The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

Chapter 257

"Who's on the line?"

Nathanial clutched the phone tightly in his hands, but the other party did not speak.

The brief silence only caused Nathaniel to feel even stressed.

"Hello, Mango, is that you? Hello?"

Nathaniel’s tone was urgent as he spoke, but a cold machine-generated voice came from the other side of the receiver.

"Come alone to dock number three."

After that, the other party hung up the phone.

There was no way that anyone could recognize the voice of the caller as the voice was synthesized by a computer program. Furthermore, the call was too short for Nathaniel to track its location.

Nathaniel’s gaze was eerily cold.

He grabbed his coat and was about to leave when he ran into Madam Ye, who had just come to see him.

"Where are you going?"

"I just received a phone call that asked me to go to the dock number three. Whether it’s a trap or not, I have to go to look for clues about Mango."

Nathaniel knew that Madam Ye was worried about him, but this was not a time for inaction. As he observed the old lady's pallid countenance, Nathaniel felt very guilty.

"Mom, after I’ve settled this matter, I promise to always be by your side.”

"Don't worry about me, nothing can happen to me as I'm old enough. Honestly, you're the ones making me worried instead. Have you got any new information about Mango?”

To answer Madam Ye's question, Nathaniel said in a low voice, "We can be sure that Mango is still alive and she very likely takes the cargo ship back to Ocean City. However, since she didn't contact us earlier, she could've run into some trouble. Now, I don't think it’s a coincidence that someone called and asked me to go to dock number three”

Madam Ye's expression was serious as she listened to Nathaniel's explanation.

"Have you found Nanny Zhang?”

Nathaniel was stunned for a moment when he heard his mother bring up Nanny Zhang, but he shook his head in response to her question.

"I'm sorry Mom, but I haven't had time to look for Nanny Zhang. You know that I've been busy with finding Mango ever since I came back, so...”

"Nathaniel, Nanny Zhang can't be underestimated. You and I both know that the Hans family is very powerful, but she still managed to escape from them. So obviously, there must be someone very powerful helping her. Now that Mango is nowhere to be found and you've gotten a call from a stranger, I think it’s best that you be careful."

Nathaniel frowned. "Do you think Nanny Zhang will hurt me?"

In fact, Nathaniel didn't know the answer to that question.

Although Nanny Zhang was his biological mother, this woman was cruel and merciless. Furthermore, she had secretly hated the Ye family for so many years, so would she really give up

her carefully crafted plans just for Nathaniel?

Madam Ye gave a wry smile as she too did not know how to answer this question.

As the saying went, even the devil loved his children. However, who knew what Nanny Zhang was really thinking?

"Well, there's no harm in being vigilant."

"I know, Mom. You take care of yourself, okay? I've asked Terrance to send some men over here for your protection."

Madam Ye sighed as she heard Nathaniel's words and she said, "There are plenty of capable people in the Ye Family, yet we seem to always need the Hans family's help. This is just..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Nathaniel understood what she meant.

"Mom, I swear that I'll properly reorganize the Ye Family after I find Mango. Right now, I can’t seem to tell the difference between those who are loyal to us and Nanny Zhang, and this worries me a lot.”

"It would be great if Mango were here because now she's in charge of the Dark Night Empire."

Madam Ye sighed again before she got up to go back to her room. Before she left, Nathaniel asked hurriedly.

"Mom, how do we get in touch with the Dark Night Empire? Perhaps we can use their power to find Mango."

"There's no way of doing so because the Empire only listens to one leader, and right now Mango is that leader. Except for her, no one can contact them.”

Madam Ye felt very helpless in this situation as well.

Nathaniel felt rather sullen when he heard Madam Ye's reply.

As he watched Madam Ye return to her room, Nathaniel immersed himself in deep thought before he got up and left the house.

Soon after, he arrived at the number three dock alone.

Unsurprisingly, there were very few people here.

Nathaniel remembered that he came to this dock sometime ago to look for Zion, but his son was nowhere to be found and Nathaniel's hopes were nearly shattered completely.

As Nathaniel stood on dock number three, he listened to the sea breeze whistling in his ear, and it felt like he was back at the seaside in the United States where he lost Mango.

"Mango, where are you?" He thought to himself.

Nathaniel's distress weighed heavily on his heart, but he couldn't find any relief from it.

Suddenly, a small stone collided with his waist. Nathaniel whipped his head around, but he did not see anyone. Instead, a rough computer-generated voice sounded.

"Walk forward fifty meters and enter the warehouse."

"Who the hell are you?"

Nathaniel frowned when he heard the voice.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid? Or you don't really intend on finding Mango at all?

The other party seemed to understand Nathaniel very well and it was obvious that he said that to provoke Nathaniel.

At that, Nathaniel’s gaze suddenly darkened.

Very few people knew about Mango' s disappearance, so who else could it be other than one of their own men?

Abyss was currently being investigated by the authorities and it was impossible for him to fly here so quickly from the United States. Hence, who else knew about Mango's disappearance?

Could it be that this was the person who kidnapped Mango?

Nathaniel’s eyes turned eerily cold.

"I'm warning you, don’t you dare to touch her. If anything happens to her, I'll make sure that all of you will pay the price!"

"Oh no, I'm so scared now! Cut the crap and make up your mind whether or not you’re coming into the warehouse. If you're not coming in, then get lost! I don't have the time to listen to your bullsh*t!” Clearly, the other party was really arrogant.

In fact, Nathaniel had rarely ever been challenged like this, but he restrained his temper. Then, he turned around and walked towards the warehouse of the number three dock.

This warehouse had been abandoned for many years, but pedestrians would occasionally take shelter in here if it was windy or rainy. The interior of the warehouse was damp and it looked very old.

The moment Nathaniel opened the door of the warehouse and entered inside, an unknown object flew towards him.

If it weren't for his martial arts skills, surely he would have been caught off guard.

Nathaniel smiled coldly before he quickly spun around and kicked the object away from him. Then, he realized that the object was a children's doll and it was so old and tattered that it was nearly unrecognizable.

"Who the hell are you? Instead of playing childish tricks, come out and face me like a man."

Nathaniel’s voice echoed throughout the warehouse as he spoke and it was obvious that the warehouse had been specifically retrofitted to cause the echoes.

Who would be so stupid to do this?

Nathaniel couldn’t believe that someone would take the time to retrofit this old warehouse.

If so, was it possible that the warehouse contained something that Nathaniel didn't know about?

Various thoughts raced quickly through Nathaniel's mind.

However, the other party did not answer him. Immediately after Nathaniel had finished speaking, another object flew towards him again.

Nathaniel was starting to become quite irritated.

It was obvious that the other party was just teasing him.

Nathaniel kicked the unknown object away once again, and a fine white powder sprayed from it before it splattered on Nathaniel's face.

At first, he thought that it was powdered lime and he quickly raised his arm to block it before a fist suddenly came for Nathaniel's face.

Nathaniel instinctively countered his opponent quickly, but he was pinned to the ground by his opponent. The other party climbed into Nathaniel's shoulders and he clasped his small thighs around Nathaniel's neck tightly.

"Ha, I’ve won!"

Suddenly, a proud child’s voice sounded and it was very familiar to Nathaniel.

He was stunned, and Nathaniel could not believe what he saw.

"Hey, Mr. Ye, don’t tell me that I’ve accidentally broken your brain just from a few hits."

The child spoke again, and his voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

Suddenly, Nathaniel pulled the child off his shoulders only to find that it was his beloved son Zion, whom he had missed for such a long time. The next moment, Nathaniel pulled Zion across his knee and he gave his son a tight smack on his butt.

"Ouch! Mr. Ye, why are you hitting me?" NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

Zion jerked upwards immediately.

Honestly, that smack was really painful!

Mr. Ye was such a cruel man!

Then, Nathaniel spoke angrily to Zion. "How could you not come home after you've returned from training? You’ve got some nerve messing around with me, don't you know how worried I’ve been, I..."

"Of course I know. I’m only doing this because I missed you, is it so wrong for me to see you?"

Zion naughtily stuck out his tongue.

The lighting inside the warehouse was dim, and Nathaniel could vaguely see Zion in front of him dressed in a tracksuit and a cap. At this moment, Zion was smirking proudly at Nathaniel.

Nathaniel suddenly felt a pang of bitterness in his heart and he felt like this was an illusion.

Then, Nathaniel pulled Zion over and he held Zion tightly in his arms.

"You little brat, do you intend to worry me and your mother to death? Why didn't you send us any information even after such a long time?"

Nathaniel finally believed that Zion was real when he hugged his son's warm body.

Finally, Zion had come home.

"Mr. Ye, are you planning on strangling me? Please let go of me." Zion struggled against his father, but Nathaniel pretended not to hear him and he did not intend to let Zion go.

Then, Zion seemed to feel Nathaniel’s tears dripped onto his shoulder and he felt his father's sincerity.

Zion's heart was softened at that.

Then, he stretched out his arm and he patted Nathaniel gently on the shoulder before he said in a low voice, "Daddy, I’m back."

Nathaniel nearly burst into tears when he heard Zion address him as 'Daddy'.

Nathaniel could only reply with a muffled 'minin' as he was very worked up, and he did not let go of Zion.

Zion knew that Nathaniel was in a bad mood, so Zion let his father do whatever he wished.

After a while, Nathaniel managed to get his emotions under control and he let go of Zion.

"Why haven't you come home instead of playing these stupid tricks on me?"

"Are you referring to The Ye's Mansion? Nanny Zhang's people are everywhere in that area, so I would’ve been kidnapped as soon as I showed up without even a chance to see you. So, how could I come home?"

Zion's words made Nathaniel narrow his eyes.

"How do you know that Nanny Zhang’s people are in the area around our mansion?"

"I know much more than that. Mr. Ye, uncle was the one who told me to come back.” Obviously, the uncle that Zion referred to was Nick.

Nathaniel paused for a moment and he asked in a low voice, "So, you just came back without having to do anything else?"

"Yeah, exactly! What I did was so cool! I’m certain that you would never have guessed that it was me who called you with that robot voice, right? If I didn't reveal myself, who would've thought that a child was behind all this?”

Nathaniel moodily flicked Zion in the forehead when he saw Zion’s smug expression and it drew a pained cry from the child.

"Ow, that hurts!"

"Yeah, I'm sure it hurts! Don’t you know that Rita and Grandma are both in the mansion? Your recklessness might have hurt them!"

"This is the only way I can make sure that they're safe. Moving on, I know where mommy is, so do you want to go and see her?”

The corners of Zion's eyes twitched in mirth and the teasing look made Nathaniel want to spank him a few more times, but Nathaniel was still ecstatic to hear new information about Mango.