Maybe they knew that Liu Xiaokai was connected to the List—knew that he was related to some higher-ups and figured that he would be good ransom material if they were going to leech any of the List’s resources. Compared to the first option, this actually seemed a little more bleak; Xiaokai might be able to convince someone that he hadn’t done anything wrong and be able to get out of this with just a few injuries, but the latter? The people they would be trying to get the ransom from in this situation—Liu Baiyan and Sun Yue—would not choose Xiaokai over the List any day. They would chide Xiaokai for not taking better care of himself and just move forward with their lives, Sun Yue off to find another successor and Liu Baiyan right back to Liu Xingyu’s side, and Xiaokai would be left to die.

And then another possibility, which Xiaokai couldn’t really grasp: maybe they had nothing to do at all with the List, and were just kidnapping Liu Xiaokai because he seemed like he would get them some money.

In any case, it was cold. Xiaokai could tell from the bite of the air against the skin of his neck that he was outside, or at the very least in a very drafty and very poorly-insulated building. Maybe a warehouse? The List had several warehouses up for common use if anyone needed them—be it for shady deals or storing things that wouldn’t be traced back to the culprit. It was entirely possible he was in one of those.

“Hello?” he tried again, this time louder, stretching out his voice as far as he could make it—not necessarily looking for an answer, but paying close attention to the way that his voice bounced back to him, reverberating off the walls.

Definitely inside. Definitely a bigger building. Most likely a warehouse.

He felt a presence behind him approach. Could hear the footsteps, feel the vague warmth, and then the figure stopped right behind Xiaokai and a warm hand fell onto Xiaokai’s shoulder.

“Xiaokai.”

He knew the voice immediately.

Knew the voice immediately, and felt his heart drop at the sound of it.

“Bai Xue? What’s going on? What am I—”

“I’m sorry about all of this. It’s just a precaution. Your father wanted me to ask you some questions.”

The blindfold was pulled down. Liu Xiaokai’s eyes ached for a moment while they tried to adjust to this new burst of light, and then slowly Bai Xue’s face became clear—he was dressed just as he always was: sweater, slacks, and this time a jacket too that fit the rest of the outfit. Xiaokai hated that his first reaction was to fall into his arms, hated that he was disappointed that he couldn’t.