Observing in Secret

Citong City.

It was past midnight. Xia Libing's third uncle and aunt had been working tirelessly all day to deal with Xia Tianhuo's kidnapping.

"Is Xiao Bing asleep?" Uncle San asked quietly as he sat down next to his wife after hanging up the phone.

"She's asleep." Auntie San nodded, her brow still furrowed from the day's work. She first made hot drinks for the police officers who were still busy in the living room, adjusting equipment, and then returned to sit down, sighing softly, "Xiao Bing has been working so hard. She got the call in the middle of the night and rushed over immediately. She hasn't had much rest all day. It's heartbreaking to see her like this. Sigh, this is really..."

Uncle San said, "By the way, is Xiao Bing still staying in Jianzhou? Is she with that Mr. Xiang from before?"

"Hmm, they say they want to build a breeding research center. I don't know why Xiao Bing suddenly became interested in these things."

"So what's their relationship now?"

"I used to think they might already be together," Auntie said thoughtfully. "But this time... I asked Xiao Bing this morning if she knew about this, and she said she did. Since she knew... he still made Xiao Bing take the bus by herself, and he didn't even show up. That made me a little uncomfortable. You saw how tired Xiao Bing looked when she rushed over this morning, right? I think... sigh, after this is all over, I'll have to have a good talk with Xiao Bing."

Uncle San said, "Mr. Xiang... Xiao Xiang must be busy with something."

Auntie frowned and said, "If he really cares about Xiao Bing, what could be more important than this at this time?"

Uncle San said, "Just now, I called one of the businessmen Old Xu contacts who has ties to Myanmar, right? That guy was very enthusiastic and promised to contact a very influential person in Montamira to help gather information. He also promised to use a relatively private channel to avoid alerting the kidnappers. After he finished speaking, I was, of course, very grateful. And guess what he said?"

Uncle San didn't keep him in suspense and said directly, "The other party said there's no need to be polite. He owes Mr. Xiang a great favor, and helping is the right thing to do. He told me to rest assured that he will do his best."

Auntie was stunned. "Owe someone a favor? What favor?"

Uncle San shook his head. "The other party didn't say, but this person is a rather influential boss. I actually knew that before, so I think... what Xiao Xiang is doing is probably not simple."

Third Aunt seemed to be deep in thought.

After receiving a call from Xia Libing yesterday informing them of the situation, the couple has been busy with this matter. Today, their home has become like a temporary command center, and both children have been temporarily sent to a friend's house.

As for Xia Tianhuo's parents, like Xia Libing's parents, they are also abroad. After being informed by his third uncle and Xia Libing in the morning, they are on their way back. Since the kidnappers contacted Xia Libing, thinking she was the "head of the household," everything is temporarily left to his third uncle to handle.

My third uncle first consulted with the police in Citong through his channels, and the advice he received was to contact the Chinese consulate in Montamira directly and ask them for help in the rescue.

However, the consulate can mainly urge local officials and police to conduct investigations and rescues, and it depends more on the action capabilities of relevant local departments, institutions and organizations.

If this were in China, then without a doubt, reporting to the police in a reliable manner and trusting the police is the best choice. Countless cases have proven that handing over all the initiative to the kidnappers and relying entirely on their trustworthiness will very likely result in losing both the ransom and the kidnapped family member, as well as missing the best opportunity for rescue and capture.

However, that was based on the strong police control capabilities and related assistance systems such as the Skynet system in China. If it were abroad, especially in a more complicated situation where they knew nothing about the kidnappers, Uncle and Aunt were still a little hesitant about whether to seek help from the local police in Montamira through the consulate.

Of course, since the ransom demand was made directly to Xia Libing's mobile phone in China, the Citong police could still provide technical support to help locate the kidnappers and, if necessary, request assistance from Interpol.

However, Interpol's capabilities in the area are very limited; it mainly assists in investigations. To rescue people or apprehend kidnappers, the local police are still the primary force.

So during the day, my third uncle and aunt first tried to find out if they could contact influential people in Myanmar and Montamira, to find out the kidnappers' identities and backgrounds, or even if they could contact the kidnappers directly.

If possible, with local powerful figures in Montamira acting as intermediaries and providing guarantees, paying a ransom to exchange persons is also a viable option, as a precaution.

Although raising five million US dollars in cash would be extremely difficult and challenging even if the entire Xia family mobilized, they were willing to pay such a price as long as Xia Tianhuo's safety could be guaranteed.

However, among the people Uncle San knows, there are very few who do business in Myanmar or have connections in Myanmar. And most of the people they do are foreign trade orders, which are not large in volume. They don't know any influential people in Montamira directly, so they have to ask through other people. They can't give a direct answer.

Uncle San didn't dare to make a big fuss about letting them make contact, and he didn't dare to tell them the specifics until he was sure there was a reliable channel, so there was basically no progress.

In the end, it was Officer Old Xu, who was sent by the Citong police to assist, who made a connection and found a big boss in Montamira who had "connections".

After chatting for a while, we learned that the "connection" was a local bigwig named Wu Lun. My third uncle had heard this name when he asked other people before, saying things like, "If you can contact Wu Lun in Montamira, you can find out almost anything." But no one else had any connection or way to contact Wu Lun.

The other party not only had connections with Wu Lun, but also acted very proactively and enthusiastically. If it weren't for Old Xu's introduction and knowing the other party's identity, Uncle San would have suspected that the other party was a fraud.

Although the other party has only promised to help with all their might and there are no results yet, Uncle San's tense body has relaxed a little after a whole day of work—at least he hasn't come away completely empty-handed.

What puzzled him was the other party's level of initiative in this matter, because people who don't have a deep relationship with the other party usually wouldn't be willing to get involved in this kind of thing.

Based on what the other party said, it can only be said that Xiang Kun has a lot of influence, and many people already know about the relationship between Xiao Bing and Xiang Kun.

But this was also something he found hard to understand: what kind of ability did Xiang Kun possess that would make such a big boss display such an attitude in front of a third party?

Isn't Xiang Kun a programmer?

Wasn't he going to Jianzhou to do aquaculture or run a restaurant?

Oh, he seems to play games too?

Could it be that the big boss wants to get involved in Xiang Kun's game project?

That's not that bad.

Tongshi Town.

Qi Haoguo, who had just finished a phone call with Wu Lun, sat in his study, leaning back in his executive chair, his eyes slightly closed, rubbing his chin, pondering the content of their conversation.

Although Wu Lun is Myanmar, he has done business with Chinese people for many years and is also one-quarter Chinese. The two communicate in half Chinese and half English, so they don't need a translator and can basically communicate what needs to be communicated.

Yes, the big boss that Uncle San contacted through Old Xu, who had "connections" with the bigwigs of Montamira, was Qi Haoguo.

Initially, Old Xu didn't actually contact Qi Haoguo; the two didn't know each other.

Old Xu contacted Chu Xiuwen because he had heard that Chu Xiuwen had done business with Myanmar and even planned to open a factory Myanmar. So he thought Chu Xiuwen might have some connections in the relevant field and wanted to try to contact him for his third uncle.

Chu Xiuwen did know some people in Myanmar, but like the others his third uncle had contacted before, they were either not in Montamira or were in the same industry and couldn't be of any help.

When Old Xu contacted me, he didn't mention any specifics or details, so the matter was dropped, and it's normal that I couldn't help.

However, Chu Xiuwen later learned some information from other friends whom his third uncle had questioned. He discovered that the person who needed local connections in Montamira was the husband of the Third Hospital, who was also Xia Libing's third uncle. He knew something about the background of "Dr. Xia" who went to Tongshi Town and Chongyun Village with Xiang Kun.

Then he realized that something might have happened to the Xia family, so he took the initiative to contact Old Xu again and learned some brief information, such as that a relative of the Xia family was trapped in Montamira.

Chu Xiuwen originally intended to contact Xiang Kun to inquire about the situation, but after considering it, he changed his mind.

Although he couldn't help, he knew that Qi Haoguo had done business in Myanmar before and had connections at a very high level, so he made a phone call directly to him.

Chu Xiuwen asked him directly if he had a good relationship with Wu Lun, a powerful figure in Montamira.

Qi Haoguo's first reaction was to deny it, stating that all related investment and cooperation with Myanmar had been terminated and there had been no further contact.

However, Chu Xiuwen's statement that "it's related to Dr. Xia, Xiang Kun's friend" made Qi Haoguo relent.

After listening to Chu Xiuwen's account, Qi Haoguo immediately decided to contact Officer Xu, because he knew very well that Dr. Xia was the woman who lived in the same house as Xiang Kun in Chongyun Village, and their relationship was very unusual. This could be a very good opportunity.

Then, through Old Xu, he spoke directly with Xia Libing's third uncle. After communicating with him, he learned about Xia Tianhuo's specific situation and the predicament they were currently facing. He then promised to help contact Wu Lun, a local powerful figure in Montamira, to help him gather information, and that Xia Tianhuo's safety was the top priority.

Qi Haoguo had indeed been investing in Myanmar for the past few years and had some cooperation and business dealings with Wu Lun. They had even planned to cooperate on a casino project.

But after that incident before the Lunar New Year, he not only shut down some of his domestic businesses, but also basically stopped all his businesses in Myanmar. He also unilaterally ended his cooperation with Wu Lun, though some loose ends remained. So when Chu Xiuwen first called to ask about his connections in Myanmar, his first reaction was, "No, I didn't, I took it all."

He genuinely wants to sever ties with his former self, the one who was solely driven by profit and did any kind of business. He truly doesn't want to have anything to do with certain people anymore.

It took some effort to reconnect with Wu Lun, since he hadn't considered future cooperation when he severed ties with him.

However, the business in Myanmar couldn't be completely taken over so easily. The benefits Qi Haoguo was willing to give up would definitely benefit others. Letting Wu Lun take over these benefits was a considerable bargaining chip. If he didn't cooperate, Wu Lun wouldn't be able to swallow them all.

Qi Haoguo even made preparations, planning to offer Wu Lun some financial incentives or even make empty promises in order to secure his cooperation.

However, after making contact, Qi Haoguo discovered that although Wu Lun still maintained his usual pretentious and affected manner on the surface, he clearly sensed from Wu Lun's very clear behavior that this guy actually had a strong willingness to cooperate, as if his phone call was a lifeline.

This made Qi Haoguo a little suspicious. Could it be that Wu Lun himself was also involved in this matter?

If that's the case, then he might be less inclined to entrust the matter to Wu Lun.

He didn't want to end up not only failing to help but also causing the Xia family's child to be killed; otherwise, he would truly have no way to explain himself.

Montamira.

Inside the scrap metal recycling station.

After emerging from the dream, Xiang Kun walked straight out of the house to the man with the jade pendant who was still fast asleep. He first retrieved the "Black Circle Graffiti," then pushed the sofa where the man was sleeping, giving it a couple of jolts. He then turned around and walked back to his room as if nothing had happened, closing the door behind him.

Now that he had learned the information he wanted in the "Dream Within a Dream" and had also exerted some influence in return, Xiang Kun was pressed for time and naturally couldn't let the man with the jade pendant continue sleeping. He quickly woke him up and got him to "get to work."

Of course, on the other hand, Xiang Kun hoped that Lao Xia, who was at her third uncle and aunt's house in Citong City, could continue to sleep and recover her energy.

The man with the jade pendant sat up from the sofa, looking somewhat bewildered. He rubbed his face with both hands, glanced at the long-haired man sleeping soundly on the opposite sofa, and at the short, stocky man, Tun Qin, who had somehow moved his recliner back into the room to sleep. After a moment, the dream he had just had suddenly popped into his mind, and then some thoughts began to emerge uncontrollably.

So, disregarding the fact that it was already past 3 a. m., he got up, took a satellite phone from a box under the TV cabinet, went to the next room, and casually turned on the light. But after flipping the switch a few times, he found that the switch seemed to be broken.

He didn't think too much about it. He knew this room very well anyway, so it didn't matter whether the lights were on or off. He then picked up the satellite phone and started trying to contact Brother Kui.

He didn't know that he wasn't the only one in that dark room.

Xiang Kun crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, watching the man with the jade pendant making a phone call not far away, showing no sign of tension or worry.

When Xiang Kun already had several countermeasures in mind. For example, he could control the "Super-Linked Object" to make noise in other rooms and quickly leave the room when Xiang Kun went to check. However, in the end, he chose to use the "Super-Linked Object" to affect the light in this room, preventing it from turning on, and then observe from the darkness.