In less than half a day, the news of the Song family’s young master Song Wan going missing spread across the entirety of Jingcheng.
At the same time, in a small county town several hundred kilometers away from Jingcheng, Song Wan was carrying a bag of steamed buns in his hand, leisurely walking back toward his rented apartment.
By his ear, Siri, who had been offline and playing dead for a long time, was currently as anxious as a dog.
Darling! You have to go back right away!
You can change the main plotline, but you can’t directly exit the main plotline, doing this will cause the entire world to collapse!
Song Wan shrugged indifferently, “Let it collapse then, I don’t want to save the world. Anyway, I don’t know how to change this broken plotline, so it’s better to lie flat and enjoy a happy life.”
Just two days ago, Song Wan had returned to the hotel and failed to find the camera.
Jiang Shen hadn’t fallen into the trap, which showed he was prepared long ago. Song Wan guessed that the camera was very likely taken away by Jiang Shen’s people.
Therefore, Song Wan immediately booked a plane ticket, grabbed his ID card and money, and ran away.
Whoever wants to deal with it can deal with it, he was throwing in the towel and quitting. Since he couldn’t afford to provoke them, couldn’t he at least hide?
He didn’t believe that if he randomly found a rented room in a small city to squat in, Jiang Shen would still be able to find him in the future.
Song Wan casually held a steamed bun in his mouth in high spirits, and the fragrance of the meat juice made him even happier.
“Do you smell something?” Song Wan asked Siri.
Siri went into autistic mode, not really wanting to pay attention to him.
Song Wan took a dramatically deep breath, “Now this is something you don’t understand, this is the scent of freedom.”
Siri:
Song Wan returned to the small rented apartment of a few dozen square meters. Although there wasn’t much inside, Song Wan felt an incomparable sense of familiarity and warmth.
He took a shower, sat cross-legged on the bed with his hair half-dry, and placed a small notebook in front of him.
He was currently calculating his savings.
The original owner spent money extravagantly, and now all accounts added together could roughly make up around one million or so.
Song Wan had calculated it. As long as he didn’t buy a house and went out to find a job, after a decade or two he could completely lie flat…
However, Siri said the whole world would collapse, so he didn’t know if he could live until then.
Song Wan sighed, set the notebook aside, turned off the lights, and prepared to sleep.
This old residential area wasn’t like the grand villa in Jingcheng; the sound insulation was very poor, and even the slightest noise made upstairs or downstairs could be heard.
Someone on Song Wan’s block happened to be moving, and the footsteps in the stairwell echoed back and forth, making noise until after eleven o’clock.
Song Wan was kept awake by the noise and happened to be hungry, so he casually put on a hooded sweatshirt and prepared to go to the convenience store at the entrance to buy some instant noodles.
“Twenty-one in total,” the convenience store landlady’s Mandarin was mixed with local dialect. “Young man, you look unfamiliar, you’re not from around here, right?”
Song Wan hesitated for a moment, “Mhm, I came here to visit relatives.”
“Oh, I see. Then didn’t your relatives tell you? It’s not safe here at night, don’t come out alone at night in the future.”
Just as the landlady finished speaking, a burly man pushed the door open and walked in.
Song Wan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye twice, took the convenience bag, and said to the landlady, “Thanks for the reminder.”
As he stepped out, Song Wan heard the burly man’s gruff voice, “Give me two packs of cigarettes.”
It was very dark outside, and the streetlights in the old residential area were either broken or so dim that they could only illuminate a tiny circle around them.
Song Wan wore his hood, his hand holding the bag gradually tightening.
Perhaps because he had stayed in big cities for too long, if the landlady hadn’t reminded him, he really wouldn’t have had much safety awareness.
There was a narrow and dark alley ahead; as long as he crossed through it, he would reach his building.
Song Wan couldn’t help but quicken his pace.
“Hey, the one in front.”
A rough voice suddenly came from behind him. As soon as Song Wan heard it, he knew it was the burly man he met at the convenience store.
Damn it, when he saw him earlier, he had a bad premonition.
Song Wan didn’t turn around, pretending he didn’t hear.
The burly man stood at the end of the alley, lighting the cigarette in his mouth with a flick of his lighter.
Why wasn’t he chasing? Could he have accomplices?
Just as this question popped up in Song Wan’s heart, another tall and strong man appeared at the entrance of the alley ahead.
The narrow alley made even two adults walking side by side feel cramped. Now that both the head and tail were blocked, Song Wan’s heart sank, and he slammed on the brakes in the middle position.
Whatever he feared truly came to pass.
“You just moved to this residential area, right?”
The burly man played with the lighter in his hand, approaching without hurry, his gloomy eyes quickly scanning Song Wan from head to toe.
“Your family must be pretty rich, everything you’re wearing is brand-name.”
Song Wan stared vigilantly at the two men, “What do you want to do?”
The burly man exchanged a glance with his accomplice, and without wasting words, the two charged directly toward Song Wan.
“Fuck!”
Song Wan swung the bag in his hand to smash it against one person’s face, but this bag of stuff didn’t have much weight, and hitting the burly man’s face was like scratching an itch.
The two were clearly habitual offenders with clear division of labor; one controlled both of Song Wan’s hands from behind, while the other directly snatched Song Wan’s phone away.
Song Wan gritted his teeth, raised his foot, and kicked the person in front.
“You two bastard scum!”
All his net worth was currently in his phone. If it were really stolen, tomorrow he wouldn’t even be able to afford a meal.
“Quite a bit of strength, you fucking dare to kick me?” The burly man took a kick from Song Wan and instantly flew into a rage.
He stuffed the snatched phone into his pocket, his knuckles popping with crackling sounds.
Song Wan’s chest heaved violently, his entire body stubborn and unyielding, “Give me back my phone!”
“Once it enters my pocket, it’s my property. Still daring to resist, you really choose to do things the hard way instead of the easy way!”
Seeing that the fist was about to land on Song Wan’s face.
“Swoosh!”
A car was facing the alley entrance directly, its glaring high beams penetrating the entire alley.
The two robbers froze, a look of astonishment flashing across their faces, “What?”
The police here never cared about these things.
The second after the car lights lit up, several well-trained men in black charged in from both ends of the alley.
“Ah!” The man restraining Song Wan hadn’t reacted yet before his arm was grabbed by a man in black and punched.
Seeing that things looked bad, the burly man viciously revealed a knife hidden in his sleeve.
Yet before he could even draw the blade, a man in black accurately grabbed his wrist. Hearing only a crisp snap and a painful scream, his wrist was directly dislocated.
The sound of fists clashing against flesh in the alley lasted for only a few seconds.
The movements of these men in black were ruthless and concise, knocking down both robbers in no time at all.
The two who had been arrogant moments ago were now lying on the ground clutching their painful spots, gasping constantly.
Where on earth did these people come from, and how were they so formidable?
The scene before his eyes made Song Wan’s heart leap in fear. With a pale face, he leaned against the wall and burst into a fit of violent coughing.
Earlier, that strong man had been squeezing his chest tightly with immense strength; he felt like his ribs were almost broken.
A person stepped down from the car parked at the alley entrance.
Song Wan raised his head blankly, but the car lights were too blinding. Even though he squinted, he couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.
He only knew that the person was very tall, and the sound of leather shoes echoed in the alley, giving off an invisible sense of pressure.
“President Gu, how should these two be handled?”
Song Wan’s breathing hitched, and his eyelids twitched.
President Gu? Could it be…
It just so happened that the person walked up to Song Wan, and caught off guard, Song Wan met Gu Jingzhou’s light brown eyes.
H-How is this possible!
As if seeing a ghost, Song Wan’s eyes abruptly widened.
This place was separated from Jingcheng by several hundred kilometers. When he came himself, he took a plane, transferred to a high-speed train, then transferred to a long-distance bus, and finally rode a small tricycle. How could Gu Jingzhou possibly be here!
Yet Gu Jingzhou had indeed appeared.
Gu Jingzhou lowered his gaze to glance at the dust smudged on Song Wan’s face, then passed straight by him, his icy gaze landing on the burly man.
The burly man curled up on the ground, trembling so much he didn’t even dare to take a loud breath.
Gu Jingzhou was brief and to the point, “The item.”
Cold sweat broke out on top of the burly man’s head, and he immediately pulled out the previously stolen phone, extremely obedient.
Gu Jingzhou’s fingers were long and slender, his cool white fingertips tapping the screen once. After confirming the phone wasn’t broken, he handed it to Song Wan.
Song Wan hesitantly took the phone and awkwardly licked his lips, “What a coincidence, you’re here too… Haha.”
Gu Jingzhou replied, “It’s no coincidence, I came here precisely to catch you.”
Song Wan choked, “…”