hostage

"She's gone to sleep."

Xu Mo looked at the girl who was sleeping peacefully on Anna's bed, feeling an indescribable sense of loss in his heart.I don't know if it's the rain that hasn't been wiped off or the sweat. The broken hair on the girl's forehead is wet, and it sticks to the smooth forehead, looking very tired and haggard.He couldn't help touching it with his backhand, it was a little hot, he turned his head and wanted to ask Anna if she had any anti-fever medicine, but found that Anna was holding a glass of water, leaning against the door frame, looking at him inquisitively.

"Shall we talk?"

Xu Mo stared blankly at Anna, whose expression was both tangled and solemn, so he nodded, picked up the towel on the bedside table and wiped the girl's forehead and hair, then gently tucked in the quilt, and then Feeling at ease, she followed Anna to the living room.

"Sit." Anna pointed to the sofa at home, Xu Mo took a seat according to the instructions, and then heard Anna say, "I don't know where to start, but Mr. Tao seems to have a premonition that something unexpected will happen to him... "

"He's just missing, probably fine."

"Well... listen to me, Mr. Tao didn't plan to invite you to participate in this episode of the program. Originally, it was only Dr. Miyano, and it wasn't our invitation, but Mr. Tao received a letter. I don't know. I know what the content of the letter is. I only know that Mr. Tao locked himself in the office for one night after reading it. The next morning, I received a plan drafted by him and a business card of Professor Zhang Chenxi .By the way, you wait for me to download."

As Anna said, she got up and went straight to the bedroom, and then she took out Youran's notebook. She opened the book and took out the rectangular piece of paper that was in the notebook and handed it to Xu Mo, and then said,

"It's this one. It's Professor Zhang's business card, but Mr. Tao wrote your contact information on it. I was careless. I don't know when I went to Youran. There is also this, look."

As she said that, she handed over the notebook again, and Xu Mo took it and flipped through it one by one. He leisurely wrote some details about Mr. Tao's case, and the bits and pieces of small problems did not constitute any clues, but they She told herself plainly that she was investigating Mr. Tao's disappearance by herself.

"What do you think Mr. Tao had a premonition for?"

"I can't explain it clearly, except that the plan was changed to a scientific confrontation between you and Dr. Miyano, and he also sent a voice message to the effect that if one day you can't contact him, you can directly contact this person named Xu. Ink people..."

Xu Mo looked at Anna in surprise, and the other party snorted bitterly, and looked at him equally puzzled.

"The strangest thing is that after I read that voice, I can no longer find it in the chat history, which actually makes me feel very frightened. Sorry, before contacting you, I don't think it's possible to just rely on an order from Mr. Tao , and I feel that I should trust you."

"I understand, but with all due respect, I didn't know Mr. Tao before that."

"I also found it very strange, so I asked one more question. He said that you will remember it. You met it when you were young."

When I was a child...

Xu Mo stood in front of the window of Anna's bedroom, looking at the dark night sky outside the window, lost in thought, looked back at the girl who was still asleep on the bed, her slightly flushed face, imprinted in her mind overlapped with the scene when she was a child .

He still remembers the man who took the girl away under the camphor tree that day. He was unrestrained and elegant, and his temperament was somewhat similar to his father. Maybe it was because of this that he felt kind. The moment he held the little girl's immature hand was warm and heartwarming, which is what a happy family should look like.

Suddenly, there was a muffled sound in the sky, a burst of rumbling, and another warning of thunder and lightning. The girl on the bed frowned, but she didn't mean to wake up. Xu Mo once thought that Anna should have given the girl sleeping pills, but felt that There is no need to ask, she is too tired, and has been under high tension and anxiety for a long time, so she really needs a good rest.

Xu Mo rubbed his forehead to find the position of his temple, turned around and looked out the window again, the rain had arrived as promised, the night was getting deeper, and the sound of ticking suddenly broke the tranquility that had been hard-won.The picture flashed, and Xu Mo couldn't help but think of the car accident that changed his fate. He suddenly thought, why did Mr. Tao take the girl with him on the same road, and why did the girl appear on that road alone?Where was Mr. Tao at that time?

The silver light flickered in front of his eyes again, and the thunder seemed to wake up everything, Xu Mo felt a movement behind him, and when he turned around, he saw You Ran sitting up, as if he was not fully awake, but turned his head to look at him in a daze. He looked into his eyes, was silent for a while, and unconsciously burst into tears.

Xu Mo's heart couldn't help being throbbed, and he was speechless for a while, but choked up and said leisurely,

"Sorry……"

Hearing this, Xu Mo looked at Youran, walked forward involuntarily, stroked her head with his hands, and sighed deeply.

"Fool, what do you have to apologize for?"

"Sister Anna told me that I shouldn't make such unreasonable demands on you. Dad's business has nothing to do with you, well, it has nothing to do with you."

"Oh, it's me who should say sorry, leisurely I..."

Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching, and the two looked at the door at the same time. Anna stood at the door, saw the strange atmosphere of the two, and said,

"I came to see if you were awakened by Lei... are you okay? Are you hungry?" Noticing that Tao Youran nodded slightly, he said, "I'll make you something to eat, where is Professor Xu?" ?”

"No, it's too late, I should go back, leisurely to trouble you."

"It's my duty to take care of Youran, I'm the one who troubled you. Wait a moment, I'll get you an umbrella."

Anna didn't leave much ink. As smart as Xu Mo, he understood what Anna meant. No matter what instructions and explanations Mr. Tao gave to Anna before his disappearance, as an independent individual, he was as wise as Anna, and she would not fully trust her. I wouldn't let Tao Youran know too much, not to mention that I didn't protect that girl well.

Pacing down the road with an umbrella leaking fluid, looking at the rain in the dark night, Xu Mo couldn't help but think of the past, the car accident that took the lives of his parents, all the memories filled his mind and unfolded in front of his eyes , of course he knew that it was a man-made disaster, and he could even boldly guess that it was definitely related to BS. Even the paragraphs in the story cannot be combined into a complete story, but what he understands is that the curtain has been drawn from the moment he remembered everything, and everything is endless.

Unknowingly, I walked to the bottom of a residential building. The building seemed to be quite old. Under the shadow of the street lamps, I could still see the faded outer walls. It was covered with black and gray mold spots, and even the outer wall in the corner had some signs of peeling off.He looked up and saw that it was pitch black, probably no one had rested at this point.

His sight fell on a certain window on the second floor. The continuous rain washed away the cobweb-covered and cracked glass window. That should be the place where he used to live.And the tireless thunder and lightning flickered weakly, echoing the yellow light from the street lamps. The light and shadow interlaced for a moment, but Xu Mo recalled a picture.

He remembered that the weather was similar, he was holding a small umbrella, stepping playfully on the water, and took his mother's hand to go downstairs. At that time, his mother stopped and looked at the window like he did today. There were two shadows on the window where the light was shining, one he was familiar with was his father, and the other shadow also showed a man who was about the same size as his father.

His mother held him for a while, and then took him upstairs to go home. The moment he opened the door, he only heard two words.

His dad said, "That girl..."

The strange man said, "Don't worry, just leave it to me. At least, we won't hurt her."

After speaking, he saw Mrs. Xu and Xiao Xu Mo who opened the door and came in. The two stopped talking, and the strange man left after a while.

Now that I think of the glimpse of that strange man when I was young, although it is not very clear, the outline in Xu Mo's impression is too close to Mr. Tao.He took out the business card that Anna gave him from his pocket, maybe it's time to find Professor Zhang, Xu Mo thought so.

It's a pity that things didn't go as planned. The next day, when he called Zhang Chenxi, he was told that Professor Zhang had been sent to Africa on business, and he hadn't contacted his colleagues for the time being.All these things made Xu Mo think a little bit more. The timing was too coincidental. He guessed that Zhang Chenxi should be one of the key figures, but his sudden assignment made Xu Mo more vigilant. It's hard to say why the professor took the initiative to transfer, or someone has already grasped his every move and doesn't want him to know the reason, but it may also be a hint that he can't be in a hurry, or even overstep it.

On the way home, Xu Mo was analyzing the current situation over and over again, but he had been trained to be vigilant for a long time. Even if he was thinking, he could not distract his attention from the outside world. He stood at the gate of the residential building without Press the password directly, but stand tall, pause for a while, suddenly look sharply at the path on the side of the building, hum and laugh, and see a man in black appearing from the corner, with an expressionless face on his face. Looking at Xu Mo with an expression, he said,

"Ares, it's almost ready, the higher-ups want you to arrange to go to Japan as soon as possible to finish..."

"Shh!"

The man in black stopped talking under Xu Mo's stop. Although he was conveying an order, the man in black did not show any disrespect. After that, he didn't dare to say anything.

"understood."

Xu Mo just responded lightly. He was just about to let the man in black go back when the phone rang in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was Anna.Xu Mo gave the man in black another cold look. The man in black understood, then slightly bent his body as if to express his respect for his superiors, and then quickly disappeared like a puff of smoke.

"Hello, Miss Anna?"

"Sorry, Professor Xu, can I trouble you to pick up Youran from the police station?"

"Police station?"

"Oh, I really don't know what that silly girl is thinking, and I never thought that she would have the ability to go to the HBS site without permission, which is still blocked..."

"So... was she found by the police?"

"Well, I'm sorry, I have something to do with the company, and I'm on the high-speed rail now, so I can only trouble you."

"I see, I will go, don't worry."

"Professor Xu..."

"Ah."

"I still say the same thing, I don't know whether I should trust you, but I believe Mr. Tao, at least, he won't harm Youran. Youran is his most important person, you..."

"I won't, she...is also a very important person to me."

"..."

"Anna, I won't tell you to trust me, I can only assure you that I won't let Youran have trouble."

"it is good……"

After hanging up the phone, Xu Mo had no choice but to turn around. He sighed, that girl was really annoying, but he couldn't let it go.He took a few steps towards the outside of the community, then stopped suddenly, squinted his gaze, and seemed to still glance at the street where the building was at the corner of the building just now. With a cry, he stepped forward again.

Miyano Shiho, who was leaning against the side of the residential building with his arms folded, also sighed softly, tilted his head back, leaned against the wall, looked up at the cloudless blue sky, and said softly,

"It's still coming."

——TBC——