The Favored Heiress
Chapter 333: Association Leader

Chapter 333: Chapter 333: Association Leader

Meanwhile, at the Mercenary Headquarters training camp located on the outskirts of the city and desert in Nia State.

Yun Lih squinted with interest at the red dot flashing non-stop on the ICC system. How could this dynamic coordinate be appearing in Parma?

The flickering account on the ICC system belonged to Yun Ling.

And his brother...

Yun Lih glanced at Yun Ling who was napping on a sofa chair, and curled his lip in disdain.

Lately, the gunshot wound on his wrist had been healing quickly.

It was probably due to the special medicinal ointments for external injuries that Li Qiao had sent him.

When he left South Sea that day, she had suddenly asked for the address of Mercenary Headquarters just to send him medicines.

Yun Lih, with his legs folded, nestled in his chair, looked down again at the flashing icon on the ICC system.

He well knew that Li Qiao had been using Yun Ling’s account, which meant—had she come to Parma?

Yun Lih tapped the coordinate position, but the signal seemed to be extremely weak, the balloon icon flashing on and off, and the update of the geographical location couldn’t synchronize in real-time.

Yun Lih frowned, exited the system, and then logged in again, and the last updated position of the coordinates was... on the 03 highway between Parma and Nia State.

After that, the coordinates disappeared completely.

This wasn’t normal. Even if the signal was weak, at most the coordinates would turn gray, not disappear entirely.

Unless the account was logged out or the system was uninstalled, the system would automatically update the geographical location wherever there was a signal tower.

Yun Lih couldn’t quite understand and was just about to call Li Qiao when a red coordinate abruptly appeared in the urban area of Parma.

"Tsk, is Parma that attractive? Why are all the core members gathering here?"

Usually, when he would occasionally check the ICC system, he wouldn’t see a core member in Parma for weeks on end.

Yun Lih tapped the coordinates of the other party, intending to see who it was.

However, the information box that appeared took him by surprise.

There was no information, only a phrase.

Secrecy level: SSS-level.

Yun Lih’s phone nearly dropped. A secrecy level of three S’s—there was only one person in the International Club.

The association leader!

Yun Lih was stunned for a few seconds, his heartbeat gradually picking up.

He looked outside at the dusk settling over the sky, took a deep breath, and decided to take another closer look at the other party’s coordinates.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, the coordinates vanished, as if they had never existed.

Yun Lih furrowed his brows, left and right thoughts also felt out of place.

The association leader of the International Club had been an enigma for years; how could he appear in Parma?

And his account had never been displayed on the coordinates map before.

It was because once, a core member of the Eight Major Groups, out of sheer boredom, spent an entire day doing nothing but sitting in the meeting room, clicking on every coordinate shown in the system.

Yet even so, they had not been able to find the association leader’s account at that time.

This time... impressive.

Yun Lih stretched his long legs out in front, shook his ankles, and rather promptly rose and walked out of the training camp.

...

The abandoned military training base was located thirty kilometers outside Parma.

Desolate all around, long since abandoned, the base was like a ghost town discarded in the Gobi desert.

A Lincoln car drove into the deserted training ground and stopped in the middle.

The road surface, due to years of disrepair, had developed cracks, and the wind blew the sand in spinning currents at her feet.

Li Qiao got out of the car, swung the door shut behind her, and took in her surroundings—the Gobi desert and desolate training base—with a calm demeanor.

The place was dimly lit and deserted.

Liuyun and Luoyu also moved behind her, vigilantly standing guard.

Even now, her cell phone still had no signal.

Li Qiao’s gaze was obscure as she looked into the distance, where, against the darkening view, a solitary signal tower stood quietly deep in the desert.

If it were understandable to have no signal in a tunnel, then installing electromagnetic jammers along the entire 03 highway was clearly impractical.

Li Qiao glanced back at the Lincoln car wistfully and started walking forward without saying a word.

Liuyun and Luoyu followed closely; after walking around twenty meters, Luoyu felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

She pressed her wrist against her pants pocket, confirming the short bursts of vibration.

"Miss Li, there’s a signal on the phone now," Luoyu whispered from behind her.

Li Qiao slightly lowered her head and then, looking straight ahead, said, "Keep away from that car; the jammer must be on it."

Luoyu and Liuyun immediately looked at each other with unsightly expressions.

If it were true that a signal jammer was installed on the Lincoln car, it would indeed be unexpected.

At that moment, the sound of wheels sliding across the ground came from a sunken training ground up ahead.

The gloomy surroundings suddenly lit up with the glare of high-beam spotlights.

Several beams of light shone simultaneously on the exit ramp of the sunken training ground, and between the vague figures, Tang Yiting was pushed out while bound hand and foot to a wheeled chair.

The wheels scraped against the ground, crushing the gravel beneath, and the resulting grating noise was exceedingly uncomfortable.

Tang Yiting’s mouth was sealed with black tape, her hair messily scattered over her shoulders, and as she squinted to see the three figures ahead of her, tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Mmm—"

As she struggled and sobbed, she also didn’t forget to cast desperate glances behind her.

Behind the back of the wheeled chair, in the palm of her hand, was a bomb.

"Xiao Tang, be quiet," a soft and gentle voice rang out from the crowd, from behind a dozen or so tall and imposing men in black, Wen Shi slowly emerged.

In the short time since they last saw him, he was the same as ever, exuding an air of scholarly poise.

He was even wearing a white shirt and black waistcoat, an ensemble almost identical to what he wore as a bartender at the South Sea Entertainment City.

Only, his face was now adorned with a pair of silver-rimmed glasses that refracted the light to shield the sharpness and darkness in his eyes.

Hearing Wen Shi’s voice, Tang Yiting couldn’t help but furiously glare at him.

At that moment, Li Qiao looked indifferently at Wen Shi, all her previous suspicions about him now confirmed.

Wen Shi raised his hand and gently pushed his glasses up his nose, smiling shallowly at Li Qiao, "Long time no see."

Li Qiao twitched her mouth, "We’re not familiar."

Wen Shi chuckled softly, his hands clasped behind him as he strolled forward, "Xiao Li, we..."

Before he could finish, Li Qiao arched an eyebrow and cut him off, getting straight to the point, "Just say it, what will it take for you to release her?"

She had no patience for pleasantries with Wen Shi; wasn’t the whole point of abducting Tang Yiting just to lure her here?

Wen Shi’s words were stopped in his throat, yet he didn’t get angry, continuing to move unhurriedly forward, his voice low and slow, "Xiao Li, you shouldn’t ask me that question, I should be asking you..."

In an instant, he came to a standstill in the middle of the road. His silver-rimmed glasses were hit by the light, reflecting dazzling fragments, and he smiled calmly, then countered with a question, "Between Xiao Tang and Shang Shaoyan, how exactly will you choose? Actually... I’m quite curious too."