Chapter 34: What? The Steamed Bun Stall Owner Was Taken Away Too?

The street vendors who often set up stalls at the entrance of Third Middle School stared wide-eyed in astonishment as crowds once again formed long lines in front of Lu Xingzhou’s food cart.

This made them deeply suspicious—could it be that steamed buns were now more in vogue?

But this time, it wasn’t students lining up; it was Lu Xingzhou’s livestream fans.

“Four each! Only four per person! Please line up properly so everyone gets some!”

Every fan, the moment they received their buns, no matter how hot, devoured them in one bite, followed by endless praise for Lu Xingzhou.

“Streamer, your skills are amazing! You could easily make thousands selling buns on livestream all day!”

“Streamer, will you be out here again tomorrow? I’m definitely coming back for these buns!”

“Streamer, are you interested in opening a chain? I’ll invest in you; your buns are just too delicious!”

“Streamer, I want to play basket… no, I want to make buns.”

Lu Xingzhou responded only with short, automatic voice replies—“Thank you," "Only today," "No interest," "No apprentices!”

He had prepared buns all day, thinking it would be enough, but seeing the long queue, he felt a bit anxious. Too many people—it was doubtful the buns in hand would suffice.

At some point, the fans took the wooden tongs from Lu Xingzhou’s hands to pick buns themselves and never returned them.

Those behind thought this was the rule, so one by one they began to select, pick, pay for buns, then took photos with Lu Xingzhou standing idly by.

The bun stall became an unmanned shop.

Lu Xingzhou had become a mere fixture at the school gate.

Of course, some dishonest fans tried to grab extra buns, but they were immediately shouted down by others in line and had to sheepishly step back.

The small vendors, who usually had few sales at this hour, watched the surging crowds at Lu Xingzhou’s stall with envy, then quickly packed up to go home and prepare fish-flavored shredded pork buns and mushroom-beef buns, planning to compete for Lu Xingzhou’s business tomorrow.

Six drug dealers crouched in a corner, endlessly puffing on cigarettes.

“Damn, how come a bun stall at a school gate has so many customers!”

“Because they’re delicious. Aren’t we here for the buns too?”

“Ha! Brother Jie! Ha! I… I can’t hold back anymore, just let me have one bite, just one bite!”

Erhu threw his cigarette butt aside and tried to rush forward, but his brothers quickly pulled him back.

“This guy’s hooked on the buns! Stop him! If he rushes the crowd, he’ll definitely get caught!”

“Hurry! Give him a shot of flunitrazepam and knock him out!”

The dealers hurriedly pulled out a syringe, broke the ampoule of flunitrazepam with one hand, drew the liquid, and plunged it into Erhu’s thigh.

Within moments, Erhu’s eyes glazed over and he collapsed into a deep sleep.

The others exhaled in relief.

“What now, Brother Jie? We definitely can’t get buns today. What do we do?”

Jie kept his head down, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, coldly gleaming in his eyes. “Same old plan—wait until the street is empty, then kidnap the guy, and after we get tired of eating buns, we’ll deal with him.

When we do it, watch the cameras and avoid the police.”

The dealers exchanged glances and nodded.

More frighteningly, none of them objected with a “That’s not right, it’s just to buy a bun, we can come back tomorrow.”

To this group of ruthless drug dealers, kidnapping and killing someone was easier than simply waiting to buy buns the next day.

This was what true evil without reason looked like.

At eleven o’clock that night, after sending off the last batch of fans, the shops on the street were closed, the students had gone home an hour earlier, leaving only the streetlights flickering dimly through dense leaves.

“Boss, any buns left?”

Da Bei stepped out from the shadows.

Lu Xingzhou looked up and recognized the tattooed young man who had threatened him but then patiently queued.

“No more. I’m closing up… wahhh!”

Just as Lu Xingzhou’s attention focused on Da Bei, darkness suddenly overwhelmed him, the surroundings felt suffocating, and a foul stench hit his face.

“Ugh! Who put a urea bag over my head?”

The drug gang worked in perfect coordination—one distracted Lu Xingzhou, another slipped the urea bag over his head, two tied him up, and the last one brought the van.

From the moment the bag was secured to Lu Xingzhou’s head to the van pulling up, the door opening, throwing him inside, and speeding away—it all happened in under five seconds.

What the gang did not realize was that a young couple hiding in the opposite tree shadows had witnessed the entire scene.

They had originally come back to ask Lu Xingzhou for an autograph but ended up seeing this.

The girl, looking a bit dazed, turned to her boyfriend. “This isn’t right, is it? No buns and they just pack up the cook?”

Her boyfriend quickly pulled out his phone and dialed emergency services. “Someone’s kidnapped the cook!”

“Hello, this is the 110 emergency center. What’s your problem?”

“Bad news! Someone just kidnapped the cook!”

The girl pinched her boyfriend. “What do you mean kidnapped the cook?”

“Yeah! At the Third Middle School gate—the bun stall owner was taken! We saw it with our own eyes!”

Indeed, people with different mindsets just can’t see eye to eye.

Meanwhile, inside the van, Lu Xingzhou made no rash moves.

His head was covered, arms bound—he couldn’t break free instantly, and he wasn’t sure how many kidnappers there were.

His best option was to quietly gather information and find a chance to call for help.

“Gentlemen, may I ask why you’ve tied me up? I’m just a bun seller.”

Lu Xingzhou threw out this clear fact, trying to gauge their intentions. Were the drugs he’d found—the 99% pure bricks—connected to them? If so, why so brazenly retaliate against him?

Drug dealers in this country weren’t supposed to be this reckless.

These weren’t ordinary dealers; heavy measures were needed—Sabretooth was useless now, the ZBL-08 had to be deployed.

Brother Jie spoke beside him: “Boss, don’t worry. We just caught you to make buns.”

Lu Xingzhou fell silent, internally raging: ‘Damn, these people must have escaped from a mental hospital! Or they’re drugged out and lost their minds! Who kidnaps a cook just for a meal of buns?’

But gradually, he realized something was off.

After Brother Jie’s words, no one else objected or mocked him.

From the perspective of a rational mind, this was abnormal—completely abnormal.

Lu Xingzhou’s silence deepened: ‘Could it be that I’ve really been kidnapped by a bunch of lunatics?’

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