wait
"Boss!" Lin Yu's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing the implication in Chen Chao's words. "Boss, Chen Xi is different from Chen Jiu! We need to save her! This is in China, I don't believe Song Zifeng can pull any tricks."
Chen Chao looked at Lin Yu and calmly shook his head. He reached out and put down the office projector, displaying a picture of a building.
"Precisely because it's in China, it's not difficult for me to find Song Zifeng and Guan Chenxi. It's been a total of 6 hours since the location signal disappeared, and I've already investigated almost everything that needed to be investigated."
Lin Yu observed the architectural floor plan displayed by Chen Chao. The reinforced concrete structure had no windows, a single entrance, and was extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack; it would be difficult even to ascertain the interior.
However, the building was located in the wilderness with a simple surrounding environment, and the people inside had almost no way to escape when they were surrounded.
“This used to be a warehouse for storing light-blocking materials in a local private workshop. It has been abandoned for many years. I don’t know how Song Zifeng found it.” Chen Chao’s voice carried a hint of calm helplessness. “I think you can see that this place is not easy to rescue, but it is also not easy to retreat from.”
Do you think Song Zifeng knew he couldn't possibly escape from my territory when he kidnapped Chen Xi after returning to China?
"Boss, you mean..."
Chen Chao nodded: "He took a desperate gamble just to vent his anger. He didn't expect to survive this time, so he didn't leave himself a way out. He kidnapped Chen Xi, but his real target is definitely me."
Lin Yu lowered his eyes; he understood what Chen Chao meant.
Saving lives is always more difficult than killing, especially when your opponent has no interests to gain and doesn't even care about their own life.
Song Zifeng could have countless ways to perish together with Chenxi before they could rescue him.
Song Zifeng has nothing now, so he is fearless and has no weaknesses.
These kinds of people are the most difficult to deal with.
Chen Chao closed his eyes in pain, and his voice trembled slightly as he spoke: "If I were just an ordinary older brother, I would definitely give myself to her without hesitation, but I can't."
He is the deputy minister of Te'an and the heir of the Chen family; his safety is of paramount importance.
To ensure his own safety and avoid causing trouble for security personnel, he had almost completely sacrificed his freedom. He couldn't gamble with his own life for personal reasons.
His position prevented him from fulfilling his responsibilities as an elder brother.
"Boss, at least listen to his demands first, right? There's always a way. We can't give up so soon." Lin Yu was no longer as agitated as before, and his tone was filled with deep helplessness.
“Of course I won’t give up, I’m just trying to convince myself to accept the worst possible outcome.” Chen Chao’s voice regained its composure. “Right now, I can’t contact Song Zifeng. The more anxious I appear, the less likely I am to win. I need to make him anxious first.”
Lin Yu looked at Chen Chao, and his heart clenched painfully.
He recalled that in the previous mission, Chen Chao had to pretend not to care about Song Zifeng's life or death on the phone, telling Song Zifeng to kill him if he dared.
He knew that Chen Chao, who said those words, must be in even more pain than he was being whipped.
No one knew Chen Chao's kindness and gentleness better than him.
What's more, the one who was kidnapped this time was Chenxi, the family's ray of sunshine, the Chenxi who was cherished by her family since childhood.
How could Chen Chao not feel pain if he pretended not to care about such a younger sister?
"Boss, does the old minister know about this?" Lin Yu desperately sought his last hope.
He didn't want Chen Chao to be in so much pain.
“Dad knows, and he agrees with my judgment.”
Snap! The last hope vanished.
"Should we contact Chen Jiu?" Lin Yu realized he was starting to speak recklessly.
Chen Chao shook his head: "Chen Jiu has a drug enforcement mission in the southwest. Chen Xi's matter is not enough to disturb him while he is on a mission."
After Chen Chao finished speaking, he saw Lin Yu's expression and reached out to touch Lin Yu's cheek reassuringly: "I'm fine, you don't need to make that face. I haven't given up yet either."
Could you take this card to the technical department for analysis and review all the intelligence again? Use your professional perspective to see if there's a breakthrough.
I'll call you again when I need you.
"Yes, boss." Lin Yu replied with difficulty, then turned and left.
At the office door, Lin Yu met Trott's concerned gaze and shook his head helplessly.
At that moment, Lin Yu and Trot both saw the sadness in each other's eyes.
They were both grieving for their boss.
Chen Chao's office is on the 28th floor, while on the 27th floor there is a row of temporary offices specifically for Z-class agents. Because Z-class agents are mostly on field missions and don't spend much time at headquarters, these offices aren't permanent. Basically, whoever needs to use one just hangs up a nameplate.
Lin Yu booked one of the rooms and went straight into the system to check all the information he could find so far.
The more he looked, the more desperate he felt.
Song Zifeng entered the country a month ago using a West African passport, and began tracking Chen Xi after entering. Because Song Zifeng himself came from this social class and was previously acquainted with Chen Xi, he easily figured out the whereabouts of the unsuspecting Kevin and Chen Xi.
Because Chenxi doesn't hold an official position, his bodyguards, although trained within the system, are mostly recent graduates, far inferior to the elites who truly protect VIPs. Furthermore, they are frequently replaced. After all, no one would willingly allow formally trained personnel to protect a young girl every day without any upward mobility.
This resulted in her security being absolutely insufficient when someone seriously wanted to target Chenxi.
But balancing security and ordinary life is an unsolvable problem. To have security, one must, like Chen Chao, give up almost all freedom. But to live an ordinary life, security is merely a mirage.
After all, security vulnerabilities are everywhere in the lives of ordinary people.
It's probably only people like Chen Jiu and Lin Yu who can ensure their safety in ordinary people's lives.
The Chen family always wanted to give Chenxi the happiness of an ordinary person, after all, this is something that other family members could never obtain.
There was nothing wrong with this arrangement in itself.
Chenxi's bodyguards are more than capable of handling crises in ordinary people's lives. And those who know Chenxi's identity, fearing retaliation from the Chen family, will generally not harbor any ill intentions towards her.
Even if we take a step back and assume the worst, the government of Migal wouldn't dare to harbor any ill intentions towards Chen Xi. After all, capturing Chen Xi to exchange for huge national interests is definitely not a viable option; the Chen family's style is that they would rather sacrifice than back down at the national level.
To risk making enemies of Chenxi and the Chen family for the sake of huge profits would be simply asking for trouble.
Back then, Raman captured Chen Jiu by chance and wanted Te'an to help find his son, but he was afraid of angering the Chen family and didn't dare to do anything to Chen Jiu. When Chen Jiu was in Raman's hands, he was always treated to good food and drink.
If even a prince of a country behaves this way, then under normal circumstances, someone who knows Chenxi's identity wouldn't be so foolish as to harm him.
But Song Zifeng was the one who had nothing and acted recklessly.
Song Zifeng hired black market outlaws at a high price, using the terrain to outmaneuver Chenxi's bodyguards, and then used a powerful anesthetic to knock out Kevin and Chenxi.
He made no attempt to conceal his tracks while doing all this; those desperados were poisoned and their bodies dumped in the wilderness after the deed was done. All of this proves that Chen Chao's judgment was correct: Song Zifeng's trip was solely for revenge, and he never considered the possibility of surviving.
The warehouse where Chenxi was imprisoned was not only a sturdy reinforced concrete structure, but also had radiation-shielding steel plates embedded in the inner layer. This directly shielded it from all possible external scanning.
Without knowing the situation inside, a rescue is virtually impossible.
Killing Song Zifeng would be simple: just blow up the building or seal off the exits and use poison gas. But rescuing him is a much more difficult option.
The tranquilizer darts need to be injected directly into the body to be effective, but the building has no windows, so they have no angle to snipe. If they can't make Song Zifeng lose consciousness, any rash move they make will allow Song Zifeng to attack Chen Xi.
Special agents have never been a rescue-oriented organization. Even with their own agents, they've focused more on cleanup than rescue.
After summarizing all the information, Lin Yu frowned deeply.
He now feels just as desperate as Chen Chao.
Just as Lin Yu was struggling with this, news came from the technical department that the card Song Zifeng gave Kevin had no major problems after an overall inspection, but a countdown clock was found in the underlying code of the tracking chip, and there were still 30 hours before the clock reached zero.
Lin Yu jumped up after hearing this and went straight upstairs to Chen Chao's office.
"Boss, the tech department said the card's chip has a countdown timer. There are still 30 hours until it resets to zero. Do you think this is..."
"This is the time Song Zifeng has given me to make a final decision." Chen Chao was not surprised by Lin Yu's report; instead, his tone was calm and collected.
"Boss, do we really not need to contact Song Zifeng? He left his number."
Everyone knew what it meant when the countdown reached zero, and Lin Yu's heart clenched.
Chen Chao slowly shook his head.
"Song Zifeng came here prepared to die. He knew he would die regardless of success or failure, and he was willing to take such a huge risk to do this, just to get revenge on me."
I took everything from him, and he hates me to the core.
But if I ignore him, he'll only be able to drag Chenxi down with him. Do you think he'll be happy with that outcome?
His target was never Chenxi; dragging Chenxi to his death would be meaningless to him. So as long as we stay calm, he will definitely come looking for me and lure me into a trap.
Lin Yu, we have to wait now. I need to make him anxious; that's our only chance.
Lin Yu rationally knew that Chen Chao was right, but emotionally he was still afraid. He couldn't wait as calmly as Chen Chao. He desperately wanted to do something. He even wanted to go and scout out the vicinity of that warehouse right now.
In the past, when he was on a mission, he would relieve his anxiety by maintaining his equipment and disassembling and assembling his weapons before the operation.
The wait before a mission is always the hardest; once you start doing it, your body doesn't remember the fear anymore.
When he transforms himself into a gun, he feels no fear or dread. He knows that everything he does is remembered, and he is certain that everything he does is right, so he is never afraid.
At this moment, standing beside Chen Chao, accompanying him to analyze the situation and make decisions, he suddenly realized how timid and impulsive he was compared to Chen Chao.
Why is his eldest son able to remain so calm under these circumstances?
"Boss." Lin Yu came to the window and involuntarily covered Chen Chao's hand, only to find that Chen Chao's hand was ice cold.
Yes, his eldest son is never fearless; he's just better at enduring it.
Suppress emotions with absolute reason, force yourself to make the right decision, fearlessly bear all moral judgment, and carry all sins without complaint.
Chen Chao always demanded this of himself.
But this must be so painful! Even Lin Yuguang felt the pain just watching it.
"Boss, is there anything I can do to help you?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Chao looked up at him. After a long while, the suppressed vulnerability in Chen Chao's eyes could no longer be concealed.
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