Chapter 86 From the moment she placed her hand into his palm...

The incident occurred nine months after Lin Xi and Lin Fengyuan went missing.

At that time, Fu Qingli had already arrived in the United States and had just founded Qingyuan Technology three months earlier.

He never gave up searching for Linxi.

However, being abroad made it inconvenient for him to do many things, so he asked Ji Jiali, who remained in China, to help him search for Lin Xi's whereabouts throughout the country.

But after nine months, nothing has been gained.

Not even a single clue could be found.

They also discovered that Yue, their neighbor Zhou Leyan and his family, had disappeared at the same time.

But the five living people vanished without a trace, leaving not even a hint of their existence.

The neighbors in the family compound, who were also Lin Fengyuan and Zhou Xinwei's colleagues, did not react unusually.

This is completely illogical.

Months of fruitless investigation left Ji Jiali feeling hopeless, but he dared not mention those unpleasant speculations to Fu Qingli. He could only subtly suggest, "Brother Fu, could it be that they are no longer in the country?"

As intelligent as Fu Qingli was, she didn't understand his hint at first, but it seemed to ignite some kind of hope, and she set about having people prepare to search for Lin Xi and the others all over the world.

Just then, Fu Qingli suddenly received an email from an unknown number: "Are you looking for Lin Xi? I know where she is."

When he saw it, an hour had passed since the email was supposed to be received.

This was the most irrational thing Fu Qingli had ever done in her life.

Without a second's hesitation, without even confirming the sender, he replied directly: 【What do you want?】

The other party took several days to reply, and even used a different email address: 【Fifty million.】

To prevent the other party from disappearing for several days like last time, Fu Qingli kept a close eye on her email, replying immediately upon receiving an email: 【Sure, how can I send it to you?】

However, the other party went offline immediately after sending the email and did not reply.

Despite the fact that this was completely unfounded, Fu Qingli started raising 50 million.

Because of his relationship with Fu Wenxun, he had already returned the assets that the Fu family had given him.

Most of the money earned from investments in previous years was invested in the establishment of the company in Qingyuan, and it was impossible to recoup the investment immediately.

Fifty million was an astronomical figure for him at that time.

But in order to find Lin Xi, he had the idea of ​​selling Qingyuan and began looking for buyers everywhere.

It was Ji Jiali and Zou Song who noticed something was wrong and stopped his crazy behavior.

At that time, they were still students, and although they had some wealth, they didn't have much cash at their disposal.

The three of them scraped together the fifty million.

Putting money aside, they simply couldn't believe this strange stranger.

Fu Qingli traced the IP addresses and found that both emails were sent by Nan Qing, but from different addresses.

Ji Jiali used all his connections: "Brother Fu, the IP addresses shown are from an internet cafe in Qidu, Nanqing, and another in Lipu, Nanqing. I had someone check the registration records of the internet cafes. The names registered in the two cases are different, but the person on the ID card did not appear, and the same person did not appear in the surveillance footage either."

"I always felt that this matter was not so simple, like an elaborate scam."

Fu Qingli leaned against the French windows, looking dejected. Her voice, tinged with the smell of cigarettes, was hoarse and filled with helplessness. "I know, but this is the only news I've received about Xiaoxi in the past nine months. How can you expect me to give up on this only clue?"

Even knowing it's a trap, Fu Qingli would jump in without hesitation as long as there's a sliver of hope of finding it.

Ji Jiali and Zou Song could no longer offer any words of dissuasion.

After anxiously waiting for more than ten days, the person finally sent another message.

This time, he used a different email address: "Bring money to Nanqing, come alone. If you call the police or bring someone else with you, you'll never see her again!"

The other party didn't even give a specific time.

But Fu Qingli didn't want to wait a second longer and returned to China immediately, heading straight to Nanqing.

Ji Jiali and Zou Song were worried about him being alone, so they went with him.

Fu Qingli sent "I've arrived in Nanqing" to those three email addresses every day, but the other party remained silent, and the emails did not show any login activity.

After waiting for half a month, new information finally arrived.

This time, the other party sent an address from an unfamiliar number, and the agreed time was 7 pm that evening.

Because of his previous threats, Fu Qingli disregarded Ji Jiali and Zou Song's advice and insisted that they stay in Nanqing city while she drove to the agreed location herself.

Qidu is a small town under the jurisdiction of Nanqing.

It was a rainy day in late winter or early spring.

As night fell, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky, and the sky became as dark as if a curtain had been drawn, obscuring all the light.

The address sent by the other party was an abandoned small building with peeling and mottled walls and broken glass. It looked gloomy even during the day, let alone at night, when it was pitch black and strange noises could be heard when the wind blew.

Locals usually don't dare to go near it.

Fu Qingli arrived an hour early and surveyed the area, but she couldn't see anyone, or even any trace of movement.

But he still entered that eerily dark little building at seven o'clock sharp and went up to the roof as instructed in the text message.

He waited on the rooftop for a while before he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The sound was heavy, as if someone was dragging their feet.

Soon a figure came into view. It was a very strong middle-aged man wearing a hat, his face completely hidden in the shadows. The flashlight beam alone was not enough to make out his appearance.

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Fu Qingli, and she frowned as she spoke first: "Who are you?"

The man chuckled, the sound echoing in the empty building, making the surroundings seem even more eerie.

"I'm the one who can tell you where Lin Xi is." The man's voice changed, and he said sharply, "The money? Have you brought it?"

Fu Qingli pointed to the car not far away from the window: "As you requested, it's in the car."

Where are the car keys?

"Here." Fu Qingli waved the keys in her hand.

"Throw it to me!"

Fu Qingli stood still, instead clutching the car keys in her hand: "You still haven't told me Lin Xi's whereabouts."

The man lowered his head and chuckled for a while: "Okay, I'll tell you now!"

As he spoke, he slowly walked forward.

When the two were less than two meters apart, the man suddenly lunged forward.

Fu Qingli only felt a flash of cold light before her eyes. Although she was on guard, she was not as prepared as the man.

Immediately afterwards, a pain shot through my chest and abdomen.

The man didn't hold back at all when he stabbed, and the blade went completely into his abdomen.

He tried to pull it out and stab again, but Fu Qingli grabbed his wrist tightly, making him unable to move.

"Go to hell!"

In a fit of rage, the man shoved Fu Qingli violently toward the window, trying to push him off the window.

Fortunately, Fu Qingli was physically strong and quick-witted. He endured the pain in his chest and abdomen, turned around and pinned the man against the window, his upper body dangling in the air: "Tell me, where is Lin Xi?!"

The man struggled with all his might, roaring wildly, "Aren't you important to her? After all, you're the older brother she grew up with. If you die, she'll definitely show up, right? Then you'll find her, won't you?"

Upon hearing this, Fu Qingli, enraged, grabbed his throat: "You madman! Who are you? What do you want?"

As the air thinned, the man unleashed tremendous power, charging forward and slamming his shoulder into Fu Qingli's chest, knocking him to the ground.

He restrained Fu Qingli and made her straddle him, trying to pull the knife out again, but found it stuck in his bones. So, he twisted the knife with all his might.

Fu Qingli felt as if her internal organs were being churned, and she had no strength left in her body to resist the man's frenzied actions.

Amid the pain, Fu Qingli clearly felt the warm blood slowly draining from his body. Gradually, his body began to feel cold, with only the warmth remaining in his palms, much like the warmth of Lin Xi's hands when he was a child, as she tried to put them into his palms.

He thought, he can't die yet.

He hasn't found Lin Xi yet, and he hasn't told her how much he loves her.

He hadn't told her yet, but from the moment she placed her hand in his, his life became inseparable from her.

He tried to stay awake, but finally succumbed to exhaustion and closed his eyes weakly.

In his dream, he found Lin Xi and Lin Fengyuan, and took them to America to start a happy life together again.

But once you wake up from that dream, you realize it's nothing but a mirage.

He still couldn't find Lin Xi, and he never found her.

The immense despair jolted him awake from his profound confusion.

It was the third day after the incident.

Being awake means that you are finally out of danger.

Ji Jiali and Zou Song, who had been waiting outside the intensive care unit for days, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It turns out that on that day, Fu Qingli ostensibly forbade Ji Jiali and Zou Song from following her, and also forbade them from calling the police.

In fact, after he left, he secretly arranged for them to follow him.

They had been keeping watch downstairs. When they saw the lights and shadows flickering upstairs, they realized something was wrong and rushed upstairs to save Fu Qingli, who had fainted from the pain.

She just couldn't catch that man.

The man snatched Fu Qingli's car keys, took the money, and drove off.

After being transferred to a regular ward, Fu Qingli told the police about the incident and the tracking device in the car; he had even tampered with the money in the box.

Based on the clues he provided, the man was quickly apprehended, but he had already squandered all the money at the casino.

The man's name is Liu Zaiming.

The investigating detective told Fu Qingli that Liu Zaiming had a grudge against Lin Fengyuan and Zhou Xinwei and had been looking for them and their families. This time, he wanted to lure Lin Xi out by harming him, so that he could find them.

It wasn't until later that Fu Qingli learned that Liu Zaiming was the murderer in the cases of Lin Fengyuan and Zhou Xinwei.

He risked his life to find a breakthrough in solving the case.

At that time, he knew nothing.

His injuries were severe, and he spent a full month in the hospital.

To avoid trouble, Ji Jiali asked someone to seal away the true details of the case and claimed to the outside world that Fu Qingli had been hospitalized due to a serious illness.

Because of the Ji family's connections, the case is kept under a high level of confidentiality, and ordinary police officers cannot access the case files.

Because of the incident that Lin Xi was provoked by last time, Zhou Leyan recently reinvestigated Liu Zaiming's life and discovered his case of extortion that resulted in serious injury.

Even though Fu Qingli repeatedly emphasized that this case had nothing to do with Lin Xi's matter, Zhou Leyan was still uneasy. He tried to access the files but failed, which only aroused his curiosity even more.

This time, the team cracked a major case, and he was promoted as the team leader, which gave him the authority to view the case file. Unexpectedly, he saw Fu Qingli's name.

“Liu Zaiming is very cunning. If it weren’t for Fu Qingli, our father’s case would never have been solved.” Zhou Leyan’s throat was choked and his nose was a little stuffy. “He was seriously injured at the time. The forensic report showed that if it had been any later, he might not have died.”