In a shabby little motel room, Lawrence was slowly gnawing on a stale piece of bread. His complexion was still pale, but now showed a hint more color. After weeks of recovery, his injuries were about seventy percent healed.
After finishing the bread in silence, he still couldn't make up his mind.
Ian Song actually defeated Madman Lee and even seriously injured him—something Lawrence could hardly imagine. Because of this, he now felt a trace of fear toward Ian.
Who was Madman Lee? Lawrence knew all too well. He’d once been hired to assassinate him, but naturally failed, and it had taken him half a year of bed rest to recover from the ordeal.
Such a powerful person was actually defeated by Ian Song. Lawrence really had no desire to go up against Ian again—especially since both of his previous plans had ended in failure.
But to slink back to the Darkworld Syndicate in disgrace, he just couldn't accept that.
"One last time. If I fail again, I’ll leave Riverstone City!"
Having made up his mind, Lawrence slammed the bread down on the floor, then began typing furiously on his keyboard, hacking into Skynet once more. The city was covered in cameras—those cameras were his eyes.
"Who’s this girl?"
Suddenly, Lawrence’s eyes narrowed with a flash of excitement. After hacking into Skynet, he’d discovered that Ian Song was acting extremely close with a girl.
Instantly, a plan popped into his mind.
Time always slips away when you’re not paying attention.
It had already been a week since Ian Song defeated Madman Lee. Aside from personally coming to Riverstone City to take Madman Lee back to Flame City, the Lee Family hadn’t made any other moves.
It looked like they were just swallowing this loss.
But Ian couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just the calm before the storm.
Because Lawrence was still hiding in the shadows, Ian had to stay cautious. He ordered Nangong Yushuang and the other two to secretly protect his uncle, aunt, and Shelly Song.
At the same time, he’d basically spent every day with Hannah Han lately. After resolving their emotional baggage, their relationship had progressed rapidly—in fact, aside from the final step, they’d pretty much done everything a couple could do.
Of course, though their relationship was getting closer by the day, it was all kept private. At school, they acted distant—after all, they were still teacher and student. If word got out, it would stir up a lot of gossip.
Also, the hijacking incident had finally died down in the news and online. His Fame Points had pretty much stopped increasing.
But his total Fame Points had still broken past five hundred million.
And now, there were only ten days left until the college entrance exams. The whole senior class was filled with a tense, anxious, and irritable atmosphere.
Ian also noticed that, in these final days, a lot of students seemed determined to go wild one last time—many boys and girls who liked each other were openly pairing up.
Rae Xiao seemed to have forgotten her agreement with Ian Song; whenever she got the chance, she kept trying to get close to him.
This left him feeling pretty frustrated.
As the dismissal bell rang, Ian was packing his bag when Rae Xiao’s voice sounded next to him: "Ian, can I treat you to dinner tonight?"
Ian rubbed his head in distress and apologized, "Sorry, Rae, it’s my uncle’s birthday today, so..."
"No problem, maybe next time." Rae Xiao smiled understandingly.
"Boss, Rae Xiao’s got such a killer body, you really don’t feel tempted?" Watching Rae’s retreating figure, Li Lei couldn’t help but swallow.
"Tempted, my ass! With everything going on right now, who has time for that stuff?" Ian shot Li Lei an annoyed look, grabbed his bag, and headed out of the classroom. Tonight, he was planning to cook for Hannah Han—the uncle’s birthday was just an excuse.
After buying groceries at the market, Ian headed straight for Hannah Han’s single apartment.
*Knock knock!*
He knocked on the door. No response.
He knocked twice more, but still got no answer.
Ian was puzzled. Had Hannah Han not come back yet?
With a thought, he activated his Clairvoyant Vision. Sure enough, Hannah wasn’t in the apartment.
"Looks like I’ll have to ask Hannah for a spare key next time," Ian mused to himself.
He waited outside for over ten minutes. Ian’s anxiety grew—Hannah knew he was coming today, and even if something came up, she should’ve at least sent a text or called.
Thinking of this, he took out his phone and dialed Hannah’s number.
"Her phone’s actually off!"
Ian’s expression darkened instantly. He had a bad feeling that something had happened to Hannah.
With a thought, Ian tossed the groceries into his Milky Way Ring and hurried back to school. Using Clairvoyant Vision, he scanned the entire campus—but still saw no sign of Hannah.
So he went to the security office to ask the guards if they’d seen Hannah leave.
Ian was famous—none of the guards treated him like an ordinary student.
One of the guards remembered that, shortly after school ended, Teacher Hannah had left the campus.
At Ian’s request, they checked the gate cameras. Sure enough, at 6:07 p.m., Hannah walked out of the school.
But now it was already 6:40—even on foot, she should’ve been back at her apartment long ago.
"Something’s definitely happened to Hannah!"
Ian rushed out of the security office and returned to the apartment to check again—still no one. Out of options, he dialed her phone once more, but it was still off.
"Damn it!"
Ian slammed his fist into a tree in the complex. With a loud crack, the thick trunk snapped and toppled over.
Not far away, a girl saw the scene and couldn’t help but stare with her mouth wide open.
Whoosh!
Ian’s figure flickered and vanished. The stunned girl hurried over to inspect the broken tree, utterly shocked: "Is that guy Superman or something? He actually broke a tree with one punch?"
Leaving the complex, Ian took a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn’t deny it—Hannah’s disappearance had made him lose his usual composure.
"Who was it? Who kidnapped Hannah?"
Ian quickly analyzed the situation. Hannah was kind and got along well with her colleagues. She rarely went out except for teaching, and didn’t have any other friends in Riverstone City.
In other words, Hannah probably hadn’t offended anyone.
So, if she was kidnapped, chances were the target wasn’t Hannah—it was him.
"Who could it be? The Lee Family? Or Lawrence?"
Thinking fast, Ian called Nathan Nangong and told him to send people to look for Hannah. The Nangong Family was the local powerhouse in Riverstone City, with plenty of informants and huge influence.
He’d just hung up when his phone rang again.
It was Hannah’s number!
Ian’s heart tightened. He answered immediately: "Who is this?"
A sinister voice came through the phone: "Looks like you already know what’s happened. Twenty minutes—get to the abandoned fertilizer plant in the western suburbs and you’ll see your little lover."
"Lawrence, it’s you!" Ian growled through gritted teeth.