Chapter 274 - They Were All Gone

It was in the middle of the afternoon when The Fox was lounging in the living room. Today was meant to be his rest day from the surveillance on The Qings. The family was leaving home. They were giong to The Underground Auction and the house would be pretty much empty.

According to the tracker that they installed—which was running out of battery as the days went on—the Qings were getting close with solving the riddle. It seemed like his last message was helpful. He was getting bored with his life.

Despite that this day was meant for relaxing, he could not help but constantly check on the tablet on current updates on the Qings. He had some food brought over to where he sat and played a video on half of the screen while his attention was really on the live feed on the updates on the family.

There was nothing suspicious going on. Last night, it was Qing Chen who said that they should take a break tomorrow (today) as The Zookeeper was not going anywhere and that they should focus on the auction going well.

"Should we get some massages?" The Badger asked, carrying the tray of snacks The Fox asked for.

"Yeah, I think we deserve some rest. They would be busy for the whole day."

"I'll have some of the men go to the city and find some girls for us."

The Fox nodded his head as The Badger took out his phone and started typing in it.

Finally after staring so long at the live feed, an update came.

"The car left. Thermal camera: there are six people in the limousine. One driver. One guard. Four Qings."

"Two convoys, four persons each. One at front, one at the back."

It was nothing out of the ordinary. Whenever all the Qings left the place they really took their bodyguards with them. It was not like these people were better than them at fighting. Mainly, they were just human shields.

"Orders, sir?" asked on the feed.

"Follow them," he chatted back. The camera was turned on and The Fox could see that it was already nighttime in Chengshi. Their men were always two cars behind and would appear that they were in no rush. The cars they used were always under the radar.

Through the speakers, The Fox heard that there were some honking going on and when one their men spoke again, he sounded troubled. "I think we were spotted, boss. We'll retreat."

"Yeah. Go ahead." The Fox called the other line and told the people in the other car the routes the Qings were taking and to go look at it.

The Fox let the other line went dead, not knowing there was another car waiting to ambush them.

**

The Fox connected with the other car who was waiting at the other side of town wherein it was meant to switch with the first car as the tail.

"What's taking them so long?" asked the driver.

The Fox dropped his plate to the table and saw that the ping on The Qing's car was still moving. "They are in the tunnel. Just hold a moment." You cannot really take over someone if you were in the tunnel. That would be danger-prone.

"Boss, they should be out by now."

Just when things started to get suspicious, the limousine got out of the tunnel. The convoy getting slowed by a small and old beat-up car.

"It's fine," he said. "Probably just an old lady driving. Follow the car and into stealth mode when we get to the hotel. Over and out."

**

Liu Meilien had been sitting in the car for almost fifteen minutes and she could tell that her nervousness was slowly consuming her entire body. In the small old car, she was with four people. They were two in the back and there were two at the front. 

"I'm sorry," she apologized when she realized just how loud her foot tapping was.

"It's okay," said the person beside her who was busy looking at the tracker at his phone. They were waiting for the Qings so they could switch cars and identities for the night. "You want a shot of vodka?"

Liu Meilien knew she should take it. She needed it for her nerves. But she shook her head. If she took an once of alcohol tonight she might actually lose it and vomit everything she ate this day. "Just how long till they get here?"

"They are almost here."

She was pretty sure that the lipstick she had on where all on her teeth as she couldn't stop biting her lips. She thought she was shaking physically but it looked like the shaking was only happening on the inside.

"Let's go."

When she heard those words it was as if the world turned upside down. Or her stomach did. The car started moving at a snail's pace and they crept out of the street to the main road and into the tunnel.

When she heard this plan last night, she was not on-board with it but she knew that she was the only one qualified to actually act like Feng Xuan. Although she was taller than her step-sister, they were pretty much the same in terms of their other physical attributes. It did really help that The Underground Auction had always been a masquerade.

Don't even get her started when she sat down with her step-father and he told her everything about the mafia, repeatedly reminding that her mother did not know that they were involve in that business. There was also a subtle threat that she could not run to the police as she would also go to jail if they would get caught.

Liu Meilien found herself wishing she had never been born for a few seconds. Just what did she get herself into? Did she really make the right decision when Qing Lok told her about everything?

She felt like she was living another person's life. This was not her reality. But she had no choice but to live it.

While they were in the dark tunnel, she watched out on the rearview mirror and when she saw the limousine, her heart almost tumbled out of her chest. It slowed down to a walking pace and she could not believe how fast these people moved.

Everyone else were out of their respective cars in a split second and were transferring. She was so slow that Qing Lok had to open her door and haul her out of the moving car.

He was out of breath and his eyes were wild. "I'll see you soon, okay?" he did not even wait for an answer, not even a goodbye from her. He just kissed her and then he was inside the car.

Feng Xuan paused long enough to give her a quick hug, whispering a promise that they would make sure that Qing Lok would get back alive and then… they were all gone.