"Hmm? Why is the phone turned off? Are they in a meeting?"
Mu Jinyu muttered to herself, feeling that even if they were in a meeting, given their status, they shouldn't need to turn off their phones. She then called Xu Qingya to ask about the situation.
Xu Qingya's phone wasn't turned off, and she was quite surprised to hear Mu Jinyu's inquiry.
"Hmm? Their phones are off? Weren't they supposed to have followed Xiyan to the Capital City just a few days after her group left?"
There was a hint of sourness in Xu Qingya's tone.
After all, she was aware that Gu Xiyan and her group went to the Capital City to attend to her grandfather's funeral, and they went there as granddaughters-in-law.
While Gu Xiyan, Wen Rou, and Mei Yinxue really were with Mu Jinyu, she had no real reason to feel jealous, but Yu Linglong and Lin Qiaoxia were a different story…
She had known Mu Jinyu first, after all!
Why was she the one being left out instead?
This was something Xu Qingya had been struggling with these past few days, unable to put her mind at ease.
She felt that in terms of appearance and figure, she was no less than the others, and she was just as well-behaved as Wen Rou, so why did it end up like this?
When Mu Jinyu heard Xu Qingya's words, her brow furrowed immediately, and she said, "What? They followed them to the Capital City as well? How come I didn't see them at all?"
"What?! What's going on?!" Xu Qingya, who had been feeling somewhat self-pitying, cast aside those emotions and became anxious upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words.
"Didn't they go to the Capital City? I remember them texting me that they were going there, and then there was no further news. I thought they were at the funeral and it wasn't appropriate to keep their phones on, to avoid disturbing anyone…"
"Let's leave it at that for now; I'll go and check it out."
Mu Jinyu, knowing she wouldn't be able to get much information from Xu Qingya, offhandedly made that remark before hanging up and turning to Su Zijin and the others, who looked worried, and said, "I'll go and check it out."
"We should go and see too," Su Zijin quickly said.
"Yes." Mu Jinyu nodded and briskly walked toward the door.
He had a hunch, guessing who might be behind the disappearance of Yu Linglong and the others.
The only ones he had recently offended who possessed the capability for such retaliation were Fallen Splendor and Withered Tree Quest for Spring.
Fallen Splendor currently didn't have a branch in the country and obviously didn't have the reach to manage such a feat, so it must be Withered Tree Quest for Spring.
Withered Tree Quest for Spring, after all, is a massive organization formed by two-thirds of the world's top-grade tycoons, and although it's suppressed by Dragon King Hall in the country, clearly they couldn't eradicate it entirely.
And Mu Jinyu, having taken down the Old Nun and the Charming Daoist Nun not long before, feared they might not be able to touch him and would instead target Gu Xiyan and her group.
At that time, not yet the Dragon King of Dragon King Hall, he couldn't mobilize top experts to protect everyone around him but had Xiang Mantang ask some of his men to protect Gu Xiyan and the women.
At the time, there weren't enough people to go around, naturally, so they hadn't protected Yu Linglong and her group.
After all, in his eyes, they were not his women, and getting them wouldn't be very useful for Withered Tree Quest for Spring unless they were desperate enough to disregard any threats!
But Mu Jinyu had underestimated the desperate madness of Withered Tree Quest for Spring, or perhaps their desperation for Everlasting Life, which led them to actually abduct Yu Linglong and Lin Qiaoxia.
As for Xu Qingya, perhaps because there were many bodyguards from the Xu Family around her, capturing her without making any noise that could be immediately noticed was unlikely, so the people from Withered Tree Quest for Spring didn't try to take her.
"It seems the birthday celebration that day was too high-profile. If not for that, maybe they wouldn't have been captured by Withered Tree Quest for Spring!"
Mu Jinyu walked toward the adjacent villa number two, his eyes flashing coldly, then thought of something and took out his phone to call Shen Shuyao.
Although he seldom contacted Shen Shuyao and their relationship wasn't as close as with Yu Linglong and the others, who knows if Withered Tree Quest for Spring was crazy enough to just snatch anyone connected to him and easy to grab?
And Shen Shuyao was the first to stand up for him when he was ostracized by Lin Pharmaceutical; he still remembered that favor. If something happened to her, he couldn't just ignore it.
"Doot doot doot..."
"Hello?!"
The call connected, and Shen Shuyao's voice came through, slightly surprised.
"Jinyu? Has the sun risen from the west? You're actually calling me? Is there something you need my help with? I'll have to think about it."
"Glad you're okay, hanging up now."
When Mu Jinyu heard Shen Shuyao's energetic voice, he felt relieved. By that time, he had reached the iron gate of Villa number two and, without wasting more words with her, ended the call abruptly.
Shen Shuyao on the other end of the phone,
Clutching her phone, she was full of questions, "???"
After being stunned for a moment, she was infuriated, "What was that? What even was that, it's so nonsensical..."
As she spoke, she came to her senses and muttered to herself, "Glad he's okay..."
Shen Shuyao's eyes lit up, wondering, "Is he showing concern for me? Did he think something happened to me, so he called to check on me?"
"Ah..." Shen Shuyao sighed softly, "Had I known it'd be like this, I would have pretended to be sick."
...
Mu Jinyu didn't bother with what was happening on Shen Shuyao's end; he walked to the entrance of Villa number two, punched through the main door, and hurried inside.
Following the same method, he punched through the villa's gate and, looking inside, saw that it was completely empty, devoid of any sign of life.
At that moment, the loud alarm triggered by Mu Jinyu breaking the door also drew the attention of the security guards.
Leaving Gu Xiyan and the others to handle the security guards who were drawn by the noise, Mu Jinyu stepped inside and saw a cell phone on the living room coffee table.
It had a strange design, unlike the ones Yu Linglong usually used.
Mu Jinyu guessed it must have been left by Withered Tree Quest for Spring for contacting him.
He walked over and reached out to touch the phone. As soon as his fingers brushed the screen, it lit up instantly.
"Chirp chirp!"
A flurry of snowflake patterns flashed by, and then a person wearing a clown mask spoke in an ambiguous tone, tauntingly said, "Dragon King, ah, you've really kept me waiting. Four days, it took you four whole days to finally contact me."
"Where are Yu Linglong and the others?!"
Mu Jinyu, not bothering with idle chat, sternly demanded.
"Chirp chirp!"
The image flickered again, likely disrupted by a special device that even if given to professionals, Mu Jinyu couldn't use to locate his position.
Soon, the image stabilized once more.
But what appeared before Mu Jinyu this time weren't the clowns, but Yu Linglong and Yu Xiuwen tied up, their faces pale, lips cracked, looking as if they hadn't had water for days, along with Lin Qiaoxia and her parents.
"Dragon King, these past days I've been worried that you really are so heartless, that you would watch them starve to death, perish away. I was just thinking about whether I should capture someone else, but you've finally gotten in touch with me, really made me wait!"
The image flashed, and the person with the clown mask appeared again, speaking in a teasing tone to Mu Jinyu.
"What do you want for their release?" Mu Jinyu suppressed the anger in his heart, feigned calm, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Simple, pack up the engraving method for the Spirit Gathering Array and the Spring of Life, and place them at a location I designate. Once I get them, I will release them."