bai knew both him and Little Eleven. If he were to learn what Patriarch Xuanchen had done, he would certainly be furious, and that might well affect the inheritor's grand plan to open Cloud-Tier Island. That would be a real mess!

So Little One decided to kill Wei Zhao outright. By then Section Chief Bai would certainly be thrown into confusion and delayed for a time in dealing with Wei Zhao's affairs, while the matter of interrogating Han Jingyi would also be settled. Then he and Little One would take their spoils and slip silently out of Donghai City. It had to be said—his calculations were quite sound!

"All right, you can go. Your room has been requisitioned by us; we still have some other business to attend to." Little One flicked out another steel ball, and sensation returned to Sun Jingyan's legs; she could move freely again.

"You're just... letting me go?" Sun Jingyan found it strange; she could hardly believe Little One would let her off so easily! But then again, no wonder—she had been under hypnosis the whole time and had no idea what she had said. Now that she had come back to her senses, Little One was letting her go.

"You've said everything there is to say, and I have the map of the cave. Keeping you around—why, to waste food?" Little One gestured at the map of the Wulonghaote Mountains in his hand and spoke mildly. His purpose in saying so was also to make Sun Jingyan believe that he genuinely meant to release her!

Having Sun Jingyan lure Wei Zhao out would be easier than going himself to Donghai Engineering University to wait like a hunter by a tree stump for Wei Zhao to appear.