Chapter 183: Ten Minutes, I'll Give You Only Ten Minutes

Levi did not drop her off at the subway station; instead, he drove her all the way to the airport.

After getting into the car, Levi learned that she was headed for the airport. Therefore, when Lin Xi tried to get him to stop as they passed the subway station, he simply kept driving.

"Weren't you going to the airport? I drive much faster than the subway."

"Don't worry, don't worry. The hail was quite heavy back there, but it gets lighter the further ahead we go."

"See? What did I tell you? There's no hail here at all, just heavy rain."

When they arrived, Levi handed her an umbrella as she stepped out of the car. Lin Xi didn't take it; she thanked him briefly and hurried into the airport terminal.

Levi awkwardly withdrew his hand and sighed with resignation, "Who on earth is she going to see?"

Because the rain was pouring too hard, Levi decided not to leave just yet. He parked his car haphazardly and followed her inside to see what was going on.

Just past the security checkpoint, he spotted Lin Xi.

She was asking the staff about flight information.

Due to grounded flights, the entire airport was currently packed to capacity, and the staff were overwhelmed.

"Please wait a moment, we need to verify your information."

No matter how Lin Xi asked, the staff gave her the exact same response.

Lin Xi was not someone prone to losing her temper, but her emotions were fluctuating right now, and she felt a faint sense of panic rising within her. Ultimately, remembering she needed to maintain her composure in public, she chose to speak patiently.

Levi stood aside and watched for a moment, then grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

"Stop asking. Look at how busy they are—who knows how long you'd have to wait for an answer?"

"Here, let's go find him ourselves."

"..." Lin Xi froze. "Do you have any idea how huge this airport is?"

"Don't we have a target?" From her conversation with the staff just now, Levi had caught some key details. "Look, let's go to the lounge first."

"If he hasn't boarded, he should be in the lounge right now."

"We'll look for him there."

"There are many VIP lounges here." Lin Xi had flown through this airport many times.

Levi glanced around and finally asked, "Is he taking a private jet?"

That was the part Lin Xi wasn't certain about.

"He should be."

"Let's go. Follow me!" Without another word, Levi grabbed her hand and ran forward.

***

"We need to make a broadcast announcement to find someone."

Before the staff could say anything, Levi pushed Lin Xi forward through the door. "Go ahead."

Just as a staff member rushed to stop her, Levi grabbed him, pulled him outside, and quickly subdued him.

"Calm down, my friend, we really need to find someone."

"...Then why are you dragging me?"

"Then why were you trying to stop her?"

"Who said I was stopping her? She doesn't know how to operate the equipment, I was going over to help."

"..." Levi immediately let go, raised his hands high, and apologized with a grin, "Sorry, my bad."

The staff member went inside. Instead of letting Lin Xi do it herself, he asked her for the basic details and started the broadcast.

"Pardon the interruption, ladies and gentlemen, we have an announcement to make. Mr. Qin Yu, passenger on this afternoon's four-thirty flight to Heathrow Airport, please proceed to the first-floor broadcasting room upon hearing this announcement."

"Repeating, please take this afternoon—"

Being a foreigner, his pronunciation of Qin Yu's name had a distinct, awkward accent.

Levi looked at Lin Xi in bewilderment: "Whose name is he even shouting?"

As a foreigner himself, he could barely understand it.

"Let me." Lin Xi stepped forward. "Excuse me, could you let me do it?"

The staff member didn't quite understand and was rather pleased with his own pronunciation.

Levi pulled him aside and whispered, "Your pronunciation is terrible."

"Impossible! I just got back from China last month!" Refusing to admit defeat, he rattled off a tongue-twister.

Levi gave him a side-eye, then recited a passage in authentic, standard Mandarin.

"Man, this is how it's done."

"..."

The two foreigners refused to yield to each other, starting a battle of Chinese proficiency right in front of Lin Xi.

Giving herself a headache from their bickering, Lin Xi took a deep breath, pressed the equipment button, and broadcasted again.

"Pardon the interruption, ladies and gentlemen, we are now inserting a brief search announcement." After speaking in English, Lin Xi switched back to Chinese. "Mr. Qin Yu, passenger on this afternoon's four-thirty private flight to Heathrow Airport, please proceed to the first-floor broadcasting room upon hearing this broadcast."

She then quickly repeated it once more.

Aside from the sound of her own heartbeat, Lin Xi could no longer hear anything else.

She had no idea that her hand gripping the microphone was trembling.

After two seconds of silence, Lin Xi suddenly clenched her fist and raised her voice, "Qin Yu. First-floor broadcasting room! Ten minutes, I am giving you only ten minutes!"

"If I don't see you after ten minutes, we won't ever need to see each other again for the rest of our lives."

With that, she reached out and turned off the equipment with a fluid, effortless motion.

"..." Levi and the staff member were startled by her voice, freezing in place.

The two of them instinctively kept quiet, silently watching as Lin Xi walked over to a nearby sofa and sat down.

The staff member asked, "Your friend... is she okay?"

Over by the sofa, Lin Xi sat in the corner with her head bowed. Having suddenly fallen completely silent, she left Levi momentarily unable to read her.

In his memory, Lin Xi had always been a quiet presence. She never argued or fought, and always preferred to stay alone in the laboratory, quietly exploring and tinkering.

She didn't like interacting with people, and when others tried to strike up a conversation, she would be extremely perfunctory. That was simply how Lin Xi was when he first met her.

She seemed to be just a sophomore back then.

Clearly, she had been at the school for over a year, yet she didn't have a single friend around her—she didn't even have anyone to eat or chat with.

At first, he thought someone was ostracizing Lin Xi, but later he realized that while such cases did exist, it felt more like Lin Xi was actively ostracizing everyone else.

Thinking the girl was quite interesting, he took the initiative to be her friend.

She didn't agree, but he didn't leave either. Later, they joined the same club and shared the same advisor, so their interactions naturally increased.

Even after they became close, however, Lin Xi never appeared particularly enthusiastic or lively.

She remained as gloomy as ever.

He had been very fond of a Chinese movie at the time and felt that Lin Xi looked exactly like the female lead in a cheongsam.

She seemed aloof, but spending time with her revealed her merits. She never spoke loudly, was extremely polite, and simply gave off a very proper aura.

Like a young lady walked right out of a Republican-era film.

He had truly never seen Lin Xi lose her temper. In fact, throughout all the years they had known each other, her emotional stability was eerily, almost terrifyingly consistent.

Among everyone he knew, Lin Xi was unquestionably the most emotionally stable.

After all, among young people today, going crazy was the norm.

In the end, Levi decided not to disturb Lin Xi, leaving her time to process her emotions on her own.

Meanwhile, in the second-floor VIP lounge.

Due to the weather, Qin Yu had not boarded the plane, and his meeting had been switched to an online format.

Wearing his headset, he was deeply focused on a video conference with the senior executives of the opposing conglomerate.

Suddenly, his assistant tapped his shoulder, signaling him to take off his headset—