"Liu Nan was captured, and then, then, then..."
Yuan Nan Nan was at a complete loss, unable to organize her words for a moment.
"Don't panic. Take your time."
Seeing Yuan Nan Nan stumble over her words, He Ao set his phone on the cabinet, took out a disposable plastic cup, and poured her some water from his thermos.
"Mm... mm..." Yuan Nan Nan took the cup instinctively. He Ao's calmness rubbed off on her, helping her settle down a little. Gradually, she managed to organize her thoughts.
"We were about to get a taxi home over there when there was suddenly an explosion. It went boom, and then Liu Nan grabbed me and we ran and ran... Then she hailed a car too... We had just gotten in when Liu Nan was grabbed by this person who was completely red, covered in muscles, and really huge. That person was terrifying. He just tore the car door right off... Like this... Riiip, riiip... He tore it right off..."
Yuan Nan Nan tried to act out the ripping motion, only to spill the water in her cup. Some splashed onto the glass cabinet, while some soaked into her clothes.
He Ao handed her several tissues to wipe herself off. Though Yuan Nan Nan's account was disjointed, He Ao roughly understood what she meant. Just as he was about to speak, Zhang Anxia's voice suddenly came through the phone. "It's Bull! Bull kidnapped Liu Nan."
He Ao was using one of those cheap smartphones commonly used by the elderly, costing only a few hundred yuan. Its performance was poor, but its speaker was incredibly loud. Even without speakerphone on, Zhang Anxia's voice clearly reached both He Ao and Yuan Nan Nan.
"What bull? Where's a bull?"
Yuan Nan Nan froze for a moment.
"It's nothing. Wait a moment."
He Ao nodded to Yuan Nan Nan, lowered the phone's volume, and held it to his ear. He had thought Zhang Anxia had already hung up, but apparently Zhang Anxia had been listening in the whole time.
"He Ao, the mission has changed. You know that area well. Are you confident you can find Bull? You only need to stall for time. Make sure Liu Nan doesn't get hurt, and hold on until I get back."
Zhang Anxia's voice had clearly grown heavier. Things had obviously gone beyond his control.
"Using my location as the reference point, which direction are you in now? What does the surrounding environment look like? Does Bull know which way you left?"
Rather than answer directly, He Ao asked questions of his own.
"West. I'm surrounded by rural self-built houses and some construction sites," Zhang Anxia thought for a moment. "Bull's accomplice lured me away, so he should know which direction I went."
Then He Ao looked at the still-dazed Yuan Nan Nan. "Where were you attacked just now?"
"At an intersection. Liu Nan pulled me along, and I wasn't paying attention."
Yuan Nan Nan was clearly stunned for a moment.
"Were there any distinctive buildings or landmarks nearby?"
He Ao pressed.
"There was a big road, trees, and cars..."
Yuan Nan Nan thought back carefully.
He Ao: ...
"Were there any people?"
"No one."
Yuan Nan Nan shook her head.
The only nearby places with broad roads and no people were the intersections not far to the north. The factories around those intersections did not run the night shift, and there were no dormitories nearby, so hardly anyone passed through after dark.
It also happened to be the direction Liu Nan had dragged Yuan Nan Nan toward: north.
He Ao quickly reviewed the surrounding terrain in his mind and roughly estimated the intersection's location. Then he asked Zhang Anxia, "Do you have any companions?"
For Zhang Anxia to dare chase after them without concern, he had to have reliable teammates.
"Yes." Zhang Anxia answered quickly, seemingly still on the move. "In theory, she should have been following Liu Nan the whole time, but I can't contact her now. I didn't hang up because I wanted to ask you to go find her."
"Mm." He Ao turned his gaze back to Yuan Nan Nan. "When you were attacked, did you see anyone strange?"
"No? Maybe?" Yuan Nan Nan thought about it, unsure how to explain. "When the explosion happened, I think I saw two shadows flash past. They suddenly darted across the road, but I didn't see them clearly."
"Which direction did they go?"
He Ao asked. Then, after thinking for a moment, he dipped his finger into the water spilled onto the cabinet and quickly drew a simple map of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines. He pointed to the bottommost point. "This is my stall."
Then he moved his finger forward to an intersection. "This should be where you were standing. Which way did those two people go?"
"I think it was this way!"
This time, Yuan Nan Nan pointed in a direction ahead of them.
"Then that was north." He Ao roughly understood the situation. He spoke softly into the phone. "It seems your teammate was lured away, which gave them the opening to capture Liu Nan."
"Mm." Zhang Anxia had heard the conversation between the two of them. "There was an error in our intelligence. We only had information on Bull."
"So there might be someone else with Bull?"
He Ao sharply caught the key phrase.
"No. Hiding two people was already their limit. They don't have that much manpower."
This time, Zhang Anxia spoke with absolute certainty, then immediately pressed, "So do you have a lead now? Can you find Bull?"
"Yes," He Ao replied calmly. "But it'll cost extra."
"Fine. Ten thousand yuan minimum. Name your price afterward based on the results."
Zhang Anxia did not hesitate this time. This was no time for hesitation.
Moreover, the clear logic He Ao had just displayed had already impressed him. Right now, all he could think about was how to trick... recruit this kid into the Research Institute afterward.
Naturally, He Ao had no idea what Zhang Anxia was thinking at that moment, but he knew Zhang Anxia had definitely begun to suspect he was a superhuman. Still, He Ao did not say so, and Zhang Anxia did not ask.
The two of them tacitly kept silent about the matter.
The Research Institute Zhang Anxia belonged to was clearly a secretive major organization, and most likely one aligned with Order.
Ever since He Ao realized the world was beginning to change, he had consciously been looking for channels through which he could reliably obtain information.
In an era of change, major organizations often obtained information before individuals did. And in this world, the most important thing was information. A gap in information could mean the difference between life and death.
For example, drinking paraquat was beyond even the gods' help, while ordinary pesticides could be dealt with through gastric lavage. For someone who only wanted to threaten others by drinking pesticide and did not truly want to die, whether they knew paraquat's toxicity could mean the difference between life and death.
Zhang Anxia was smart enough, and friendly enough.
So He Ao was quite willing to cooperate with him once. Agreeing to this employment also carried an element of returning the favor.
Before you continue