Chapter 94: Race Against Time
The hallucination ended, Xia Lili's eyes became clear again, and she found that Mingzhou and Lin Hesheng were both looking at her.
It turned out that she was too excited when she saw the hallucination just now. She grabbed the tablecloth tightly with both hands and spilled half a glass of water on the ground.
Xia Lili was about to speak when Lin Hesheng's gentle words of dismissal rang out in her ears: "Mr. Xia, Ms. Xia, I'm sorry, you can see the current situation. We can't continue this conversation today. Excuse me."
After Lin Hesheng finished speaking, he said to Ming Zhou, "Let's hurry up and raise the ransom."
"The kidnappers told me to go there at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning with 15 million in cash."
Lin Hesheng's Adam's apple slid open with difficulty. "When I get to the ransom payment location, he'll tell me how to pay the remaining money..."
It is estimated that illegal electronic transactions were used to make Lin Hesheng enter the electronic transaction code.
Although Lin Hesheng is a top star in the entertainment industry with a considerable income, many of his assets are tied up in real estate and various financial products.
Asking someone to come up with 15 million in cash flow at one time is quite a difficult task for a large company.
Mingzhou nodded, looking nervous: "I'll call and raise money right away."
"Wait, the remaining amount is 65 million..."
Having said that, Mingzhou and Lin Hesheng looked at each other.
Ming Zhou couldn't help but think of something: "The second phase of our company's new film and television project has an investment of 65 million yuan, and the project hasn't even started yet..."
Lin Hesheng's face darkened. "Let's raise money first. Mianmian's safety is the most important. Everything else is not a problem."
Xia Lili thought that the kidnappers said they would kill Lin Hesheng if they called the police, and they might have installed eavesdropping software on the mobile phones of Lin Hesheng and those around him.
"Mr. Lin, we are very distressed when something like this happens. We can't bear to see our loved ones go through such a thing."
Xia Lili's voice attracted Mingzhou Lin Hesheng's attention.
"My brother and I can also help and raise some money for you. It's not much, but a little bit adds up..."
Lin Hesheng and the others didn't expect that a guest they met by chance would lend a helping hand. They were somewhat confused about Xia Lili's purpose, and became even more alert when they heard her words.
Xia Lili picked up the menu and walked over to Lin Hesheng and the others: "There's no point in being anxious. Let's serve the food and eat first."
“Man is iron and rice is steel. Only when you are full can you have time to think.”
After saying this, Xia Lili placed the menu in front of Lin Hesheng with a somewhat tough attitude.
Lin Hesheng looked at her in confusion and turned his gaze to the menu.
To his surprise, there was a note written in pencil on the corner of the menu: [I am a confidential police partner. My phone is safe. Do you need any help?]
The pencil marks were faint, and only Lin Hesheng could see the words clearly.
As the core of the Yangcheng Public Security Bureau's case handling, Xia Lili's office mobile phone was issued by the organization. It is heavily firewalled, anti-eavesdropping and anti-surveillance, and highly confidential, preventing the leakage of personal information.
When Lin Hesheng saw the message written by Xia Lili, surprise and joy flashed in his eyes, but he quickly hid them.
The kidnappers warned him not to call the police, but he didn't know that one of the guests he was going to meet tonight was a policeman.
This proves that the kidnappers were not aware of Xia Lili's identity!
If there is an insider, his level is not as high as Xia Lili!
He would be safe if he reported the case through Xia Lili.
The helping hand extended by Xia Lili was undoubtedly a timely help, it was really crucial!
Lin Hesheng suppressed his surprise.
"I appreciate Miss Xia's kindness."
The actor acted very naturally. He said dejectedly, stuffing the menu back into Xia Lili's hands: "I really don't feel like ordering. Miss Xia, please order the dishes. Thank you."
Lin Hesheng glanced at Xia Lili.
The two looked at each other and understood the meaning in each other's eyes.
Xia Lili sat back in her seat and began to order food seriously. She had erased the pencil marks on the menu and even splashed tea stains on them to cover them up.
After handing the menu to the waiter outside the door, Xia Lili began to recall the key information points in the hallucination picture.
Where was Lin Hesheng surrounded by paparazzi?
and the structural features of the abandoned factory where the kidnappers appeared.
After Xia Lili integrated the information of the hallucination image, she quickly sent a message to Li Qihan to call the police.
"Captain Li, Mianmian, the niece of movie star Lin Hesheng, has been kidnapped!"
"The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of 80 million. Bring 15 million as a deposit to the agreed location to pay before 10 a.m. tomorrow."
Lin Hesheng’s phone screensaver is Lin Hesheng’s niece. Xia Lili had just secretly taken a photo of her. She sent the photo of the kidnapped little girl to Li Qihan.
Li Qihan responded very quickly: "This time it's something that has already happened."
Xia Lili replied with trembling fingers: "Yes, it has happened."
This task was the most difficult she had ever encountered since she started working.
The case has already happened, and there is a case within a case!
"The kidnapping of Lin Hesheng's niece must have been leaked to the media. I don't know who did it."
Xia Lili took a deep breath and said, "I foresaw the doomed scenario. Paparazzi and gossip anchors persistently tracked Lin Hesheng down as he went to pay the ransom. Ultimately, they disrupted the transaction and angered the kidnappers, who then killed him. Lin Hesheng also committed suicide."
"Lin Hesheng and those around him may have their phones monitored. The kidnappers warned them they would be killed if the police intervened."
"We must stop this without alerting the kidnappers."
Li Qihan had experience handling major kidnapping cases before: "Understood. I will organize a special operations team. This operation will be kept highly confidential."
He sent another message, "Can you convince Lin Hesheng to cooperate?"
Xia Lili glanced at Lin Hesheng, who was on the phone raising money. "I've managed to keep him stable for now. Now it all depends on how we perform."
While Li Qihan was requesting Commander Gu to mobilize the special operations team, he asked, "Did the transaction location appear in the hallucination?"
Xia Lili focused her attention and began to describe the transaction site she saw to Li Qihan: "It's an abandoned chemical plant with a red brick exterior, part of it collapsed, surrounded by barbed wire. The trees planted in the factory are bamboo and camphor trees."
Li Qihan narrowed his eyes when he saw these two trees.
Yangcheng is located on the southern coast of Southeast Province, while camphor trees are more common in the northern part of Southeast Province and in Xiaoxiang Province bordering the north.
"To get to the chemical plant, you have to take the highway. While driving on the highway, Lin Hesheng hallucinated that a sign indicating a highway fork appeared in the upper right corner of his screen. Go straight to Xilin for 15 kilometers, then get off the highway to the right and it will be 23 kilometers to Chengxian."
The information provided by Xia Lili greatly narrowed the scope of the police's investigation.
"There were at least three kidnappers, one in charge of surveillance, and two in charge of handover. There was a blue van parked 200 meters east of the scene... probably the retreat vehicle."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com