Chenxi

Lin Yu drove back to the villa while keeping to the speed limit, but unexpectedly found Kevin looking haggard at the villa entrance.

Without Chenxi by his side, Kevin was stopped by the gatekeeper and could only sit on the stone at the entrance, waiting anxiously. His eyes were red and filled with worry.

"Kevin, what are you doing here? Where's Chenxi?" Lin Yu parked the car in front of Kevin and rolled down the window.

Upon seeing Lin Yu, Kevin felt like he had found a savior. He immediately stood up and leaned towards the car window: "Chen Xi is in trouble! I..."

Kevin choked up halfway through his speech. The moment he saw Lin Yu, the immense pressure he felt suddenly found an outlet, and he could no longer suppress his panicked emotions.

Lin Yu frowned and said in a low voice, "Get in the car first, we'll talk inside."

Upon entering the villa, Lin Yu first poured Kevin a glass of water to calm him down.

"Don't rush, tell me slowly, there's always a way."

Kevin took a sip of water, took a deep breath, and finally calmed down a bit. He looked around the empty villa and asked, "Where's my older brother?"

“He has something to do, just tell me the same thing.” Lin Yu sat down next to Kevin, his tone and actions exuding unparalleled calmness. This brought Kevin great comfort.

When people are in a panic, what they need most is a calming force.

And Lin Yu is like that at this moment.

Kevin nodded at Lin Yu, took two deep breaths to calm himself down, and tried to make his statement as clear as possible: "Chenxi said she wanted to see what my hometown looks like, so we arranged to travel to the central region these few days."

"Mm." Lin Yu nodded. He knew about this; Chen Chao had mentioned it to him.

“You know, my hometown isn’t as developed as Gailalle. There are many remote places with hardly anyone around. This morning, we drove to a mountain area for fun, and Chenxi chose a relatively secluded spot to take pictures. Halfway through, we somehow got knocked unconscious. When we woke up, we were tied up and locked in a warehouse.”

Kevin paused to catch his breath, seemingly still shaken.

"Later, the kidnappers released me and told me to inform my brother. They forbade me from calling the police, saying they would kill Chenxi if I did. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't have your contact information, so I could only buy the earliest available plane ticket back."

Lin Yu thought that the police really couldn't handle this. Since the Chen family had already been involved, it didn't matter whether or not the police were notified.

"Where are Chenxi's bodyguards?" Lin Yu asked.

Although Chenxi did not hold an official position, his status was special, and he usually had at least two bodyguards with him when he went out.

"I don't know. Chenxi's bodyguards are usually very conscientious; I'm almost unaware of their presence. I don't know why they didn't come out this time."

"Did you get a good look at the person who arrested you?"

“A young man, but it was too dark for me to see clearly.”

"Did he send you to find Chen Chao, or did he ask you to deliver a message or bring something?"

“Yes.” Kevin then remembered and hurriedly pulled a card from the inside pocket of his clothes. “He said I could just give this to my older brother.”

Lin Yu saw a number on the card, and the signature was a character named Feng.

Song Zifeng? But how did he manage to bypass Tean's spies and return to Nutag? And he even captured Chen Xi, this is simply unbelievable!

"Did you see Chenxi when you woke up? Did you communicate with the kidnappers?" Lin Yu asked as he scanned the card on a machine in the living room, and sure enough, the tracking chip was found.

He didn't rush to disable the tracking chip; instead, he took a piece of tin foil and covered the chip's location to block the signal. Then he walked back to Kevin and quickly searched him before Kevin could react.

"That card had a GPS tracking feature. I need to make sure the kidnappers didn't put anything on you without your knowledge," Lin Yu explained, seeing Kevin's panicked and confused expression.

"What?!" Kevin was clearly startled by the word "location" and quickly asked, "Should I not have come here directly? But I really don't know how to contact my brother."

“It’s alright. Location signals in this area are always slightly off. And if it’s the person I’m thinking of, he already knew this place. He probably just wanted to know when you could find Chen Chao. I just checked, there are no listening devices. You can speak without worry.”

"That's good." Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, composed himself, and began to recall Lin Yu's question. "I saw Chen Xi. She's different from me. She was tied to a chair. I vaguely heard her shout to the other person, 'Don't try to use her to threaten me!'"

"Steve, what is Chenxi's true identity? What does her older brother do? Can you tell me why she's in such danger?" Kevin suddenly became agitated halfway through his sentence.

“I’m sorry, I’m not in a position to tell you.” Lin Yu knew this was somewhat cruel to Kevin, but without Chen Chao’s permission, he dared not reveal any more information. “But believe me, only Chen Chao can solve this. You can only rely on him. I’ll go upstairs and contact him now. You rest here for a bit. There’s water and food in the refrigerator; you can help yourself.”

Kevin looked at Lin Yu and hesitated for a moment before finally nodding with difficulty.

Saving Chenxi is the most important thing right now; he can ask about other things later.

Lin Yu didn't use private communications to contact Chen Chao, but instead used the high-priority mission line between them. The call connected quickly, and Chen Chao's voice was serious: "What is it?"

"Boss, Kevin is at the villa. He said Chenxi has been kidnapped."

After a moment of silence on the other end of the line, Chen Chao sighed and said, "I knew something was wrong when Chen Xi's location signal disappeared this morning and the bodyguards couldn't reach her. Come to Te An, and we can talk in detail when we meet."

“Okay, what about Kevin? He’s very worried. He wants to know Chenxi’s true identity and why they got involved in this.”

“You can’t tell him yet. Have him stay on the first floor of the villa, leave him a communicator, and tell him you’ll be notified if there’s any news.”

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Lin Yu hung up the call and went downstairs, intending to settle Kevin in before heading out.

"How is it?" Kevin rushed to greet Lin Yu as soon as he saw him appear at the bottom of the stairs.

"Chen Chao realized beforehand that Chen Xi's location had disappeared and something was wrong. I'm on my way there to find out what happened. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"I want to go too!"

Lin Yu pressed Kevin's hand down and patiently explained, "You can't go where I'm going. I'll leave you a communicator. Just stay here and wait. I'll let you know if there's any news, or you can go home if you want."

"No, I have to go! It's one thing for you guys to be so secretive, but Chenxi is in this state, I can't just wait for news!" Kevin insisted, refusing to compromise.

"What good would it do you go? Could you provide information or rescue people? Chenxi is Chenchao's sister, he will do his best, you don't need to keep an eye on her."

“I know.” Kevin stood there, head bowed, every muscle tense. “I know you will do your best, but I’m just worried. You hold high positions of power, and the matters you’re involved in are bound to be significant. I’m afraid. I don’t understand high society, but I do know that the kinship within large families is different from that of ordinary people like us. What if you use Chenxi as a pawn for greater gains? After all, I heard Chenxi say with my own ears, don’t even think about using her to threaten me.”

Kevin's eyes grew redder and redder as he spoke, and by the end, he was actually crying. His whole body was trembling slightly, a mixture of fear and suppressed emotion.

He was an ordinary person; he had never experienced anything like this before. Kidnapped, threatened, and helplessly watching his loved one in danger.

The immense anxiety and helplessness in his heart almost crushed him.

He needs more information.

He needs someone to help him.

Lin Yu looked at him and couldn't help but sigh softly: "I understand your anxiety, so I left you a communicator. You can let me know if you remember any helpful details. At the same time, I will also let you know if there is any progress on my end that I can let you know."

Kevin, it's already quite remarkable that you, as an ordinary person, haven't broken down and can still communicate with me rationally. Leave the rest to us.

Since you want to live a normal life with Chenxi, then don't get involved in what happens later. This is also a way to protect yourself.

“But…” Kevin wanted to say something, but Lin Yu’s train of thought made it hard for him to keep up.

"To put it another way, if Chen Chao decides to abandon Chen Xi, do you think you can change his mind by going with him? Do you think you have that power? If not, going with him will only cause trouble."

Lin Yu's words were too harsh; Kevin felt as if he had been whipped and took a step back. He recalled Chen Chao's appearance when he ate here that day, and knew that there was no way he could change the decision made by such a man.

"Do you think this situation could happen? Abandoning Chenxi." Kevin slumped back two steps, as if he could no longer support his body, and sat down on the sofa, supporting his forehead with his hand.

"Believe me, Chen Chao loves Chen Xi very much. As long as there's even the slightest chance of things turning around, the worst-case scenario won't happen." Lin Yu squatted down in front of Kevin, looking into his eyes, her words incredibly firm. "It's safe here, you can stay here. There's a security gate on the second floor, don't go up there, triggering the alarm will cause a lot of trouble. There's a guest bathroom and a kitchen on the first floor, enough for you to rest."

But if you want to go back to your own place, that's fine too. I'll talk to the security guard at the gate and make sure you can come and go as you please.

Keep the communicator I gave you with you at all times and stay in touch.

Kevin looked at Lin Yu, making his final struggle.

After a moment, perhaps it was the unwavering look in Lin Yu's eyes that gave him confidence, he grabbed Lin Yu's hand as if it were the last straw, and desperately pleaded: "Please, you must save her. If anything happens to her, I really don't know what to do."

"Don't worry." Lin Yu patted Kevin's hand, got up and left the villa.

In the top-floor office of Te'an, Lin Yu had just opened the door when he saw Chen Chao standing by the window with a heavy expression.

“Boss, it might be Song Zifeng. He had Kevin bring this card. I checked, and it has a tracking chip inside.”

Lin Yu stood next to Chen Chao and began to report the situation directly.

Chen Chao took the card, glanced at it, and nodded.

“He used the West African passport that Karim had given him and had plastic surgery, so he was able to enter the country smoothly.”

"Does Raman only take the benefits and do nothing? How could someone escape like that!" Lin Yu said angrily.

"After that incident, Raman had a mountain of things to deal with, and we didn't press him for a result, so he naturally didn't care much. It's also my fault. I thought Song Zifeng couldn't cause any more trouble, so I didn't want to go all out, but I didn't expect to leave a potential problem."

"Boss, what are you going to do?"

Chen Chao looked out the window with a touch of sadness in his eyes and sighed softly: "Whether she bears family responsibilities or not, Chen Xi will always bear the surname Chen. She is aware of that."