***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to asdf for the donation! ^^
***
After the others had left, Ruan Qing wanted to spit out the medicine, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do it. Instead, his dry heaving only made his headache worse.
Ruan Qing wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes from retching, then weakly leaned against the wall and slid to the floor.
That medicine was definitely not for treating ordinary illnesses. Although he had no memory, when the medicinal taste dissolved in his mouth, a word inexplicably surfaced in his mind:
Suppression.
The medicine seemed to have a strong suppressive effect, as if it was suppressing something within his body.
His amnesia might even have been caused by that medicine.
This group of people was far too suspicious. They didn’t allow him to refuse the medicine, nor did they allow him to leave this room. No matter how he tried to act pitiful or play coy to test them, the five of them showed no intention of letting him leave.
In fact… the way they looked at him was becoming increasingly unsettling.
That seemingly gentle man was definitely not his lover; he was in cahoots with the other four.
He couldn’t stay here any longer.
It seemed that group had something to do, likely leaving this place soon. That made now the best opportunity for him to escape.
Ruan Qing propped himself up against the wall and stood, heading to the door once again to see if he could push it open.
He couldn’t.
The door was still locked.
And the lock was on the outside, completely out of reach from the inside. After a few futile attempts, Ruan Qing gave up and instead grabbed at the cord of a space heater on the floor.
The cord was one of those thick industrial cables, covered in insulating material. Tugging at it wouldn’t cause any accidents.
Ruan Qing had previously inspected this room; aside from the door, there was no other way out.
If he couldn’t open it from the inside, he’d have to get it opened from the outside, and this cord might be his best chance.
Though the basement was cold and silent, Ruan Qing had already noticed occasional sounds coming from outside—clearly the sounds of construction.
There were people outside, possibly a lot of them.
So if he could drag the cord and create enough commotion to attract attention, there was a chance he could be rescued.
However, the cable was much heavier than he had imagined. Even though he used all his strength, he only managed to move it slightly, not nearly enough to attract anyone’s attention. Meanwhile, his palms were already starting to sting with pain.
Ruan Qing put down the electrical cable, glancing at his reddened palms. He tried hard to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes due to the physical pain.
There was no time for Ruan Qing to wait for the pain to subside. Instead, his gaze shifted immediately to the makeshift bed. He grabbed the work clothes left behind by the man on the bed and wrapped them around the cable before pulling again.
Pulling the cable barehanded was excruciating, and though wrapping it in fabric helped somewhat, it still hurt enough to make Ruan Qing's eyes brim with tears, making him look incredibly fragile.
The viewers in the livestream felt their hearts clench as they watched, unable to hold back their reactions.
[Sweetheart, does this cable really have to be pulled? You're not just pulling a cable; you're pulling at my soul!]
[It looks so, so painful. Let me blow on it for you—there, there!]
[I don’t even understand what my darling is trying to do, but I wish I could dive into the screen and pull the cable for you, waahhh!]
However, Ruan Qing didn’t let go. He gritted his teeth and kept pulling the cable, no matter how much his palms hurt.
Electrical cables always have a source. If his guess about the construction site was correct, there wouldn’t be just one isolated power source.
In other words, as long as he pulled hard enough, there was a high chance someone else would notice.
***
And indeed, things unfolded just as Ruan Qing had predicted. The cables at the construction site were interconnected, so it was impossible for any power source to exist independently.
Even though the individuals who had set this up tried to use the least noticeable power source, it was still connected to the others at the site. It just so happened that the shared load was lighter, so ordinarily, no one would pay attention to it—unless it disrupted power for other workers.
One slightly chubby worker was focused on welding when the cable suddenly moved. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him because of the welding sparks.
He closed his eyes to adjust his focus, but the cable kept moving.
The power strip had three cables plugged in: one for his welding machine, another for nearby machinery, and a third one that stretched far away, making it unclear what it was connected to.
Now, the power strip was slowly being dragged in the direction of the unknown cable, shortening the distance to the chubby worker’s setup.
The chubby worker’s temper flared at the sight. He slammed down his welding tools and stormed off in the direction of the moving cable, fuming.
He was determined to find out which idiot was yanking on the cable and causing trouble.
The slightly chubby worker continued walking, but something increasingly felt off. The direction in which the electrical wires were being pulled seemed unusually far, leading toward an isolated corner.
As the wires were being pulled, they suddenly stopped moving, as if the whole thing had been an illusion.
The slightly chubby worker hesitated for a moment while staring at the now motionless wires. Ultimately, his curiosity got the better of him, and he cautiously followed the direction of the wires.
A basement?
Standing at the entrance to the basement, the worker furrowed his brow. Strange. Did the basement really need electricity?
It wouldn’t be odd for the basement to require power, but what was even stranger was that the basement had a door installed.
This building wasn’t fully completed yet. The entire structure hadn’t even begun interior renovations, so doors and windows hadn’t been installed anywhere.
And yet, this basement had a door, complete with a lock.
Highly suspicious.
The slightly chubby worker tugged at the iron chain and lock on the door, confirming that it was indeed locked.
Even with his burning curiosity, the worker didn’t plan to grab tools to pry the door open. Instead, he turned to leave.
But just as he turned, a soft voice came from behind the door. It was timid and filled with unease and fear. “Uh… is someone out there?”
The slightly chubby worker was completely shocked. He whipped around to face the basement door. There was someone inside!?
For a moment, he thought he might have been hearing things. However, the voice came again from behind the door, “I… I was kidnapped.”
A quiet, pleading voice spoke from inside the basement. “Could you help me?”
What had seemed like a hallucination was now clearly real—there was indeed someone locked in the basement.
“Wait… wait a moment,” the worker stammered nervously as he stepped closer and yanked on the lock again, trying to open it and free the person inside.
Hearing that the man was willing to help, the voice inside relaxed slightly. In a soft voice, it responded, “Alright.”
The lock was tightly jammed. The worker struggled with it for half a minute, but it wouldn’t budge. Fortunately, tools were never in short supply on a construction site.
“I’ll go grab some tools. Just wait a moment,” the worker said toward the door.
Although the person inside, Ruan Qing, was anxious, he responded softly, “Okay,” and waited for the worker to return.
He's so smart even without his memories (╥﹏╥)
ReplyDeleteShit be careful!
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