Chapter 30 Fifteen Minutes

Late, nine o'clock sharp, three hours until the start of the match…

S City, in front of a residential area.

"Sir, all entrances and exits of the residential area are now sealed off, and people have been dispatched to watch the streets around the outer walls." An officer leading the team came to the car Bao Qing was in and reported the situation.

"Okay, everyone stand by and wait for my order." Bao Qing nodded to the other party and raised the walkie-talkie in his hand.

The officer responded and returned to his post.

"So…" Two seconds later, Bao Qing turned his head and said to the person in the back seat of the car, "…what are your plans next?"

At this time, Feng Bujue, Wang Tanzhi, and Meng Jingchan were sitting side by side in the back seat of the Phaeton car; Bao Qing was sitting in the passenger seat, and the person in the driver's seat… was Bao Qing's colleague, also an agent of the Ninth Division.

"Wait." Feng Bujue only replied with one word.

"Wait for what?" Xiao Tan asked suspiciously before Bao Qing could even ask.

"Wait for a call." As Feng Bujue spoke, he patted his jacket pocket.

What was in that pocket… was Zheng Xian's cell phone.

"You mean…" Bao Qing continued thoughtfully, "…that 'planner' will call Zheng Xian again?"

"Not necessarily." Feng Bujue replied, "That's why I'm going to wait and see."

"Uh… Brother Feng." Chan-ge was a little anxious at this moment, "Is this really okay… The other party's purpose was to prevent Gui Xiao from getting to the match before midnight… Isn't wasting time playing right into their hands?"

"Ha!" Jue-ge chuckled, "Chan-ge, you seem to have misunderstood something…"

Meng Jingchan looked suspicious when he heard this, "What did I misunderstand?"

"Indeed, the other party's purpose is to prevent Gui Xiao from attending the match…" Feng Bujue replied, "But… there are many ways to achieve this goal, and what you said about 'wasting time' is just one of them."

At this point, Meng Jingchan's face changed, and he reacted quickly. After Jue-ge's prompting… he immediately understood the seriousness of the matter.

"It seems you've already thought of it…" Feng Bujue said after seeing the change in Chan-ge's expression, "That's right, there are plenty of ways to prevent Gui Xiao from participating… there's no need for 'kidnapping,' which is so troublesome… Just find someone to break a few of his bones, or give him a minor concussion or something… one step and it's done."

"Then why didn't they do that?" Bao Qing asked at this time.

"Heh… they certainly have their reasons…" Feng Bujue sneered, "According to my personal summary… abnormal behavior that deviates from general logic during the commission of a crime can be roughly divided into five situations—first, to disrupt the investigation and do it deliberately; second, to serve the criminal motive; third, to follow some kind of special tradition (for example, thieves have an old tradition of taking a shit at the crime scene before leaving); fourth, a sudden whim; fifth, stupidity."

Jue-ge finished his summary, paused for two seconds, and continued, "Taking the current case as an example, I think it's the second situation…"

"To serve the 'mastermind's' motive?" Xiao Tan asked.

"Yes." Feng Bujue affirmed.

"Speaking of this…" Chan-ge continued, "I've also considered… if Gui Xiao can't participate, then the direct beneficiary is our opponent, 'Deities'; in this case, could the mastermind be someone from the Deities studio?"

"Not necessarily…" Feng Bujue glanced at Chan-ge and said, "Deities has always been a very disciplined studio. Shouldn't you insiders know more about this than I do?"

"That's true… but besides them…" Chan-ge muttered, "Who else could benefit from this?"

"Heh…" Feng Bujue laughed, "Why are you still thinking about the obvious things? Think about illegal dealings."

"This…" Something flashed through Meng Jingchan's mind.

"Oh! I know!" Xiao Tan also exclaimed at this time, "Is it the off-site betting?"

"Finally guessed it right…" Feng Bujue spread his hands and said, "This is the most reasonable motive."

"Mm…" Bao Qing followed his train of thought and continued, "This explanation makes perfect sense…" As he thought, he said, "Given the attention and influence of today's match, there must be off-site betting, and more than one; and the 'mastermind' of this kidnapping incident has undoubtedly placed a large bet on Deities at some betting site… It's a must-win…"

"Presumably, the 'mastermind' never intended to 'gamble' from the beginning; he went to 'win'…" Feng Bujue took over the conversation again and said, "Since he had already decided to use off-site means to influence the outcome of the match, he would naturally bet all his money on Deities, which has higher odds…" He stroked his chin and muttered, "So, he found that 'planner' and directed today's good show."

"That 'planner' is indeed a very clever person…" Bao Qing pondered, "He planned a 'kidnapping,' not an 'attack'; if it were an attack… it would be a violent crime, and the police would investigate as quickly as possible. Kidnapping is different… As long as they don't call for ransom, even if the family reports the case, it's just a missing person case at best… And the missing person is a young man, and it hasn't even been half a day, so it generally won't attract much attention."

"In addition…" Feng Bujue said at this time, "The mastermind's 'motive' can also be well concealed." He tapped his forehead with his finger, "If it were an attack that happened today, the headlines of the major media outlets would definitely be—'Well-known e-sports player attacked on the day of a crucial match'; but what is the current situation… If everything goes according to the 'planner's' plan, the media tomorrow will write 'Well-known e-sports player absent from a crucial match for no reason, claiming he was illegally detained at the time'…" After saying that, he looked at Meng Jingchan and said, "Can you see the difference?"

"The former is a definite sign that someone is maliciously manipulating the match." Chan-ge thought for a few seconds and responded, "The latter… is unclear."

"In summary…" Feng Bujue continued, "Combined with the 'planner's' actions in instructing Zheng Xian to delay the investigation… At least at this stage, their plan should still be 'to restrict Gui Xiao's personal freedom before the match starts.'" He paused, "However… if we handle it improperly, or push them too hard… maybe the other party will escalate their actions…"

"You wouldn't mean that 'handling improperly' refers to…" Xiao Tan seemed to have thought of something, and he turned his gaze to the car window.

"Stirring up the grass and alarming the snake." Feng Bujue summarized the answer in four words.

"Then what does 'escalating the action' mean…" Chan-ge asked again.

"Isn't it obvious…" Jue-ge squinted his eyes and said, "As long as the 'planner' makes a phone call, those three who kidnapped Gui Xiao can immediately give Gui Xiao a sap to the head. Do you think they'll be faster or we'll be faster?"

"After you put it that way…" Meng Jingchan frowned and said, "Then let's not save this person…" Chan-ge's values were obviously still quite upright, "The match is small, but life is big… Anyway, they'll let him go after the match time, so let's just wait here… With the safety of the hostage as the top priority."

"Yeah…" Xiao Tan also echoed, "What if we startle the other party during the rush and they go for broke…"

"Hmph… You guys are too naive…" At this moment, Feng Bujue snorted coldly, interrupting the two, "As early as when Zheng Xian was brought into the interrogation room, we had already 'stirred up the grass and alarmed the snake'. There's no turning back now…"

"What?" Bao Qing was immediately stunned when he heard this.

"Could it be that Zheng Xian took the opportunity to tip them off?" Xiao Tan and Chan-ge had similar reactions.

Feng Bujue looked at the three of them and said in a deep voice, "Heh… Have you forgotten… Before, Zheng Xian 'received' a call from the planner, and then passively carried out the task. So… before that, how did the 'planner' know the progress of the investigation? How did he know that you had reported the case, where you reported the case, and that the police had set up a special task force?"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of everyone in the car changed.

Woo—Woo—

At this moment, the vibration of a cell phone… rang in the silent and stunned atmosphere.

Feng Bujue picked up Zheng Xian's cell phone (which had been taken out of the evidence bag), glanced at the caller ID, and answered it casually: "You finally called, I was getting impatient waiting."

"Actually, I could have not made this call, but…" A raspy voice, obviously processed, came from the other end of the phone, "I'm just curious… what kind of person are you?"

"I wouldn't dare call myself holy, I'm more like a madman." Feng Bujue replied with a smile.

"Heh…" The voice also laughed, "Okay, Mr. Madman…" He then threw out a question, "It seems you plan to play a game with me?"

"Indeed." Feng Bujue responded.

"Heh…" The other party sneered, "In this situation, do you really think you have a chance to play?"

"Of course I do." Jue-ge replied, "I'm just afraid you won't dare to play."

"Hehehe… Hahahaha…" The planner laughed repeatedly when he heard this, "You're very interesting…" He restrained his laughter and continued, "But being interesting doesn't mean you have ability."

"You're also very interesting." Feng Bujue replied in a lazy tone, "I'm already looking forward to your reaction when you fail miserably."

As soon as these words came out, the other end of the phone suddenly went silent…

Three seconds later, the raspy voice spoke again: "I'll give you fifteen minutes to find out the 'exact location of the target' and send it to me via text message." He paused for half a second, "After fifteen minutes, this number will be invalid, and if I haven't received a text message by then, or if you send me the wrong answer, then we'll have nothing to talk about."

"Heh…" Feng Bujue chuckled lightly and said, "Aren't you afraid that after I find the target, I'll directly lead people to break down the door… and use a tear gas grenade to hold the whole place before you even have time to issue any instructions?"

"You can try." The planner said this and hung up the phone…