He altered his appearance and entered a large internet cafe, finding a machine and transferring the content he had copied in the interrogation room to Cheng Xiuping. He trusted that those people would have a way to handle it.
Since he was back, he should go see Lin Zixuan. He wondered if she had been implicated.
He hailed a taxi and headed directly to the apartment complex where Lin Zixuan rented. Arriving downstairs, he focused his senses and saw that no one was home.
Of course, at this hour, she should be at work. How could she possibly be home?
He ambled through the complex. There were very few people, likely all at work.
The current pace of life was fast, everyone like diligent little ants, constantly busy.
As he was contemplating this, he suddenly heard a somewhat urgent knocking on glass.
He looked around but saw no one. He listened carefully. From a window to his left with its curtains drawn, a harsh voice yelled, "You damn slut, move again and I'll kill you."
Something was wrong? He focused his gaze and saw a woman inside the room, her hands and feet bound, her mouth sealed tightly with tape. Beside her, a man in his forties was grabbing the woman's hair and speaking to her in a low, angry tone.
Kidnapping or domestic violence? It shouldn't be domestic violence. This woman looked young, perhaps around twenty. It was highly unlikely she was the middle-aged man's daughter; no one would treat their own daughter like this.
He couldn't help but extend his senses to the man. *Damn it, how many days has it been? If they don't come soon, I'm not doing this anymore. What if someone ambushes me and I get shot? Brother Jun wasn't this unreliable before! He could usually pick people up in two days, what's going on this time? I'm definitely not doing this again after this job, I'm always on edge.*
Hmm? One of Brother Jun's subordinates? Are these human traffickers or kidnappers demanding ransom? His curiosity was piqued. He hadn't expected Brother Jun to have such nerve, daring to dabble in illegal activities. Was he truly relying on the fact that no one dared to provoke him?
He extended his senses to the woman again. *Please, please let me go. I don't want to die, I want to go home, I want to go to school.* The woman was filled with fear. Go home? If she fell into the hands of people like this, not dying would be a stroke of luck. Going home was truly out of the question.
Guo Xuyang felt a pang of emotion. It was astonishing that there were still people who dared to commit such heinous acts. There were cameras and surveillance everywhere, and he wondered how audacious these people must be to engage in such activities.
He silently approached the house and knocked on the door. No one spoke. He knocked harder twice. A hoarse voice from inside asked, "Who is it?"
"Delivery," he replied.
"I didn't order anything, did you get the wrong address?"
"Impossible, this is the address. Building 5, Unit 3, Apartment 101 in Garden Residential Area, isn't this the right place?"
"You're in the wrong unit, this is Unit 2."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, so sorry, my apologies."
He saw the middle-aged man pressed tightly against the door. The woman had already been hidden in the bedroom. He turned invisible and simply watched the middle-aged man.
Leaning against the door, the middle-aged man listened intently for a long time. Convinced no one was there, he opened the door, peered out, and cursed under his breath.
What he didn't know was that Guo Xuyang was already standing behind him. He closed the door again and turned around, startling him greatly.
A young man was looking at him with a half-smile.
"Who are you? How did you get in?" the middle-aged man stammered, utterly unable to comprehend how Guo Xuyang had entered.
"Don't ask who I am. Tell me who you are first. Come, sit down and let's talk. It's better for you to be honest, otherwise, don't blame me for not warning you," Guo Xuyang said, gesturing towards the sofa.
The middle-aged man was stunned, unsure whether to sit or not. His mind was filled with a sense of utter doom.
"Sit," Guo Xuyang commanded sternly.
The middle-aged man flinched and hastily sat down.
"Speak. What's going on?" Guo Xuyang pointed towards the bedroom.
Seeing that he could no longer hide anything, the middle-aged man dropped to his knees with a thud.
"It has nothing to do with me, I'm just in charge of guarding. I really don't know anything else."
"Are you lying to me or to God?" Guo Xuyang chuckled playfully and broke off a corner of the coffee table. "You want me to use force?"
"I wouldn't dare, brother. I'm really not lying to you. I swear."
"If your oaths were effective, heaven would have claimed you long ago," Guo Xuyang said with increased intensity. "Tell me, how exactly did you get her?"
"They delivered her to me, I'm just the guard. Waiting for others to come pick her up."
"Why is it so difficult to talk to you? Who are they?" Guo Xuyang lost his patience and directly dislocated the middle-aged man's right arm.
A dagger clattered to the floor from the middle-aged man's right hand, which he had been reaching behind his back.
"If you're not compliant, I'll dislocate all your limbs later. You can try and see."
The middle-aged man was terrified by Guo Xuyang's violence. He looked at his dangling right arm, which he couldn't use, and let out a yelp. Beads of sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything. They specialize in kidnapping and trafficking women and children. There are several of them, and I'm a transit point. They bring the kidnapped people to me first. Then Brother Jun's people come to take them away. I really don't know where they get the people from."
The middle-aged man spoke rapidly, fearing Guo Xuyang would truly dislocate all his limbs.
"Who is Brother Jun?" Guo Xuyang asked.
"I've never met Brother Jun, but everyone knows it's Brother Jun who wants the people. He's the boss here, and he's said to have great influence. He controls both the underworld and the authorities."
"Controls both the underworld and the authorities? Hmph. Still thanks to a good father," Guo Xuyang mused inwardly.
"Bring the woman out."
The middle-aged man walked into the bedroom and helped the woman out.
Guo Xuyang reached out and tore the tape from the woman's mouth, simultaneously untying the ropes binding her hands and feet. He then had her sit on the sofa.
"What's your name? How did you end up here?"
"My name is Wen Yonghong, and I'm a college student. A few nights ago, on my way home, I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I was here."
"Who hit you? Did you see their face?"
"I didn't get a clear look, I was just focused on riding my bike."
"Try to think harder about where you were knocked down that day," Guo Xuyang said, extending his senses to the woman.
He saw the woman riding her electric bicycle very fast. It was dark, and lights occasionally shone from the houses on both sides of the road.
This was likely a road on the outskirts, a newly paved asphalt road that was easy to travel on.
As she rode past the back of a factory building, an old man suddenly darted out. Before she could brake, the old man yanked her off her bike and onto the ground.
She didn't even have time to figure out what was happening before she felt a sharp pain in her head, and her consciousness instantly faded.
His perception lost contact at this point. What followed were the events after arriving in this room.