Chapter 1304: Chapter 1354: News of the Son
"What?!" Li Yifei suddenly shot to his feet, his executive chair sliding violently backward, slamming into the windowsill with a heavy thud.
Su Yiyi and Michelle, who were in Li Yifei’s office, jumped in fright. Having been with Li Yifei for so long, they’d never seen him lose composure like this. Clearly, sothing major had happened, and for Li Yifei to react so strongly, the gravity of the situation left both Michelle and Su Yiyi unable to even imagine its severity.
"Heh heh!" The caller let out an extraordinarily unpleasant laugh and said, "Do you want your son back?"
"Go ahead, na your conditions." It had been over three months since his son had disappeared. While Li Yifei had constantly thought of him, he had co to grudgingly accept the situation. However, now that the perpetrators had unexpectedly made contact, he was overco with emotion. Still, he quickly composed himself, knowing that excitent alone wouldn’t solve the problem.
"Conditions? I want one billion." (Note: The Chinese nural here equals one billion USD, colloquially expressed as "ten hundred million.")
Li Yifei snorted and said, "Quite the appetite you’ve got."
"A billion might be a lot for others, but for the illustrious head of the Li family, this amount should hardly pose any difficulty, no?"
"Even so, it’s too much. My wealth is tied up in my businesses; I can’t gather such a vast sum quickly."
"Don’t bother bargaining with . If you want your son back, hand over the billion."
Li Yifei narrowed his eyes and said, "Fine, how do you want
to give you the money? Don’t tell
in cash—I wouldn’t be able to hand over that much liquid cash even if you demanded it, and you wouldn’t be able to carry it away."
"Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll provide you a bank account later. And let
warn you: you’d better not try tracking any interbank transfers. If I find even the slightest trace, I’ll kill your son imdiately."
"Alright, I’ll give you the money, but you’ve got to let
see my son first. Without proof, I won’t hand over a single penny."
Only now did Su Yiyi and Michelle grasp why Li Yifei was so rattled. Both almost scread out loud but hurriedly clapped their hands over their mouths, exchanging alard glances. Then, excitent tinged their faces—though one billion was an astronomical figure, the Li family could manage it. Money could always be earned back, but recovering his son outweighed everything else.
"That’s certainly no problem. We can do an exchange—money for the boy. I’ll let you know the address later, but you must co alone. Bring even one extra person, and your son dies without question."
"Fine! I agree!" Li Yifei promptly accepted.
"You’ve got two days to prepare the money. I’ll call you again the day after. Goodbye." The caller hung up decisively after making his final statent.
Li Yifei lowered the phone, and Su Yiyi and Michelle instantly rushed over, chattering all at once, "Honey, is this about our son? Are they saying they’ll release him if we give them the money?"
Li Yifei grasped their hands and said, "Calm down, calm down!" Although he was trying to steady them, his own heart was less composed. Normally cool and rational even under adverse conditions, this ti it felt impossible to remain level-headed. His son—his firstborn son—was at stake. Despite having been with him for less than a month before the abduction, the bond of blood was unbreakable. The fatherly affection growing within him made this situation profoundly poignant.
After everyone took a few deep breaths, Li Yifei forced himself to retain composure. He glanced at the incoming caller’s number—it was registered to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Numbers like this, set up without docunted IDs, were everywhere in China, making proper tracing utterly futile. Furthermore, the sheer patience the culprits exhibited—waiting three months to make their demand—demonstrated their exceptional self-control. Clearly, these were no ordinary kidnappers, as most would have rushed to extort money long ago.
"Yiyi, go call Fangqing over, and bring Yingying too."
Su Yiyi bolted out the door.
Michelle, fists clenched tightly against her chest, exclaid, "Finally, there’s news about the boy, hubby! This is wonderful!"
Li Yifei nodded, saying, "The culprits certainly know how to stay hidden."
Michelle asked, "But honey, besides the ransom amount, do they have other demands?"
"Not as of now, except insisting I go alone."
"Alone?! Why wouldn’t they send soone else instead? Aren’t they aware you’re the Golden Eagle? Having you go would only make things more dangerous!"
Before Li Yifei could respond, Xu Yingying and He Fangqing entered in a hurry, Su Yiyi trailing behind and closing the door after them. Xu Yingying, too impatient to wait, blurted out, "Have you heard sothing about our son?"
Li Yifei nodded and said, "I just received a call. They’re demanding a billion in ransom."
"Good! We’ll pay it, we’ll pay it. It doesn’t matter as long as our baby is safe." Xu Yingying unhesitatingly agreed with conviction.
Li Yifei turned to He Fangqing and asked, "Fangqing, can we gather one billion in funds readily?"
He Fangqing replied promptly, "We can’t today, but we should be able to by tomorrow night." She possessed an intimate understanding of all financial flows in the company, and her mind processed everything without hesitation.
"Alright, prepare the billion by tomorrow night," Li Yifei confird.
Once the initial shock settled, the group sat down, and Michelle raised a critical question from the back of her mind.
Xu Yingying, He Fangqing, and Su Yiyi simultaneously realized sothing amiss. Xu Yingying speculated, "For kidnappers, their primary concern is the money. They’d prefer whoever delivers it to pose the least threat. Insisting you go personally seems sketchy."
He Fangqing added gravely, "Exactly. They can’t be unaware of your skills. Insisting you go is inherently risky—unless they have another agenda and that’s why you’re being targeted."
Li Yifei shook his head, remarking, "If this is a high-intelligence team, there are countless ways they could operate. One single person doesn’t even need to show up—they could set up a laptop, place the boy in a cradle, and use pre-programd devices or remote controls. In a scenario like that, even my martial expertise wouldn’t help
get them. They’ve already demonstrated their capability by taking the boy and evading for three months before seeking ransom. They’re not amateurs, especially given they know he’s my son yet dared to move forward."
Li Yifei recalled his ti battling elite organizations on an island years ago, settling old scores once and for all. Those organizations today wouldn’t dare act rashly against him. But now, soone had challenged him using such calculated, underhanded thods. If he tracked them down, his face suddenly bore a frighteningly sinister expression—one the won had never seen. They knew this indicated true murderous intent brewing.
Returning ho, Li Yifei explained the situation to his family. Everyone was deeply stirred, especially Su ngxin, who was moved to tears. Yet ngxin, true to her nature, regained clarity quickly after her initial emotional surge.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Honey, I feel this incident is aid squarely at you."
Li Yifei nodded and replied, "No doubt about it—they’re targeting ."
"Then going would bring danger, which is why I feel you shouldn’t go either," Su ngxin said firmly, her gaze locked intently onto Li Yifei.
Li Yifei smiled faintly, holding Su ngxin’s hand and asking gently, "ngxin, don’t you trust ? After all these years, how many people have tried to take
down, and how many successes have they had?"
Xiao Ling’er clenched her fists and interjected excitedly, "Exactly! Hubby, you’ve even taken out sharks in the water; a few ordinary criminals will be nothing! Plus, with your improved skills now, there’s no one left on earth who can surpass you."
Xiao Ling’er, heavily pregnant and nearing her due date, could no longer move freely. However, her mischievous personality remained intact, and her blind admiration for Li Yifei was unwavering.
Su ngxin shook her head, saying, "Your abilities have indeed grown, but you’ve lost that sharp, decisive clarity in handling crises. Faced with your son’s situation, you’ll struggle to make the cold hard choices."
Li Yifei froze for a mont, and Su ngxin continued, "I know you’re anxious about saving him, but we have to plan for the worst. You can’t put yourself in jeopardy for the boy. If...if sothing happens to him, I can bear with it. We can have another child together; in this family, there’s no shortage of people nor future children. But if anything happens to you, the entire Li family crumbles. You’ve lost sight of what’s more important here."
Li Yifei took a deep calming breath and said, "ngxin, thank you for the reminder. I understand now. I’ll save my son, but not at the cost of my own life."
Su ngxin locked eyes with him and finally nodded. "Good. Then we’ll make thorough preparations. We won’t let them lead us by the nose; we’ll seize control of the situation."
Li Yifei nodded resolutely and said, "Alright. I’ll start arranging things right away." Then he stood up and strode out purposefully.
The Li family was brimming with skilled figures, so even having questionable pasts involving environnts like this. Among them were experts across various disciplines. With their collective effort, they were bound to overwhelm these adversaries—unless backed by a massive criminal syndicate. Otherwise, there was no doubt Li Yifei would track them down and make them pay dearly. In the past, he had managed it solo; now, with the family’s resources at his disposal, he was even more assured of success.
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