Financial Workplace Survival Guide – CH 054

Chapter 54 ☆, Escaping from the Tiger’s Mouth.

When Xin Xin woke up again, she found herself lying in bed, with Fu Meng wolfing down a bowl of noodles.

“Eat your noodles quickly.” Fu Meng handed her a bowl of noodles when she saw that she was awake.

Xin Xin stared blankly at her surroundings. It seemed to be a very simple dormitory, with a bunk bed made of just wooden planks and the iron door tightly closed.

Where were we now? How much time had passed?

Fu Meng shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s eat first and replenish our energy.”

Xin Xin saw that Fu Meng’s face and hands were covered in dust from who-knows-where, looking like she had just come out of a mine, extremely disheveled. Although she couldn’t see her own appearance, she guessed it was similar.

Fu Meng was eating noodles that she didn’t know where they came from, and she seemed to be enjoying them. While eating, she continued to invite Xin Xin, “Eat quickly, or the noodles will clump together.”

Xin Xin was both amused and exasperated. “Aren’t you afraid of them putting drugs in the noodles?”

Fu Meng continued eating her noodles. “It doesn’t matter; let’s eat first. We can’t starve to death. Besides, I think we’ll definitely be safe and sound; don’t worry.”

Xin Xin realized that Fu Meng was an incurable optimist, and her strong vitality had infected Xin Xin to some extent.

She was right; they couldn’t starve to death.

Xin Xin also started eating noodles in small bites. She was so thirsty that she felt the noodles were stuck in her throat and were hard to swallow.

However, before they had finished eating their noodles, the door was opened.

“We’ll leave after we finish eating; let’s hit the road.” The driver who had kidnapped them came in, and for some reason, he looked much more haggard.

Xin Xin’s heart tightened. She quickly finished eating her noodles and asked cautiously, “The road you mentioned… which road are you referring to?”

Could this be the road to the underworld?

The driver said irritably, “What are you thinking? This is a society governed by law. Do you think you can just kill someone like that?”

Xin Xin pursed her lips, thinking to herself, “Do you even know about a society governed by the rule of law?”

Fu Meng smiled apologetically. “Brother, we’ve been very cooperative along the way. You don’t seem like a truly evil person, so don’t worry, we definitely won’t pursue this matter. We’ll give you whatever money you want; please don’t hurt us.”

The driver glanced at Fu Meng and sighed, “Don’t worry, I said I wouldn’t hurt you, and I mean it. I’m only after money; I wouldn’t commit murder. Even if I get caught, I’ll just be locked up for a few years. Murder is a capital offense; I know the law.”

Hearing someone who broke the law claim to know the law was truly…

It was a strange experience.

Xin Xin looked at the driver strangely, trying hard to control herself so as not to roll her eyes.

Fortunately, the driver didn’t tie them up. He just watched them get into the car, closed the back door, and then got into the driver’s seat.

She didn’t know when, but the driver changed vehicles. It was still a pickup truck, but with a very sturdy fence installed between the driver’s seat and the back seat. Unlike the fences in regular taxis, this one was extremely sharp; trying to put your hand through it would likely result in a cut.

Only then did Xin Xin see the house she had just stayed in from afar, and she finally understood why the driver could leave them there so casually. In the vast Gobi Desert, there were only a few lonely corrugated steel houses, probably left over from the construction team that built the road.

The highway stretched as far as the eye could see, deserted and utterly silent, devoid of any human presence.

At this moment, the car began to move.

Xin Xin looked outside and assumed that, judging from the position of the sun, it must be noon. A terrifying thought suddenly struck her: if she and Fu Meng were left here without their phones, no one would need to do anything to them. If they were unlucky, they could starve to death here without anyone noticing.

Fu Meng seemed to think so too and suddenly said, “If a person dies here, it’s hard for them to mold; they might turn into a mummy.”

Xin Xin shivered, but Fu Meng calmly looked at the desert outside the window, as if there was some beautiful scenery worth appreciating.

Not only couldn’t Xin Xin stand it, but even the driver couldn’t stand it. “Girl, can we stop saying such creepy things? Let’s find a place with a signal; I’ll take the money and leave, you can go home, and we’ll never meet again.”

Upon hearing this, Xin Xin was almost overjoyed. She endured the long drive with a glimmer of hope.

The car didn’t stop until it got dark.

This time, they stopped in front of several auto repair shops, but only one low building had dim lights in front of it.

The driver pulled the car over to the side and said, half-persuading and half-threatening, “Now you’ll do as I say. Don’t try anything funny. There’s no one around here who can help you.”

Fu Meng and Xin Xin exchanged a glance before the driver led them into a place that resembled a hotel.

“One room.”

The elderly woman at the front desk, who was dozing off, didn’t even look at the key, tossed it to him, and didn’t even require him to register any information.

The driver led them into the room and cautiously locked the worn door. This time, he tossed his phone to Xin Xin, asking, “Do you know Zheng Zaochuan?”

Xin Xin was stunned for a moment, almost doubting that she had misheard.

The driver looked at her suspiciously and repeated in Mandarin as best he could, “Zheng Zaochuan, do you know him?”

“I know him.”

“Call him.”

Xin Xin held her phone, hesitantly opening the dial pad. Her first thought was, “What is their purpose? What do they want to do to Zheng Zaochuan?”

The driver urged impatiently, “Hurry up; tell him you’re alive and well.”

Fu Meng glanced at Xin Xin with suspicion, then suddenly pressed down on the phone and said in a deep voice, “No, what if you hurt us if we make the call?”

“I said I’d let you go, so I’ll let you go. Now, hurry up.”

Fu Meng, who had been very cooperative throughout the journey, was now very insistent.

“After we make the call, the other party will get what they want. What if you kill us then?”

“I told you, I would let you go.”

“I don’t believe it.” Fu Meng’s voice rose a little higher, her eyes shining with an aggressive intensity.

Ultimately, in the standoff between the two, the driver gave in.

“What do you want?”

Fu Meng thought for a moment and said, “After you finish the call, you must prepare some water and food for us. We will also tell the other party that we cannot agree to all their conditions until we are sure we are safe. Tell us first which county we are in now.”

Xin Xin added, “I will make the call. If you don’t agree to our conditions, I won’t do it. We might as well die together.”

The driver finally gave in, angrily saying, “This is Cheng County. As long as you don’t try anything funny, I’ve received instructions from my boss to let you go once I get the money. Even if you know it’s a county, it’s useless; without internet, we can’t pinpoint your exact location.”

Xin Xin quietly memorized the location, then silently dialed the number. The other end answered almost instantly. “Hello?” The voice was hoarse.

Xin Xin felt a lump in her throat almost as soon as she heard Zheng Zaochuan’s voice. “Hello?”

“Xin Xin, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Zheng Zaochuan asked softly, trying to keep his voice down, as if he were comforting a child.

Large tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Xin Xin choked out, “Yes, I’m fine; everything is fine. This person said we’re in Cheng County now.”

Zheng Zaochuan chuckled softly, “Sweetie, how can someone your age still be crying? Don’t worry, I’ll come pick you up.”

“What are they threatening you to do?”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry. I promise you’ll be fine and come back safe and sound.”

Before he could finish speaking, the driver snatched the phone away.

“Alright, you’ve heard the person’s voice. I’ll release them as soon as I receive the order, okay?”

After saying that, the driver quickly hung up the phone, took out the SIM card, and threw it into the trash can.

“Let’s go.”

Before Xin Xin could recover, Fu Meng asked warily, “Where are you going?”

The driver smiled and brandished the knife in his hand. “You can’t decide where we go, so just listen to me.”

They silently followed the driver into the car, and in the short span of a phone call, they were once again embarking on an unknown road. Under the starry sky, the whole world became eerily quiet; Xin Xin could almost only hear her own and Fu Meng’s breathing.

At that moment, they gripped each other’s hands tightly.

The car sped along relentlessly, jolting them through the darkness. Gradually, they lost consciousness in the darkness, and in a daze, Xin Xin drifted into a deep sleep.

Xin Xin didn’t know how long she had slept, but as if she were drowning, the immense feeling of weightlessness jolted her awake from her dream.

The car had stopped, with the window slightly ajar, letting in the chilly night wind.

Xin Xin quickly glanced at the driver’s seat; no one was there. She instinctively tried to open the car door, but it wouldn’t budge. A wave of immense fear washed over her. Xin Xin looked out the window; the sky was still an impenetrable darkness. She quickly nudged Fu Meng. “Wake up. Fu Meng, wake up!”

Fu Meng rubbed her eyes sleepily. “Hmm?”

Xin Xin said anxiously, “That person has disappeared.”

Fu Meng immediately came to her senses and immediately realized that the car door could not be opened.

The two women exchanged a horrified glance and quickly searched for tools near the car seat. Finally, Xin Xin found a toolbox, several bottles of water, and two steamed buns under the seat. They took out a hammer and planned to smash the car window.

“Wait a minute.” Xin Xin suddenly remembered that he had said there might be wolves in this desolate wilderness. “If the car window is shattered, will there be wolves if we go out?”

Fu Meng calmed down as well. “It’s possible; let’s wait until dawn to talk about it.”

They looked inside the car and noticed that all the windows were slightly ajar. It seemed to be to prevent them from suffocating.

At that moment, they both thought of the same possibility.

Those who kidnapped them had gotten what they wanted, so they were abandoned in the Gobi Desert along with their vehicle. If they were unlucky, they might get lost or encounter wild animals.

But if they were lucky enough, they’d spend some time getting back to inhabited areas and thus be rescued.

Everything was unknown.

The unknown was so terrifying.

Fu Meng looked out the window at the sky, pointed to the stars, and told Xin Xin, “He said we are in Cheng County. The distance between Cheng County and Zong County is 300 kilometers. We were heading north when we left, and it was night then, and it’s still night now. Because it’s an old road, the speed is about 80 kilometers per hour. Even if we travelled for four or five hours, it’s only 300 or 400 kilometers.”

Xin Xin thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, “Should we go north or south?”

Fu Meng gave a wry smile. “We still have to see if we can run into a car or someone; otherwise, we’re going to die either way. But let’s go back. If he’s not lying to us, there might be police when we get back to Cheng County.”

Fu Meng knew this area all too well; seven- or eight-hour drives through the Gobi Desert were all too common.

Xin Xin’s heart sank to the bottom, but soon she forced a smile. “Then let’s go back. This water and food, if we save it, will last us a while. Let’s sleep for a bit now and start walking early in the morning. Then it’ll be half physical strength and half luck.”