บท 47: Investigate the Lim siblings

"Bro, t-this doesn't make any sense," Sun Nan voiced out.

"Agree. Besides, you've mentioned the other day that these criminals aren't related to any syndicate?" Lu Fei expressed his thought.

"I have my doubt too, but one of the criminals confessed that little Ryan is important for Yang Wang. The 13th master of the Yang Clan," he told them, pausing for a moment before he continued: "Isn't it too much of a coincidence for his name to be mentioned all of a sudden? Plus, we know that the Prince is a young boy," he stated his argument with a complicated look on his face. He placed his long masculine leg on the table as he lazily massaged his temple.

In the beginning, he indeed assumed that the kidnap attempt was just a normal case because the subject acted like amateurs when investigated. However, when Bella Lim voiced out her suspicion, he decided to dig deeper. He began to suspect that something was wrong when his team couldn't find any information about the four people in any registry, what more the police records. Nothing!

Yet, those people still acted like they were simply normal citizens trying to find money via child trafficking. No matter what soft method his team used to interrogate them, they continued with their pretense.

Angered, Eric Wu took control of the situation, making use of each second to play with their minds. He added torture too, but that was for severe cases when the subjects completely immune to all the methods he had been using. He actually spent a whole day just to get a statement from one of the subjects. This proved that these people were trained assassins!

When the fallen criminal mentioned Yang Wang. He doubted that it was made up because Yang Wang wasn't someone that could become anybody's friend. That man was a two-faced terrorist!

"The probability is there..." he mumbled but was still heard by Sun Nan and Lu Fei.

"That made sense. Now that I think about it, little Ryan and Bella don't look the same," Sun Nan raised a startling statement, which alarmed the other two men who were on a video call with him. He saw the two seemed to freeze for a moment. He thought they were doubting him.

"What? I'm giving a valid point here. You can check the picture we took during the gathering. Go and compare!" Sun Nan's penetrating voice echoed. His eyes looked glaring on the screen.

"Calm down! No one is against you," Lu Fei remarked. He clicked his teeth in annoyance. Although he was well-versed with Sun Nan's sensitive personality, he had a hard time to digest his sudden mood-swing.

Lu Fei was correct that no one was in disagreement with Sun Nan. Even Eric Wu could tell that Sun Nan brought up an important clue for them to consider. However, siblings that looked different from each other were common everywhere in this world. Nevertheless, it was one point worth considering.

"Why don't we ask Bella?" Lu Fei suggested, but his face was unconvincing. It was weird to ask about her family out of the blue. Besides, bringing up their dead parents could be traumatizing to the siblings.

"I'll have my people investigate her," Eric Wu made the final decision which was agreed without much fuss by the other two. They also thought that it was the safest way to avoid Bella Lim's suspicion.

"Eric, they need someone to look after them," Lu Fei uttered. He knew if the news of Ryan Lim as the Prince spread to the enemies' ears, the little boy's life would be in danger. So would his big sister.

"Don't worry. It had been taken care of," Eric Wu replied which made Lu Fei and Sun Nan exhaled in relief. After the kidnapping attempt, he had a few men incognito nearby Bella Lim's home. That was necessary since the two lived in such a secluded place and far from his villa.

The video call ended when Sun Nan remembered he had a photoshoot to attend to. Although there were lots to discuss, they decided to meet up with Eric Wu after he found out everything that needed to be investigated.

Inside the surveillance room, Eric Wu stretched his stiff body. Then, he looked through the recordings of today's interrogation on the computer in front of him. Once he found the whole recordings, he copied them into his Pendrive. Even though today was a tough one, he was satisfied with the spoils. Another good material that he could refer to for his next book.

Eric Wu decided to call it a night as he really needed a reset. He walked out of the room and entered the elevator to the second floor where his bedroom was located. Coincidently, Tao was inside the elevator.

"Tao," Eric Wu startled his assistant that was staring at the empty air with a blank expression.

"President!" Tao jolted, startled by the sudden voice calling his name.

"Did Ekon explained everything to you?" he asked.

"Y-yes," Tao answered, looking a bit disconnected.

"I have a task for you. Investigate Bella and her little brother. Do it discreetly," he told him. He saw Tao nodded, but the muddled look was still there.

Eric Wu let out a sigh.

"Tao, I asked Ekon to tell you everything because I trust you. The scope of your work will not increase because of this. You just need to perform like always," Eric Wu explained as he patted on Tao's right shoulder. He thought Tao was afraid of the sudden dark news being dumped into him.

Tao who was slightly in dazed perked up. He blinked several times before he understood why his president spoke as such.

"President! Don't worry, all is good. I promise to work harder!" he proclaimed. Honestly, Tao wasn't scared but was thrilled to ride the thorny side of working with the president. He was only in dazed because he was too sleepy. If Eric Wu knew this, he might flip as he had wasted the time feeling guilty towards his assistant.

"Good, your spirit is commendable!" Eric Wu praised. He stepped out of the elevator and walked the hallway towards his room. It was time for his hibernation.

***

In one of the low-cost houses in Countryside, Bella Lim was sitting on a couch with a laptop on her lap. Two days! These were the time she spent on work hunting online. She almost cried when she read the last email. It was another sad news: a rejection.

She wasn't picky. She only asked if there was a nursery at the company she applied to. Alas, the one hundred and twenty-five jobs she applied didn't have such a luxury. Maybe there was such an option if she applied for white-collar jobs, but she had no certificate to support her resume. Her options were limited.

"Big sis, it's late already. Please go to sleep,"

She heard little pumpkin's voice from behind. She turned around only to see him rubbing his eyes. These two days, she was afraid to let him sleep alone, hence she arranged for them to sleep in one room. She had forgotten that little pumpkin could only sleep in a blackout room. The light emitted from her laptop must've awakened him.

"Sorry, let's sleep," she said and then closed her laptop. Little pumpkin didn't wait for his big sister as he climbed the bed to sleep. Soon, his snores rang in the room.

A faint smile emerged on Bella Lim's face when she watched her little pumpkin was fast to sleep. She kissed his forehead and laid down next to him.

Tomorrow, she would continue. Hopefully, luck was on her side.