Father Xu was pleased to get the call and told him the truth. They had indeed experienced several kidnappings, but the people taken weren't members of the Xu family. They were members of the Yu family.
Since Xu Huo wasn't an immediate family member, he couldn't enter the classified Safe Zone that wasn't open to the public. After the last kidnapping attempt during the Black Rain incident, which had targeted his half-brother Tongtong, the Xu family and Ms. Fang had been relocated.
The Xu family had barely been out since then. That meant there hadn't been any opportunity to target them, even if anyone had wanted to. The ones who'd suffered were Ms. Yu's family, especially since Yu Qingqing loved getting into trouble outside and had caused plenty of headaches. The Special Defense Department had handled all of them, including several kidnapping attempts.
"Is everyone at home doing well?" Xu Huo asked.
"We're all fine. It's almost New Year's Eve. Are you coming home to visit?" Father Xu said. "Your mother and I miss you very much."
Xu Huo agreed, then hung up and booked a plane ticket. There were no direct flights to Capital City's airport at the moment, so he could only fly to a newly built airport outside the city and then take a car into Capital City.
The authorities had now announced the locations of known Random Instances, so traveling outside was relatively safe. After months of effort by the Special Defense Department, Ting City had stabilized and life had mostly returned to normal. Hardly anyone ventured out at night, but daytime was still quite safe.
Xu Huo took a car to the airport, taking the opportunity to look at Ting City's current state along the way. The city hadn't changed much overall, but metal fences