Chapter 44
It was already the second day of Zhuang Chi's disappearance.
The area had been cordoned off with police tape. Investigators of all kinds were busy trying to find some clue to Zhuang Chi's whereabouts, but so far, they had come up with nothing. Lou Che had managed to restore a small segment of the damaged surveillance footage, which captured the scene of Zhuang Chi being chased by several unidentified individuals. The police took it very seriously, but whether it was because the individuals' facial features were too common or for some other reason, they had yet to find any of them in real life.
Ling Jing watched the people moving about and talking fruitlessly inside the cordon from a distance and muttered, “...A bunch of useless trash.”
Including herself, Ling Jing thought. She heard that Zhuang Chi's parents would be arriving soon, and she felt it would be completely understandable if they yelled at her. If only she had arrived a little earlier that day, could she have saved Zhuang Chi? Perhaps Zhuang Chi was captured just a minute before she arrived. If she...
They had spent some time determining the location from the photo Zhuang Chi had sent. The place was too remote, and in the end, it was Lou Che, who had been at the school the longest, who helped identify it. Then, a group of them rushed over without stopping, not encountering a single person on the way. When they called Zhuang Chi's phone number, it was Gu Ximian who answered. When Ling Jing pushed the door open, she only saw Gu Ximian hugging the bear mascot costume. The first words out of her mouth upon seeing them were: ‘Where’s Zhuang Chi?’
After that... after that, they searched almost the entire school but couldn't find Zhuang Chi.
Gu Ximian had inhaled an unknown drug. According to the doctor, she should have stayed in the hospital for observation, but Gu Ximian absolutely refused. After two shots of inhibitors, she immediately left the hospital. The police were called, and the people they brought searched St. Blaisedon inch by inch. St. Blaisedon was too large, and it wasn't until late at night that they could finally confirm that Zhuang Chi was no longer on campus.
Ling Jing had never seen a Gu Ximian like that. She had made Gu Ximian angry in the past, but that was nothing compared to the Gu Ximian of that moment. With that pale and stern expression, Gu Ximian entered the principal's office. All parties related to the incident were gathered in the room, and she stood in the center of the crowd, her gaze like a sharp blade of ice.
‘...Olivia.’
Her voice was also steeped in cold, making even Ling Jing, who was just listening, shiver. The one whose name was called, Olivia, must have felt it even more intensely. The princess, her face as white as paper, took a step forward, her lips like wilted flower petals. But Gu Ximian, as if not seeing her, remained unmoved and only said: ‘Where are your bodyguards? Call them all over.’
Olivia's breath hitched, and her eyes slowly widened.
The people around them had already understood Gu Ximian's meaning. For a moment, they looked at each other in dismay. Even Ling Jing found it shockingly hard to speak. It was already late at night. Ling Jing knew Olivia had been busy helping out all along. She had seen tears welling up in Olivia's eyes several times, only held back by gritted teeth, a sight that made her own nose tingle with sadness. She felt it was a genuine concern that couldn't be faked—but Gu Ximian seemed to think otherwise. She was suspecting Olivia.
‘What is the meaning of this?’
Before Olivia could speak, her sister Lily spoke up first. Ling Jing wasn't very familiar with this person, only feeling that her expression was far calmer and more composed than anyone else present. Even facing such a Gu Ximian, she could calmly ask: ‘Are you suspecting our bodyguards kidnapped Zhuang Chi?’
Gu Ximian's gaze shifted slightly, turning to look at Lily, her eyes pitch black.
‘Call all your bodyguards over.’ As if she hadn't heard Lily's words, Gu Ximian even curved her lips into a smile and said in a gentle voice, ‘Don't make me say it a third time.’
Although her voice was much gentler than before, Ling Jing felt a sudden chill, and the back of her neck stiffened, too scared to move. Lily also fell silent, frowning slightly. It was Olivia who broke the stalemate, responding softly: ‘...Okay, please wait a moment.’
With that, she walked out the door and returned shortly with more than a dozen sturdy Alphas. The bodyguards from A Country all had foreign faces with deep-set eyes and high noses, and they were all dressed in exquisite, light-coffee-colored suits. Gu Ximian silently looked them over one by one, her profound gaze making the Alphas subconsciously avoid her eyes. She examined them carefully like this for a long time, and just when Ling Jing felt she could no longer bear the oppressive silence, Gu Ximian finally took a step back.
‘Is this all of them?’
She asked, and Olivia, wringing her hands anxiously, replied in a low voice: ‘Yes, Lily didn't bring many people...’
‘...’ Gu Ximian was silent for a long moment. Ling Jing saw her lips pressed into a white line. Then she looked at Lily, ‘Is that so?’
‘...Yes.’ Seemingly having recovered, Lily quickly nodded in agreement, even tilting her head up slightly in a provocative manner. ‘Finished looking? Are you satisfied? Since you didn't find the ‘culprit’ you were looking for among my bodyguards, shouldn't you apologize to my sister—’
‘Lily!’
Before she could finish, Olivia cut her off with a sharp reprimand. It was the first time Ling Jing had seen the usually gentle and smiling princess get so angry, revealing some of the intimidating power of a high-grade Alpha. But Olivia didn't want to scold her sister in front of so many people. She quickly lowered her eyes and turned to apologize to Gu Ximian: ‘...I'm sorry, it's Lily's fault. She's young, I'll have a good talk with her later.’
‘I know what you mean. The person who asked you to go there pretended to be me. It's hard to believe it's a coincidence, so it's normal for you to think this matter is related to me.’ As Olivia spoke, her voice trembled more and more. She had to stop and take a deep breath. When she looked up again, her azure eyes were filled with sincerity and determination. ‘All I can do now is promise you, Gu Ximian, that I absolutely did not do such a thing. I like you very much, and I also like Zhuang Chi very much. I—’
‘—That's enough.’ Gu Ximian abruptly cut her off. She looked at Olivia, her tone very flat. ‘Until Zhuang Chi returns, no amount of such guarantees is of any use.’
‘And, although I didn't see anyone familiar among these people, it doesn't mean I'm no longer suspicious. It's not unusual for a culprit to prepare for an inspection in advance.’
As Gu Ximian spoke, her gaze shifted slightly and fell on Lily, lingering for a few seconds before slowly sweeping over the surrounding people. She said softly, ‘...Whoever it is, be prepared for me to come find you.’
Ling Jing was intimidated by the coldness in her words and also widened her eyes, looking from person to person, trying to find someone with a guilty expression. Gu Ximian fell silent for a long moment, then suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly and lowered her eyes.
‘...At this point,’ she said softly, as if to herself, and only Ling Jing and a few others who were close could hear what she was muttering, ‘am I not half a culprit myself?’
It was cryptic, and Ling Jing couldn't press for an explanation because as soon as Gu Ximian said this, her body swayed, and she collapsed.
It was only to be expected. Gu Ximian had also suffered a great ordeal that day and had been rushing around without a moment's rest. She was already at the end of her rope. She was quickly taken away by her father, and from that night until now, Ling Jing had not seen Gu Ximian again.
She stopped coming to class, and no one answered her messages or calls. For a moment, Ling Jing even thought something else had happened to Gu Ximian. It wasn't until An Chen, who was closer to the Gu family, brought back news that Gu Ximian was just busy investigating the matter that Ling Jing breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, the heavy stone in her chest still hung there, bringing with it an ever-increasing weight of worry.
...Zhuang Chi, Zhuang Chi. Ling Jing repeated in her heart. Where are you? Please, please be okay.
She had silently repeated these words more than a hundred times in the past two days, and she was inexplicably certain that Gu Ximian must have repeated them even more. Ling Jing took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. It was gray and overcast, without even a sun. The autumn wind was also a bit cold, a sign that it was about to rain.
A storm was brewing.
Zhuang Chi was rummaging everywhere in the room.
...It's no use. There's nothing useful at all. She did find the neck ring that had been taken off her in the closet, but she couldn't put it on now. Returning empty-handed, Zhuang Chi sighed deeply and sat down on the chair in frustration.
She was, of course, talking about things that could help her escape. The longer this dragged on, the worse it would be, not to mention she had been unconscious for a whole day. Zhuang Chi felt restless just thinking about the chaos at school. Figuring she had nothing better to do while stuck here, she got up and started rummaging around again. She had actually searched the room thoroughly yesterday, but she couldn't give up hope today. The result was still the same.
She wondered if there were cameras in the room. Probably, Zhuang Chi thought. After all, Lily had come over very quickly after she woke up yesterday, which didn't feel like a coincidence.
Regarding Lily, the first thing she could be sure of was: it was basically impossible to solve the problem through communication.
Zhuang Chi had tried her best to have a conversation with Lily yesterday and attempted to glean some information, but... how to put it, it was a bit strange.
For example, when Zhuang Chi boldly continued to ask Lily why she had attacked Gu Ximian, Lily, who had previously avoided the question, finally deigned to answer her, but her reply was: ‘What other reason could there be? Of course, it's because my sister was about to fall in love with her. Weren't they on the verge of discussing marriage?’
...Completely wrong. Zhuang Chi was baffled, wondering where Lily had heard all this. She wasn't some bystander who only had access to rumors. As Olivia's close sister, why was her perception so drastically different from reality?
Zhuang Chi wanted to explain things clearly to her, but for some reason, Lily seemed to truly believe this version of events. She grew impatient after listening to a few sentences of her explanation, scolding her for talking nonsense to get away. Zhuang Chi could only give up for the time being and turned to ask if she had done similar things before. She had a feeling that what Olivia had said before about "for some reason, the search for a fiancée is never smooth" might have something to do with Lily. And Lily honestly admitted it, saying matter-of-factly: ‘But this is the first time I've kidnapped someone.’
‘The people who had dealings with my sister before were all from wealthy or noble backgrounds. Making a big scene would cause problems. Besides, those people were cowards. A little scare or some small tricks were enough.’ Lily said so, and when Zhuang Chi raised the question that "Gu Ximian's background is also very powerful," she unexpectedly frowned with a hint of confusion. ‘...Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case. But I came up with this idea right away, maybe because I particularly dislike Gu Ximian?’
Afterward, she muttered to herself things like "but since it's you I've kidnapped now, that's not a problem," which was infuriating to hear. But Zhuang Chi was more concerned about Lily's hint of confusion—did she not think things through before making a decision? Although she had a record of misdeeds, they sounded like minor pranks. Why did it suddenly escalate to a criminal act when it came to Gu Ximian? The reason just didn't hold up!
...And the methods she used were almost identical to the kidnapping she wrote about in her novel. It was unlikely to be a mere coincidence. The more Zhuang Chi thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. This sense of strangeness even overshadowed her fear of being kidnapped, making her ponder from last night until today. But it was really hard to find a reasonable explanation. It was as if the character had some kind of bug—
At that moment, there were two knocks on the door again. Without waiting for her to respond, she heard Lily say, "I'm coming in," as she opened the door—so polite, but not really. Zhuang Chi stood up warily, and Lily glanced at her faintly. "Finished searching already? Did you find what you need?"
So she saw everything. Zhuang Chi pressed her lips together, her gaze shifting to the door that was ajar behind Lily. Just before it closed, she caught a glimpse of the outside and could see two figures guarding the entrance. Zhuang Chi sighed inwardly, thinking that at this rate, even if she ignored the collar on her neck and managed to subdue Lily and run out, she would probably be pushed back by the people at the door.
Putting aside the irrationality of this whole affair, the most urgent task now was to figure out a way to deal with being locked up. After dropping such a problematic statement yesterday, Lily didn't mention what she actually planned to do, leaving Zhuang Chi on edge. She did try to tell Lily that she and Gu Ximian were just friends, but Lily still looked like she didn't believe a word of it and retorted: ‘If that's really the case, then you're useless. Should I just dispose of you now?’
...How could a girl a year or two younger than her talk about "disposing" of people so casually? It was truly frightening. So Zhuang Chi silently shut her mouth.
She said she wanted to "take away someone important to Gu Ximian," but what could Lily, an Omega, do to her, an Alpha... If an Alpha was unwilling, an Omega couldn't force them to mark her, right? Of course, Zhuang Chi didn't think Lily was planning that. Who would sacrifice their entire life just to get revenge on someone else? No matter how strange Lily was, she couldn't be that irrational... right?
Her heart pounding due to Lily's reappearance, Zhuang Chi warily retreated away from her. Lily saw it all and let out a soft laugh.
"As an Alpha, your personality is really gentle enough," she said faintly. "From the moment you woke up until now, you haven't lost your temper and smashed things, nor have you tried to attack me. You haven't even cursed me once. It's rare to see an Alpha as non-aggressive as you..."
Lily paused, her voice suddenly becoming softer: "...A little like my sister."
Alarm bells instinctively rang in Zhuang Chi's mind. She didn't know what Lily meant by this, but she saw Lily lower her eyes after speaking, pondering for a long while before looking at her again. Her deep blue eyes held an emotion that made her heart pound with fear.
"...Zhuang Chi," Lily, unaware of her current terror, smiled after calling her name, like a pure and innocent lily flower. "I don't actually dislike you. From your looks to your personality, you're a pretty good person."
She was suddenly praised, but it didn't make Zhuang Chi happy. She silently waited for the rest of Lily's words and, as expected, heard her change the subject: "So... if you're willing to listen to me, let's get along well, how about it?"
The ominous feeling in her heart soared. Even without much hope, Zhuang Chi still asked, "...What do you want to do?"
"Just like I said yesterday," Lily's eyes curved, her voice gentle, "give up Gu Ximian."
"For example... let's start with something simple." She took a recording pen out of her pocket, pressed the button in front of Zhuang Chi without any attempt to hide it, and nodded at her suggestively. "How about you say some bad things about her?"
"..." A wave of speechlessness washed over her. Zhuang Chi closed her eyes and sighed, "...Don't use such childish methods, Lily, you—"
"Of course, you have to start with childish methods. Sometimes they're surprisingly effective."
Unmoved by the rejection, Lily tilted her head. "What if I say—if you don't say bad things about her now, then I will punish you? What will you do?"
Zhuang Chi stiffened, her lips tightening slightly. Lily met her gaze silently for ten seconds, then finally nodded quietly: "I understand. Then there's no other way."
Without giving Zhuang Chi time to react, Lily had already turned and walked out of the room on her own.
The bewildered Zhuang Chi was left alone in the room, her nerves tensed for what might happen next. But for a long while, there was no movement, making her wonder if Lily was just bluffing.
Just then, she suddenly smelled a faint, sweet fragrance.
It was faint at first, but it quickly grew rich at an astonishing rate, cloyingly sweet like heated honey. Zhuang Chi only had to take a few whiffs before she felt the back of her neck slowly heat up. Without time to think, she quickly turned to open the window, but the window that had always opened smoothly was now completely stuck. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull the lock open. Her panicked face was faintly reflected in the glass.
Zhuang Chi futilely slapped the window a few times before stopping when she confirmed it really wouldn't open. Gritting her teeth, she raised a hand to press against the back of her neck and looked up at the quietly operating exhaust vent in the ceiling—which was currently pumping some kind of gas into the room.
...What the hell. Zhuang Chi thought. Lily's punishment... was to pump high-concentration Omega pheromones into her room.
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