"It's an Incoming transmission from a foreign website," he spoke up, announcing, and everyone came closer, fingers flying over the keys. "It's heavily encrypted and the origin is unknown. I don't know if it's the right choice to decrypt it, what if it corrupts our systems?"
Lu Ting Cheng moved swiftly across the tablet he was handling, "Decrypt it now, we can't afford to delay it. It shouldn't be more than seconds." If the code exceeded a minute, the probability of decrypting it would be reduced to negative. And what if they could find their brother's location through that information?
"Ting Cheng, it's a live feed. Do I open it? He didn't know what to expect from such a video, but what if it was some private matter? Or a secret? How were they going to handle it? What if it was some bad video of their mother?
Gabriel rushed over to the table where Lu Zi Zhen was decrypting the data codes. You could see panic and nervousness in his eyes.
With a few rapid commands, the screen flickered, static at first, then it resolved into a live feed video from a surveillance camera.
The sterile white room came into their view. Two figures showed up; one was Lu Ting Zhou, slightly bruised and angry, and another one was Song Yaya, crumpled on the floor, trembling. It appeared in full clarity and defined them.
Lu Ting Cheng inhaled sharply squinting his eyes at his brother. "Ge…"
"Son..." Lu Zhi Hao trembled to see his son in such an unknown room and undisclosed location, looking all distraught.
They watched the scene unfold in silence, from the argument, the rejection, the bitter truths, and the pain carved into every word. Every slap or accusation hit like a bullet.
They watched as he held the knife and pinned it on Song Yaya's neck mercilessly.
Song Yaya's trembling hand and body could be seen through the live feed...
"Yaya...."
"My dear Yay..."
"We need to rescue Yaya! Hurry up!" Gabriel's body tensed even more; from the room aesthetics, you could tell that place could be like a hospital or research center.
"You better shut the fuck up!" Lu Zhi Hao didn't bother with Song Yaya; he just wanted to rescue his son, and Gabriel's yapping talks were distracting them.
Lu Ting Zhou's defiance could be seen, and his cold, determined gaze. They had thought that he would overreact and kill her, but he seemed to be just playing and teasing them around.
They had never seen this side of him; it was new to everyone.
You could hear his words through the live feed: "You are nothing to me but I don't plan on tainting my hands with your blood."
Afterward, the camera panned slightly, moving away from them, and then a distorted synthetic voice echoed, cutting in.
"We don't mind exchanging these two for Lu Wan Ruyi and Lu Zi Zhen. You have two hours to show up, and you better hurry up! Don't get the police officers involved, you know what can happen!"
That was the end of the video, they needed Lu Zi Zhen and Lu Wan Ruyi for those two in exchange.
The air in the room turned thick riddled with silence. A collective breath was held, no one daring to speak. They knew the possibility of this happening was high and they proved them right.
"Hehe... They must be kidding, right?" His voice was eerily scary even though he was laughing. They knew a happy laugh coming from him. His eyes squinted and gazed sharply at the video they had just received.
Lu Ting Cheng's fingers curled tightly around the edge of the table. Lu Wan Ruyi and Lu Zi Zhen? This wasn't a ransom they could gladly pay, they were asking for his momma and brother. This was a blatant declaration of war against them.