NOVPUB
Chapter 249: Chapter 249: The Lost Lover
Han Jiaojiao pulled out two tissues and slowly wiped her hands, her head slightly bowed as she glanced in the car and murmured, "Hmm... didn’t make a mess."
She tilted her head slightly to look at him, then lifted her head and tucked the loose hair by her temples behind her ears, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she said, "Can you please focus on driving?"
Long Yueze suddenly snapped back to reality and realized he had been staring at her, and the car had already veered off the intended path.
He hurriedly steered the car back onto the road, his heart still pounding wildly.
Somehow, he had found Han Jiaojiao stunningly beautiful just now.
Whether it was the way her eyelashes delicately fell as she looked down to wipe her hands or the way she brushed her hair back as she looked at him. Against the backlight, her skin was white and luminous, her eyes calm as water, clearly close at hand, yet veiled as if by a fluttering light gauze, all the more making him want to draw closer...
He wanted her.
Never had he felt such an urgent desire for a woman as he did now. Not just her body, but her heart! All of her!
Although Cao Qi hadn’t completely erased her memory, he had succeeded to some extent. Wanting her, now was his best opportunity.
The latter part of the journey passed peacefully.
Long Yueze no longer looked at Han Jiaojiao but drove with undivided attention. Han Jiaojiao poured half a cap of water from a mineral water bottle and tried to familiarize herself with her ability.
Having an "ability" filled her with delight and amusement as she manipulated a cluster of mist in the palm of her hand, playing with it tirelessly.
By the time they arrived near the place marked on the map, it had already grown dark, the surroundings pitch black, with only the car’s headlights illuminating the road.
The map was an ordinary paper map, not an electronic one that could zoom in and out, so it couldn’t precisely pinpoint streets and houses. Therefore, Long Yueze drove into the area and stopped.
This was an abandoned village. Han Jiaojiao held a flashlight, carefully observing the environment around them, then directed Long Yueze.
They arrived in front of an ordinary house with a courtyard, its gate wide open. The people who had fled in panic had not managed to lock the gate. Long Yueze drove the SUV into the courtyard and parked it there.
Most of the house was covered with snow, including the door. To get inside, they would need to clear all the snow in front of the door, which was clearly not feasible; the upper layers of snow were okay, but the bottom ones were solid chunks of ice.
The two then went to a window, which was also half covered by snow. However, because it was somewhat elevated from the ground, a small part was still exposed. Long Yueze used a military shovel and broke through the window. After such efforts, they climbed into the house through the window.
Inside were very ordinary furnishings—a square table, several chairs, and an old plate of sunflower seeds and scattered shells on the table.
To Long Yueze’s bewilderment, this looked like a very common rural house, and he didn’t understand why Han Jiaojiao insisted on coming here.
Han Jiaojiao directly entered the bedroom.
The bedroom was simply furnished as well, with a bed, a small bedside table, and nothing else, not even a wardrobe.
As Long Yueze was wondering, Han Jiaojiao suddenly ducked under the bed!
The bed was a wooden platform bed, the legs slightly elevated, allowing Han Jiaojiao to easily crawl underneath, and she did not come back out.
Long Yueze was taken aback, not understanding why Han Jiaojiao had suddenly crawled under the bed. He wanted to see clearly but, as a grown man, it was not appropriate for him to squeeze under the bed with her, besides, a man crawling under a bed seemed a bit demeaning. So he bent down and asked, "Jiaojiao, what are you doing in there?"
Unexpectedly, there was no one under the bed?!
"Jiaojiao?!"
The dark space beneath the bed board carried Han Jiaojiao’s voice, "Pass me the flashlight."
Long Yueze flashed the torch again, only to discover that there was a square hatch under the bed. It appeared to be an entrance to a basement?!
But why was this entrance hidden under the bed? Moreover, how did Han Jiaojiao know about it? Could it be that she had the ability to foresee the future?
Han Jiaojiao stuck her upper body out, tilting her head to look at Long Yueze, "The flashlight."
Long Yueze passed the flashlight and climbed over as well. The entrance led down a staircase and as they descended, the space opened up significantly. By the time they reached the bottom, they discovered it was a large basement, approximately two hundred square meters in size, furnished with numerous gambling tables and strewn about with various chips, playing cards, mahjong tiles, and dice.
Apparently, this was a small gambling den.
To avoid law enforcement, many gambling dens are set up in remote, rural areas. From the outside, they appear as ordinary farmyards, but inside, they reveal a hidden world.
These places are generally secretive. How had Han Jiaojiao found it?
Han Jiaojiao grasped the edge of a gambling table, intending to rearrange several tables together.
Long Yueze walked over to help her. "Are we going to stay here overnight tonight?"
Han Jiaojiao didn’t respond.
In the dark, only the sideways beam from the flashlight outlined her shape, her expression indiscernible.
"...Jiaojiao?"
Han Jiaojiao’s body gradually slumped; she was bent over, hands bracing against the table, growing weaker—Long Yueze scooped her up around the waist, saw her pained expression and tightly shut eyes, and his heart also shook!
"Han Jiaojiao! What’s wrong?!"
Han Jiaojiao had already lost consciousness.
...
It was the third day since Han Jiaojiao had disappeared.
—Amidst the vast landscape, a huge fire blazed. Dozens of military trucks were parked nearby, bustling with people.
Han Yi sat at the front of a vehicle, staring at the burning factory ahead, silent, his expression grim.
Hong Yun walked over to him, holding an open laptop. "The surveillance footage has been retrieved, those guards didn’t lie; she was indeed taken away by someone."
The footage from the security cameras began to play on the computer.
Cameras were only installed at the factory’s entrance and hallways. The video had no sound but clearly showed Han Jiaojiao and Cao Qi walking out from a room, one after the other.
"Cao Qi’s body was in the interrogation room, so this person must be a Transformation System Superpower User, not the real Cao Qi," Hong Yun said.
Han Yi silently watched Han Jiaojiao in the video. The video’s resolution was too low to see her face clearly, but her clothes, physique, and hair identified her. In the video, Han Jiaojiao appeared calm, even conversing occasionally with "Cao Qi" before getting into a vehicle at the factory door and disappearing from the camera’s view.
Han Yi took all this in with a heart squeezing in pain.
"It’s Long Yueze," he said somberly.
Long Yueze, the mastermind behind the experimental factory, the Superpower User from the Transformation System who took Han Jiaojiao, the most powerful entity within Chujiang Base...
It was Long Yueze who had kidnapped her.
Hong Yun’s emotions were heavy, not having expected to be one step late despite hurrying here overnight. She looked at Han Yi. "It snowed last night, covering up the tire tracks. I suspect he took Han Jiaojiao to Chujiang Base. However, Chujiang Base has significant local clout, and as the saying goes, even a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. I know you’re strong, but when it comes to rescuing Jiaojiao, we need a well-thought-out plan."
Han Yi glared at her coldly. "You don’t need to teach me."
Hong Yun choked, rage seething within her!
"You indeed don’t need my teachings! You could lose a person all by yourself!"
Han Yi sneered, "What happens to her has nothing to do with you."
