Those words frightened Jiang Qifeng so badly that he kept swallowing.
If Jiang Youtian really was kicked out of the special training class, his future would be utterly ruined.
At the thought, Jiang Qifeng was filled with regret and wished he could slap himself twice. Had he known, he would never have gone looking for trouble with Jiang Fan. Even if he had, he should not have done it in front of Wei Cangyue.
Anger really had clouded his judgment. Wei Cangyue was a second-rank martial artist, and people with that kind of strength could be counted on one hand in Ancheng. Those second-rank martial artists were either heads of Ancheng's most powerful families or local tyrants who dominated their own territories. They were simply not people the Jiang Family, a minor wealthy family caught somewhere in the middle, could afford to offend.
It seemed he would have to rein himself in for a while. Even if he wanted to make trouble for Jiang Fan, he would have to wait until Wei Cangyue left.
Toward evening, Jiang Fan headed home.
When he was still half a li from home, he saw Big Black racing toward him.
"Woof, woof, woof-" The barking was urgent.
Jiang Fan's brows drew together, and a bad feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
"Big Black, what happened?"
"Woof, woof, woof, woof-" Big Black circled Jiang Fan twice, then raced toward home.
Something must have happened!
Jiang Fan sprinted too, wondering whether Jiang Qifeng had suffered at Wei Cangyue's hands and come to the Tang Family's home to make trouble.
As he neared the entrance to his home, Jiang Fan saw a police car parked outside.
His heart abruptly tightened at the sight. He picked up speed and ran straight into the courtyard.
"Wuuu-" Wang Shuqin kept sobbing as she pleaded with Old Wu, "Please, you have to find Guoguo. You have to catch those criminals."
The people who had come to investigate were Old Wu and Xiao Qian.
"Mom, what happened?" Jiang Fan hurried over in a frantic rush.
Wang Shuqin's eyes were swollen from crying. "Xiao Fan, Guoguo is missing. Didn't the news report a while ago that a gang of horrible criminals was abducting children? They must have taken Guoguo!"
Jiang Fan clenched his fists, struggling to control his emotions. Wang Shuqin had already broken down. If he lost his composure too, his mother would probably become even more frightened and panicked.
"Mom, don't worry yet, and don't let your imagination run wild. Maybe Guoguo just got carried away playing and lost track of time. She might even be watching cartoons at a classmate's house right now."
Wang Shuqin said, "I've already asked all the families Guoguo often visits. She isn't at any of them. I asked her teacher too, and Guoguo never went to school this morning at all. It's my fault too. I felt dizzy and unwell when I got up this morning, and Guoguo insisted she'd grown up. The school isn't far away either, and she wouldn't let me take her, no matter what. If I'd taken her to school, this would never have happened."
As she spoke, Wang Shuqin cried even harder.
Then Old Wu spoke. "Try not to panic yet. We've already sent people out to search."
Jiang Fan looked around and noticed that Tang Fugui was not home.
"Where's Dad?"
"Your dad... she... he went to look for Guoguo." Wang Shuqin shook with sobs.
Jiang Fan turned to leave. "I'll go look too."
"Young man, you'd better not go wandering around. If criminals really are involved, it could be dangerous if you run into them," Old Wu called out.
"Guoguo is my little sister. I have to go!"
Old Wu saw Jiang Fan's determination and knew he could not stop him, so he took out his business card.
"Here's my contact information. If you find any leads, remember to call me immediately. Don't do anything rash!"
"All right." Jiang Fan took the card and broke into a run.
"Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz-" A phone vibrated. Old Wu took out his phone and saw that his wife was calling.
"I'm working. I've run into a particularly thorny case. Whatever it is, wait until I get home-"
Before he could finish, a tearful voice came through the phone.
"Xiao Yun is missing!"
"What?!"
Old Wu's voice abruptly rose.
Looking at Old Wu's pale face, Xiao Qian could not help asking, "What happened?"
"My daughter-my daughter is missing!"
The sun sank completely, and the city lights came on. Though Ancheng was not large, it was fairly lively at night.
Jiang Fan kept weaving through the crowds. He was not searching blindly, but controlling his psychic power, searching for Tang Guo within the area it could cover, with himself at its center.
As he ran past a fruit stall, Jiang Fan saw the owner peeling sugarcane with a knife. Once he finished, he put the knife away.
With a thought from Jiang Fan, the razor-sharp knife slipped past the eyes of everyone around and silently appeared in his hand.
He could hardly show up in public holding a gleaming knife, so he also helped himself to a piece of clothing and wrapped the knife in it, then continued spreading out his psychic power to search.
Ancheng was neither large nor small, covering more than a thousand square kilometers.
Although Jiang Fan was a Spirit Master, he was only a junior psychic who had advanced not long ago. The spatial range he could control extended only a little over two hundred meters.
So, for Jiang Fan, even if it was not quite like fishing a needle from the sea, it was still a tall order.
More than an hour passed, and Jiang Fan was beginning to struggle after using his psychic power continuously.
By now, his complexion looked terrible, his lips were pale, and he felt his psychic power was nearly exhausted.
If he still could not find Tang Guo, things would be bad.
Just as Jiang Fan was burning with anxiety, he abruptly stopped.
Found her at last!
Within the spatial range he controlled, Jiang Fan discovered Tang Guo inside a villa in a villa district. Several dozen other children were inside too.
The Imperial View Villa District was the most luxurious villa district in Ancheng's wealthy residential area.
Even a wealthy family like the Jiang Family was not qualified to live there.
Jiang Fan soon reached the Imperial View Villa District. Rather than entering, he hid among the vegetation outside.
Even from that distance, nothing stopped him from observing what was happening inside.
There were five criminals in total, inside and outside Villa 13.
Two guarded the villa's front entrance, while the other three sat drinking together.
There were thirty-three abducted children in total, all around Tang Guo's age. They huddled in a corner, some sniffling, others clinging together in twos and threes, trembling.
Jiang Fan noticed that Tang Guo looked fairly composed. She comforted a girl who looked slightly younger than her. "Xiao Yun, don't be scared. My big brother is really amazing. Let me tell you, Xiao Fan is an early-stage martial apprentice, and he's a student in the special training class too."
The girl named Xiao Yun wiped her tears. "Then can your big brother Xiao Fan rescue all of us?"
Before Tang Guo could answer, another little girl with twin ponytails curled her lip. "What's so great about being in the special training class? My big sister is in the special training class too, and she's a martial artist."
A martial artist?
Jiang Fan grew thoughtful. Looking at the little girl's face again, he saw that she did indeed bear some resemblance to Lan Shengxue.
He also recalled that when they had first arrived at Plow Mountain earlier that day, Lan Shengxue's family had suddenly called her home. So this was most likely the reason.
Tang Guo retorted defiantly, "What's so great about being a martial artist? My big brother Xiao Fan will be a martial artist someday too."