Chapter 354: 354: Intensifying Contradictions (6) Directly Determine Black Hand

Translator: 549690339

In the villa.

A chilling aura of terror filled the space.

The maid on the side was so scared that she had lost her soul. She stared at the scene in front of her, too afraid to even blink.

Wan Quan’s face was bright red. The sudden suffocation and rebellion distorted her face terribly.

Mu Cidian’s fingers were pressing hard, his face cold-blooded.

Wan Quan’s face was utterly twisted. She couldn’t speak properly. She felt her breath becoming more and more difficult, and furiously made intermittent sounds, “Mu Cidian, you – you kill me – for Xin Zaozao… You kill me, you kill me, Xin Zaozao won’t – not die well either, at most, we… three people… all die together!”

Mu Cidian’s bloodthirsty expression remained unresponsive.

At that moment, he was genuinely murdering.

Uncontrollably, he wanted to kill his mother.

Once she was dead, the grievances with the Xin Family would end!

But…

In the end, he regained his sanity.

Finally, while looking at his mother, who might stop breathing at any moment, he let her go.

He released her, his face was gloomy, his hand trembling.

He knew he might have killed his mother.

Perhaps one day, on a day he could no longer bear, he would actually do that.

His terrifyingly cold expression stared straight at his mother, watching her coughing continuously and weeping due to his recent brutality.

Wan Quan calmly glared back at her son, glaring at his cruel side.

“Why don’t you just kill me? Kill me!” Wan Quan’s hoarse voice continued to provoke Mu Cidian’s emotions.

Mu Cidian’s clenched hands kept trembling.

“If you kill me, I won’t bother Xin Zaozao anymore. If you dare, Mu Cidian, kill me!” Wan Quan screamed heartbreakingly.

The entire villa echoed with her monstrous voice.

Wan Quan’s emotions had also reached an extreme.

Her eyes filled with anger, glared fiercely at her son.

Just for Xin Zaozao, just for a single Xin Zaozao, Mu Cidian wanted to kill her.

She knew full well that Mu Cidian almost took her life a moment ago, all for Xin Zaozao!

“Mom.” Mu Cidian suddenly called her.

Not yelling or making a scene, his voice was unusually hoarse as if he could barely produce a sound but still forced himself to speak.

“Don’t call me!” Wan Quan screamed.

“Let Xin Zaozao go.” Mu Cidian pleaded word by word, no threats, only pleading.

He was begging.

“Ha.” Wan Quan sarcastically smirked, “Do you think that’s possible, Mu Cidian? I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. I can’t wait to see Xin Zaozao wish she was dead. I wish I could kill her. You want me to let her go? Unless you kill me, kill me. Xin Zaozao will still be the same!”

The louder she got, the more out of control she became.

Her body was trembling with the words she was yelling.

Such a heart-wrenching voice, it was telling Mu Cidian that it was impossible, not even if she were to die would she let Xin Zaozao go!

“Bang!” A loud noise as something hit the floor.

Wan Quan’s emotional state was suddenly stunned at that moment.

She froze, staring straight at Mu Cidian’s astonishing action.

Such a tall man, without any disguise, knelt down on the spot, heavily on the ground.

Wan Quan’s gaze was growing more and more ruthless, more and more resentful.

“Mom, I beg you to let Xin Zaozao go, I beg you.” Mu Cidian said fiercely, “Afterwards, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, whatever it is, I beg you, let her go… ”

Looking into Mu Cidian’s eyes, Wan Quan at that moment, laughed.

She suddenly laughed, a crazy laugh.

Mu Cidian, Mu Cidian, for a Xin Zaozao, you will abandon your mother, abandon your dignity!

She laughed loudly, her laughter desolate.

This is her son, the son she had raised for over twenty years, for a woman, for a woman, what does he have left!

She watched Mu Cidian, watched him suddenly use his head to hit the floor.

A loud noise, a really loud noise, echoed throughout the villa.

She even saw the blood on his forehead, the red swelling at the beginning, until his forehead was covered in blood.

The servant on the side was frightened into immobility, shocked at the young master’s astonishing actions. She felt a deep stir within her!

Did the young master love Miss Xin that much?

So much so that even the servants watching him would have reddened eyes.

The master had never been seen like this before, so…so brutal!

“Go ahead and knock.” Wan Quan said, her mood suddenly stabilizing, suddenly calm. She said, “Even if you knock yourself dead in front of me, I won’t tell you where Xin Zaozao is. You can torture yourself if you want, after all, you’re not my son. Since the moment you fell for Xin Zaozao, you ceased to be my son!”

Mu Cidian seemed not to hear.

He just kept banging his head, over and over again.

It seemed to be the only thing he could think of, the only thing he could do.

So he could not stop.

Inside the villa, the loud noises continued, one after another, fierce and gruesome.

A part of Mu Cidian’s forehead was rotten, but he seemed not to feel any pain.

The servant couldn’t bear to watch anymore, she mustered courage, carefully saying, “Young master, please don’t hurt yourself anymore…”

Mu Cidian seemed to hear nothing.

All he could think of, was having his mother let Xin Zaozao go, to let him go!

“Enough!” Wan Quan could not bear to watch any longer.

Mu Cidian was her son.

The son she gave birth to and raised.

Seeing him destroy his body, she couldn’t stomach it.

But Mu Cidian still didn’t stop.

It seemed as if he wouldn’t stop until he heard the answer he wanted, even if it meant dying before her tonight.

“Enough, Mu Cidian!” Wan Quan fiercely kicked him down.

Mu Cidian was thrown off balance, directly collapsing to the ground.

Blood gushed out from his forehead.

His entire face, under the contrast of the blood, was terrifyingly pale.

Without a moment’s rest, Mu Cidian got back up from the floor and prepared to continue his actions.

“Enough, Mu Cidian. Even if you die before me, I have no clue where Xin Zaozao might be! Xin Zaozao was not kidnapped by me! I’m not that stupid to personally commit such an act. I just provided an opportunity for the one who had ill intentions towards Xin Zaozao, and he executed this series of actions. Even if you die before me today, I still wouldn’t know where Xin Zaozao is!” Wan Quan ruthlessly declared.

Forced by her son, she finally confessed.

Mu Cidian stared intently at his mother.

At that moment, he felt dizzy.

He held back from collapsing the next second.

Blood from his forehead fell into his eyes. He didn’t even have time to wipe it away, he said, “What did you just say?!”

“I said, I don’t know where Xin Zaozao is. I simply provided the man who has malicious intentions towards Xin Zaozao an opportunity to kidnap her!” Wan Quan’s voice was incredibly sharp.

Furious at that moment, she was shaking all over.

Mu Cidian abruptly stood up, “Who’s the man with malicious intentions?! Who is it?!”

“I don’t know!” Wan Quan screamed, “I’m telling you, even if you die or threaten me with death, I still wouldn’t know where Xin Zaozao is! Do whatever you want, even if you want to die, it’s up to you! I’d rather not have a son like you!”

After leaving those words, Wan Quan turned away and strode off.

What good would it do by revealing this?!

Would it help Mu Cidian find Xin Zaozao?

What could he do even if he found her?

The things that were supposed to happen, have already happened.

She laughed, a crazed laughter, feeling utterly contemptuous.

Mu Cidian just stared at his mother’s retreating back.

Someone with malicious intentions?!

Someone who had malicious intentions towards Xin Zaozao?!

A director from their company?

No.

The directors wouldn’t do such extreme things, especially after Xin Zaozao’s performance in the company recently which has been accepted by most of them. Xin Zaozao also hasn’t done anything detrimental to the group’s interests and hasn’t confronted anyone. It’s impossible for any of them to be the ones behind it.

Then, could it be an employee?

Unlikely. For quite some period, Xin Zaozao has been handling many things personally, so it’s unlikely she’d clash with her colleagues. Moreover, in the past year, she has even increased their pay.

So, who else could it be?!

The sweat and blood on Mu Cidian’s forehead, everything was blending together.

His entire body seemed soaked through.

Mustn’t panic.

Mustn’t panic.

He can still find Xin Zaozao. He can still find Xin Zaozao.

He told himself to stay calm.

Since his mother could identify the person that had ill-intentions towards Xin Zaozao, he should also be able to do the same.

It might even be someone close by.

As long as nothing is overlooked, it can be done.

He tried to calm himself, calm down, while countless faces of people who came into contact with Xin Zaozao came to his mind, along with the image of the man in the video.

Must have seen him somewhere before!

Must have seen him somewhere before…

He controlled his emotions, reined in the feelings that were causing him to tremble and seemed to be on the verge of breaking him.

He kept thinking and thinking…

Suddenly.

He shuddered.

He abruptly ran out, heading outside the villa.

He quickly got into his car, drove madly towards the community’s management center.

His face was scary.

The people at the management center got a shock when they saw Mu Cidian.

“Sir, sir…”

“Where’s the surveillance?! Where is the surveillance of our community!” Mu Cidian demanded harshly.

His appearance left the management personnel stunned into silence.

“Where’s the surveillance!” Mu Cidian roared.

The female staff on duty at the property management center started crying from fear.

Just then, a security captain appeared, “Sir, what’s the matter?”

“I want to see the surveillance video of our community right now!”

“Did something happen?” the security captain asked.

“My sister’s been kidnapped!”

The security captain was taken aback, but quickly recovered. “Come with me,” he said quickly.

Mu Cidian struggled to keep his emotions in check, calmly following the security captain to the surveillance room.

The security captain ordered the on-duty personnel to pull up all the surveillance footage.

“Xin family’s villa,” Mu Cidian said.

Immediately, the staff member pulled up the footage from the camera at the entrance of Xin family’s villa.

“Rewind, rewind,” said Mu Cidian. “Approximately…six months ago.”

“Sir, our surveillance cameras’ footage is only stored for a maximum of three months,” explained the staff member on duty.

“Then start from three months ago.”

“Understood.” The staff member maximized the video immediately.

“Fast forward.” Mu Cidian ordered.

The staff member quickened the playback speed.

“Faster.”

“Faster, faster…”

Both the security captain and the staff member watched Mu Cidian, whose entire body was soaked-through in what looked like a mixture of blood and sweat. They couldn’t really keep track of the images on the screen — it was moving too quickly. But Mu Cidian was watching with intense concentration.

Suddenly!

“Pause!”

The staff member immediately hit the pause button.

“Rewind a little, a little more… stop!”

Mu Cidian finally located the man who once stood at their front gate, scrawling graffiti.

He had many suspicions about who might have wrongful intentions towards Xin Zaozao. He’d also encountered this man a few times before; his nebulous impression of him vaguely matched the man in the police’s video.

The fact that this man had defended Xin Zaozao’s rights, even to such an extreme extent, demonstrated he wasn’t just trying to protect her. Such extreme behavior was impermissible…

A chill ran down Mu Cidian’s spine.

Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner? Why did he initially write this off as just the actions of an extreme internet user?

He hadn’t even considered that this man’s actions against Xin Zaozao may have been threats instead of attempts to champion her cause!

His mother had spent much time at their villa, it’s possible that she accidentally came across him, recognized him, and discerned his true intentions!

His fists clenched.

In that moment, he wished to kill himself with hatred!

He glared at the man on the surveillance screen, “Do you recognize this man?”

“We don’t know him,” both the security captain and the staff member shook their heads. “But we did received a complaint call from Ms. Wan Quan before, saying that someone kept defacing your villa’s gate. We have both reported this to the police and tried to ambush him ourselves, but it was as if this person knew our plans beforehand. He would avoid us when we were prepared and would appear when we were off guard, but after hearing from Ms. Wan Quan that it had nearly stopped happening, we didn’t follow up. We did not expect it to happen again within these three months.”

“More than once.” Mu Cidian replied bluntly.

But there was indeed only one incident in the past month.

The security captain was astounded.

With the video moving at such a high speed, how could this man see all of it clearly?

Mu Cidian’s face turned stoic.

So was he not acting out because he had been planning how to kidnap Xin Zaozao for the past month?

A tense shiver ran down his spine. He asked the security captain, “You just mentioned that because he seemed to know your moves in advance, he was able to easily evade your hunts?”

The security captain thought it over, “It’s only a suspicion. It could be a coincidence.”

“There are not so many coincidences in the world. It’s impossible to have one coincidence after another.”

The security captain thought that made sense too.

But he didn’t think too deep into it at the time.

And for the security captain, as long as the property owner didn’t insist on finding the person, after some time, the matter was dismissed.

“So…” Mu Cidian’s thoughts raced.

The first to know about all the movements would be the person among them or someone helping this person pass information.

But considering the kidnapping, it was clearly the act of a single person, so the second possibility was unlikely. Then, it could only be the first.

A tightness gripped Mu Cidian’s chest.

He had not realized that the person who had been plotting against Xin Zaozao all this while was among them.

Perhaps, he had been in a corner, watching Xin Zaozao all along…

He asked the security captain, “Help me with two things. Firstly, call all your staff who are on duty here. Secondly, get me a photo of each member from your security team!”

“Right away,” the security captain nodded eagerly.

In an instant, ten of the night shift security personnel arrived at the property hall.

Mu Cidian looked at each of them, then picked up their pictures for comparison.

“So, there are still 30 security staff who haven’t come to work tonight.” Mu Cidian took out the 30 photos and started to compare one by one.

Indeed, none of them looked like the man in the video.

The man in the video had slightly long hair, and his back was somewhat hunched…

Wait.

Mu Cidian jolted.

He seemed to have fallen into a subjective mindset, looking subjectively for someone resembling the man in the video, and rejecting all different points. Yet if this man could disguise himself when kidnapping Xin Zaozao, he could also have disguised himself in another situation!

Moreover, at no point did the video clearly capture his face.

What did that mean…

Mu Cidian’s face fell dramatically!