FLASHBACK MORE THAN TWO MONTHS AGO

  Lu Chen glanced at the stabilized condition of Xiu Mei on the bed. Beside her laid Lu Qiang who was sleeping, insisting to stay at his mother’s side today. He covered him up with a blanket so that he won’t catch a cold.

  "Don’t worry, you’ll just be in the other room. I’ll take over." Yu Shi Huang spoke behind him. He turned and saw his mother-in-law drinking from a mug full of coffee.

  "Thank you, Mom. I’ll be back shortly after the meeting."

  Yu Shi Huang’s eyes squinted. "As long as you find who did this to my daughter, it doesn’t matter."

  Lu Chen agreed with her words. Next door, Xiu Mo Ruo, Xiu Gu Ren, and the two grand elders are in the middle of a meeting. Lu Chen sat on the empty seat available.

  "So the Ying’s adopted daughter kidnapped my granddaughter, and while they’re doing that, they killed the Mayor of City S." Grandfather Xiu stated as he looked down on the file he was holding.

  "How sure are we that they were done by the same person?" Grandmother Yu questioned.

  Xiu Mo Ruo laid out a couple of reports related to the death of the Mayor and Xiu Mei’s kidnapping.

  "Xiu Mei’s kidnapping was done by Ying Wan Wan. But we suspect that she’s not working alone and that she’s working with someone who probably has a really strong influence, enough that they could hide her tracks cleanly so we couldn’t find her." Xiu Mo Ruo explained.

  "Before Xiu Mei was kidnapped, Xiu Su Yi sent us some message. That he was just a pawn. So that confirms that someone different is operating behind the scenes. And the note that he sent with the date and place. The mentioned date and place matched where the Mayor was killed, which was yesterday." Lu Chen elaborated.

  "It seems like he’s planning something big." (Grandfather Yu)

  "Then we need to find that person fast." (Xiu Gu Ren)

  "Do we know any close associates of Ying Wan Wan? Someone she would be often seen with or some kind of place that she goes to?" (Grandfather Xiu)

  "My secretary already looked into it but Ying Wan Wan was often holed at home. With the number of people entering and leaving the Ying estate, it would be a bit difficult to identify if there are people with who she comes into contact with. My men are waiting for the intel from one of the people we planted inside their family then maybe we can narrow down the list of our possible suspects." (Lu Chen)

  "As for me, I’ve looked into the death of the Mayor. It seems like he was eating with some of his close advisors when he was suddenly injected with some large dose of potassium causing his cardiac arrest. The police are suspecting that this was done by this waiter." Xiu Mo Ruo pointed at the image screenshot taken from the security footage. "He was the one serving the guests at that time and what fueled their suspicion is that this guy resigned and disappeared after that day."

  "So we know who that guy is?" (Xiu Gu Ren)

  "Yep, but unfortunately, he’s dead. One of my men reported to us that the guy died from pills overdose. He was rushed to the hospital but he’s already too dead by then." (Xiu Mo Ruo)

  "Great, so we’re blind again. We look so powerful gathered around here but we still can’t figure out the person behind this." (Grandfather Yu.)

  "We still have clues though. We scoured on this man’s phone records, bank accounts, emails, and online activities. Two weeks ago, he was caught on camera in one of our train stations retrieving some kind of black bag in one of the train lockers. We highly suspect that it was the money that was used to pay for him. So we tried to backtrack who placed it inside the train lockers, but we couldn’t find it. Probably someone purposely messed up the footage when they placed it back there. Since that clue is already cut off, we focused on how they communicated with the man to give instructions and get that injection. We tracked that he’s been consistently communicating with someone on some kind of underground website, and that’s where he also got the potassium as well." (Xiu Mo Ruo)

  "So it came from the black market. That’s my field so I’ll need some more information about that and I can have some of my men to track the source." Lu Chen

  "And what about how they took away Xiu Mei from both of your surveillances?" Grandmother Yu squinted her eyes at her both grandson and grandson-in-law.

  Xiu Mo Ruo sighed as he explained what went wrong at that time. "Xiu Mei was knocked out while she was stuck inside the elevator. They did something to her key card so it wouldn’t work when she tried to go up and so someone was already waiting on the upper floors to take her. The bodyguards I placed on her were suddenly attacked behind the scenes, all of them assigned in different places. Which means they already knew all the bodyguards’ movements in the first place."

  "And what about you?"

  "Lee In was ambushed as well. They also destroyed the comms of my men so the message got delayed. The person assigned on that floor was put down while the others only realized that something was wrong when Xiu Mei didn’t arrive on her floor. Ying Wan Wan’s men seemed to have left the building in a different way which means that either the hotel works with Wan Wan’s people or they studied the blueprint of the hotel while plotting her kidnapping." (Lu Chen)

  Grandmother Yu couldn’t help but sigh deeply. "I’m pretty sure that our men aren’t weak at all so it must be that the other side was very well prepared and with well-trained men, this person’s pretty strong."

  "Actually, my subordinate recognized group back when she was ambushed. The men who were involved in the kidnapping were the hidden mafia group from the West, the MSA. They may be a secret group but they’re pretty easy to identify with their quite unique fighting style. We’re not sure yet how Ying Wan Wan is connected with them but we’re very sure that they were the ones who ambushed the bodyguard as well." (Lu Chen)

  "The MSA?" Grandmother Yu glanced at her husband with an inquisitive look. Of course, she also recognizes the mafia group, MSA. "We’ve come across the MSA a few times back in the day. So is it possible that they’re doing some kind of revenge for their fellow comrades that were killed?"

  "I doubt that the MSA would have that kind of time. You know, wiping off every person that killed an MSA member." (Grandfather Yu)

  "And I second that. We don’t have that much communication with the MSA but unless you killed someone of high position in their group, that’s the only time you’ll be on their hit list. Aside from the hit list, the other thing is that they’re doing a favor for someone they owe." (Lu Chen)

  "Then we’ll have to figure that out. In the meantime, Ying Wan Wan stayed for a few years abroad. Maybe that’s where she made contact with the MSA so they can work with her. I’ll look into it and see what I can find." (Xiu Mo Ruo)

  Their meeting continued like that for a little longer. The elders returned home after visiting Xiu Mei for a short moment while Xiu Mei’s parents and brother returned as well after staying for a few more hours.

  Since Lu Chen’s subordinates aren’t permitted to enter the military hospital without authorization and clearance, he had a brief video meeting with his men for half an hour to start their investigation.

  Later, things escalated. Xiu Mo Ruo was suddenly poisoned while he was at a meeting. It wasn’t exactly too life-threatening but nonetheless, he was forced to rest at home to recover. And then when he returned to his post, his position is now getting threatened by a new person that was specially placed by one of the higher-ups and it seems that the new person was too busy getting everyone’s favors too.

  A lot of officials are getting targeted too. With many people eyeing to replace the old ones with different people. Since these positions are not very much high profile to the public, the media have yet to notice the changes in some departments.

  There also seems to be some subtle changes in the underworld as well. Lu Chen’s subordinates noticed that someone was killing and taking over some of the small organizations in the underground city. It would have been just some normal news on the normal days however, it seems like it was done by the person to whom Xiu Su Yi is working for. Why?

  Well, according to the reports, Ying Wan Wan was spotted once in the underground city. And it seems like she wasn’t alone while dropping by.