“Sigh, I forgot to ask more just now, Bai Feng called yesterday saying Lele’s mood seemed a bit off, but today she looks fairly normal, guess I’ll keep an eye on her a bit longer.”
Xu Fei then stood up to head to the loo, but just as he stepped inside, his phone rang with an incoming call.
“Master? The old man’s actually calling me out of the blue?”
Seeing his master’s name on the caller ID, Xu Fei’s curiosity piqued.
Since finishing his apprenticeship, his master Mo Wentian had never once reached out first.
Last time, it was Xu Fei who tracked down the wandering master, so getting a call from him now felt odd.
Xu Fei wasn’t exactly thrilled, quite the opposite, it struck him as strange and worrying.
“Hello, Master, what’s up?”
As soon as he answered and spoke, a faint, weak voice came through.
“Don’t… don’t come…”
Before the short phrase finished, a rough, furious roar cut in from the other end.
“You bloody old git, too good for a bit of respect, eh? Didn’t I tell you how to play this before the call?”
A sharp, grating noise followed through the earpiece, then another voice piped up.
“You’re Xu Fei, right? Listen up, kid, your master’s in my hands now, if you’ve got any sense, you’ll grab the most valuable thing you’ve got and come trade for him, you’re not daft enough to not know what to bring, are you?”
Hearing this, Xu Fei’s heart sank, his hunch had been spot on.
But he didn’t panic, his mind steadied like still water, already plotting how to rescue his master.
“Most valuable thing? I don’t even know who you lot are, and what kind of kidnapper plays riddles for ransom?”
As he spoke, Xu Fei tapped into an app on his phone, contacting Hell’s Ear with an order.
Hell’s Ear, still at his base, had just dug up some leads on the Blood Cloak Sect and its Red Buddha Society’s movements, about to report to Xu Fei when the urgent command popped up.
“Master’s nabbed, find the kidnappers’ location ASAP!”
The brief message oozed Xu Fei’s urgency, so Hell’s Ear didn’t dawdle.
Lucky for him, he’d been tracking the Red Buddha Society’s moves, so he had intel ready to roll.
“Young Master Jun, I’ve got it! This batch of Red Buddha Society goons has been active around the abandoned Miyun Reservoir lately.”
After getting this reply, Xu Fei shot back, “Hold off, don’t move yet, I’m talking to the kidnappers!”
Even without further orders, Hell’s Ear knew the drill, he dispatched his drones straight to the abandoned Miyun Reservoir.
Through the drones’ infra-red cams, Hell’s Ear spotted Xu Fei’s captured master, looking frail but in no immediate danger.
He fired off this update to Xu Fei.
Seeing it, Xu Fei felt a wave of relief, while the voice on the phone swaggered back, “Don’t know who we are? Well, little lord here’ll tell you, we’re the Red Buddha Society!”
