Chapter 6: Kidnapped

  The basement was like a prison cell, and I was curled up in a corner, frozen by the cold air all around me. I really didn't know how things had developed to this point, my cold sweat dried, and I kept feeling dizzy spells. I must have had a low fever, but compared to me, Chen Yan's situation was even worse.

  Discarded the stained overcoat, only the undergarment is left. Although this "spring" has already passed the cold winter, but the nighttime temperature is always not to one's liking.

  He also curled up like me.

  "I'm sorry... Yan 'Lu'. If I could have described and explained it well, we wouldn't have ended up like this..." I said, tears falling down like broken pearls.

  He heard this and walked over to hug me.

  A warm embrace made me temporarily forget my fear.

  He gently whispered in my ear: "Good boy, sleep for a while. We'll be out soon."

  I knew it was comforting me, but I still nodded obediently. Closing my eyes, in the endless darkness, I fell asleep drowsily.

  As long as he is by my side, I will not feel afraid. As long as Yan 'Lu' holds me, no matter how cold it is, I am not afraid. I think, I have become more and more dependent on him.

  The dimly lit dungeon cell, woke up again, had no idea what time it was.

  Yan 'Luo' said his phone was lost in the dormitory, I silently took out my own mobile phone, wanting to see what time it was. But as soon as the phone screen lit up for a few seconds, it showed that it had run out of power and automatically shut down.

  "You've only slept for a few dozen minutes." He said, biting his lip tightly.

  I touched his forehead and suddenly it was very hot, almost scalding!

  "You... have a rash! You have a fever?"

  I struggled free from his arms in terror, stood up and ran to the iron gate shouting: "Is anyone there? Someone! Linlu has a fever!"

  I wish someone would respond to me, but I was too naive. This is a prison, how could it be possible for others to help us at any time and place?

  I helped him onto the 'bed', took off my own jacket and covered him with it.

  I can still hold on for a while, unlike him, he's burning with fever.

  "I... I'm fine." He bit his lip tightly, his lips turning purple from being pressed together.

  I shook my head, and tears fell uncontrollably.

  It's all because I was too curious, if I didn't go on stage to check at that time. We wouldn't have been locked up in this kind of place either, it's something we never thought would happen in our lifetime. If not handled properly, this will be a stain on our lives.

  As I indulged in wild thoughts, the iron gate creaked open with a loud "clang", and out came that curvaceous female police officer from behind the door.

  She puffed on a cigarette and took a deep drag. "What's all the shouting about? What's wrong?"

  I ran over crying and begged for help: "Yan 'Lu' has a high fever, it's very severe..." Suddenly my knees felt like they had left half of my body and I knelt down straight. "Please, let us go, we are really innocent!"

  The female police officer gave me a cold look, but when she saw 'Lu', her expression clearly showed heartache. Hmph, this woman.

  She waved her hand impatiently and we followed her out. Chen Yan's 'Lu' was already burned to the point where he couldn't stand up, leaning on me as he walked out with a limp.

  Finally left the prison, it made me feel a lot more relaxed. I thought to myself, this lifetime I don't want to go back there again.

  The policewoman invited us into her office, she threw away the cigarette butt and lit a new one.

  A bespectacled man with a disheveled shirt ran over and asked what was going on.

  I stared at him blankly, and he adjusted his glasses, saying, "It's only been a few hours, and you can't sit still."

  I shook my head and said: "It's 'Luo'... My friend has a fever."

  A discontented grumble came from the doorway behind us, I saw the pointer on the wall was at half past eleven, and footsteps were rushing towards us.

  The uncle with a big belly leaned on his left eye and borrowed a cigarette from the female police officer without lighting it.

  "Your partner can leave, but you stay."

  "What?!" I stared at him incredulously, believing that my current expression was as ugly as it could get.

  The policewoman sneered a few times, put on her coat, and took the "Luyu" from my hand.

  He murmured dazedly, asking me not to leave him. In an instant, his heart was like a overturned bottle of five flavors. The distress is self-evident, but what can he do? It seems we have no human rights here.

  "You, get back quickly." The uncle with a big left eye waved at me, telling me to hurry back to prison.

  Watching him stumble out with an uneasy feeling, the bespectacled man came over to restrain me and took me back to my cell once again.

  A person passing by from across the street looked at me through the small opening of the iron gate, with an unkind gaze and a lustful expression.

  I felt a chill run from head to toe, but going back into that house again didn't make me feel much worse.

  Lying on a bed that was far from soft, I barely got through the night.

  During this period, I always wake up and can be said to have been in a state of subconscious sleep. When I think I've spent the whole night, my eyes are swollen like walnuts.

  What if... I can never get out of here?

  I want to sue, can't just stay here like this. What about my parents? Will they know that their 'daughter' is now stuck in prison? Ha, what a ridiculous question.

  Sitting dazed on the 'bed', letting time slip away.

  It wasn't long before, just as I was about to fall asleep again, the female police officer opened the iron door and said: "Come out, someone is bailing you out."

  I curiously followed her out, on a sunny and pleasant afternoon, as if reborn.

  Across from me stood Liu Ke hiding in the sunlight, he came over and grabbed my hand.

  I forced a smile and said it's nothing, don't worry about me.

  "Have something to eat."

  We sat down and he ordered a pizza.

  I don't have an appetite for food, thinking back to those scenes earlier, I'm so anxious that I don't know what to say.

  "No matter what happens, you have to take care of your stomach, otherwise how can you have the energy to think?" he comforted.

  I reluctantly picked up a slice of pizza and put it in my mouth. What I'm most worried about now is Chen Yan 'Lu', if he doesn't have a good body, how can we prove ourselves innocent.

  "Xiaomi, listen to me, don't get involved again."

  Liu Ke looked at me firmly.

  I shook my head, "I've already stepped in, I..."

  "You can't keep going on like this! That school has a different dimension killer!"

  I was stunned for a moment, "What is interdimensional murder?"

  He rubbed his forehead, "In other words, a dead person for no reason."

  I slammed my hand on the table, making me believe that this impossible thing absolutely cannot be allowed!

  "As an investigative student, how can you say something so shameful!"

  "What's wrong with losing face?"

  "Snap out of it! I believe in science!"

  I was tired of arguing and wanted to leave. He pulled me back, saying that since I didn't believe him, we might as well go and find out the truth.

  It was just what I thought, and I nodded in agreement. One sentence he said made my pupils shrink, he said, we are going to the underground library of our school!

  ……

  Back here again, I feel like fate has played a joke on me. It's as if I've been running in circles, thinking I've won, only to open my eyes and find myself back at the starting point.

  He Lisi removed the iron chain, I watched him climb in with ease and followed suit.

  He walked in front of me with his cat waist, and when we reached the fork in the road, I remembered that last time with Chen Yan 'Lu' chose the right side. But he didn't ask me, and took the initiative to go left!

  "What's on the left?"

  He held a flashlight in the darkness and 'felt' his way forward: "Database."

  There's a question I've been wanting to ask, but I don't know who to ask. Probably only the principal would know. But now that the principal is dead, this question has got me all tangled up and at a loss for what to do.

  Should I ask Liu Ke or not, I hesitated for a while and decided to ask him out.

  "Why is the database here?"

  We walked to the end, with only two doors. One less than the right side, he calmly pushed it open. As I recalled that terrible experience before, I weakly closed my eyes.

  He walked in and saw I wasn't following him. He turned around and looked at me shaking all over, shouting a sentence.

  I was forced to go in, this room is very large, like half a library.

  Row after row, neatly arranged and placed in order are file folders, document bags, books, and other things. All of them are used for recording purposes. Although the ground has a layer of dust, there are ventilation openings all around. This clever design left me speechless.

  "How can we find it when it's so big?" I asked.

  He held a flashlight and shuttled back and forth in the bookshelf. I don't know what he's looking for, I opened my mobile phone, and there was still zero signal here.

  All the way, I felt that Liu Ke's attitude towards me had changed a lot. What made him like this? I was puzzled and suddenly felt a chill, and "Luo" appeared at the "door". The distance was so far that I thought it was the management personnel who discovered us.

  Only saw Chen Yan's small figure in the morning, swaying back and forth. Walking past the first row of bookshelves, he shouted loudly at me: "Leave him! He is not Liu Ke!"

  I was shocked, what? Not Liu Ke... How is it possible, I clearly saw his face...

  Then his head was pressed against something and his hands were restrained by him.

  Pretending to be Liu Ke, he said coldly: "Don't wade in this water, it's too deep."

  Only this sentence was left, and then I felt a severe headache, and my eyes were bloodshot. Finally, the background that looked like Liu Ke's, holding an iron shovel, walked towards Qingmei Zhuoma without emotion. I couldn't hold on anymore. Fainted...

  I had a dream, during the summer vacation of my second year in junior high school. I and Chen Yan 'Lu' and Liu Ke decided to go on an adventure. In the end, we voted to choose the cave behind our house on the mountain. According to rumors from nearby neighbors, there were monsters inside, and many old people who went up the mountain never came back. So, adults were very taboo about children going up that mountain. It is said that this mountain was called "Cha Ma Shan" in ancient books, a place of great evil. Every year, the village would invite Feng Shui masters to calculate it, and those Feng Shui masters would ask for a lot of money, but every year they would only say to send a cow and a chicken up the mountain before autumn.

  So every year they take turns sending it in. After that, going up the mountain again, nothing happened anymore. Father said that the cow has a strong yang energy and was pressed over. Although I don't know if what he said is true or not.

  We set out very early, the fog was very heavy, I wore a mask. Liu Ke walked in front of me, Yan 'Lu' followed behind me.

  Three people climbed the mountain while watching the sun that had just risen.

  A piece of yellow rhyme, so beautiful it intoxicates the heart.

  Finally arrived at the top of the mountain, Yan 'Luo' was very mischievous, always walking quickly, and finally directly overtook Liu Ke from behind me.

  We were randomly pulling branches, looking for the entrance. Finally, they all heard a dull snorting sound from my side, and they all ran over.

  I was so scared, Liu Ke sneered and said: "You're like this and still dare to come on an adventure?"

  Pulling out withered branches and rotten leaves, I believe. What we saw were things that would be hard to forget for this lifetime... The cow's head had already been twisted off, and behind it was a pile of many cattle and human heads. 'Chicken' only left 'feathers', we didn't have time to dodge, an invisible force knocked Liu Ke out from beside me. Yan 'Lu' pulled me back as I ran, and never saw Liu Ke again...

  "Meow!" A loud roar, I was suddenly awakened from my sleep.

  The first glance at Chen Yan's face made me feel much more at ease.

  In the dimly lit basement, I felt a severe headache as if it was about to split open. The morning dew beside me helped me up. I saw his wrist had several painful-looking red marks from struggling free from the rope, and only then did I come back to my senses leaning on his shoulder.

  "Damn it, you're tied up so tightly!" He growled, like a leopard bursting with rage.

  Spent half a day and still couldn't figure it out, could only shake head and sit back down.

  "Don't even ask me, I have no idea where we are."

  I sat up with difficulty and looked around, it was a disgusting basement. Occasionally saw a few mice scurrying across from one side. Not far from us there was a staircase leading upwards, the wooden 'door' at the top of the stairs was tightly closed.

  Leng 'Luo' continued: "The door can't be opened, although it's old and worn out, but it still can't be knocked open."

  "Who is that person?"

  I asked, trying hard to recall, but the back of my head was throbbing with pain.

  "I don't know," he said, sitting down beside me and saying "Let me take a look at your wound."

  I obediently lay down, resting my head on his legs. His gentle hands parted the hair, pressing the temples while helping me check the wound.

  "Scar, unclear wound."

  "What did he bring us to the database for?"

  "I think he's already destroyed what we wanted to investigate," he said.

  "I asked: 'The first time we went there, that black shadow...'"

  "It's him!" Chen Yan said resolutely.

  I felt a chill on my back, and suddenly all the clues from the morning's investigation seemed to be revealing themselves, as if the truth was about to be revealed.