The last thing Cheng Ning could remember before passing out was when she bade goodbye to her friends, before taking a cab to return home. However, she didn't make it back as she had lost consciousness along the way.

  The next thing she knew, she was already seated on a stool with her hands tied behind her back. The place was dark, and she could barely make a guess where she was. It looked like she was in someone's bas.e.m.e.nt. There were toys neatly kept in the corner, and a grandfather clock that looked older than her age ticked loudly every second irritated her hearing.

  Cheng Ning didn't know where she was and why she was here, but she could sense danger the very moment she opened her eyes.

  She was kidnapped! But why?

  How was this even possible? Cheng Ning thought. She couldn't remember offending anyone, or think of any reason why she would be abducted when she didn't have a single penny to her name.

  An old woman was also there, weeping in the corner, begging someone to save her. Cheng Ning was sure she had never met this woman before, and she wasn't certain why they were being held up here.

  "W-where are we?" Cheng Ning's voice sounded hoarse as she felt her throat dry and aching. She knew she shouldn't have drunk too much last night, and had taken her boss's warning seriously.

  The old woman, who finally noticed that she was awake, lifted her head and stared widely at Cheng Ning.

  "Who are you? Are you also related to Miss Tang?" The old woman didn't understand the crazy man's intention why he sought her.

  At first, she thought that the man who took them was related to Yan Qiuyu and was just asking for information about her. How was she supposed to know that the man she welcomed at home had loose screws on his head and kidnapped her?

  The day she met Tang Moyu, it was all planned by the crazy man. He forced her to meet her former colleagues, attaching a ticking bomb on her body. He had warned her that if she made one wrong move, she, along with the surrounding people would blow up into pieces.

  Head Nurse Yu was really afraid of him and begrudgingly went with his plans, but along the way, she kept begging Tang Moyu to save her which Zhu Ziqian had noticed. Now, the old woman wasn't certain she would be able to live another day, as she already lost count how many days had passed since she was left here by that man. She couldn't even remember when the last time she had a decent meal was.

  It was only when he came back last night, throwing Cheng Ning's body on the ground like a log, did he finally remember that she was still there. The maniacal smile and deep set eyes that stared at her made her feel that she was looking at a sort of demon.

  Cheng Ning's eyes widened at the old woman's question. So it was about her boss then? But why her? She didn't have familial ties with the empress. Why would someone abduct her just to threaten Tang Moyu?

  "She's my boss…" she admitted. "But what am I doing here?"

  She really couldn't understand why she was here. She was just the empress' assistant, and Cheng Ning didn't think that she had any importance to Tang Moyu at all. If anything, they only had a working relationship, so she didn't dare to think that Tang Moyu would even care about her.

  "He's after Miss Tang. I don't know why he was obsessed with her, but he's really out of his mind!" the old woman told her.

  "He?" Cheng Ning wasn't sure who this woman was talking about.

  "The cab driver that brought you here! Don't you remember what happened after you hailed his cab?" the old woman asked.

  Now that the old woman mentioned it, Cheng Ning remembered seeing the cab driver spraying something near the vent of his car while covering half of his face with a towel. Her eyes widened upon realization.

  She looked around in panic, trying to loosen the ties on her wrists but failed. The only light that allowed them to see things around them was an old light bulb that was left turned on at the other side of the room.

  A huge shelf acted as a divider within the room, keeping Cheng Ning and the old woman on the dark part of the area. At a corner, a stairway leading upstairs could be seen from where she was seated.

  "Help! Help!" Cheng Ning tried to shout for help, but it was futile. No matter how loud she yelled for help, it seemed no one knew that they were being kept here.

  What kind of kidnapper that man would be if he hadn't prepared ahead of time? It was a good thing that their mouths hadn't been gagged to keep their silence, or else the old woman accompanying her hear would have already lost her consciousness from not having enough air to breathe.

  Sweat trickled down Cheng Ning's face as she realized that she could only wait and see what the man wanted from her. Damn, of all the places, why did he decide to keep them here? The weather in Shenzhen was extremely hot during daytime, and although it frequently rained at night, it only made residents feel uncomfortable with the humidity it left on its wake.

  Cheng Ning chose to remain silent and save her energy. She now understood why Tang Moyu warned her yesterday, and she should have taken her words seriously. None of these would have happened if she'd been wary of her surroundings.

  If that man wanted Tang Moyu, then perhaps, there's a chance that her boss knew by now that she was missing. Since she had been working with the empress for over two years now, she knew that Tang Moyu hated having the shorter side of the stick. She hoped that her boss would find a way to save her and outwit the man who abducted her.