The man tapped on his communication device without hesitation and said the code word.

  After he turned off the communication device, he contemplated for a couple of seconds before he typed: [Are you on the Min family’s side?]

  Huo Yao typed the keyboard gently and replied: [Isn’t your papa helping you too?]

  [Damn it]: cussed the man.

  Huo Yao raised her brow. Since she was in a good mood, she did not take his cursing to heart: [Signing off.]

  Just as she was about to shut down the laptop, she glanced at the envelope on the table before she opened the dialogue box and sent another message: [From now on, do me a favor and do not take on any missions related to the Min family.]

  She did not even bother to call herself his papa.

  The man straightened his back and typed: [How can you deny now that you were helping the Min family?]

  [If you want to insist, then be my guest]: replied Huo Yao eventually.

  The man’s lips twitched before he continued typing: [I remember you taking up a mission related to the Min family previously. Have you returned the stuff? Have you made peace with the Min family? Have they stopped trying to catch you?]

  Huo Yao went quiet.

  Fine. From the looks of it, he wanted to do it the hard way.

  Huo Yao turned off the dialog box and quickly typed on her computer. She tapped on the enter key 30 seconds later before shutting down her laptop.

  Meanwhile, Yang Yi was on the hunt in the villa next door when his laptop monitor suddenly flickered and a satellite image instantly appeared on it. Also, it was so detailed that even all the street names and shop unit addresses were available.

  A red light kept flickering on the satellite image at a cafe roughly 200 meters away from Evergreen Gallery.

  Yang Yi was stunned to see the image. He did not expect to find the culprit so easily. Although it was unanticipated, he put on the communication device and told his men to go after him.

  After the culprit finally outran his catchers, he took out his phone and sent Huo Yao a text message.

  [Damn you. That was too much.]

  Huo Yao checked the time when she received the text message and shook her head.

  He had taken an hour to outrun his captors, so he was certainly weak.

  **

  Huo Jinyan came back from the exhibition in the evening grinning from ear to ear. He was clearly in a good mood.

  Huo Yao was holding a book, curled up on the couch. She glanced at her old man who had no idea of the grave danger he was in earlier and shook her head powerlessly.

  She contemplated before she reminded him. “Dad, it’s already the end of the year, so you shouldn’t go gallivanting. It’s not safe out there.”
Huo Jinyan did not know what his daughter truly meant. He simply felt she was showing concern and said, “Thanks to Yu, I was able to meet three world-class antique appraisers at the exhibit.”
The moment Huo Jinyan started to talk about those appraisers, his eyes lit up and he could not stop.

  Huo Yao read her book as she listened to him and acknowledged him every now and then.

  Huo Jinyan finally remembered something when he was almost done talking. He raised his head to look at his daughter and said, “Oh yes. Can you give Yu a call so that I can buy him dinner? I must thank him. Never mind. I will tell him about it myself.”
Huo Jinyan proceeded to take out his phone.

  Huo Yao pressed her forehead. She closed her book, sat up on the couch, and took the phone from Huo Jinyan. “Dad, it’s getting late.”
Huo Jinyan halted. “Is it too late to call?”