Upon receiving the video, Huo Xiaozheng was filled with rage, his fingertips digging deep into his palms, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
"Have you traced the sender's IP?" he demanded.
The police officer shook his head. "The sender concealed their IP address. Our IT colleagues are working on tracking it down."
As time ticked away, there was still no breakthrough in the case.
Huo Xiaozheng's entire demeanor changed.
The police station staff were all busy, with Huo Xiaozheng at the center, investigating potential suspects.
Simultaneously, they were tracking the vehicle with fake license plates.
"We've got something!" someone shouted. "Someone spotted that black car at a vehicle processing station in the eastern part of the city."
People immediately mobilized to pursue the black car.
Huo Xiaozheng waited at the station, his expression growing increasingly grim.
"We've checked all the visitor logs and haven't found any suspicious individuals," a police officer reported. "However... we haven't been able to contact a bodyguard named Xu Jin yet."
Huo Xiaozheng's eyes sharpened. "Xu Jin?"
"There's no one named Xu Jin in the security team."
The police officer's expression immediately changed. "The head of the security team is suspicious!"
...
Outside an abandoned building in the suburbs, a white figure trembled, slowly moving along the wall.
It was Huo Yueze.
He had been chasing the black car, but his speed was no match for four wheels.
Just as he was about to lose them, the black car stopped. A man in a black suit wearing a baseball cap got out, carrying the unconscious Huo Guining, and switched to a white car.
Thinking quickly, Huo Yueze flagged down a passing delivery truck driver. He emptied his pockets of the only 200 yuan he had, begging the driver to follow the white car. This allowed him to keep up.
But the truck driver had his own business to attend to. After following for a while, he saw the white car heading towards the suburbs, completely opposite to his own direction.
He immediately refused to continue, dropping Huo Yueze off and leaving.
Huo Yueze pleaded desperately, saying his name was Huo and that his sister had been kidnapped.
But the driver, seeing Huo Yueze's wild curly hair and his white suit covered in mud spots, instinctively thought he was mentally ill.
He floored the accelerator and fled like the wind.
As the north wind howled, Huo Yueze thought he heard, "If it weren't for the 200 yuan you scraped together, I wouldn't have humored your madness."
In the icy, snow-covered landscape, night enveloped the earth. There was no sign of civilization, and he could barely see his hand in front of his face.
He had left his phone at the Luo family's house.
Huo Yueze felt like crying.
He could only run in the direction the white car had disappeared, hoping to find some clue.
Fortunately, his luck hadn't completely run out.
Just as he felt he was about to freeze to death, he saw a light come on in an abandoned building.
A white sedan was parked at the entrance.
Huo Yueze held his breath and quickly moved to the vicinity of the building. This led to the scene from earlier.
Thankfully, the abandoned building was surrounded by trees, and the cover of night allowed him to conceal his presence.
He made his way to the back of the building and, sure enough, saw the man in the black suit fiddling with a video camera.
The man in the black suit was wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, seemingly on a phone call.
Huo Yueze took advantage of his distraction and slipped inside.
The structure of the abandoned building appeared to be that of a small villa. Huo Yueze, trying to think like a criminal, first searched for rooms that would be easy to hide someone in.
In the basement, Huo Guining had regained consciousness.
She silently encouraged herself, taking deep breaths to alleviate her physical discomfort while continuing to gnaw at the tape binding her hands with her teeth.
Persistence paid off.
She finally freed her hands.
Supporting herself against the wall, she slowly stood up and searched the basement, finding a rusty key.
Huo Guining gripped the key and, mustering all her strength, began cutting at the tape.
Soon, the tape was cut through.
But things were far from smooth sailing.
The basement door had been barred from the outside with an iron rod.
The entire basement had only this one exit.
Huo Guining pressed her ear to the door and listened for a moment. Confirming that the man in the suit wasn't outside, she untied her hair ribbon and looped it around the iron rod, attempting to move it.
The rusty iron rod made a piercing screech.
In the main hall, the man in the suit sensed something was amiss and started walking towards the basement.
Huo Guining's heart skipped a beat in fear. She quickly retracted her ribbon and pressed herself tightly against the wall by the door, barely daring to breathe.
Her other hand clutched tightly to a frying pan she had found during her search of the basement.
Footsteps approached, getting closer and closer to Huo Guining...
Her palms were cold and clammy, her nerves on high alert.
With a faint, slow creaking, the basement door opened.
Huo Guining took a deep breath and, summoning all her strength, swung the pan towards the intruder's groin!
...
Meanwhile, the Huo family's old residence remained brightly lit.
Huo Xiaozheng received another message from the kidnapper.
Although the kidnapper was vague about his old grudge with Huo Xiaozheng, the police were able to connect the dots using the clues he let slip, along with the identity of the head of the security team.
The head of the security team claimed that the person originally responsible for setting off the fireworks that day had fallen ill, and this replacement was recommended by a friend who vouched for his reliability.
After the incident, the friend finally told the truth.
Someone had given him a sum of money to help find a part-time job.
Coincidentally, when the head of the security team mentioned this opportunity, the friend seized the chance and recommended the man.
In reality, the friend didn't know the man in the black suit at all.
Even so, the police were able to identify the man in the black suit from surveillance footage of his interaction with the friend.
"Xu Jin, male, 42 years old, married. He previously worked as a deputy manager at a subsidiary of Jiang Group. One year ago, Xu Jin was fired from the company due to his inability to perform his duties. That same year, Xu Jin's wife died in a car accident."
Huo Xiaozheng's eyes turned cold. "Jiang Group?"
The police officer explained, "To be precise, Xu Jin's dismissal is closely related to you, Mr. Huo."
"One year ago, Huo Corporation competed with Jiang Corporation for a project. The project that failed was the one Xu Jin was responsible for."
"As a result, Xu Jin bore the main responsibility and was fired by the company. After his dismissal, given his age, he couldn't find suitable employment. The pressure of mortgage payments was high, and his wife became depressed, leading to the fatal car accident."
"We suspect this is the reason for Xu Jin's desire for revenge."
Huo Xiaozheng's expression remained unchanged.
The competition between Huo Corporation and Jiang Corporation wasn't illegal.
Given the current situation, one couldn't stand on moral high ground and criticize Huo Xiaozheng's actions.
But they still hadn't managed to locate the sender's IP address.
This plunged everyone, who had just seen a glimmer of hope, back into a stalemate.
"Why must my child suffer such misfortune?" Zheng Jinxiu couldn't help but raise her hand to wipe away tears from the corner of her eye.
Old Master Huo swallowed a few pills with his tea and patted Zheng Jinxiu's hand to comfort her. "Yueze is blessed with good fortune. Now that Ningning has returned to her ancestral home, the Huo family ancestors will surely protect them both and keep them safe and sound."
The steward hurried in and whispered something in Huo Xiaozheng's ear.
Huo Xiaozheng's expression changed, and he spoke with a sharp tone, "Let him in!"