CHAPTER 377: CHAPTER 377; RESCUING MISSION 2

The tracking app loaded. A map appeared, showing a blinking dot that should have been Huo Wu’s current location.

But surprisingly the dot was stationary. On the highway. About fifteen kilometers from the city center.

"Got him," Huo Qi said. "He’s....."

And then the dot disappeared.

Huo Qi’s blood ran cold. "Signal’s been blocked."

"What?" Huo Ting Cheng leaned over, staring at the screen.

"The tracking signal has just been cut off. Someone disabled it or disrupted it somehow." Huo Qi was already trying to re-establish the connection, but the app kept timing out. "Last known location was on Highway 7, heading toward the outskirts."

"The outskirts," Huo Ting Cheng repeated, his mind racing. "What’s out there?"

"Industrial zones, mostly. Abandoned factories. Some undeveloped government land..." Huo Qi’s face went pale as realization hit. "Sir, there are also some... illegal establishments in that area. Underground operations."

Huo Ting Cheng’s eyes blazed with cold fury. "She went to one of those places. With just Twilight and one guard whose phone is now conveniently disabled."

"We don’t know that for certain..."

"I know my wife," Huo Ting Cheng cut him off. "I know when she’s hiding something. I felt it."

He slammed his fist against the car seat, the leather denting under the impact.

"Hack into Huo Wu’s phone," he ordered. "I don’t care if the tracking signal is blocked. Access the phone directly. Camera, microphone, GPS, everything. Do anything you can..."

"Sir, if the phone is powered off or the signal is completely jammed...."

"Then un-jam it!" Huo Ting Cheng’s voice cracked like a whip. "I have invested billions in technology. I own half the telecommunications infrastructure in this city. Are you telling me we can’t locate one phone?"

Huo Qi’s fingers were already moving, pulling up advanced systems. "I’ll need to route through the satellite network. It’ll take a few minutes...."

"You have two minutes. And call Huo Zhen. Tell him to mobilize every available unit. I want teams ready to move the second we have a location."

"Yes, sir."

While Huo Qi worked, Huo Ting Cheng pulled out his own phone and tried calling Tang Fei.

The phone rang. He realized the sound was coming from her briefcase. He retrieved the briefcase and saw the mobile phone lying inside, his knuckles tightening around it before he tossed it back.

"She left her phone behind..."

"Sir, I’m accessing the backup systems," Huo Qi reported, his voice tight with concentration. "Huo Wu’s phone has military-grade security protocols, but we installed a backdoor app, exactly for situations like this..."

His fingers danced across multiple screens, running code sequences that bypassed standard security measures.

"The signal disruption is localized," Huo Qi continued. "Someone used a jammer or... wait." He leaned closer to the screen, confusion crossing his features. "This isn’t a jammer. This is a manual override. Someone who knew the phone’s security architecture deliberately put the tracking function on hold."

Huo Ting Cheng’s brow furrowed. "How? Only our tech team knows that architecture."

"I don’t know, sir. But whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing. This is expert-level work." Huo Qi continued typing rapidly. "But the phone itself is still active. I can access it through the satellite relay, it’ll just take, got it!"

A new map appeared on the screen, this one showing a much more detailed view. A blinking red dot appeared, moving rapidly along a series of back roads.

"They’re approximately twenty-eight kilometers out now," Huo Qi reported. "Still heading toward the outskirts. Current speed is..." his eyes widened, "...one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. Sir, she’s racing."

"Of course she is," Huo Ting Cheng muttered darkly. Another thing he hadn’t known about his wife, apparently she could drive like a professional racer. And somehow knew how to disable military-grade phone tracking.

How many more secrets was she keeping?

"Can you access the phone’s camera or microphone?" he asked.

Huo Qi tried, his expression growing frustrated. "The camera and mic have been disabled. Also manually, from inside the phone. But I have GPS coordinates updating in real-time now."

He pulled up a satellite view of their destination. The image quality wasn’t perfect, it was nighttime, but enhanced thermal imaging showed the general area.

"They’re heading toward..." Huo Qi zoomed in, his face going even paler, "...toward the old manufacturing district. Sir, that area is known for illegal operations. Black market trading, underground fighting rings, and..." he swallowed hard, "...there are rumors of an underground brothel in that location. Human trafficking. Very dangerous people."

Huo Ting Cheng felt ice flood his veins, followed immediately by white-hot rage.

"A brothel." His voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the promise of absolute violence. "My wife is driving herself toward a human trafficking operation."

"We don’t know that’s where she’s specifically going....."

"That’s exactly where she’s going." Huo Ting Cheng was already moving, yanking the car door closed. "Drive. Now. And call ahead to every team within fifty kilometers. I want that entire area surrounded within thirty minutes."

"Sir, if we send in too many people, we might...."

"I don’t care!" Huo Ting Cheng roared. "My wife is walking into a place where people are bought and sold like livestock, where guards are armed and have no regard for law or human life, where....."

His voice broke, just slightly, before he regained control.

"Drive," he repeated, his voice dropping to something lethal. "And pray we get there before something happens to her. Because if anyone touches my wife, if anyone so much as looks at her wrong, I will burn that entire operation to the ground and everyone in it."

Huo Qi had never moved faster in his life. He threw the car into gear, and they shot out of the parking garage with a screech of tires, heading toward the highway.

Behind them, three more vehicles filled with security personnel followed in tight formation.

As they raced through the city streets, Huo Ting Cheng kept his eyes fixed on the blinking red dot on Huo Qi’s screen, the only link to his wife’s location.