Chapter 666 - 666 Lin Huayu Goes Missing
Having promised Tianfu not to interfere with the matters of the Shen Family and the Sha Men, Ye Qing suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him.
Recently, the issues concerning Sha Men and the Shen Family had indeed left him feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Now that he suddenly put these matters aside, he finally had time to deal with some other things.
He went to the orphanage in the morning to check on the construction progress. Although it was still uncertain whether the orphanage's approval would come through, construction was to continue. Ye Qing was absolutely determined not to give up on these children.
In the afternoon, Ye Qing had originally planned to visit several venues, but as soon as he returned home at noon, he received a call from Lin Zhen Nan. His daughter, Lin Huayu, had gone missing from her school and was likely kidnapped!
This news took Ye Qing by surprise as well. As the daughter of Shenchuan City's wealthiest man, Lin Huayu had indeed become an enticing target. Ever since Ye Qing came to Shenchuan City, this was already the third such incident she had encountered.
Of course, Lin Zhen Nan had always been careful. He had initially hired Gao Shusen to protect Lin Huayu. After Gao Shusen resigned, Lin Zhen Nan hired several professional bodyguards to protect her. Ye Qing had met those bodyguards before and knew they were quite capable, not easy for anyone to bypass and kidnap Lin Huayu.
The previous two times, Lin Huayu had been kidnapped by the notorious He Ziqiang, which was understandable given his abilities. Although not skilled in combat, he was, after all, a ruthless bandit who had boldly escaped from the encirclement of numerous police in Xiangjiang. His kidnapping Huayu seemed within the realm of possibility. But now that He Ziqiang was dead, who else could have the capability to kidnap Lin Huayu?
Lin Huayu always treated Ye Qing like an older brother, and Ye Qing took great care of this lovely little sister. Thus, upon receiving Lin Zhen Nan's call, Ye Qing didn't even stop for lunch; he drove straight to the school.
The school was in chaos, with the kidnapping of the daughter of Shenchuan City's wealthiest man being no small matter. Zhao Chengshuang had arrived early with his team and had already taken statements from many witnesses. Those bodyguards hired by Lin Zhen Nan stood off to the side, dispirited. During class, three bodyguards were waiting outside the classroom by the flowerbeds for Lin Huayu. However, just before the last class of the noon was to end, all three seemed to have been struck by something small and fell unconscious. When they woke up, Lin Huayu was already gone.
After her last class, Lin Huayu left the classroom as usual. But the bodyguards waiting by the car did not see her approach, meaning she disappeared sometime during that interim.
According to statements from several eyewitness students, halfway to her destination, a handsome man approached Lin Huayu to ask for directions. Afterwards, she seemed to lead the way for him, heading in the direction of the cafeteria. However, no one in the area of the cafeteria saw Lin Huayu there.
These were the testimonies Zhao Chengshuang had gathered from the witnesses after he arrived. He had already arranged everything and dispatched people to thoroughly search the route that Lin Huayu took, as well as the vicinity of the cafeteria. However, after searching twice, he still hadn't found a single clue.
"Was there any car on this road?" Ye Qing asked gravely, considering the possibility that Lin Huayu might have been forced into a car halfway.
"Impossible!" said Zhao Chengshuang shaking his head, "I personally checked, and the road mentioned by the witnesses is all steps; it's simply not possible to park a car there. Moreover, the distance of the road isn't long, only about thirty meters, but there are two bends in the middle with flowerbeds and a pavilion that obstruct the view, which makes it impossible for a car to stop."
"Which road is it?" Ye Qing asked in a stern voice, "Take me there to have a look!"
Zhao Chengshuang didn't delay and hurriedly led Ye Qing to the location. He cared for Lin Huayu and was very worried about her abduction. Moreover, he trusted Ye Qing deeply. Seeing Ye Qing come over, he felt a great sense of relief. In his heart, he believed that only Ye Qing could save Lin Huayu!
Zhao Chengshuang took Ye Qing to the road, which was exactly as he described – a staircase leading downward with several turns mid-way. Alongside the path on one side was a cliff, and on the other, there were flowerbeds and pavilions obstructing the view.
Ye Qing walked back and forth along this road twice. Lin Huayu disappeared during the school's dismissal time, when there surely would be many students around. If Lin Huayu had passed through here, someone would definitely have seen her. However, according to the witnesses, after entering this road, Lin Huayu vanished as if by magic. This seemed far too extraordinary, didn't it?
"Ye Zi, what's your take on this matter?" Zhao Chengshuang asked anxiously, looking at Ye Qing, "It's been almost half an hour since Huayu disappeared. If we don't find her soon, this could be truly dangerous!"
With Lin Huayu's beauty, her kidnapping by anyone was a matter of grave concern. If a little girl like her was defiled due to any delay, that would indeed be a big problem!
Ye Qing was also very anxious in his heart, but he knew very well that anxiety was futile at this time. The more anxious one becomes, the more troublesome it gets; only by staying calm can one think of a way to save someone.
Seeing Ye Qing silent, Zhao Chengshuang looked at the flowerbeds and pavilions on the side of the road and said, "Ye Zi, do you think there could be some kind of underground passageway in these flowerbeds or pavilions? Should I have someone dig through the flowerbeds right now?"
Ye Qing looked at the flower bed and pavilion, then slowly shook his head and said, "The location of this flower bed and pavilion is quite open, and they're very noticeable from the teaching building. If someone were to dig here, it would be easy for people all around to notice. Moreover, these structures are almost built on the middle of the slope, making it very difficult to dig a passage. The area nearby is mostly rocky terrain, and without a crushed stone machine, it's simply not possible to dig a passage here. And if a crushed stone machine were used, how could the people nearby not be aware of it?"
After Ye Qing's analysis, Zhao Chengshuang immediately gave up on the idea, and helplessly said, "If they didn't leave by this road and there's no underground passage, could they have flown away?"
Ye Qing didn't speak but turned to look at the cliff next to them. The school was built at the foot of a mountain, and half of the mountain was cleared to make room for the school, so there were many cliffs nearby. On one side of the road, there were sheer cliffs that were, at the lowest point, more than ten meters off the ground.
After staring at the cliff for a while, Ye Qing suddenly said in a deep voice, "Indeed, they have 'flown'!"
"What?" Zhao Chengshuang looked at Ye Qing in surprise and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Look over there!" Ye Qing pointed, and Zhao Chengshuang followed the direction of his finger and asked, "What are you asking me to look at?"
"There are a few crushed stones on the ground there, but there are no crushed stones anywhere else along this path," Ye Qing said gravely. "Moreover, if you take a closer look at those stones, you'll see that they are the same type of rock as the mountain. This means that these crushed stones have fallen from above. And, this spot is precisely where the view from all around is obstructed—if someone were looking, they wouldn't be able to see this place. So, it's highly likely that they climbed the mountain from here!"
"What?" Zhao Chengshuang widened his eyes in astonishment, glanced at the few crushed stones, then back at Ye Qing, and said, "Come on, don't joke around. Although this road is rarely used, I've figured out that there should still be about two people passing by within a minute. But, have a look at this cliff, it's at least ten meters high at the lowest point. I'm not even talking about how they managed to climb up, but if someone were to climb up from here, how could it be that no one would see them?"
Ye Qing said, "What if the person climbing had moved very quickly, taking less than half a minute to reach the top, just missing the frequency of people passing by?"
"Stop kidding!" Zhao Chengshuang said, "Ye Zi, it's a height of more than ten meters, how could they climb up? Also, even if that guy could scale it, how could Hua Yu climb up? And how could Hua Yu obediently follow him up? Even if Hua Yu were willing to climb, how could she possibly make it in half a minute?"
Ye Qing said, "What if the person carried Hua Yu up on his back?"
"Carried her up?" Zhao Chengshuang scratched his head and quickly shook it, saying, "How could that be possible? Climbing up this cliff is not easy even for one person, let alone carrying another person and climbing up in half a minute. Do you think that's possible?"
"Why couldn't it be possible?" Ye Qing countered. In fact, if he hadn't met skilled people like Cui Yu and Cui Yulong, Ye Qing would have also thought it impossible. But after meeting these experts, Ye Qing was quite clear that such feats weren't impossible.
Furthermore, the person who kidnapped Lin Huayu was able to knock out those three bodyguards without them even realizing, which showed that he was definitely no ordinary man. Climbing such a cliff would definitely not be difficult for him!
"Ye Zi, is this even something humans can do?" Zhao Chengshuang said, "I won't say anything more, but if you can really find someone who can climb it in half a minute, I'll believe you!"
Ye Qing shrugged and said, "Could you help me find a rope, about twenty meters long?"
"What are you going to do?" Zhao Chengshuang asked curiously.
"To make you believe me," Ye Qing replied.
"You… you're going to climb it yourself?" Zhao Chengshuang's eyes widened, but after hesitating for a moment, he still had someone fetch a rope more than twenty meters long.
It was a rope specially used by the police, durable and of sufficient length, very practical. Ye Qing found a steel pipe and tied it to one end of the rope, then walked over to the edge of the cliff and told Zhao Chengshuang, "Step back a bit!"
"What for?" Zhao Chengshuang grumbled, but still moved back with his men.
Ye Qing stood at the base of the cliff, swinging the rope slowly, eyes unwaveringly fixed on a pine tree above the cliff. After about five seconds, Ye Qing suddenly hurled the rope with force!