Chapter 49: An Lan, You’ve Woken Up
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Gu Liyu entered the supermarket restroom, but there was no one inside.
Xu Xingran followed, opening the doors to each stall, but they were all empty.
They called An Lan’s name several times, but there was no response.
Xiao Chen stopped a cleaning lady outside the door, “Auntie, did you see a student wearing the same school uniform as us entering the restroom?”
The cleaning lady shook her head, “I just came over to clean, and I saw you guys.”
Xu Xingran furrowed his brows and whispered, “This doesn’t make sense. If he had something to do, he would definitely send a message or make a call… he wouldn’t just disappear like this.”
Xiao Chen also found it strange, “Yeah, with his personality, knowing someone is waiting for him, he wouldn’t just play hide and seek like this.”
Gu Liyu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then turned around and walked to the trash can next to the sink, pulling out An Lan’s phone.
“What… How did you know his phone was in there? No, why would his phone be in there?” Xiao Chen looked at the beckoning cat on the back of the phone and his face turned unpleasant.
Obviously, if someone had stolen An Lan’s phone, causing it to shut down, the phone wouldn’t appear in the trash can.
—An Lan was in trouble.
“We should have come earlier,” Xu Xingran said coldly.
Gu Liyu walked to the door, glanced around, then headed towards the direction of the underground parking lot.
Xu Xingran also followed coldly, “Let’s go, while An Lan’s pheromone scent hasn’t completely dissipated.”
The faint scent of green bamboo in the air, almost indistinguishable, was captured by the three of them.
“An Lan may have lost consciousness,” said Xu Xingran.
“I know. He has never been good at controlling his pheromones. In a state of unconsciousness, the pheromones are released more prominently,” replied Xiao Chen.
So even though he had left, the lingering pheromones in the restroom could still be discerned by these alpha individuals with exceptional olfactory senses.
And the direction of An Lan’s pheromones dispersing was towards the underground parking lot.
The faint scent of bamboo leaves formed an almost discernible thin veil in the air, drifting past their eyes, landing on their noses, and then dispersing, elusive and ungraspable.
In ordinary times, this would be a kind of enjoyment for them, but at this moment, it filled them with a sense of crisis.
They rushed to the underground parking lot, and at this time, many people were coming to the supermarket after work, and the parking lot was almost full. It was almost impossible to find An Lan from here.
A young woman pushing a cart passed by them, looking at the three tall young men in school uniforms and showing a hint of appreciation.
A middle-aged couple walked by with plastic bags, the wife complaining that her husband bought one less plastic bag to save money.
Cars occasionally passed by them, leaving behind bursts of exhaust fumes.
Various sounds and smells mingled in this space, making An Lan’s scent become thinner and weaker.
Xu Xingran said, “There’s only one exit in the parking lot. As long as they haven’t left, we can wait for them at the exit.”
But Gu Liyu, as if he hadn’t heard anything, walked quickly towards the deeper part of the parking lot and stopped in front of an empty space.
“Xiao Chen, guard the exit,” Xu Xingran said.
“Got it.”
When Xu Xingran found Gu Liyu, he saw him standing straight in place.
“Can you still smell An Lan’s pheromones?” Xu Xingran asked.
“No. It disappeared here.” Gu Liyu’s voice was very cold.
This coldness was different from his usual indifference; it was a suppressed anger.
With An Lan’s scent disappearing, the most likely possibility was that he had been locked inside a closed car. And this parking space was empty, meaning they were a step too late; the person who took An Lan had already left.
“Why would someone take him? Targeting you, or targeting Xiao Chen… or maybe me?” Xu Xingran slowly clenched his fist.
“Perhaps not targeting any of us.” Gu Liyu tilted his head back, then turned around and saw the surveillance cameras five or six meters away.
Xu Xingran also noticed it and immediately dialed a number on his phone.
“Uncle Liang, hello. Are you having a meal now? I have a very important friend who seems to have been kidnapped and needs your help.”
“Just now, about ten to twenty minutes ago, yes, yes, we’re sure something happened to him because we found his phone in the trash can in the restroom…”
“Okay, thank you!”
Xu Xingran hung up the phone and looked at Gu Liyu.
Since Gu Liyu arrived here, he hadn’t moved. He just stared at the empty parking space. He turned around, and although his expression seemed like nothing had happened, the entire space collapsed invisibly, crushed by his aura.
The air seemed as if seawater were sweeping in from a distant place, threatening to engulf and destroy the parking lot.
Xu Xingran was well aware of Gu Liyu’s pheromone control ability, but at this moment, his pheromones were spreading infinitely in the parking lot.
About ten meters away, an omega pregnant woman happened to pass by. Her husband felt Gu Liyu’s pheromones and almost fainted, feeling dizzy.
If Gu Liyu didn’t control his emotions, he would undoubtedly affect other people in the parking lot. If it alarmed the Alpha Management Committee, he might end up in confinement.
“Gu Li…” Xu Xingran was about to remind him when Gu Liyu’s pheromones suddenly retracted, and the overwhelming seawater that was about to flood was calmed.
Those affected by the pheromones, like the pregnant woman’s husband, also regained their composure.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Liyu turned to look at Xu Xingran.
Xu Xingran knew he had calmed down.
“I just asked for help from the city bureau. They will come to access the surveillance in the supermarket and the underground parking lot, and they will organize an investigation team. But we still need to consider more possibilities, such as why An Lan was taken and who these people are.” Xu Xingran reminded.
“I understand. These are all clues. Even if the police come to investigate, there needs to be a direction for the investigation.”
After waiting for too long, Qiao Chuluo couldn’t wait any longer and directly called Xu Xingran.
“Class Monitor, did you find An Lan? Why did it take so long? Is An Lan really in trouble?”
Xu Xingran spoke softly, “Little Qiao, I need you to contact An Lan’s parents now. An Lan has been taken by unidentified individuals.”
Qiao Chuluo’s breathing became erratic, and Xu Xingran immediately comforted him, “You need to stay calm because there’s no evidence yet that An Lan is in danger. If you panic and communicate with An Lan’s parents, it might scare them. Understand?”
Qiao Chuluo adjusted his emotions and replied after two seconds, “I understand. Class Monitor, you must find him.”
“We will. We still have hot pot to eat together.”
In less than ten minutes, the city bureau sent a commissioner to handle the case. They immediately pulled surveillance from the supermarket.
The three of them watched the surveillance with the police investigation team.
“Since these people’s target is An Lan, and An Lan coming to this supermarket was purely accidental, there should be no advance notice to anyone other than us. So, we can deduce that the people who took him have been tracking his movements since he left school, waiting for the right moment when he entered the supermarket.” Xu Xingran analyzed, “Therefore, the car they prepared should have entered this parking lot at almost the same time as us.”
The police immediately adjusted the time frame of the surveillance.
Xiao Chen continued the analysis, “Since they are here to kidnap someone, they need to be low-key, so luxury cars can be ruled out. Originally, we could still smell a bit of An Lan’s pheromones in the parking lot, but near the parking spot, we couldn’t smell it anymore. This indicates that the car is well-sealed.”
“Pheromones?” The police captain in charge of the case was stunned, “I’m also an alpha, but I didn’t smell anything at the scene.”
No one answered the question. Gu Liyu, who had been silent all along, just said one sentence, “It’s likely a truck or an SUV.”
The police turned back to continue watching the surveillance, but the three young alphas behind him were too imposing, making him tense. He checked every frame of the surveillance with extreme care.
“Double speed,” Xu Xingran spoke up.
The police officer warned them, “If it’s at double speed, many details might be overlooked.”
“Triple speed then,” Xiao Chen said, impatiently watching the slow surveillance.
The police officer turned to look at Xu Xingran, who nodded, saying, “Don’t worry, we have sharp eyes. If we continue to delay, who knows what might happen.”
The officer hesitated, and the captain sitting beside him spoke up, “Listen to them, triple the speed.”
“Thank you,” Xu Xingran nodded towards the captain.
“No need to thank us. For the KTV case, our team responded, and I was in charge of the investigation. I remember this student named ‘An Lan.’ If it weren’t for him, one of our undercover colleagues might have been in trouble.”
The captain’s implication was that he would do everything possible to rescue An Lan.
The surveillance progressed to the peak hours of leaving work. On the one hand, more and more vehicles entered the parking lot, and on the other hand, more people passed by the supermarket restroom.
At a certain moment, Gu Liyu suddenly spoke, “Stop.”
The surveillance stopped, and the screen showed a man pushing another man in a wheelchair into the restroom on the supermarket floor. Both of them were wearing sun hats.
“Check the time we paid at the supermarket,” Gu Liyu looked at Xu Xingran.
Xu Xingran took out his phone, confirmed, and said, “We paid at 6:30 in the evening, left the supermarket… An Lan should have said he wanted to go to the restroom about one or two minutes later.”
“Then it should be these two, right? The timing matches up, and their behavior is suspicious. Both wearing sun hats, maybe to hide their faces? Even the one sitting in the wheelchair is wearing a sun hat?” Xiao Chen’s face no longer showed any laziness; his gaze was as cold as if he wanted to pierce the screen and expose the two scoundrels.
So, the police focused on these two individuals.
Gu Liyu continued to watch the surveillance in the parking lot. It was an old, white van. Although they captured the license plate, a subsequent check revealed that it was likely a fake.
“Now we can only pull up the surveillance along the route this van took and see where it went.” The captain said.
The case was still ongoing, and the three of them sat in the police station, waiting for the police to gather relevant information.
Qiao Chuluo had also informed An Lan’s parents, and they were on their way.
Leaning back against the chair, Xiao Chen held the paper cup tightly in his hand, almost crushing it.
Xu Xingran leaned back against the chair, closing his eyes, processing everything that had happened that day. Who exactly appeared around An Lan?
Gu Liyu remained the same, with no expression on his face, leaving people unable to guess what he was thinking.
“Let’s filter the information now. Firstly, if it’s for ransom, An Lan’s family is an ordinary middle-class family. The likelihood of asking for ransom from his parents is low, unless they want us to pay the ransom. But are the kidnappers so sure that we would be willing to pay for him, a classmate?”
“If the goal is to make us pay the ransom, that means offending the Gu, Xu, and Xiao families. We will spare no effort to find this guy who values money over life. Moreover, there’s an unwritten rule among alpha families that ransom won’t be paid unless there’s only one heir left in the entire family. Kidnapping An Lan for extortion can be ruled out.” Xiao Chen threw the deformed paper cup back onto the table.
“The second possibility, Xiao Yun.” Xu Xingran turned his head, looking at Xiao Chen.
“That blooming white lotus?” Xiao Chen sneered, his brow furrowing even more, “If it’s him, he probably won’t do it himself but let Xiao Nan, that fool, do it for him. But… if it’s Xiao Yun, shouldn’t his target be me? Hire someone to kill me first so he can transplant my heart. Why would he kidnap An Lan? It shouldn’t be him.”
Xu Xingran shook his head, “You underestimate Xiao Yun. If it’s just for survival, he doesn’t need to covet your heart because, no matter what, you are the bone and blood of the Xiao family. His obsession with your heart is solely for gaining control of the Xiao family.”
In Xiao Yun’s mind, he was the legitimate heir of the Xiao family. In theory, Xu Xingran and Gu Liyu should befriend him to pave the way for future cooperation between the families.
However, from Gu Yunlis art exhibition, it was evident that Xu Xingran and Gu Liyu were clearly on Xiao Chen’s side, making Xiao Yun feel a sense of crisis.
Gu Liyu, who had been silent, finally spoke, “If this incident is planned by Xiao Yun, his purpose is simple: to use An Lan to break the relationship between us.”
“Why use An Lan?” Xiao Chen raised an eyebrow, “Does Xiao Yun have a heart disease, or is his brain sick?”
Xu Xingran sneered, with a hint of mockery in his gaze, “His brain isn’t sick, and it’s functioning very well. He just miscalculated one thing—An Lan is not an omega.”
“Except for Xiao Yun, we overlooked another possibility.”
As Gu Liyu’s words fell, both Xu Xingran and Xiao Chen looked at him.
“What possibility?”
“Eve’s apple.” Gu Liyu replied.
Both Xu Xingran and Xiao Chen were stunned at that moment.
After a while, Xu Xingran finally spoke, “Hasn’t Gu Qingchuan’s research institute been cooperating with the police, focusing on the analysis and research of eve’s apple? Could it be that a third or fourth generation of eve’s apple has been synthesized again?”
“For the research team of eve’s apple, An Lan is a rare specimen.”
Gu Liyu finished speaking and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Xu Xingran asked.
“Contacting Gu Qingchuan.”
As Gu Liyu left, Xu Xingran sighed deeply.
“If it’s really related to eve’s apple, it means more trouble than Xiao Yun.” Xiao Chen rubbed his eyes forcefully.
“Yeah. After all, until now, neither the police nor the Alpha Management Committee has any understanding of the organization that produces and develops eve’s apple.”
Time passed, and An Lan’s throat became dry. He gradually woke up, his head still buzzing.
Before his eyes was darkness, and An Lan was still dizzy. After a moment of dizziness, he finally woke up.
What’s happening?
Why can’t he see anything?
He tried to move, only to realize that his hands were tied to the armrests of the chair. The reason for not being able to see was that his eyes were covered with a black cloth. A faint light seeped through the gap below the black cloth.
Memory slowly flowed back, and he finally remembered being drugged in the supermarket restroom.
A shock struck his heart, and a feeling of panic gradually surged up.
Unable to see and restrained, he had no idea about his current state and surroundings. He didn’t even know how much time had passed since he was taken away.
Right, there were Xu Xingran and others. They would definitely look for him, and they might have even reported to the police by now.
But the current issue was, what was the purpose of the person who kidnapped him?
He found himself entangled in a plot similar to those in movies and TV shows. The key was that he hadn’t watched enough of these types of movies or TV shows; otherwise, he could have learned something from the protagonist.
Don’t expect the kidnapper to tell you important information because the more critical the information, the more he knows, and the more likely he is to be silenced.
An Lan, stay calm.
Even if you can’t see, you can still hear and smell.
Don’t forget, you’re an alpha, and you have the five senses of an alpha.
An Lan took a deep breath, gradually calming his frantic heartbeat.
He focused, trying to feel everything around him.
He turned his wrists, feeling the armrests of the chair. It wasn’t an ordinary chair; the armrests were covered with a layer of leather, probably synthetic leather. Such chairs were likely used in office spaces.
If it were kidnappers seeking ransom, they would probably throw him randomly in a warehouse, not bother finding a chair for him.
If his legs weren’t tied, he could even stand up with the chair. However, the problem was that his ankles were bound on either side of the chair.
He attempted to move, realizing that he wasn’t tied with ordinary ropes. The material was familiar, but he couldn’t remember it at the moment…
A flash of inspiration crossed An Lan’s mind. The last time in the hospital, when Gu Liyu took him to the alpha-exclusive isolation room for rest, there were similar restraints on the bed. These were used to restrain alphas who had lost their reason without causing harm to them.
An Lan took a deep breath, could it be… he was locked up in some hospital-like place?
How was that possible?
An Lan carefully distinguished the smell in the air. If it were a hospital, there should be the scent of disinfectant or alcohol.
But after careful analysis, An Lan found that this room was very peculiar—so peculiar that, apart from his own scent, there was no other scent!
How could this be possible? Did he lose his sense of smell?
Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
At this moment, a voice sounded in front of him.
“An Lan, you’re awake.”
An Lan tensed all over. The voice didn’t come from someone speaking face to face but from an electronic device. An Lan suspected that there might be a Monitor or computer in front of him.
An Lan didn’t ask where he was or what their purpose was, knowing that if he didn’t show any signs of panic, the other party would be willing to reveal information voluntarily. If he remained composed, the other party, in an attempt to disrupt his composure and gain control, would likely disclose more information.
“Why aren’t you speaking?” The voice carried a hint of amusement and even curiosity about An Lan’s silence.
“I want water,” An Lan said.
He knew there was no need for them to tamper with the water. If they wanted to add something, they would have done it while he was unconscious.
“Thirst is a normal reaction; wait a moment.”
In his current restrained state, someone would have to assist him in drinking water.
Since it was a person, there would be a scent, and An Lan could gather more information.
As expected, the door opened, and someone walked in.
The footsteps were steady, and An Lan could imagine the person’s height and weight. If he wasn’t mistaken, this person had a tall and sturdy build, likely an alpha.
But there was no scent on him—no scent of disinfectant, medicine, food, shampoo, or laundry detergent.
An Lan once again suspected that they somehow blocked his sense of smell.
“A snap” sounded as the cap of a mineral water bottle was twisted open.
An Lan lowered his head slightly, and the person squatted down, bringing the bottle close to An Lan’s mouth.
An Lan suddenly realized that if the person was an alpha, there should be pheromones. Even if they used inhibitors, as long as he concentrated enough, he could smell the faint pheromones emitted by Gu Liyu. An Lan didn’t believe there was an inhibitor stronger than Gu Liyu’s self-control.
Facing forward, An Lan brought his face close to the bottle opening and subtly took a deep breath while drinking.
The author has something to say:
How will An Lan be saved?
A. Self-rescue
B. Gong rescues him
C. The police come to the rescue
D. Other, please explain your plot.
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
