Chapter 27: 027 Situation Takes A Sharp Turn For The Worse
When getting in the car, Wang Heng already had a premonition.
That Mazda’s exterior was decent, but the interior was somewhat outdated, like it had been used for many years. Of course, obscure musicians have limited income, which is normal, but Brother Song’s words and actions really didn’t seem like those of a musician who could stick it out through tough times; instead, he seemed more like a boastful socialite.
Seeing the streets outside the window becoming increasingly desolate, Wang Heng noted every road sign in view, took out his mobile phone, and quietly sent a text message to Lu Qi:
【My friend and I might have run into a pyramid scheme, in a black car, just passed the West Ring Expressway. If I don’t send a new text by eight o’clock tonight, trouble Sister Lu to help call the police, okay?】
He set his mobile phone to silent mode and sent the license plate number of this black Mazda.
After a while, his mobile phone received a reply from Lu Qi: 【Not joking?】
Wang Heng sent another one: 【Of course. Sister Lu, don’t ask, and absolutely don’t send me any more messages; this phone might be taken by someone else soon. At exactly eight, if I haven’t sent you the next text, just call the police directly.】
After the text was sent and a while longer, confirming that Lu Qi had definitely received it, Wang Heng deleted all these texts.
Then Wang Heng noticed that Brother Song was probably taking a detour. The car made many turns, sometimes on main roads, but most of the time on small paths without even road signs. Before parking, there wasn’t a single road sign, making it impossible to figure out where this place was.
When getting out of the car, Pei Ningle was still clueless, but Wang Heng had already guessed what was going to happen next.
Brother Song brought this pair of young boys and girls into a rundown residential building, the ground floor room on the left.
This was a one bedroom, one living room small house, about only thirty or forty square meters. Both the decoration and furniture style were quite outdated, with many raised edges where the wooden floorboards met, and cracks on the walls. Even more shocking, aside from a bulky television, there seemed to be no other electronic devices.
“Put your stuff down and rest first; I’ll take you to eat dinner later.”
After saying that, Brother Song left, closing the door on his way out and locking this security door from the outside.
The footsteps outside the door quickly disappeared.
Pei Ningle grabbed the arm of the young man beside her and asked uneasily, “Don’t you feel like something’s off?”
Wang Heng took out his mobile phone and checked; there was no signal. Now it seemed Brother Song hadn’t taken their phones because this place had no signal… He judged it was due to a signal jammer.
The girl asked again, “The mobile phone has no signal?”
Wang Heng raised his index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture. Then, he began searching the room.
At a glance, there seemed to be no electronic devices here, but after a careful search, he found the camera and bug, all hidden in the corners of the television, sofa, or wall cracks. Without prior suspicion, it would be impossible to find them.
Looking at those tiny high-tech gadgets, Pei Ningle asked in a daze, “These… what are they?”
“Bug and pin-hole camera.”
“Ah?”
“If you don’t believe it, you can check them yourself.”
With that, Wang Heng stuffed those small things into Pei Ningle’s hands. The girl held a handful of miniature electronic devices, at a loss.
Then he added, “I think I’ve checked very carefully already, but it’s still hard to say if anything was missed. It’s possible that everything we’re discussing now can still be heard clearly by others.”
Pei Ningle’s little face turned pale: “Then what do we do… Are we imprisoned?”
“Of course.”
“But my family isn’t rich, so why…”
“Hard to say,” Wang Heng shrugged. “On the way here, I thought it was a pyramid scheme, but unexpectedly their plot is more direct. This situation clearly isn’t a pyramid scheme; it’s probably kidnapping.”
“Did you notice something wrong on the way here?”
“Yeah, my reaction was just a bit faster than yours.”
Pei Ningle moved her lips, not knowing what to say.
Wang Heng walked to the window side, opened the window. But it was no use—the outside the window had anti-theft bars; no one outside could climb in through the window, and he couldn’t climb out. Moreover, the area was too remote, with not a soul roadside.
Looking more closely, the opposite building’s outer wall had a big ‘Demolish’ character painted on it. This building was surely the same; the original residents must have all moved out.
“Very remote location, old building that’s about to be demolished soon, no residents, no pedestrians—truly an ideal kidnapping holding spot.” Wang Heng couldn’t help but sigh.
Pei Ningle came behind him, tugged his clothes corner, and asked, “You must have a way, right?”
Wang Heng turned around and asked back, “What way?”
“Since you saw Brother Song was off early, you must have a way!”
“Heh, you’re overthinking it. My way is to play it by ear. Originally, if Brother Song was running a pyramid scheme, that would be easy to handle. But now it’s clear he’s into riskier criminal activity, so I don’t have any good ways either.”
The girl still couldn’t believe it: “Really?”
Wang Heng spread his hands: “Of course. Now we can only wait. At least I feel that Brother Song shouldn’t tear up the ticket.”
Hearing the term ‘tear up the ticket’, Pei Ningle finally broke down. She plopped down on the ground, hugged her knees, and cried.
“Woo… I shouldn’t have believed him… Sorry, got you trapped too…”
Wang Heng squatted down, patted her slim shoulder, but didn’t try to comfort her. If he really wanted to comfort a girl, Wang Heng could think of more than one line, but he really didn’t want to brush favorability at such a critical moment. Exactly speaking, he didn’t want to brush favorability.
After sobbing for a bit, Pei Ningle suddenly realized a problem and lifted her face weakly: “Um, when can our mobile phones recover signal? If there’s signal, we could call the police…”
Wang Heng sneered: “Overthinking it; impossible to recover. Clearly they’ve made full preparation, which should include a mobile phone signal jammer. This kind of machine continuously sends trash signals, high-power coverage of mobile phone frequency bands, basically impossible to crack. And it can be placed next door or upstairs; we can’t reach it, but it ensures our signal is cut off.”
Pei Ningle was stunned: “How do you know?”
Wang Heng: “Simple, because it’s the only reasonable explanation.”
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