Chapter 268: The Anticlimactic Kidnapping
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Mr. Chen still wasn’t found in the next two days.
He didn’t take any action, either.
In Songye city, all the people had felt the tension.
The merchants and martial artists had a deeper experience.
Some small groups in the martial arts world were also the main focus.
Those places had been investigated more carefully and the imperial court had really sent a large number of guards this time.
Qiu Ming, who had been following Long, also led his army and partic.i.p.ated in the search.
Two days had pa.s.sed. In the middle of the night, Long slept late, because he took a nap in the afternoon.
Since he didn’t want to sleep at night, he naturally had a wonderful time with his empress.
Long didn’t go to sleep until the small hours of the next day.
When he finally let go of s.h.i.+ with great satisfaction, he seemed to hear the rooster crowing outside.
In fact, the rooster didn’t only crow at dawn. Sometimes it also crowed at night.
Long was very satisfied, while s.h.i.+ had been exhausted.
Seeing that his empress was lying on the bed weakly, Long wanted to do it again.
But Long knew that he should restrain himself.
So, he wiped s.h.i.+’s body with hot water, which had been prepared earlier. Long also took a bath himself and then put on new underwear before going to bed.
s.h.i.+ had long been drowsy. Long held his empress in his arms and fell asleep with satisfaction…
Long had planned for the next day. He thought that he could sleep until the lunch time, but things would always go contrary to his wishes.
Just after Long fell asleep, a Shadow Guardian appeared.
Both Long and s.h.i.+ were awakened.
The Shadow Guardian said directly, “Two masters, Mr. Song was kidnapped.”
“What?” Long and s.h.i.+ were both shocked and immediately sat up from the bed.
If it weren’t for an emergency, the Shadow Guardian wouldn’t dare to bother them at this hour.
“Who did it?” s.h.i.+ asked in a deep voice.
Ying Feng said, “Mr. Chen. He also left a note.”
“Where is it?” Long asked immediately.
Ying Feng took it out.
Long didn’t have the ability to see things clearly in complete darkness, so he didn’t know what was written on the note.
He wanted to ask the Shadow Guardian to light the candle, but something suddenly occurred to him, so he waved his hand and said, “All right, you can leave now.”
“Yes.” Ying Feng left soon.
Long went to light the candle himself. Then, he sat back on the bed and opened the note.
“Your Majesties, let’s meet at midnight by Songye River. Otherwise, I’m afraid Song Qingtian will be killed.”
Long’s face darkened at once. “This man is so bold!”
s.h.i.+ looked very cold. “Mhmm.”
Long took a deep breath. “At midnight. Time is running out.”
s.h.i.+ said calmly, “I’ll go take a look.”
Long took his hand. “You’ll go?”
s.h.i.+ nodded. “I must go there to meet him in person. I think he’s been driven into a corner.”
“He must be desperate. But why did he kidnap Song Qingtian?”
“He asked us to meet him, so it must have something to do with us. What do you think?” s.h.i.+ quickly put on his clothes while speaking.
“Qingzhou, what do you mean?” Long was also wearing clothes while talking to s.h.i.+.
Looking at Long’s reaction, s.h.i.+ understood that Long wanted to go with him.
s.h.i.+ pursed his lips and said, “We can ask a Shadow Guardian to be disguised as you.”
Long shook his head. “I want to go with you.”
s.h.i.+ frowned.
When Long was about to say something more, Liu and Ouyang arrived.
Liu said directly, “We’ve heard that Mr. Song was kidnapped. Long Xiaoyuan, you can’t go.”
Long looked at Liu with a frown. “Why can’t I?”
“Mr. Chen is an expert on poison. You’re not that powerful and the poison is too dangerous. Moreover, it’s night now and we can’t see clearly. Don’t run the risk. You can stay with the Shadow Guardians to a.s.sist us.”
Long carefully thought about what Liu had said… Well, he had to admit that Liu was right.
So Long said, “Okay, I will stay with the Shadow Guardians.”
s.h.i.+ also felt relieved.
Later, a group of people quickly went to Songye River.
Ying Qiu stayed and dispatched the army to surround the river.
Moreover, a Shadow Guardians had posed as Long and left with s.h.i.+.
When the group arrived at Songye River, they saw a bonfire there.
Six people were standing by the fire.
And a person in a black robe was surrounded by them.
That man was wrapped all over, leaving only a pair of eyes.
Next to the black-robed man was sitting a man, who was motionless, and there was no rope on his body. That man was undoubtedly Song Qingtian.
The reason why Mr. Song didn’t move was because his acupoint had been hit!
The arrival of s.h.i.+ and his men naturally caused those people to react immediately.
Except for those people by the fire, s.h.i.+ didn’t see anyone else.
By contrast, Long had hundreds of Shadow Guardians with him!
These people, however, showed up audaciously.
Did they have some people to rely on? Why were they so bold? Just because they kidnapped Mr. Song?
If Mr. Song wasn’t an old friend of s.h.i.+’s father, s.h.i.+ wouldn’t go there!
It was impossible for those people to threaten the imperial court with Mr. Song!
s.h.i.+ and the Shadow Guardian who was disguised as Long didn’t move, while Liu stepped forward.
“Are you Mr. Chen?”
The black-robed man turned to look to Liu. “My name is Chen Mengxing. Doctor Liu, your reputation precedes you.”
Liu raised his eyebrows. “I’m flattered.”
Chen also glanced in s.h.i.+’s direction. “Empress, you’re also here. I’m surprised.”
s.h.i.+ walked forward coldly and stopped by Liu’s side.
Liu said, “Mr. Chen, why are you against the imperial court?”
Chen glanced at Liu and sneered, “Doctor Liu, why do you help the imperial court?”
Liu shrugged. “I naturally hope… our nation is peaceful. Mr. Chen, you seem to want chaos.”
Chen sneered again. “Yes, I want chaos in this nation. Don’t you think… that’s fun?”
“Fun?” Coldness filled Liu’s eyes. “So many people have been dead. Is that fun?”
Chen waved his hand. “We’re serving different masters, so there’s no need to talk about it. I have no interest in Mr. Song. Since the empress has come as promised, I can’t go back on my word. I’ll return this man to you.”
Chen finished speaking and waved his hand. Then, Mr. Song was thrown towards Liu.
Liu didn’t dare to be rude and hurriedly caught him.
Now that Liu knew that Mr. Chen was a master of poison, Liu would definitely have made preparations before coming here.
He wore special gloves just for fear that there was poison on Mr. Song’s body.
After catching Mr. Song, Liu quickly felt his pulse and found nothing wrong, so he asked the Shadow Guardians to take care of him.
The Shadow Guardians took Mr. Song away.
Liu looked at Chen and planned to take action.
Just then, Chen suddenly laughed. He took out a smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it towards Liu and s.h.i.+.
Liu shouted immediately, “Watch out!”
It was so sudden and everyone reacted at once.
When the smoke dissipated, Chen had jumped into Songye River with his men.
The current was swift at night and there was also undercurrent.
The undercurrent could bring people to many different places.
Long had experienced it earlier.
Both s.h.i.+ and Liu rushed to the bank.
“Shall we jump down?” Liu looked at s.h.i.+.
s.h.i.+ said calmly, “It’s no use doing that.”
That was right, but seeing those people escape like this was really disappointing.
“Mr. Song needs a thorough examination. The Shadow Guardians who touched him earlier should also be isolated for an examination. I don’t think Chen Mengxing has done nothing to Mr. Song.”
“Right.” Liu nodded. “I’m also a little worried. He returned Mr. Song so easily and asked you to come here, saying that he just wanted to see you. I don’t think he has told the truth.”
s.h.i.+ asked some Shadow Guardians to stay where they were.
If Chen came up from here, he would be surrounded by the Shadow Guardians.
Even if the Shadow Guardians couldn’t arrest him, they could still know his whereabouts.
Long and his men went back, while Mr. Song was taken away by Liu…
Back in the house, Long approached s.h.i.+. “Qingzhou, don’t worry. Mr. Song will be fine.”
s.h.i.+ let a long breath out and nodded. “Mhmm.”
The next day, Long and s.h.i.+ got up very early in the morning.
They thought that Mr. Chen’s action last night was anticlimactic.
They didn’t fight. He just set off a smoke bomb and also returned Mr. Song to them.
Long and s.h.i.+ were very confused. It was really anticlimactic.
Chen had already used tactics to make both the emperor and the empress go there, but why did he do nothing?
Why did he just run away like that?
Things were certainly not that simple. It wasn’t that Long and s.h.i.+ liked conspiracy theories. They just thought that since Mr. Chen could hold such a high position in Eastern Darkness, he definitely wouldn’t be easy to deal with!
Moreover, as an expert on poison and dirty tricks, all those people in Quanzhou did his bidding.
How could the imperial court treat such a person lightly?
“Where is Liu Suifeng?” Long asked after walking out the door.
“He hasn’t come back yet,” Ying Feng replied.
“Oh?” Long raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t he come back last night?”
“No, he didn’t.”
Long frowned and looked at s.h.i.+ who was next to him. “Qingzhou…”
s.h.i.+ asked Ying Feng, “Where are they?”
Ying Feng told them an address.
Long said, “Are we going to take a look?”
s.h.i.+ shook his head. “No need. Liu Suifeng will let us know if there is a result. Chen Mengxing’s behavior was so weird last night. Let’s wait until Liu Suifeng is sure that there is no problem with Mr. Song.”
“You are right. Safety is the top priority,” Long finally said.
s.h.i.+ nodded.
Later, Long asked the Shadow Guardians to prepare breakfast. After breakfast was delivered, Long took s.h.i.+ to the dining room.
While they were eating, Ouyang came back.
Ouyang left with Liu the previous night, but Liu didn’t come back with him.
Long immediately put down his chopsticks. Instead of asking about Liu, Long said, “Have you had breakfast? Let’s eat together.”
Ouyang shook his head. “No hurry. I’m here to borrow the poisonous insect.”
“What?” Long was stunned. “Is it very serious?”
“It’s a bit weird indeed. Suifeng asked me to borrow the poisonous insect. Fortunately, the insect isn’t in anyone’s body now, otherwise it wouldn’t be of great use,” Ouyang said.
s.h.i.+ pursed his lips, thinking that he hadn’t put the poisonous insect into Long’s body just because of that evil object!