"That should do it."
Meng Wanyue handed the phone back to Xu Mu. "But I think it's better not to take his phone with us. There might be a tracker in it."
"Alright, I’ll follow your lead."
Xu Mu nodded and tossed the phone onto the ground.
"There might be fingerprints on it. We should still be careful."
Meng Wanyue stomped on the phone with her foot.
Crack!
The phone shattered instantly, and the ground seemed to tremble slightly from the force.
"Wanyue, I’m glad you’re here."
Xu Mu gave her a thumbs-up.
[Affection Points +5]
Meng Wanyue lowered her head slightly, a little embarrassed, before asking, "Director Xu, where should we go next?"
Xu Mu hesitated for a moment before pulling out a keycard with the name of a hotel and a room number written on it.
"Let’s check out this hotel."
"Got it."
Meng Wanyue nodded.
……
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Mu Qingying watched as the feed on her laptop disappeared, unsure of what had happened to Xu Mu.
Lin Yang tapped his fingers rhythmically against the desk. He knew Jiu Zhi well.
If nothing went wrong, Jiu Zhi would likely extort some money first before killing Xu Mu.
But so much time had passed—why hadn’t he called yet?
Jiu Zhi was the type of man who couldn’t resist women.
He even liked recording videos while doing his "business."
Feng Yue was definitely his type—he wouldn’t just leave her behind.
"Lin Yang, seems like the guy you hired isn’t reliable. Maybe he’s already betrayed you."
Feng Yue sneered from the side. She had given up on pleading for mercy.
If she was going to die anyway, why not go out defiantly?
Lin Yang glanced at her with disdain. "Once he gets back, you’ll be thrilled. After all, he’s another old man."
Feng Yue’s gaze sharpened like a blade. "I’ll haunt you even as a ghost."
"Too bad I don’t believe in ghosts."
Lin Yang replied flatly.
Mu Qingying’s tears continued to fall, though she wasn’t entirely sure why.
Maybe it was because Xu Mu had risked his life to save her, even though he was also a victim in this situation.
……
Xu Mu and Meng Wanyue arrived at the hotel listed on the keycard.
It was located in Wu City.
"Wanyue, wait here. Go check his room and see if you can find anything useful."
Xu Mu parked the car on the roadside and handed her the keycard.
"Got it. This should be easy. Director Xu, wait for me in the parking spot ahead."
Meng Wanyue adjusted her sports cap and stepped out of the car, heading into the hotel.
Xu Mu drove off and parked further down the street.
After about ten minutes, Meng Wanyue reappeared and slid back into the passenger seat.
"What did you find?" Xu Mu asked immediately.
"I disabled the camera on the third floor. His room only had a small suitcase—just clothes, weapons, passports, and IDs. Nothing useful."
Meng Wanyue rummaged through her backpack. "As for electronics, there were some cameras and listening devices. Oh, and this."
She pulled out a high-tech smartwatch, likely the latest model.
Xu Mu took it and scrolled through the apps. One in particular caught his attention—the map.
When he opened it, his eyes lit up.
"Director Xu, what is it?" Meng Wanyue noticed his reaction.
"Look at his search history." He handed the watch back to her.
Meng Wanyue’s eyes widened in realization.
Several locations were logged: Wu City, this hotel, and one more—Wu City’s Old Street Steel Factory.
Xu Mu had just been to a fertilizer plant. Why would he search for a steel factory?
He quickly checked his phone and discovered that the steel factory was on the far east side of Wu City, also abandoned for years.
The fertilizer plant was on the west side—completely opposite ends of the city.
"It looks like Feng Yue and Mu Qingying might be held there."
Xu Mu closed his eyes, deep in thought.
"Director Xu, let me go rescue them. I can move faster alone," Meng Wanyue suggested.
"No. Lin Yang isn’t someone to underestimate."
Xu Mu rejected the idea outright.
No matter what, Lin Yang was the protagonist—a man with unnaturally high luck.
Even if Meng Wanyue was stronger, Lin Yang might still find a way to turn the tables through sheer chance.
Besides, Meng Wanyue might not even be stronger than him.
Just as Xu Mu was racking his brain, a police car drove past.
"Right! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?"
A grin spread across his face. "If we know the location, we can just call the police."
After all, the kidnapped women weren’t someone as close to him as Ye Tong.
Reporting this to the authorities was already going above and beyond.
With that in mind, Xu Mu pulled out his phone. But he wasn’t sure how to phrase the report.
After some deliberation, he decided to tell the truth.
Logically, someone like Lin Yang wouldn’t openly defy the law.
And since Xu Mu hadn’t broken any rules—aside from eliminating a criminal—he shouldn’t be implicated.
He dialed the number.
Xu Mu explained the situation—how he’d received a threatening call that morning, demanding he go to the steel factory.
The Xu family held considerable influence in Jiang City. The moment the authorities verified his identity, a rescue team was immediately mobilized.
Soon after, officers from the security bureau arrived to meet with Xu Mu.
The leader, a middle-aged man with a square jaw, approached him. "Xu Mu, is everything you said on the phone true?"
"Absolutely. If I’m lying, I’ll take full legal responsibility."
Xu Mu spoke with complete seriousness.
"Good. Then let’s move out."
The man immediately ordered the surrounding officers to follow in their vehicles.
……
At the same time.
Lin Yang was still waiting for Jiu Zhi’s call when one of his men rushed over in a panic.
"Boss, we’ve got a problem!"
"What is it?" Lin Yang frowned.
"I set up cameras along the only road leading here. Police cars are heading straight for us!"
The young man spoke urgently.
"What? How do they know about this place? Damn it—Jiu Zhi, that traitor!"
It never crossed Lin Yang’s mind that Jiu Zhi, a seasoned professional, could be dead.
The only explanation was that Xu Mu had offered enough money to buy Jiu Zhi’s loyalty—and now he’d betrayed Lin Yang.
"Boss, what do we do? The cameras are five kilometers out. At their speed, they’ll be here in minutes."
The young man was sweating bullets.
"Hah! I told you your teammate wasn’t reliable."
Feng Yue burst into laughter.
Mu Qingying, on the other hand, finally felt a weight lift from her chest.
If Xu Mu had convinced Jiu Zhi with money, then he must be safe.
Lin Yang’s hand flicked, and a dagger appeared. In an instant, he lunged at Feng Yue, stopping just a centimeter from her left eye.
Feng Yue instinctively shut her eyes in terror.
"Feng Yue, do you really think I won’t kill you?"
Lin Yang glared at Feng Yue and said coldly, "How about I start by ruining that pretty face of yours that seduces older men?"

Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"

spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!

grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)