Reborn: Back to the 1980s Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Kidnapping

Guan Yuan looked amusedly at Chanchan, who was asleep and blowing snot bubbles. He snorted. "You little thing, trying to fight me? Don't you know whose child you are!"

Before long, Chanchan was about to turn one month old. As the little one grew, Guan Yuan discovered that besides being unusually obsessed with food, he was also a little chatterbox. Whenever his eyes were open, he would "talk" non-stop.

"Ooh... ah..." Chanchan lay in Guan Yuan's arms, pointing at who-knows-what, babbling incessantly. "Mm... that's the window... mm... I know..." But it wasn't enough for him to chatter alone—someone had to respond, or he would start crying. With no other choice, Guan Yuan had to respond from time to time, his eyes on his book while absentmindedly humming and hawing.

Thankfully, the little one didn't understand anything yet and had no idea what his dad was saying. As long as someone responded, he was happy.

When it was time for milk, Chanchan stopped chattering with his dad. But Guan Yuan was still reading. Chanchan waited a while and realized his dad wasn't making any move to prepare his milk, so he started whimpering.

Guan Yuan snapped back to attention. One look at Chanchan and he knew what the little one wanted. "Alright, alright, you little thing." He told the nanny to prepare the milk and bring it over. Before Guan Yuan could even bring the bottle to Chanchan's mouth, Chanchan eagerly reached out both little paws and grabbed the bottle, then started gulping down the milk.

Guan Yuan steadied the bottle for him. "I know, I know, no one's going to steal it from you. Why are you drinking so fast? Because of you, I can't go anywhere these days. If you dare to be unfilial to me when you grow up, I'll break your legs." He laughed at his own words and lovingly kissed Chanchan's little cheek.

Chanchan had no idea what his dad was saying. He drank to his heart's content, his eyes eventually squinting shut with satisfaction. The milk was made with water from Guan Yuan's space—even adults loved it, let alone a baby.

Guan Yuan checked his watch. Zhao Shenggu should be home from work soon. For the past month, Zhao Shenggu had been leaving work early, and it was almost four o'clock now.

But Guan Yuan waited until five o'clock, and Zhao Shenggu still hadn't come home.

Zhao Shenggu had indeed been getting ready to leave work around four-thirty. After finishing his coffee, he had his secretary file away the documents, then took the elevator down to the underground garage.

In the elevator, Zhao Shenggu felt a little dizzy. He thought it was just the elevator and shook his head, continuing on. But his head got dizzier and dizzier, and even his steps started to falter. Zhao Shenggu sensed something was wrong and immediately reached for the phone in his pocket. Just then, Wu Runduo's voice came from behind: "Shenggu, what a coincidence!"

Zhao Shenggu had no energy to waste on him and tried to keep dialing. Wu Runduo darted over and pressed down on Zhao Shenggu's hand holding the phone, asking with a concerned face, "What's wrong, Shenggu? Are you feeling unwell?"

"What do you want!" Zhao Shenggu was getting sleepier and sleepier. He gritted his teeth and hissed. If this was happening to him, and Wu Runduo just happened to appear right now — what else was there to figure out?

Hearing Zhao Shenggu say this, Wu Runduo knew his scheme had been exposed. But instead, he felt excited. He gazed at Zhao Shenggu with infatuation: "As expected of Shenggu—you figured out so quickly that it was me. Then tell me, what do I want!" He reached out and stroked Zhao Shenggu's cheeks with both hands. "Shenggu, do you know how much I like you? But you've never seen me. All you see is that worthless piece of trash. But soon, you'll be mine."

Before losing consciousness, Zhao Shenggu pressed a key on his phone by memory.

Guan Yuan was at home waiting for Zhao Shenggu. He kept feeling uneasy, a nagging sense that something was wrong. Just then, his phone rang. Guan Yuan quickly answered, but there was no one speaking on the other end. "Hello? Brother, brother..." He wanted to say more, but the call disconnected.

Zhao Shenggu had already passed out. Wu Runduo helped him into the car. The phone in his pocket had connected for a moment, but as Wu Runduo was loading him into the car, it brushed against the car and the call cut off.

Guan Yuan listened to the busy tone on the other end, and his heart started to race. He knew that if nothing had happened, Zhao Shenggu would never hang up on him.

Guan Yuan's heart suddenly pounded violently. He held Chanchan, and Chanchan let out a little babble, his small hand reaching up to touch Guan Yuan's trembling hand. The soft touch of the baby brought Guan Yuan back to his senses. The child and his brother both needed him. Guan Yuan forced himself to calm down.

Suddenly thinking of something, Guan Yuan opened his phone. Recently, Yuangu had been developing a phone tracking system. With the data from Guan Yuan's space, the finished product had already been developed. The day it came out, Zhao Shenggu had installed it on both Guan Yuan's phone and his own. It hadn't appeared on the market yet—apart from the two of them and the Yuangu researchers, no one knew about it.

Zhao Shenggu had originally installed it because he was afraid something might happen to Guan Yuan. He never expected that now Guan Yuan would have to rely on it to save him.

Guan Yuan opened the tracking system. What he feared most was that Zhao Shenggu's phone had already been thrown away or destroyed. He opened the system and saw that the red dot was moving at high speed. Guan Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness—at least they knew where Zhao Shenggu was.

Guan Yuan immediately called his people and also reported to the police. He didn't know who the other party was or how many people they had. His own people might not be able to handle it. When the police heard that the head of Yuangu was in trouble, they trembled with fear. Oh heavens, it was this ancestor! If something happened to him, the higher-ups would have their heads.

Not daring to be careless, they immediately reported to their superiors. When the higher-ups heard, they took it very seriously and reported it up through every level. Who didn't know Zhao Shenggu? The common people and lower-level officials knew that Zhao Shenggu was formidable—extremely formidable. But what he actually represented, only the people at the top knew. China absolutely could not let anything happen to Zhao Shenggu. The highest levels even considered the possibility of a foreign assassination.

The high-level officials immediately decided to seal off the entire city. The kidnappers must not be allowed to escape Huaguo, and Zhao Shenggu must not be harmed in the slightest.

The entire city immediately went into action, especially the customs checkpoint, which was controlled with particular strictness.

Guan Yuan handed Chanchan to the nanny and led his people in hot pursuit. Chanchan seemed to know that now was not the time to cry and fuss—he was especially good, not making a single sound even when he was handed to the nanny.

Guan Yuan only took half his people, leaving the other half to protect Chanchan. Zhao Shenggu's situation was still unclear—he couldn't let anything happen to Chanchan too.

On the way, Guan Yuan communicated with the police. When they learned that Guan Yuan's side could track Zhao Shenggu's movements, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At least they weren't completely in the dark.

Wu Runduo had already taken Zhao Shenggu to the outskirts of capital. Soon they saw an abandoned warehouse, with a helicopter parked in front of it.

Five muscular men stood beside the helicopter, each holding a gun. Without exception, they were all foreigners. When the leader saw Wu Runduo's car drive up, he immediately laughed out loud.

Two men behind him helped support Zhao Shenggu. "Wu, I knew you wouldn't let us down. You've done a great service this time. When we go back, the higher-ups will definitely reward you."

Wu Runduo grunted in acknowledgment. "The most important thing is that you don't forget what you promised me—you can't harm Shenggu."

The leader laughed loudly. "Of course! What we want is Mr. Zhao's brain—how could we harm him? We'll treat him with great respect. And as for your relationship with him, the higher-ups will support it too."

Only then did Wu Runduo smile.

He walked close to Zhao Shenggu and touched his face with both hands. "Shenggu, are you happy? We're about to be together, and that annoying bastard will never separate us again."

The foreigners could understand Chinese—otherwise they would never have been sent on such an important mission. One of the men curled his lip in disdain.

"Alright, let's move fast—the longer we wait, the more trouble we'll have." The leader had just finished speaking when his face immediately tensed up. Soon his feeling was confirmed—Guan Yuan had already brought his people to surround them completely.

And more police kept swarming in. Helicopters appeared in the sky as well. They were now completely surrounded.

The men, including Wu Runduo, all turned pale. "What's going on? How did they get here so fast? Damn it, how did they know where we are?"

"Listen up in there! Release the hostage and we'll let you leave safely. Otherwise, you'll never take a single step out of Huaguo!"

The leader immediately pressed his gun against Zhao Shenggu's head. "Let us go, or we don't mind taking this gentleman with us to death."

Guan Yuan looked at the gun pressed to Zhao Shenggu's head and his face went pale. He saw Wu Runduo beside Zhao Shenggu and wished he could shoot him dead on the spot. If he had known this fly would cause so much trouble, he would have dealt with him quietly no matter what it took!

Now the two sides were at a standoff. The Huaguo side didn't dare make any rash moves, afraid the kidnappers would throw caution to the wind and kill the hostage. Wu Runduo's side, meanwhile, knew that Zhao Shenggu was their protective talisman—if anything happened to him, Huaguo would probably tear them limb from limb.

The standoff lasted for over two hours. Both sides kept negotiating. Guan Yuan kept his eyes fixed tightly on Zhao Shenggu. Suddenly, he saw Zhao Shenggu's eyelids twitch, then go still again. But Guan Yuan had been watching Zhao Shenggu without blinking—he knew Zhao Shenggu had woken up.

Sure enough, after a moment Zhao Shenggu discreetly made a hand gesture. Guan Yuan understood — it meant they should make their move.

Guan Yuan gave a look to the bodyguards beside him. The people around him were all trained by them personally—far more reliable than those uniformed police officers.

The bodyguards each took aim at their targets. The Huaguo police were still haggling with the other side. Guan Yuan, seizing the moment when no one was paying attention to his side, decisively gave the order to fire.

"Brother!" Guan Yuan shouted the instant the shots rang out. Zhao Shenggu dropped to the ground at once. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time everyone came to their senses, all the kidnappers were twitching on the floor. Only Wu Runduo was left, trembling and crouching on the ground with his head in his hands.