Chapter 443 - Chapter 443: Chapter 443: Investigation Abroad (1/2)

Chapter 443: Chapter 443: Investigation Abroad

Xia Tianhuo nervously said into the phone, “Mom! I am… I am Huohuo! I called this late at night to tell you something important… um… we’ve been kidnapped. I am in Burma now…”

Halfway through speaking, he was hit in the head, almost dropping the phone. Xia Tianhuo hastily said, “I’ve been kidnapped, the kidnappers want five million US dollars. In cash. Oh, and no calling the police… wait, by ‘no calling the police,’ do you mean the local police here or the police back home?”

Xia Tianhuo’s phone was grabbed by the man wearing the Zhu Bajie’s Mask, who said in heavy-accented Mandarin, “Prepare the money within three days. If you dare to call the police, we’ll kill the hostage.”

The person on the other side of the phone finally spoke, “Where is the handover to take place? If it’s in China, there’s no way to prepare that much US dollars within three days… ”

But before she could finish her sentence, the call was cut off.

Xia Tianhuo hurriedly said, “You didn’t even tell her whether to prepare the ransom in China or abroad, how is she supposed to prepare!?”

“Shut up!” The man in the Zhu Bajie’s Mask smacked his head again.

“Bajie, go and get ready to leave.” The man in the Monk Mask said.

“Alright, Brother Kui… uh, alright, Master.” Zhu Bajie’s Mask slipped up and quickly ducked his neck.

The man in the Monk Mask cursed, immediately took off his mask, and threw it at Zhu Bajie’s Mask, kicked him, and walked out of the room.

The man in the Zhu Bajie’s Mask, who’d been kicked, was unhappy. He looked at Xia Tianhuo tied to the chair, re-stuffed the rag into his mouth, kicked him to the ground along with the chair, helped him up, put a hood on him, and then left satisfied.

Xia Tianhuo nearly had the wind knocked out of him by the kick, but he didn’t have the energy to be angry with the kidnapper at that moment. He was trying to remember what he had just said to Old Xia, wondering if his intended message had been received.

But as things stood, he had no choice but to trust Old Xia.

…

When Xiang Kun hurried back to the house he rented in Chongyun Village, he saw Xia Libing sitting in the living room on the first floor, looking tired. In front of her, one “Napoleon Cake” after another co-manifested, some persisting, others disappearing as new cakes appeared.

Hearing the door being opened and looking back to see Xiang Kun, still barefoot and carrying his shoes and clothes, Xia Libing stopped co-manifesting. All the cakes disappeared, and she was so tired that she almost fell asleep on the spot.

However, after closing her eyes for a second, she quickly opened them, took out her phone, and played a recording for Xiang Kun. It was the recording of Xia Tianhuo’s phone call earlier.

As soon as she received the call from Xia Tianhuo and heard his abrupt shout of “Mom,” Xia Libing immediately sensed something was wrong, and hit the record button, recording the whole conversation.

So aside from the first sentence, the rest of the conversation was recorded. Of course, Xia Libing also filled Xiang Kun in on the content of the first sentence.

After listening to the recording, Xiang Kun naturally understood what Old Xia’s emergency situation was.

However, he didn’t immediately comment, but continued to listen as Old Xia explained the situation:

“Judging from my cousin’s character and usual behavior, he didn’t call my uncle and aunt. Instead, he called, disregarding any shame, and called me ‘Mom’, he must have realized something and thought only I could recognize it and save him.”

Xia Libing played the recording again and said, “He called himself ‘Huohuo’, but his actual nickname is ‘Tiantian’ and he was only called that when he was young. As he got older, he didn’t like people calling him by that nickname. If he just wanted me to know who he was, giving his full name would have been more appropriate. So these two words ‘Huohuo’ probably contain some info he wanted me to know, but it should not be complicated. I am guessing it might mean ‘extremely urgent’. He might have realised through some detail that the kidnappers are very brutal and are likely to kill the hostage, regardless of whether they get the ransom;

“Also, listen to this part where he says ‘a very important matter’ and then mentions ‘we were kidnapped’. Although the word ‘we’ was said quickly and softly, it clearly serves a purpose, possibly hinting that he was not alone when kidnapped, or that the kidnappers and he had met or interacted before;

“He said, ‘I temporarily called you’, which sounds odd. This ‘temporarily’ is likely a clue. Since he dared to use my phone number to pretend to be my aunt, it shows he knew that the kidnappers didn’t know much about him or our family, indicating the kidnapping was likely to be a spur-of-the-moment thing;

“My cousin was kidnapped in Burma and is still there now. However, when the kidnappers made their ransom demand, they only said to prepare the money, but didn’t specify whether the ransom should be delivered in China or Burma, which they might not have thought through before;

“The kidnapper was speaking Mandarin, but with a heavy accent. From the accent, it seems like he is from the Gui Hai region.

“I have already called and informed my third uncle about the situation. He will decide how to contact the police, whether or not to ask for Interpol’s help, when to tell my aunt and uncle, and how to prepare the ransom. I have also shared my analysis with them. As the kidnappers might continue to contact me on my mobile number, I need to head to Citong to meet with my third uncle and company. Can you take me there? I’m really tired and can’t drive.”

“Okay.” Xiang Kun nodded, quickly taking a shower and changing his clothes, then got into his pickup truck, taking Old Xia out of the village.

Feeling Old Xia, the co-pilot, was about to fall asleep, Xiang Kun quickly said: “Send me the audio recording file. Also, do you know which city in Burma your cousin was kidnapped?”

While Xia Libing was sending the audio recording, she said, “Based on the entry records my third uncle checked and his spending patterns, he arrived in Myitkyina, Burma, yesterday.”

Xiang Kun nodded and, a few seconds later, said: “Check the earliest flight schedule from Jianzhou City to Nande City.” Nande City is a city very close to the Burma border.

Xia Libing was stunned and asked: “Are you going to Burma?”

“Yes, based on your analysis, your cousin should be in danger now. The kidnappers are likely vicious criminals who could possibly tear up the ransom note even after receiving the ransom. Most importantly, he was kidnapped in Burma, the assistance that domestic police can provide is somewhat limited and delayed, which further increases his danger. Since he asked you for help, believing that you have the ability to save him, we should do our best to rescue him,” Xiang Kun said.

Xia Libing said: “I remember you don’t have a passport, and your Blood-drinking Period is the day after tomorrow… Are you planning to enter the country in an unconventional way?”

Yes, Xiang Kun, a country bumpkin, has never been abroad or even to Hong Kong, so he does not have a passport. Although a passport can be obtained quickly nowadays, and a tourist visa for Burma is not hard to get, he does not have the time to apply.

“I should still have about 40 hours until my normal Blood-drinking Period. If everything goes well, I should have enough time. Plus, I can now suppress my violence by sensing your rationality through my ‘Emotion Infused Objects’. It should be no problem to endure it for an additional 20 hours,” Xiang Kun said.

If an unknown person was kidnapped in Burma, or if one of Old Xia’s distant relatives that Xiang Kun did not know was kidnapped, he would not hesitate to lend a helping hand if he could do so with minimum effort. However, he might not be willing to risk his own safety and travel thousands of miles to a foreign country for a rescue mission.

But he had met Xia Tianhuo. His impression of Old Xia’s cousin, who was half a head taller than him, was quite good – a man with a childlike personality. Since Xia Tianhuo had made a veiled plea for help by calling Old Xia’s cell phone with a ransom demand, Old Xia had already implied his deep involvement in this matter, thus, he had no reason to stand by and watch.

Naturally, Xia Libing hadn’t thought that Xiang Kun was going to go to Burma for a rescue. She initially thought to ask for Xiang Kun’s perspective on things, to see if there were any oversight or inappropriate judgement, given that Xiang Kun’s ability of calculation and extrapolation was already superhuman. Even so, knowing that Xiang Kun had made this decision after careful thought and planning, and with a proper plan in place, she nodded and asked:

“Is there anything you need me to do?”

Xiang Kun said: “Keep me informed of any new information you get about your cousin and the kidnappers.”

“Okay.”

Xiang Kun initially wanted to briefly tell Old Xia about his encounter in the northern mountain area of Wushu Mountain that night, but seeing how exhausted and drained she was, he refrained from speaking when she started dozing off within two seconds of him stopping to talk.

When they reached Jianzhou City in the early morning around seven am, Xiang Kun drove Old Xia straight to the bus station, bought her a ticket for the next bus to Citong, said goodbye to her and then headed to the airport.

He bought the ticket for the earliest flight and, while waiting for boarding, he had Alice process the call made to Old Xia, trying to discern the background noise, but it was very quiet, giving him no specific sound to indicate the location.

Then he asked Alice to scour the internet to track Xia Tianhuo’s movements in Myitkyina, Burma, from yesterday, trying to see who he had been in contact with, what services he had used and how his location had changed. He also tried to trace the number that had called Old Xia’s cell phone to see if it would yield any useful information.

At such times, Xiang Kun naturally gave Alice the highest level of authority and freedom. As experience taught him, Alice was invincible on the internet, in the world of data.

He reached a city on the southwest border at noon. Xiang Kun then slipped off the paved road, took off his shoes and, barefooted, headed towards the difficult terrain.

He had done his research earlier and knew which areas cut-off by cliffs and deep mountains were easy to cross the border. Those areas were impassable for ordinary people, but were not obstacles for him, he traversed them with ease.

With his superb senses, he was able to avoid others in the mountains, and quickly entered Burmese territory.

He moved quickly through the mountains, but couldn’t sprint openly on the road after leaving the mountains, so he put on his shoes and hitched a ride.

This time he slightly altered his image for the journey. He didn’t wear glasses, wore a dark cap and looked like an ordinary tourist.

To facilitate tourists, all industries in Burma can accept RMB directly, so Xiang Kun didn’t need to exchange for Myanmar Kyat.

To maintain contact with Old Xia and get Alice’s information support, Xiang Kun enabled international roaming on his phone.

By the time Xiang Kun reached Myitkyina, the city where Xia Tianhuo was last seen before the kidnapping, in the evening, he had received some latest news from Xia.

Xia Tianhuo had decided to go to Myitkyina yesterday to meet a client named Teng Li to discuss some business issues that had arisen. This client happened to be the son of a Burmese tycoon. However, according to the latest news today, Teng Li died in a car accident last night.