Ti Shen-Chapter 17
Su Yi Mo's car was akin to a plane on land as he kept stepping on the accelerator.
In his defense, he had considered whether or not he should have informed Ran Feng Ge's friends about his current situation. He knew that once they found out, they would undoubtedly be worried, and they might even drop everything to come to his rescue. However, Su Yi Mo was confident that he would be able to rescue Ran Feng Ge before anyone else.
As someone who was used to being on top and delegating out orders, it had never occurred to Su Yi Mo that he should have explained to the others that he was going to give his all to rescue Ran Feng Ge. Therefore, he did not know that his guess of them dropping everything to save Ran Feng Ge would be so accurate - Chen Xi Ran and Mi Le were now also rushing towards the southwestern gymnasium.
As expected, Su Yi Mo was the first to reach the gymnasium as he parked his car on the side of Lin Ying Road. However, Su Yi Mo did not get out immediately, instead, he sat quietly in his car, scanning the surroundings and formulating a plan. It was a good thing that today was a weekday, and the gymnasium was relatively empty. It would be easy to get rid of the men Lan Kuang had situated in there.
Su Yi Mo took off his blazer and threw it onto the backseat, his other hand reaching to pull off his necktie. He removed the cuff links from his sleeves and pulled out a pair of shades from the glove box to put on. After which, Su Yi Mo threw a piece of gum into his mouth, chewing on it a little haphazardly to let himself seem as though he were a college student who decided to skip all his classes today. Getting out of his car, Su Yi Mo quickly allowed himself to blend in with the crowd.
With every step he took, Su Yi Mo scanned his surroundings from behind the protection of the tinted sunglasses. He had to figure out a way to get to the third floor, the billiards room, unnoticed.
Just outside the gymnasium, the ping-pong arena was directly opposite him. There were sixteen tables scattered across the entire floor to allow adequate room between each table. On the left side, was the soccer field covered with fake grass and there were three people slowly jogging on the circumference of the field. Two goal posts were situated at either ends of the field with white lines painted onto the fake grass denoting the different areas. At one end of the field there were at least seven or eight people chasing after the soccer ball. On the right side was a badminton court, with its polished floors and pristine looking nets, empty of people at the moment.
Su Yi Mo glanced towards the ping-pong arena, the ceiling was high and there wasn't an area big enough to hold a person captive nor was there any way to get to the third floor. Therefore, there must be a contraption hidden somewhere else.
Su Yi Mo quickly got into step behind a group wearing Taekwondo uniforms in an attempt to blend in.
Within the group was a petite-sized girl who was carrying many Taekwondo uniforms in her arms. Because of the sheer number of uniforms she was carrying, it looked as though she was going to drown in them.
Seeing this, Su Yi Mo 'accidentally' bumped into her, causing at least half of the uniforms to tumble out from her grasp.
"Ah!" The girl gave a little yelp of surprise, before turning her head to look at Su Yi Mo. At that instant, she finally knew what it meant to have her jaw drop in surprise. Seeing the look on her face, Su Yi Mo could almost hear her screaming TOO HANDSOME! in her head.
Giving her a gentle smile, Su Yi Mo said, "I am so sorry," as he bent down to gather up the fallen uniforms into his arms. "Let me help you. Are you heading to the dojo? So am I."
"Yes! Yes! Thank you so much!" The girl nodded her head thinking to herself, I am so lucky to have such a good-looking guy help me out!
Because of this, Su Yi Mo managed to disguise himself as one of them even though he was not dressed like one. Anyone who looked at him would think that he was just going to the dojo to change into his uniform. The dojo had its own changing room and so it was not too strange if people decided to change there instead.
Once inside, the indoor basketball court spanned across the entirety of the first floor. There were eight different courts.
At the moment, there were only two courts that were being used. The sounds of dribbling and the squeaking of the shoes on the polished wooden floor echoed loudly in the enclosed gymnasium. As Su Yi Mo and the Taekwondo group entered, a couple of the people playing basketball turned and eyed them for a bit before returning their focus to their own game.
Su Yi Mo memorized their faces and numbers before following the Taekwondo group up to the second floor.
On the second floor, there were more people around, almost every dojo was in the midst of training.
To avoid attention, Su Yi Mo proceeded straight into a changing room to change into one of the uniforms. When he was sure no one was paying him any attention, Su Yi Mo quickly made his way to the staircase leading up, taking big strides up the steps towards the third floor.
Up the third floor was indeed the billiards room. In small groups of twos and threes, people were huddled around the various tables playing pool.
Due to his attire and sudden appearance, everyone's attention was automatically drawn towards Su Yi Mo. However, because he was dressed in a martial artists' uniform, no one thought too much about it and just said, "Student, the martial arts dojos are all on the second floor. You shouldn't be up here."
Without saying anything, Su Yi Mo glanced across the entire third floor, taking in the layout and design of the whole place. Unlike the first floor where there was a large area arranged for both the basketball and badminton courts, the third floor was segregated into smaller private rooms in addition to the common area.
Cutting across the common area towards the deeper rooms, Su Yi Mo could not find any irregularities in the layout where they could have possibly kept a captive person.
If not here, then…where is Ran Feng Ge being held at?
"Oi! Kid! The Taekwondo dojo is on the second floor!" The two people who had been smoking nearby quickly stood up to stop Su Yi Mo from advancing any further. "Do you not understand my words?! The dojo is downstairs!"
"I am looking for someone," Su Yi Mo replied.
"Looking for someone? Who?"
"A friend of mine. He said he was going to be in the billiards room, and he called me to come up and have a game with him. I did not have time to change out of my uniform." Su Yi Mo explained effortlessly with the lie he had thought up on the spot. It was so infallible that no one would have been able to tell that he just made it up.
"Your friend isn't here. Go somewhere else to look for him!" The two men shared a look between themselves, quickly trying to get rid of Su Yi Mo.
Seeing this, Su Yi Mo knew immediately that if they were so adamant to stop him from looking around, it meant that this was where he was supposed to be.
Just as he was about to strike at the two men before him, a large commotion pulled all their attention towards the direction of the stairs.
Slowly releasing the tension in his fists, Su Yi Mo listened carefully to the noise, wondering if there was an ongoing fight on the second floor.
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Translator: Jypoonie
Proofreaders: Charlotte Grey, Lyrick
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