Chapter 106: Battle Team's Invitation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Brother, why are you looking at me like that?" Qiao Yue asked in confusion.
"I feel like you know a lot of things," Qiao Yu said with a deeper meaning.
"I've learned some things after some contact with them," Qiao Yue said with a smile.
These days, posts about the game were getting more and more popular on the forum, and many were talking about the competition and game controls, but Qiao Yue's ambition wasn't there, so she simply put them aside after a few glances. Instead, Qiao Yue had asked Qiao Yu twice about the forum.
Qiao Yu was a meticulous person. Whenever Qiao Yue asked, he would always ask her instead what she wanted to investigate. Qiao Yue had no choice but to only give vague replies. However, due to Qiao Yue's previous display of her gaming skills, Xu Hao remembered her and kept inviting her to join his game team.
Xu Hao was very popular. From the moment he mentioned the idea of building a team, people came to him in an endless stream. He played three matches with each person and it took him a week to confirm the other two members of his team. Xu Hao reserved the last empty spot for Qiao Yue, but she had never agreed.
After class, Qiao Yu had to go to the Student Union for a meeting, and Qiao Yue waited for him in the classroom next door.
She was scrolling through the news on her phone. From the details, she could tell that the security in C Country had indeed become more strict recently. This was probably the reason why she could live in peace for so long.
A few days ago, she had a call with Chu Jia and the others and found out that they would return to the country soon. God knows if someone among them had been exposed or if their identities had been targeted from the last assassination, but they were also being watched when they were abroad. It's just that the people in the dark hadn't made a move. After receiving this news, Qiao Yue could only tell them to be more careful.
"Xiao Yue, sorry for the long wait," Hearing the voice, Qiao Yue raised her head and smiled at Qiao Yu.
"Let's go! Let's go home," Qiao Yu continued.
Qiao Yue nodded, got up, and walked out of the classroom with Qiao Yu.
At this time, there were a lot fewer people on campus. The Student Union's meetings would last at least an hour, and there was no time limit for the long ones. Once, Qiao Yue waited for Qiao Yu to finish a meeting to the point she fell asleep while waiting.
"I told you that you didn't have to wait for me. You can just get the driver to come pick you up first," Although Qiao Yu said no, his tone didn't sound unhappy at all. On the contrary, he was quite pleased.
Qiao Yue could feel that Qiao Yu was happy when she waited for him, yet he just had to say the opposite.
"It's good to go home with fourth brother. I'm not in a hurry anyway," Qiao Yue replied casually.
Suddenly, her eyes were attracted by a fiery red. Qiao Yu followed her gaze and saw a fiery red maple forest.
"I heard that it was planted by a senior who really likes maple trees. It only grew to this size in the past two years. It's quite beautiful."
Qiao Yue hummed in agreement, "I didn't notice it before."
"We used to leave the school building from the main entrance. There are no maple trees there."
Only after Qiao Yu's reminder did Qiao Yue realize that it was indeed the case. They had left through the back door today because Qiao Yu and the others had changed to another classroom for the meeting.
Looking at the maple forest again, Qiao Yue suddenly realized that she had been in the Qiao family for nearly three months now. It was already half of October. She had been in the Qiao family for quite a long time.
Seeing that Qiao Yue was in a daze again, Qiao Yu smiled mischievously and stretched out his foot to trip her. He did manage to trip her, but Qiao Yue didn't fall. Instead, her body leaned forward but she stepped firmly on the ground.
Qiao Yue looked at Qiao Yu helplessly. Seeing the regretful look on the face of the person next to her, she punched Qiao Yu in the shoulder.
"Since tomorrow is a resting day, shall we go out and play tonight?" Qiao Yu asked.
"Where to? Boxing?" Qiao Yue returned the question.
"OK, I'll call the butler and tell the drivers that they don't need to pick us up," Qiao Yu hadn't been boxing for a while, and his hands were itching for a fight. He couldn't wait to agree to Qiao Yue's suggestion.
Qiao Yu stayed on the phone as he walked out with Qiao Yue. The two of them went to Qiao Ze's car shop to pick up the car first, then went to the boxing club.
The two of them chatted along the way, mostly with Qiao Yu talking and Qiao Yue listening. They talked about motorbikes, boxing, and gaming. Suddenly, Qiao Yu asked, "Xiao Yue, why didn't you agree to join Xu Hao's team?"
"I'm not interested," Qiao Yue replied. She was surrounded by a heap of unsettled matters and she really didn't want to be distracted by other things. Every time she thought of the unresolved matters she had on her plate, Qiao Yue wanted to sigh. She felt that she had simply made her life a mess.
_____________
Chapter 107: Kidnapping
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qiao Yue's preference didn't change. He still chose the previous motorcycle, while Qiao Yu got a new one.
Just as the two of them got on their motorcycles and were about to leave, Qiao Yue pretended to inadvertently glance at the person who had been following them.
The other party, a lady, had been following them from the campus for some unknown reason, and Qiao Yue had only let her continue doing so to find out her purpose.
Just as Qiao Yue thought that the person following them was about to make a move, the gaze that had been on the two of them suddenly disappeared.
She frowned slightly and suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart. Thus, she got on her motorcycle and quickly rode to the corner.
Qiao Yu caught up to her and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Qiao Yue looked around and saw a man pushing someone into a van. From the man's movements, it could be seen that the person who was being forced into the van was struggling hard.
The man pushed the person in with great force and got in the car himself. Before the car door closed, Qiao Yue vaguely saw the corner of Harvey's uniform.
"A student has been kidnapped," Qiao Yue said quickly and rushed straight after the van.
Although Qiao Yu didn't understand what was going on, he still gave chase.
It was a black van, and it was very fast. Qiao Yue found that the van began to speed up after turning off the small road. The van was driving on a route with fewer people and cars. It seemed that it was a long-premeditated kidnapping.
Qiao Yue could feel that Qiao Yu kept looking in her direction, probably wanting to ask something, but they couldn't hear each other through the helmet.
The van was driving into increasingly desolated areas, and the number of cars decreased steadily. Qiao Yue didn't dare to follow too closely for fear of being discovered.
A moment later, she saw that the van had started to slow down, so she slowed down as well. After a turn, the van disappeared.
Qiao Yue frowned and got down of her motorcycle, stopping it by the side of the road before going forward to check the situation.
After turning the corner, Qiao Yue looked in the direction that the van might have gone. She saw an abandoned factory that the van must have driven into.
Qiao Yue took out her phone and was about to call the police, but she stopped when she took out the phone.
At this moment, Qiao Yu walked over, "What's going on?"
"Someone has been following us since we left the school gate. I wanted to see what the person's purpose was, but before that person could act, she was captured," Qiao Yue was full of helplessness when she said this. She should have just caught the person who was following her earlier, then there wouldn't be so much trouble.
"Following us? And she was captured?" Qiao Yu could understand every word that Qiao Yue said, but he couldn't understand what they meant when they were put together.
"Yes, I vaguely saw Harvey's uniform just now. Maybe a student from our school was looking for you, but for some reason, she couldn't come up and say anything. Then, she was kidnapped," Qiao Yue explained her guess.
Qiao Yu frowned as well. This was really troublesome.
"Have you called the police?" Qiao Yu asked as he took out his phone. When he saw the cross on the signal, he fell silent for a moment.
"We can call the police, but we can't tell the exact location and the GPS is not working either. Let's go and see what's going on," Qiao Yue pressed on Qiao Yu's hand and said.
Exchanging a glance, Qiao Yu nodded.
The two of them carefully approached the perimeter of the abandoned factory. The other party was very cautious. Even though they had already kidnapped their target and brought her to such a remote place, they still left two people to guard the perimeter.
Qiao Yu had wanted to lure the two guards to the side where they would take care of one each, but Qiao Yue stopped him.
She pointed to the surveillance camera above the two of them and beckoned for Qiao Yu to follow her.
The factory was rented. When Qiao Yue approached the place, she noticed that many of the cameras outside the factory walls were working, so she took Qiao Yu to a path that could avoid the cameras.
She bent down and groped along the base of the wall before finally finding a blind spot of the cameras. Because she had been professionally trained, Qiao Yue knew very well how to avoid cameras. She ran a few steps, then abruptly stepped onto the wall, grabbed the top with both hands, and nimbly jumped onto the high wall.
Qiao Yu used the same method to climb up the wall, but he didn't have enough strength and almost didn't reach the top. Qiao Yue reached out and pulled him up.
_____________
Chapter 108: Abandoned Factory
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After climbing over the wall, the two of them carefully looked around and saw that no one was guarding the place. They sneaked over and hid behind a stack of wood.
The area of the factory was not small. From where Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu were standing, they could see the main entrance. By comparing their positions, they should be on the left side of the factory now. Since they could not just swagger in through the main entrance, they could only quietly explore other ways to enter.
There were many surveillance cameras outside the door, but fewer after they entered the courtyard, which gave the two some space to move around.
Qiao Yu followed behind Qiao Yue without saying a word, only looking at her with his deep eyes.
He had said that Qiao Yue was full of secrets, and he was right. Just like now, his fifth brother had brought him into a factory full of surveillance cameras, but "he" did it as easily as if this was their backyard. If it had been an ordinary person, they would have long been discovered.
Qiao Yue stopped in front of a pipe. The factory had two floors, and the pipe before her led to the second floor. Although she didn't know which room it led to, after walking around, she found that the window next to the pipe was the only one that was open.
Qiao Yue asked Qiao Yu to wait downstairs while she went up to check on the situation.
Given Qiao Yue's skills, Qiao Yu nodded.
Nimbly climbing up the pipe, Qiao Yue sneaked a look at the room with the window open. She couldn't help but frown when she saw the situation inside.
Not only was the place a toilet, but a men's toilet. Thinking of the situation when she hid in the airport men's toilet, Qiao Yue really didn't want to be fated with men's toilets at all.
She jumped in and waved at Qiao Yu, who was under the window. In less than two minutes, Qiao Yu also climbed up. What they needed to do now was to find the location of the kidnapped student.
After leaving the toiled, outside was a row of rooms that looked like the staff's dormitory. There was a lot of junk in the corridor, probably left behind by the staff when they moved out, which made it easy for the two of them to hide.
Although they didn't see anyone in the corridor, their hearts were still in their throats since they didn't know where they were.
As it was a factory, they saw many tools along the way. Qiao Yu picked up a wrench for self-defense, while Qiao Yue picked up an iron bar.
After a while, Qiao Yue found footprints on the dust.
Suddenly, the loud sound of an object falling to the ground startled the two. Qiao Yue quickly pulled Qiao Yu to the room next door.
"Brother Peng, don't be angry. We've got the money anyway. Brother Hai can do whatever he wants. It won't affect us," A man said in a flattering tone.
The wall of the factory dormitory was thin, so the two of them could hear the conversation in the next room clearly.
"Damn it, to think he dares to touch that woman. He doesn't want his life, but I still want mine! I don't want to have the life to earn money but not spend it!" The man's voice was filled with anger as he roared.
"There's nothing we can't do about it! We can't beat Brother Hai either, and this plan was thought of by Brother Hai too. Brother Hai said that after we finish this job, he'll arrange for us to go abroad where it's far away. The family of this woman won't be able to find us," The man continued.
There was the sound of something being smashed again, and the man roared, "If we're just asking for a ransom, they'll give up when they can't find us. But if Wang Hai rapes that woman, won't her family come to us for revenge?"
Qiao Yue clenched her fists tightly when she heard the man's words. She instantly realized the severity of the situation.
"If Brother Hai wants to do it, we simply can't do anything about it!" The man's voice was filled with helplessness, "Brother Peng, why don't we just quit this job and run while Brother Hai can't be bothered about us?"
"Bah! I was the one who kidnapped the woman, and I was the one who drove the car. What did Wang Hai do? Why can't I get my share of the money? Besides, I'm in the same boat as him now. Even if I run away, I can't guarantee that he won't rat me out."
"Then, then there's no point in getting angry, Brother Peng!"
Although Qiao Yue was worried about the situation of the kidnapped girl, she was quite speechless when she heard the man's words. This was really adding fuel to the fire.
Sure enough, the man's scream came from the other side.
"I just can't stand his high and mighty appearance. Who does he think he is?"
Qiao Yue gave Qiao Yu a look, signaling that they had to leave as soon as possible and find the location of the kidnapped girl.
However, as they were leaving, Qiao Yu accidentally touched a water bottle. Although Qiao Yue quickly caught the bottle, the sound still attracted the attention of the two in the next room.
____________
Chapter 109: Disgusting Man
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Who's in the next room?" The hot-tempered man asked cautiously.
"The next room? Our men and Brother Hai's men are all downstairs, so there shouldn't be anyone next door!" After the man said this, his voice instantly disappeared.
The space seemed to have frozen, and every second became extremely unbearable.
Clang!
The door to the room where Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu were was kicked open, and two men, one tall and one short, appeared with guns.
"Get out here," The hot-tempered man said in a rough voice.
The flatterer bent down to check under the bed, then looked around the room, but he didn't see anyone.
"Did I hear wrong?" The hot-tempered man's face was full of doubt.
The only thing left untouched in the room was the closet in the corner.
The hot-tempered man and the flatterer looked at each other before slowly approaching the only corner of the room that they had not checked.
The hot-tempered man fired two shots at the wardrobe without hesitation. The flatterer was stunned for a second before he stepped forward to open the wardrobe.
As the wardrobe slowly opened...
"Brother Peng, there's no one inside."
The hot-tempered man clicked his tongue and said, "Let's go and see what's the situation on Wang Hai's side.
However, just as the two of them turned around, a black shadow suddenly descended from the sky and nimbly kicked the hot-tempered man to the ground. The black shadow then snatched the gun from the other party's hand and pointed it at the flatterer.
"Put down your guns and raise your hands."
Although there was a gun pointed at their heads, seeing that the other party was a young student who seemed to still be in school, the two men couldn't help but look down on the other party and even had the mood to gossip.
"You're that woman's classmate?" The hot-tempered man said indifferently.
Qiao Yue glanced at him and pulled the trigger. A bullet flew along the flatterer's ear and hit the opposite wall.
"Squat."
The shot immediately scared the flatterer's legs into jelly, and he fell to the ground. Seeing that Qiao Yue was not someone to be trifled with, the short-tempered man did not dare to say anything more and obediently squatted as well.
A figure appeared behind the two men, gagging their mouths with rags and tying their hands and feet with rope to the point they could not move.
Qiao Yue picked up the flatterer's gun and threw it to Qiao Yu. Qiao Yu skillfully pulled out the safety catch before smiling at the two. His smile was gentle, but it made them break out in cold sweat.
Qiao Yu squatted and pulled out the cloth that had just been stuffed into the flatterer's mouth.
"Which room is the person you kidnapped in?" Qiao Yu's gun was pointed directly at the other party's temple, causing him to break out in cold sweat.
The flatterer wanted to look at the short-tempered man's expression, but Qiao Yu pressed his head down.
"In, in the room at the end of the corridor," The flatterer said, trembling.
Qiao Yue and Qiao Yu looked at each other. Qiao Yu stuffed the cloth back into the man's mouth and the two quickly left the room.
The room at the end of the corridor? Qiao Yue observed the terrain after leaving the room and determined the direction from the ground. The two quickly approached the end of the corridor.
Just as they reached the door, the two could hear the cries of a girl from the room.
"Bastard, get lost!"
Qiao Yue frowned and wanted to kick the door open, but she was stopped by Qiao Yu, who hid at the side, and knocked on the door.
The next second, a low growl came from inside the house, "Who is it? You're disturbing me!"
When Qiao Yu stopped Qiao Yue, she understood that he was afraid of alarming the people downstairs.
After thinking for a while, Qiao Yue mimicked the voice of the flatterer and said, "Brother Hai, Brother Peng is looking for you. Can you come over? "
"Damn it, don't you know I'm in the middle of business? Tell Gao Peng that if there's anything, we'll talk later."
Qiao Yue suppressed his anger and pretended to be anxious, "Brother Hai, Brother Peng said that the girl's family might have called the police. It seems like the police are already on their way here."
"Motherf*cker!" The man in the room cursed angrily, followed by the girl's heart-wrenching wails.
Qiao Yue's eyes were cold as she listened to the sound of the man walking over through the door.
She gave Qiao Yu a look, telling him to get ready.
"Didn't Xiao Zheng already hack into the public security network? How did they find this place?" The man's voice in the room became clearer, "This bunch of police officers..."
The door was opened from the inside, and before the man could finish his words, Qiao Yue pointed the black muzzle at his temple.
"Don't make a sound. The safety catch of this gun is off," Qiao Yue's voice seemed to be soaked in poison, seeping into the man's skin bit by bit.
________________
Chapter 110: Prepare to Escape
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As if to prove that the bullet had been loaded, Qiao Yu deliberately raised the gun in front of the man to show him.
The man was forced into the room step by step by Qiao Yue. Qiao Yu then skillfully found a hemp rope in the room and tied the man's hands and feet.
Just as he was about to pull out a piece of cloth, Qiao Yu suddenly noticed the naked girl lying on the bed. He was stunned for a second before he quickly pulled out a piece of cloth and stuffed it into the man's mouth.
Sensing Qiao Yu's abnormal behavior, Qiao Yue turned around and saw the naked girl covered in wounds lying on the wooden bed, her eyes blank.
Qiao Yue frowned and walked to the girl's side to put a coat on her. It was useless for her to say anything now. She could only help the girl up through the coat. It was not the time to relax yet. How they were going to escape was still a problem.
The girl's eyes slowly regained focus. As if she couldn't come back to her senses, she looked at Qiao Yue for a long time before she reacted. Her eyes gradually filled with tears. She was about to cry out loud when Qiao Yue covered her mouth.
"This person's subordinates are still downstairs. If we alarm them and they come over, none of us will be able to escape," Qiao Yue explained the situation to the girl in a concise manner.
Although she sympathized with the girl, now was not the time for her to vent her feelings. From the man's words just now, it was fortunate that they did not call the police. Otherwise, they would have been caught before they even entered the factory.
When the girl heard Qiao Yue's words, she bit her lower lip. Her face was already covered in tears, but she held on and didn't make a sound.
Qiao Yue sighed and reached out his hand to Qiao Yu.
"What?" Qiao Yu didn't dare to turn around during this time. He didn't know what Qiao Yue wanted when he saw her hand.
"Take off your coat," Qiao Yue said.
Oh," Qiao Yu replied and obediently handed the coat to Qiao Yue. Qiao Yue, who had received the coat, also remembered that she was still disguised as a man.
She placed the coat in front of the girl, then turned around and said, "Put on the clothes. We'll bring you away from her."
Seeing that Qiao Yue came to squat in front of the man next to him, Qiao Yu raised his eyebrows and silently asked Qiao Yue why she didn't continue to comfort the girl. Qiao Yue simply glared at him.
Then, she aimed the gun at the man's lower body and took out the cloth strip in the man's mouth as she asked, "Tell me, how were you going to get her family to pay the ransom?"
Qiao Yue was thinking that if these people asked the girl's family to come here and pay the money, then they could just have a big fight after the girl was sent away. If the location of the transaction was not here, then they would have to send the girl away safely first before thinking of a way to deal with these people.
The man was so frightened by Qiao Yue's actions that he broke out in a cold sweat. He said in a trembling voice, "I, I asked her family to place the ransom in Jingshan Park and I'll hand her over to them."
Jingshan Park? Qiao Yue didn't know the location, so she could only look at Qiao Yu.
"There's quite the crowd in Jingshan Park," Qiao Yu explained, "If one blend in with the crowd, one can easily get the ransom."
"How far is Jingshan Park from here?" Qiao Yue continued to ask.
"About an hour," Qiao Yu replied.
Qiao Yue frowned. The kidnappers were quite smart. They even left some time for themselves to escape after getting the money. But now it seemed that calling the police would not work.
After observing the terrain just now, they couldn't leave from the first floor. They could only take the path they came from.
"Fourth Brother, where did you get the rope that you used to tie them up?" Qiao Yue asked.
"There's quite a lot in the cabinets. They should be left behind by the staff when they packed their things."
"Find a few more. We'll escape from the way we came in," Qiao Yue said.
Qiao Yu nodded, "Sure, wait here for me. I'll go find the ropes."
However, Qiao Yue stopped Qiao Yu a second before he left. She was not at ease to let him go out alone.
"What's the matter?" Qiao Yu turned around.
Qiao Yue frowned and said, "I'm worried about you going out alone. Wait for me to bring her along."
"Are you done?" She asked the girl.
Qiao Yue's voice had a gentleness that she didn't notice herself. Perhaps she didn't notice that she was much gentler to girls than boys.
The girl's movements paused, and her tears fell like a broken string of beads.
"Yes," The girl's choked voice sounded, making one's heart ache even more.
________________