Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 197: Saving People is Important

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Saving People is Important

Zhuo Hang watched the video, furrowed his brow, pondered for a moment, and then said, "So it turns out that the vehicle shipment was attacked that day, the prisoners and escorts were all silenced, and someone managed to escape after witnessing and recording the incident."

Su Hui nodded, "Now the one who recorded the video has been captured. If I’m not mistaken, the hostage we just saw is Lu Yi."

"You told me that the one who saved Old Xing was also Lu Yi, didn’t you?" Zhuo Hang said, his tone expressing dissatisfaction, "You should have told me about this sooner, we’re on the same team."

Looking genuinely apologetic, Su Hui replied, "I only found out about Old Xing’s situation that day, and I got the video taken by Lu Yi. Then Old Xing was attacked. I didn’t have time to tell you, I could only tell you about it later."

"Enough, I don’t want to hear explanations, I want results." Having said this, Zhuo Hang’s gaze hardened as he continued to monitor the dilapidated, almost-abandoned factory through his binoculars.

Su Hui was a bit upset. The fact that she hadn’t told Zhuo Hang about the video and Old Xing’s situation immediately when Lu Yi and Gu Fan came to her was because circumstances had changed, and there was the mere possibility of danger on Old Xing’s end.

Once it happened, Su Hui immediately informed Zhuo Hang. It wasn’t like she was only telling him now. It wasn’t too late, and she couldn’t understand what Zhuo Hang was so angry about. Moreover, she knew Zhuo Hang was also keeping things from her.

At this point, Su Hui had already replied to the message, promising not to publicize the matter and agreeing to exchange the video for Lu Yi as long as he remained unharmed.

Zhuo Hang said, "About Old Xing’s situation, it was indeed an emergency, and you could have acted without telling me, I can’t blame you for that, but this video, you are only showing it to me now..."

Hearing this, Su Hui finally understood why Zhuo Hang was angry. She apologized, "I’m sorry, I watched the video and didn’t see any clues. I was entirely focused on tracking our colleagues from the identification bureau and I ended up finding this place, so I overlooked it."

"If the video really didn’t contain any clues, why would they go through so much trouble to ask you to exchange it for the hostage?" Zhuo Hang’s face darkened, and he added, "Give me a copy of the video."

Su Hui asked him, "Alright, so does that mean you agree to let me rescue the hostage?"

If anything, Zhuo Hang shook his head, "No, I’ve said before we can’t risk alerting them, this is the vital lead we’ve been meticulously pursuing."

However, Su Hui was adamant, "But they want me to use the video to exchange for the hostage, I have to go. Maybe we can catch one or two of them and interrogate them for some clues."

"I don’t agree, we’re after the big fish." Zhuo Hang was firm, making Su Hui grind her teeth. She couldn’t stand by idly and watch Lu Yi in danger.

Su Hui proposed, "They’re likely to arrange for a meeting point, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be this dilapidated, soon-to-be-abandoned factory, it might be somewhere else. I think there shouldn’t be any problem if I go and exchange the video for the hostage."

Zhuo Hang frowned at this proposition, gave a slight nod but looked worried, "These people are extremely cautious. If they decide to exchange the hostage with you, they might switch hideouts to prevent being tracked by you. That would render all our efforts useless."

"So that’s another concern." Although Su Hui thought there was some truth to what Zhuo Hang said, she nonetheless felt he had other motives.

Zhuo Hang continued, "Think about it, why are they kidnapping Lu Yi and asking you for the video? They’re concerned that the video might have been sent to others, or copied. Do you think you can reassure them and exchange the video for the hostage? You might walk into a trap and put yourself in danger."

"This?" Su Hui couldn’t refute his argument, because it was indeed a possibility. If she were in their shoes, she too would worry about multiple copies of the video taken by Lu Yi and his group.

If the video is unlikely to result in Lu Yi being returned, then what to do, what exactly to do, Su Hui kept thinking, the only option is to forcibly rescue Lu Yi, but the problem was Zhuo Hang wouldn’t allow for any action.

At this moment, Su Hui received another message, stating the time and place for the hostage exchange, which was very soon, tomorrow night, and in a suburb outside the city. This suggests that they have no intention of abandoning the run-down, soon-to-be-abandoned factory.

Regardless, Su Hui decided she had to try and asked permission to take action, assuring that she didn’t need any support and could handle it herself. However, Zhuo Hang still needed to ponder over how to balance rescuing the hostage without alerting them.

The life and death of Lu Yi hinged on Zhuo Hang’s decision. Su Hui couldn’t afford to gamble, and just then, Gu Fan sent her a message wanting to know how things were progressing.

"Captain, someone is approaching the factory." The report from below caused Zhuo Hang to frown, he quickly moved to monitor the surveillance footage. One look, and his face changed slightly. He turned to Su Hui and asked, "Why has Gu Fan come here? How did he know that Lu Yi was kidnapped and brought here?"

With a troubled look, Su Hui replied, "I’m sorry, I told him. If we don’t take action, they will try to save their friend."

This time, Zhuo Hang was quite angry: "You know this is acting on your own, dragging unrelated people into this. You should be aware this might impact our chances of cracking the case."

"I’m sorry, but to my knowledge, all the current clues in this case are tied to these very people. The video was shot by Lu Yi, Old Xing was saved by Lu Yi, and the two moles were caught with Gu Fan’s help. How did we find this place? The initial clues were given by them. You want to solve the case, right? First, thank these people." With those words, Su Hui turned to leave without hesitation.

Zhuo Hang was taken aback for a moment before hurrying to catch up to her: "Su Hui, where are you going?"

"I am taking action tonight. Their guards might be down at the moment, that gives us an opportunity." Su Hui’s determination and fearless spirit gave Zhuo Hang a headache. He was forced into issuing a command: "Listen to me, Su Hui, this is an order. I forbid you from acting. And tell Gu Fan not to interfere."

"I’m sorry, but under the current rank and department, you don’t have the authority over me. You are not my direct superior. If you insist on being at odds with me, so be it. You investigate your way, and I investigate mine. But don’t forget that all of your investigative leads have been provided by me; you owe me several favors." Having said that, Su Hui pulled her arm from Zhuo Hang’s grip and turned to leave.

"You...you..." Zhuo Hang was furious, but he was unable to stop Su Hui. He felt increasingly frustrated.

By this time, Gu Fan and Jie had been waiting for a long while. When they finally saw Su Hui, an anxious Gu Fan immediately rushed over and asked: "What happened? Lu Yi wasn’t really kidnapped, was she?"

Su Hui nodded: "Yes, he’s in that dilapidated factory over there. They want to exchange Lu Yi for the video. I suspect that even with the video, we wouldn’t be able to get Lu Yi back. I think we should act immediately to catch them off guard."

Gu Fan also nodded in agreement, but the problem was that there were only three of them, and they had no idea how many people the opponent had. How were they going to fight?

Su Hui responded, "Our goal is to rescue Lu Yi, not to defeat all the enemies. Plus, it’s late at night; there are only a few people on night watch duty. We just need to be careful."

Upon hearing this, both Gu Fan and Jie felt inspired, thinking that they had a chance of winning. They agreed to follow Su Hui’s plan.

Jie was a little confused though: "Why don’t we just call the police?"

Su Hui shook her head: "I’m not sure how many moles there are inside the police department. If we alert the police, we’d essentially be warning those people to move."

"So we can only rely on ourselves." Jie seemed a bit nervous, but the result-oriented Su Hui and Gu Fan seemed different. One could almost see a glimmer of excitement in their eyes, ready for a big fight.

Jie was a little worried: "Just a friendly reminder. Our primary goal is to save people, not to take this opportunity to beat up the enemy. So please bear that in mind."

Hearing these words, Su Hui was quite displeased: "What are you implying? It’s as if we are glad that Lu Yi was kidnapped so we could get a chance to engage the enemies. Do you think I like violence?"

"Maybe I’m overthinking." Jie wiped his sweat, afraid to meet Su Hui’s sharp gaze.

Gu Fan suggested, "Since we’re venturing into the unknown and don’t have a plan, I suppose, let’s just barge in and leave the rest to fate."

Su Hui agreed, while Jie was pessimistic: "Gu Fan, after all you said, so it means we should be ready to fail and stay behind to accompany Lu Yi?"

Gu Fan shrugged, as if to say ’exactly’.

Su Hui also grew grave: "Rescue Lu Yi, it would be best if we can save him, but the risk is too high. Are we being too reckless?"

"If we had more people..." Gu Fan’s words reminded Jie, who immediately dialed his brother Hai’s number to inform him about Lu Yi’s capture and the need for his assistance.

Upon receiving the call, Hai quickly agreed to help and promised to rush over. But he still had a thousand questions. He suspected that Su Hui would tell Jie about Lu Yi’s abduction, but how did Jie know where Lu Yi was taken?

"Could it be ... we were setup?" Sweating profusely, Hai immediately searched Lu Yi’s body to see if there was any tracking device on him.

Lu Yi didn’t feel comfortable: "What do you all think you’re doing? I know I have a good figure, but you can’t just feel me up. If you keep going, I’m going to start charging."