The following day, Zhong Feng left Supreme City for Russia. Before he left, he put Assistant Chen in charge of finding out more about Dong Chen Publishing. He would not allow that issue to escalate and compromise Hu Lei in absentia.

During his flight, he thought about the information contained in the brown envelope he had hidden in the safe. He felt morose when he remembered the words in that file, particularly the details from thirteen years ago when Hu Lei had been only nine years old.

The report had mentioned that Hu Lei had been one of the children who had been kidnapped. According to sealed police files on the incident, a group of children were found in a lab after missing for varying periods of time. Hu Lei had been missing for a year.

The investigative file indicated that the kidnappers had been a team of scientists who were interested in unveiling the power of the brain. An interrogation of one of the arrested scientists had revealed that they had used children because in his words, "adult minds broke too easily". That man had also said that "young minds were more open to a little tinkering".

While this might have been true, the children who had been kidnapped were not as strong as the scientists had imagined. Multiple children had already died by the time the police had cracked the case of the missing children. The most sickening thing was that these scientists had continued to use the deceased and their parts for their experiments.

The children who had been rescued had not been in good condition either. Some had died within the year of release and others had lost most of their normal brain functions. Among those who had survived was a boy who had seemed normal at first. Then, out of nowhere, he had attacked his family in the middle of the night.

Zhong Feng could not help marvelling at the wonder of Hu Lei. She had survived this ordeal and continued to live her life well. She had even had the courage to return to a city which took her innocence and crushed her childhood into nothingness.

However, the most shocking thing to him was the fact that after being held in a laboratory for unpleasant experiments, Hu Lei had chosen to travel the world, supporting her father in medical research. How could she bear facing anything that reminded her of that nightmare?

Zhong Feng pondered on the matter without a conclusion. She either had to be a brave person who had the power to face her greatest nightmares, or she felt nothing. He could not feeling heartache for the girl who always seemed like a bright ray of sunshine even with the burden of this past.

His resolve became stronger. He needed to find her before she had to face a life without hope as she had no doubt experienced during the year she had been captured.

When Zhong Feng alighted from the airplane, he was surprised to find that Vladimir Romanov had sent a limousine to pick him up. He had called him only yesterday to inform him of the impending visit. He had not expected that he would be so welcome.

Under normal circumstances, he would not enter into that suspicious character's vehicle. However, time was of the essence. Hu Lei would not wait forever if she was not in a good place. Until he ascertained her wellbeing, he could not rest easy.

To his surprise, the vehicle was not driven into a commercial building or some other place like a BDSM club. These places were within Zhong Feng's expectations. However, a neighbourhood filled with artisanal shops did not cross his mind. In essence, it was the type of modern neighbourhood that had a lot of pretentious artsy people and strange shops filled with overpriced crap with fancy names.

Zhong Feng could not relate the place to the scar-faced Romanov.

The vehicle stopped before an art gallery simply named PIERRE. The door was opened by his unknown chauffer. The man pointed him to the gallery. Feeling like he had fallen into a parallel universe, he walked into the store.

The spacious gallery was nothing like he anticipated. Judging from the locale, he had expected to find modern abstract art which was popular among gentrified neighbourhoods. He walked into the completely empty gallery, brushing a casual eye over the pieces.

As a child, he had studied art as part of his home schooling. Though he was not an expert, he could see that this art had been made by someone with a highly positive view of life. He could not imagine what this kind of person would have in common with Vladimir Romanov.

His eyes were suddenly drawn to an unusual painting at the far corner of the gallery which did not seem to have blend in with the rest of the art. He walked to it, almost spellbound. The piece depicted a woman covered in a completely white dress like an angel and a wreath of flowers graced her head, crowning her flowing black hair.

This person was standing in the middle of burning yellow fire, cackling, smoking and living. The fire seemed to be engulfing her, eating at her feet and consuming her dress. But she seemed completely aloof from the world even looking down on it. However in her eyes, there was a sense of longing. What surprised him most was the obvious likeness of the woman and Hu Lei.

"I did not think that President Zhong was interested in art." The loud heavily accented voice of Vladimir Romanov interrupted his contemplation.

Zhong Feng turned around to face the man who seemed at odds with the surroundings.

"You know why I am here." Zhong Feng was quite certain of this fact.

Vladimir looked at the painting that Zhong Feng had been looking at with a strange sense of sadness in his eyes as he remembered its subject.

"I cannot help you. I do not know where she is."

"But she came here for your help. You must know where she went." Zhong Feng's tone became colder.

"She came to me because she wanted to go to North America anonymously. She left with a certain controversial government figure who owed me a favour. I do not know where they ended up." He paused for a moment. "I can even tell you less about her real destination. All I know was that she was looking for her father."

Vladimir did not conceal anything from Zhong Feng because he did not really know anything. He had helped Hu Lei because he felt that he owed her for treating her poorly when she was younger. Looking at the man before him hiding his distress, he felt a little sympathetic.

"I will tell you this: you will not find Hu Lei if she does not want to be found. If she is in danger, your chances are even lower because she is not an easy target. As you are now, you cannot be of any use to her." His eyes hardened.

"You have little power, influence and money. You are too soft-hearted and honourable, and you are too conscious of right and wrong, always thinking about the lines that should not be crossed. She might have fallen for you because of this, but you cannot find her or keep her safe as the person you are." Vladimir spoke with unprecedented harshness, his accent making his words almost incomprehensible.

Unfortunately, Zhong Feng could not dispute the truths spoken. If he had been more powerful, perhaps she would have confided in him. He could only leave and look for another way to find Hu Lei. With that, he started making his way to the gallery door.

"She left you a message." The words stopped Zhong Feng in his tracks.