027 The Situation Takes a Turn for the Worse
Wang Heng had a premonition when he got in the car.
The Mazda’s exterior was acceptable, but the interior was a bit old, looking like it had been used for many years. Of course, it was normal for an unknown musician to have a limited income, but this Brother Song’s words and actions really didn’t seem like those of a musician who could persevere through hardship. Instead, he seemed more like a boastful socialite.
Watching the streets outside the car window become more and more desolate, Wang Heng memorized every road sign he could see, took out his phone, and quietly sent a text message to Lu Qi:
【My friend and I might have run into a pyramid scheme. We’re in a black car, just passed the West Ring Expressway. If I don’t send a new message by 8 p.m., could Sister Lu please help me call the police?】
He set his phone to silent mode and then sent the license plate number of the black Mazda.
After a while, he received a reply from Lu Qi: 【Are you kidding?】
Wang Heng sent another message: 【Of course not. Sister Lu, please don’t ask any more questions, and definitely don’t send me any more messages. This phone might be taken away later. At 8 p.m. sharp, if I haven’t sent you the next message, please just call the police directly.】
After a while, confirming that Lu Qi had definitely received this message, Wang Heng deleted all of them.
Then Wang Heng discovered that Brother Song was probably taking a detour. The car made many turns, sometimes on main roads, but most of the time on small roads without even road signs. In the period before they stopped, there were no road signs at all, making it impossible to figure out where they were.
When they got out of the car, Pei Ningle was still completely bewildered, but Wang Heng had already guessed what was going to happen next.
Brother Song led the young man and woman into a dilapidated residential building, to the unit on the left side of the ground floor.
It was a small one-bedroom apartment, about thirty to forty square meters in area. Both the decor and the furniture were quite old. The corners of the wooden floorboards were warped in many places, and there were cracks on the walls. Even more surprisingly, apart from a bulky television, there seemed to be no other electrical appliances.
“Put your things down and rest for a bit. I’ll take you to dinner later.”
With that, Brother Song left. When he went out, he not only closed the door but also locked the security door from the outside.
The footsteps outside quickly disappeared.
Pei Ningle pulled the young man’s arm beside her and asked uneasily, “Don’t you think something’s not right?”
Wang Heng took out his phone and glanced at it. There was no signal. It seemed now that the reason Brother Song hadn’t taken their phones was because there was no signal in this place… He judged that it must be the effect of a signal jammer.
The girl asked again, “My phone has no signal either?”
Wang Heng raised his index finger and made a shushing gesture in front of his mouth. Then, he began to search the room.
At a glance, there seemed to be no electronic devices here, but after a careful search, he found cameras and listening devices, all hidden in the corners of the TV, sofa, or in the cracks of the wall. If he hadn’t guessed beforehand, it would have been impossible to find them.
Looking at the small high-tech devices, Pei Ningle asked blankly, “What… are these?”
“Listening devices and pinhole cameras.”
“Huh?”
“If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself.”
With that, Wang Heng stuffed the small things into Pei Ningle’s hands. The girl held a handful of micro-electronic devices, at a loss.
Then he added, “I think I’ve checked very carefully just now, but it’s still hard to say if I missed any. It’s possible that everything we’re discussing right now is still being heard clearly by others.”
Pei Ningle’s face turned pale. “Then what do we do… Are we being held captive?”
“Of course.”
“But my family isn’t rich. Why…”
“That’s hard to say,” Wang Heng shrugged. “On the way here, I thought it was a pyramid scheme, but I didn’t expect their intentions to be more direct. This situation is obviously not a pyramid scheme. It’s probably a kidnapping.”
“You already noticed something was wrong on the way here?”
“Yeah, I’m a little quicker on the uptake than you.”
Pei Ningle’s lips moved, but she didn’t know what to say.
Wang Heng walked to the window and opened it. However, it was completely useless. There were security bars on the outside of the window. People from the outside couldn’t climb in, and he couldn’t climb out. Moreover, the vicinity was too remote; there wasn’t a single person on the road.
Looking more closely, he saw a large character for ‘demolish’ painted on the outer wall of the building opposite. This building was probably the same. The original residents must have all moved out.
“A very remote location, an old building that will be demolished soon, no residents, no pedestrians. It’s really an excellent place for a kidnapping,” Wang Heng couldn’t help but lament.
Pei Ningle came up behind him, tugged at the corner of his shirt, and asked, “You must have a plan, right?”
Wang Heng turned around and retorted, “What plan?”
“Since you saw that Brother Song was up to no good long ago, you must have a plan!”
“Heh, you’re overthinking it. My plan is to act according to the circumstances. Originally, if Brother Song was running a pyramid scheme, it would have been easy to handle. But now it’s obvious he’s playing a much riskier criminal game, so I don’t have any good ideas either.”
The girl still couldn’t quite believe it. “Really?”
Wang Heng spread his hands. “Of course. All we can do now is wait. At least, I feel that Brother Song probably won’t kill us.”
Hearing the words ‘kill us’, Pei Ningle finally broke down. She sat on the floor, hugged her knees, and started to cry.
“Wuu… I shouldn’t have believed him… I’m sorry, I got you trapped too…”
Wang Heng squatted down and patted her small, thin shoulder, but he didn’t try to comfort her. If he really wanted to comfort a girl, Wang Heng could think of more than one line with a little effort, but he really didn’t want to gain affection points at such a critical moment. To be precise, he didn’t want to gain affection points at all.
After sobbing for a while, Pei Ningle suddenly realized a problem. She looked up and said weakly, “Um, when will our phones get a signal again? If there’s a signal, can we call the police…”
Wang Heng sneered, “You’re overthinking it. It’s impossible. It’s obvious they’ve made ample preparations, which should include a cell phone signal jammer. This kind of machine usually continuously sends out junk signals, covering the frequency bands used by mobile phones with high power. It’s basically impossible to crack. And as long as it’s placed next door or upstairs, we can’t reach it, and it’s guaranteed to cut off our signal.”
Pei Ningle was stunned. “How do you know that?”
Wang Heng: “It’s simple. Because this is the only reasonable explanation.”
