Chapter 292: Haunted Building (28)

  Ren Yanqing spent most of his time at the office building and rarely returned to the Ren family villa. However, at this moment, he was at the villa.  

Sitting in the "cheap son's" room, Ren Yanqing, who was usually calm and refined, wore a trace of doubt and confusion on his face.  

Were these kidnappers idiots?  

They went to great lengths to break into the Ren family villa just to… steal medicine?  

Stealing medicine once might be understandable, but they actually came back a second time?  

The first time could barely be rationalized—they might have feared that his "son" would die and render their leverage useless. But the second time was completely incomprehensible to him.  

In the past two days, his attitude toward the kidnappers should have made it clear, even to fools, that he didn’t care about that "son" of his. Yet the kidnappers, as if they had no sense, repeatedly risked themselves to steal medicine for his "cheap son."  

To the point where they disregarded their own safety.  

The scene of the man refusing to let go of the medicine even when injured flashed through Ren Yanqing's mind, deepening the doubt and confusion in his eyes.  

Something wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong. There had to be something he was overlooking.  

It’s possible for one person to act foolishly, but the likelihood of an entire group behaving idiotically was almost nonexistent. Especially when they were risking their future and lives to steal a drug that seemed utterly useless.  

What exactly were these people plotting?  

After contemplating for a long while, Ren Yanqing stood up and walked over to the drawer beside the bed. Opening it, he took out the medication stored inside.  

The medicine in the drawer was a spare, a new batch that hadn’t been opened yet. Without hesitation, Ren Yanqing unboxed it and removed the pills inside.  

This was a special medication tailored for his "son," and at first glance, there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it. The kidnappers clearly wouldn’t have targeted the medicine itself.  

Moreover, the medication had absolutely no value to the kidnappers—it was useless to anyone other than his "son."  

If the issue wasn’t with the medicine or with himself, then it could only mean the problem lay with his "son."  

But what kind of issue could someone as weak as his "son," who struggled to even walk a few steps, possibly have?  

If his "son" truly had something unusual about him, there would certainly be chaos over at the construction building by now.  

Ren Yanqing mulled it over for a long time but still couldn’t figure it out. Just as he pulled out his phone to send a text message and instruct someone to investigate, he suddenly paused.  

Then, he opened a previously received voice message.  

The first few seconds of the voice message were filled with chaotic background noise, as if a group of people were searching for something. The sounds weren’t very clear.  

Ren Yanqing had been listening absentmindedly at first, but the moment the voice emerged from the recording, his heart skipped a beat, catching him off guard. He abruptly glanced at his phone.

The voice from the phone continued playing. Despite the persistent background noise, it did nothing to obscure the boy's voice.  

The boy’s voice was soft—so soft that, even while pleading for help, it sounded incredibly pleasing to the ear. That softness made one’s heart itch, as though he was coquettishly seeking attention.  

And yet, the boy was merely earnestly asking for help. Still, Ren Yanqing couldn’t suppress the thought that such a voice… might be better suited to another kind of tone.  

A tone that made it impossible for people to hold back. Ren Yanqing’s eyes darkened a little as he continued listening.  

The soft voice soon conveyed everything the boy knew, and the recording fell silent for a brief moment.  

Just as Ren Yanqing thought the audio message was over, the voice came again.  

—"Daddy, I’m so scared. Can you come pick me up and take me home?"  

—"You… you will come to take me home, right?"  

Ren Yanqing’s heart skipped another beat.  

This time, unlike the previous moment of unpreparedness, he already knew how captivating the boy’s voice was. Yet, even so, he couldn’t control his heart.  

Because when the boy said this, his tone carried a slight sobbing tremor, coupled with unease and grievance, making anyone listening want nothing more than to pull him into their arms and comfort him tenderly. However, the boy’s tone also seemed to carry the despair of someone who knew he wouldn’t be saved, filled with suppressed sorrow and helplessness.  

It was like the sound of an abandoned puppy, leaving Ren Yanqing momentarily stunned.  

…And stirring a reaction in him that was anything but ordinary.  

Some people were irritating when they cry, but some only provoked a cruel desire to push them even further.  

The boy was clearly the latter.  

Ren Yanqing’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably, and he shifted his legs awkwardly, trying to hide his uncharacteristic response.  

Ren Yanqing had thought the boy might say more, but the recording ended there. Abruptly, Ren Yanqing felt a little dazed, staring at his phone with darkened eyes, his mind still filled with the boy’s voice.  

If someone had walked into the room at that moment, they would have seen a version of Ren Yanqing that was utterly unlike his usual gentle and refined self. Instead, he exuded the dangerous air of a predatory beast, a hint of an inexplicable sense of dominance and menace emanating from him.  

Ren Yanqing stared blankly at his phone for several seconds before, as if suddenly realizing something, he immediately pulled up the video previously sent to him by the kidnappers.

The video’s thumbnail was very dim, seemingly recorded in a place with no light. This time, without hesitation, Ren Yanqing clicked to play it.

The first few seconds of the video showed nothing—just pure darkness. But after more than ten seconds, a ghastly pale face suddenly appeared. The harsh lighting fell on the already pallid face, resembling the sudden appearance of a ghost in a horror movie.

However, this resemblance lay only in the filming technique. The person in the video looked nothing like a ghost, because the boy was far too beautiful—so beautiful that the entire gloomy basement seemed to have become just a backdrop.

The glaring light made the boy instinctively close his eyes, and the tears in his eyes slipped down as he did so. Combined with the injury at the corner of his mouth, his whole being radiated a delicate and fragile beauty—a beauty so striking it was breathtaking, leaving one unable to recover their composure.

He looked like a deity fallen to earth, left vulnerable to any mistreatment. Just one glance was enough to stir the darkest thoughts in someone’s heart.

Unfortunately, the video was extremely short, like a fleeting bloom, and ended quickly. Towards the end, other sounds could be heard.

It sounded as if... the boy had been struck.

In reality, the sound didn’t quite resemble a physical blow, but the moment Ren Yanqing heard it, his heart inexplicably clenched, and he instinctively tightened his grip on his phone. However, he quickly composed himself.

The recording and the video were from before; getting worked up now wouldn’t change anything.

Though he tried to console himself, Ren Yanqing couldn’t calm down. His earlier attitude toward the situation had been utterly callous, and if he were one of the kidnappers, he would definitely vent his anger on the hostage.

Moreover, he had just seriously injured one of the kidnappers. When that man returned, he surely wouldn’t let his "son" off the hook.

An uncontrollable wave of panic rose in Ren Yanqing’s heart. He immediately stood up and hurried out while dialing the number that had sent him the video.

"Hello? This is Ren Yanqing. I’ve prepared the money. How do you want me to deliver it?"

Without waiting for a response, Ren Yanqing coldly continued, "Don’t touch my son. If even a single hair on his head is harmed, you won’t see a cent." 

<Prev> <ToC> <Next>