Chapter 6: Transaction

After a brief silence, Cao Dong spoke again, his tone calm but with a hint of gloom: "I need you to do something for me."

Lin Yi replied promptly, "Please go ahead."

Such a clean and efficient response improved Cao Dong's first impression of this junior employee.

Lin Yi glanced at Lao Du. Lao Du's face showed a rare hint of embarrassment. He hadn't expected Cao Dong to make such a request, and regardless, this time he had led Lin Yi into trouble. So, despite his embarrassment, he shook his head at Lin Yi, warning her with his eyes.

Cao Dong wanted Lin Yi to act as bait to rescue Wang Yue, the son of his friend.

During the past two days, when Lao Du encountered some difficulties while investigating the system suppressor, he contacted Cao Dong's side, hoping to borrow his convenience. Unexpectedly, after Cao Dong asked a few questions, he directly asked Lao Du to come over to Huanxing and discuss it in person.

It was only after Lao Du came to see Cao Dong that he learned the child had also been kidnapped and that the method used was similar to the one intended for Lin Yi. The system suppressor Lao Du brought over was a breakthrough for Cao Dong, allowing him to trace some clues. He suspected that the person who kidnapped Wang Yue and the one who intended to kidnap Lin Yi were likely the same person or part of the same organization. So Cao Dong wanted Lin Yi to act as bait to lure the other party into action, enabling him to break through and rescue Wang Yue.

Wang Yue had been kidnapped for almost two days. Despite Cao Dong's efforts and connections, he hadn't obtained any useful information or received any messages from the kidnappers. Cao Dong knew he was facing a formidable opponent and had a vague idea of who they were and what their true intentions were.

In Huanxing, every ten floors had a manager position, and each floor had a supervisor position. Cao Dong was originally a manager on the thirtieth floor, but two years ago, due to some special circumstances, he was demoted to the first floor to take over as a supervisor. Two years ago, an agreement was signed with him that he would be transferred back after two years.

Now, with less than half a month left until the two-year mark, personnel changes had been ongoing above him, and the two projects he was negotiating faced obstacles. Someone was intentionally targeting him. In the remaining half month, no one could say what would happen.

"I heard you're planning to apply to the Source Institute." When Cao Dong looked at Lao Du, he mentioned her reward. "I can ensure you're admitted and have the professors in the institute give you special attention."

Perhaps Lin Yi wasn't fully aware of the weight of the reward Cao Dong offered, but Lao Du, upon hearing it, couldn't help but show some emotion on his face. It was difficult to get into the Source Institute, and even harder to use connections to do so. Money was just the minimum requirement there. Besides money, one needed connections, status, and face.

So, if Lin Yi helped Cao Dong, without any accidents, her days at the Source Institute would undoubtedly be smooth.

Seeing the momentary expression on Lao Du's face, Lin Yi withdrew her gaze and looked at Cao Dong. "How should I cooperate?"

In just two sentences, she had shown her intelligence, maturity, and understanding of the situation.

Cao Dong pointed his chin to the side. "Feiying, explain it to her."

Feiying gestured for Lin Yi to come to the holoscreen. Displayed on it was a map of the Sanjiang District with numerous red dots indicating the suspected locations of the targets.

"Wang Yue had a locator on him, but after he was kidnapped, the locator's system was hacked, and the data was modified. It seems the kidnappers wanted to toy with us. Almost immediately, thirty thousand different coordinates appeared as Wang Yue's location. While we're eliminating interference coordinates, the kidnappers are constantly generating new ones."

After a day and two nights of hard work, the technicians could only reduce the interference coordinates from thirty thousand to three thousand. No matter how forcefully Cao Dong demanded, the technicians couldn't clear the interference coordinates and confirm Wang Yue's location in a short time. With other tracking methods also hindered, under the current circumstances, it would take about three more days to crack the virus. But Cao Dong couldn't wait for three days. He felt someone in the boardroom had caught wind of it, so he had to rescue Wang Yue before they made a move and ideally trace back to who was manipulating this and plotting against him.

Feiying tapped on the holoscreen, and the map changed to a unfamiliar street view. Then the camera zoomed in, and Lin Yi saw two people standing beside an automated vending machine, surprisingly Chen Wu and Ma Liu.

"You're going there now," Feiying said to Lin Yi, handing her a black diamond earring. "Put this on. We'll discuss the details on the way."

For Chen Wu and Ma Liu, after accepting a job on the Grey Network, receiving a deposit, and then backing out, according to the rules, they had to refund double the deposit. However, since the deadline given to them by the client was seven days and the time hadn't come yet, they hadn't rushed to cancel the job. After all, they would lose money, so naturally, they would drag it out for as long as possible.

But they hadn't expected that this delay would lead to trouble.

After learning about Lin Yi's situation from Lao Du, Cao Dong immediately sent someone to find Chen Wu and Ma Liu. So they had only left the Southern District yesterday, and today, they were forced to return.

Ma Liu stood by the vending machine, pretending to look at the advertisements above, and whispered nervously, "Boss, who are these people? Could it be the employer from the Grey Network?"

When Cao Dong's people found Chen Wu and Ma Liu, they told them to return to the Southern District and continue to kidnap Lin Yi, while also instructing them to wear monitors. The other party wanted to monitor their every move. Chen Wu and Ma Liu sensed that something was amiss and didn't dare to agree. However, the other party's power was formidable. Not only did they point guns at their heads, but they also revealed a bunch of their records, enough to put them in prison for twenty to thirty years.

From yesterday until now, Ma Liu had been muttering to himself. Ever since they encountered that girl, it seemed like they had been having bad luck.

Chen Wu had been checking the information on his wristband all along. When Ma Liu asked him about it, he finally raised his eyes, took out a cigarette, lit it, blew out a few smoke rings, and then said, "It's not the employer from the Grey Network."

"Then who could the ash off his cigarette, feeling anxious. "We'll know once she arrives." The other party had already sent him a message that the girl was on her way, so he had to be prepared. However, just now, he saw a piece of gossip news mixed in with the messages on his personal terminal. Although it lacked a credible source and didn't mention specific names, in this age of rampant entertainment and gossip, such news seemed fabricated. Yet, after pondering for a while, he had a vague feeling that it was probably true. This news indicated that a manager's son from Huanxing had been kidnapped two nights ago.

While it lacked solid evidence, this news caught his attention. He suspected that today's events might be related to Huanxing.

Huanxing's people? Damn it! It seemed like they had really landed themselves in trouble!

After Feiying left with Lin Yi, Lao Du, who had remained silent the whole time, finally spoke up, "I didn't expect you to personally intervene for that child."

Lao Du had known Cao Dong for about twenty years, and in his eyes, Cao Dong was not a benevolent person. In his early years, Cao Dong had acted according to his own preferences, relying on his good background and strong genes to engage in many disreputable activities. He had a diverse taste and didn't discriminate between right and wrong. Over the years, he had accumulated a lot of messy debts.

Wang Yue was indeed the child of his friend and girlfriend, and he was the child's father.

This matter had not been made public mainly because Wang Yue's mother was a genetic patient, and Wang Yue did not inherit his father's super genes but instead inherited his mother's genetic disease.

Cao Dong sat back in his chair, leaning against the backrest, looking at the cold and towering buildings outside the window with a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes. "No matter what, he's my own flesh and blood. Why should they decide what to do with him? Even if I've been slapped in the face, do I still have to hide and cover up? My last name isn't Turtle."

In this world, everyone was equal under the law, and marriage was free.

But in the unwritten rules, genetic patients were not allowed to marry carriers of super genes, let alone have offspring. Because the consequences of doing so would not only contaminate the super genes with genetic diseases but also increase the number of genetic patients, thereby occupying the increasingly scarce resources. Therefore, if anyone violated this rule, their family and people of the same class would exert pressure on them, forcing them to make a decision and cut ties.

Having fun was acceptable, but one shouldn't take it seriously, let alone harm everyone's interests because of it.

Cao Dong already had a fiancee from a suitable background who was also a carrier of super genes. They had postponed their marriage for various reasons, but since they were still young, they had plenty of vitality to expend. So even though they weren't married, Cao Dong never lacked for female companionship. Although his fiancee knew he was philandering outside, she didn't care much.

But Cao Dong had managed to produce a genetically flawed child and was protecting him as if everything was in order, while also postponing the already agreed-upon marriage. Naturally, some people couldn't bear to watch any longer, and at the same time, some people wanted to use this opportunity to push Cao Dong out.