Chapter 469: The Secret About the Past (87)Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The assistant returned to her own room after packing the luggage.
An Xiaoning was left alone in her room. Although she was a little bored, she did not feel like going out either.
She sipped on some liquor by herself and lay in bed to watch a movie.
She was extremely relaxed, knowing that there were bodyguards on duty guarding outside her room round the clock.
It was already eleven o’clock at night by the time she finished watching the movie. Thinking that she would be getting to meet her husband and son when she returns home the next morning, An Xiaoning switched off the lights and went to bed.
Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard a sudden noise coming from the balcony.
She opened her eyes and listened closely, only to find that there were no longer any noises.
She looked up and stared at the balcony door which was left ajar in order to allow the natural breeze to enter because she did not enjoy being in an air-conditioned environment since she was susceptible to cold temperatures.
A sudden feeling of panic began to overwhelm her. It had been a while since she got such an ominous feeling, which was often a forewarning of an impending mishap.
She reached out to press the assistance bell on the table, after which the bodyguards outside the door immediately entered using the spare room key card. “Young Madam, do you have any orders for us?”
She switched on the lights and said, “Go take a look if there’s anyone on the balcony.”
The bodyguard hurriedly stood in front of the balcony to take a look before answering, “No, there isn’t.”
“Close the door properly,” An Xiaoning said sternly.
“Yes.”
“You guys may go out first. I’ll call you in again if there’s anything later.”
The bodyguards left her room one after another and closed the door after them.
An Xiaoning was never one to be paranoid. However, she trusted her instincts completely.
Thus, she was no longer in the mood to sleep as she felt as if there was a heavy rock on her chest.
Since she was not sleepy anymore, An Xiaoning got up to change into a comfortable attire that would ease her in moving about. She put on a collared short-sleeved blouse made of lace, a pair of denim shorts, and heeled sandals.
She armed herself with the necessary weapons and lay down in bed to continue watching movies.
She spent the entire night watching movies on television.
Her eyelids were heavy and she was extremely sleepy.
However, she persisted until daybreak.
Her assistant entered the room to collect her luggage before exiting again. “Have Mr. Gu and Mingxi gone downstairs?” she asked her assistant.
“Not yet, I didn’t see them at the lobby. I reckon they must still be sleeping.”
An Xiaoning proceeded to Gu Beicheng’s room and pressed his doorbell. “Beicheng, Mingxi, I’m going downstairs.”
To her surprise, there was no response from them.
An Xiaoning called out again, “Beicheng? Mingxi?”
Are they really sleeping that soundly?
An Xiaoning quickly pressed the doorbell repeatedly and raised her voice, “Beicheng?”
“Young Madam, don’t call them anymore. Maybe they’re getting dressed.”
“They would respond even if that’s the case.” An Xiaoning then whipped her phone out to give Gu Beicheng a call, which went through. However, he did not answer the phone, despite the sounds of his phone ringing that could be heard from outside.
Reminded of the sudden panic she felt last night, she quickly instructed her assistant, “Hurry to the administration desk and ask for the key card to this room.”
“Young Madam, aren’t you overreacting a little?”
An Xiaoning rolled her eyes at her and scorned, “I told you to go, so do it now. Cut the crap.”
The assistant dared not utter another word and immediately ran down to the lobby.
Two minutes later, the assistant returned with the key card, which An Xiaoning immediately used to unlock the door.
Due to the fact that the curtains were drawn, it was rather dark in the room.
She chucked the key card into the slot, after which the lights in the room were switched on immediately.
“Beicheng?” she called, but again, there was no response.
An Xiaoning walked inside without hesitation, only to find that there was not a single soul in the room. All of Gu Beicheng’s belongings were intact, though, including his luggage, mobile phone, and watch. An Xiaoning turned to look at the other end of the bed and saw that there was a mobile phone, which obviously belonged to Lin Mingxi.
Everything else was present in the room except them. An Xiaoning was plagued with an ominous feeling upon sight of the situation.
She walked towards the balcony door and discovered that it was closed but not locked.
“Young Madam…” the assistant called out carefully.
“Find the hotel manager and bring me the footage from the surveillance cameras along the corridor and balcony. I want to view the footage recorded from the time that they entered their room last night until now.”
“Young Madam, they might have gone down to have breakfast.”
An Xiaoning glared at her and berated, “Can you stop saying such redundant and irrelevant things whenever I tell you to do something? We were scheduled to leave this morning. They would’ve brought their luggage along even if they went for breakfast. Besides, why would they leave their mobile phones and watches behind in the room as well?”
An Xiaoning understood Gu Beicheng’s habits inside out, and thus, she knew that he would definitely bring his mobile phone and watch with him wherever he goes.
The assistant quickly proceeded to do as she instructed.
An Xiaoning opened the door and stood on the balcony. She turned to her left and realized that the balconies of the adjacent rooms were about two meters apart from each other, neither too long nor too short a distance.
Lin Mingxi possesses combat skills and didn’t train at the martial arts boot camp for no reason. If she were to have been met with danger, ordinary people would not be a match for her. Besides, I was up all night last night. How could I have not heard any sounds of a commotion when I was just next door? An Xiaoning thought to herself.
Unless they were drugged and knocked unconscious…
Pangs of panic engulfed An Xiaoning and she dared not imagine any further.
“Young Madam, I’ve found the footage.”
An Xiaoning quickly strode outside. Upon reaching the door, she instructed two of the bodyguards, “Stay put here. No one is allowed to enter. I’ll be right back.”
“Yes, Young Madam.”
She then headed to the surveillance camera monitor room with her assistant and the rest of the bodyguards.
“Fast forward the footage.”
“I’m afraid you might miss some things out by fast-forwarding,” said the hotel manager.
“It’s fine, hurry.”
“Alright.”
An Xiaoning kept her eyes fixed on the screen. Finally, at about 11 o’clock on the timestamp, a figure was seen crawling into Gu Beicheng’s balcony from the balcony of the room next to his. The figure was dressed in black from head to toe, revealing only his eyes. An Xiaoning deduced that they must have spread some incense into the room via the window in order to knock Gu Beicheng and Lin Mingxi unconscious.
There were four people in the act. From the looks of it, they must have split the tasks amongst themselves.
The footage showed that two of the perpetrators had also tried to climb into An Xiaoning’s balcony through the ladder but to no avail as she switched on the lights and called for the bodyguards to enter all of a sudden.
Recalling the events of the night before, she realized that they did not get the chance to act on her because she had shut the windows tightly and locked the balcony door. Not to mention, she also stayed up all night.
The masked men then brought the unconscious Gu Beicheng and Lin Mingxi away via a parachute. Judging from the fluidity of their motions, they must have been well trained in using parachutes.
The hotel manager was frightened out of his senses after watching the footage.
“Mrs. Jin, let’s call the police,” the manager suggested.
An Xiaoning stared at him coldly and refuted, “News of them missing is going to spread across the media the moment we call the police. That won’t be good for the reputation of your hotel. Listen to my instructions, go find the information of the guests living in the room next to Beicheng’s and bring me the footage of the surveillance cameras outside that room. I want the quality of the footage to be in high definition. Blow it up and give them to me as printed screenshots.”
“Alright.”
An Xiaoning was flustered beyond limits. She instructed her assistant to pack Gu Beicheng and Lin Mingxi’s luggage. She then sat down on the chair and remained silent.
Needless to say, she could not allow news of the matter to be spread to the public. Not only might the business deal they just clinched painstakingly fall through, but news of the CEO of the Gu Corporation going missing would also definitely spark chaos within the company, just like what happened to the Jin Corporation when Jin Qingyan went missing previously.