The allure of the gem was far greater than the ransom.
The greed of the kidnappers overcame their reason, and they began to plot to rob the gem. They coerced and enticed, hoping to pry the location of the villa from Jiang BaiYan's mouth.
Jiang BaiYan was very careful, not daring to say nothing, but also not wanting to spill everything all at once. He pretended to try to remember, "I don't know, my dad has many villas... He said that to protect the gem, he had someone specially renovate one."
This was a clear clue. The kidnappers decided to investigate the villas under the chairman's name to see which one had been recently renovated by someone.
And the time they spent investigating would be the chance he dragged out.
At night, he turned on his phone and told J the news.
J praised him--
Well done--
I'm very obedient, don't abandon me--
I won't leave you, don't give up either--
Okay--
How many of them are there? When are there the fewest, how many stay to guard you?--
6, at least 2 stay--
Don't let them take you away. Try to figure out the layout of the room as much as possible, wait for news--
How long do I have to wait?--
Remember my story? Before the ending, you will definitely be saved--
I believe you, don't trick me--
I won't trick you. Have you guessed the kitten's name yet?--
Pudding--
Amazing! You guessed right, Pudding is the cutest kitty in the world
Holding the phone, he couldn't help but reveal a smile.
Just like before, after a while, a new chocolate rolled in. Not only was there a sticker with a drawing of Pudding, but also the continuation of the new story.
This time, she wrote about the origin of the stolen gem, and put great effort into describing the structure and terrain of the villa, as if anyone could be a suspect.
At the end of the story, she asked: Of the three suspects, who is most likely to have stolen the gem?
Jiang BaiYan didn't want to disappoint her expectations.
During the day, he tried his best to please the kidnappers, voluntarily helping them pour water and fetch things, taking the chance to familiarize himself with the environment. At night, he tried his best to deduce the culprit, looking forward to when the phone would turn on--
Have you guessed who the thief is?--
No, I'm too stupid to guess, I'm sorry--
No need to apologize, you're not stupid--
But I can't figure it out, you must be very disappointed--
Not at all, because none of those three people are the thief--
Really?--
Of course, I won't lie to you
She sent the new continuation of the story. Indeed it was none of the three suspects, but instead the grocery store owner suddenly became suspicious.
At the end, she asked again: The warm and kind grocery store owner was arrested, was he the one who stole the gem?
Jiang BaiYan hoped he wasn't.
And so he really wasn't the culprit. When the owner's child was crying, he encountered a white kitten falling from the sky, and she promised to help him find the truth.
And at this time, the kidnappers had already determined the villa's location, and started figuring out how to rob it.
Jiang BaiYan mercilessly sold out his father: "My dad's senior secretary should be able to get in."
Note that the kidnappers were desperate criminals, not Jiang Yang thieves, too lazy to bother investigating the security system. Their plan was simple and crude, but very effective--directly kidnap the senior secretary.
Kidnapping one was kidnapping, kidnapping two was also kidnapping.
And this time it was even simpler.
They gave a final ultimatum, demanding that the chairman himself come to deliver the ransom, while also having the senior secretary prepare a car and go to a certain place.
This way, even if the police were called, the police force would first prioritize protecting the chairman's safety.
And the kidnappers would split into two groups, two people luring the tiger from the mountain, pretending to go collect the ransom, while the other three kidnapped the senior secretary to rob the villa.
The last person stayed behind, watching over Jiang BaiYan the hostage--in case of any accidents, he could still take him hostage to escape.
This was also Jiang BaiYan's only chance to escape--
I will distract them, when you hear the whistle, find a way to escape--
Can I really?--Maybe they'll run away after robbing the gem--
Before that they'll kill you, you've seen their faces--
What if I can't escape?--
No problem, you're already very familiar with this place--
They'll lock me in the room before leaving--
When you hear me blow one long and one short whistle, find a way to get into the bathroom. There's a window in the bathroom, right?--
Yeah--
The bathroom is on the second floor. He won't be too worried, at most he'll lock you in the bathroom, then, you just use the method I gave you to climb down from the window--
It's too high, I can't do it--
Didn't I give you a rope? Tie one end to the door, wrap the other end around your waist, winding around one leg, climb while letting the rope out slowly, no problem, take a good look at the diagram I drew for you--
Okay, I'll do as you said--
When you hear three short whistles, come down, understand?--
Understood
The days Jiang BaiYan spent with the kidnappers, he behaved extremely well, never thinking about escaping. And the kidnappers never noticed the air vent in the room either.
The window was so small, and more than 2 meters off the ground. A primary school student in an empty room, no matter what, could not possibly climb out.
They couldn't have imagined even in their dreams that the rented house they were in was next to another residential complex, and the third floor unit at the edge of the complex belonged to a middle school girl who wrote mystery novels.
She was unfortunately struck down by the early spring flu, recuperating at home, bored out of her mind, and started peering around with binoculars.
This allowed her to discover something off.
The individual houses next door were mostly self-built, some two stories, some three stories, mostly rented out to migrant workers. Therefore, while there was a relatively high resident turnover rate, there was one thing they all had in common--everyone left early and returned late.
However, the family living next door to her was truly bizarre.
A total of 6 adult males, every time they went out it was in pairs, the rest stayed home for long periods.
If they didn't go out to work, where did they get their money?
She became curious and observed them continuously for two days. She discovered these people didn't cook for themselves, but had someone go out to buy fast food every meal time.
Suspicious, definitely suspicious.
She looked from several different angles with her binoculars, peering at the room across from her, and finally caught a glimpse of a child. He was timid, very short, ordered around, but his uniform was a very Western style.
As a middle schooler herself, she immediately realized this was not the uniform of any public school.
It should be the kind only private schools have.
But private school tuition is expensive, definitely not something migrant workers could afford. Adding on that the past few school days, she never saw the child leave the house, she boldly guessed that he had been kidnapped.
Using a slingshot, she successfully delivered a message, confirming her reasoning.
But the rescue was not so easy.
She considered calling the police, but regrettably, the estimated success rate was too low.
No one would believe a child's words. Even if they did, at most two people would be sent to the door to check things out. It was very possible the family would fool them and get away with it. Alarmed for nothing, with six tall, strong men, it would be easy for them to counterattack and kill everyone. Then, once they escaped, the hostage's safety would be at risk.
If they were unlucky, investigating and finding out she was the one who called the police, perhaps her whole family would suffer retaliation.
Due to various concerns, she decided to give up on arresting the criminals, and only focus on rescuing the person.
Luckily, the plan went smoothly.
The kidnappers estimated the best getaway time to be at night, so the plan started in the afternoon. They wanted to take advantage of rush hour traffic after work to shake off any followers.
Around 2pm, the first group left.
At 3pm, the second group left.
Only one person was left in the house.
Jian Jing's simple plan was very simple. Carrying her schoolbag, she cut through into the neighboring complex. At this time in the afternoon, all the residents here were out working, she almost didn't encounter anyone.
She blew the two agreed whistles, one long and one short, then hid and observed the bathroom window.
Ten minutes later, a shadow reflected inside.
Next, she gathered discarded paper collected in her schoolbag, piled it in the corner, lit it on fire, and added two smoke bombs.
Large plumes of smoke rose up fiercely.
She dialed 119 and reported the address, asking the fire department to come put out the fire.
At this time, something unexpected happened. The guard inside for some reason did not come out to check things out. She had no choice but to take the risk and go knock on the door.
"There's a fire!" she shouted loudly, finally bringing the guarding kidnapper out.
He was shocked and panicked, immediately rushing to the kitchen to get water.
Jian Jing swiftly escaped, at the same time, blowing the agreed whistle signal again.
A crooked rope lowered from the window.
The second accident happened.
He couldn't climb down, and his movements were too slow. The kidnapper had already come back with two buckets of water and discovered the truth about the fire. The fire was quickly extinguished, leaving only scattered embers.
Jian Jing had no other choice but to resort to her last method: "Stop right there!"
The kidnapper was not very smart, but not dumb either. Seeing her sudden appearance, even though he couldn't figure out what was going on, he knew she must be trouble: "It's you?!"
"I poured gasoline over there." She held up an alcohol lamp that she had taken from the lab and threatened, "If you move an inch, I'll throw this over."
The kidnapper paused briefly to consider if she was telling the truth.
This bought Jian Jing a minute.
"Damn girl!" The kidnapper quickly gave up discerning the truth. Relying on his height and strength, he rushed over to grab the alcohol lamp from her hand.
At that time, Jian Jing was only 1.5 meters tall and constantly failed PE. Without any special powers yet, facing a charging adult, she didn't stand a chance.
She made the wisest decision - threw the alcohol lamp away and turned to run.
Although afraid of the alcohol lamp igniting the gasoline and burning him alive, the kidnapper's first reaction was still to stop and reach out to catch the lamp before it hit the ground.
This bought another 3 seconds - only 3 seconds, before the kidnapper would realize it was just water, not alcohol, in the prop.
Seizing the moment, Jian Jing circled around to the bathroom window.
Jiang BaiYan hung in midair, unable to get down clumsily.
"Jump!" She commanded calmly, "No time left!"
The poor hostage's face was white. After messing everything up, he held on to his only virtue - he didn't want her to dislike him, to abandon him, so despite the tremendous fear, he let go of his grip.
Thud.
He tumbled to the ground.
Two stories high wasn't much. He just hurt a lot but didn't suffer major injuries.
"Run!" Jian Jing grabbed him and summoned strength beyond her usual 800m record. They dashed off.
The kidnapper knew things had gone wrong. He hurried to catch up.
But now J's advantage kicked in.
Here was the neighborhood she had lived in for over a decade. She knew everyone working in every shop at the entrance. Without any hesitation, she rushed into the nearest convenience store and told the owner, "Help! He's trying to rob me!"
The boss was shocked to see the kidnapper chasing after them. He scolded, "What are you doing?!"
"They stole my wallet," claimed the kidnapper, also quite clever.
Jian Jing kept her cool, already exhibiting her future poise, "Then I'll call the police right now. Let's see who robbed whom."
The kidnapper glared at her, hesitated briefly, but the boss already grabbed a broom, threatening to hit him. He immediately realized he couldn't keep the hostage. The best move was to leave quickly after acquiring the gemstone.
After all, he already got the ransom and kidnapped the secretary too. Time to scram!
He turned and fled.
Jian Jing didn't dare leave. She bought a drink at the convenience store and waited until the fire truck arrived before leading Jiang BaiYan away.
Jiang BaiYan couldn't believe they had escaped. He was dazed and didn't utter a word for the longest time.
"Where do you live? Let's call your parents to come get you," Jian Jing said.
He snapped out of it and shook his head hard: "I'm not going home."
She was puzzled: "Why not?"
"They want me dead," he whispered. "If I go back, I'll die."
