His friend frowned and sat up. "You want to make a deep fake video?"

"No. I want to find out, if this video is real or fake." Wenjie pointed at the phone in his father's hands. 

Zhijian looked at him helplessly. "To find out, we'd need special software and forensic tools. Where am I supposed to get them?" 

His hope fizzled out like a soap bubble. Frustrated, Wenjie sank against the back of the sofa. Should they risk a call via the official network? He had kept in touch with Captain Luo via his private number so far.

While Wenjie pondered, what they could do, his father turned to Zhijian. 

"Sun Zhijian, can you check when the next flight to Qingcheng is and when the earliest flight back would be?" 

Wenjie imagied what his father had in mind. He wanted to get an idea of the situation on the spot. Probably, he would not seek personal contact with the police. It was likely, that someone in Qingcheng was waiting for Zhuang Yaobai's return. Wenjie would not be surprised, if that person was Xu Zhengqing himself. 

Meanwhile, Zhijian opened his laptop. Soon, he'd had called up the flight connections. A last-minute flight was still available that night. However, the outward flight was not the problem, but the return flight. On the one hand, it had to be within the time window, and on the other, it had to go unnoticed by the kidnappers. Because they certainly wouldn't like it, if Yaobai returned to Taizhou. 

"Can we take the risk?" Ding Wei asked the same question that was on Wenjie's mind. "If they find out you're coming back..."

"Then you followed their instructions anyway," Yaobai replied. 

After all, they hadn't told Ding Wei to make sure that Zhuang Yaobai stayed in Qingcheng. How was he supposed to do that? He couldn't be in two places at the same time. To stop Wenjie's father from returning, he would have to accompany him. That would mean he would no longer be able to take Wenjie to the harbor. 

"We must remain self-effective in our actions. They do have leverage, which is why we have to pretend to respond to their demands. That must not prevent us from acting instead of just reacting. We still don't know, what they want from you, Wenjie."

Ding Wei frowned. "You think it might be about something else than we've assumed so far?"

Yaobai nodded. "We can't rule it out at the moment. Nevertheless, I will also get some technical equipment in Qingcheng so that I can track you if necessary."

"Zhijian should accompany you," Wenjie suggested.

"What? That's out of the question. I'll help you free Zhiyue," his friend protested immediately. 

"If something goes wrong and my father doesn't get back in time, you'll have to stay in the hotel alone. The risk of them kidnapping you as soon as you leave the hotel is pretty high." As if that wasn't enough, Wenjie remembered the case with the smugglers. All it took was one pretty girl inviting Zhijian to dinner and his friend would abandon all caution. Okay, neither of them had expected anything like that back then. Still, he didn't want to leave him alone.

"Hey," Ding Wei intervened. "We can just take him to the harbor. They just said no police." He scanned the news. 

"That doesn't make it any better. Then, they might as well take us all straight away." They couldn't rely on the fact, that they might just want to hold negotiations in a neutral location. 

"If they wanted him too, they could have done it long ago," Xiao Dao reminded him of how they had found Zhijian. 

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back in time," said Yaobai. "I'll take the next plane to Qingcheng and the first one back. The window of time I have left is small, but I'll be back before midday. In the meantime, try to communicate with them by phone, stall them, get information. Don't leave the hotel until I get back and contact me if there are any changes." 

That went without saying. So Yaobai packed his things and set off for the airport while Wenjie and his friends stayed behind in the apartment. 

Since speculation and guesswork were getting them nowhere, they had to come up with other plans. Wenjie weighed up their options in his mind until an idea came to him. Something they hadn't even considered before. 

"You've both seen the kidnappers, right?"

"Yes, but what good does that do us?" Zhijian shrugged helplessly. 

"Describe them to me as best you can. I'll try to draw sketches. You take pictures of them and send them to my father's phone." He just had to be quick enough. Then his father could print out the pictures at home and pass them on to the police. 

Ding Wei grinned. "You think just as complicated as my father."

"If we want to trick them, we have to," Wenjie replied. He stood up and picked up pens and paper. "Get started," he urged his friends. "Don't leave out any details, even if they don't seem important."

In a few hours, his father would be leaving Qingcheng Airport. Wenjie wanted to be finished with the pictures by then. Zhijian's descriptions were much less precise. Xiao Dao, on the other hand, even remembered parts of the car's license plate from the little exercise. 

The more they had, the better. Wenjie set to work diligently. Over time, useful pictures were taken. Neither the kidnappers nor Xu Zhengqing sent any messages in the meantime. 

The drawing in turn calmed Wenjie's nerves. Even if the video was real, Captain Luo's team would help them. Liao Shuang was a clever policewoman. She would be just as reliable. 

It was getting light outside when Zhijian sent the photographed images to Zhuang Yaobai. He also wrote a message to Wenjie's father. "Wenjie has drawn the kidnappers. He thinks we can send the pictures to Captain Luo's team."

Shortly afterwards, they received a reply. "Thank you. You did a good job. I've arrived in Quingcheng. Let me know as soon as I know what the situation is. Take care of yourselves."

Despite worrying about Zhiyue and Captain Luo, Wenjie was already feeling better. Perhaps they could take the risk of sending a message to the police in Taizhou as well. 

to be continued ...