A cold thing dripped onto his face. Fan Xui instantly woke up. the drowsy feeling was still lingering. With a bit of struggle, he opened his eyes. he saw the little kid sobbing hugging his face.
"Uncle... uncle...." he cried
His tears were dripped onto his face little by little, making him conscious.
With difficulty, Fan sat up. he was still in the middle of the marketplace. he dazedly looked around. Yue was gone. His lover was nowhere around.
His heart started to pound loudly. 'no..no... not again...' he glanced around. so many people walked around them giving them weird looks.
"Yue…." he could not find him anywhere….
His heart dropped to his stomach and his whole body felt cold in fear. his lover was gone..
Kidnapped…
Again.
And it all on his watch
'how.....' then he remembered what the cause was. It was the candy. He still had the stick in his hand.
"uncle...." the kid tugged at his shirt.
He pushed his hands away. "Where did you take him? Tell me! Who do you work for! Did your mother instruct you to give us that candy" he grabbed him and shook him.
The little kid sobbed even loudly. "Uncle... bad man took brother.. ... and mother... bad man... not me..." he cried wiping his snot-covered face.
Fan pushed him away. "Where did those bad man, go?"
He sobbingly pointed to the right street
Fan Xui stumbled and got up to his feet. He could still feel the numbing sensation from the soles of his foot. Even so he walked.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇthe had to… if not, Yue's kidnappers could have taken him far.
The streets were getting dark. Golden evening sunlight shone on his face.
It was already too late. He must have been unconscious for too long.
They had come out to this shopping area by the afternoon but it was already the evening.
The path was a dead end. There was no way anyone could have taken Yue through this street.
"Uncle!" the kid ran to him and clung to his leg. "bad men... gave me.. this.." he hiccupped, handing him a slightly wet paper.
Fan plucked it from him and read it. It only had two sentences. "Bring all the food from Wen farm to the tanning mill Or find your boyfriend's dead body"
He took a deep breath to calm his rage. Anger will only cloud his judgment. He needed to be clear-headed to figure out where those fuckers took Yue.
He felt a small tug at the bottom of his shirt.
The kid was still clinging to him.
He was tempted to push him away and walk off.... but this kid knew who the kidnappers were. There is a chance that he must know where Yue's is kept as well.
"Who gave you the lollipop? Did they instruct you to give it to us?"
The kid shook his head and then nodded. "Mum ouchi. Bad man said mum no ouchi if I shared my candies,"
This was definitely a targeted attack. These people were definitely part of the group that kidnapped Juda. They had a concrete plan and now it was revealed. They wanted the grain and food storage of the base.
Fan pranced around in that small alleyway. The abductors wanted all the grains. It was a good thing. The food, even if it was stocked, will take up to five or ten trucks. It's very easy to clip in a tracker.
He froze. 'Fucking trackers won't work!'
Without technology, he really felt handicapped. If technology had still been operational, they could have easily tracked Yue down with cctv. But now they had to go old school way of investigation. It was not that effective.
He ran out of the market towards Yue's home.
Behind him, he heard small footsteps trying desperately to catch up.
Fan was left confused. He did not know what to do with him. This kid was the reason Yue was kidnapped. But... Yue would be so disappointed if he found out that he abandoned a kid who needs his help.
"Fuck!" he lifted him over his shoulder like a sack of potato and ran to Yue's home and knocked
"You guys are back so soon," Tian opened the door with a sassy smirk. "oh it's you, I was expecting Yue to....,"
"Yue's been kidnapped!" he whispered.
Tian glanced back. Her parents were still busily cooking in the kitchen. She pushed Fan outside and closed the door behind her. "where and when? Do you know who?"
"a group of me. Most likely the same group that kidnapped Juda,"
"Fucking hell..."' Tian pranced around like a worried hen.
"I've got a ransom letter."
She plucked it from him and read it out loud. "They want food. Everything,"
"yes, everything,"
Tian paused for a second. "They want everything. We'll give it to them then."
Fan bit his trembling lips. "I.. I can't think of a plan. My brain's a jumped mess."
"Who's that?" Tian pointed at the person over his shoulders.
"an accomplice." Fan lowered the sobbing kid. "They used this kid to give us drugged-filled candy. And I fucking ate it like a naïve fool! I should have known!"
"Stop shouting. Wait here," she ran back in secretly. She walked into the room and picked up Trexa. The confused little rat sleepily looked up at her.
"Your baba needs you. Come with me. You can sniff him out, right?"
Tian knew that this rat was very talented in understanding their words, but she did not know the extension of its survival talent. Only blackie had the expertise to sniff out the scents. Even with Juda, she was of great help.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe secretly crept out the room to the garden area. The black cat was lazily lounging on top of the tree branch.
"Meow, I need you,"
The cat looked down at her with a condescending look.
"You haughty little fucker. If you want to eat the next meal, you better get down here and put your fluffy ass to work!" she whisper shouted.
The cat just glared at her.
She knew that her threats did not work with it. "I'll give you tuna. Three cans. I know mum restricted your diet because you ate too much and got fat. How about it hmmm? Won't help for some tasty tuna?"
The cat jumped down and gave her a look that it accepted her deal.
"Tian?" her dad stood by the garden entrance way. "What are you doing?"
"ah.. blackie.. Wanted to poo. Ah I'm litter training them. they poo everywhere. It's stinky. I want to give them a walk and get them trained to poo on command," she lied through her teeth.
Thought it was not that convincing.
Her dad gave her a weird look. "Their poo does stink. Don't go too far. Come back home on time,"'
"yes," Tian lifted the heavy cat and ran out of the house.Â
Fan Xui was anxiously waiting out there for her. "we can't waste time!"
"I know. You go on and bring some more soldiers to search for him. I'll track for any clues." She gestured to the black cat. "Oh and here." she handed Trexa over to him. "when you find Yue you need to have Trexa close. She will take care of his wounds."
"hmm..."
Now they both looked at the kid.
They could not drop him off at Yue's parent's place. It was too dangerous for the old couple to be exposed to the dangerous group behind this kid.
The only option was the barrack.
Fan once again lifted his over his shoulders and ran.
Time was ticking, they needed to act fast.