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Bonus chapter! Thank you to asdf for the donation! ^^
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The construction site was located in a bustling area. To prevent the construction work from disturbing the outside world, a tall wall had been built around the site, completely enclosing it and isolating everything within from the outside.
At this moment, the construction site seemed different from usual, carrying a faint sense of danger, so oppressive that it felt hard to breathe.
Ruan Qing hid in a dark corner, his fair forehead beaded with sweat from tension and fear. His pale fingers instinctively gripped his phone tightly.
Because of an earlier incident involving pulling on electrical wires, Ruan Qing’s palms were already injured. Now, gripping the phone so tightly caused his hands to ache and flush with blood, even trembling slightly.
But Ruan Qing couldn’t afford to care about the pain right now. His full attention was on the sounds coming from outside.
For reasons unknown, the construction site was now strictly off-limits. Unless someone could scale the towering walls, there was no way out.
Ruan Qing glanced back at the wall behind him and realized he had no chance of escape. His only hope now was for someone to come and rescue him.
He was hiding in a corner where the wall met at an angle. Behind him was the tall wall, and in front of him, construction materials provided cover, making it hard for others to spot him.
However, this also made it difficult for him to observe what was happening outside.
Even so, his hearing seemed to work well. Though he couldn’t see what was going on, he could vaguely make out the sounds and discern what was happening.
It wasn’t clear what those five people had said to the other workers, but the entire construction site had gone into lockdown. The workers had temporarily stopped their tasks and were moving in and out of the site, searching for something.
There was no need to guess—they were definitely looking for him.
This construction site wasn’t just one building but a newly developed residential complex, covering a considerable area. With the site cluttered with materials, finding someone in hiding wasn’t an easy task.
Yet the workers didn’t give up, meticulously checking every corner of the site and even moving materials that could potentially conceal someone.
It was only a matter of time before he was found.
Ruan Qing was well aware of this, but he felt utterly powerless. He couldn’t scale the tall walls, nor could he sneak out of the site under these circumstances.
Moreover, because of his physique and appearance, it was impossible for him to blend in with the workers and disguise himself as one of them.
Ruan Qing nervously pressed his lips together. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t escape; he just had to wait for someone to come and save him.
But he had forgotten the emergency number, and the only person he could contact hadn’t answered their phone. There was no telling when—or if—they would notice his message.
It was not wise to pin all hope on one person. Taking advantage of the fact that the workers hadn’t searched his side yet, Ruan Qing once again opened his phone.
The internet connection at the construction site was terrible. Ruan Qing couldn’t even load a webpage to find the police hotline. In the end, he could only open his phone’s contact list.
His contact list was extremely simple—besides the number labeled "Dad," there were only two or three other contacts, each marked with a name.
Ruan Qing had no recollection of these names and couldn’t determine who might be able to help him. He could only send a cry for help to all of them.
When Ruan Qing sent the messages, he didn’t just ask for rescue; he also asked them to call the police for him.
Casual acquaintances might not risk danger to save him, but most people wouldn’t mind calling the police. It didn’t matter if no one came to rescue him; as long as someone reported the incident, it would be enough.
After sending the texts, Ruan Qing turned off his phone and silently listened to the noises coming from outside.
The workers conducting the search were getting closer. In about ten minutes, they would likely reach his side.
Ruan Qing’s eyelashes trembled slightly, his pale fingers curling a little as he considered whether seeking help from the workers was a viable option.
He stood out among the workers and didn’t belong to the construction site. It would be easy for anyone to see that he had been abducted.
However, since those five people dared to enlist the help of the workers, they had probably already warned them in advance.
Preconceived notions could be fatal, making it nearly impossible for the workers to believe him.
As Ruan Qing hesitated, familiar footsteps suddenly sounded outside. It was a sound he had heard frequently while in the basement—the footsteps of the man who had forced him to take medicine.
Ruan Qing froze completely, his heart clenching with fear. He shrank further into the corner, not daring to move. Even his breathing instinctively grew lighter.
***
At that moment, Zhou Jinchen radiated an aura of terrifying danger. As he searched for Ruan Qing, he struggled to remain calm.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t suppress the panic and fear rising in his chest. Nor could he erase the terrifying image he had just seen: a man collapsed on the floor of the basement, and the boy's figure nowhere in sight.
When Zhou Jinchen saw the scene in the basement, his mind went blank. Even his usually steady hands trembled uncontrollably.
Even now, his thoughts were consumed by unfamiliar emotions, leaving him utterly overwhelmed.
He was filled with fear and dread.
Dread that something had happened to the boy, dread that the boy might have died in some corner, dread that what he would find… was the boy’s lifeless body.
No, that couldn’t be. The boy should still be safe.
If something truly had happened to him, then the one lying in the basement should have been him.
Judging from the traces left in the basement, the boy must have knocked out that damned scum and then left.
The construction site’s entry and exit points were always closely monitored. If it wasn’t a shift-changing work crew, workers not on the site’s list wouldn’t be able to come and go freely.
Although the site’s perimeter wall wasn’t ridiculously high, it was still likely too much for the boy to climb over. That meant he should still be somewhere inside the site.
Zhou Jinchen suppressed the panic in his heart and carefully searched every corner where someone could possibly hide, slowly making his way toward the farthest recesses of the site.
The construction site was massive. Even with all the workers helping out, there were bound to be places overlooked during the search.
Ruan Qing, hearing the increasingly close sounds of movement, felt his heartbeat nearly stop. He silently prayed that the man wouldn’t find his hiding spot.
It seemed Ruan Qing’s prayers were answered. The man, who had been heading in his direction, suddenly appeared to be called away. The footsteps stopped just short of his position, then grew increasingly distant until they could no longer be heard.
The man seemed to have left.
What’s more, since he had been searching this area, the other workers had changed course to search elsewhere.
For the moment, Ruan Qing was safe.
He let out a small sigh of relief, only to realize that his fear and tension had made his head start throbbing again. Even the palms of his hands were burning with pain.
Loosening his grip slightly, he silently lowered his gaze to look at his hands.
He didn’t seem to have done much hard labor before. Even the skin on his palms was unusually delicate. Due to the force he had exerted pulling on electrical wires earlier, parts of his hands were now raw and torn.
The blood-red patches looked both frightening and excruciating.
As Ruan Qing lightly pressed his lips together, his slender, pale fingers curling slightly, a low, familiar male voice rang out from the wall behind him.
“Does it hurt?”
*panic*
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