The richest man's parents were kidnapped, and his adorable son captivated the entire family.

It explains why Ruolan is so obsessed with the "Star Sea" project, and also reveals that the root of the current storm in the Gu family may be far older and more... sinister than she and Gu Yinshen imagined.

She slowly closed the file, her gaze darkening, her heart growing heavier.

Why would such a document be hidden in obsolete archives? Who hid it? Which elder in the Gu family knew about it? Could it all be... a carefully laid trap?

She looked up uneasily, but saw nothing unusual. Only in the distance, at a corner of the wall, the red light of an old, dilapidated smoke detector flickered faintly, almost imperceptibly.

Unbeknownst to her, the red light was transmitting her every move in real time through a secret passage to a screen in a quiet study several kilometers away.

In the shadows, a middle-aged man wearing silver-rimmed glasses slowly tightened his fingers, his thin lips pursed, his face ashen.

Shortly after, Xie Yumin strode through the underground passage of the office building and into the empty parking lot. The light was dim, and the echoes from the concrete walls amplified the sound of each footstep.

Alarm bells rang in her mind, but she forced herself to remain calm. She found the car, left, immediately encrypted and backed up the photos, and then notified Gu Yinshen.

As she walked briskly to her silver car, her hand just touching the door handle.

"Well!"

A towel soaked in a pungent chemical was suddenly covered from behind her mouth and nose. The strong chemical smell rushed into her nostrils, and her vision went black instantly, and her scalp tingled!

She instinctively struggled, raising her elbow to strike behind her, but almost simultaneously, two figures pounced on her like wolves, their iron arms gripping her shoulders and arms tightly!

The third person had already opened the sliding door of a black van without license plates not far away. The van was pitch black, like a wild beast with its jaws wide open.

Xie Yumin's vision blurred, and her body quickly went limp. In the moment before she lost consciousness, she vaguely saw the person covering her mouth and nose, with eyes as cold and sharp as a snake, and a scorpion pattern tattooed on the outside of his arm, fierce and deadly.

He realized almost immediately that this was probably a premeditated kidnapping!

"Bang! Bang!"

Two muffled thuds suddenly sounded, almost indistinguishable from gunshots, more like the depressurization of a gas cylinder. The kidnapper on the left jerked his head back, his entire body stiffening as if electrocuted, before collapsing heavily to the ground.

A cloud of blood exploded from the shoulder of the person who was covering Xie Yumin, and he let out a painful groan before his wrist loosened.

The next second, a dark figure suddenly darted out from behind a load-bearing pillar not far away, as if by ghost! Agile as a leopard, it had already reached the right side of the kidnapper in the blink of an eye, and delivered a swift and clean chop to the side of his neck. The man fell to the ground without even uttering a sound.

The last kidnapper drew his sidearm in terror, but the dark figure slid forward swiftly, ducked, and thrust his tactical dagger with a flash of cold light, precisely piercing the kidnapper's wrist!

The gun slipped from his hand, and he rolled to the ground with a scream of pain.

The entire rescue operation, from the first muffled thud to all four people falling to the ground, took less than ten seconds!

The person who arrived was none other than the mysterious bodyguard who had rescued Xie Yumin from the warehouse.

At this moment, his expression was cold and stern, his eyes sharp as an eagle, devoid of any emotion. He bent down and lifted the nearly unconscious Xie Yumin from the ground, walking silently and quickly towards a gray sedan that was already waiting not far away.

He then gently placed her in the back seat, his movements clean and efficient.

Then she moved her fingers and pulled off the barely noticeable button inside the collar of her coat, which turned out to be a miniature locator.

"Click."

Just before the car door closed, he threw the button on the ground and stomped on it without hesitation. Then the door closed and the engine roared to life.

The gray sedan disappeared into the shadows of the underground parking lot exit like a ghost, driving away silently.

All that remained were the kidnappers rolling and groaning on the concrete, the crushed locator fragments, and the battered van, dripping cold engine oil in the dead silence.

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Yumin finally opened her eyes again.

An unfamiliar ceiling came into view, and the simple yet clean incandescent light shone on her face, somewhat blindingly. Her body felt weak and heavy, her throat was dry, and her consciousness was still tinged with lingering confusion.

She tried to sit up, but her hands were caught by a steady palm as soon as she lifted them up a little.

"You're awake." The person handed over a glass of warm water, their tone calm and low, devoid of any extra emotion.

She finally saw that face clearly.

It's him.

In the warehouse and the parking lot, there's the mysterious bodyguard who twice came to the rescue. His codename is "Mountain Eagle."

He was tall and imposing, with an extremely upright posture and eyes as sharp as a hawk's, yet as cold and hard as a blade. He wore a pair of thin-edged tactical gloves, and his entire being resembled an emotionless fighting machine.

Xie Yumin took the water, took a small sip, and stared intently at him over the rim of the glass: "You saved me? Twice. Why? Whose man are you? Gu Yinshen?"

Mountain Eagle's expression remained unchanged, as if he were facing a meaningless inquiry. He simply said, "Miss Xie, all you need to know is that you are safe now. There's no need to ask anything else."

That tone of voice almost completely distanced him from his duties.

But it was precisely this calm and ruthless nature that made Xie Yumin even more vigilant.

She excused herself and slowly walked to the window, secretly observing him. His posture was perfect, his hands clasped in front of him—a typical habit of special security personnel. But what made her pupils shrink even more was the antique silver ring on the little finger of his left hand.

She recognized the ring.

In a faded old photograph once lingered on the bookshelf in Gu Hongtao's study, the bodyguard standing slightly below the young Gu Hongtao wore the exact same ring. His features were distinct, and though aged, upon closer inspection…

Xie Yumin tentatively asked, "Do you know Mr. Gu Hongtao? Or...did you ever work for him?"

The mountain eagle didn't respond immediately; a subtle ripple flashed deep within its pupils, as swift as wind across water. But Xie Yumin caught that ripple perfectly!

She made the right bet!

"The past is irrelevant to the present," Mountain Eagle said calmly, his tone unchanged, before turning to leave.

Xie Yumin shifted her steps, standing half a step ahead of him, her voice low, cold, and firm: "You saved me twice, was it on Gu Yinshen's orders? Or... is there someone else behind you? You're monitoring me, aren't you? To make sure I don't discover anything I shouldn't, or... to 'deal with' me at a crucial moment?"

The eagle paused slightly, almost imperceptibly for half a second. He didn't turn around, his voice still as firm as ever: "You have a vivid imagination. But knowing too much won't do you any good. Stay put."

After he finished speaking, he slowly walked away. His steady, deliberately drawn-out footsteps echoed in the corridor, as if he were declaring a sense of control in the quietest way possible.