Qiao Jing bit her lip, desperately trying to suppress the heat surging in her body, reaching out to grab the silver needles.

But as soon as she extended her hand, she realized it was uncontrollably trembling.

Besides, her eyes suddenly felt a burning sensation, and her vision began to blur. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Clearly, these were effects of that drug.

In this state, Qiao Jing couldn’t steadily pick up the silver needles.

After several attempts to grasp them only to drop them, she finally held onto the silver needles.

However, with her hands unsteady and vision blurred, she couldn’t pinpoint the acupuncture points accurately, trying multiple times in vain.

Qiao Jing’s brows furrowed as she continued to try.

Beside her, Wu Xirui couldn’t help saying, "You can’t do it this way, let me help you."

Hearing him say this again, Qiao Jing’s expression turned colder.

She spoke word by word, enunciating his full name with undisguised displeasure, "Wu, Xi, Rui!"

As soon as Qiao Jing finished speaking, the atmosphere instantly became frigid.

Wu Xirui looked at her with an unreadable gaze, opened his mouth but swallowed back the words.

However, just as Qiao Jing was about to try inserting the needle herself again, the turmoil in her body suddenly surged violently.

Realizing she could barely hold back this feeling, her gaze fell sharply on the silver needles beside her.

With trembling hands, she grabbed a handful of needles, intending to stab them into her leg.

Right now, only pain could alleviate the agitation from the drug!

Seeing Qiao Jing’s actions, Wu Xirui instantly sensed her intention.

With quick reflexes, he grabbed Qiao Jing’s wrist, stopping her.

Qiao Jing looked up, her red eyes staring at Wu Xirui, gritting out two words, "Let go!"

"No."

Wu Xirui held Qiao Jing’s hand firmly without any intention of releasing it.

The playful expression on his face vanished, replaced by a rare seriousness, his voice deepening, "Doing this will only provide temporary relief, it won’t solve the problem."

"You don’t need to tell me, I’m aware, I know what I’m doing."

Qiao Jing said this as she struggled forcefully.

Under normal circumstances, she would definitely have been able to shake off Wu Xirui’s hand.

But now she was feverish, her limbs weak, unable to muster her strength, no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t break free from Wu Xirui’s grip.

With one hand tightly holding Qiao Jing’s wrist, Wu Xirui took the opportunity to snatch the silver needles from her hand with the other, throwing them directly on the ground, frowning at her, "Do you really have to use self-harming ways?"

Would she rather self-harm than consider him?

This last part, Wu Xirui left unsaid, fearing that once voiced, Qiao Jing might completely dislike him.

Instinctively, he did not wish for that.

Qiao Jing’s breath became shallow, knowing her condition was worsening, yet she still fought not to lose her composure.

Saying more words was already taxing, so she succinctly countered, "You think?"

Wu Xirui stared at her for a moment. Seeing the resolute determination in her red eyes, he knew she would not consider him under any circumstances.

He lowered his gaze slightly, concealing his emotions, and slowly released Qiao Jing’s hand, "You don’t need to self-harm, I have a way."

Qiao Jing thought he was going to "volunteer again," and her brow furrowed tightly.

When Wu Xirui looked up, he noticed her gaze was somewhat off, instantly understanding the misunderstanding.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, the tone tinged with helplessness, "It’s not what you think, I’ll call Zhan Qipei to come and get you."

Saying this, Wu Xirui took out his phone and began contacting Zhan Qipei in front of Qiao Jing.

...

At the manor.

Zhan Qipei and the others didn’t stop for a moment, nearly turning the entire manor over but still couldn’t find any trace of Qiao Jing.

Since there were no cameras outside the dressing room, the monitoring room personnel could only pull up footage from other nearby cameras for a careful review.

After considerable effort, they finally found footage showing Qiao Jing leaving the dressing room from one of the cameras’ viewpoints.

Although blurry, it at least indicated the direction Qiao Jing had taken.

The person in charge, fearful of delay, immediately sent someone to report the situation to Zhan Qipei.

Once informed, Zhan Qipei headed straight to the monitoring room.

Zhan Nanjing and Tang Yan followed along.

As soon as they entered the monitoring room, the person in charge pulled up the edited footage immediately.

Zhan Qipei’s eyes narrowed slightly, staring at the LCD screen intently.

From the footage, Qiao Jing’s state appeared very poor, holding a wall with one hand, her head with the other, staggering out of the dressing room.

As the scene shifted, she appeared at the end of a corridor, at the door of a utility room, pushing the door open and entering.

When she came out again, she was being carried out by a man.

"Isn’t that Wu Xirui?!"

Zhan Nanjing exclaimed, pointing at the man carrying Qiao Jing in the footage, "So it was him who took Qiao Jing away, no wonder we searched everywhere and couldn’t find her!"

"Damn it!"

Zhan Qipei cursed angrily, kicking over the nearby table.

With a loud crash, accompanied by the sound of shattering cups and porcelain.

The air pressure in the monitoring room plummeted instantly.

A coldness emanated from Zhan Qipei, making others shiver.

Everyone could see his fury was hard to quell.

The others lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word.

But Zhan Nanjing, with her forthright character, suddenly thought of something while watching the footage of Wu Xirui carrying Qiao Jing, and blurted out.

"According to Zhan Nan and Zhan Bei, the drug affecting Qiao Jing needs a man to resolve it, now that Wu Xirui has taken her away, could it be that..."

Realizing she had said something she shouldn’t have, Zhan Nanjing quickly covered her mouth, stepping aside.

Her words intensified the coldness around Zhan Qipei, his expression icy, tense silence enveloping the room.

Just then, a phone ringing broke the stern silence of the monitoring room.

Zhan Qipei took out his phone, seeing Wu Xirui’s name, a cold smile playing on his lips.

Just when he wanted to confront this person, Wu Xirui was reaching out voluntarily!

Quite convenient!

Upon answering, Zhan Qipei spoke icily, "Where have you taken Qiao Jing? I warn you, if you dare touch her, I’ll make sure your life is worse than death!"

On the other end, Wu Xirui scoffed, ignoring Zhan Qipei’s fury, and said leisurely, "Zhan Qipei, watch your tone with me."

"Moreover, if you don’t want her to be harmed, you’d better cut the nonsense, I’ll send you the address. Whether you make it in time is up to you."

With that, not waiting for Zhan Qipei to reply, Wu Xirui hung up directly.