Chapter 49: I’ll Never Let You Off If We Can’t Find Them

The moment she vanished, the furious Axe Gang members rushed to the spot right after her.

Seeing nothing behind the large tree, some began cursing and venting their anger.

“Damn it! That woman runs pretty fast!”

“Yeah, we were right on her tail—how did we lose her again?”

“Weird! This is damn weird! Could she possibly fly or burrow underground?”

“Cut the crap. If she had such skills, why would she have been running from us all this way?”

“You were the one chasing her, but where is she now?”

“You…”

Hearing his subordinates bickering again, the gang leader roared irritably.

“Shut the hell up, all of you!”

“You can’t even catch one woman—what do I keep you around for, huh?”

“We finally caught her red-handed, and you let her slip away again. Are you all useless?”

After briefly venting his frustration, he started organizing the next steps.

“First Hall Leader, come with me. The other hall leaders, split up and search separately.”

“Tonight’s operation is canceled. Everyone, conduct a thorough search of this area.”

“I damn well refuse to believe a mere woman can escape our dragnet.”

Following the order, everyone began a meticulous search as instructed.

Seeing the others get to work, the First Hall Leader grew restless.

“Boss, aren’t we starting?”

“With us joining in, we might wrap up this cat-and-mouse game quickly.”

Hearing this, the gang leader strode toward the woods where they had hidden earlier.

“Let them handle it.”

“Your task is to keep a close watch on that old couple.”

“As long as we have them in our grasp, the Axe Gang’s territory might double in size.”

At the mention of expanding territory, the First Hall Leader’s eyes lit up instantly.

“We’ll follow your orders, Boss!”

“Our hall brothers won’t let you down.”

As the group reached their previous hiding spot, all they saw were trampled weeds and a lone large tree.

The old man and woman who should have been leaning against the tree were gone!

At first, those present suspected they had come to the wrong place.

After repeatedly confirming the location was correct and the pair had simply vanished, the gang leader completely lost it.

“Where are they? Damn it, where are they?”

“They were lying right here before we left—could someone have rescued them?”

“Ah! Where are they? Where are they?”

“Damn it, they were my hope and trump card for expanding our territory! How could they just disappear?!”

His voice, sharp and piercing, echoed across the wilderness, made even more eerie by the cover of night.

But all of this had nothing to do with Shen Yi’an, who had long since left by manipulating her Space.

After leading the Axe Gang members on a wild chase, she had swiftly slipped into her Space.

She had checked the spot where the old couple had been lying earlier and, confirming they had escaped safely, raced toward the Steel Mill Residential Compound.

Fortunately, moving through her Space was fast enough—it took less than one-tenth of the usual time.

Just as she emerged from her Space in an unmanned alley near the Family Compound and brought out the luggage she had prepared in advance, she overheard urgent voices from inside the compound.

“…Did you get that?”

“Your father and I are going to the police station. You two go notify your eldest and second brothers.”

“We can handle other matters ourselves, but we mustn’t be careless about your little sister’s situation.”

“If anything happens to her, my entire future…”

Shen Guozhong’s voice cut off the unspoken remainder.

“Director Deng, that’s too pessimistic!”

“You know perfectly well what our youngest daughter is like.”

“Perhaps she’s just been delayed on the road.”

Deng Yaxin, who had previously suppressed her anger, instantly flared up upon hearing this.

“That’s easy for you to say! It’s not like you gave birth to her, so you don’t care, do you?”

“Let me tell you, Shen Guozhong, if we don’t find our daughter, I’ll never let you hear the end of it!”

“I told her long ago to come straight home after seeing her friend off, but you had to agree to let her wander around before returning.”

“And now look – she’s missing! How dare you say such things?”

Faced with this barrage of criticism, Shen Guozhong could no longer maintain his smile.

Knowing he bore some responsibility in this matter, he remained silent, mainly afraid of provoking further outbursts.

While their parents argued, Shen Junyue and Shen Junkai stood by without any intention of getting involved.

As children, it wasn’t their place to comment when their parents disagreed.

Getting it right would be fine… but actually, there was no clear right or wrong position here.

Remembering they still needed to inform their two sisters, they stepped forward to interrupt their mother’s one-sided tirade.

“Mom, we’re running out of time!”

“You can vent your anger after we find little sister. Right now we should focus on searching for her.”

“It’s already dark. Who knows if that girl is walking alone in the dark, scared and crying?”

Hearing their sons’ comforting words, Deng Yaxin finally stopped her reproach.

After glaring once more at Shen Guozhong, she quickly headed toward the Family Compound exit.

But she didn’t forget to answer her son’s question.

“She won’t cry!”

“That girl has been mischievous since she was little, tough as nails.”

“As long as someone else didn’t break her skin and make her bleed, she’d laugh if she fell and bled on her own.”

Understanding their mother was deliberately changing the subject to spare them worry, Shen Junyue and Shen Junkai pretended not to notice.

With two younger children at home, Shen Shasha had to stay behind to watch them.

So the four family members went out to search.

Just as they stepped outside the Family Compound gate, they heard a familiar voice from the right, “Mom, Dad, third brother, fourth brother, where are you going?”

“If you’re not in a hurry, could you help me carry my luggage home first?”

“I never thought I’d accumulate so much stuff from attending university.”

The four family members looked toward the voice and saw the person they’d been worrying about standing under a streetlight fifty meters away.

Shen Junkai was the first to move, running up to Shen Yi’an and giving her a light flick on the forehead.

“This is for being so playful!”

“You promised to just look around and come back. Look what time it is now!”

“Mom and Dad haven’t eaten or drunk anything since getting off work. Do you know how worried they’ve been?”

Hearing the concern in his voice, Shen Yi’an smiled sheepishly. “Fourth brother, I was wrong!”

“It was still early when I was coming back, so I thought I’d stop by the post office to check if my shipped luggage had arrived.”

“The staff said a new batch had just come in but hadn’t been unpacked yet, so I waited to see if my things were there.”

“I didn’t expect there would be so much stuff. Dealing with it all made me late coming back.”

After explaining the reason for returning late, she couldn’t resist grinning cheekily.

Seeing her carefree smile, Shen Junkai felt speechless again and flicked her forehead once more.

“Is your luggage really that important!”

“Next time you want to do something, remember to inform us in advance so the family won’t worry themselves sick over you.”

“Did you hear me?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Yi’an suddenly felt a lump in her throat as memories from her past life came flooding back. “I heard you, Fourth Brother! Please stop hitting me!”

“If you hit me again, I’ll tell Mom and Dad!”

Though she said this with a smiling face, large teardrops were rolling down her cheeks.

Standing under the streetlamp, her small face appeared particularly forlorn.

This scene instantly tugged at the heartstrings of Shen Guozhong, Deng Yaxin, and Shen Junyue who witnessed it.

Their words of reproach immediately shifted targets.

“Fourth Brother, why are you so harsh? Look how you’ve frightened our little girl!”

“Do you even know how an older brother should behave? Have you forgotten about fraternal respect?”

“Mom and Dad are right – Fourth Brother, you’re still too immature!”

Facing the family’s criticism, Shen Junkai wanted to refute but found himself tongue-tied.

Just as he was about to explain that his little sister’s tears had little to do with him, he saw the same sister who had been smiling at him moments ago now throwing herself into her mother’s arms while wailing loudly, “Mom, Fourth Brother was mean to me!”

“I’m not a child anymore! I’m already an adult! How can he still scold me like when I was little!”

“Mom, you have to teach Fourth Brother a lesson, or I’ll keep crying forever.”

That’s exactly how the on-site complaint went, but only Shen Yi’an herself knew the real reason she was crying.