Chapter 371
Zina pulled into a parking spot, grabbed her purse, and got out of the car.
“Oh, so many choices. Which one should I try first?” Zina murmured. Her eyes darted around the bustling street, overwhelmed by the sights. There were so many delicious snacks.
Entering the street, Zina felt like a kid in a candy store.
The nearest was the dessert shop. Zina walked over. “Sir, mashed taro cake–double taro filling and double the crispy buttery crust.”
Money was no object for Zina. She ordered whatever looked delicious.
“Coming right up. For here or to go?” The owner set down his phone, slipped on gloves, and got right to work at once.
“To go,” Zina said. She still wanted to try more snacks, so she wasn’t planning to eat here.
“Here you go. Enjoy,” the young owner said as he swiftly finished, packed it up, looked up, and handed it to Zina.
But as he looked into Zina’s eyes, for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she looked familiar.
“Thank you,” Zina said, taking it. She gave a faint smile and walked away.
The young owner stared into her eyes, then hastily pulled out his phone to check the dedicated tip line set up by the Perkins Group.
He studied the beautiful, delicate face displayed on his screen, carefully examining those eyes, then mentally compared them to Zina’s eyes he had just
seen.
The notice stated a reward of 30 thousand dollars for any informant providing valid leads.
He looked up and scanned the crowd ahead, but Zina was already gone. No matter how hard he tried to spot her, she had vanished into the sea of people.
The young man glanced at the 30–thousand–dollar reward on his phone, his eyes filled with hesitation and temptation.
When the Perkins Group first posted the link, they were flooded with, tens of thousands of calls every day, prompting them to set up a dedicated
information collection team.
But after four years of chasing false leads and with Yannis narrowly escaping danger twice, the group tightened its vetting requirements.
Deliberately fabricating leads for financial gain would result in legal consequences.
Some thought they could get away with it, but after a couple of crackdowns, they realized the money wasn’t so easy to claim, and tipsters gradually dwindled.
The young owner stared at the tip submission interface, torn between hesitation and temptation. Those eyes really did look photo. Plus, his mother back home recently needed the leaky roof repaired.
Gritting his teeth, the young man opened his contacts and dialed the number.
like the ones in the
At the airport, Toby collected their luggage as he and Yannis returned from a business trip to a neighboring city.
His phone buzzed. He pulled it out, and an unknown number flashed on the screen.
Toby frowned slightly. It had been ages since anyone had called this number, the dedicated hotline for leads on Zinnia.
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Over the past two years, the calls had dwindled. Now, they might get one every couple of weeks, if that. But every single one turned out to be bogus.
“Answer it.” Yannis emerged from the arrival gate, his cool, detached gaze flicking toward the phone in Toby’s hand. He knew this particular phone was dedicated solely to leads on Zinnia.
Their recent business trip was prompted by people from a poor region who contacted them, claiming to have seen someone resembling Zinnia.
The moment Yannis heard, he dropped everything and went. But after a few days there, they realized the villagers had deceived them.
The area was desperately poor. Word had reached them that the Perkins Group was searching for Zinnia, so the villagers summoned the courage to call They claimed there was someone there who resembled Zinnia.
That very night, Yannis and Toby flew out. But once they arrived, the villagers kept leading them on, never actually revealing where this person was.
Instead, they tried every means to show them just h
dire the conditions in the village were.
Only when they learned that Yannis would send people to help improve the area did the villagers, overcome with guilt, finally confess the truth.
They admitted they had no information about Zinnia; they just wanted help for their struggling village.
Honestly, this kind of thing had happened more times than he could count. There was always someone coming up with new excuses to deceive Yannis into going on a wild goose chase.
Yet every single time, Yannis would personally make the trip, and every single time, promise to help improve the mountain villages.
Toby once asked him why. Yannis replied, “I’m afraid that if Zinnia ever really ends up in the poor area one day, she might suffer.”
Whether it was true or not, as long as the request wasn’t malicious, Yannis would always agree. After all, it was just money. He had more than enough.
But if he ever refused, and one day Zinnia really was suffering in those harsh conditions, he would never forgive himself. So he treated it as a way to say a prayer for her. He hoped she would be safe and well.
For four years, Yannis‘ life revolved around just two things, work and searching everywhere for Zinnia.
The phone kept ringing insistently.
“Answer it,” Yannis said, his voice flat. After countless cycles of hope followed by disappointment, he had grown accustomed to this routine.
Toby looked at Yannis‘ stern, exhausted face and sighed inwardly. He answered the call. “Hello.”
“U–um, h–hello, I–I just saw someone here on Nonhow Road who looks exactly like the person in your photo. Nino, wait-” the young man stammered, his
nerves obvious.
Toby’s face hardened. “Do you know the consequences of lying?”
He’d taken too many calls like this; just from the guy’s tone, he could tell the information was probably fake.
Startled, the young man’s voice trembled. “I–I misspoke. Not exactly alike, just her eyes. I only saw her eyes, not her face.”
Zina was wearing a face mask, so he couldn’t see what her face looked like.
Toby asked in a flat, routine tone, “How similar? What does she look like? How old?”
After the initial nervousness faded, the young man gradually calmed down and began to speak carefully.
“Those eyes? I’d say they were about an 80% match,” he said. “When she smiled, they curved like crescents, exceptionally bright and beautiful, just like in the photo.
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“I couldn’t see the rest of her face, she was wearing a mask. As for her age, I’d guess she was around twenty.”
Although he actually thought the resemblance was closer to 90%, he didn’t want to overstate it. And after four years, she might have changed.
Toby’s brow furrowed slightly at the young man’s description. “Location,” he said.
Startled by the icy tone, the young man hastily blurted out the address.
“As long as it’s not a false lead, our designated personnel will contact you about the reward,” Toby said before hanging up.
They always paid out the reward as long as the tip wasn’t deliberately fabricated. Over the years, Yannis had probably paid out several million dollars in
rewards.
“Mr. Perkins, let’s head back and get some rest first. I’ll have someone check it out and let you know once I hear anything,” said Toby, looking at Yannis.
Yannis was clad in a black hiking jacket and matching pants. His sharp, icy eyes and slightly pale lips accentuated his imposing presence.
They spent several days in that poor area, where the locals kept leading them in circles. Worried they might withhold any news about Zinnia, Yannis had no choice but to follow along.
Love made even the strongest men vulnerable. With news of Zinnia in someone else’s hands, it was as if they were holding his Achilles‘ heel.
Though usually ruthlessly decisive, when it came to Zinnia, Yannis became uncharacteristically cautious.
After Yannis had faced danger twice before, Toby now always sent someone to conduct a security check and ensure there was no risk before allowing him to get involved in anything related to Zinnia.
During the day in the mountains, they wandered around aimlessly with the villagers. At night, Yannis had to stay up late working. After days of this, he developed a mild fever.
With a quarterly meeting scheduled for the next day, they rushed back without even stopping to rest.
Yannis cleared his throat with a slight cough, his voice hoarse. “No need. Let’s go straight there. It’s not far from Jinston anyway. We’ll check it out first, then head back.”
