"Ada-jie, open the door. I brought takeout for you," Liu A'dou called out as he knocked. He knew a woman was staying inside, so even though he had a key, he still knocked out of courtesy.
Ada opened the door. She had already eaten, but she appreciated Liu A'dou's gesture.
The warehouse had a lot more stuff now—clearly, Ada hadn't been idle today. She'd gone out and bought a bunch of daily necessities.
"Thanks for making the trip," Ada said.
Liu A'dou noticed the second floor now had white curtains installed. Quick work. "If there's anything else you need, just say the word."
"I still need a bathroom," she said. There was a toilet here, but no place to take a proper shower.
That wasn't a big issue. "I'll go buy a water heater and piping tomorrow. It'll be ready by night." If he didn't have that kind of DIY skill, how could he call himself Kaitou Kid?
"I already bought the water heater and piping," Ada replied, clearly a step ahead.
Liu A'dou was impressed. He shoved the takeout into the newly purchased fridge and got to work installing the heater. This kind of job was easy for him.
He picked a spot, drilled the holes, connected the pipes—and done.
The drainage was a bit of a problem, but Liu A'dou couldn't fix that right now. It would have to do.
In less than two hours, the job was finished. Only then did Liu A'dou finally sit down to eat. After dinner, he headed home. Thankfully, he had brought his beat-up second-hand car this time, so he didn't have to walk.
Ada expressed her gratitude, of course—just gratitude, nothing more. She had no intention of letting him stay the night. So Liu A'dou obediently went home to sleep.
But this was a time full of trouble—peace was hard to come by.
Just as Liu A'dou parked his car, Old Hu, the owner of Chun Xiang Lou, the Chinese restaurant he often visited, came running up, panting.
"Old Hu? You're still open this late?"
"Xiao Liu, you—"
"What about me?" Liu A'dou noticed how nervous he looked. Did something happen?
"Did you offend the mafia or something?" Old Hu whispered.
"No." Liu A'dou was confused.
"No? Then why are those mafia guys hanging around your building, still up there and haven't come down?" Old Hu was clearly spooked.
That couldn't be right. Liu A'dou had always been careful. He didn't have any enemies. Why would anyone come looking for him?
"You should come hide at my place for a few days." Old Hu genuinely liked Liu A'dou. The kid was good-looking and had a decent job.
But when Liu A'dou saw a white man in black clothes coming down from the stairs, he knew Old Hu wasn't making it up. Still, he didn't want to get Old Hu involved, so he said, "Old Hu, go home. I haven't offended anyone. They probably got the wrong guy. Just go back."
Old Hu saw the burly man glance their way and immediately turned to leave. He wasn't going to call the police—who knew what the mafia would do in retaliation? They might just trash his restaurant.
"My boss is waiting for you. Let's go," the man in black said.
Liu A'dou was curious. Who the hell was it? So he followed the guy upstairs.
His front door had been pried open, and the lights were on. He saw two more men in black standing by the entrance, but no one else in sight.
"Go on in. The boss is inside."
Liu A'dou shrugged, totally unfazed, and stepped in. Aside from the kitchen, it looked like none of the rooms had been touched. And sure enough, the "boss" was in the kitchen—he could smell the aroma of coffee.
"Getting old... can't handle staying up late anymore," said a man, walking out of the kitchen slowly with a cup of coffee in hand.
Liu A'dou's eyes narrowed. He was surprised—wasn't this man supposed to be in prison?
That's right. The one who had broken into Liu A'dou's home was none other than Anthony—Iselin's father, who was supposed to be serving time.
"Young people are always too young. Don't be so shocked," Anthony said with a casual smile, but Liu A'dou could feel the malice behind it.
"You got bailed out?"
"Yeah." The reason was late-stage cancer—fake, of course, but it got him out. Not that he was about to tell Liu A'dou that. "Still remember what I told you before?"
So this was about Iselin. Liu A'dou figured it out instantly. But it wasn't all his fault—Iselin hadn't even given him a chance to explain. "Yeah, you told me to take care of Iselin. I know I didn't do a great job, but she's doing just fine without me."
"Fine, my ass!" Anthony slammed the table, his voice rising. "Do you know my daughter was kidnapped today?!"
"What?!" Liu A'dou stared at him in disbelief. "She got kidnapped? By who?"
Wait a second—his daughter was kidnapped, and he still had time to brew coffee?
"You're joking."
"I'm not," Anthony said with a cold sneer. "In fact, I already found a way to get her back."
"This has something to do with me?"
"Exactly. They agreed to a hostage exchange."
"You're real cozy with these kidnappers, huh." Liu A'dou tapped his fingers on the table. "They clearly didn't take her for her own value. It's not about you, either, and definitely not about me. As far as I know, Iselin has no money, no allies, and she's just a food columnist. Why would anyone want to kidnap her?"
"That's not your concern. All I want to know is—are you willing to trade places with her?"
"They're willing to exchange a random nobody for a hostage?" Liu A'dou found it odd.
"Of course they didn't agree at first. But out of respect for me, they reluctantly agreed. That's why I came to you. You didn't take good care of Iselin—now you can make up for it by getting her out."
Interesting. Liu A'dou was genuinely curious now—what were these people really after, kidnapping Iselin? "Alright, I'll go. Let's go now."
"Now that's more like a man." Anthony downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp and headed out.
Liu A'dou followed, locking the door behind them.
Inside the car, Liu A'dou had a hood thrown over his head, then they were on the move. Destination unknown.
On the road, Anthony spoke up—maybe out of respect for Liu A'dou's quick agreement. "Don't worry too much when you're with them. Just cooperate, and they'll let you go soon. I guarantee they won't hurt you."
Liu A'dou thought about what that meant. If these kidnappers weren't in it for money, they must've had some goal to accomplish. But Iselin was just an ordinary reporter. No value there.
If it was about threatening Anthony, the kidnappers wouldn't have agreed to a trade. So this had to be about someone Iselin knew. Sounded like she'd run into something big during the two weeks Liu A'dou had spent cultivating.
They thought blindfolding him would mess with his sense of direction—amateurs. Even without seeing anything, Liu A'dou could still sense every turn by the car's movement.
They were heading toward downtown Gotham. The only question was: where downtown would you hide a hostage?
Then the car took a sharp turn. If Liu A'dou wasn't mistaken, they had just entered one of Gotham's most infamous neighborhoods—Street of Swallows.
That was Fish Mooney's turf, full of brothels and home to forty percent of the city's prostitutes.
Liu A'dou frowned. Was Iselin kidnapped because of her looks?