Chapter 2403 — Stirring Up Trouble Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh? You're looking for Jianwen? He's not home. Is something the matter?" An Mingyue asked, betraying nothing.
"Where is he? We need him to cooperate with an investigation," Qiu Lingshan said.
"I see. How about I call him and have him come back?" Seeing that Qiu Lingshan would not be drawn out, An Mingyue hesitated a moment, then dialed An Liwen's number and recounted what had happened here. Of course, he said not a single word beyond that; he trusted that An Liwen would understand the meaning hidden in his words.
An Liwen naturally understood his father's hint. What he could not work out was how Qiu Lingshan had arrived so quickly and come straight to their door. An Liwen was also confident that he had done his work flawlessly and left no evidence behind; Qiu Lingshan could not have found her way here through evidence.
Even so, An Liwen returned to the An family villa at once, and greeted Qiu Lingshan with great warmth: "Officer Song, you were looking for me?"
"An Liwen, I imagine you're not unfamiliar with the recent string of kidnapping cases?" Qiu Lingshan asked bluntly, cutting straight to the point. With a man like An Liwen, ordinary methods were useless.
"Kidnapping cases? I've heard of them, but no one in our An family has been kidnapped, have they?" Sure enough, An Liwen looked at Qiu Lingshan with a baffled, innocent expression.
"An Liwen, I won't waste words. It was Wei Zhao who sent me to find you. Those cultivator-like men the Fire Wolf Gang developed—don't tell me they have nothing to do with you." Qiu Lingshan had no intention of playing cat and mouse with An Liwen. With a man like him, no matter what you said, he would never admit a thing, so she simply chose to question him outright.
"This..." An Liwen had not expected Qiu Lingshan to ask that—and that Wei Zhao had sent her. His expression changed at once! Instinctively he wanted to deny it. But he knew he could not deny it! Everything he had done—the kidney harvesting, the underground fight pits, the bank robberies, and more—Wei Zhao probably knew it all. It was only that Wei Zhao had no evidence, and probably could not be bothered with him for the time being.
But this time, Wei Zhao had personally directed Qiu Lingshan to come to him. Clearly Wei Zhao was displeased about the kidnapping of Wang Xinyan!
An Liwen frowned. He seemed to have offended Wei Zhao rather too many times lately—especially since Gu Pengzhan's car accident, Wei Zhao had found him disagreeable no matter what he did! Thinking of his father's account of Wei Zhao's exploits at the hidden families' summit, An Liwen hesitated, and in the end chose to back down!
His standing in the Fire Wolf Gang was indeed high, but had not the Fire Wolf Gang's Protector also backed down before Wei Zhao? Besides, Wei Zhao's performance at the hidden families' summit could only be described as astonishing—even those Heaven Rank experts had not dared to make a rash move. How could An Liwen possibly contend with Wei Zhao?
So in the end, An Liwen chose to compromise: "Is that so? But Officer Song, you know as well as I do that although I am the Fire Wolf Group's man in charge in East Sea City, some of my subordinates may, for their own private gain, drive our cultivators to do wicked things! I hadn't noticed before. But since you've reminded me, Officer Song, it seems this was an oversight on my part! Rest assured, Officer Song. I will run a thorough check on the people in our group; anyone with the authority to command those cultivators, I will investigate one by one. If it truly was our people who took part in the kidnappings, I will show no mercy—I will personally deliver him to you, Officer Song!"
"I hope so," Qiu Lingshan said with a nod.
It was not the result she had wanted. But comparatively speaking, it already counted as a victory! An Liwen had yielded. The man handed over might be no more than a minor underling, but that was still better than finding no lead at all!