He hung up the phone.
Chen Jianghe secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
From his uncle's tone, it was highly probable that Wu Lingyun had been hidden by the Wu family, and she should be unharmed.
At that time.
Li Qiutao, far away in Jiangnan, had a grim expression. He muttered to himself, "Damn it, he actually reached out for my daughter. Do you really think I'm a toothless tiger?"
He immediately dialed a number registered in the capital. The person who answered had a lazy tone and said with a chuckle, "Qiutao, what made you think of calling me?"
"Wu Qixian, you son of a bitch, stop playing dumb!" Li Qiutao cursed.
Wu Qixian pretended to be confused and said, "Qiutao, what's wrong? I don't think I've offended you anywhere, have I?"
Li Qiutao angrily said, "Are you even a man? Do you dare to do it but not admit it? It was you, you bastard, who made the move when I was attacked in Leyang County. I thought you would restrain yourself after your failed attempt, but I didn't expect you to set your sights on my daughter. If anything happens to my daughter, your whole family will die!"
Wu Qixian still feigned ignorance and said, "Heh, you've misunderstood. We are a loving family. How could I possibly harm you? As for Lingyun, she is also my most beloved niece. It's even more impossible for me to harm her. Tell me what happened to her, otherwise, how can I help you?"
"Heh heh..."
Li Qiutao also sneered, "Wu Qixian, you bastard, you're quite the actor. Let me tell you this: if you don't return my daughter to me by the end of today, be careful, I'll tell the old man what you've done."
"And also—"
"If my daughter is harmed in the slightest, I will make your two sons pay a heavy price."
Wu Qixian was somewhat angered. What right did this son-in-law, Li Qiutao, have to speak to him in such a threatening tone?
Did he really think he had no temper?
"Watch your tone, don't think Pei Qin can protect you forever. The Wu family is ultimately controlled by us men."
"Over the years, you've relied on winning Pei Qin's heart and acted recklessly in the Wu family. We've all turned a blind eye, allowing you to thrive and even putting you in charge of a multi-trillion dollar group. Don't you think you've gone too far?"
"Too far?" Li Qiutao sneered.
"If you don't return my daughter to me, I'll show you what 'too far' means."
Wu Qixian's anger surged. He cursed, "Li Qiutao, I'll f**k your grandmother! Do you really think I have no temper at all?"
"You just wait, I'll make sure you regret this."
After a barrage of curses, Wu Qixian heard no response from Li Qiutao, assuming he had been scared into silence. Little did he know, Li Qiutao had already hung up the phone after delivering his threat and hadn't heard Wu Qixian's ranting.
"F**k!"
Wu Qixian almost smashed the phone. His face turned red with anger. "Li Qiutao is getting more and more outrageous, utterly lawless and without any regard for rules! You just wait, I'll eventually chop up your whole family and feed them to the dogs."
The butler stepped forward and said respectfully, "Second Master, please calm down. In my opinion, we should go all the way and just get rid of him..."
He made a throat-slitting gesture.
Wu Qixian indeed wanted to chop Li Qiutao to pieces, but he knew it wasn't the right time. Who knew if Li Qiutao had a trump card hidden up his sleeve? He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and then said, "No, this Li Qiutao is extremely cunning. If I'm not mistaken, he must have some evidence against us. We are not yet strong enough to fight the entire country, and we still need to continue leeching off this behemoth. This process will take at least another five years. Let Li Qiutao run rampant for five more years! After five years, I will surely kill him!"
"Second Master, then what should we do..." the butler inquired.
Wu Qixian said with a straight face, "Release Wu Lingyun, but make sure she doesn't know where she was held."
"Go."
As the butler was about to leave, Wu Qixian asked again, "By the way, is there any new information about Chen Jin Chao?"
"There seems to be. As far as I know, Xu Hanchen left the hospital this morning, and Tao Qiyue, who has a close relationship with Chen Jin Chao, also left shortly after. Judging by their expressions as they left the hospital, Chen Jin Chao might still be alive, but the specific situation is unclear," the butler said.
Wu Qixian frowned and muttered, "That's really strange. To survive such poison, is he a monster?"
The butler hesitated, "But this is just my guess. Chen Jin Chao's condition might be very poor, or he might even be dead. Xu Hanchen has heavily guarded all entrances and exits of the hospital, and our people can't get in."
Wu Qixian said without hesitation, "Don't even think about it, this little brat is definitely not dead. Arrange it now, evacuate all the personnel at the Niutou Mountain outpost. We can't let those people fall into the hands of that old man Xu Hanchen."
"Second Master, isn't that being too cautious? Chen Jin Chao may not even know about the Niutou Mountain outpost. If he did, he would have wiped them out long ago," the butler said.
Wu Qixian replied with a cold smile, "Assume the worst when anticipating the enemy, and be strict when defending. I must ensure there are no loopholes, otherwise, it will easily draw fire to other outposts. If necessary, kill everyone at the outpost."
The butler suddenly shivered, thinking how terrifying Second Master's thoughts were.
The Niutou Mountain outpost had two hundred lives!
However, the butler also believed that this was the best solution. These people absolutely could not fall into the hands of Chen Jin Chao or Xu Hanchen.
"Alright, go," Wu Qixian said.
The butler retreated.
Wu Qixian sat alone in his chair, lost in thought. He lit another cigarette and after a bout of smoking, he murmured, "Why is this happening? This should have been a very successful operation, and it still failed?"
Regardless, he felt a sense of indignation in his heart.
Could the dignified Second Master of the Wu family be defeated by a young man? Thinking of this, Wu Qixian extinguished his cigarette and said in a deep voice, "Since Plan A didn't work, we have to execute Plan B. I must bury Chen Jin Chao in the north, bury him this winter!"
A night passed.
As the sky turned pale grey at dawn the next day, the residents of Fengtian City realized that something significant might have happened last night. However, there were no reports of what happened last night on the internet or in traditional media.
But many people had heard the resonance of fighter jets last night, and some even heard the sound of artillery fire. It was definitely not fake.
Seemingly calm on the surface, a turbulent undercurrent was already flowing.
While everyone was speculating about what happened last night, Man Xiong and Xu Hanchen had already arrived at Chen Jin Chao's ward to tell him about the events of the previous night.
Man Xiong's face was ashen, looking extremely dejected.
"That place indeed had a Divine Kingdom outpost."
"But we didn't catch anyone. They all died, not a single survivor."